Cry Baby
Ever
INDIE
From the crunching chord that opens 'Cry-Baby' to the squealing saxophone with which the album comes to a blood curdling end, it's clear that the Norwegian, UNGDOMSKULEN - formed by KRISTIAN STOCKHAUS (vocals / guitar), ØYVIND SOLHEIM (drums) & FRODE KVINGE FLATLAND (bass) - are cut from a different cloth from not only all the other bands on Ever Records, but also most of the bands that have ever troubled this weary globe.
Ungdomskulen's music is timeless because it is bigger than time - It's monumental, epic, glorious and colossal. They're also disciplined, out of control, uncategorisable, definitive. We once called them "the sound of Steve Albini playing progrock disco" but that doesn't even come close: we've also seen words like BLACK SABBATH, CAN, FRANK ZAPPA, THE MELVINS, THE JESUS LIZARD, SONIC YOUTH, FUGAZI, PUBLIC IMAGE LTD, THE FALL and THE CURE thrown around. But you can make up your own mind but we'll just add that this band is so good Ever even changed their logo especially for them.
Their band name UNGDOMSKULEN, a word designed to trip up the tongues of under achievers the world over. "Rokysopp was a weird name and that didn't seem to hold them back," they argue, and frankly they've got a point!
Ungdomskulen had only two rules when they started:
1) to always write together, in the rehearsal studio
2) to always push themselves to the furthest limit of their musical skills, and then further still
'Cry-Baby' is, for want of a better word, relentless. There's barely a moment throughout to retreat from its ferocious assault. And yet it's constantly entertaining. How could it be otherwise when it's filled with songs with titles like "Glory Hole" and "Witches Mate In The Underground?"
The effortless simplicity with which they can move from the explosive BLACK SABBATH stylings of "Glory Hole"'s chorus into the woodblock fueled tension of its middle section and then the kind of noise assault that MOGWAI have striven for their entire career is testament to their success of these rules. But then so are the anthemic shouts of "Spartacus", the balls-out brutality - punctuated with deft triangle work and surgical speed-funk - of "My Beautiful Blue Eyes", Stockhaus' wild falsetto screams in "Feels Like Home", the unstoppable thrash of Ungdomskulen and the lascivious pelvic thrust of the closing "Witches Mate In The Underground".
Every song on this immense debut is as absurd as it is exciting & all the more brilliant for it. The fact that only one comes in under 5 minutes seems mystifying, each one speeding by breathlessly & with an intensity that will confirm Ungdomskulen as your five favourite new bands all wrapped into one cuddly, slightly clammy, package.
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CD |
EVER12CD |
$24.95 |
 |
MP3 (320k) Individuals AU$1.69 per track
Hint: You can play a track by clicking the play button on the left of each track. The player controls will load at the top of the page. You can play the whole track, but for licensing reasons it must be played in 30 second slices.
