Cranky Booking is back after a brief period of hibernation and recovery from last months christmas show and kicks off 2013 with local indie kids The History Of Colour TV who release their debut album, Emerald Cures Chic Ills, worldwide on January 29th through Saint Marie Records.
On first hearing the record I was overwhelmed by soaring guitars, propulsive drumming, seething keyboards and a pop sensibility being catapulted at me and which can only be described as 21st century rock music. It’s influences are many, from Let’s Get Sick which is the best album opener since The Cure’s Disintegration, to My Bloody Valentine-tinged pop screamers like 1-800 Badnite and I Knew It Was Wrong But I Did It Anyway the album also boasts several showstoppers like the keyboard-driven Mend which is a simply jaw-dropping piece of modern music which will stop the most cold-hearted music critic in their tracks…it stopped this one.
Having expanded to a three-piece since the summer The History…have developed an assured live set which more than does justice to their recordings and which should make tonight one to remember.
Here’s Let’s Get Sick:
Created as an experimental solo project and gradually developing into a band around a series of self-released singles and EPs, The History Of Colour TV’s songs advance in cascading duels of pop-sense versus noise-texture.
Propelled by a sonic charge of overdriven guitars, primitive drums and synth-induced soundscapes, the band interweave themes of sorrow and euphoria to form a glimmering evocation of a daydream, in which the past has yet to be and the future has been forgotten.
The History Of Colour TV formed in late 2010 in Berlin, where they are based to this day.
This one’s off the album too, 1-800 Badnite:
Support is Infants which is the solo project of William Sorensen (Crystal Shipsss, Mother Of The Unicorn) who will play new material he’s been working on which sounds like it’s been heavily influenced by Noveller, Aidan Baker and Arvo Prt…it’s gorgeous dreamy guitar-scape stuff, there’s lots of guitar pedals involved and apparently some spacey backdrop video. Until recently Sorensen had played a more direct set of songs backed up with guitar and harmonica, always a captivating performance, capable of hushing audiences with an assured stage presence normally seen only in hardened veterans, I imagine moving on to instrumental guitar pieces will halt this young man’s development as one of Berlin’s finest live performers not one single bit.
