ALBUM REVIEWS
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ALBUM REVIEWS |
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Kong
SNAKE MAGNET BREW RECORDS / WHITE DRUGS (in the US) 13.7.09 @www.vanguard-online.co.uk
It comes as no surprise that Brew Records would host Kong, another deranged band of noiseniks, since they act as the other bookend on the mantelpiece to Castrovalva. Think distorted bass, distorted guitar, distorted drums, hoarse vocals, churning and writhing sounds and a general explosion of sound. It’s a local sound in Leeds at the moment, home of Brew Records, alongside Pulled Apart By Horses or the more song-based Dinosaur Pile Up. Kong are a three-piece spin-off from Manchester’s arty Oceansize. There is a collision going on here, between the sort of stoner rock purveyed by labels like Neurot and the progressive through-composing of maths rock. It’s not a easy listen! The band stops and starts in jumps, switches tempo and shoots off at sudden angles while pummelling your head with noise. It’s quite fun. Live, I imagine this band would be quite a proposition. It’s only every so often I want something random and uncontrollably loud on the stereo, preferring tunes I might recognise, though, like Rolo Tomassi, a blast of this is good for clearing out the tubes every now and again. On the stage, a band like Kong would probably be pummelling and punishing and the sort of overwhelming proposition that can absorb all the senses in a way a CD or MP3 never will. I didn’t like the album on first listen, finding it repetitive and random and confusing. Further listens revealed its demented purpose, perhaps because, even with the volume turned right down, this album is still louder than everything in my collection (apart from Zu..…). Things run into walls like a car crash, jazzier interludes see repetitive riffing and synth noodling, stabs and shards of overdriven noise assault the ears and the album gets hard to ignore. Anything here, in ten minute bursts, is an experience. Over the length of an album, the ears develop a protective coating like the way the pain dulls during a long session at the dentist and the effect reduces a bit, diminishing the raw intensity the band attacked with. Grab yourself a hacksaw, saw this album into 5 slices and listen to one at a time in front of a mirror and watch your ears melt. www.myspace.com/kongdom |
