You know when you discover a band that sound so incredibly brilliant and you’re not sure if you can believe it, and you end up pinching yourself just to make sure you’re awake and haven’t dreamt the whole experience? Well that’s what I ended up doing when I first heard The Carps.
Yeah, yeah I know – blog posts raving about the astonishing talents of band “x’ and the jaw-dropping escapades of band “y’ (“look! The keyboardist crowd-surfs in a dingy! They have 7 drummers! The singer wears a costume made of meat!!!!!111!”) are ten a penny and usually really fucking boring, much like this one (jokes.)
Toronto-based 2 piece The Carps play a strange mix of punk rock, soul, funk (you’ve closed the page haven’t you? Sigh.) and electronica. Convoluted? Not really. Their minimalist approach of a singing drummer and bassist has been seen and done before, but they are completely different to noise-terrors Lightning Bolt, but appear to have more in common with the much missed Death From Above 1979. The bass rumbles with that familiar low-end sexual tempo, whilst the drum beats are even more furious (if possible) than that of Mr. Grainger. Vocalist/drummer Jahmal Tongue has as incredible voice; ranging from a sublime croon, to short sharp barks of encouraging fury with topical spoken word segments (see “Compton to Scarboro‘ which deals gangland peer-pressure, gun crime and one man’s struggle with his decision to rob a store.)
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As far as releases go, they have 1 EP out at the moment entitled “The Young & Passionate Days Of Carpedia‘ (which I strongly recommend) and are currently working on a follow-up EP entitled “Waves and Shambles‘ with a release date scheduled for April 18th. Tour-wise, the band has played a plethora of dates throughout Europe, including Fabric and will be bringing their brand of bass-heavy dance-rock to Paris and Antwerp in March.
Still want convincing that The Carps are great? Well, think a dirtier, sweatier sounding Head Automatica without the bullshit pop-hooks and a less volatile and diverse trunk-nosed 2 piece and you’re not far off. Or just watch the damn video below and buy their EP.
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Video
Click below to watch the video to ‘Compton to Scarboro‘. To hear tracks from the ‘Carpedia‘ Ep, click on the band’s myspace, official site or their last fm. Enjoy!
[MEDIA=96]
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Links
The Carps Space
Official Site
Last Fm
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By Ross Macdonald
Lizard Hips
Junior Vice President of Keep It Fast. In other news: I work in social media, talk about dinosaurs, run a book club and have amazing facial hair. I am also a male man who is still not dead.
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