Emo-rock i bedste spil kombineret med elektronisk emo-knallerudstødning...
Seven Feet Four spiller emorock og har udgivet sit debutalbum på det hollandske interpendent-label Coalition Records og er inspireret af så forskellige bands som At The Drive In, And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead og Fugazi. Seven Feet Four er efterhånden rutinerede herrer, som har touret det ganske Europa og selvfølgelige hjemme i det svenske. De har delt scener med dejlige navne som Pretty Girls Make Graves, The Locust og Division Of Laura Lee. Koncerterne skulle efter sigende være en intens og dynamisk oplevelse. Det lyder jo altsammen meget lækkert.
Fra Amsterdam i det hollandske kommer Zea med i købet. Den eclectiske dynamiske duo startede som små intetvidende indiekids, der så lyset i The Pixies og Motorpsyko... Heldigvis voksede de kære små op, gav fingeren til det hele og endte i en skøn blanding af elektronisk-punk-hip-core-glitch-jamble som på en gang bevæger sig på kanten, er dansevenlig, men alligevel kontronterende. Tilsæt et lille melankolsk øjeblik her og der og billedet er fuldendt. Sidste år tourede bandet både Europa og det store Amerika.. Hvilket ikke har skadet, men måske er der blevet skruet en anelse op for galskaben.
Mere Stones end Beatles og mere punk end The Pistols, msåke Hollanske indie-elektroniske svar på Amdi Petersens Arme.
... Og så er der jo den hemmelige DJ....
...Og lidt anmeldelser..
This Dutch duo (Arnold de Boer: guitar/vocals, Remko Muermans: keyboards,
sampler and vocals) make a charmingly schizophrenic sort of fractured
punkadelic artpop, and they are good at it! Compressed trajectories recall
The Notwist, but amplified into some Buzzcocks adrenalin rushes,
alternating with neon ricochet math rock pencils standing on their hard
sharpened points, with shimmering synth tickles from heaven. For some
unknown breath waggle I'm called to think of Tall Dwarfs singing with a
hip hop infusion and noisy punk muffins in the oven. Hard shifting GBV
forced awake by alcohol deprivation have shredded slice and dice visions
of hardcore owls in bladder with pumping pop skyrockets being fired in big
chunky explosions amidst the fertile reinvention taking place constantly.
They can sound like a robot programmed to rhyme, and/or psychotic
reactions while jumping out of their skins. Veering from second to second
between folk songs to speedy hammered sections.
A strum becomes a pop song that spits out periodic gobs of steel wool as
it saunters down a sun dappled lane. The Buffalo 66 sample brought warm
chills. This feels like some sort of revelation at 6 in the evening on a
sunny spring day with my headphones on and all of the windows wide open.
George Parsons
[Dream Magazine - Issue 4]
Usually, when I get a package from Amsterdam, I'm expecting it to contain
something that'll get me 'hella *&%$. So, at first, I was disappointed
when I opened a package addressed from the Netherlands only to find a
promotional copy of Zea's Today I Forgot to Complain. But after listening,
I found it to be almost as good as the product I'd been hoping for. Mixing
just the right amount of punk guitar riffs, samples and electro synths,
Zea puts together a very fine piece of modern musical artwork. With total
disregard for the average listener, Zea makes electropunk music that
embodies the ideal essence of the genre.
Arnold de Boer's blend of electro and punk rock is laced with serious
melodic choruses over fun, innovative drill n' bass beats that make for an
utterly new variety of music that defies the terms "like" and "as."
The album flows along in patchwork style, best demonstrated in the segment
of "They Grow Up Weird" where Zea run from punk to video game soundtrack
to soft metal with a low-fi radio segue into "Mountain Every Minute", a
track that revitalizes the skateboard-reggae-dub of Sublime and the South
Beach Dub Allstars with a shot of avant-garde electronic art.
"Press Start to Continue" starts off with a great, vulgar sample then
moves right into a sweet harmonic punk chorus, then back into a slamming
electro-house beat. The album zigs and zags all over the fucking map, to
an extent where the average listener absolutely cannot keep up.
This album covers all the usual musical bases, while tapping into the new,
throwing out attitude and riffs all over, like a kid refusing to stay
within the lines of a coloring book. Even the slowest piece. "He's
Passed", ends with a prank, obnoxious cell phone call that any musician
will relate to. Why the fuck not? "Kiss Kiss Revolution", another
beautiful cut-and-paste piece, keeps angsty punk rock right where it
should be...in the fucking basement!!!
I'll sum this one up by saying. as long as I keep stumbling across hungry
underground electronic music artists who don't give a damn, I'll know why
I love electropunk music.
Tim Lofgren
[100% Unnatural Webzine - Issue 14]
Genius indiepop made by two notepad-doodled Dutch boys that have Autechre
soundtracking Rugrats coming in one set of ears and the sweet harmony of
Mr Bungle flushing Belle & Seb’s heads down the toilet going out of the
other.
The respective rosters of Sarah records and Tigerbeat6 line up at opposite
ends of the playground and then ... BULLDOG!! Snot and hairgrips
everywhere.
Petra Star
[Careless Talk Costs Lives - Issue 4 - May/June 2003]
Baffling experimental rock from Holland.
Living in Amsterdam, surrounded by all manner of legal highs, must do
funny things to your mind. Dutch duo Zea, for exaample, had the bright
idea of punctuating their frenzied guitars and crashing drums with
ringtones, accordions, bells, whistles, freaky voices, plinky-plonky
pianos and other surreal sounds. Bizarrely enough, somehow it works.
Like Japanese experimental rockers Polysics and Buffalo Daughter, Zea
casually throw brainnumbing noize, punchy pop, hamfisted hip-hop and funky
techno into the mix, creating a jagged, f**ked-up sound that's so much
more than the sum of its parts.
Like They Might Be Giants jamming with the Ramones or Pink Floyd
headlining a punk convention, Today I Forgot To Complain is bewildering,
enigmatic and always full of surprises.
David McComb
[Kerrang - May 2003]
