The Noise Figures are a fuzzy, bluesy, psychedelic rock n' roll duo from Athens, Greece, comprised of drummer/vocalist George Nikas and guitarist Stamos Bamparis.
This album has vocals in an odd accent and the casual disinterested coolness of early JAMC or The Raveonettes. These guys stand there and rock out with catchy songs, but ultimately they are too cool for you. And you know it, and you love it, and they know it, but don't care.
This is one of those records with attitude.
It kicks off with Black Caravan, nice drum beat and tambourine bit, before the guitar fuzzes in and the singer chants the title a la Bauhaus. Dark and groovy...
Out Of Your Mind is a frantic drum beat, hand claps, and a jangly guitar. Bamparis does a good job, here, grooving along then stomping on the distortion for the choruses.
Rollin' has a nice, well, rolling beat, with hand claps and distorted guitar. This is utterly catchy, the band playing and not caring about you while you cannot help but dance along to this. Great stuff.
Bless The Flood bounces and jangles along. This reminds me of a moodier piece from The Smithereens. On the other hand, Turn Off The Lights is very fuzzy and reminds me of mid 1980s heavy metal. This wouldn't have been out of place on an early Motley Crüe record. And yes, i listened to them in high school, so shut up!
On No Rest Bamparis plays a whining, tremoloed guitar riff like on Pictures of the Matchstick Men by cracker. Nikas's drums are a lethargic tapping and his voice is distorted and echoed. This is pretty epic.
Nikas plays a strong repetitive beat on Tame the Knife, just a steady thinking as he mutters his lyrics and Bamparis jangles along.
Bones is a squealing tune with a hint of The Velvet Underground to it. Nice.
Distortion is all over We Look Better In The Sun, both the guitar and the vocals. This is noisy and drives along nicely.
And finally things end with Space Mountain a song that seems always to be about to be swamped by tremolo.
Overall, this is pretty cool. More cool music from Greece. Huh.
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