Posts Tagged ‘Touch ‘n’ Go’

God Bullies – As Above, So Below

Posted: 26 September 2024 in Albums, Reviews
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Reptilian Records – 4th October 2024

Christopher Nosnibor

It’s remarkable how quickly the future can become past. Take the Wikipedia entry for God Bullies for example. It closes with the statement ‘God Bullies are slotted to record a new album at Steve Albini’s Electrical Audio this April set for a September 2024 release on Reptilian Records followed by touring In the US and Europe.’

The album recording happened, and here it is, but Steve Albini isn’t – just a month after the recording of this album, and the week of the release of the latest – and now last – Shellac album. Life has a habit of throwing unpleasant surprises – something I have first-hand experience of in the most devastating of ways.

It’s been quite the year for long-dormant bands crashing in with new releases, and certainly not only Shellac – the Jesus Lizard recently dropped their first album in twenty-six years, which is staggering. And it’s a belter, as, indeed, was Shellac’s To All Trains. God Bullies certainly sit in the same bracket, as purveyors of noise rock in the 90s and aligned to classic labels Amphetamine Reptile and Alternative Tentacles. Active between 1986 and 1995, they reconvened in 2010 for the Amphetamine Reptile Records’ 25th Anniversary concert.

But that was fourteen years ago, and it would remiss to ignore the fact as part of a balanced review that there’s some dispute over this release, because, as we know, bands have a habit of falling out, and it’s widely documented how there have simultaneously been two versions of Fleetwood Mac, of Hawkwind, among others.

Bassist Mike Corso, who runs the God Bullies website explains that ‘Mike Hard and his long time band “Thrall” have chosen to illegally co-opt the God Bullies Trademark in an effort exploit its legacy in hopes of fulfilling their delusional dreams of hitting it big. And the truly sick fact is that on numerous occasions they’ve held out that they are doing it in the name and spirit of our fallen comrade, David Livingstone… Mike Hard and his band Thrall have recently recorded a CD and plan on fraudulently release it calling it the God Bullies. A little back story here. The fact of the matter is that in 2002 the actual God Bullies (Adam Berg drums, Mike Corso Bass, Mike Hard Singer, David Livingstone guitar) have had a 10 song CD with all the drum and bass tracks recorded. All that was needed was for Livingstone and Hard to do guitar and vocal tracks to complete the project. You will see numerous times mentioned about completing that album. While finishing that album was mentioned many times, completing the God Bullies album was evidently never a top priority for either Livingstone or Hard.’

And so it seems we have two different perspectives on the ‘real’ God Bullies. It’s true that this is not the album the band recorded the bones of in 2002 that never made it over the finish line. But As Above, So Below certainly does feature vocalist and founder member Mike Hard, but not bassist and founder member Mike Corso. And guitarist David Livingstone sadly died in February of last year, an event which was always going to make any subsequent activity… not quite the same. Corso says it’s not a God Bullies album… but it’s here as a God Bullies album, and, well, it sounds like one. That is to say, it’s gnarly, mangled dirty noise-rock that is quintessentially of the sound of Amphetamine Reptile and Touch ‘n’ Go in the 90s, which saw God Bullies sitting alongside a host of bands including the Jesus Lizard, Tar, Guzzard and countless others who have largely been forgotten by the majority.

Sidestepping any interpersonal wranglings between (former) band members, on its own merits, As Above, So Below is a cracker. It’s a raging, roaring tempest of noise, blurred, slurred, dingy, dirty, and vaguely demented and delirious. The riffs rage and tear savagely, and As Above, So Below is a brutal, scuzzy blast of raucous noise and rabid, manic vocals.

‘Help’ is a twisted classic and finds Hard yelling and hollering like a man possessed, while ‘You Never Know’ is more brooding and overtly contemporary goth. ‘Love’ sounds like the kind of love that will likely end in strangulation, with a hookline of ‘You call this love?’ hollered over a larynx-vibrating bass snarl. In fact, everything snarls and grinds on every track.

No doubt fans will be riotously divided on this release, and that’s understandable. But objectively, As Above, So Below works as a classic example of the ferocity of God Bullies. It may not quite be the comeback album it’s been pitched as, featuring as it does more members of Thrall than it does original God Bullies, and I’ll leave it for the band and fans to fight that one out. Sidestepping all of the stuff, As Above, So Below is a brawling dingy blast of noise and it kicks some serious ass.

AA

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Tote Kinder – No Gene Will Save Us Now

Posted: 25 November 2023 in Albums
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21st November 2023

Christopher Nosnibor

It’s now an established fact that many, if not most listeners make judgements on a song within seconds – to the extent that back in 2014, it was revealed a quarter of Spotify tracks get skipped within the first five seconds. And only thirty seconds or more counts as a stream. I suspect that figure may be even higher now, as attention spans have hardly increased in the last few years. I only speak for myself when I think of the jittery hours where scrolling and skipping has become more of a nervous twitch than social media engagement – although I still refuse to use Spotify, meaning any review request containing only a Spotify link is an instant rejection. It’s one way to filter the fifty-plus daily submissions.

But while I’m likely to give a track more than five seconds, I am prone to making pretty snap decisions when it comes to new music. The chances are the squalling mess of noise that crashlands ‘Overfed’, the opening track on No Gene Will Save Us Now by Greek ‘machine-driven noise rick duo’ Tote Kinder will repel 95% of potential listeners in less then five seconds, because its skronking scrape of slanting, skewed guitar is an instant headache – and the very reason I love it immediately. It’s a shouty, angular mess of – well, everything, and probably the first time I’ve heard anything overtly mathy and a bit Truman’s Water using quite such a barrage of drums right up front. It’s like The Young Gods in collision with Daughters and slams hard between the eyes, and the crunchy bass-led ‘Permanent Damage’ is equally hard-hitting. Taking its guitar cues from Gang of Four, it’s noisy and difficult, despite its leaning towards a groove.

‘Hard to Swallow’ really is, arriving in a shrill blast of power electronics with overloading noise before plunging into darkness and with distorted bass and thudding relentless drums. It’s a hybrid of DAF and PIL, and it’s strong. It doesn’t stop. ‘Die Letzte Weste’ is all thumping beats and grinding bas, again reminiscent of DAF – at least until the blasting guitar noise crunches in, and thereafter, it’s Foetus and KMFDM who spring to mind, but there are others, too. This is some full-spectrum noise.

Tote Kinder are taut tight, poised, in their delivery of churning industrial noise. ‘The Falling Man’ is a sneering, snarling, industrial chug worthy of Filth Pig era ministry, a workout that froths with nihilism. The last couple of tracks don’t exactly offer a mellow finish – and nor should they.

No Gene Will Save Us Now may only contain seven tracks, but they’re all strong and incredibly hard-hitting. – and fittingly reminds us that we are all fucked. Why will people not accept or otherwise recognise this? They just continue as normal, booking their overseas holidays. We are so over. And this album will so break your head.

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Ballpeen – Pachinko

Posted: 28 May 2020 in Albums
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Cruel Nature Records – 19th June 2020

Christopher Nosnibor

Much as I love living in York because of The Fulford Arms, and the ease of access to limitless gigs in Leeds (without having to actually live in Leeds), I’m starting to think that Newcastle is the place to be.

Cruel Nature’s roster is reason alone, and this latest offering from full-throttle noisemakers Ballpeen is exemplary. Three years on from their first live show and, the band have established themselves, ‘through releases on premier DIY punk label, Serial Bowl Records’. As the press release recounts, ‘2018’s ‘Loose Knot’ with its wry nod to Black Flag in title and excellent artwork, rapped five across the listener’s brow from the get-go, with its attention-grabbing power and undulating groove, coursing through the 6 tracks, leaving you thirsty – but not miserable – for more’.

In attempting to capture the energy of their live performances, Pachinko is a relentlessly balls-out, up front amalgamation of all things post-hardcore, with a big, bold 90s slant that evokes the spirit of Touch & Go and Amphetamine Reptile, as well as contemporaneous little UK labels like Eve Recordings and Jackass.

At times, it feels like we’re wading through endless indie sameness, and even so much alternative music, spanning metal, hardcore, post-hardcore and whatever else you’ve got simply fails to hit the spot, and I’ve felt listless, uninspired many evenings while reviewing these last few weeks. And then Pachinko slams in with a proper smack to the chops and I’m instantly reinvigorated and reminded of all of the reasons for music. Pachinko is distilled excitement. The album’s eight tracks are packed back-to-back and are all the guitars, spasmodic, jolting, big distortion. The fact it’s a mere twenty-one minutes in duration indicates the density and hell-for-leather pace of the album, which last less time than it takes some bands to tune up, or in the case of Sunn O))), to strike the first chord.

Pachinko isn’t pretty: it’s direct, and drives straight for the jugular. Following the lurching drive of ‘One Man’s Opinion’, a thorny mess of Killing Joke and early Therapy? with a dash of Milk, ‘Flipper’ brings a downtuned churning riff assault, before ‘Ornate Coleman’ slugs out a messy morass of guitar-driven abrasion.

Blending Trail of Dead and Blacklisters at their most attacking, or to pluck lesser-known but perhaps more accurate reference points, Tar, Guzzard, and Hora Douse all spin into Ballpeen’s sonic blast.

‘Kancho’ goes full-on Bleach era Nirvana with a driving, circular riff and sprays of feedback bursting from the halts in the crushing percussion. It’s heavy in a relentless, churning way. Some songs, like the closer, ‘No Mark’ are straight-ahead hardcore punishers that are Black Flag and all the hardcore releases Southern Lord have released in the last five years rolled together and deep-fried in breadcrumbs that stick in the throat simply to choke you.

No prisoners. No respite. Just full-on fury. The best.

AA

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Throat – Bareback

Posted: 23 July 2018 in Albums
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Svart Records – 31st August 2018

Christopher Nosnibor

I read ‘ffo Unsane, Jesus Lizard, Shellac, Blacklisters’ and practically jazzed my pants before I’d even opened the email, let along downloaded the promo. That was before I read the slick, sleazy, fluid-dripping pitch for Finland-based Throat’s sophomore album, as seeing the band plunging ‘head first into unprotected encounters with musical elements hardly even hinted at on their previous releases.’

‘Safe Unsound’ opens the album with a sparse into: just guitar and baritone croon that invited comparisons to Glenn Danzig. But then the guitar goes to picked notes and the atmosphere builds into more Neurosis territory… but they keep pulling back. You’re waiting for it to break, for something to happen… How long is it reasonable to hold back? I recall seeing Shellac-influenced Glasgow act Aereogramme circa 2003 and being bored to tears: there simply wasn’t enough reward for the patience of enduring the build-up. But then, Shellac can be masters of frustration: just listen to Terraform.Thankfully, Throat cut loose and hit the distortion pedals around the three-and-a-half minute mark during this eight-and-a-half minute epic. And the song has a sort of coda which is a repetitive, grinding loop worthy of early Swans, which culminates of two minutes of screeding feedback and noise. So far, so punishing. And there are still another seven songs left to go.

‘No Hard Shoulder’ justifies the Jesus Lizard/ Blacklisters comparisons, with its driving guitar and bass welded together and glued to pulverizing drums that forge a Melvins-ish take on grungy stoner rock. Gritty, shouty, unpolished, it also evokes the Touch ‘n’ Go vibe while also hinting at favourable parallels with contemporaries like Pissed Jeans. So far, my jizzed pants are justified, and the rest of the album doesn’t disappoint.

Things go a bit Techno Animal / Godflesh / NIN on ‘Shortage (Version)’ with its hefty, crashing beats, straining digital noise and thickly distorted vocals which, in combination, carve out a lugubrious, funereal piece. Dense and dark I equal measure, it provides a mid-album interlude of crushing, neogoth intensity that stands quite apart from the other tracks. and the sonorous, subsonic bass just kills.

‘Born Old’ slams back into 90’s T&G territory and sounds like Tar at their best. Obscure? Sure, but if you get the reference, the album’s for you. If you don’t, but are digging Throat, you need Tar in hour life. Really. ‘Rat Domain’ slams and churns hard, the jarring grunge riffery whipping up a churn that resonates in the gut, before closer ‘Maritime’ hammers home six minutes of brutally jarring noise-rock, which is angular, sinewy, and relentless in its abrasion, and even brings a hint of the gothic before piledriving into the home straight with a remarkably accessible, melodic finale. If it seems at odds with the rest of the album, it’s hardly a weak finish, and instead demonstrates that Throat aren’t all about the gnarly noise… just mostly.

AA

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