Skywave - "Interference"
(Best Kept Secret 2002, LIE064, Cassette)
Skywave - "Interference"
(Best Kept Secret 2002, LIE064, Cassette)
Uploaded to Aural Innovations: February 2004
Skywave are pretty hard to pigeonhole. The band excel equally at raw, ultra dark psychedelic goth rock and dreamy melodic songs. They open and close this 12 song set with two of their most aggressive tracks. With it's dark goth vocals and searing guitar, "All Alone" is like classic Chrome. Really tortured shit with a blazing acidic punky edge. "Coming After Me" isn't quite as harsh but also reminded me of Chrome. "Dreamscape" really grabbed me, being a tripped out avant-garde instrumental. But check out "Space", which is... how to describe... imagine Flock Of Seagulls produced by Helios Creed and you'll get something like this very cool but all too brief instrumental. It's followed by "Don't Say Goodbye", an excellent rawkin' garage psych tune á al The Seeds. "If I Were A Man" is like an 80's synth-pop dance tune but with rockin' guitars and a lo-fi sensibility.
On the more melodic side is "Walk My Way", which is also on the Don't Say Slow CDEP that Scott reviewed in AI #21. Sure, the guitar can't resist getting a bit aggressive, but it does so without abandoning the "song" focus of the track. "Cool Breeze" is an instrumental that is a highlight of the set for pure dreamy melody. Very nice. And "Baby It's Just You" is a folk song, but it's got that a lo-fi recorded-in-the-boiler-room feel that adds a strange but welcome droney psychedelic edge to the music. Somewhat similar is "Heartbreaker", a dreamy folk-psychy song with a 60's sound that reminded me of the Rolling Stones.
Skywave are brimming with stylistic variety, though it's actually pretty cohesive. There are lots of 80's influences, certainly goth and punk, psychedelia to be sure, and a determination to keep polish and cleanliness at arms length of their sound... Skywave keep it irresistibly RAW!
For more information you can visit the Skywave web site at: http://www.killerrockandroll.com.
Email at: skywave@killerrockandroll.com.
Interference is distributed by Best Kept Secret. You can visit their web site at: http://www.indiepages.com/bestkeptsecret.
Email at: bks@telemar.it.
Reviewed by Jerry Kranitz