My knowledge of the country of Denmark prior to this view consisted of; A: the country of Denmark is located in Europe and; B: It's small and near Germany. I was close enough with my initial predictions, however, as I sit here writing this review, I honestly haven't discovered much more about the Danes. If anything, the only musically relevant things about the tiny peninsula is the Roskilde festival - the second biggest festival in all of Europe surprisingly enough - and a small but thriving underground punk scene that's slowly gaining exposure. Among these artists include various noise-rock/post-punk outfits such as The City Kill, ADS, and Melting Walkmen, but whereas these bands step back to create some atmosphere, Iceage decides to shove a handful down your throat.
That's the beauty of Iceage. The group consists of four 18-20 year olds with a thirst for blood and a knowledge of the essential post-punk scene. It's a weird mix really, one that both calls for the UK invasion of the late 70s as well as the likes of Joy Division and Wire. But any sort of heaviness received from this album is mostly the bands in-your-face intimacy that they embrace so well. I mentioned something like this in my Cloud Nothings review, but production on a lo-fi record is just as important than on any general studio album. Iceage's New Brigade genuinely sounds like it's being played in-front of you. The yelled refrains seemingly fill the room while the guitars and percussion take what's left and boost the volume louder.
At times, this forceful approach may contradict the post-punk roots too much, but on a whole it works well enough to not even be close to a problem. Hell, this originality is key for New Brigade - without it's hefty set of balls you probably couldn't tell it apart from it's respective counterparts in the somewhat dead punk scene. "Count Me In" runs straight at you with a thundering guitar riff and a hesitating chorus-thing. It's fast, and surely eye-opening, but its then immediately answered by a chaotic yet relatively controlled Wire-esque track submerged under a wall of rolling floor-toms and bizarre-sounding chords. The difference between these two songs is obvious even to the most inexperienced listener, but the uncanny transitionss flow so mysteriously well that I guess you just have to take it for granted.
New Brigade is short and sweet, never displaying any weaknesses despite going all out. Tempo changes are omnipresent and almost expected, but even with all the flurries and subsequesent eye-of-the-storm moments, New Brigade works as well as it needs to. On "Broken Bone" the harsh chords and bombarding percussion somehow segues into an unexpectedly catchy dance beat. It's puzzling to say the least, one of the more random parts of an already unpredictable affair, but Iceage seem to consistently answer with an equally predictable response - Why not?
4/5
Recommended Tracks: "Broken Bone", "White Rune", "Never Return", "New Brigade"
No comments:
Post a Comment