Strap Ons

Bottle KRK115 CDR 14trks 53min
Hellbox KRK116 CDR 9 trks 53min

These latest two Strap Ons releases compile material recorded in the mid 2000 - April 2001 period, immediately prior to the relocation of Don & Nova to Wellington. They also feature the presence (largely on bass guitar & miscellaneous electronics) of Mikel Goodwin who joined the group towards the end of 2000.

Driven by neat electronic rhythms & melodic bass lines, actual songs (with actual vocalists & lyric content - in addition the omnipresent tape samples compiled by Don or J-mz) are back with a vengeance on these two albums. Noise-making toys, toy instruments, keyboard sounds & acoustic percussion textures also abound in, generally, short & spontaneous pieces suffused with a sense of fun & gentle lunacy.

With both Mikel & J-mz involved in the Strap Ons, the pop tendencies of the group came into the ascendant. This is particularly evident on Bottle - easily the most engaging & unequivocably pop Strap Ons album ever released. Hellbox is the more experimental of the two works. It is where the soundscapes & cut-ups have been assembled to produce an album as consistently art-rock as Eat The Mess Age, but, again, with a pronounced pop emphasis.

A nice balance is achieved, throughout these recordings, between the improvisational & experimentalist leanings of Don & J-mz, & the more structuring inclinations of Nova & Mikel. However, to be absolutely fair, on both Bottle & Hellbox, many hats & roles are freely exchanged. This, in itself, makes for an interesting contrast with the more rigid & focussed organisation of the Strap Ons during their punk-rock/R&B phase. The sheer tightness & ferocity of the music on an album like No Time To Be A Work Of Art is seldom revisited. Instead the group operates, for the most part, in modes more subtle & playful - though no less challenging & subversive.

Eat the Mess Age KRK108
Lost Found Sound KRK106
Come Back to My Place... KRK105
Early Fears 1 KRK102 & Early Fears 2 KRK103
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Text by David Khan. Web-building by Ed Wilson. No apologies for disinformation.
August 2004