Albums

heartyeah - Traps

Clark Summers 08/08/2007

It goes without saying that any album that kicks off with a track entitled “Erotic Vodka Stories” is going to be an “interesting” listen. Imagine The Young Knives being tortured to a soundtrack of glitchy electronica and you've probably got a good idea what the opening cut on heartyeah's debut album sounds like - and this is one of the more “commercial” moments…

I wasn't expecting the pairing of Warren Myles and Jack Fabian to live up to the hype of their press release - “heartyeah formed through a love of late 80's shoegazing, chart topping pop and fucking loud house” - but do these boys deliver on this enticing prospect? hellyeah! “Traps” verges into avant-garde/industrial thrash territory at points but it's not without merit even if it might drive you insane at various points. “84 Detroit Throwdowns” is truly bizarre, coasting along on a squonky guitar riff it sounds like it was recorded in a cardboard box for twenty pence, beats appear to have been literally thrown in at random intervals at the whim of its creators- needless to say it treads the fine line between genius and ummm… unlistenable garbage. I'm on the genius line at this particular moment in time but I could change my mind tomorrow. “Estaban Child Of The Sun” (is that a reference to classic kids TV programme “The Mysterious Cities of Gold”?) is the kind of thrash dance sound-clash Test Icicles would have made in their dreams - squalling guitars colliding with pulsing synths to create an unsettling racket. “Victory Bath” is a complete mess compared to what precedes it and I've almost given up the will to go on until “Chris Huelsbeck” starts up. This is the most tuneful number on the album, highlighting heartyeah's love of more conventional techno. “Manfred Trenz” continues in a similar vein before slamming into The Rapture-having-a-particularly-messy-breakdown number that is “All Aboard The Advice Boat”. Not one to do things by halves heartyeah close the album with the insanely irritating Aeris Gainsborough (RIP).

heartyeah raise the bar when it comes to genuinely dividing opinion and in an age of bandwagon jumping Monkeys wannabees that's surely a good thing for the thriving D.I.Y. scene.