BACK
..................................................
|
| Dit in Amsterdam gevestigde Kroatische noise-trio sleurt ons mee op
een ruige trip off the beaten track, zij het dan wel met een zware Slint-bagage.
En niet alleen de postrock-goeroes worden geeerd, want ook Shellac en
Black Flag zitten in de rugzak. Geluidsmuren worden opgetrokken, door
de eigen linies aangevallen en doorboord. En is er in de ellenlange songs
al eens een windstilte, dan zorgen loerende sluipschutters wel voor een
vals gevoel van veiligheid. Zoals het in Kroatisch gezongen spooky "The
smell of a woman, lying next to you at 5 a.m." bijvoorbeeld... geen
idee wat de man prevelt, maar we hangen aan zijn lippen. Maar ook elders
zorgt het met Oost-Europees accent doorspekte Engels voor een extra fearfactor
in het slagveld van tegenstribbelende en struikelende gitaren. Een intens,
spooky en... bijzonder goed plaatje dus. Back to top |
| Soul Vacation In Rehab Clinic starts off with a sample of Nat King Cole's
"Unforgettable", setting up Cole's easy, laid-back delivery
as a foil for Gone Bald's noise rock. It's a great idea -- what better
way to highlight your harsh and abrasive sound than by going toe-to-toe
withe one of the smoothest artists of all time? The problem is that Gone Bald really aren't all that harsh or abrasive. There are definitely moments where the band makes an attempt at GY!BE-ish apocalyptic post-rock, such as the epic "The Smell of a Woman, Lying Next to You at 5 AM", or at wildly spastic hardcore, like "Pinta, Nina, Santa Maria". However, those moments are rare -- the former's tonal variations are, in the album's context, an anomaly, while the latter is oddly poppy hardcore that relies on typical loud-quiet-loud dynamics, though it certainly maintains loftier pretensions. In fact, the same could be said for most of Soul Vacation In Rehab Clinic. Gone Bald have a strong ear for melody, as much as they try and bury it beneath their screamy vocals and harsh tones. They probably weren't trying to push their sound in this direction, but intentionally or not, they're making hardcore sound interesting and accessible. Back to top source: Splendid e-zine |
| Mijn geheim Ik zal jullie een geheim verklappen. Ik zat zo’n 20 jaar geleden op dansles, en dat heeft veel leed veroorzaakt. Ik heb nu nog een hekel aan het stijldansen. Ik zou uit de maat gedanst hebben bij de tango, en kreeg een zeven min. Dit hele trauma kwam weer boven toen ik het hoesje van Soul vacation in rehab clinic van de melodieuze noise band Gone Bald bekeek: “Dedicated to the ones who learned to tango, the hard way!” Jawel, het is gericht aan mij! “It takes guts to tango,” dat bedoel ik maar. Ze bestaan dit jaar alweer 10 jaar en laten de wereld horen hoe de vlag erbij hangt. Het gaat kennelijk slecht in de liefde, maar het levert wel zeven geweldige songs op. De oorspronkelijk in Kroatië opgerichte band, maar nu vanuit Amsterdam opererende drietal weet een brok spanning op te bouwen waar je u tegen zegt. Soms klinkt het heel intiem, andere momenten gaan intens hard. Henry Rollins, Shellac en Sonic Youth, deze oude helden komen zo in mij op. Het gaat in ieder geval door merg en been. Het gaat zo diep dat ik vergeet dat het best lange nummers zijn, en dat er toch bijna een uur muziek op de cd staat. Ja, wat komt die bas hard aan en wat kruipt die zang in mijn ziel. Zo gaat dat dus in de liefde. Zucht. Het is aannemelijk dat dit album voor Gone Bald als een goede therapie heeft gewerkt. Ik ben nu mijn verhaal over dansles kwijt, maar moet van dit album nog wel even bijkomen. Coen Schilderman Source: fileunder.blogspot.com Back to top |
| Vu en concert en 2002 à Nantes. Une grosse claque dans ma petite
tronche de branleur ! Noise-Rock (et oui encore ) du meilleur effet ! Ca me fais penser à Slint ou encore Shellac mais avec un coté plus sauvage, plus punk. Un chant énorme et des compos exemplaires ! Source: www.labelledamesanamerci.com Back to top |
| Devenir chauve. Ca sent la musique de trentenaires tout ça. Pas
encore le sapin mais le genre qui ont roulé leur bosse et Gone
Bald n'a rien du groupe de petits jeunes. A la base, des expatriés
qui, par un sale jour de guerre en ex-Yougoslavie, ont décidé
de quitter leur pays pour venir s'installer à Amsterdam. Quelques
cheveux en moins plus tard, seul Razorblade Jr (guitariste et chanteur)
reste aux commandes, revendiquant la nationalité croate et recrutant
pour cet album deux hollandais pur souche. Un type un peu dingue, élevé
aux meilleures graines de la musque noise-rock, quand Touch and Go et
Amphetamine Reptile records tenaient le haut du pavé. Un maître-es-bruit,
qui multiplie les projets annexes et/ou en solo (Heroface, De Reizende
Verkoper), lâchant la bride, se perdant avec nihilisme dans les
affres des distorsions. Avec Gone Bald, il revient à plus de mesure
et de classicisme. Le trio guitare-basse-batterie dans sa plus simple
et belle expression. Aucun subterfuge et effets de manches. Et comme je
suis pas représentant en aspirateur, le plus dur va être
de vous "vendre" cet album! Pas le genre de musique à
vous taper dans l'œil dans la seconde. Passer à coté
de cet album est très facile. Pourtant, Gone Bald met beaucoup
cœur à l'ouvrage et de sincérité. Si vous n'êtes
pas insensibles à des groupes comme Oxbow, le sésame pourrait
être proche. Gone Bald n'y met pas la même folie et puissance
mais on retrouve ces longs titres travaillés et non linéaires,
des froides décharges et de la sombre mélancolie ("the
smell of a woman, lying next to you at 5 am"). Razorblade Jr se donne
à fond sur son instrument, en tire moultes cris et pleurs, les
compos jouent au yoyo avec une sorte de simplicité mêlée
à du désabusement qui les rendent très touchantes.
Des histoires d'amours et de solitude orchestrées dans le bruit
le plus noble. " Soul Vacation In Rehab Clinic", remède
d'artisans qui connaissent la recette. Vous ne pouvez raisonnablement
pas être déçus.
SKX (01/05/04) |
| This Noise-Rock band exist already long time. Originally hailing from
Croatia, but since 1994 situated in Amsterdam. Already released 5 CDs
and a 7". I heard of the band before, although they are active in
another sub-scene. They sent me this new release with the comment that
it is not really punk, but it is DIY. Well, I don't care if the music
is 'Punk' or not, it is the attitude that counts to me. So they are at
the right adress at UPS. And when I did put the CD in my player I realized
the music is even in a way that I like. They themselves use terms like
Noiserock, mathrock, symforock and emo-avant-la-lettre . I am not familiar
with these terms, but should say a mix between NoMeansNo, Sonic Youth,
Jawbox and Jesus Lizard. But like these bands I have to be in the mood
for this music, and also it starts to bore me after 20 minutes or so.
But I guess I am spoiled with the bands that put 7 fast riffs in a 60-seconds
song and have short-attention-span. But surely check it out if you are
into mentioned styles/bands. Source: http://go.to/upspunk Back to top |
MOMI
(NL) |
Gone Bald. Buy Dutch goods! And a little Croatian too, cause that’s where the frontman’s from. Gone Bald plays noise. Not just noise but fat noise. Noise with breaks to breathe, written by their own rules. Soul Vacation In Rehab Clinic is the name of the album. And if I have to name some bands, let it be Fugazi, Unwound and Black Flag. To be honest, opening the record with a sample of Unforgettable wasn’t necessary as far as I’m concerned, but It Takes Guts To Tango does kick in very nicely after it. And that sets the tone for the rest of the album. Tightly played themes with a roaring bass-sound (that upsets my pc-speakers a little), taking turns with old-fashioned walls of guitars. I even get a taste of some post-rock sound like Godspeed You! Black Emperor has (The smell of a woman, lying next to you at 5 A.M.). Everything sounds like it’s coming from the gut. Very cool. The atmosphere is grim, this record is not for sissies. One way or another, the record fits with the origin of the singer. Thinking of Croatia, I still think of war, ruined houses and the question Why? "It feels like I've lost my anchor Maybe I’m not far from the truth with this. But perhaps I’m miles away. Not because I know the bassplayer, but Soul Vacation In Rehab Clinic
is a fantastic record you should experience with your stereo on 11.
I suspect this all will be even more convincing live. Gone Bald has
a pursuasiveness that most Dutch bands lack. Soul Vacation holds your
attention from the beginning untill the end and doesn’t even
sound like a “difficult” record, while it is one nevertheless.
|
OOR
(NL) |
In the good old days, bands only toured after releasing a new record.
Well, recently Shellac played in our country, but no new material
in the stores. Fortunately, there’s always Gone Bald. These
people know what working is. A powerful noiserock trio, also combining
inventive playing with a dry, sharp sound. But Gone Bald always takes
the experiment a step further. Somewhere to the left of Shellac, The
Ex and Sonic Youth you will find their songs, that can be compact,
but sometimes contain a game like “I’m going on a holiday
and I’m bringing a guitar. I’m going on a holiday and
I’m bringing a guitar and a bassguitar. I’m going on a
holiday and I’m brining…” This happens in I’m
My Own Boat, where the theme starts over and over, but each time gets
one step further. Genius or driving a man insane? If my name was Erik
van den Berg, I would have written that if you only want to buy óne
genius but completely introvert album, you better wait for the next
Sonic Youth album. But trust me, my name is Roger Teeling. |
Mashnote
(Belgium) |
With a healthy dose of Unwound & Shellac, Gone Bald really surprised
me with this record. Coming from Croatia (!), this threesome serves
7 tracks of angular noise rock. It's rough on the edges, and varies
quite a lot. All songs last longer than 6 minutes, which is unusual
for the genre, but it works. They keep the interest level high enough
with change of pace, structure and atmosphere. But retain the pounding
effect of repetition and distortion. You know what i mean. |
Broken
Violins (Germany) |
Gone Bald already exists for 10 years,
partially from Amsterdam, partially from Zagreb, and still “Soul
Vacation” is the first recording of the band that crosses my way.
You may call that a shame. This record is so good, that I can imagine
that their older stuff is just as interesting. On the other hand I should
be happy, that I finally got a hold of something anyway, even though
unfortunately I can’t put it in a context of older work. Musically,
Gone Bald hit almost exactly my taste with their own peculiar bone-dry
noise-rock, stripped back to the bottom. This is a timeless sound, that
might have appeared 10 years ago on AmRep or Touch&Go, but it didn’t,
and still Gone Bald sounds both traditional and fresh at the same time
in the present day - to achieve that is certainly not easy. Musically
the band is very hard to categorize besides the term noise, and that
asks for an explanation. You mustn’t imagine this band as a really
loud and wild band only, cause this band works rather subtile as opposed
to superficial loudness. The songs, that offer the elements guitars,
vocals, bass and drums in a absolute equal fashion, take a lot of time
and evolve slowly, but steadily become more intense and penetrative.
You can also call Gone Bald big friends of the so-called Albini-sound,
considering the sound as a whole… Even when they don’t have
a lot to do with Shellac concerning the music, cause where that band
works in a fragmentary and rhythmical way, Gone Bald is angular and
creeps their way towards the saddest minimal melodies, that a man could
get out of his tastefully distorted guitar. I can’t compare this
band to many other bands, simply because their sound is too original
for that, but because the discription is still a bit vague, let’s
name some stuff that’s at least slightly related, here are some
bands that have links to them on the Gone Bald website (and that must
be for a reason): Bug, Les Savy Fav, Oxbow, Valina, Vaz. They played
live a.o. with (of course) Jesus Lizard, Butthole Surfers, The Ex, Sebadoh
and Don Caballero, and although Gone Bald doesn’t play the exact
style of any of these bands, you can always find some elements from
them. That can be a sound that is completely reduced to the core, like
Bug, getting maximum effect from a minimum of musical devices like Les
Savy Fav, the self-punishing, creeping, painful and dangerous brutality
of Oxbow, the instrumental subtility of Valina or the noise of Vaz.
You can find it all here, only condensed in their own style and in often
very long songs, and in every second you can hear how much skill, effort
and above all how much heart is in there. This is music of it’s
own will, that clearly had to come out of the makers exactly as it did.
The fact that their album S.O.S. (2001) was released with a worker’s
glove as a case, might be a sign that Gone Bald are big musicfans and
recordmaniacs themselves. “Soul Vacation” has a less extravagant
cover, but nevertheless the design is very interesting and even more
important, I think it represents the effect of the music pretty well.
Music, sad and dissapointing as life itself, made into angular, bizarre,
painful, ugly but still somehow beautiful songs. Because of that, the
singer’s Croatian accent doesn’t disturb me, but even strengthens
the authenticity of Gone Bald. This must be an impressive liveband to
say the least. Source: brokenviolins.de |
BigKult
(Austria) |
To judge the qualities of Gone Bald, who
can almost celebrate their 10-year anniversary, only by the present,
seventh album, is a pretty audacious thing to do. But we do what we
can to make the reader’s mouth water for the upcoming Interstellar-Festival.
The Zagreb-based line-up, that changed after every record, fled from
the war to the peaceful Netherlands, to make their style between Sonic
Youth, Jesus Lizard and early hardcore-roots prosper. Only the artwork
by itself would be a reason to check out this band: In a film-noir/comic
style, the drawings bring about a definite 30’s / haunted house-nostalgia.
The cd it belongs to, has 7 tracks offering an hour of fine, epic, raw
mixed art of composition, that needs a closer listen to really flourish.
Unbelievable, that before a short time, I had never heard a thing about
this band, because the men around mastermind Razorblade Jr know what
they’re doing in every aspect. Convincing are both the ensemble
and the arrangments, as well as the pure, raw emotion which characterizes
the band with something, other bands pursue for maybe their whole life:
Soul. |
Stayfun
webzine |
Gone Bald are possibly one of the noisiest Dutch (/Croatian)
bands to grace Stayfun so far. That’s fine, though, especially
when it’s such a high quality piece of noise as this trio have
produced - switching from loud to menacingly subtle, and back to blistering
again whenever it suits. It’s not a polished and shiny recording,
simply raw, but it feels like it needs that element of honesty in sound
as well as lyrically, to be true to itself. All you can do is turn it
up loud and face the starkness of it, as all three members attempt to
wring everything they can out of their instruments. It’s not even
that Gone Bald don’t want you to have a good time. They just prefer
to provide a listening challenge and to weed out those with weak stomachs
and ears first. |
Fret
(NL) |
In the noise-genre, Gone Bald is one of the best (especially
in the Netherlands). The formation around guitarfreak Razorblade Jr
has a lot of line-up changes, but fortunately the obsessed frontman
just keeps on exploring every thinkable emotion between hard and soft.
This formula by itself might be worn – sensitive plucking with
heartrending mumbling followed by heroic, rock hard sounderuptions with
maniacal screams, or the other way around – but the effect on
the listener’s state of mind remains just as fierce. Being thrown
back and forth between heaven and hell, or the other way around; wallowing
in romantic contemplations or being dragged away by the intense and
ruthless outbursts of violence – that’s the point. |
Kindamuzik
(NL) |
Right from the first song “It Takes Guts To Tango”, Gone
Bald switches between quite parts and noise-eruptions in which they
sometimes completely lose control. On Soul Vacation In Rehab Clinic,
the Dutch/Croatian trio does this all the time. And they do that damn
good. The wall of sound they build is huge and devastating, whispering
over softly rolling drums a mere second later. A sound so vicious wasn’t
audible since Unsane and Jesus Lizard. And we would have to go back
a good ten years already for that. No, Gone Bald works with the crazy
mania of Victim’s Family, the anger of Henry Rollins, the brutality
of an Amphetamine Reptile-band, and the frivolity of postrock. That
doesn’t work out so good every time. “The Smell of a Woman”
for example gets a little boring, although the last part of it is nice,
heavy and dark again. But the band abundantly makes up for it, because
the seven minutes lasting track “Das Drawoc” professionaly
tears every doubt you had to pieces. Nothing could resist so much excruciating
violence. translated from Dutch original
text |
Backpack
(Croatia) |
| Hmm, each time since the "blue" album (second
cd of the same name, fourth album, 1997.) I tell myself "Ok, it can`t
be the same thing anymore, it can`t be just as good as it was, so fucked
up and beautiful at the same time. It just can`t be that same thing it
once was." But I said that same thing for the second album, which
till this day remains the second best after the "blue" one.
Again I`m not able to do it. Again I get an urge to lie to myself and
tell myself it`s not possible anything ever will be as good again. This
time they screwed me even more because I did a gig for them before even
having heared the album (and made sure there was a video/audio recording
of it, hehe), so I knew there were more great songs after and the next
album would be just as good. If not better, hmmm. Yes, maybe it`s time
I accept that someone can make great songs for 10 or more years without
losing any quality. Just like Sonic Youth, for example, who have been
maybe my favourite rock band for years. This was an attempt to illustrate how hard it is to write a review of something like Gone Bald. Here they are, in the 10th year of existance, 6-7 albums behind them, and still sounding most fucked-up in the world and most devastated of all the noise rock bands I know. Little under an hour, seven songs, great! After the third album, it looks like Ico and the rest of the line-up (which changed on every album) do not find it easy anymore to make a 2-3 minute song. This is reaching into the depth, this is scratching on the emotions, this is gathering of the pieces, making a mosaic of anxiety, expectations, switches. With, I dare say, a slightly worse drummer then on the previous album (probably because there is less "jazz" structure then on that one)... And there is still that theatre that makes you ask yourelf where the problem is. Why are they so incapable to live, to be happy, to communicate, be satisfied, fullfilled... I still don`t know many answers to those question, as I didn`t before I listened to this, but I know I have a friend in trouble. Another one. Seventh since Gone Bald. And I thank them for that. But, so it wouldn`t all be so fucked up and unhappy, there is the 6th song, that to me appears to be the first optimistic song in this band`s career, and is again beautiful in an incredible way. Somehow that song takes me back to the May of last year when I spent a few really wonderful days with these gentlemen and I always remember hanging out together and all that when I hear it. As far as production goes, I would pay them to be produced by Steve Albini if I could, but this isn`t too far off. Oh fuck, I can`t talk about that. Even if it was the worst tape from a cheap tape recorder it would still be great. I always considered albums good if they bring the atmosphere and if you understand what the band wanted to say. And here you really get that. And it appears to me they let themselves allow some other things get inside them, and there are some easy/slow parts, I am not gonna say post-rock because that term really irritates me. Another thing that hits the spot really well is the repetition and monotony that somehow gained on the feeling of the exploration of time (or a good description of impermanence and emptimess). But that again is nothing new for them. That is the same difference between bands who in sound and structure sound like a symphony (best examples for me are the latest Swans and Neurosis) and bands who sound like "ordinary" punk rock bands. That`s why Gone Bald could use better production. To underline this feeling a bit. And all the rest, such as honesty, they do not lack at all. I can hardly wait for the new, announced trilogy of albums that await us in the next year. Let`s face it - life is suffering from beginning to end. This is why you can`t talk seriously about these things for a few years, and then move on to something else or stop altogether. At least if they really interest you and you want to explore them, that is if you are called Gone Bald. These guys have decided to explore while they exist and to be always as good and devoted in that. And that is a characteristic of the best. That is the reason why I pity those who only now are flying into the "magical train" for the ride of the hell that is life. Either way from now on I trust them more and can hardly wait for the next encounter, somewhere in the rain, in an unknown town, a day after I once again understood "what was once, is no more". That is that. End and the beginning. Recovering by suffering. (5/5, Igor Mihovilovic) translated from Croatian original text Back to top |
Ox
Fanzine (Germany) |
| It has been a long time since I heard from Gone Bald from
Amsterdam. Hunderds of records went through my hands since then, but nevertheless
I always remembered “Little Song Of Love” (’95). Also
because of the uncommon history of the band: Started in Zagreb in 1994,
the band settled in the Netherlands just before the war and recorded their
first album there, that made me enthousiastic through it’s noiserock
between UNSANE and SONIC YOUTH. A couple of LP’s later, frontman Razorblade Jr is the only original member left on the new album, which is released on the Austrian label Interstellar Records. With the present line-up the band proves they don’t give a Dreck about any trends, and that Gone Bald does it’s very own thing. Noiserock it still is, somehow, also very rhythm-oriented with this certain NO MEANS NO-touch, but also reminding of old SST-stuff like SACCHARINE TRUST, plus that, what many people call “Math Rock”. Their notion on music manifests itself in songs clocking between 6 and 10 minutes. That’s right, don’t count on two-minute / three-chord-rockers here, but instead you get mighty pieces full of bass and firm dynamics. translated from German original text Back to top |
Gonzo
(Belgium) |
| Imagine yourself dreaming away while listening to Nat King Cole’s
“Unforgettable” and suddenly your house gets blown to pieces.
That’s about the effect of the fourth cd “Soul Vacation In
Rehab Clinic” from the Dutch/Croatian Gone Bald. For the first minute,
it opens with the classic song before the razorsharp noise bursts out.
Guitarist/vocalist Razorblade Jr is back with a vengeance. Sometimes it’s hard to believe we’re talking about a guitar, bass, drumtrio here, such an immense power speaks from their music. It’s one lump of emotion, from surpressed rage to far beyond. This is all supported with insane walls of hardcore and noise, that canalize the rage, varied with relaxing postrock. And also the vocals are balanced perfectly, from vicious to high and dejected. Henry Rollins (or Black Flag), Unsane, Fugazi, but also the raw blues of Firewater and the orchestrated rock of Godspeed You! Black Emperor. All these elements are on this great cd. It’s one of the best loud cd’s I’ve heard in years, thanks to the intense emotion, clever variation and pureness. A relief between all those softie bands of the moment. This boy’s going to look for a rehab clinic, it should be a fantastic place to be. translated from Dutch original text Back to top |
Dance
Of Days (Austria) |
| This band is from Croatia, their singer is almost bald and they are
good in playing live shows. They have some releases out there as far as
I know but this is the first one on the fine austrian label Interstella
Records from Linz which is good in releasing good records but unfortunately
not too many seem to recognise this. So one "fuck you" for all the ignorant
people out there and let's go on with this review: the music is noise
rock, you know like Jesus Lizard and stuff... I don't know much about
it - but hm, you know it's noisy and stuff. 7 songs which are all quite
long and well produced and good songwriting and I enjoyed listening to
it although i wouldn't say this is easy listening but they have some good
hooks though. So if you're really into this kind of music I don't think
you will give a fuck about my opinion since I don't know shit but hey
I thinks it's a good record and worth your support anyway... Source: Danceofdays.org Back to top |
Noisy
Neighbours (Germany) |
Some albums are totally okay the first time you hear
it. After checking it out you put it away, but after a while you start
missing something about this album - a melody perhaps. You pick it up
again and already it becomes more dear to you. The times between putting
it away and picking it up again keep getting shorter. You start discovering
interesting breaks and unusual passages. You start appreciating a certain
peculiarity, which is characteristic and honest. And almost without
noticing it, you fall in love with the album. You won't lend it out,
you would miss it too much especially in times like these. "Soul
Vacation..." is such an album. |
Senzor
(NL) |
| Brutal, tight, but not without hooks, this recording shows Gone Balds
developing their churning Albini-influenced experimentation; and this
cd is unbelievable: noise and pure emotions melt into a unique powerful
sound. There are not many bands on this planet that can create such a
perfect noise-sound. Back to top |
Cracked
e-zine |
| This is the greatest piece of music I have heard in a long time –
hard rocking, blues-crunching, early 80ies-Hardcore infused noise-rock
that makes you think of the best names in town only: from Black Flag to
Firewater to Fugazi. Hell, this rocks my walls like nothing else. Already
the first song blew me away: “tango” is the perfect mixture
between the hard-hitting, edgy guitarriffs of Black Flag and the raunchy,
rough blues of Firewater and even the voice swings from Henry Rollins
to Todd A and back. Yes, I know, I shouldn’t be comparing bands
with other bands, and definitely, Gone Bald have enough power and energy
to stand as their own, but I guess, with bands such as Black Flag and
Firewater, no one is really angry about the comparison (except for the
greatest of egomaniacs – I can’t tell if Gone Bald are, let’s
see). I can’t tell you anything about the band actually and searching the internet has proven fruitless. It wouldn’t have been that futile if I had a hair problem, but that is a whole different story. Actually, I don’t need anything more. Any further information about this CD is superfluous in the respect, that it has become one of my favourites and it couldn’t get better. This CD will leave you breathing hard. Right after the first track has given you a thorough blow-through, the pace sets to a little more laid-back, though no less neurotic, distressed and angry. In other words: everything you ever liked about noise-rock. This band is also great on structuring songs and putting a lot of dynamics in there. “addict”, the second song, is almost nine-minutes long and none of them boring. They’ll start with an intro, then hit you over the head with one of those harsh guitarriffs, connect this to another one, and so on. On the third track “boat” the distorted voice is close to early Cop Shoot Cop or Distorted Pony and when the singer cries “Come with me / come with me” you’d advise anyone with a sound mind better not to abide. Track three somehow loses itself in a broken guitar/drum-pattern, which gets more and more fractured, until it seems to stop completely, the listener thinking: what the heck is going on until – exactly at the right moment – the band breaks into a completely different song (though we are still on track three) but it fits. Yes, Gone Bald are good at putting technicality to work for emotionality. Maybe some might say they are a little to fixated on repeating patterns and structuring the hell out of a song, when they could be pounding away straightforwardly like nothing else matters. And I’d say no, never. You get lost in a guitar riff like you get lost in a frustrating relationship, a job, your life. You need strength to break patterns and just keeping on pounding away only drives you deeper into the shit. Life ain’t no party, it is fucking painful, so you have to work hard on it, and if you can’t stand it any more, change it. Better now than later on. During the record, there are some parts that are almost like post-rock or even the power of Godspeed You Black Emperor! (especially in the drawn out middle-part of "woman" with the high-pitched wailing and the organ) in their complexity, instrumentality and technicality, but they also fit the picture. Just like real life, these parts leave you hanging in dry air waiting for the next kick to come. But isn’t that what we all like – being hit hard in the head sometimes? That is what I like about noise-rock – it is just like life, it keeps on being surprising and it rocks hard. Back to top |
