the second ikara colt album 'modern apprentice' will be released on june 7th 2004 through Fantastic Plastic. the album will be available initially on a limited edition cd version and and limited LP. the LP will be limited to 500, and will come with a bonus, one-sided, silver 7" of the cd's hidden track 'surf german'.
australian release on 20th september through smash music
japanese release on 29th september through king records
the album was released in the following formats
UK Digipack CD with
UK 12" Vinyl LP with "Surf German" bonus silver 7"
UK Re-Issue CD in Jewelcase
AUSTRALIAN Jewelcase CD
JAPAN Jewelcase CD with lyric booklet and bonus tracks (Til The End & Repetition)
1. Wanna Be That Way
2. Wake in the City
3. Jackpot
4. Modern Feeling
5. I'm With Stupid
6. Rewind
7. How's the World Gonna Take You Now?
8. Waste Ground
9. Motorway
10. Repro/Roadshow/Nightmare
11. Day Draws Thin
12. Automatic
13. Surf German (Hidden Track)
14. Til The End (Japanese bonus)
15. Repetition (Japanese bonus)
19 comments:
75 or less
It looks as though Ikara Colt were mistakenly lumped in with the post-punk revivalists at the time their first record was released in 2002. Modern Apprentice is front to back buzzsaw atonal rock and roll, untied to any time period or movement. Like Sonic Youth before them, the musical vision can be singular to a fault if pursued at length. Wisely, Ikara Colt left most of these songs short enough to avoid that foreordained pitfall. Noise with structure, rock without trappings. paul
brave new world pt.1
Wahey! It's today and the album's out. I zipped out to my favourite local independent store to pick it up. Which was nearly abortive coz he couldn't find it, hiding away slimline (see next para). I'm listening to it now. To be honest at first I thought they'd forgotten to turn the knobs up to 11, but possibly I'm experiencing the after effects of seeing the band last night.
Effing hell, band! What's with this cd case package booklet thingy? Actually it's very very cool, with a minimalist coloured tabs effect. But the spongy spiggot at the back for holding the disk?? I've only had it off once and now I can hardly get it back on (which anyway is against medical advice). I'm one of those who are still puzzling over where the sticky pictures are supposed to go on their previous album. Definitely different this band, when it comes to presentation. We've been waiting for this with growing impatience. Coz we know that Ikara Colt are one of the best things in British music. And because we've been hearing new material for some while now. We've already had two single releases, wanna be that way and wake in the city. So I thought the opening would lack a little, with no surprise, because it kicks off with them. No... hey, wanna be that way is a great song! It's the new context, it's a joyous energetic album opener with an infectious riff. They were two great singles, the second especially. Keep your eyes open for the video for that by the way, it's totally fab and artistic with a sort of comic strip-surreal dimension feel. This album is fast and furious, that much more insistent that the first one. You're much more aware of Claire Ingram's chain gun guitar play and Dominic Young seems to be doing all the drumming he can with the end of the world racing up in his shoulder. Paul Resende has added more dimension to his singing, it's still very much him but he's moving around more from a rock sensibility to politico angst, from drone to rage, with more command. And a mention for Tracey Bellaries' bass too, looking at the album credits one imagines she had a lot of quick picking up to do in the course of Jon Ball's departure...
brave new world pt.2
...okay, I've got to say how much I love modern feeling. I loved it instantly last night and it's the first track I've got on repeat play now. It's one of the small few of slower songs on the album so it does stand out. There's a vaguely familar riff and chord change, driving along with that unique Colt feel, it kinda sucks you into its coziness, it could go on forever. Another slower number is waste ground, very different with a moody note by note synth start. It's good, it has an aching melancholic theme but there's always that drumming in the background telling you they're never gonna allow themselves to be sucked into it. It's followed by motorway which runs underneath with the hypnotic sound of the windscreen wipers; and over the top with Claire's vocal. Not that she hasn't sung before, but this is great, her most ambitiously expressive yet. More please!
Right... Wish I could make a decent screen shot from this video, part of the problem is the cool screen print effect... but you really need to see it in motion. Find it on the wake in the city II cd single and on the band site. repro/roadshow/nightmare like some of the other tracks sounds like it could have been on chat and business. It's good, but I'm gradually seeing where the newer stuff is and how they seem to have been moving on. Maybe I'm making it up, but the very next track for instance, sounds like an obviously later piece (it's a high speed Fallesque effort - nice!). This is just before the end, automatic. Which is more goodness... but why is every other band I hear now doing this false ending trick? At least its only a few seconds, chat and business had a silence of two or three minutes, time for you to doze off before being jerked back with more noise.
Standout track is probably (I have to put that, I can be a terrible judge of the song which grabs most people, I hear an album and love it but end up mystified at the song the critics are raving about) i'm with stupid, thrashingly magnificent, high energy rage, Paul's angry voice taking us to the edge. I may not have mentioned every track but I can't see a weak one anywhere. Dunno what I'll think as time goes on, but this looks like two great albums in a row. modern apprentice deserves maximum attention, certainly from anyone with any interest in rock's continued vitality. God this band's so good!! They're not easy listening, but this is quality!
cd times pt.1
'Influenced by' is possibly the most overused and misunderstood phrases in music. All too often, it simply means 'a pale imitation of..' and that’s why it's a mistake to cite Ikara Colt's influences and simply hope that this would be enough to convey some sense of what they sound like. It wouldn't - they themselves reckon they reside somewhere '...on a line between Joy Division and Motorhead'. Can you imagine a band that sounds like that? They'd be dreadful, wouldn't they, this imaginary band and Ikara Colt reside nowhere on any line that goes anywhere near the dreadful. It’s not that there’s no resemblance between them and these bands they are supposed to sound like. There’s a lot of The Fall in some of Paul Resende’s (vocals) delivery at times, but you please don’t buy this and expect a clone of them or anybody else.
The first two tracks are the singles Wanna Be That Way and Wake In The City which you might have heard by now, if not go and get them at once from the wonderful website; they're great singles, and sound great on club play lists, but they don't really do justice to the bands full range. They're probably not meant to; they're a hook to get you interested and it's great that they're the first two tracks on the album because once they're out of the way, there's much more to enjoy. They're like icebergs, giving hints of hidden depths, but with a whole album to play with, Ikara Colt are capable of creating some sublime musical moments.
There's tension at the heart of this band. A tension, and a sort of coldness and it's the clash between the organic and the machine that give this band its springboard from which to launch their sonic assaults. Perhaps it's best exemplified by Rewind which is structured in such a way that makes the divide very clear indeed. It consists of a series of sharp, machine-like, drum fills that are punctuated by bursts of noise guitar, as though the band is trying to escape from the cold framework they have built for themselves. Or is it that the bursts of noise are punctuated by the sharp drum fills that are trying to bring some sort of order to the anarchic structure? There's the tension, and it depends from what angle you are approaching this from, and that's what makes them so damned interesting.
cd times pt.2
As soon as you think you have a grip on them, they laugh and twist away into something like Motorway which is a deep, pulsing bass line with stabbing keyboard lines with Claire Ingram's vocals lying over the top. It's machine like, yet organic and free flowing with dance like overtures and then straight into Repro/roadshow/nightmare which sounds like The Fall but still sounds like Ikara Colt at the same time. That stabbing bass line is the heartbeat of this album. It's present on almost every track - sometimes coming to the fore in songs like Modern Feeling which sounds like it's straight from 1979 disco/new wave New York, but if that had happened in, say, Slough - There's no glamour on this album, it's all concrete, pavements, dogshit and rain. "You want to cause a commotion/You want to see it tumble town", from Wake In The City just about sums it up. "Get me out of here", indeed.
What else do you need to know? How about I'm With Stupid is a blast of vitriolic machine rage, as vocalist Resende wheezes ”I’m with stupid/For the rest of my life” over the top. Automatic finishes the album on an experimental note, a fuzz guitar assault that slides into a bonus track (?), a series of barked orders over drum fills. The drummer, whiles we’re on the subject, one Dominic Young, sounds more machine than man. There was once an ill-named rock movement, in vogue in certain circles for a very short while, called 'Math Rock' (check out 'The Poster Children' if ever you get the chance), and it never made sense until now; each drum fill and riff is clinically, precision placed, in the song for maximum effect but still sounds like it's going to break out into absolute mayhem at any moment. You don't really need to know anything else, except perhaps that the album as a whole is as satisfying as a good meal to sit through in it's entirety. Just listen to them as soon as you can and forget your preconceptions, if you have any, this is a very different band from the one that recorded the first album. And go and see them live if they come near you. It's well worth it and there's a live review here. (Karl Wareham)
crud
So what were you expecting Ikara Colt to turn out like two albums in? Of course this is pretty much an innovation free zone. Of course there are precious few actual surprises. Of course they’ve not really changed, not one little bit. Naturally this is still exactly the place to come for blunt damaging guitars, achingly distracted vocals and beats that will make a forceful entry through your ear-canals without negotiation and pulp your throbbing brain into a gasping mush without a second thought. This is not the best place to come for a dose of subtlety. The thing with Ikara Colt Mk II is they’ve become ever so au-fait with “more”.
More loudness. More shouting. More of those anthemic hooks. More reckless plagiarism, cherry-knocking their way through the Fall back-catalogue. More ownership of what they’ve collected. More of the old essentially, only with a helping more of the more. More more more. The dimensions really have grown, this is a much bigger album than ‘Chat & Business’. There are twins for ‘One Note’ (‘Wake In The City’), ‘Sink Venice’ (‘Wanna Be That Way’), ‘City Of Glass’ (‘Waste Ground’) and ‘Here We Go Again’ (‘How’s The World Gonna Take You Now?’), but almost without exception they’ve been tweaked and beefed and pounded into something so much more.
The propulsion and the amazingly precise drumming of ‘Waste Ground’ for instance, even with its mid-tempo, plainly introduces a leaner, keener ‘Colt. ‘I’m With Stupid’, at the other end of the scale, is an example of all four firing on every cylinder to hand, and one of their very best for that reason alone. There is a touch of a departure on ‘Modern Feeling’ and ‘Motorway’, fuzzy electronics and krautpop rhythms, Claire taking a robotic lead vocal on the latter, but they share energy and fit in nicely, breaking up the otherwise dedicated wrecking.
Paul must now be pretty close to getting the gig as Mark E Smith’s understudy, especially with such recklessly spat lines as “a drunk vicar delivers confusing apocalyptic sermons to the bleeding congregation” preceded by something about a “Tupperware sex party” and that “these are things I have come to expect of you” (‘Repro/Roadshow/Nightmare’). He’s not talking to us, surely? The only thing that’s really untoward about the whole record is the title. Although we’re still a sucker for its red-eyed charms, ‘Chat & Business’ stands out as the apprentice next to this fine figure. (james berry)
do something pretty
Having burst out of the starting blocks like Kris Kin rejuvenated on a cocktail of Red Bull and Creatine, London’s Ikara Colt dispelled any prevailing myths that all British bands were seemingly on a two-way mission to either re-invent soulless melancholia from the confines of a stool or plagiarise their dumb-ass American cousins’ well past sell-by date riffs and whiny self pitying lyrical assertions.
Having been reared on a diet of The Fall, Joy Division and Sonic Youth, the Colt disembowelled their influences into a stew of monosyllabic tirades, three chord codas, squawking synths and broken glass to create 2002’s ‘Chat And Business’, an album now viewed as the precursor to the resurgence of interest in archetypal post-punk veterans like Public Image Ltd and the Gang Of Four which in turn has seen new artists such as The Futureheads, Bloc Party and Art Brut emerge as genuine candidates for promotion to rock and roll’s premier league.
It wasn’t long after the release of ‘Chat And Business’ that the future of Ikara Colt looked to be in doubt after the departure of original bass player Jon Ball, but thankfully the addition of Tracy Bellaries has seen that particular void filled quite admirably, and with ‘Modern Apprentice’ it really is a case of business as usual.
Opening with recent comeback single ‘Wanna Be That Way’, Paul Resende’s Mark E Smith-ian diatribes are undoubtedly at the forefront of ‘Modern Apprentice’, something which is never more apparent than on ‘Waste Ground’, an almost too close to the bone replica of The Fall’s ‘Bill Is Dead’, save for the driving synthesiser sound punctuating Resende’s stark delivery from beginning to end.
‘How’s The World Gonna Take You Now?’ and ‘Day Draws Thin’ are foot to the floor rockers that wouldn’t sound too out of place on the new Datsuns record and ‘I’m With Stupid’, a long standing favourite of the band’s live show, sees Resende at his most tormented and aggravated.
The two most startling moments on ‘Modern Apprentice’ that may suggest a change of direction in the future arrive in the shape of ‘Modern Feeling’, an updated take on Blondie’s ‘Heart Of Glass’ that finds Resende crooning like a 1970s disco king while the rhythm section of Bellaries and drummer Dominic Young chop out a dancefloor friendly middle eight that wouldn’t seem out of place in the genre defining ‘Saturday Night Fever’.
Likewise, the bass’n’casio driven ‘Motorway’ finds guitarist Claire Ingham take the mantle of lead vocalist, her indelible tones ranging from banshee-like harridan to assertive school mistress managing to turn what sounds like a dialogue of how not to get lost on the M6 into the musical equivalent of the Kama Sutra in an instant.
When all’s said and done, only the foolhardy would have expected a drastic change in direction from Ikara Colt, and ‘Modern Apprentice’ is categoric proof that the old adage of “If it’s not broken , don’t fix it” is as good a reason as any to invest in the most chaotically ambivalent 34 minutes you’re likely to hear all year. (Dom Gourlay)
the fly
While the nu-rock revolution swept every hairdo from the gutter like a tosser whirlwind, Ikara Colt were throwing up backstage with post-punk blood spattered over their stripy tops. Thank fuck, as "Modern Apprentice" is hype-free as a result and the most intense album they could possibly make. Paul Resende chucks intestines, sometimes trading in his Grange Hill yelp for an American snarl, the Eighties Matchbox lunacy of "I'm With Stupid" and Blondie-tinged "Modern Feeling" expanding their previously straight-up sound, while the rest of the record takes every element from debut "Chat And Business" and cranks it up to 15. The Fall influence is sometimes ridiculous, but you can keep your Vines and Coopers - Modern Apprentice slashes over everything else with such Niagra Falls force it's laughable. 4.5/5
halo 17
One of the first music reviews that ever appeared on Halo-17 was Lauren Harding-Healy's dissection of Ikara Colt's "Chat and Business". At the time, she considered it a nice enough, if slightly uneven, collection of art-punk, with a few tracks showing that the band had considerable promise. Album number two shows the London band playing with a few new ideas, revealing a few new tricks, and building on the sound of their first album, without making any radical, sweeping changes.
The band still wears their influences on their sleeves. Elements of the usual suspects when it comes to British indie music are still present, you can hear bits of Joy Division and The Fall in the mixture here. However, the band also tempers the British sound of these influences with some sounds from American bands like Sonic Youth, the result being that the album almost sounds as if it's coming from a group of anglophile New York hipsters.
Without a doubt, the finest moment on "Modern Apprentice" is the massive, riff-based I'm With Stupid, a gigantic slab of post-punk noise and energy that manages to knock your socks off with the force of a small nuclear explosion, all in under three minutes. Almost as good is Motorway, built around some strangely distorted synthesisers and backed up by some female vocals that are as dry as a martini belonging to James Bond.
Some other decent tracks on the album include opening tune Wanna Be That Way, which probably owes the biggest debt on this album to Sonic Youth. Modern Feeling is another nice, fuzzy electro outing, and Automatic abandons the small shreds of restraint and subtlety that the band exhibit elsewhere on this album, and pummels the listener with wave upon wave of pure sound.
The only doubt I have about this album lies in the charisma and pulling power that it's going to have. Certainly, it's a good album, and certainly, it deserves to be heard, but this album just doesn't have that intangible quality to it that will make it huge. Still, despite it's short runtime, it's nothing at all to be ashamed of, and based on this and their previous album, I'll definitely be hanging out to hear album number three from these guys. Craig Franklin
heathen angel
Paul Resende and co. return with a second album, a different bass player and to find that the so-called 'scene' is different to what it was around the time of their debut 'Chat And Business'. Ikara Colt now find themselves in a world where it's now permitted to use the initiative of using intelligent, thought-evoking art-punk alongside the likes of Bloc Party, Kill Kenada and Art Brut. 'Modern Apprentice' is pure and simply, the dynamically superior album that the band knew they had the potential to do. It could well be that we ain't seen nothing yet, but at this moment in time, what matters is now – now being the Colt's time to shine, basking in all that's great within the art-rock genre. And the addition to new bassist Tracy Bellaries to the band, including a solo effort on extraorindary synth-laced track 'Motorway'. Previous single and opener 'Wanna Be That Way' has that crash-bang-wallop effect with it's almost big, dumb drumming involvement. 'I'm With Stupid' is even worse in terms of that, a rock-out element with screamy vocals to speed through two minutes. Been taking lessons from the Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster have we? Close links aside, the 80's revival is an integral part of proceedings with 'Modern Feeling', 'Rewind' and 'Wake In The City'. So big difference here is that they've taken a leaf out of different artists portfolios and made them into their own. All very well and good, but sooner or later, the game's going to be given away.
kerrang
Album Number Two from New-Look London Punks. KKKK
The Lowdown: With their skinny ties and angular posturing, Ikara Colt's entry into the great British artsy cantankerous punks seems assured. In Ikara world everything is reduced to a loudspeaker slogan, each drum roll and slashed riff a means to avoid getting a job. Single "Wake In The City" slides along like a pre-dawn taxi cab with the lights off - it's edgy and stifling, like Joy Division with a pop sensibility.
A highly foxy proposition, all told.
knife party
When Ikara Colt, a bunch of post-punk tearaway art school drop outs, arrived on the fledgling blueprint of the new trans-Atlantic indie scene in 2002 with their debut LP Chat and Business - a remarkable Fall and Iggy Pop mutant crossbreed - and a vow to destroy the nu-acoustic movement and all the other doldrums music by playing a handful of live shows in toilet venues other bands wouldn't dare venture, something good was evidently occurring.
Fast-forward two years later (after a ban from the Reading festival for provoking a riot, the departure of bassist Jon Ball to make way for riot girl Tracey Belleries, and their chaotic and excessive support slot with L.A. punk metallers Amen), to the anticipated arrival of the their second full length Modern Apprentice (produced by Alex Newport of At The Drive-In, Mars Volta, and Icarus Line fame), the next progressive step of their Iggy-meets-Mark E. Smith experiment.
Ushered in by lead single "Wanna Be That Way," a frantic burst of white-hot kinetic energy, searing vocals from Paul Resende, and a tighter bass line than ever before, Modern Apprentice kicks off in a blaze of noncommittal flamboyance and a sneer in the face of convention. The band clearly haven’t lost any of the vitriol and ugliness that made them so great in the first place. This, guys and girls, is the notorious Ikara Colt; they have an agenda and they insist you sing along during the "you want it, you take it, you got it, you break it" breakdown of Modern Apprentice’s opening track.
Ensuing track "Wake In The City" (the new single and showcase of new member Tracey’s ice-cold bass lines) sees the band on a Jesus & Mary Chain trip with Joy Division's militant drum loops thrown in for good measure, and goes to great lengths to shake up the dated formula of Chat and Business with slick results and carefree disregard. "Jackpot" and "Modern Feeling" come across all Von Bondies, with their male singer/female backing singers thing. That's if Jason Stollsteimer stopped giving a fuck, put on Sonic Youth’s Daydream Nation, and zoned out on some far-out acid, which of course could only be a good thing. "I’m With Stupid" is another perfect example of Ikara at their most gut-flinchingly pissed off (ie. best), featuring treble heavy guitars, amphetamine drumming, and a nasal fury of vocals that seamlessly blends into the rhythm.
The pace is relentless and unforgiving in Modern Apprentice, and this certainly wasn’t intended to be a pretty or safe album. Each track is a vicious attempt on sensory overload, from the unnerving haunt and skin crawl of "Waste Ground" to the unrelenting wail and stutter of "How’s The World Gonna Take You Now?" right to the electroclash-lite female fronted "Motorway," revealing the full extent of how deep their influences really run. "Automatic," one of Modern Apprentice’s defining moments and the closing track (bar the hidden surprise tagged on), fuses Sonic Youth guitar stabs and another anxious Paul Resende vocal struggling to shake free of the Iggy comparisons. It's easily the album's fever pitch, and the sound of a band digging its heels in and looking in the direction of where to go next.
Modern Apprentice might not be to everyone’s taste - it's certainly not an attractive album or a roadmap to where the rock scene is right now. It is, however, dangerous, surreal, confrontational, and daring. This is the sound of outlaws partying on the fringes of today’s elitist hype-driven media machine and getting away with it. 8.8/10 (jack mulvaney)
logo
album of the month
Ikara Colt return with a sound to rip, roaringly, through the speaker stack and ring round the skull, rattling teeth as it goes. Two years on from their debut album ‘Chat and Business’, Ikara Colt have reinvented themselves with a sassy new bassist and the freshest contemporary thrashing punk noise to pollute the airwaves and shatter shellac. This time out they’re taking a new direction and producing sounds so energetically dirty and pulverisingly vibrant that their intention can surely only be to storm modern society and shake it to the core by its leather lapels. Produced by Alex Newport, the man responsible for immortalising the hardcore moments of genius from At The Drive In, The Icarus Line and The Mars Volta, it would seem that Ikara Colt have placed themselves in very capable hands. The album’s finest moment has got to be the anthemic, riff busting ‘I’m With Stupid’, a breakneck vitriolic romp into the post-punk maelstrom. But, the whole album is pure finesse from start to finish and will hang around your CD player endlessly like a hormonal teenager panting, sweating and begging for satisfaction from a centrefold. Quite simply, this is the most invigorating album released in recent times and definitely one for the collection… it ####ing kicks arse.
The development of Modern Apprentice in the words of frontman Paul Resende.
"I think that people maybe saw us as a one-trick pony. This album is more mature, it still kicks it, it's not jaded, it has energy, a spring in its step and Tracy's bought vitality to it. (The) person replacing Jon had to bring their own something to enthuse the band with positivity when we were at our darkest ebb...We couldn't possibly make 'Chat & Business' again, you're always gonna write differently. We had to move on, simple as that. We wanted to make hate and press it to vinyl. It's like a shark waiting for you, you have to keep moving, or you're dead." "We are twenty-first century; it's all about disposable information. That idea of wanting to have been around in another era is totally what we're against..."
manchester online
Criminally overlooked, Ikara Colt have finally got their act together and delivered the album they’ve always threatened to make - ice cold and diamond hard. The fury of The Stooges - on ‘Wanna Be That Way’ and ‘I’m With Stupid’ - gives way to the taut funk of ‘Modern Feeling’, essentially Blondie in a foul mood. They love their Motörhead, as the rock’n’roll of ‘Automatic’ and ‘Rewind’ prove, but it’s tempered by the crystal new wave of ‘Wake In The City’ and the Joy Division atmospherics of ‘Day Draws Thin’. But don’t think for one second that they’re dated - ‘Motorway’ even touches the dark, seedy underbelly of electro - as their sound, like the band itself, is lean, mean and very, very modern (Jon-Paul Waddington)
musicOHM
Setting out their noisy stall with 2002’s Chat And Business debut album, these London art-school punks sparked a refreshing sense of hope when all around seemed nu-sports-wangst metal obsessed. Here were four skinny awkward geeks, the new wave of no-wave, busting intense chops with angular post-punk riffing. It was anyone’s guess where they would go next, if they didn’t burn themselves out or implode.
With this follow-up they appear to have lost some of the edgy bile of the first album and replaced it with a more accessible sonic landscape, yet still manages to seethe and surge with fire and vitriol. Since that debut there have been line-up changes within, as the ‘Colts now operate as a two girl/two boy line-up. Produced by Alex Newport (of At The Drive-In fame) their sound teeters on the verge of collapse, retaining a raw live buzz that is laden with hooks. Tracy Bellaries, provides surging bass as a driving ‘lead’ instrument - much in the same way that Peter Hook’s bass playing rose above mere rhythm section backing. Lead vocalist Paul Resende shows a marked fondness of Mark E. Smith vocal stylings, Dominic Young drums like a man possessed by a spirit of the wired, clipped economy of New Order’s Stephen Morris and through Claire Ingram’s Riot Grrl vocals and lead guitar duties, they have a ‘Kim’ (Deal or Gordon) indie chick goddess in waiting. They are quite a musical prospect. The ‘Colts come busting out the stable with opener Wanna Be That Way, the glorious bastard offspring of indie cool and (s)punked-up swagger set to the sounds of prime era Sonic Youth, or The Stooges electro-surging for uncertain modern times. Like the much-underrated Experimental Pop Band, these are the new cool kids of grindcore deathrock, with a solid gold indie record collection. Not one of these twelve tunes outstays its welcome, and though they may not be chin-strokingly deep, they are fevered thrusts of urgent exclamation. There’s the sleazy electro disco of Modern Feeling complete with sneering Riot Grrl vocal back-up, the frantic blast of dumb shouty I’m With Stupid while Automatic blasts along on a killer Stoogeified stop-start head-banging riff. Veering away from the bloody-nosed guitar rifferamas they hit the spot in different ways, as on the experimental electro throb of ‘Motorway, to sound more than convincing. Even when the tempo drops as on How’s the World Gonna Take You Now they still brood along magnificently in a manner that suggests life beyond The Fall/Sonic Youth comparisons that they are lumbered with now. The only criticism to this undoubted blast-furnace classic, is that the homage to their obvious heroes can become a bit predictable, making it feel like a transitional album between the effluents of their influences and striding out fully-formed in their own definitive sound. All too often the downfall is Paul Resende’s Mark E. Smith yelping which can muddy a blazing tune with "hackneyed-uh, impropriety-uh" (as M.E. Smith would‘nt say). Yet with every nod of recognition, there’s a shake of the head towards a new unchartered direction that is defiantly Ikara Colt’s. When they reach that point it will be a truly remarkable album instead of just a great one. One to watch for the future, but one to get down and dirty with right now. (Andy Jex)
music week
Ikara Colt have had time to develop their sound and build their fanbase, resulting in a second album of quality art rock which bristles with energy all the way through to track 12. Most pleasing is the feel of progression of the band's sound.
new-noise.net
Given that any vaguely intelligent and spiky guitar-based music is being labelled 'art rock' and pushed on the masses (which, by the way, is no bad thing – we could do with being less suspicious of anything that seems a bit clever), the audience should be there for Ikara Colt to grasp. I played their debut 'Chat and Business' to death in 2002 – I adored its hectic, tangled rhythms and abrasive edge. But this time there's something absent, which is surprising considering At The Drive-In man Alex Newport was on production duties. Is it my imagination or have the edges been slightly softened on this album?
'Chat and Business' only made a brief impact on release so you can't blame them for trying a different angle, but with a few exceptions (such as the thunderous and excellent 'I'm With Stupid' and its successor, 'Rewind') this sounds much like the first album (broadly speaking, a cross between Joy Division and The Fall), but not quite as raw. 'Modern Apprentice' partly models itself on the structure of its predecessor, kicking off with moody first single 'Wanna Be That Way', following up with the more intense 'Wake in the City' (as 'Chat…' opened with 'One Note' and 'Rudd'). Then faster number, slower number and another faster number… it evokes the debut too closely, making it difficult not to draw unfavourable comparisons.
Much as I loved 'Chat and Business', I did wonder where the band could go from there. Ikara Colt's sound was about as stripped-down as it could get and that was its appeal. 'Modern Apprentice' fails to point firmly in a new direction – possibly it is every bit as good as the first album, possibly my ears deceive me. It's just that I feel like I've already heard it. I'm going to be deeply selfish and unreasonable here by complaining that they haven't made the album I wanted them to make. I was hoping they'd make the scuzzy electro-punk album that other bands have promised us several times over the past couple of years and failed to deliver. Ikara Colt's re-recording of 'May B 1 Day' on the 'Basic Instructions' EP showed that they were capable.
However, on this album it's only really carried through to 'Motorway', which is a great track, featuring guitarist Claire Ingram murmuring over what sounds like Kraftwerk in a dense fog. This variety refreshes the listener, so the subsequent track 'Repro/Roadshow/Nightmare' – the most Fall-like number on the album – is lifted as a result. Why there isn't more material like this on here is a mystery. Perhaps they felt that the likes of The Rapture and Radio 4 were edging too close to that territory. If so, they're wrong: the album is still there to be made, and if they make it, and it's good, then I will praise it to the skies. Until then… well, 'Modern Apprentice' may not be a great album, but it isn't cause to write-off Ikara Colt yet. (Eddie Robson)
nme
Welcome return for the amphetamine artrockers.
"Modern Apprentice"? Ikara Colt were flaunting 'angular art-punk' stylings a full two years before Kapranos and co came along. Perhaps realising their declaration that "all bands should be taken out and shot after five years" gives them about 6 months to live, here the Colt take the unrelenting speedfreak minimalism of their debut and turn the heat up even fucking further. The double-headed opening blitzkrieg of singles "Wanna Be That Way" and "Wake In the City" leaves little room for chat, business or anything other than hundred-mile-an-hour drumming, jagged riffs and Paul Resende's inimitable-unless-you're-in-The-Fall yelp.
The rest of the tracks follow suit - even on the rare occasions when they do slow down, with the demented Iggy disco of "Modern Feeling" or the machine-bass sleaze of "Motorway" this stunning second album still exudes brash, chaotic energy from every pore. And with new bass player Tracy further argumenting the already high cheekbone count, Ikara Colt are both looking and sounding better than ever, 'Modern Pioneers' more like. 8/10
no ripcord
Ikara Colt seem to straddle that line with Sonic Youth on the one hand, and New York’s funk-punk zeitgeist on the other. The band would probably reference more fashionable source material than that, maybe Joy Division or PiL, but the fact remains that acts like The Rapture or Interpol ‘made it’ first and Ikara Colt seem to be breaking through on the back of that. Don’t get me wrong, that’s not intended to dismiss the band as imitators: as so regularly happens, the British version is often superior in a number of ways. In fact, this album is considerably more diverse than those born out of the New York sound, encompassing a number of Britrock references, Therapy? and The Fall being amongst them.
Modern Apprentice is Ikara Colt’s second album, and demonstrates the melodic hooks that temper the raw energy in many songs. It’s unfortunate that the familiar sound of some of these tracks, the nagging suspicion that you heard this once before, is always hiding in the background, because there’s worthy enough material here. The previously mentioned raw energy is evident in bucketloads, and there are tons of spiky guitar slashes and fuzz-heavy bass riffs. The strongest track on the album is almost certainly the electro overload of Motorway, replete with synths distorted beyond reasonable taste, and wry female vocals.
Opener I Wanna Be That Way plays on the kind of bass riff that made Sonic Youth’s Dirty such a blast, while Modern Feeling is another New York alt.disco turn, of the sort that !!! et al churn out on a regular basis. Waste Ground provides a more esoteric moment, and a break from the relentless propulsion of other tracks, although the more downbeat atmosphere belies the sheer weight of sound present in the recording.
While there are some excellent tracks on here, and for the most part Ikara Colt surpass their transatlantic rivals, this is not an album to proclaim new heroes. While British fans could do worse than turn their ears to their own land, there’s not the braggadocio or the charisma here to suggest that Ikara Colt could turn heads in the US in the same way that, say, The Rapture do over here. It’s a good album though, no doubt about it. 7/10 (Simon Briercliffe)
piccadilly records
"Modern Apprentice" is the excellent second album from Ikara Colt, produced by Alex Newport (At The Drive In, Icarus Line, Mars Volta). Without doubt the best of the current crop of young British 'rock' bands around. Tight, energetic and intelligent, with crunching guitars and rumbling bass lines. There influences seem to be taken more from American hardcore than 80s spandex rock that so many bands seem to be wanting to imitate. Although there are some British influences in there too - particularly Joy Divison and The Fall.
plan b
Three years after their New Art Riot-style manifesto ‘Sink Venice’ the splenetic Anti-Art art students return as a Brit Von Bondies. With new bassist Tracy Bellaries, the gender balance may be complete, but their shift from post-punk Xeroxers to brutish filth-mongers is only partly so. Straight from the starting pistol of ‘Wanna Be That Way’ Paul Resende’s street gang has me in an armlock, guitar talons searing at my skin while Bellaries waits in the get-away car, her bass spluttering on jump-start. “HEY! HEY! HEY!” Resende yelps in between headbutts. “Wanna be that WAY?!” he taunts, before hurling me in the backseat. Once inside their greasy cruiser, I realise this is more initiation than punishment. To ‘Wake In The City’ we career through carnival crowds, fuelled by the sugar rush of swiped candy floss and the vim of youth. Swooshing past the waltzers, Resende grabs a live flex and plugs himself in. “What exactly are you looking for?” We can only assume the other end is fed into Mark E Smith’s cerebral cortex. Stupefied by the likeness, we fail to answer. Undefeated, he jumps out the motor and offers his hand to guitarist Claire Ingram for a slick homage to Sandy and Danny’s gum-chewing Grease finale. But the chillz multi-ply-in’ aren’t just of the loins: they’re more intangible. Y’know that ‘Modern Feeling’ you get when you’re so disconnected you can only dance to the sound of your own heartbeat? Well, Ikara Colt aren’t going to salve your alienation with the hand of humanity. When Ingram - an impetuous mallrat who offers the boys at school nothing more than her middle finger - shimmies around the swaggering Resende, I sigh. However many beatings I endure, I’ll never be part of this gang. When it comes to art, that’s exactly how I should feel. Knowing my insubordination will meet with nasty consequences, I fiddle with the car door and make for the night. Something stops me from legging it – a snakey, PiL-like groove is oozing from the bonnet. “The morning hits you hard/We cut across the waste ground/Where nothing grows” Resende murmurs, while the others sit expressionless, watching the city’s smoke stacks and office lights going on floor by floor. It’s backcombed quiffs, long raincoats and cloying Russian literature. It’s industrial unrest, a phoney war and endless years of a tyrannical government. It could be 1984 or 2004. When the Manics first set out from Blackwood, they were dismissed as Clash copyists. But their zeal, danger and excitement still enticed more than a few to buy white jeans and spraypaint their C&A tops. If we never pilfered the past, we’d have nothing. Problems start when we don’t have the self-conviction to project our own ideas onto those of our forebears. According to their own dictat that all groups should be shot after a five-year tenure, Ikara Colt better make hasty work. Otherwise the disappointment will become a stinging, pus-seeping wound. (Nadine McBay)
playlouder
Whoooooooooaaaa, they got the second album blues, they got the second album blues real bad. We speak, of course, of lots of the other bands that emerged during that blistering eighteen-odd-month emergence of guitar bands that were all The Next Big Thing for about three days earlier in the decade. Look at 'Outta Sight / Outta Mind'. Or 'Better Days'. Or, most heartbreakingly of all, 'Room On Fire'. Rubbish, all of 'em.
Which makes us doubly grateful for ikara colt. It's no secret that, pretty much unanimously, this office was very much in love with 'Chat And Business', but the good news is that 'Modern Apprentice' is every inch the worthy follow-up. Yes, there are still tracks that'd get a raised eyebrow or two out of Mark E Smith - the imploding-veined and downright obtuse 'I'm With Stupid' is almost litigiously Fall-esque were MES sufficiently offended and inclined - but there's a depth to the rearranged foursome that reflects their growing comfort and continuing hunger. The genuinely amazing 'Waste Ground', with its hovering keyboard minimalism and darkly baggy-shoey inflections, feels like it might have been slightly beyond them before, while 'Modern Feeling', with no-longer-so-new-girl Tracy's whoppingly springy, almost 'Girls & Boys'-like bassline, marks out some of the most decidedly pop territory we've ever heard them in, even uncompromising as it is. Elsewhere, Claire, never knowingly understarry before, finds herself blossoming via the dirty positive punk guitars of 'Day Draws thin' and a genuinely heroic vocal effort on the excellent 'Motorway', Dom's drumming gets to shine on the likes of heads-down steamroller near-hit 'Wake In The City', and, as ever, Paul makes for a throroughly commanding presence on, well, any track you care to mention, whether that's 'Wanna Be That Way''s explosive opening gambitry, 'Automatic''s speaker-shredding megaphonic spree or the consciousness-streaming conviction of 'Repro / Roadshow / Nightmare'.
Furthermore, the whole thing makes for a masterclass in enigma and economy, clocking in at thirteen tracks - obligatory secret one included - in little more than half an hour; 'How's The World Gonna Take You Now?', as the most extreme example, only lasts fractionally longer than its title. And, with all the talk of "sniffing lines" and, intriguingly, "tupperware sex parties", the colt's world is painted as quite an intriguing place to visit even if, at times, it borders on the impenetrable. Not only, then, are they a youthful version of The Fall, but nowadays they're also a fallen version of Da Yoof. Magnificent stuff. (Iain Moffat)
q
Transitional second album from John Peel faves.
2002's debut Chat And Business saw London art-school punks Ikara Colt come across like Mark E Smith after a bad night's sleep, but this more accessible follow-up takes the first steps towards some sonic nirvana. The trademark sound is still in evidence - Paul Resende's traculent Iggy Pop roar bantering with guitarist Claire Ingram's riot grrrl squeak, over a cacophony of over-ambitious drums - but there are more interesting textures included. Modern Feeling is buzzy electro funk and Wasteground's echoey stoner drones add depth, but overall, it's still not quite the record you know they could make.
ri-ra
Listening for the first time, it would be all too easy to dismiss Modern Apprentice as just another nu-punk/thrash affair, but that would be a mistake.As your senses become reconciled to the aural assault, something more akin to early Rage Against The Machine filters through – something sparkily intelligent and buzzing like a demented road drill.Owing more than a little to The Fall, and Mark E Smith's confrontational delivery in particular, this album grinds out its agenda at breakneck pace with only the startlingly dreary Waste Ground letting the side down.Although you've heard it all before, it's packed with attitude and still sounds fresh enough to make you want to play it again – but this time much louder!
rock feedback
A lot has changed since the Colt’s last album. The only competition back then was a bunch of aural pansies lumped together by the Enema called NAM (Namby Acoustic Machismo, or something). Their rendition of ‘Daydream Nation’ was certainly a preferable alternative, but now, with the likes of Bloc Party, The Rakes and Ladyfuzz on the scene, are the ‘colt’s Mark E Smith impressions as appealing?
Produced by the noisemonger behind The Locust, and with the addition of a new bassist (who regrettably sings on the horrifically trite ‘Motorway’), the band have effortlessly surpassed their debut.
Yes, it is a better record than the last; with less to prove, the band have eased into an amalgamation of ‘Witch Trials’-era Fall and the dreamier soundscapes of ‘Bad Moon’ Sonic Youth. While we are loathed to make such a direct comparison between two bands, the plagiarism warrants itl singer Paul Resende could be Thurston on ‘Day Draws Thin’, while he snarls and staggers on perplexing rhymes like a de-humoured Smith on ‘I’m With Stupid’.
Attempts at contemporising their sound on ‘Modern Feeling’, meanwhile, see the driving Neu-esque bass, influenced by Hook (of Joy Division, not the good Doctor) with that ‘oh so now’ 80’s post-punk guitar clamour. Only on ‘Rewind’ do the band approach something close to their own, with the hyperactive pop-junk lyrics over a jagged, disorientating drum-fill, interspersed with strains of the Pixies’ ‘Stormy Weather’. Also standing out is the electronic Fall (again) impression of ‘Wasteground’, a brooding bass-dirge that entertains but lacks any of the humour of parody.
Clear it is that this is a band so respectful of their influences, they’re afraid to dilute any such genius with their own original embellishments. For the uninitiated listener, it may thrill with its energetic and fast-paced delivery, yet – ultimately – there’s little fundamentally new here. (tim dellow)
rock sound
In the words of Huggy Bear, boy/girl revolution, yeah! Yes, the 04-era version of Ikara Colt are a half 'n' half affair, personnel-wise, but otherwise not ones for doing things by halves at all. The bruising bottle-chucking of their glorious 02 debut 'Chat and Business' remains very much intact on this follow-up, but, if anything, there's an even more profound conviction, and their oft-remarked-upon obvious fondness for The Fall's taken them into more urgently widescreen ares than before. Paul Resende is a dervish of a vocalist, spitting biliously on 'I'm With Stupid' and oozing inflatable-eyed desperation on 'Automatic', and he's rather extensively joined now by the increasingly insouciant and sharply starry turns of Claire Ingram, whose presence elevates 'Modern Feeling'to lushly mountainous territory. Rude to the point of abuptness and engaging to a resistance-free degree, this is where the Colt start really shooting to kill. Magnificent. iain moffat
the stereo effect
The last time we had recorded evidence that Ikara Colt were, in fact, a living breathing band, was in 2002 when Chat and Business didn’t quite get them on Top of the Pops, but the aftermath did get them chucked out of the Reading Festival. They’ve kept in touch, a gig here and a single there, but nothing substantial, and nothing that could set the riot police on alert for another… incident. So along comes Modern Apprentice, the band’s follow-up, and not a moment too soon, but can it keep them seething?
Lead single, “Wanna Be That Way” is filled to the brim with bad-ass and nasty that will make you shudder at the first note, but alongside the tangled rock’n’roll is the fiercesome combination of singer, Paul Resende getting pissed off, and guitarist Claire Ingram being blank-faced. The fuzzy electro of “Modern Feeling” works better than the blasé chill of “Motorway”, but it’s not in the synthesizer where Ikara Colt overachieving. No it’s the grunting, sweaty, fight-song rock’n’roll like the belligerent “I’m With Stupid” and ear-smashing “Automatic” that are the stuff of giants.
Ikara Colt are certainly ambitious, they’ve packed swarming epics (“Waste Ground”) and tinsel tongued electro (“Motorway”) into an album that could have just been Chat and Business version 2 without even ruffling any feathers. As ambition goes, they don’t always get it right, some songs hang mid-air, some sink. It’s when they get it right that Ikara Colt simmer and make you believe that they might be onto something. They could be heroes, it might just take another listen. (karen piper)
this is fake diy
Returning after their low-key debut ‘Chat & Business’ (banned from the charts because you got some lovely free stickers with it), t’Colt are a completely new band. Gone is the ‘too cool to give a fuck’ attitude, bassist John Ball has been replaced with Tracy Bellaries and frontman Rescende has learnt to shout. Things really begin to kick off with ‘I’m with Stupid’ - launching into hurricane drum rolls, thudding bass and howling about nothing in particular. Then flowing effortlessly into ‘Rewind’ a track composed of noise, noise and more noise, while a rhythm lies underneath it all somewhere. Things slow down a bit with ‘Waste Ground’ the closest thing you’ll find to a ballad in here, albeit crossed with disco/funk fusion. A testament to The Fall if ever there was one. Repro/Roadshow/Nightmare can only be described as The Blood Brothers minus the camp screaming, leaving you confused and disorientated through cackhanded noise. ‘Automatic’ follows suit very closely indeed. Unfortunately it’s all been done before, while the band do appear as one of the most interesting yet largely unrecognised acts around, it’s easy to spout out a list of bands that have done it before and often done it better. That’s not to say it’s a bad album, it’s just not the best. Maybe next time eh?
(David Quinn)
sentimentalist
This instinctive extension of ikara colt's breakthrough debut abounds with the experimental and experiential confidence of a matchless art-core band that has travelled the world to awed acclaim. Modern Apprentice hits a little harder than its predecessor (Chat and Business, 2002) and is spiked with a bit more deliberation, but the album still glows with a lustre bestowed upon it by the quartet's musical individuality Their classically tight sound is fortified with rock-solid melodic focus ("How's the World Gonna Take You Now?" and the superbly shattering "Automatic") whilst tracks such as "Modern Feeling", "Repro/Roadshow/Nightmare", and "Motorway" pulse with bright innovation inside the band's familiar avant-garde vein. Exhilarating and virtuosic, Modern Apprentice perfectly captures ikara colt's sweet dynamism as the group ploughs onward with blink-and-you'll-miss-it fervour.
sunday times
Three tracks into Modern Apprentice you begin to wonder if Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth has formed his own side-project. Thats because Ikara Colt's lead singer Paul Resende sounds so much like him he's practically family. It appears too, as though the Longoners have recently graduated from an alt rock Fame Academy, as they pay tribute to Pixies (on Automatic), The Jesus Lizard (Rewind) and Le Tigre (Motorway) on this their second effort. Although such hero worship means they are yet to find their own voice, they have in Wanna Be That Way, Wake In The City and I'm With Stupid three singles to rival the Von Bondies' C'mon C'mon for tune of the year so far. Younger fans will find much to explore in their influences. A must for all alt rock virgins. Why? Well, as Black Francis famously screamed: "It's eduuucaaationaal!"
uncut
Sparky, angular second from luckless young Brit-rockers.
Ikara Colt's impassioned dealings in the gnarlier end of art-rock should by now have elevated the London-based quartet into the indie Premiership. Hampered by misfortune and incompetence (their original bassist quit, replaced by Tracy Bellaries), their second album, helmed by At The Drive-In producer Alex Newport, channels a palpable love of early Fall (check singer Paul Resende's Smith-like vowel-mangling on "Repro/Roadshow/Nightmare") and Daydream Nation-period Sonic Youth ("Wasteground") into a convincing half-hour that teeters, teasingly, on the brink of collapse. The slinky punk-pop of "Modern Feeling" proves they've also got chart appeal, though you suspect Top Of The Pops is not yet a priority
vice
Is this their second album already? Did anyone hear the first? Much cop? If it was anything like this, a spunky, slightly desperate mix of Sonic Youth and The Fall, I might well check it out.
Post a Comment