press

ALBUM REVIEW: THE ADVENTURES OF LOKI – The Adventures Of Loki (Maitre-d) - Just one second chance, I see a little silhouetto of a man, get in touch, get in touch, get in touch with your feminine side... They’ll catch you in their headlamps, knife to your back, gun to your heart, and that’s just how it starts... Dance like maniac, lose control. Teathered and tongue-tied, feisty ball of colourful indie-punk energy (indie-punk? How damn lazy of us is that, write proper reviews godammit!) and a tag-team of girl/boy shouty vocals to go with the frantic attitude and the beating of everything to submission before they tone it down and settle in to the body of the album...  Two girls on bass and drums, boy on guitar, they’re from Lancaster, North of England, they serenade, they scream, they got it, they got, they got it, they know you’re gonna get it... Debut album after a couple of well received singles and see how they can turn you inside out.. Energy, melody, spikiness, they want to do something before you die... She’s one hell of a raw energetic drummer, Rachel is her name, anchoring it down and pulling you all over the place while the other two – Brigit and Steve – add the colour... A raw threesome, raw frantic energy that has a lot more than just the energy to hold it all together and Get Yr Beat On. Seems it was a little more than just a couple of promising singles and a ball or energy then, seems they have some substance, a touch of depth, something that marks them out as just a little more... Angular, slicing, inventive, edgy.... good good good, get in touch, get in touch with your feminine side, the tough mean no messing side... 

Deux bonnes années après les deux premiers volets de ses aventures discographiques, le trio mixte et gagnant passe à la vitesse supérieure en nous offrant son premier opus. Ainsi les deux vieux titres emblématiques brillants qui firent les beaux jours des débuts, à savoir Feminine Side et le plus récent Dance Like A Maniac, figurent parmi les seules trois compositions rescapées de l’année 2007 où le combo perça. Fort de 9 nouvelles chansons, l’album éponyme, réalisé chez Genepool, signe résolument le véritable départ de la formation.

Proposant un son toujours aussi immédiat et rugueux, de même que des mélodies simplistes et implacables, à l’instar d’un Cashcow tonitruant ou encore d’un Get Yr Beat On enlevé et obsédant, The Adventures Of Loki revisite le rock urgent et protestataire, parfois teinté d’une subtile touche pop. Il n’en demeure pas moins qu’à l’image de brûlots comme Thought Shapes et Picture Of Love, l’originalité et l’efficacité sont toujours de mise. En effet, on se trouve en présence d’un punk très rigoureux bien que débridé.

Si l’on peut reprocher à l’effort discographique au long cours une certaine monotonie, essentiellement due à une production sans relief, perceptible notamment sur Lost ou Blackout, le premier album de la formation tient toutes ses promesses et s’avère plutôt réussi. On déplore cependant la prise d’une certaine distance vis-à-vis d’un état d’esprit plus indépendant qui avait donné un caractère si pétillant au tout premier EP, lequel demeure malgré tout la référence ultime pour un groupe qui doit toujours faire ses preuves avant de prétendre au titre de nouveau fer de lance du rock britannique.

Fiery and full of more bounce than a rabbit on a trampoline, TAOL play an exciting, if rough, alternative rock. Simplistic but effortlessly catchy without descending into pop or appearing as pretentious as the many hipster fans their Victorian English Gentlemens Club-meets-Sons & Daughters rock will likely attract. An engaging, infectious track from a band worth keeping an eye on.

Totally wired. From the word go with its frenetic scatter attack in your face full frontal assault charge this freak show baby just refuses to relent. The second release from this Lancaster based three piece following their acclaimed 'Feminine Side' outing which - bugger - we missed. 'dance like a maniac' is quite frankly the most off the wall and devilishly delicious thing to have had us bouncing off the walls while near destroying our poor hapless hi-fi since the Victorian Gentlemens English Club's debut release wrestled its way through our mail box and held siege to our listening space. Fast, furious, demented and happily bonkers, 'dance like a maniac' is as the title suggests a fried and unhinged invitation to go mental - teetering precariously on a finite knife edge between chaos and collapse this festering slice of unstoppable unruly pop carnage is just what the doctor ordered. Obtuse, angular, acerbic and anarchic, this boy / girl delivered primal paint bomb stutters with playful menace coercing dislocated hip swerving savvy with a deliciously twisted candy pop underpin that'll floor you just for its brazen audacity. Flip over for the slightly more toned down yet equally frenetic 'split' which if I didn't know better I'd say was B-52's recalibrated with a rampant post punk / art pop mindset relearning how to play from scratch and using the Pixies 'Surfer Rosa' as a template from to crank out spitefully twisted fractured morsels of acute anti-pop. Frankly kids this lot wipe the floor with most of the talent-lsss tat that seem to hog the column inches of the music rags. Expect a whole full lengths worth of twisted treasures in the shape of 'melomania' early next year.

Wired and abrasive like The Pixies in a knife frenzy with Cay, TAOL are the sort of band you literally feel an electric shock leap from the speakers as you press play - harnessing the malevolence of The Cramps with the bouncy, care free attitude of The Slits (without any cod-reggae thankfully). A stunning slice of new wave genius from a band we hope to hear a lot more from in the near future!