First release by brand new Leeds label Run of The Mill, run by Sophie who used to co-run Jealous Records, and this lovely 7″ slab of lime green wax continues in Jealous’ previous series of getting two of the finer bands from the UK’s DIY rock scene to do covers from long-missed music legends. This time around, two of Leeds’ math/punk heroes have a go at tackling the progmeisters King Crimson. Now I can categorically state that I’m not a fan of the KC, but the execution of each of these covers is deft enough to leave the imprint of the performers all over the original songs.

First up, That Fucking Tank have come on leaps and bounds from their early adolescent days as a Kill Yourself side project to start manifesting themselves as a full-on brick-hard party band, and this is their best hormonal discharge yet. As a baritone guitar+drums duo, they’re not afraid to acknowledge being influenced by other famous ultra-smart/heavy-as-shit two-pieces, but also have enough of their own brittle-then-ten-tonnes-of-steel sound and enthusiasm to stamp it all over their version of Red. Ripping up the tempo and reducing the melody to its most functional form, TFT tear free from the fairly leaden pace and sickeningly rich tapestry of sounds of the original to recreate it as an insistent stomping machine. You could almost dance to this shit.

On the flip side, Monster Killed By Laser tackle Larks Tongue in Aspic (Part 2) retaining more of the prog, but also injecting more of the zaniness, some rootronics (no doubt a tongue-in-cheek reference to KC mainman Bob Fripp’s self-acclaimed Frippertronics) and a great big widdly guitar solo over the end. Still a young band, MKBL have seemed to change identity every time I’ve seen them, but to give you an idea here they’re guitar, bass and drums that all do very complicated things together when necessary and then break down to the simplest crunching riff when also necessary. All very pleasing, and even managing to do the old Dungeons and Dragons-style mathery when required without sounding like the pompous arses I’ve always assumed KC to be. Plus, there’s some pleasingly strange squealing sample going on in the background towards the end of the song (the afore-mentioned rootronics?). The recording’s a little tinny, but what do you expect from DIY?

Oh yeah, and packaging is as gorgeous as all Sophie’s other designs. This is good. All is good. We like.

Posted: 05|28|05 at 6:32 pm. Filed under: record reviews.
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