And now for something completely different
Let’s face it, I’ve been rather stuck in the past on here for the last couple of weeks. Free? King Crimson? Terry Riley? Even I am Kloot has a distinctly retro feel to it. This way pipe and slippers lie.
So, I’m very glad to get my teeth into something brand spankingly shiny and new that is worth getting unashamedly excited about: Atomic Hooligan’s You Are Here. The most fun I’ve had since LCD Soundsystem.
First heard by me on Sunday night on Eddie Temple Morris’s excellent Remix show on Xfm. I had to stop the car (on the way to the dump to get rid of a load of soil from the garden) to write down who they were because I can’t remember anything anymore.
What is it? Well they’re producer/ DJs who’ve roped in some very neat vocalists. Think breakbeats with lots of squelches and bleeps and all sorts of good honest messy, mildly anthemic dance stuff, add the odd tactical guitar riff, and then a layer of really quite funky vocals and there you go.
There’s five different vocalists. [One is called ‘carpet face’ - why?] - and the vocals mean that even though it’s all rather noisy it’s also quite melodic and listenable - which is the perfect mix for us ageing ex-clubbers.
Here’s their (rather scant) site, and you can find out more about them on the 4gmusic site (they’re from Watford and they’ve been on the cover of DJ Magazine). You can even try and hire them here.
There’s a review here on the BBC site - although it’s obviously written by a young person..and you might want to put it through some sort of translation engine to understand what a ‘grime joint’ is etc.