conrad - 4 track demo ep
when contacted by conrad i had no idea what to expect - especialy as they come from sleepy plymouth - a town not that renowned for its alt.noise.rock beasts. things are hopefully about to change ..
conrad list the influences as king crimson/xtc/pixies/fugazi/sonic youth and a ton of others !
well its chunky guitars, spiky guitars, pumping basslines all set to choppy beats - no simple 4/4 straight forward drum track here.
opening track 'lucy' completely hits me - the rhythmic changes and vocal stylings remind me of classic early devo classics and is supremely enjoyable. same goes for the rest of the ep. none of the tracks hit their chord sequence and make life simple there are changes at every corner .. not much beatles influence here. but this makes the music all the more interesting - not knowing where the band are going next .. yet the songs hold very well.
there are definite shades of pixies in the sometimes howled vocals. bearing in mind that this is a demo the sound is excellent - get these boys working with steve albini/fort apache and they could do some serious damage.
now wheres my skateboard ....