Brian Gizzard was a hard working printer for over 10 years plying his trade in sweaty shops mostly in his home town of Newcastle. Brian hated his job and most people he worked with so when he was made redundant in 2007 he kicked off a sharp brogue in celebration and pierced an account handlers lung. 3 Years in Durham prison saw him hone his skills on Atari and Logic, producing tunes that were pivotal in the UK Jailhouse rave-rock scene.
By the time he was released in 2011, his family and friends had deserted him so he took to injecting small amounts of LSD in his earlobe and found himself living on beach at Alnmouth with his imaginary friends. It was around this time that he met Carl ‘Tanktop’ Grifter whilst dancing on the same beach towel.
Gizzard and Tanktop began making tunes together but they knew they would only be a proper band if there was three off them. Brian remembers Carl telling him; “The Pet Shop Boys weren’t a proper band, we need a real ‘Power Trio’, think of the Police, Nirvana and that Blink-118”.
The album ‘Red Octaves’ has taken over 3 years to complete and is an eclectic mixture of electronica.
The rhythms, the grooves, the timing. “Red Octaves,” is mostly about the timing. Blown, here, have got it just right. They’ll push a loud electronic scream just to the point where it holds your attention and you’ll think, that’s loud, but then they break it down, and it comes out perfectly done!
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The album opens with the slow atmospheric bars of “Blown” which quickly gets sucked into a driving back-beat From there on out you are served another ten catchy, original and memorable electronica tracks bordering on the house and techno genres. Standout tunes include “A Printers Waltz,” “Emotional Dolphin,” “Pikey Broadway,” “Felt,” and the title track “Red Octaves.”
Every tune is unique and solid in its own right, while there isn’t a single “skip over” track on the album. Blown’s ryhthmic concoctions will almost definitely get you high – especially at full volume. Everything just sounds right, and you can listen to it without having to cringe at jagged beats or rough notes.
Red Octaves grabs you by the throat, throttles you with grooves, and leaves you to love every passing minute of it. It isn’t repetitive drivel; it is, in fact, nothing short of art. You can tell how much effort, care and precision has been put into making this album.
The album combines exceptional, interesting, stylistically clever tunes, luscious electronic orchestration, unrelenting drive and an uncanny sense of artistic unity. It can be a “dance album” or simply a ‘listening album’ and is pretty much in a class of it’s own.
Blown fall outside the “hyped-up” up area of electronica. Not to say that all the hyped-up groups have no talent, but lets just say they all don’t deserve the hype. This album is by far greater than many of those hyped-up electronica releases, and fits perfectly alongside some of the better albums of this genre.
Blown never loose sight of their “art” while constantly exploring wonderful sounds and beats. Plus the inclusion of some truly great “” tunes, makes this a must own if you fancy this genre, even just a little bit.
OFFICIAL LINKS & WEBSITES:
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