I met Animals As Leaders frontchap Tosin Abasi a few years ago, when he was manning the merch stand at a gig in Aldershot's glamorous West End Centre - the knackered urinal of the UK toilet circuit. At the time Tosin was playing lead guitar for the very fine but short lived metalcore outfit Reflux, playing support for the very fine but short lived metal outfit Eden Maine. I mainly remember it for the weird stand-off we shared, where I was pretty sure but not certain that he was the guitarist for Reflux, and he seemed pretty sure that I might know he was the guitarist for Reflux but wasn't certain that I knew that. According to the great bastion of truth and enlightenment that is Wikipedia, it would have been around this time that his band's record label approached him with the idea of a solo record - an idea that he dismissed at the time as "egotistical and unnecessary". Fast forward to earlier this year; Reflux went kaput some years ago, Tosin has taken up his label's offer and released two albums under the moniker Animals As Leaders, and I am in the crowd to see them play support to the mighty Meshuggah. I mainly remember this gig for the three stitches I needed in my eyebrow after colliding violently with some other chap in the pit; but also for the Animals As Leaders set, which was one of the finest displays of virtuoso fretboard wankery I have seen since... well, since Reflux played the West End Centre in Aldershot. Its taken me until a few weeks ago to get around to picking up anything by them; but now that I have (their self-titled debut), I'll be damned if I can stop listening to it. It's a little self indulgent in places, sure; but the twiddlyness never detracts from the overall groove of the record. As such it manages to be one of those most rare things; a guitar-based instrumental record with some fucking soul. Seriously, these guys are the best 8-string progressive jazz metal band you'll ever hear. And I appreciate that it's not an especially crowded genre, but you should check them out anyway. Website: http://prostheticrecords.com/?p=499 Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/animalsasleaders Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/animalsasleaders Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animals_as_Leaders
Yet another dance act I got into thanks to Wipeout 2097. See also Underworld, Orbital, Photek, and many more. Presumably they got that gig thanks to the pounding pounding industrial techno of first record Accelerator; but by the time the game was released, FSOL were full into their crazed experimental ambient soundscapery. It's all either brilliantly visionary, or desperately pretentious. Probably both. Either way, 90's techno seems to be floating my boat this week; and I have been shoving a lot of it into my ears. I strongly recommend you do the same.
About a million years ago, in 1997, I was wasting my lunch break trawling through the forgotten rubbish in the second hand record shop a few doors up from the shop I worked in. That's when I stumbled across Jitterjuice - the debut record by these guys. I'd never heard of it, or them, before; but the CD case was a fruity shade of neon yellow, and it only cost £3. Sold. As luck would have it, it was a pretty great record; a bit turgid towards the end, but mostly a bewildering mix of raucous guitars, dark electronica and a thick smear of weirdness. Somewhere between the Pixies and Lamb. Nice. I never made any effort to keep up with all things 12 Rounds related, happy just to play my splendid bargain happenchance over and over and over again. Turns out that they released a second record at some point, and recorded a third. Though the record itself was never released, the band are making some of the songs available for free download through their website. It's a little more polished than that first record, but still well worth checking out.
I've been listening to these guys a lot this week, for no readily discernible reason. But that's fine, because I don't have to explain myself to you or your foul internets. They were a mighty powerful band. I got to see them just the once, on what transpired to be their farewell tour some five years ago; and it was astonishing to witness the frantic technicality of their records performed live with such precision. Probably. It was a while back, and I got a few good knocks on the head. It was awesome. Probably. A great many bands are described (by me, mostly) as sounding "schizophrenic", and Sikth would be no exception. But in their case it really does ring true; partly because of the breakneck switches in style and crazed time signatures, but mainly because of the dual vocals that sound like warring aspects of a fractured personality. Mental.
