„Oh my good God, I have seen the light! How have Trupa Trupa evaded me for so long? They played here last year becoming a bit of a LTW favourite when John covered them. The frontman is a ringer for Syd Barrett right down to the heads-down glissando guitar wailing from his Gibson SG. Fingers a blur as he hammers the strings up and down creating an all-enveloping fuzz. There is a dark almost industrial element to Trupa Trupa part Eastern European tropes, almost military chants before exploding in haunting guitars. So many influences – so much to take in!
Dark and incendiary post-punk meets Pink Floyd meets Joy Divison. Doom-laden with screeches, shades of dark and light. Bassist and lead sharing vocal duties in a familiar Gang of Four way. They play tracks from their new album ‘Of The Sun’. Then it’s Wire, Pink Flag era – ‘…Time to turn into dirt’ with its industrial pumping bassline augmented by Hammond sounding organ – a two minute frenzy! Long Time Ago bounces along like a concrete demolition ball tipped off the top of a hill, boom boom boom! A short explosive track, sounding feral and primitive with that ‘60s organ ending.
There’s a surging power and intensity at the core of this band that I love. If any of these outfits could comfortably cross borders, it’s this one!”
Nigel Carr, www.louderthanwar.com
