“Hello friends of science and technology.†And with those words, sandwiched between some sparkling pieces of audio sampling, the listener is introduced to the strange, fucked up world of The Bolides. Where to begin with this four piece, I just don’t know. Even the packaging, inlay and artwork is something out of the ordinary as we see four men adorning medical coats, balaclavas and gogglewear as it looks like something from the X-Files, not the punk rock scene. Oh, and then we have the Bolides music, I was expecting something akin to the Mad Capsule Market and once I played the opening track, ‘Genetic Make-Up’, I felt rather smug as the aforementioned electronica introduced the album, but alas not for the first time I was wrong. Because The Bolides have crafted some of the finest old school punk rock I have heard in a good while.
Once my first listen of the album was up I had to double check and see when it was produced as the sound is uncannily reminiscent of decades gone by as the tracks bounce off the walls in an effortless daze of tinny guitars and snarling, gruff vocals. ‘Push the Latency’ is no finer example of this as it opens the album proper in fine style while the thumpingly poetic ‘ad(H)d’ follows it up in fine, if quirky, fashion. The rest of the album is made up of similar edgy grouchy efforts with the likes of ‘Invisible Hands‘ and ‘Insanity Insane’ proving other highlights. With the remainder being made up of tracks not to dissimilar to anything else we have heard, it is left to the more eclectic efforts which try something different with the keyboard such as ‘Ballad of Ultraman’ and ‘Finite Automata’ to offer some diversity.
With band members under such monikers as Mikro Fiche, Victor Osiris, Dr. Drummond and Shrink Wray, I was expecting something suitably up its own arse, but I was surprised. The music they have been labouring at in the lab (oh come on…) is something different and couldn’t sound more old school if they tried, which is why Science Under Pressure is such a breath of fresh air.
Jay
www.thebolides.com
www.dionysusrecords.com