Twin Peaks « The RingMaster Review

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The Australian quartet may have been “forced on a short hiatus by UK Visa police” but they are making up for lost time with zeal and unbridled creative boisterousness with debut EP Sorry. Brisbane bred and already kicking up attention before embarking on a two year adventure that took them through Europe before settling in the UK’s own great band breeding town of Brighton, Animal House have masterfully build on the success of recent single English Girls with Sorry; an EP sure to swell the acclaim already sparked.

The band has drawn comparisons to the likes of The Strokes, The Raconteurs, Cage The Elephant, Dune Rats, Surfer Blood, and Twin Peaks, though we would suggest if not exactly in sound but the mischievous way they spring songs upon ears and imagination, Asylums is just as apt a reference. The Animal House sound has its seeds in the indie sounds of the late nineties/early noughties but twisted in to something fiercely fresh and unique to the Aussie foursome. Devilish humour lines every note and word shared, sparkling invention and invasive imagination fuelling a temptation which without doubt colours one of the most enjoyable and thrilling releases this year.

Sorry opens up with the band’s new single Domino; a virulently addictive song which if it was anything other than music would come with a warning. From its initial guitar jangle the song is in command, only firming its grip as the vocals, lead and band collude with melodic spicery and infectious tenacity. Feet have no resistance, hips and appetite too especially as beats drive song and body as a ridiculously catchy chorus infests vocal chords. There is a touch of Buzzcocks to the track, especially in its meandering hook, though first time around all concentration is on gaining enough breath to last the kinetic majesty of the song’s length.

English Girls is next and swiftly shows why it caused a fuss as a single. It too is a trespass infesting body and spirit. Rhythms once more thump and arouse whilst riffs and jangling hooks coax as vocals tempt. Animal House again confirm that flirtatiously captivating choruses are the domain of all their songs, the second an epidemic of persuasion rifling through a waiting and soon fully participation lust.

It is hard to say that the following Heavy makes less demands on energies but it does have a mellower climate to its urgency, taking a summery stroll as psych rock swipes of melodic enterprise cross a swinging gait of smiling hooks and buoyant rhythms. It is inescapable captivation but soon eclipsed by the tangy inventive fruits of Lemon & Lime. We are never ones to advocate too many singles taken from one release but the song has all the properties to be one juicy incitement as such a proposal. Again band and song swing with creative relish, bouncing with trampoline rhythms as harmonies tease and melodies seduce with a catchiness that could bring success to any trap.

The release is completed by the rampant sonic liquor of Tequila, intoxicating garage rock ensuring all inhibitions are left at the EP’s cover. It is a glorious end to a quite irresistible encounter, for which, the description aural alchemy increasingly seems apt. Its title says Sorry but there is nothing penitent about this slice of sonic knavery.

The Sorry EP is out on 18th November 2016.

Catch Animal House live at the following dates:

9th November – The New – Santander

11th November – Bukowski – San Sebastian

12th November – Bar Arrasate – Arrasate

14th November – Pop In – Paris

15th November – De Hip – Deventer

16th November – De Kroeg – Arnhem

17th November – Vera – Groningen

18th November – Boothill Saloon – Amersfoort

29th November – Birthdays – London

http://animalhouseband.tumblr.com/ https://www.facebook.com/animalhouseband https://twitter.com/animalhousing

Pete RingMaster 07/11/2016

Pic © Jann Averwerser_klein

Genius or lunacy?

A question to ponder as Shame Over seduces ears and infects the psyche with its deranged carousel of dark imagination and off-kilter rock ‘n’ roll. The riveting aural amusement park of warped thrills and twisted adventures is the new album from Munich based Murena Murena. Though self-tagged as horror soul, the release offers twelve tracks of unique imagination twisting alchemy embracing both genius and lunacy which, though hard to easily reflect in word, is maybe best described as Powersolo meets Wall Of Voodoo meets Nick Cave whilst lost in the realm of Twin Peaks.

Murena Murena is the creation of Daniel Murena, vocalist and writer/composer of some of the most irresistible cinematically lit murder ballads and sinister shuffles heard in a long time. 2014 saw the release of debut album Ghoaster Coaster, a slice of sonic and creative loco within which the seeds to Shame Over can be clearly heard. They are beginnings though which have blossomed into a proposal far more unhinged and seductively unsettling; an album of songs which work the ears and imagination of the listener like a puppeteer. With Albert Pöschl, Tagar, and Dizzy Errol alongside Murena, the band and Shame Over simply turn ears into an addict whilst sharing a cracked Sin City like comic book of noir fuelled escapades.

The album opens up with Newsflash Apocalypso, a dark romancing of ears with a rumble in its belly and a Yello-esque flirtation to its electro hues and devilry. Imposing in emotive dark and beguiling with a maze of vocals which trespass song and imagination, it is an attention grabbing start to the album and swift glimpse into the house of visceral shadows and provocative tales to come, starting with the outstanding Drag Race. Cowpunk rhythms and an appropriate swing quickly grip body and appetite with rockabilly devilment swiftly adding to the Cajun tinged stomp. Again vocals are a mesh of asylum bred incitement matched by beats and country hooks, an aligning of textures breeding a scent of Powersolo / Heavy Trash to its rascality.

The necrophilic romance of Le Van´s Wife immerses ears and thoughts in dank graveyard mustiness next, its soulful moon lit insight hosted by a sultry electronic glow framed by prowling rhythms. There is no escaping a Nick Cave hue to the excellent nocturnal disturbance and its smothering embrace of dark doings, or the invigorating diversity brewing in the album which continues with the reggae spiced bounce of Dancing Naked. The grouchy tone of bass enjoyably tempers the lusty shuffle of riffs and skittish beats hugged by the warm kiss of keys, a fusion of textures creating an addictively surreal surf/spaghetti western/ska flavoured hop

cover_RingMasterReview Country and rockabilly strands entwine the following Lovely Homes, skittery beats laying an eventful canvas for the smouldering dark charm of air and narrative of voice to conjure upon. Guitars and bass only add to the increasing drama, spawning a Helldorado like theatre that once having seduced ears and enjoyment, steps straight into the unbalanced horseplay of Pretty Please! which quickly has feet and thoughts jumping like a psychotic mix of Th’ Legendary Shack Shakers and Johnny Kidd and The Pirates with an added twist of The Dancing Did.

The pair simply disorientates and ignites the senses before Peace swaggers in with its throaty Johnny Cash climate and vocal dexterity as rich sultrily hued melodies wind seductively and poetically around ears. The track epitomises the whole of the album and Murena Murena sound, there seeming little going on in the building of a thick array of textures yet every moment is a kaleidoscope of new noise and imagination which reveals more and more with every dark engagement.

A lighter dance is provided by Shy Goose, its sixties pop and electro rock dance a magnetic croon which gets right under the skin with bass and beats masterfully leading the infestation. It shimmers and erupts with increasing tenacity and bewitchment before being pushed aside by the addictive sonic and rhythmic agitation of Tu Tu. Sounds and textures almost seem to battle each other in the bedlamic stomp, but in the end they simply collude for a hyperactive rock ‘n’ roll waltz that leaves body and soul alive and ready to be drawn into the psych rock haunting of War Drugs. In another twist to the album, it is a dark enveloping of the imagination which is alive with vocal psychosis and warped echoes of noise and emotion, and quite beguiling if equally disturbing.

Shame Over is brought to a close by the pair of Fossil Fuel and Fossil Fuel 2. The first is a throbbing draw of vocal resonance and ethereal electronic theatre with plenty of suggestive bite whilst its successor is a blues romancing equipped with nostalgic easy listening country-esque mesmerism. Both tracks sublimely bewitch with their individual imagination, a description which fits the whole of the quite unique and gloriously unpredictable, not forgetting wonderfully eccentric or should that be crackpot, Shame Over. Creative diablerie does not come much better or deliciously darker it is easy to say.

Shame Over is released globally by Totally Wired Records on April 15^th @ https://totallywiredrecords.bandcamp.com/album/shame-over