Iron Sight
FOR THE FREEDOM FIGHTERS OF EASTERN EUROPE
self-released
Danish act Iron Sight has always had a few musical irons in the fire, mostly in the worlds of noise, power electronics and dark ambient, although notably their release as Loverman connected them to future r&b and electropop sounds. New EP For The Freedom Fighters of Eastern Europe isn’t quite as far afield as the latter release musically, although its combination of hard techno and gravel-voiced vocals does bring the project closer to rhythmic noise and some early aggrotech sounds. “Hard 2 Kill” feels straight up like a Noisex track, with its dungeon-shaking bass and kicks, so rich in saturation that the screamed vocals are constantly in danger of being dragged under the track’s wheels. “Leave ‘Em Lifeless” varies the kick patterns from straight four on the floor to more syncopated rhythms, almost funky if not for the shrieks and intense pads that get thinner and louder with each passing moment never allowing a groove to settle in. “Hey Little Piggy” is perhaps the most straightforward song, if not any more accessible than its predecessors; it’s possible to imagine a world where this gets spun for industrial dancefloors, although the fast moving techno arrangement is just a little too coated in ugly, overdriven noise to fit in with all but the nastiest modern crossover sounds. It’s intense stuff, but in the way where the danger feels more invigorating than oppressive.
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry
Driving Black
COP International
After more than a decade of on again, off again gigging, mp3 demos, and live sets making their way online, the formal reemergence of legendary dark post-punk act Red Lorry Yellow Lorry featuring the original core duo of frontman/songwriter Chris Reed and Dave Wolfenden is here. Bands who formed after the Lorries originally split now have kids old enough to form bands shaped by them, making the path from the group’s grinding machine-like origins to the present too winding to follow, but there’s a good amount of Driving Black‘s groove-based focus which connects them to their roots, with the sprawling “Piece Of My Mind” recalling their connection with peers like Wire and Hüsker Dü. The rhythmic obsession of the band remains unchecked even if their actual sound points to a broader interest in general rock and country grooves which had begun to hang about the corners of Red Lorry Yellow Lorry as early as 1989’s Blow (see the tightly controlled drones of “Chickenfeed”). Reed’s vocals, once that harrowing cyclone of condemnatory baritone, now have a much more approachable and world-weary observational tone as he refers to disillusionment and futility. Red Lorry Yellow Lorry are back, but certainly no less battered by recent hardships as any of us.
