THE INDOOR SHOW
Sharktown
(Bandcamp)
If there was any justice in the world, John Costello would be a huge star by now. He has produced incredible electronic music for many years, both under his own name, in partnership with others in Engram, Suburban Birth Canal, and now through teaming up with Steve Clarke in The Indoor Show. The Sharktown EP is their first outpouring, but we are promised an album in due course too - which will be a cracker. The opening title track sears in with a burst of noise and drawing inspiration from Magma, Can, King Crimson, mixed with Ministry and others, which is in no way is an adequate description of the sheer power on show here. The bass could drill for oil, and the hammering rhythm should really carry a health warning. Intense isn't the word as the urgency builds to boiling point by the end of the track. If this doesn't leave you breathless then you'd better check that you still have a pulse!
The following 8 minute instrumental, “The Third Particle”, opens with distorted guitar and synths over a ferociously plucked bass, melding into expanding string pads, stabbing guitar and synth jabs. Over headphones the effect is simply mesmerising. Or just play it really loud. In contrast “Shotgun” is a relatively compact 4 minutes long. It has been described elsewhere as a "mighty cauldron of sonic explosives", an image that is stunningly accurate, with a sound so gutterally brutal that it really should be behind bars. The EP closes with the Front Line Assembly-esque, “Occult Geometry”. I am running out of OTT hyperbole now, but suffice to say The Indoor Show's mastery of their art is complete. By the time the EP screeches to a sudden halt, I'm left speechless (an unusual state for me). Any of these tracks could (will?) sound totally epic live and (at the risk of repeating myself) deserve far wider exposure than they can possibly get here. The album, when it eventually lands (and it could be a while yet), is sure to be the aural equivalent of a Neutron Bomb.
Essential Information
The Indoor Show on Bandcamp
