Scant Regard – You Know The Drill

Pic Dave Cox

If its predecessor, Skipping Over Damaged Area, was an exploration and echo of the “apocalyptic destruction and devolution of the planet we live on”, then You Know The Drill is the bold new adventure in its escape; a sci-fi toned tapestry of intrigue and contagion wrapped in sounds which just infiltrate and enliven the body and imagination.

You Know The Drill is the new creative exploit from Scant Regard, the solo project of Will Crewdson; guitarist/musician/songwriter previously acclaim notorious for his work with Rachel Stamp, Adam Ant, The Selecter, Johnette Napolitano, Bow Wow Wow, and Flesh for Lulu as well as currently one half of the equally irresistible She Made Me Do It. It is an encounter which still sows its seeds in the decay and destruction of the modern world but within its body ventures into the hope and relief brought through space lit, sci-fi cultured escapades. Crewdson’s previous offering, the deviously magnetic Skipping Over Damaged Area, felt like the corruption of hope and light by a creeping darkness. You Know The Drill is the reverse in many ways, bringing light and respite to the sunless breath of the world; both encounters casting trips of sonic poetry and rich intimation drenched in uncompromising infectiousness.

You Know The Drill opens up with Ulterior Motives, electronic pulsing instantly nagging on ears and attention before rhythms collude to pitch immediate contagion upon the senses. In swift time Crewdson’s vocals join the hungry enterprise, the knowing deception of the song’s sarcasm springing greater catchiness by the second before saving its thickest dose of virulence for the delicious throaty bass led groove which breaks out.

The album’s title track follows, blues liquor fuelling its opening flames before a surf kissed breeze courts the controlled but pungent rhythms at its core. As the opener sprung a lure of descriptive intimation in its sound alone so its instrumental successor weaves an even more stirring sonic tale of drama and suggestion to play with before No More follows suit with its shadow wrapped stroll into ears and thoughts. Again every hook carries creative revelation for the imagination to conjure with; the track nurtured in the same suggestive espionage and danger which marked the best themes tunes of sixties and seventies TV shows such as UFO, Space: 1999, The Avengers or The Prisoner.

Its dark temptation is followed by the thickly enticing lures of Projectile Comet, bait which erupts in another of those riveting hooks and grooves which Crewdson has proven so irresistible and diabolical with across the years. The intergalactic hue of the track brings threat and adventure, the concussive rhythms at its heart chased by voracious riffs and intoxicating grooves in a mix which hungrily got under the skin, an infiltration being quickly replicated by the post punk incident that is the outstanding Calamity’s Creation. Bass and guitar unite to project an instant infiltration of theatre and seduction, vocals riding the groove wired hook lined incitement with matching lust bugging enterprise. There is something of The Monochrome Set to the track at times, the scent of Lester Square creative prowess aligning to the inimitable craft and imagination of Crewdson as another momentous moment within the album is cast.

The swarthy southern hues of Nevertheless bring another hug of instrumental suggestion straight after, ears and thoughts united in their swift embrace while both A Process of Illumination and Charmed I’m Sure share thick fascination with their respective electronic web of insinuation and industrial rock incitement, the latter a piece as aggressively imposing as it is mentally manipulating.

Rogue Prototype similarly draws on industrial instincts, its cyber hull the host for pop tempting and dark post punk menace. The track proved pure fascination in its breath and imputation, suspicion and drama soaking every note boiling and erupting in its tempestuous body before leaving Heart Torn Blood Ratio to bring the gripping release to a close. Melancholic beauty and solemn radiance coat every second of the brooding serenade as darker heavier throes of enterprise rumble in its depths; the track an enthralling end to an album which danced with the imagination and provoked eager attention from start to finish with rich pleasure the outcome.

Look up the definition of fascination and you find the likes of captivation, attraction, intrigue, magnetism and obsession as similar meanings and all thickly apply to the also gloriously art wrapped You Know The Drill, Scant Regard’s greatest moment yet.

You Know The Drill is out now digitally and on blue vinyl effect CD @ https://scantregard.com/store and https://scantregard.bandcamp.com/album/you-know-the-drill

http://www.scantregard.com https://www.facebook.com/scantregardpage https://twitter.com/scantregard https://www.youtube.com/user/willcrewdson

Pete RingMaster 29/02/2020

She Made Me Do It – Scorched

Feb6

She Made Me Do It is a band which weaves compelling adventures not only in sound and the web of flavours making up its character but also from the rich shadows within the depths of both and the duo’s imagination. Across a host of releases and tracks it has provided a kaleidoscopic landscape of intimation and contagion which has maybe been no more compelling than within new EP, Scorched. Its five tracks share intense enterprise and rich drama, the release a bold venture into the outfit’s creative psyche and one eagerly tapping into the cinematic conjuring of the listener.

The successor to their acclaimed Drenched EP, Scorched finds the twosome of Shaheena Dax (Rachel Stamp) and Will Crewdson (Rachel Stamp, Adam Ant, Scant Regard, The Selecter, Bow Wow Wow, Flesh For Lulu) infesting their alternative electronic rock with the richest tapestry of genre varied threads to escape the London based pair yet. Theirs has been a proposition always embracing the ripest essences of punk, new wave, post punk but the new encounter borders on the ravenous in its seizing of fresh diversity.

Scorched opens with the band’s new single, Love’s Demise bounding in on a tide of voracious rock riffs and swinging rhythms before the swiftly joining tones of Dax show just as much hunger in their melodic enticement. Crewdson’s guitar continues to snarl as its infectious nature aligns with that of Dax, hard and punk rock spices taunting as electronic fingers tease in the riotous but controlled stomp.

The rousing start is only accentuated by Fun and Games, a track which lit up the airwaves with its uncaging as one of last year’s best singles. A calm but keenly coaxing electronic pulse dances in ears first; it’s subdued but apparent skittishness soon surrounded by a contagion of air splattering beats and attention burrowing hooks, it all courted by the delicious dark bassoon-esque grumble of the bass. The infection loaded stroll is soon equipped with greater temptation as Dax brings her perpetual craft and captivation, alt pop and punk insisting on uniting with the track’s rock instincts to dig deeply and relentlessly under the skin.

Throughout both, shadows lurk if in a subdued state but now flood the sounds within the EP’s stunning third track and our senses. It is a cover of The Cure’s Three Imaginary Boys, a slice of already undeniable greatness given a whole new breath of drama and potency. Crewdson and Dax draw out the anxiety and tension of the original, increasing both as they escalate the post punk heart of the original. It is pure drama, emotions caught in a dense spiral of apprehension and inescapable contagion as the band equip the song with a cinematically claustrophobic air soaked in an emotional cold war amidst a crepuscular soundscape.

The equally exceptional Poison Aura follows, it too a dark senses consuming address of ears and thoughts even with the golden glow of Dax’s voice an absorbing light across the track’s caliginous tone and post punk nurtured landscape. The encounter ignited the imagination as much as ears as again a theatre of intimation provided a palette of suggestion so easy for the imagination to paint with.

For all the thick ravenous shadows the band breeds, each track is a surge of greedy catchiness too, the band’s pop instincts fuelling the heaviest dark and equally the most boisterous light, final track Fatal Confidante epitomising all in its esurient virulence and pop punk featured tenacity. As much as the EP’s tracks infest ears and imagination with the creator’s craft and fascination, all invade feet and body with a matching zeal, the last song on offer unscrupulous in getting the listener bouncing.

With a cover any band on a similar endeavour will have to truly go some to match and a striking quartet of inimitable and unique She Made Me Do It goodness, the sensational Scorched confirms the duo as one of the UK’s most exciting and imaginative encounters; one we have already been enslaved by and do not apologise for urging all to check out with even greater lust.

The Scorched EP is out now, available @ https://shemademedoit.bandcamp.com/album/scorched-e-p

https://www.shemmdi.com/ https://www.facebook.com/shemademedoitpage https://twitter.com/SheMMDI

Pete RingMaster 05/02/2020

She Made Me Do It – Drenched

Jan30

pic by @dcmusicvideos

There is nothing better than an encounter which immediately enthrals attention and appetite but is only scratching at the depths of temptation and adventure within. The Drenched EP from She Made Me Do It is one such offering; a release which instantly had ears pricked and the body bouncing but was just revealing the seeds to blossoming levels of imagination and seduction.

The four track release is another in a long line of rich enticement from the duo of Shaheena Dax (Rachel Stamp) and Will Crewdson (Rachel Stamp, Adam Ant, Scant Regard, The Selecter, Bow Wow Wow, Flesh For Lulu) and one of the pairs’ most deviously tempting offerings. From start to finish it is a magnetic almost teasing fusion of dark shadows and elegant radiance bound in an equally rich mix of punk, new wave, post punk and alternative rock adventure. The successor to their 2017 album, The Frantic Legion, the compelling exploits of Drenched sees the band’s sound even more defined yet bolder in its adventure and tapestry of flavours. Through the captivation and intimation of Dax’s golden yet often almost portentously lined vocals and the descriptive yet rousingly tenacious antics of Crewdson’s guitar to the suggestive caresses and intriguing shimmers of their keys, She Made Me Do It create a captivating web to immerse in and dance with.

Produced by Crewdson and with Joe Holweger providing drums, Drenched opens up with the swiftly irresistible Bones. Straightaway post punk tendrils escape Crewdson’s guitar, their clinging hues something akin to the claws cast in the past by the likes of Leitmotiv and Sex Gang Children. Escalating these lures by the second, the track builds into a lumbering but lively stroll where Dax soon springs her own potent temptation as bass and drums steer the dark throes of the song’s canter; the punk hues of guitar only adding to its anthemic and equally predacious swing. Inescapably infectious but with that great edge of danger and intimidation, the song, as indeed the EP, needed a mere play to get under the skin and only burrowing, deeper and deeper thereon in.

The following Broken Morning is a just as skilful manipulator of ears and appetite even as it instantly reveals a much warmer and calmer nature. That is no chain to an instinctive catchiness and creative eagerness though, the song devilishly impossible to resist joining in with especially when faced with one contagion laded chorus and again a swinging energy which enlivens the body and spirit of song and listener alike. There is something, if right now indefinably, familiar to the track but a hue which only adds to its compelling design and persuasion.

Ashes is next up, electronic pulses gently but firmly resonating before the dirtier breath of the bass joins up quickly followed by the similarly beckoning strains of guitar and voice. A song which relishes its electro pop instincts as fully as its rock ‘n’ roll heart, it offers a tapestry of flavours and creative twists, all as unpredictable as the track is unsurprising in its voracious zeal and stirring enterprise.

The release ends with the melodically celestial beauty of Time, a song of intimate and spatial elegance over an earthbound spine that just as easily ignites the imagination as the siren-esque flight above. It is a hauntingly mesmeric conclusion to a release which as we said just grows more impressive and tantalisingly by the listen. It is a heavier, more guitar driven rocker than predecessors but equally richer in its melodic and broad weave of flavours and adventure; a must in anyone’s book.

The Drenched EP is out February 1^st on Catranstic Records with pre-ordering available @ https://shemademedoit.bandcamp.com/album/drenched-e-p and https://shemmdi.com/store

https://www.shemmdi.com/ https://www.facebook.com/shemademedoitpage https://twitter.com/SheMMDI

Pete RingMaster 30/01/2019

Perfect Pop Co Op Sampler – Impulsive Compulsions 01

Dec5

As we all look for the perfect gift for loved ones this time of year, the irrepressible UK indie label Perfect Pop Co Op are giving one to all music lovers. Free with the December issue of their magazine, Impulsive Compulsions 01 brings together 13 tracks from six unique bands and seven projects past and present borne from within the Perfect Pop Co Op family; quite simply a baker’s dozen of the best and most mischievous songs and artists you could wish dangling from the stocking on your various speakers.

From start to finish, the album teases and flirts with the imagination as it dances with ears; getting off to a mighty start with Scant Regard. The band is the solo project of London-based guitarist/writer/producer Will Crewdson renowned for his work with the likes of Adam Ant, The Selecter, Johnette Napolitano, Flesh for Lulu, Bow Wow Wow, She Made Me Do It and Rachel Stamp, which he co-founded. Taken from his snare of an album, the wonderful Skipping Over Damaged Area which was released earlier this year, Destroy (We’re Here to) is a salacious flirtation of electro punk/ synth pop intimation; a viral infection which could even have the walking dead dancing to its hook spun, groove strung, guitar driven, funk sprouting machination.

It is a glorious start which sets the tone to the sampler, each track unapologetically individual in sound and character but united in DIY imagination, devilish intent, and sonic goodness as proven immediately by next up Impulsive Compulsions by Pony Virus. The band is the original incarnation of The Scratch and the track a tantalising piece of post punk shoe gaze as haunting as it is infectious. The song is a slice of weird with hues of eighties bands such as The Passage, The Wonder Stuff and Inspiral Carpets; teasing with these somewhat familiar spices in a whole new recipe sounding as fresh now as it did back in the day. The Scratch itself provides its own piece of temptation later in the album’s playlist with Teen Idol, itself a ridiculously magnetic encounter which had us hooked from the first rumbling growl of bass. Currently on hiatus after releasing a quartet of greedily devoured albums, the band’s sound s pure pop/indie punk romping blessed with seventies DIY adventure and inescapable contagion.

Through the sinister dark electronica bred dystopia of Age of Control in a remix by creators Rogue Sector, a track which also haunts ears and thoughts whilst teasing hips to gather momentum with its electronic dissonance, and the wonk pop punk bred Limited Ambition swung through ears by Andreas And The Wolf, temptation and captivation to the album only deepened. Both bands have debut albums in the works and each has been given a rich teaser through their contributions to Impulsive Compulsions.

Andreas And The Wolf also provide the radio show which this album has mutually sprung from with Perfect Pop Co Op, all favourite artists being greedily featured over time, none more so than the following pair of Dislocated Flowers and The Tuesday Club. The first of the pair gives AudioBiological to the parade of aural independence, an invasive psych rock track inciting the body to erupt as it corrupts the senses with its imposing and invigorating instrumental incitement. Unshakeable favourites and friends to The RR, The Tuesday Club simply infested the passions with Too Pure To Live, a slow swing of a creative virus directing hips and imagination like a puppeteer. The band has unleashed numerous gems over the past few years but this track alone shows they are creating not only their finest escapades but some of that fuelling the independent rock scene.

And the goodness just kept coming, just confirming already the thought we had rattling around the brain that this is an essential, indeed must have release. The Venus Overload kept the suggestion bubbling with their encounter Without Doubt, a sixties nurtured psych pop lure echoing the band’s major inspiration, The Velvet Underground, but with its own compelling persona.

Further into the album, the poetic drama and stark atmospheric breath of Sometimes When I Dream simply infested thought and appetite, the dark soundscape from Southdown Laundry Club, a project created by Pete ‘Joyless’ Jones (Department S) and Andrew Trussler (Rogue Sector) as mesmeric as it is chilling.

In its own way, Dead Marchers is just as tenebrific and haunting, the track by Bleeding Soul Angels an inviting smog of psych and dark pop with a raw edge to its contagion while the following Dream boy doin’ well had the body bouncing with its punkabilly stomp. The Bleeed is an offshoot of four members out of The Tuesday Club when it was a seven strong rascal, and features the devious swings of drummer and gentleman Terry Super Cockell, who since its creation has passed away. The band has vowed to return this year and on this scoundrel of a track we for one cannot wait.

The album is finished off by firstly Waiting for the Walls to Come Down from The Dodo. A band made up of Andy Scratch, Steve Filth and John the Bassist, who released one album in 2010 before the side project was put aside, they had the body bouncing like it was on a string with their contribution. Mixing sixties pop and seventies new wave to try and describe its epidemic of temptation, the track is another in a perpetual line of major treats, the last coming with album closer Way it goes. From Reverse Family, a project headed by the reported missing but maybe we know better (wink wink) Dermot Illogical, the band have just completed their 2018 epic task of releasing 365 songs over 365 in weekly EPs, an epic adventure in sound and pleasure we are still catching up on such its size. Way it goes gives all the reasons with its Adam & The Ants-esque, swing spun chicanery for you to go check it out too and the band’s debut album it comes from, My Songs About Life – Mid Crisis.

There are a host of truly great independent labels out there right now and Perfect Pop Co Op stands right there on the frontline and as mentioned all songs and artists have been featured on the Andreas and the Wolf radio show which equally we can only heartily recommend; the album in celebration of one year of their shows and fifty issues of the Perfect Pop Co Op magazine.

The Perfect Pop Co Op Sampler – Impulsive Compulsions 01 is out December 11^th free with the new issue of the Perfect Pop Co Op magazine.

https://theperfectpopco-op.bandcamp.com/ https://perfectpopco-op.co.uk https://www.facebook.com/perfectpopcoop/ https://perfectpopco-op.co.uk/magazine/

Pete RingMaster 5/12/2018

Popes Of Chillitown – Work Hard, Play Hard, See You In The Graveyard

May20

Releases which have us throwing feet, hips, and bodies around in an uninhibited frenzy are just as boisterously devoured here as those provoking thoughts and imagination into the same eager exploits. Work Hard, Play Hard, See You In The Graveyard, the new album from UK outfit Popes Of Chillitown is one such example, an encounter which stirs up every aspect of the human spirit across thirteen slices of what for the moment we will simply call ska punk but is so much more. The band and release swiftly had the body bouncing, energies uncaged, and mind feeding off its insightful social and personal lyrical intimation. It is one of those unforgettable, deviously manipulative propositions which will surely set Popes Of Chillitown on the way to being a household name far beyond the ska and punk scene.

From London, Popes Of Chillitown has already bred and nurtured a fine reputation across two albums and a live presence which has had venues and bodies bouncing, as the album now, with lustful participation. 2013 saw the release of their pledge-funded debut album A Word To The Wise, a keenly embraced encounter eclipsed by its even more eagerly received successor To The Moon two years later. Since that first offering, the sextet has further lit up the live scene, from the Capital bursting across the UK and into Europe sharing stages with the likes of Reel Big Fish, The Selecter, The Skints, Imperial Leisure, [Spunge], Mouthwash, The Snare and many more along the way.

As Work Hard, Play Hard, See You In The Graveyard swiftly reveals, the band’s sound has an irresistibility which borders on the viral. It is a fusion of upbeat ska, punk, 2-tone, dub, drum & bass, reggae, indie with plenty more flavoursome spices working away in the mix; a rousing incitement which never flirts with the predictable and across the new album, easily the band’s finest moment yet, persistently has body, imagination, and spirit bounding.

Straight away as intrigue coaxes ears there is a sense of drama and mischief at play which swiftly sparks opener Prang into life, the track springing along with wilful exuberance. The guitar of Tom Penn winds around ears from an already persuasive hook spraying stroll while the rhythmic prowess of bassist Arvin Bancil and drummer Jack Ashley gets under the skin in no time. Matt Conner’s rousing vocals are just as effective, listener participation we found inevitable and can keen testify to. The track is superb, its twist into discord and off kilter imagination icing on the stomp.

The flames of trombonist Ieuan Williams and saxophonist Jon Pryce open up the following Get Off/Get On, lighting the way to another persuasive saunter ridden by the increasingly captivating vocals of Conner. There is a touch of [Spunge] meets King Prawn to the track, a tasty flavouring quickly ignited by the band’s own raucously individual enterprise.

Fair to say Work Hard, Play Hard, See You In The Graveyard already had its temptation racing through our veins in two songs but raised the temperature of its persuasion even more with next up Vexed. Cored by a hook which had ears and appetite dangling like a fish on a rod as well as a glorious teasing yet taunting grumble of a bassline, the track instantly took the album’s seductive clamour to another level. Brewing an addictive roar something akin to The Mighty Mighty Bosstones meets Capdown with the rawer edge of The Hostiles, the track simply and quickly had us enslaved and adding our less able attributes.

The equally outstanding No Manners In Ireland is next, the song a web of twists and turns littered with creative hooks and melodic lures which seduce like sonic sirens. Guitars and vocals dance on the swagger of the rhythms, their dark lined joy seared with the soulful flames of brass as the song evolves in form and imagination across four minutes plus of pure magnetism. Its glory is matched by that of the far briefer but just as riveting Graveyard. A dub infested mix of Skindred and again King Prawn, the slither of a track just ignited the senses before Upside Down got the body rocking and rolling with its almost salacious bounce and antics.

Across the fiery ska fuelled punk ‘n’ roll of The Last Elephant and the swinging holler of Mr. Piotr, physical reaction is inescapable as thoughts invest in more of the band’s lyrical inference, both tracks cauldrons of drama and physical manipulation so easy to devour while the likes of What A Guy and Inner Peace add yet more variety and adventure to the album’s beauty. The first erupts from a haunting melancholic sigh into another inescapable to resist canter, voice and hips soon embroiled in its creative romp before its companion smoulders seductively on the senses with its less boisterous but just as tenacious reflection. From guitars to rhythms, brass to voice, the song serenades and seduces; volatility in its heart adding greater depth to its inventive cry and increasingly rising temperature and intensity.

Take Control is punk rock blessed with the ear clipping tenacity of ska; a rousing trespass of an incitement under a sweltering climate of suggestion cast by sax and trombone. Unsurprisingly again indulgence in its swing is unavoidable, a lack of discipline thankfully the whole of Work Hard, Play Hard, See You In The Graveyard exploits.

The album closes up with firstly the melodically shimmering Lego Prisoners, a track resembling what you might imagine emerging from the essences of Ruts DC, The Skints, and a calm Random Hand being locked in together, and lastly Culpa and its reggae brewed saunter where grooves and beats overwhelm restraints even before voice and hooks sink their temptation into ears.

It all makes for one deliciously riveting and rousing adventure going by the name of Work Hard, Play Hard, See You In The Graveyard. Popes Of Chillitown has been firing up the ska and punk scene pretty much from their first days but are now ready to be spoken in the same breath as those bands which immediately come to mind as inspirations to the across the array of styles the Londoners skilfully embrace and employ in their own adventure. After Work Hard, Play Hard, See You In The Graveyard they might just be the first name to lips.

Work Hard, Play Hard, See You In The Graveyard is out now on 12inch vinyl, CD and Digital Download @ https://popesofchillitown.bandcamp.com/album/work-hard-play-hard-see-you-in-the-graveyard

Upcoming Popes Of Chillitown tour dates:

MAY 27 – BOURNEMOUTH Cursus Festival

JUN 02 – NOTTINGHAM The Maze

JUN 09 – CHEPSTOW Balter Festival

AUG 04 – BLACKPOOL Rebellion Festival

AUG 09 – NEWCASTLE Trillians*

AUG 10 – GLASGOW Audio*

AUG 11 – LONDON Underworld*

AUG 12 – WINCHESTER Boomtown Fair

*w/ Fishbone

http://www.popesofchillitown.com/ https://www.facebook.com/PopesOfChillitown https://twitter.com/popesofctown

Pete RingMaster 18/05/2018

Scant Regard – Skipping Over Damaged Area

May10

Pic by Thomas Triton

A body infesting, imagination twisting kaleidoscope to the hope and insanity of the world we shape, Skipping Over Damaged Area is the senses ravishing new captivation from Scant Regard. An album of unscrupulous hooks, electronic virulence, and guitar carved intimation, it surges through ears casting a realm of suggestion and reflection as devilish as the themes inspiring its creative antics leaving hope, fear, and sheer pleasure in its wake.

Scant Regard is the solo project of London-based guitarist/writer/producer Will Crewdson. He is a musician few can have failed to have been consciously or unknowingly pleasured by. Whether with the rock escapades of Rachel Stamp, which he co-founded, and She Made Me Do It or through his work with the likes of Adam Ant, The Selecter, Johnette Napolitano, Flesh for Lulu, Bow Wow Wow and numerous other bands he played guitar for, Crewdson is a guitarist who has been in demand because of his instinctive ability to incite and bend the imagination as well as simply ignite songs and ears alike. Scant Regard has been an adventurous showcase for his craft and skills across four previous albums, Skipping Over Damaged Area a riveting new addition to their ranks.

Exploring various shades in an overall theme “of the apocalyptic destruction and devolution of the planet we live on”, Skipping Over Damaged Area is a tenacious maze of styles and flavours glazed with a sci-fi nurtured intrigue. At times it is like a warped soundtrack to a seventies TV show such as UFO, Space: 1999, or Doomwatch but with a dark lining in its every move; corrupting hope and light at a turn, tempering their threat in the next.

The album opens up with the swiftly addictive Mostly Accidental, electric pulses exploding on impact as it swaggers into view with an almost predacious swing. Instantly electronic suggestion and animation dances and flirts on the senses, thick doomy hues underlining the brewing Westworld-esque imagery conjured in thoughts by the instrumental piece which fully comes alive once Crewdson’s guitar explodes on the imagination.

It is an outstanding beginning, one to be honest we had to listen to twice before moving on upon our first listen to Skipping Over Damaged Area but quickly matched in strength and temptation by Fuck Everything. Repeated samples of its title float across a landscape of attitude, another electronically woven tale which immerses the listener in an evolving cascade of light and dark, fun and irritancy driven by inspiring shards of guitar.

The following Ill Gotten Gains is a corruption of sound and reflection; an addiction breeding ground with melodic lures aligned to dark deeds. At times it lies somewhere between the evolution of Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh’s project British Electric Foundation into their band Heaven 17 but with thicker shadows and dare we say even more infectious boldness.

Similarly Destroy (We’re Here to) has an eighties electronic edge to it around hooks and melodies which border on the salacious. Like the musical voice to a modern day Mars Attacks, the track waltzed over the senses, sending them spiralling as the imagination conjures. Simultaneously feet and hips were given a good smile wearing work out before BIGBLACKSHADES creates a conspiracy of sound and suggestion with its cold wave meets industrial espionage. Electronics and guitar again unite in a dark interpretation of life, its funkiness contrasting yet complementing the song’s voracious dynamics.

A lighter climate accompanies the outstanding Car Crash on Pluto, the track like something akin to Fred Schneider colluding with Helldorado as they glide the cosmos upon surf rock fuelled winds, while Hemi Demi courts indie rock tenacity within its electro pop enterprise as again seventies flavoured hues spice its rock ‘n roll.

Through the celestial smoulder of Traits, a track with lava hot melodies veining a volatile shimmer, and the hook carrying electro smoking canter of Sublineage Blues, ears and imagination are drawn into further incendiary drama while Posthistoric springs a more intensive atmosphere and adventure to navigate as a bubbling undercurrent of catchiness snaps, crackles and pops. All three simply tantalise and captivate as the imagination fantasises, Crime and Retribution in turn sparking the same responses with its brooding electronic groans and emerging guitar spun cold war clamour.

The album closes with Blue Moon Juice, a collage of vivacious sounds woven into a canvas of rockabilly bred devilry; imagine a psychobilly Yello and you get a hint of the track’s irresistible lure as it brings the album to a forcibly magnet conclusion.

Skipping Over Damaged Area is a prismatic insight and incitement for body and thoughts. It impacts on numerous levels, pleasures on every one. Crewdson is no stranger to attention and acclaim and can expect plenty more with what just might be his finest moment yet.

Skipping Over Damaged Area is out now on download and CD @ https://scantregard.bandcamp.com/album/skipping-over-damaged-area

https://scantregard.com https://www.facebook.com/scantregardpage https://twitter.com/scantregard

Pete RingMaster 09/05/2018

The Meow Meows – Friends On Benefits EP

Jul13

meow meows_RingMaster Review

Starting with one of the most flirtatious embraces likely to be heard this summer and proceeding to cast another two slices of pure aural suggestiveness, the Friends On Benefits EP from UK ska rockers The Meow Meows, puts the irresistible into virulent temptation. Three songs of the Brighton nine-piece’s increasingly renown fusion of eighties ska and even older garage rock with a more than healthy punk bred diversity, the EP is one inescapable incitement for body and imagination.

The Meow Meows emerged on the Brighton live scene around 2005, the collective rising from the ashes of several bands from the south-coast ska-punk scene. It was not long before their reputation and fan-base flourished through their energetic live presence and a sound which bewitched feet and ears with infectious ease. The years since forming have seen the band share stages with the likes of The Temptations, The Skatalites, Reel Big Fish, The Beat, The Selecter, King Blues, The Skints, and Hollie Cook amongst many, and the release of a couple of well-received albums. Debut full-length Songs From The Fridge stirred up plenty of attention but it is probably fair to say that its 2013 successor Somehow We Met, helped push the band into new spotlights. Friends On Benefits, like that album, was recorded with producer and reggae legend Prince Fatty and quickly confirms The Meow Meows as one of the UK’s truly instinctive creators of contagion.

cover_RingMaster Review The seeds to the Friends On Benefits EP arose from the band being one of ten artists commissioned by Fuel Theatre for their Music to Move to project, its aim to create works from bands in union with choreographers which would inspire the general public to dance. Equipped with another pair of toe inciting swingers, also loaded with humour laced and snarling social /political themed lyrics, band and release swiftly set hips to work with the EP’s title track. Brass and rhythms instantly collude in a gentle but forceful sway as guitars within another breath add their sultry hues to the melodic smile of the keys. Alternating their individual vocals over the verses, both Danny and Hanna spark further hunger, the two ladies temptress like within the rousing swagger and shuffle of the song. With a whiff of The Bodysnatchers to it, as well as The Beaubowbelles and The Jellycats, the track is a spellbinding and lingering bounce of a persuasion swiftly matched by its successor.

London Road has an even chirpier gait to its stroll, brass and beats quick-footed protagonists within the key’s smouldering caress. As in the first, the music embraces the vocals with a more restrained energy yet it never loses the infectious lure ripe in its presence and enterprise, in fact springing new melodic flames with every twist of its irresistible tempting. As it proceeds with a distinctive and magnetically quaint Hammond organ tone seducing, the song gently and seamlessly evolves to subsequently emerge with a Martha and the Muffins like new wave colouring which seems to feed and accelerate the excellent ska fuelled and increasingly agitated climax of the outstanding song.

The EP is completed by Tits & Hatred, a more old school punk endeavour which echoes with essences of bands like Au Pairs and The Raincoats within its severely tantalising and eagerly varied character. The track is again primarily brewed from the band’s seventies inspired 2-tone/ska punk inspirations which of course are in turn dosed up with the band’s compelling touch and imagination; the result being one mouth-watering end to one thrilling proposition.

The Meow Meows create ska punk ’n’ roll to lose your inhibitions and body to, with Friends On Benefits the spark to lustful endeavour.

The Friends On Benefits EP is available on vinyl from July 13^th via Jump Up! Records and digitally @ https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/friends-on-benefits-single/id997669416 or http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00Y6EIGXO?keywords=Friends%20On%20Benefits%20EP&qid=1436784848&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1

http://www.themeowmeows.com/ https://www.facebook.com/themeowmeows

RingMaster 13/07/2015