A split 10” vinyl EP from the wonderful folk at Swarm records (of whom you’ll be hearing plenty this month) Gameboy physical destruction (an awesome band name!) form the A side with two tracks of trashy punk rock noise made all the more impressive by the fact that they’re only a two piece band. Taking their cue from the raw throated and emotive punk of Hot water music, GPD play fast, heavy punk augmented with all manner of exciting computer noise from the tinny, ear-drum assaulting noise of classic Gameboy sound chips to massive-sounding, bass0enhanced drum tracks.
The opening track, ‘bastard’ rolls through a variety of moods and sounds kicking off in the aforementioned punk style but stopping off at art-rock, avant-garde and trashy pop music along the way in this exhilarating four minute blast of energy. ‘Semtex’ is an even more feral blast, clocking in at only two minutes fifty seconds and seemingly hell bent on comprehensively re-arranging your brain cells, especially if you, like me, have spent the majority of your weekend reviewing doom bands. Opening with creepy samples and a stab of feedback, the remainder of the trap is a harrowing blast of noise that sees the drums take a sedate beat while the guitars flail away at the speed of light while numerous bleeps overlay the sound making it sound like the Ramones are jamming on AFI covers in a Ritalin-filed basement filled with ADHD kids playing on gameboys. It’s fast, furious and cool – Royal mcbee corporation would seem to have their work cut out for them…
…only they don’t because the B side of the record is a single, seven minute, ballsy, arty, exciting mess of syncopated rhythms, jazz-orientated bass and samples that offers up a completely different take on music from the punk-infused chaos of GPD’s output. Sitting somewhere between Mogwai, Red Sparrowes and a horror movie RMC’s effort is a harrowing, lengthy death-trip that ramps up the atmospherics and manages to be fascinating despite the absence of guitars and traditional song structure.
Split EPs have long been a great way to check out new bands and this is no exception. With fantastic artwork courtesy of mister.lolOx (www.myspace.com/lorengraphic), which always helps to make a disc such as this a pleasure to behold as well as listen to, and great sound thanks to decent vinyl mastering and a good quality pressing this is a worthwhile EP that serves as a great introduction to both bands. Check it out, but do so quickly…there’s only 300 copies!
Available though Swarm Records
