Papier Tigre
Artist: Papier Tigre
Album: The Beginning and End of Now
Label: Collectiv Effervesence
My knowledge of the French post-hardcore scene is minimal at best, but I was passed this a few weeks back and am intrigued. Papier Tigre are a bass-less three piece from Nantes, and this is their second album - recorded at no less a studio than Iain Burgess' Black Box studios, were Steve Albini has been a fixture in the past with Big Black and R*peman. Which should give you some idea of the band's sound: a tight, wiry, intelligent assault on hardcore, pitched somewhere between Fugazi and the more pop-leaning swells of Walter Schriefels' Quicksand - and despite the lack of a bass player they often pack the bottom-end punch of Helmet. So you might argue that this has something of a derivative sound to some extent, but I can't think of anyone pulling this stuff off at present, and with such obvious skill. 'A Killer Gets Ready', the song below, is a miniature hardcore symphony - building on a queasy spiralling riff into a seething climax of guitars with drummer Pierre Antoine Parois sounding particularly inventive and intense. The album is out on April 19th and is well worth tracking down.
Also, my review of the new Obits record is up at LOBF. I wanted to like this more than I did - Rick Froberg has such a history...But, well perhaps I was a bit harsh on it and the last thing the record needs is fuckers like me whinging on about how it's not as good Drive Like Jehu - or Hot Snakes for that matter - but there you are. There are some cracking tracks on the album though, and the Animals/Sonics/psychobilly sound Obits are mining seems to me one they can pick up and run with so who knows what's going to come in the future?
Download: Papier Tigre - A Killer Gets Ready
Download: Obits - Fake Kinkade