ShockRock

What the fuck is going on with music at moment? Once upon a time we knew where we stood – mods and rockers, punk and prog, grunge and acid house, two camps operating at odds with each other. Recently, however, it’s all changed.



Guitar bands are using synths more than ever, dance music is played live, electronic beats writhe under live bass whilst drums and woodblocks and cowbells tussle with samplers – the twin worlds of indie and dance are locked in a sweaty mess under the glare of a thousand glowsticks and it sounds amazing.



To celebrate this musical revolution Wall of Sound are excited to announce the release of Shock Rock, their revolutionary compilation album featuring fifteen pioneers of this new wave of groups, utterly disparate and yet united in their disdain for the traditional band template.



In the words of Wall of Sound’s Mark Jones, “the barriers and boundaries are down. There are no rules. The standard rock line-up is a thing of the past, now bands come in all shapes and sizes, and the one thing that links them is a love of electronic music. It’s the heartbeat of what they do”.



The hugely influential label saw this coming a long time ago, and have been championing the open minded ethic of mixing musical styles for years. Their residency, `Love & Good Times` at London’s palace of debauchery Fabric has been the stuff of legend – endless nights of lasers, smoke and serotonin-stealing beats, where live bands are as important, if not more so, than the DJs.



Opening with Metronomy’s spazzed out post-drill and bass monotorock, jackhammer beats pounding relentlessly onto your cortex, this selection is breaking rules from the start. Hot on its heels are Shakes, remixers of everyone from Datarock to Kasabian, who here get the treatment themselves. This mix of ‘Sister Self Doubt’ freeze-dries that dirty warehouse party euphoria, eventually relenting to to Serge Santiago’s extended reworking of The Sunshine Underground’s ‘I Ain’t Losing Any Sleep’, which stretches the Leeds youngsters’ psychedelic trance into new dimensions.



And then we have The Gossip. Fronted by political firebrand lesbian and NME Cool List topper Beth Ditto, the Arkansas threesome rattle out the most aggressively soulful racket since MC5 laid down their arms. ‘Standing In The Way Of Control’, their answer to US anti-gay marriage laws, is their first real shot across the bows of the good ship bureaucracy.



CSS burst out of Brazil an explosion of favela-funk and wicked dress sense, combining hand-me-down chic, on-stage roly-polys and 70s police cop pop, and here the fantastically named ‘Let’s Make Love And Listen To Death From Above’ has been made even sleazier. Nightmoves have rocked many a dancefloor, and here work their magic on post rock - rave upstarts Infadels whilst, after Southend based A Human’s sinister synth-driven dark tale, the much-missed DFA 1979 are rewired by Alan Braxe and Fred Falke. The late bass-and-drums duo wrote numerous killer riffs ripe for remixing and this one would be an ideal soundtrack to CSS doing the nasty.



Toyshop’s cosmic krautrock takes the tempo down for a moment before we’re forcibly shaken up by the king of the East London electronic rock set Whitey and the discordant riff-buggery of ‘Wrap It Up’. Zoot Woman, meanwhile, put their moonlighting for the likes of Madonna and Scissor Sisters aside for a minute and serve up a pulsating slither of soothing falsetto.



Lo Fi Fnk’s restless electro underpins the kind of sweet melody that is creeping into clubs all over the place these days, and helps to explain why the feisty Swedish duo are such hot property at the moment. Another equally revered twosome are Shy Child, a bafflingly brilliant drum-n-keytar (yep, that’s keytar) pair. If ‘Down On Yourself’ doesn’t find you peeling paint off the walls at 4am you’re close to flatlining. Expect the New Yorkers to go stellar.



Soulwax need little introduction, and this fast version of their quintessential electro-punk tune will keep the serotonin flowing right into Friendly Fires, who steal the riffs from Frankie Knuckles old school anthem ‘Your Love’ and mangle them into a shimmering indie disco pop sign off.



It might sound dramatic to say music is entering an unchartered new era, with the aforementioned bands and Wall of Sound at the forefront, but it wouldn’t be far from the truth.



Tracklisting:



1. Metronomy - You Could Easily Have Me

2. Shakes - Sister Self Doubt (Alternate mix)

3. Sunshine Underground - I Aint Losing Any Sleep (Serge Santiago’s vocal edit)

4. The Gossip - Standing In The Way Of Control

5. CSS - Lets Make Love And Listen To Death From Above

6. Infadels - Girl That Speak No Words (Nightmoves remix single edit)

7. A Human - Black Moon (Original demo version)

8. DFA 1979 - Black History Month (Alan Braxe & Fred Falke remix)

9. Toyshop – Violent Light

10. Whitey - Wrap It Up

11. Zoot Woman – Grey Day

12. Lo Fi Fnk - Change Channel

13. Shy Child - Down On Yourself

14. Soulwax - NY Excuse (Fast version)

15. Friendly Fires - Your Love



Shock Rock is brought to you in association with Vans, a brand long known and respected for its originality and individuality, and will be accompanied by a national tour featuring Metronomy, Shy Child and A Human, kicking off at the Leeds Faversham before storming London’s Fabric. The tour then continues on to Sheffield, Birmingham, Manchester and some of the UK’s best venues.



TOUR DATES:



February



15th – Faversham, Leeds – Shy Child, Metronomy, A Human & Wall of Sound djs



16th – Fabric, London – Infadels, Shy Child, Metronomy, Friendly Fires, A Human & djs tbc



17th – Plug, Sheffield – Shy Child, Metronomy, A Human, Paul Epworth (dj) & Wall of Sound djs



18th – Medicine Bar, Birmingham – Shy Child, Metronomy, Lo-Fi Fnk, A Human & Wall of Sound djs



19th – Roadhouse, Manchester – Shy Child, Metronomy, A Human & Wall of Sound djs



20th – Arches, Glasgow – Shy Child, Metronomy, A Human & Wall of Sound djs



21st – Thekla, Bristol – Shy Child, Metronomy, A Human & Wall of Sound djs



22nd – Stealth, Nottingham – Shy Child, Metronomy, A Human & Wall of Sound djs



23rd – Charlotte, Leicester – Shy Child, Metronomy, Lo-Fi Fnk, A Human & Wall of Sound djs



24th – Brighton, Audio – Shy Child, Metronomy, A Human & Wall of Sound djs