Cleckhuddersfax - Spen Beck

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5...according to our Business Lady on Thu 21 Oct, 2010.

Cleckhuddersfax are a powerful entity in today's wishy washy indie rock climate. Their music is vibrant, enthusiastic and sewn together from a patchwork of rarely revisited styles and techniques. 'Spen Beck' on Upset The Rhythm is the follow up to Cleckhuddersfax s/t debut that came out on my own Chinchilla-Tone label. Since then they've toured long and hard and evolved into a powerful, muscular live act that are a treat to observe in the flesh. 'Spen beck' is a eight track sprint through the forgotten ages of rock that leaps from style to style with relative ease and consistency. Shakeeb Abu Hamden (bass) and Joe Parkin (drums) lay down a serious rhythm section with Parkin's beats being of particular interest due to the super solid yet totally laid back nature of his grooves. Shakeeb brings melodic prog power to the mix, his licks reminding me of early era Genesis or Yes bassist Chris Squire laced with middle eastern arcs and saturated in a fascinating combination of pedals and tones. On top of that you've got the manual dexterity and creative flair of Tom Hirst's squelchin' synth lines that, with the help of man-kini sporting vocalist Lawrence Abu Hamden, provide the texture and cheeky humour that gels the whole thing together. 'Spen Beck' is a massive step forward from their debut and contains some of their finest compositions ever including the strangely christmasy 'The Numismatist', power-groover 'Untitles', moody disco charmer 'A Decree' and mad call and response prog wig-out 'New Durzi'. This is totally awesome record worth every penny of the money i insist you spend on it.

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* This is the first release for Cleckhuddersfax on Upset The Rhythm.

* Their self-titled debut album was released on Chinchilla Tone.

* The band have been constantly touring Europe and the UK, spreading their glam pop-punk along the way with the aid of an orange man-kini.

* Cleckhuddersfax is a slang term lumping together a triangle of West Yorkshire (points comprising of Cleckheaton, Huddersfield and Halifax) into near mythical status. Cleckhuddersfax is also a musical outfit spawned from this conurbation worship.

* Starting out in the better half of the last decade Cleckhuddersfax have more strings to their bow than most bands, the four piece scramble through genres like a lightning hit on a record shop. Broadly speaking their music is soaked in new wave bounce, pools of progressive slop and middle eastern arcs, all driven onwards by the insistent pulse of glam punk forgotten. This isn’t some ironic charity box haul of pride though, it’s about making something new and exceptional from the bones of an unwanted past.

* After touring Europe multiple times and the release of their self-titled debut on Chinchilla Tone the band have become a solid gold unit, perfecting their abstract dance appeal, injecting equal parts fun and invention into their live shows.
Lawrence Abu Hamden’s impressive, often pitch-contorted, vocals soar over a mountainous landscape of sturdy bass and drums (courtesy of Shakeeb Abu Hamden and Joe Parkin), whilst Tom Hirst’s synth squelch and gurgle spews like lava from the peaks. This ability to capture the surprising and most tangent spinning elements of popular music has led them to the banks of a river that runs straight through Cleckhuddersfax, known throughout the 19th century as “ The
Stink” and today as Spen Beck. Spen Beck lends its name to the bands new album allowing Mens Recovery Project, Murat Ses, Geddy Lee and Sparks to all swim unsupervised.

* Spen Beck is marathon sprinted. Eight songs in thirty minutes that cover an enthusiastic amount of ground. With this album Cleckhudderfax have written their names in the prehistoric slime of our origins and what they do next only tomorrow will unearth.

* Released on CD and limited edition coloured vinyl.

TRACKLIST:

1. Four Principles 2. The Numismatist 3. Stellar's Sea Cow 4. Untitles 5. A Decree 6. New Durzi 7. North Tripoli 8. National Anthem of Cleckhuddersfax

5...according to John Bloor.

This is a record I immediately pre-ordered upon hearing samples of some months ago and has taken ages to be pressed on vinyl.

Sounding a bit like Talking Heads with its brassy, in-your-face synth sounds, the music is arranged in such an angular, experimental way. The keyboards, drums and bass provide a complex interplay of fat, swaggering, looping, phrases over which songs are constructed. Even the singer sounds a little like David Byrne, with unreal, effected vocals more akin to a synth sound than human voice, swooping overhead.

The synths are really in-your-face, pulled along by pounding drums. There’s nothing subtle about the sonic textures going on here, yet I find the songs are bold and engaging.

So, what do you think? Best reviewer each month gets £10 off their next order!