TWINKRANES - BEING KONG

Technicolor flashes. Disturbing thoughts. Motorik with mushrooms. twiNkranes. Propuslive. Pulsive. Kraut-rock. Psychedelia. Vintage electronics. Experimentation. Primal Beats. Can and Faust. Plateau. Being Kong. It's a Krane thing.


TWINKRANES released Being Kong as their second single this week, which will undoubtedly be playlisted in every conceivable outlet with good taste in music here, and many others besides, as was their more kraut-rock oriented cocktail Plateau from last year. What you get for your money this time around is a propulsive beat infused pulsation, a relentless four minute journey through the warped-up world of Krane. Contrare to insinuating these guys take LSD, I'd actually say they simply don't need to. The world of Krane is strange enough already. Not to be overlooked, the flipside Witch Hunt gives Kong good run for its money. Another four minutes, more tranced than Kong, it is just as propulsive, but more varied, from the twisted dreaminess of 'get your gun, check your change, cut your tongue' to the trance of its adrenalised rhythms.

From the weird world of Krane, the press pack spins Kong as 'this springtime's happiest sick flick jingle'. The video to Being Kong can be viewed from their myspace page. Expand your mind and indulge a little. The single was released this week and can be ordered through their myspace page.

Related Links:

http://www.myspace.com/twinkranes

http://www.twinkranes.com

No More Yesterdays

Growing an online presence on myspace quite rapidly over the past few months, No More Yesterdays is an uncompromisingly hardcore solo artist by the name of Chris Eaton from Ballymena in Northern Ireland. An artist who, not to be confused with the christian singer/songwriter of the same name, chose the moniker after an early gig saw a large turnout expecting to hear his namesake. On that particular night, his music must have been received like fingernail to a chalkboard, but I find it quite refreshing to encounter people like Chris pushing the boundaries of what is acceptable to the ear, exploring noise and experimenting with it.

Tracks currently available to download on his myspace include Skinner Box Experiment, The Cut Throat Manifesto, Line In and Line Out. No doubt, the tracks may change soon. I've been listening in the past week, and already a few have come and gone. Crossing the unavoidable terrain of drawing comparisons, lets just pitch his material at a condensed GSYBA delivered hardcore, brutalised and minimalist. I'd guess he would not appreciate the comparison however. This is an artist who apparently deleted his last profile without warning during a temper tantrum, so perhaps not one to be taken too fondly to another drawing lazy allusions on his work. Back to the material currently on offer, yes it's not for everyone, but it will appeal to many who appreciate a challenge. Is the listener the subject of his skinner box experiment? Perhaps. For those looking for an easy inroad, listen to Line Out, an ambient post-rock piece that doesn't draw you into the more characteristic abrasion of his work until its close. If you prefer to jump in the deep end, turn the speakers up to 11, stand at the far corner of the room, and brace yourself for the Skinner Box Experiment. How will you react? Well, that's the whole point of the experiment isn't it? More please.

Related Links:

http://www.myspace.com/nomoreyesterdays

http://trig.com/nomoreyesterdays

Crimes Against

Crimes Against are the more experimental side-project of Dublin punk rock band Sickboy. I've mentioned them in passing here before, but with a lot of activity on the Crimes Against front of late, a fresh mention is now warranted.

They've recently recorded a track titled 'Dropping In' which features Shaun Mulroony of Humanzi on guitars and vocals, and is a rather excellent punk song with a massive dose of adrenalin and strong shades of Joy Division, not just in Shaun's vocal style but in the propulsive rhythm section and a gritty overpowering bass line. A track well worth checking out, it is the precursor to a Crimes Against collaborative album which is being worked on at the moment which will also feature Neil Moore of The Things, The Mighty Steff and others, and with such a lineup, is looking like it will be quite a mouth watering prospect. It seem as though Crimes Against are about to overshadow Sickboy this year, which in my book would be no mean feat, given the quality of some of Sickboy's material to date.

Also well worth checking out is the video to 'Barb Wire', the sounds and images of an underground scene, with driving punk beats and an infectiously clanking bass line, inviting “come on feel barb wire, come on feel the wire.. on methadone", it doesn't shy away from the stains of the scene it represents here, and with some sparse rock guitar melodies descending into feedback towards the finish, for me it all makes for quite a compulsive listen. The album is due to be finished by the end of 2007, and from here looks like one well worth getting excited about.

Related Links:

http://www.myspace.com/crimesagainst

Matt Lane

It may be early days yet, but already showing signs of promise are Matt Lane, a fledgling indie rock band from the Dublin area with a sound quite similar to JJ72, and who will surely be winning admirers from fans left behind by that band now.

Let's not push the JJ72 comparison too far here however, as there are quite a few differentiators in Matt Lane, in particular their tendency to shift gear into a coarser punk frenzy from time to time, as they do in both 'Surrender to Silence' and 'Anything To Come To', the latter of which actually echoes closer to Placebo from verse to verse, so quite a bit more going on here. A third demo in 'Don't Know What To Say' is quite weaker, but they are currently back recording further material, and as a band who really just started recording a few months ago, I think the seeds of quite a decent band can be heard here. I'll leave it to others to figure out why a band made up of a Stephen, a Brien and a Ray call themselves Matt Lane, but with an aim to start playing the live circuit here over the coming months, they could be one to watch out for. I wonder if the real Matt Lane will take exception.

Related Links:

http://www.myspace.com/mattlaneband

http://mattlanemusic.bebo.com

MAINLINE - Where The Ghosts Meet EP

Although their only previous release to now has been the limited edition 'Black Honey' single from 2005, a lack of further releases hasn't stopped Dublin's MAINLINE from establishing themselves as Dublin's finest psychedelic rock band, nor has the lack of released material prevented them from moving towards an international scene over the past few years which has encompassed the sounds of The Black Angels, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, The Tamborines and The Morning After Girls. Appearances playing alongside some of these bands abroad have included such venues as the much reputed Sonic Cathedral at The Legion in London. MAINLINE, to say the least, have been impressing audiences.


Back when I reviewed a gig of theirs last year, I singled out their unreleased track 'Where The Ghosts Meet' for particular mention. As a noisy psychedelic groove with an aching vocal akin to that of Spiritualized's, primal drumming coupled into a melody echoing The Velvet Underground's 'Heroin', and an excellent riff towards the finish touching on some from The Jesus and Mary Chain's Honeys Dead era, it has all the right ingredients of a perfect psychedelic rock song. It finally sees the light of day this week as the title track to their debut EP, released this March 9th.

As for the other material on the new release, 'No Compromise' stands out as a rather beautifully stripped down song delivered with quaint harmony on vocals all the way through, and with understated lyrics such as "well I know it's kinda hard to be in your shoes right now" it's all quite charmingly captivating, '52 Strings' may be familiar territory, but has a deliciously repetitive groove to it, which gradually builds up without ever blowing over, while closing track 'The Call' takes a slight shift in vocal style, edging more powerful and confident, almost along the lines of Ian McCulloch in parts, but keeps to their characteristic feedback laced guitars, and is quite a strong track to close the EP with. This is a long overdue release by MAINLINE, which goes some way towards correcting an imbalance in unreleased material, but with other fine tracks recorded such as 'Mary Jane' held back from the EP, and the 'Black Honey' single long since sold-out, one wonders whether an aggregate album could yet lie in wait.

A short Irish tour is lined up over March encompassing gigs in Dublin, Belfast, Limerick and Waterford, with more dates expected to be announced soon. Material from the EP can be streamed from their myspace page.

Related Links:

http://www.myspace.com/mainline

http://www.mainlinesounds.com

The Beauty Contest

A rather interesting find of late have been The Beauty Contest, an instrumental indie/shoegaze 3-piece from Galway who seemingly formed earlier this year. They've two demos available to download from a recently created myspace page, simply titled 'Demo 1' and 'Demo 2', with influences credited to Whipping Boy, The Cure, Joy Division, VHS or Beta, Velvet Underground, The Jesus and Mary Chain and My Bloody Valentine. I'd like to turn your attention to the second of these demos, which has melodies reminiscent of The Cure's Disintegration period, yet once in it's stride is overtaken by fuzzed up shoegaze guitar melodies. It's all quite simple in idea, but works well as a hypnotic blend of sounds, and could be a band worth keeping an eye on for more material now.

Related Links:

http://www.myspace.com/enterthebeautycontest

Aviator Shades

More metal for a change.. Maynooth based Aviator Shades, although still unsigned it seems, have been one of the more talked about metal bands in Ireland of late, and are certainly amongst the best of them emerging here. They've put their EP from last year up on their myspace page free to download.

Doin' Alright, the standout track on that EP has an incredibly catchy metal riff to it, and although not amongst their influences, the vocals remind me quite a bit of Ian Astbury from The Cult. All around, this one is quite an excellent track. As for influences, you'll hear some a lot clearer in the rest of their material. Eye Of The Storm sounds particularly influenced by early-mid Metallica, with an intro reminiscent of For Whom The Bell Tolls, and once the track launches into its stride it isn't a million miles from Harvester Of Sorrow in terms of style. Slice Of The Pie is perhaps a bit closer to early metal such as Black Sabbath, where they go for a classic twin lead sound, while a rather fine power ballad is also to be found in Other Side Of Heaven, which sounds all the more appealing in the more casual setting of a live video broadcast, also on their myspace page. Built around lyrics such as 'ill wait for you like the roses for rain, and i just can't fight this pain' it's clear they've taken inspiration from Poison's Every Rose, as so many others have done before, and more than a touch clichéd at this stage - but why not, it was and still is the definitive power-rock ballad. However, I still have to cringe at a Bryan Adams influence also to be heard running through this Aviator Shades track. All in all though, there's a lot more good than bad in Aviator Shades, clear even from the perspective of someone who has been sick to the back teeth of 80's power-rock bands and those inspired by them for a very long time, with just the odd exception. Aviator Shades are a band that take influence from a wide berth of 80s power rock, metal and some older generation metal, a berth which shows they know their genre well, and know how to craft an impressive marksmanship into material which has and will continue to win them admirers. I expect we'll hear a lot more to come from these guys as they begin to look further afield than Dublin now, having already played many top venues there.

Related Links:

http://www.myspace.com/rawnovember

http://www.aviatorshades.net

ALCHEMY - Room66

Dipping into the metal scene here in Ireland a bit of late, a track which has stood out above the rest has been 'Room66' by Roscommon band Alchemy. A hard working band who've gigged around quite a lot over the past few years, they've supported a few high profile bands from here I'd rather never mention. They're certainly not in the sphere of bands I'd normally listen to. However, describing their sound as 'a blend of anger, love, revenge and tears exploding through your speakers', in Room66 this is essentially what you get, and is quite a good one. Unfortunately, in terms of the appeal of their music to this particular listener, it gets a lot worse after that, but I'll happily take exception with Room66. It may be anthemic and power metal, but it's also grounded in a trashy fast tight riff, edging, raw and angry enough to have an interlude veering on punk without it sounding out of place. I'm not a fan of metal, and haven't been for some time, but a good song is a good song regardless of genre, and this is one worth mentioning here. As for influences, they cite everything from Muse to Trivium to Foo Fighters, though none are too obvious listening back, or not to my ear anyway.



They've some new material on the way soon, so perhaps worth watching their space. In the meanwhile, for those interested, the current material comes from a self-produced album made last year, a copy of which can be obtained by getting in touch with the band via their myspace or bebo page, where 'Room66' streams.

Related Links:

http://www.myspace.com/bandturbulencemusic

http://band-alchemy.bebo.com