UNDER THE INFLUENCE- Late night circus show EP.
Here are three songs that finely display the sound that you would expect
from four 16- year-old boys from Kings Lynn, who enclosed in their press
pack a questionnaire and SAE for those to respond with feedback or offers
of work, a move I have not seen before and something I am not sure doesnt
have the completely opposite effect to that desired, instead just instantly
screaming amateur.
www.myspace.com/officialundertheinfluencemusic THE PARKS DEPT.- No/Noise The Parks Dept. is apparently what happened when musician and producer, Luke Farmer, sat down armed with nothing but a laptop, drum machine and trusty Fender Bronco and put the results onto plastic, the results in question earning him comparisons to indie-electros finest, Daft Punk and LCD Soundsystem. Very good too. And from opening track, French Hands: Parts One and Two, it is clear that Farmer favours a similar subversive approach to music as his influences, though the sound of a CD skipping for a few minutes amongst some beeps and bleeps forces me to question the amount of talent needed to create it and so making the CD skip myself onto the next track. Thankfully, what follows is much more representative of what is found here and whether it will be deemed a mistake to put something much less listener-friendly first remains to be seen, as the rest of the album is in stark contrast. Flitting from bass-heavy Tiga-inspired alternative dance anthems, complete with obligatory sounds borrowed from 80s computer games consoles and drumbeats from the school of Peaches, to something a bit more new wave/ punk (TPDs most mature track is actually called The New Wave-a subtly dramatic, melancholy offering despite its cute synths, again proving the worth of further comparisons to Joy Division- though I would have said New Order myself). Occasional vocal effects nod to Airs Kelly loves the stars and this carefree kooky edge continues on Saturday in a style reminiscent of Of Montreal, only let down by the poor lyrical content which ends up sounding a bit like The Vichy Government and we all remember how much I loved them.
It is this range of influences, however, that makes No/Noise more interesting than your average electro album, whilst the additional instrumentation in the form of guitars and, at times, live drums, showcase an obvious musical prowess. Indeed, I used to dance to stuff like this at various places to be seen on Tottenham Court Road back in the day. A fine memory I have is of a man in a sweatband splitting his skinny jeans whilst furiously breakdancing. The Parks Dept. makes for a nice revival and it is available for your perusal right away. http://www.myspace.com/theparksdept Anna C |