Track Listing > >
Silent Hotels / It's Over! It's Over! It's Over! / The Information HIGH VOLTAGE SOUNDS
Hotly tipped Manchester four piece The Answering Machine are a band that excel in gloriously ramshackle indie guitar pop, an outfit that come across like the Arctic Monkeys in a head on collision with The Fire Engines; all messy guitar riffs and chaotic melodicism.
Latest single, SILENT HOTELS is another quality outpouring from the band, clanking drum beats and insistent guitar riffs underpinning frontman Martin's yelping vocal attack; kind of David Gedge meets Mark E Smith at a C86 convention. This is wonderfully simple and effective stuff, the emphasis on hook laden melodicism and messy attitude; a factor shared by the equally charming. IT'S OVER! IT'S OVER! IT'S OVER, Martin barking out the chorus like a hypnotic mantra.
Further cementing their position as a band on the cusp of exciting things, SILENT HOTELS is another raggedly persistent slice of charming indie pop from The Answering Machine.
BIOGRAPHY
In winter 2005/2006 it snowed a little, the radiator dripped and the heating broke down, but The Answering Machine sat in their bedroom in Manchester with little heaters and wrote songs anyway. Even though they had cold hands and had to wear mittens in between songs Martin, Pat and Gemma worked on songs influenced by their heros The Strokes, The Radio Dept., The Brilliant Corners and Shout Out Louds - to create their own style of imaginative, melodic, poetic and joyous pop music. In their short time together as a band they have supported Good Shoes, Captain and Morning Runner. In fact Rik from Captain wrote a very lovely piece of journalism about his affection for the band in the NME, describing them as 'absolutely amazing'. The guitars are sparkling and fresh, the bass lines bounce around with slick melodic phrases, and Martin's voice is nothing short of raw, passionate and heartbreaking. Things that make The Answering Machine happy are biscuits with chocolate on (although chocolate is not essential), anoraks with toggles, frisbees and knitwear.
LINE UP
Martin>vocals/guitar
Patrick>guitar/vocals
Gemma>bass
Mustafa Beat>drums
DISCOGRAPHY
OKLAHOMA / THE HOLD UP (High Voltage Sounds>2006) Oklahoma The Hold Up
SILENT HOTELS (High Voltage Sounds>2007) Silent Hotels It's Over! It's Over! It's Over!
The Information
LINKS
High Voltage Sounds>www.highvoltage.org.uk
FURTHER LISTENING
Arctic Monkeys
The Fire Engines
The 1990s
Review date: June 2007 |
