The Raveonettes
REVIEWS
WHIP IT ON, (2002)
Rating: 8
Best Songs- Beat City, Do You Believe Her
Worst Song- none
Written by Neal Grosvenor
Danish duo The Raveonettes emerged last year as one of the loudest and noisiest
bands in recent memory. Noise rock connisseurs will tell you the various "types"
of noise in music, just as an eskimo would describe the different types of snow
available at any given time in the Arctic. There is the bottom heavy death metal
guitar pedal which is responsible for that mondo distortion noise, or the
flanger pedal which has a more wispy Cocteau Twins-type sound. There are the
"meaningless" guitar solos of Slayer, which admittedly have diminished since the
band's early days. Some describe "noise rock auteurs" as frauds and contemplate
whether these posers can actually play their instruments at all. I tend to see
feedback as quite artistic and aggressive if it's used effectively. The first
song I heard off this album was the single "Attack Of The Ghost Riders", which
has a creepy Cramps style groove to it, not to mention conjuring up images of
what a d.j. might play in some gothic go-g
o club. Think Austin Powers meets Bauhaus!
It seems ever since I was a kid people have been telling me things have been too
noisy. Growing up, my mom, like many other moms, constantly screamed "that's too
noisy" at whatever I happened to blast out of my stereo. As a teenager standing
in the crowd at a Jesus and Mary Chain concert, my friend screamed into my ear,
"I can't fucking hear anything...just that constant buzz coming out of the
amps". I suppose that was the point. My first experience of the "loud bastards
award" came when I saw shoegazers Ride back in high school. I so totally left
that concert with what I thought was permanent hearing damage. But like
masochists who enjoy pouring killer hot sauce on their steaks, noise rock lovers
can't get enough of that lovely feedback.
And therefore "Whip It On" is a bit of tease just clocking in at over twenty
minutes. There is much to love in these nicely constructed garage rock songs
overamplified with major distortion. At the part in "Attack Of The Ghost Riders"
where the singer launches into the chorus "it goes something like this",
suddenly there is a gale force of feedback. Right on...that made the hairs stand
up on the back of my neck. At first listen, you would think all the songs sound
the same, but the band has weirdly recorded all the tracks in the same key.
"Recorded in glorious B flat minor" it says on the front of the album. I can't
really think of an explanation for this. Either the band are a bunch of
obsessives, or the singer has a very limited vocal range, or they like playing
the same chords in concert. Who knows?
But more highlights include the exhilerating "Do You Believe Her", and punkish
"Beat City" which gives some wonderful thrilling advice about drinking and
driving. Well, the spirit is all about danger I suppose. That's rock and
roll.
Very thrilling and a great start. I'll be looking forward to their
debut LP. In the meantime, I'll be reading my Kierkegaard, drinking my Carlsberg
and exclaiming (as Public Enemy so aptly put it) "Bring the noise!".
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