Warning: This band has apparently sold out because they genre-mix drumnbass with hard rock.
I first met Pendulum in 2003, after hitting a few drumnbass gigs. There was always a track that got everyone jumping around like madmen (people who like drumnbass tend to be mad anyway). My curiosity got the better of me, and I finally jumped on a DJ who had played it, who was nice enough to divulge the name: Vault, by Pendulum. Of my years of frequenting underground dnb gigs, it still remains my favourite.
In a roundabout way I found them again via Freestylers (those skol beat dudes who got themselves famous with a rather uncharacteristic fluoro 90s-esque Push Up). Fasten Your Seatbelts was a dream come true for me: mashing breakbeat with electro? Yes please.
Freestylers came and went for me about as quickly as Bomfunk MCs did in 2000. But Hold Your Colour, Pendulum's first studio album, remains firmly in my Top 20. Its not underground, and they have received adequate criticism from fans about that, but its quite fantastic. The title track is only beaten in a version they used in their Essential Mix for the BBC. In fact, that whole mix is well worth your bandwidth time, so get on it.
Pendulum switched to a live act setup some time ago, but August sees them hit Japan for the first time in the Summer Sonic Music Festival. Needless to say I already have tickets. Been wanting to lose it to them live for over 3 years now.
Their latest album, In Silico is by no means a return to the underground, and actually feels more like a rock band with dnb roots. I think it works. The problem with good acts leaving underground is the fanbase that comes with - look at Greenday and The Foo Fighters. Hopefully the diehard fans keep it up (again, look at the Foo Fighters) so they can still maintain some dignity as an awesome act.
Highlights from In Silico for me include Mutiny and Granite, though the whole album is worth a look (at 10 tracks its quite short too).
The other album on heavy repeat on my pod is Plump DJs long-awaited new release Headthrash. Straight from the first track System Addict, well, I fell in love with breakbeat all over again.
Plump DJs last hit Japan in 2003 - could we see them again this year? Please?
2 comments:
Hi whilst we appreciate that you are running a cool site you are currently enabling our music to be downloaded for free, as a small independent label free downloads are crippling our business and making it impossible for us to release our artists music. It would be extremely appreciated if you could please remove Plump DJs - System Addict. The artists, and indeed the label, are losing valuable revenue which is needed to pay for production and marketing and in turn keeping us putting out cool underground music that we believe in. No one is getting rich here! Thanks for your support. Finger Lickin' Records
Well, tell Plump DJs to get over here and play a set that makes us all get pregnant and I'll give them enough money to deal with the potential revenue they may have lost from the 5 people who read my blog. Ticket prices more than cover that these days anyway.
While I respect the legal side of the equation, I also think single tracks only promote the band further and open them up to people who otherwise would never have heard of many "underground" artists, because they won't shell out for them.
Certainly all current bands I support, buy records of and watch live, have all been victim of me obtaining free copies of some of their music from someone else. They win because I win.
The music industry and labels (independent or otherwise) have far greater survival techniques up their sleeves than resorting to telling me not to show a couple of mates a track.
Anyway, request respected, but with much bemusement.
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