Well its been a slow start to 2011 for me, Christ work was hard today! But you can't get a better start to the year than the news that Action Beat's second LP, Beatings, is finally dropping on Truth Cult on the 10th.
News of Bletchley's finest's second LP is nothing new, but I've been holding back posting until the long player had really landed and Id got a chance to really taste Beatings for myself - and it does not disappoint. Beatings was first announced back in September, with more tour dates to-boot. I was lucky enough to take a pummelling from the frenzied Bletchley seven piece (at least) at the Macbeth, but the band hadn't received any copies of the album back from the pressers yet, I was gutted. It would be the understatement of the decade to say that I've been gagging for this record. Had it dropped back in September as planned, I can guarantee Beatings would have made our top ten albums of 2010.
Its safe to say that Beatings sees Action Beat on very much the same territory as their first LP The Noise Band From Bletchley - manic improvised noise influenced by Glenn Branca, The Ex and Sonic Youth - but this is no follow-on. Beatings sees Action Beat turn it up a notch or three. This is Action Beat in a more frenetic, more intense, more full-on whirlwind of perfected noise insanity. You could almost say that Beatings shows a band maturing, particularly in tracks like 'Daddy Why', but for Action Beat maturity means more menace, more energy, with their foot pressed to the metal harder than ever before.
The crazy video of opening track 'Car Crash Halloween Disco' below - if you haven't seen Action Beat live than the vid is pretty close - and buy it here, through Southern Records - for a tenner! Its a steal.
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