No, it's not reggae as the album's cover and title may suggest; it's far more avant-garde and not constricted to genre (not to put down reggae). It is super loose, with casio twee keyboards mxied together with rhythmic staccato high volume guitar feedback that gently coincides with isolated single note chord progressions on a guitar like "Rotten Kingdom".
Sure, there are allusions to reggae on this release; there's pre-recorded rantings from men with Jamaican accents I have a hard time discerning. But at its heart this is DESTROY ALL MONSTERS level "giving negative fucks" rock'n'roll.
Some of the noise jams are more successful than others. Some songs sound like a dude just jammin' out in his bedroom, which is fine, but maybe he should just keep it to his bedroom, like on "Double Attack".
"Fugue States" starts out spare, with the distinct Midnight Mines motiff of reverberated Jamaican reggae loops but gradually it becomes psychedelic noise jam rock.
The cassette ends with "Bunker Dub" which RULES. All systems go noise jam with caveman drum beats. Straight to the point, ending with ambient spaceman chatter. All that in under 2 minutes. Damn, good things are brewing in London.
There's a lot going on on this cassette, the musicians are really pushing their boundaries of low-fi recording. The cassette gives off Black Dice vibes and some late eighties Sonic Youth amp destruction, but with DJ influence thrown in. Love this cassette, highly recommended.
LISTEN TO IT HERE - http://midnightmines.bandcamp.com/album/dancehall-style
--Jack Turnbull
Posts
