Monday, June 13, 2011

Bundle up for the Iceage


This band has somehow succeeded in remaining under my radar for the past few months and now I'm playing catchup. The young Copenhagen punk band Iceage released its first LP this March and since then it's made some serious waves in places like the New York Times and Pitchfork. I'm listening to it for the first time all the way through as I write.

The music successfully straddles the line between raucous no-wave, noisiness and headbanging punk beats. The short "New Brigade" track "Intro" starts off with minimalistic metallic clanging and transitions sharply into track two "White Rune" which is driven by booming floor toms, doomy vocals, and sinister click clacking guitars. There is an undeniable Joy Division energy to the music.

"Broken Bone" alternates back and forth between melodic bellowing punk vocals and crunchy dissonant guitar work. Tracks like "Remember" are almost fully harmonic and once again remind me of Joy Division. There's a great amount of experimentation of the album but the material still feels unified.

Hopefully I'll be able to get an interview with some of the band members for FPH. They're coming to The Mink here in Houston on their short US summer tour. They'll be joined by fantastic Houston acts like The Energy and Balaclavas.

You can get their latest record on iTunes.

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