Demos

8bitbitchslap - Seizure

Owain Paciuszko 02/06/2009

Rating: 4/5

Coming out of the ashes of post-rock outfit I Am Jack is this fizzy, delirious, glitch-electro double A-Side. Instantly dropping you, like Captain N, into a Tron-like world of geometric shapes, intersecting lines and dazzling neon is lead track Seizure. As one might expect from the band name it's the sound of computer gaming gone haywire, here there and echoes of a Commodore 64 loading screen doing battle with Operation Wolf. Yet rather than merely plundering the tics and traits of kitschy and catchy consoles midi melodies, 8bitbitchslap builds a world of his own, delivering something both accessible as a piece of, albeit barking, dance music; a delightful orchestra of beats, blips and grinding synths that might induce acid flashbacks as much as it might draw fond memories of a Nintendo Power Glove.

Treacle Bears opens with the menace of an impending end of level baddie, a oscilating synth-line sliding teasingly from ear to ear, then a processed handclap beat heralds a processed-guitarlike keening as the beat, like the timer running down, begins to subtly increase and slow (as the sugar high from dibdabs wears off). It's extremely evocative of the halcyon days sat in front of clunky grey boxes bashing at the A and B buttons in an effort to knock seven shades from a pixelated musclebound goon, but also - as before - a slab of fun, imaginative and highly danceable music.