Castrovalva
Wednesday, April 29th, 2009 by Mag
Hailing from Leeds, Castrovalva take their inspiration not from the Leeds music scene, but from some of the noise drum/bass duos America has to offer, acts like Lightning Bolt, Health and Death From Above 1979. Their self-titled mini-album will be out May 4th. It’s loud, it’s gritty and it’s in-your-face.
The album opens with ‘Max Rhodes’ where its sample of a quiet radio broadcast is harshly overshadowed with roaring bursts of heavily distorted bass, carving its way into a song. The drums pound and crash their way though the tracks, accompanying the bass in and between it’s vast, distorted screams. ‘We Don’t Go To Ravenholm’ (the title obviously referencing Half-Life 2’s Ravenholm) breaks the heavy distortion rule with its bouncy opening bass-line, but quickly thrown back into the deep-end.
Eventually the album finds its way to ‘London Kills Me’, which takes a break from the instrument thrashery, replacing it with discordant pumping organ and an almost ambient soundscape of noise and feedback. Just as it flails you into any sort of false comfort, you’re quickly launched head-first into ‘My Father Bleeds History’, which churns along, sounding as if someone is attempting to play a broken bass guitar through some smashed-up, 20 year-old amp, yet still *somehow* sounding coherant.
‘Bellhousen’ is up next, which is the only song to feature any sort of vocals on the album. They’re high-pitched and suitably fitting, but the short song is quickly pushed aside by ‘Triceratops’, possibly the strongest track on the album. Its heartbeat bass drum pounds away, being slowly overthrown by heavily-distorted bass, and catchy riff roars at you (like a Triceratops? :D). There are moments here where I begin to actually think I’m listening to Lightning Bolt, which is a very good thing! (they’re awesum).
Clocking in at just over 20 minutes, the album goes where other bands are too scared to go, thrashing you around its steel-cage and throwing you out the other side feeling bruised, battered, but ultimately intrigued by its rough and unmerciful brutality. It’s an awesome debut from a duo, which even with their heads in the clouds, know exactly where their feet are placed.
Hailing from Leeds, Castrovalva take their inspiration not from the Leeds music scene, but from some of the noise drum/bass duos America has to offer, acts like Lightning Bolt, Health and Death From Above 1979. Their self-titled mini-album will be out May 4th. It’s loud, it’s gritty and it’s in-your-face.
The album opens with ‘Max Rhodes’ where its sample of a quiet radio broadcast is harshly overshadowed with roaring bursts of heavily distorted bass, carving its way into a song. The drums pound and crash their way though the tracks, accompanying the bass in and between it’s vast, distorted screams. ‘We Don’t Go To Ravenholm’ (the title obviously referencing Half-Life 2’s Ravenholm) breaks the heavy distortion rule with its bouncy opening bass-line, but quickly thrown back into the deep-end.
Eventually the album finds its way to ‘London Kills Me’, which takes a break from the instrument thrashery, replacing it with discordant pumping organ and an almost ambient soundscape of noise and feedback. Just as it flails you into any sort of false comfort, you’re quickly launched head-first into ‘My Father Bleeds History’, which churns along, sounding as if someone is attempting to play a broken bass guitar through some smashed-up, 20 year-old amp, yet still *somehow* sounding coherant.
‘Bellhousen’ is up next, which is the only song to feature any sort of vocals on the album. They’re high-pitched and suitably fitting, but the short song is quickly pushed aside by ‘Triceratops’, possibly the strongest track on the album. Its heartbeat bass drum pounds away, being slowly overthrown by heavily-distorted bass, and catchy riff roars at you (like a Triceratops? :D). There are moments here where I begin to actually think I’m listening to Lightning Bolt, which is a very good thing! (they’re awesum).
Clocking in at just over 20 minutes, the album goes where other bands are too scared to go, thrashing you around its steel-cage and throwing you out the other side feeling bruised, battered, but ultimately intrigued by its rough and unmerciful brutality. It’s an awesome debut from a duo, which even with their heads in the clouds, know exactly where their feet are placed.
Dirty Projectors‘ upcoming album, ‘Bitte Orca’, leaves where ‘Rise Above’ left off, only this time around it’s all original songs (Rise Above was an attempt to remake the Black Flag album, Damaged, from-memory). It’s definitely their most accomplished and accessible album to date. ‘Remade Horizon’ is a stand-out song for me, with a sweet chorus line. Yeahhh I wanna!
I thoroughly enjoyed Errors‘ ‘How Clean Is Your Acid House’ EP, so naturally I wanted moar. Out in Manchester last week, I picked up their album ‘It’s Not Something But It Is Like Whatever’. It’s more of the same, which is all great. Here’s ‘Toes‘ for you to enjoy, not just because it has a great name, but because it has some heavy driving melody to it! Enjoy!