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Waves of Fury – Blood of Fury EP

Album review

Kicking in with ‘The Killer Inside Me’, Waves of Fury’s debut EP sets the band up as one part Jesus and Mary Chain with their fuzzy guitars, one part Iggy & The Stooges with the proto-punk vocals. And another part a blustering brass orientated and djembe noodling world music act (not forgetting the pianos).

‘Jellyroll’ and ‘Death of a Vampire’ take them on a more party friendly route. Here the brass takes a more up front and skank-y approach. It’s in ‘Pretender Soul’, with its minimalistic keys and acosutic guitars mixed with a mellow, ambient soundscape, that the band really take off though. The intimate vocals and the looping, deep bass line find just right balance somewhere between Britpop and My Bloody Valentine.

Despite the angry band name and downbeat song titles, and the kiss off in ‘Pretender Soul’ (“all our sadness, all our pain”) the upbeat and booming scuzz ska sound here winks to the fun side of this trio.

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Balam Acab - Wander / Wonder

Balam Acab - Wander / Wonder
Tri Angle is another label at the moment who, in the electronica scene at least, are really pushing boundaries and releasing great sounds. Balam Acab has been at the forefront of this label since day one. The first EP ('See Birds') this American did caught the attention of music muso's up and down the country, and now he's got his debut LP out. In between that EP and this he also released an unofficial pseudonym project, 'Free Etherea', which got some lighter, bounceir dance sounds off his chest and has obviously pushed him to add some of it to his latest efforts. The dark, brooding and ambient sound of his first EP opens the album in 'Welcome', before launching into a euphoric, chiming chorus (as much of a chorus as he does, anyway). While the likes of Mount Kimbie stick to their 'dub' genre wholeheartedly, there's enough subtle genre hopping here to confuse the most up to date on whatever music genres are most trendy at the moment. One moment it's the recent Warp sound 'nu jazz' thing, the next it's droning, ambient soundscapes. The bleak, crystalline artwork says as much about this record as can be said. There may be waves of moodiness and pessimistic beats here, but in between it all is always a spark of flouresecent, dance floor friendly light. Most confusingly of all, the vocal samples never sound too far off from being distorted choruses taken off a recent R'n'B track. Take that conformists.
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EP Address: Datassette, Sudan Archives, Mighty Lord Deathman and more…

We look back at some of the best EPs released over the summer, including debuts by Sudan Archives and Mighty Lord Deathman…

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