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A band sending substantial ripples out over the current post-rock landscape, ctrlaltdelete may not be messing with a formula thats already thrown up such great names as Mogwai, Explosions In The Sky and Gossiped! You Black Emperor! - but they're carrying on the tradition with masterful grace.
Anyone having heard Mogwai's debut album will know exactly what to expect here, lengthy instrumental songs with skittery beats that sound like spiders dancing on the drum skins and liquid guitar work that veers between angular riffing, gently struck chords and walls of glorious white noise. EACH OF THESE INNOCENTS ON THE STREET IS ENGULFED BY A TERROR OF THEIR OWN ORDINARINESS, is the kind of atmospheric mood piece to soundtrack your life - a melodic bass line underpinning the intricate guitar work and shifting drum patterns. Not something to tear up the post-rock rulebook by any means, but when that rulebook is so special, why bother?
ALL OUR MEMORIES ARE IN SEPIA is one of those gradually building songs, that keeps upping the tension and the noise - culminating in precision timed explosions of distortion. PATTER, CHANCE AND MENACE, takes less time to erupt - hitting its explosive peaks early on, before settling back down into quietly complex interwoven riffs, then erupting yet again.
YOUR AGGRESSION, MY VENTURE finds ctrlaltdelete taking things to the next level - amping up the heaviosity and keeping a forward momentum going that lends the band urgency and pace. It may see them lose some of their complexity and texture, but its a shift that sets them apart as a band with a few of their own ideas to throw into the mix.
Moody, atmospheric and intricate - ctrlaltdelete create sublime post-rock instrumentals that give you the shivers. They may deal in a well documented formula of constantly shifting dynamics, but they pull it off with such aplomb that its hard to argue. Essentially, the sound of Mogwai's debut LP fast forwarded ten years and slightly updated - this is still an EP of the kind of glorious sounding melancholy that leaves you awed and dumb struck.

ctrlaltdelete make big music. Epic, even. Not 'epic' in the way stadium acts write bland, vacuous songs for the cigarette-lighter brigade but in a way a glacier falling into the ocean is epic. Immense, awe-inspiring and a sign that a tidal wave is likely to strike at any moment. ctrlaltdelete - yeah, you know. Press those buttons for a new start, a reboot, an end to what's there. Get rid of conventions, pre-conceptions and cliches. Click into gear with a new perspective. If everything's slown down and not functioning correctly, this is a call to action, to arms, to make a change.
Who says they can't do this? When ctrlaltdelete are on stage and they shift up a gear, and a stranger's sweat flies into your mouth - but it's OK, you're in the moment, alone in a crowd of fellow believers - then nothing else matters. Stick the EP on your headphones in a crowd and suddenly everybody's a potential ally, someone who can be let in to your secret .
Crank up the volume on the tube or bus-ride home and tap into something that can't be described, only shared. Stick it on in the car and the journey will be over in a flash, even if you haven't moved anywhere in the last half-hour.
It's dynamic. It's emotive. It doesn't need lyrics for you to know what they mean, what they stand for, who they are. Wait for the heart-stopping break in YOUR AGGRESSION, MY VENTURE to be borne aloft by the power of music. That is, if it hasn't touched you before.
This music doesn't happen overnight though. Ben Maxwell (guitar) and Laura Harrison (bass) formed the band at university in 2001, with original drummer Chris Hewitt completing the line up.
Much songwriting and experimentation followed, confined to the band's rehearsal space, with many ideas scrapped, other songs constantly revised until their first demo saw the light of day in late 2002.
It was to be another six months before ctrlaltdelete played a gig, and from there the band have continued to gain momentum. There have been many more gigs, where new fans are always won by the end of a set, magazine and radio features, exhibitions, label interest and more demos, which have led to two self-released EPs - epONE and MONDEGREENS.
Chris has left, replaced by Simon Papaleo who gives the trio a stronger rhythmic backbone, and greater confidence to try new ideas in the future. Recording this new EP was one of Simon's first experiences after joining the band, but already the band sound more assured. Carefully timed explosions are triggered along the way, the band shifts up a notch, and then rather than settling on a plateau, they push again. With melodic hooks that will stick in your brain, a powerfully dynamic sound and a compelling live presence, ctrlaltdelete demand nothing more than your total surrender to the music. Give in.

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