Perhaps I was just waiting for the perfect modern underground rock band to embrace dub music & ricocheting, echo-laden sounds in perfect union with the times. Perhaps I figured the analog synthesizers and dub could never successfully meet. Folks, they have, in the person of Australian duo the FABULOUS DIAMONDS, whose two recordings, a 7”EP and a new LP/CD on Siltbreeze, are rapidly making their way to many a hipster’s lips. In fact as I was marinating this post in my head, I flipped open the excellent new Z-GUN #2 old-school fanzine, and right there on page 2 is an interview with the don’t-call-us-a-couple “band”. You can’t get any more ’08 street cred than that. In fact they give some pretty good copy – a brawling anti-couple locked in verbal combat with each other while coming off as perfectly and totally harmonious through their music. Having seen them play live just over a week ago, I can safely say they’re pretty much my favorite band of the hour, having bested Times New Viking, the Hank IV and Psychedelic Horseshit on the same goddamn night.The Diamonds’ have already been quoted from their presskit extensively (nice work, Tom Lax) as being a hybrid of “Augustus Pablo, Young Marble Giants and Suicide”. Except this time it’s true, though I’d tip over heavy on the Pablo side of the scale. Horns snake in & out of the mix like Pablo’s melodica, as tension builds and releases through warped washes of sound. Drummer Nisa gets away with most of the singing on both releases, and usually that involves repeating a simple couple of lines and letting them swirl around in the reverb and the delay. There’s a quiet, restrained tribalism here that reminds me a little of the polyrhythmic sounds of late 70s compatriots SPK. In short, I totally dig it, and so do all right-thinking punks of today. See if you can join the crue by clicking the links below.
Play or Download FABULOUS DIAMONDS – “Side A, Track 2” (from 2007 7”EP on Nervous Jerk)
Play or Download FABULOUS DIAMONDS – “Side A, Track 3” (from new mini-LP on Siltbreeze)
Play or Download FABULOUS DIAMONDS – “Side B, Track 3” (from new mini-LP on Siltbreeze)
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4 comments:
Saw them in a basement in Sacramento and they were fantastic, really really fantastic. Really.
so proud of the local M-town crew for kicking it in the big USofA, and for being liked and loved and appreciated.
yay.
shouldn't that be (smooth move, Tom Lax)?
I also hear early 4AD ( Mass, Rema Rema) and Factory ( Crispy Ambulance, A Certain Ratio)influences abound- skankers embrace your inner art fag- you've been rubbing up against sweaty, shirtless bodies for a long time now.
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