Label: This Is Fake DIY Records
Release Date: 06/10/08
Rating:
Popular Workshop met through an internet advert, and three years on, amazingly not one of them has turned out to be a balding middle-aged sex pervert or the son of an exiled Zimbabwean millionaire. However, the band glory in their geekiness from their math-rock glasses to their fixation with complicated time signatures and science-inspired song titles like 'X-Rays Confidential' and 'Radical'.
The album is a text-book example of when less really is more. They give the impression of musical clutter by intersecting angular guitars and abrasive vocals, but when deconstructed, the noise is surprisingly simple. The three-piece describe themselves as "not nu rave", which is true as electronica is notably absent, despite a twitchy Bloc Party-esque energy to their indie-rock which would normally be enhanced by a synth. The opening track, 'Freak Le Freak, aka the Freakster', is forty eight seconds of scratchy static and feedback.
Stand-out album track 'Her Birthday' has lead singer Gypsy yelping about post-teen euthanasia over teeth-grindingly catchy riffs, while new single 'Reptilians', lurches like a disorientated Godzilla-monster, shambolically crashing between frantic art-pop pleas of "I don't want to fall in love" and vitriolic screamo 'FUCK THIS SHIT' anarchy, all underlined by repetitive discordant guitars. They don't chaotically rush into their songs, like labelmates 'We Are The Physics, yet they are bursting with sharp, intense energy, giving them an uncomfortably controlled urgency.
'Channels' is in a jaggedly irregular time signature that will cut up four-time if it comes too close, 'All About Vikki' is a wild new interpretation of Testicicles' 'Boa Vs Python', and then the album jerks to a pitch-bending climax with the brilliantly titled 'Villains Who Twirl Their Moustaches Are Easy To Spot'. The deranged simplicity of the songs is instantly enjoyable but there is a dizzying depth to the writing and tunes that makes you want to listen to them again and again until you throw up.
Anna Dobbie
Popular Workshop Myspace
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