L i v e R e v i e w / Mon 7 November 2005 @ The Hope and Anchor
pic © Dave Flindall
Very special post-rock'n'jazz instrumentals.
Three men with a message: a message that builds. Tribal drumming opens. Subtly
piping keyboard grows into a space storm. Bass emerges, a fussin' and a botherin'.
Then spooky guitar rears, grunts and reverbs. Suddenly, the trio break into a classic
rock'n'roll intro. They follow on with five wild musical experiments. Grinding guitar,
whistling and squealing feedback, mad fx pedalling, a Black Sabbath of diabolic revs
and slashes. The bass man's tunes jerk and spider, strings bending, mad slides,
frenetic speed and groovy slapping. This chap plays keyboard with his feet - not foot
pedals, yer actual keys. Beats are stilted, but graspable, tempos frayed, but nothing
broken. Hawkwind, Black Sabbath and Spiritualized thrown together and forced through
the grinder.
Heat From a DeadStar made my week. This is music of blackhole darkness and raging intensity. But it's constructed from a pattern
of short repeats that's bizarrely catchy. A breakneck progression from the intro, through a sequence of end-to-end tunes,
ultimately arriving at a finale that plunges around a groove, a hooky helter-skelter crunchathon, and a white noise conclusion.
John Lydon observed that "Anger is an energy". Heat From a DeadStar have travelled from France, where the energy has been
emerging as rioting, to prove that their energy can be harnessed in the service of timeless musical beauty.
Energy not just from celestial bodies, but the perpetual power of Mr Jimi Hendrix.
RF / Opposition T Webzine
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The first live act to take the stage was in the form of funky looking, vocal-less French
duo Heat From a DeadStar. Rampant strumming of both rhythm and bass guitars with an array
of effects pedals to make Jean Michel Jarre blush backed up by a pummelling drum machine.
They swung from rock to pure sound experimentation all the while keeping electronic tongues
lodged firmly in cheeks. Kind of like Air on an angry day.
Zip Boy / Sum Puppy
************************************************************************************************
Next up were HFADS and I will not describe them as they are indescribable - indescribably
amazing, and the re-addition of a drummer may have slowed down their "intricacies of
musical filigree on their guitars" a bit but it has more than tripled their sheer "rock'n'roll'
factor to the point where I think they could rival the LEGENDARY OJM in the Nifty Night
Chronicles.
Nifty
Three men with a message: a message that builds. Tribal drumming opens. Subtly
piping keyboard grows into a space storm. Bass emerges, a fussin' and a botherin'.
Then spooky guitar rears, grunts and reverbs. Suddenly, the trio break into a classic
rock'n'roll intro. They follow on with five wild musical experiments. Grinding guitar,
whistling and squealing feedback, mad fx pedalling, a Black Sabbath of diabolic revs
and slashes. The bass man's tunes jerk and spider, strings bending, mad slides,
frenetic speed and groovy slapping. This chap plays keyboard with his feet - not foot
pedals, yer actual keys. Beats are stilted, but graspable, tempos frayed, but nothing
broken. Hawkwind, Black Sabbath and Spiritualized thrown together and forced through
the grinder.
Heat From a DeadStar made my week. This is music of blackhole darkness and raging intensity. But it's constructed from a pattern
of short repeats that's bizarrely catchy. A breakneck progression from the intro, through a sequence of end-to-end tunes,
ultimately arriving at a finale that plunges around a groove, a hooky helter-skelter crunchathon, and a white noise conclusion.
John Lydon observed that "Anger is an energy". Heat From a DeadStar have travelled from France, where the energy has been
emerging as rioting, to prove that their energy can be harnessed in the service of timeless musical beauty.
Energy not just from celestial bodies, but the perpetual power of Mr Jimi Hendrix.
RF / Opposition T Webzine
************************************************************************************************
L i v e R e v i e w / Thu 8 February 2007 Live @ Sump Puppy Gig at The Montague Arms
The first live act to take the stage was in the form of funky looking, vocal-less French
duo Heat From a DeadStar. Rampant strumming of both rhythm and bass guitars with an array
of effects pedals to make Jean Michel Jarre blush backed up by a pummelling drum machine.
They swung from rock to pure sound experimentation all the while keeping electronic tongues
lodged firmly in cheeks. Kind of like Air on an angry day.
Zip Boy / Sum Puppy
************************************************************************************************
L i v e R e v i e w / Sun 8th July 2007 Live @ The Forum / Tunbridge Wells
Next up were HFADS and I will not describe them as they are indescribable - indescribably
amazing, and the re-addition of a drummer may have slowed down their "intricacies of
musical filigree on their guitars" a bit but it has more than tripled their sheer "rock'n'roll'
factor to the point where I think they could rival the LEGENDARY OJM in the Nifty Night
Chronicles.
Nifty