Crazy Collective set the controls for the heart of the sun
Strap The Button are a sprawling Welsh collective (sprawling in the sense that they seem to add new members every other week) that operate in the same stratosphere as Hawkwind and "Set the Controls for the Sun" era Pink Floyd. This young, eccentric band has been known to play 25 minute noise sets using just about any instrument they can get their hands on. They are also fond of strange album titles such as their previous effort What Kind Of Rat Bastard Psychotic Would Play That Song Now at This Moment. They have once been, quite hilariously, described as sounding like "Animal Collective backing Tony Hadley as he undergoes a nervous breakdown".
Going to Jib Choons... continues the strange album title theme, and only enhances the image of this band as space-rockers. It features 8 long tracks interspersed with 8 sound collages that actually work quite well in controlling the flow of the album. Titles such as "Machines" and "Electroacoustic Experiment" give you an idea of what is going on in the shorter pieces.
Opening track, "GNFaR CD001" starts with a repetitive guitar riff, with the band building slowly, creating a dense and hypnotic sound. The track then takes off, with this spell-binding build up and then unleashes into a furious jam around the 3-minute mark.
After the short "Machines", "Casualty of the Remesis Trilogy" kicks off with a Godspeed You Black Emperor type build up and excellent use of viola. The guitars here sound mysterious and the accumulation of sound is tense. However, Strap The Button unleashes again, much like the album opener, and spiral into a jam session. This time, though, its cut short, leaving you wishing they had explored the intense groove more.
Immediately, though, it’s apparent that Strap The Button has an amazing talent, in being able to create hypnotic grooves, especially when they are channel their energies and direct the sound cohesively.
By the time you reach "Full Moon Effect", you begin to understand what this band is all about, anticipating each climax from their slow-burning build-ups. However, this is most unlike the thousands of instrumental acts who use layer upon layer of delayed and distorted guitar in a derivative quiet/loud formula. This band are too talented to use such watered down approaches, and instead prefer off-kilter rhythms, frenzied guitars and spiraling violins, that create a tense volley of sound that gradually gets heavier until it explodes.
Strap The Button also displays plenty of diversity here, especially on "Mystery Song", which sounds like early Pink Floyd covering "The Pink Panther" theme tune. It features a creeping bassline and sweeping drums that evokes images of the crime caper.
On the excellent "Dom's Song", recruiting a violin player has paid dividends for Strap The Button. This track has a more standard post-rock approach, but the band cannot help themselves and launch into psychedelic guitar frenzy, that is fast becoming the trademark of their sound.
"Paperclipbeard The Pirate" is the stand out track of the album (not just because of its fabulous title). There is a strong Hawkwind aura again here and Strap The Button seem to have thousands of ideas. Sometimes they don't quite work, but when they do it is a joy to behold.
Strap The Button are a seriously talented and certainly innovative young group. They seem to be influenced by a scene that was around decades before they were born, yet have a perfect understanding of its structures, textures and spirit. Going To Jib Choons... doesn't strike immediately, for a start there is too much going on to absorb in one sitting. This is, by far, one of the most ambitious, progressive and craziest releases to come out of these shores in some time and is made all the more remarkable by the band’s youth.
The Arctic Monkeys may have won the Mercury Music Prize last year and may be getting all the plaudits, but these youngsters have much more talent and ideas in my book. They have restored my faith in the future of British music with this release. It is also worth mentioning that Going to Jib Choons… will also be made available for free on the intriguing Records For Ribs imprint. Regardless, Strap The Button's star certainly burns brightly in the stratosphere tonight
| Reviewer: Michael Henaghan Added: November 14th 2007 |
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