-=- SHGZ -=-
* Shoegaze * Indie * Post-Rock * Grunge * Dream Pop * Psych-Rock * Ethereal *
ARTIST..: Blindness
ALBUM...: Wrapped In Plastic
GENRE...: Indie
STYLE...: Indie Rock, Shoegaze
YEAR....: 2015
LABEL...: Saint Marie Records
COUNTRY.: United Kingdom
PLACE...: London, Greater London
FORMED..: 2008
ENCODER.: LAME 3.100 -V0
BITRATE.: 269 kbps avg
QUALITY.: 44.1kHz / Joint Stereo
SOURCE..: CD
TRACKS..: 9
SIZE....: 67.77 MB
URL..: http://www.facebook.com/weareblindness
- TRACKLIST
1 Serves Me Right 3:26
2 Deserving 2:50
3 Last One Dies 3:22
4 No One Counts 3:07
5 Sunday Morning 3:55
6 Humming Song 4:08
7 Broken 4:52
8 All In One 4:08
9 Confessions 5:12
Total Playtime: 35:00
Formed in 2008, Blindness features Beth Rettig (vocals, programming, noise),
Emma Quick (bass, noise), and Debbie Smith (guitar, feedback,noise), the
latter being guitarist for 90's bands Curve and Echobelly and, later,
Snowpony. Taking sonic tips from The Jesus and Mary Chain as well as My
Bloody Valentine and with the hook sensibility of PJ Harvey, Blindness are a
band with a machine gun etiquette, showing "exquisite warmth" in their
"seductive dark wave electro pop." The songs on their album 'Wrapped In
Plastic' on Saint Marie Records will take you on an adrenaline fuelled,
rollercoaster ride of beautiful chaos.
*
Shoegaze fanatics, may we have for a moment your attention? Blindness is the
newest band of Debbie Smith, the guitarist who you might know of Echobelly
and Curve. And yes, Wrapped In Plastic is the greatest indie noise record you
can find in stores these days! The sound is never perfect (that's why it's
called postpunk!), the guitars are extremely loud, it's even a bit messy in
pure Fall style, but after three spins (or was it only two?) you're
hopelessly addicted to this London trio.
It is certainly no coincidence that this band has a deal with Saint Marie
Records, because this label belongs with Fuzz Club Records to the cream of
the crop of today's post-punk and shoegaze sounds.
The sound that Beth Rettig, Emma Quick and Debbie Smith conjure with their
instruments causes the same feeling as the picture of the London Eye that is
on the cover: it makes you dizzy. Do not think that the nine songs are a
noisy mess, as after all there are a lot of pop elements in Blindness, at
least if you agree that The Fall is pop, and yes they are!
The opening track Serves Me Right immediately hits all the targets. After all
these years Debbie Smith still can't get enough of those loud fuzz guitars,
and the result just sounds delicious! But Blindness is more than the new
group of Debbie Smith. Beth's vocals sound sexy, punky, a tad naughty, but
above all irresistible. The bass sound of Emma Quick reminds you of the
heyday of The Jesus & Mary Chain. Combine all these elements and you simply
have the best band of the moment!
No One Counts sounds like Elastica, but without the Britpop bits. Sometimes
their music is quite noisy (although always structured).Deserving is glam
rock in a My Bloody Valentine-treatment and Sunday Morning is because of its
electronic sounds quite dark. The same electronics are in Humming Song, and
it seems as if Martin Hannett's spirit somewhere wanders in this song. To say
it otherwise, this is sublime.
Of course we can't help but say something about Curve in this review. You
certainly can do that as Broken has the similar sound as the band who created
with Ten Little Girls a sound named shoegaze noise. All In One is another
piece of brilliant pop, albeit delivered with a cartload of deafening
decibels.
This record by Blindness is among the best of what the shoegaze/postpunk
moment of this year has to offer. Words fail to describe the genius of this
album, one that will end up in the list of 2015!
*
It may have been a long time coming but the debut album from BLiNDNESS makes
time immaterial as it sizzles on the senses from start to finish spreading a
dark wave electro pop seduction which is just as likely to snarl and explode
with attitude as it is to smoulder and caress. Wrapped In Plastic is a
sonically and imaginatively charged incitement, an adrenaline driven
helter-skelter of sound and energy that ears and thoughts quickly bask in.
The accompanying press release to the album calls it a "rollercoaster ride of
beautiful chaos" and that about says it all.
Formed in 2008, BLiNDNESS consists of Beth Rettig (vocals, programming,
noise), Emma Quick (bass, noise), and Debbie Smith (guitar, feedback, noise)
previously of Curve, Echobelly, and Snowpony. Since emerging the London based
band has persistently been an explosive proposition on the Capital's live
scene and beyond. Now it is the turn of Wrapped In Plastic to set the fuse to
fresh and major attention, and from its opening proposal it easily leaves
ears and appetite seriously engaged.
To be particularly picky there is a similarity in certain areas of some songs
which threatens to smother the invention and creative adventure specific to
each track but close and constant attention covers that, Wrapped In Plastic a
release you need to spend time with to reap all its strengths and qualities.
BLiNDNESS definitely rewards such focus though with an encounter which leaves
ears ringing, bodies sweaty, and satisfaction bloated.
https://ringmasterreviewintroduces.wordpress.com/2015/07/08/blindness-wrapped-in-plastic
*
There are a number of reasons to like BLiNDNESS as a band, though of course
being blind is still not something I want to be (Though I have horrible
vision and need really thick lenses for my glasses) and among them is the
music itself. The songs on "WRAPPED iN PLASTIC" are heavily distorted but
fast paced. If they were slower and more drawn out in ways I'd like to
think of them as being shoegaze, but I feel like the pace is just too fast
for that idea here. It's like The Sorry Shop or Presents For Sally in the
way that they kind of do fit in with shoegaze but aren't really it in the
traditional sense of the word, I suppose.
For me, the music takes me back to 1990-something when I was in the prime of
my musical life because I was in my teens and so everything felt so new and
amazing to me. Parts of this remind me of L7 while at other times it can be
a blend of The Runaways mixed with that early era Marilyn Manson and, no,
that description isn't too far off from L7 anyway. But this just reminds me
of a lot of the music I grew up listening to and still hold dear to myself,
such as Elastica, Veruca Salt and PJ Harvey. I'm not sure if this is
particularly dark or not but it could be on "The Crow" soundtrack so I must
believe it has a certain sense of darkness to it.
If not headbanging then these songs are at least headbobbing good tunes.
Starts and stops begin "Last One Dies" as we journey through space and the
chorus hook of "All your friendships are dropping like flies / What do you do
when the last one dies?" "Sunday Morning" is an easy single if we're
looking at the radio and through a nice bass line on "No One Close" there is
also a certain amount of that Joan Jett sass on these songs.
Without naming too many names, many of my favorite artists and albums for
that matter within the last five years or so have been made possible by some
amazing women. Some of them have been on Saint Marie Records and the ones
that haven't include the likes of Metric, The Courtesans, One-Eyed Doll,
Polly Scattergood and, well, just look at what has been reviewed so far this
year. The thing is that all of these artists, though different in their
own ways, seem to take the same path. It's as if they're faced with a fork in
the road and they all choose to go right, while for whatever reason BLiNDNESS
chose to go left.
Don't get me wrong, this doesn't take anything away from any other artist or
BLiNDNESS themselves. It just feels like all of these other albums I've
listened to and enjoyed up until now have been from the United States (Though
they are from a number of different countries) and then BLiNDNESS is from a
different country. It's not the easiest thing for me to explain about the
music and it doesn't make any other music lesser for it, but BLiNDNESS just
feels like they're operating on a different plane than everyone else and I
love it about them.
-=- SHGZ -=-
-=-=-==-=-=-
Shoegaze
is a genre of alternative rock that
originated in the late 80s. The genre is very
difficult to define, and it is even more difficult to evaluate music
within it. Generally, the genre is characterized by its
shimmering vocals, reverberating guitars, and
textural distortion that create
a tranquil, opaque
feeling.
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