Tasty Fanzine E.P review

Spiral 25 are a psychedelic rock band from Oxford, playing music described by the local Oxford press, if the blurb accompanying the submitted CD is to be believed, ‘slow motion narcotic groove rock’.

Oh good, that’s cleared that up then. What the fuck is slow motion narcotic groove rock? It is, it turns out, down beat rock and roll at its finest. All dirty bass, fuzzy guitar, slow and meandering drum beat pushing it all along; very black, very industrial, like the noise you’d expect to hear ringing out from the forges as the rock gods first cast the world. You won’t dance to it, you’d certainly struggle to mosh to it, but you will be able to sway to it and, if you like your vocals long, drawn out and echoed, with your accompanying soundtrack distorted and dirty, you’ll probably quite like it. I did. 7/10

Jim Johnston

Tasty Fanzine

Dolphins surfing the Milky Way

Anybody with half a mind to come off second best in an argument with a solid wall of psychedelic sound could do a lot worse than checking out Oxford’s own Spiral 25.

This currently unsigned act have been plying their trade in technicolour noisemaking since early 2008, and their four-track EP, released last year through digital download, is a minor tour-de-force that harks back to the heavier psych/space rock bands of the late 1960s.

If Hawkwind had enlisted the services of Jim Morrison at any time during their 500+ years on the planet, the result might’ve sounded a little like Spiral 25’s E.P. But less of the comparisons, this is here and now and if this is anything to go by, Spiral 25 is delivering the goods on the current UK psychedelic scene.

The EP kicks off with ‘Let the Light Shine On’, the title being a possible a nod to Pink Floyd’s ‘Let There be More Light’, which is a mind-shattering meld of grinding guitars and bass, interspersed by the sonic squeals of Dolphins surfing the Milky Way. A near impenetrable fug of scorching sound is summoned from the same deep, dark recess the Edgar Broughton Band’s Wasa Wasa dwells in, and it doesn’t let up for the remaining three tracks.

Following the near darkness that is ‘Let the Light Shine On’, we’re once again rocketed into the blackest depths of space for ‘Signals’, a pulsating bassline being our guide through the furthest reaches of the cosmos that brings to mind Pink Floyd’s earliest interstellar excursions. And there’s no ray of light for the remaining two tracks, ‘Shadows In Line’ and ‘Today’s Future (Tomorrow’s Past)’, the latter a relentless industrial grind punctuated by a rasping harmonica distress call.

Spiral 25’s E.P. is a confident and thoroughly accomplished slice of darkest psychedelic space rock, heavy on distortion and fuzzed-out guitars and bass. The fact this band remain unsigned is something that needs remedying sooner, as opposed to later.

An acoustic live EP, a second record towards the end of the summer, and a collaboration with Fruits de Mer Records are all on the cards for Spiral 25 in 2010. HFoS hope to have an interview with the band up in the next few weeks.

Meanwhile you can get a hold of Spiral 25’s debut EP via various sources by going here

Head Full of Snow

of the best new psych bands I've heard in aeons. And I've heard a lot.

Spiral 25 make no bones about it. They're a psychedelic rock band. It says so in the first sentence of their bio. Of course than can conjure up all sorts of horrors involving paisley pattern, shoegazing and the bloody awful racket made by the likes of House Of Love. Lucky for us, Spiral 25 look a bit further afield to the likes of the 13th Floor Elevators, coming up to date with The Warlocks and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, rubbing up against the mighty Hawkwind.

I'll ignore the fact that they seem to like The Stone Roses and The Verve, and concentrate instead on the great swirling riffs that scythe their way through tunes like the title track and 'Signals'. They've only been together since 2008 as Spiral 25, but I'm going to put my neck on the block by claiming they're one of the best new psych bands I've heard in aeons. And I've heard a lot. Mind you, I said that about the Green Telescope back in the last century. However, we can put that one down to a bad dose.

Rock this through a good set of headphones and you can almost feel the spirit of Dave Wyndorf smiling down from 1995 going that's my boys with a lascivious lick of his moustache. This is good, this is. So well done, Joe Chapman, Russell Denham, Chris Monger, Andy Proper and Sunny Singh.

zeitgeist

Drone Magazine E.P Review

Keeping the spirit of broody, dark, non-metallic drone alive are Spiral 25 - a mostly five, sometimes six-piece from Oxford who flaunt the undeniably catchy label bestowed on them by the local music press (theirs, that is): 'slowmotion narcotic groove rock.'

Careful. That might wind up a legitimate genre of music.

Reviews of the band compare their sound to the Jesus and Mary Chain, Spacemen 3 and The Doors. Clearly we are on a bridge over some sort of musical generation gap because when I threw on their EP... EP... and found myself besieged by the crushing guitar on 'Let The Light Shine On', the first name that ran across my mind was The Horrors. This was followed by The Warlocks. Then the Brian Jonestown Massacre. It would appear that I am at the 'new generation' end of the bridge.

The cross-generational comparisons are not inconsistent, of course. Spiral 25 channel the same dark reverberations that characterise the music of the bands mentioned. Except for the Jesus and Mary Chain whose influence strikes my ears as negligible. The songs on the EP are immensely dark. This is not a band you will, or should, catch rehearsing in your local park on a sunny day. They sound dark and ideal for echo-inducing acoustic-amplifying venues such as vampire-laden caves and dimly-lit taverns. Russell Denham has a voice reminiscent of the low grumble that personified the vocalist of almost every major post-punk act to have existed.

In fact Spiral 25 manage to make even the usually cheery harmonica come across as a thug. On 'Today's Future (Tomorrow's Past)' Chris Monger arms the instrument with a dagger and sics it at you while Russell gives the command 'Kill! Kill! Kill!' It's all rather intimidating. 'Shadows in Line' is possibly the strongest track on the EP, and further proof of the band's ability to hypnotise objects. 'Watch the shadows fall in line' boast the lyrics, as they stare down... shadows. Now that's cool.

You can easily imagine Spiral 25 striking dumb the few loyal patrons of a local pub (volume or talent, one of them will do it) and just as easily see them playing to a massive crowd of a few hundred darkly-clad types sporting perpendicular hairstyles. Whatever the setting, absence of light is essential.

by Radhika Takru
http://www.dronemagazine.com/

An E.P review from Drone Magazine, a blog which covers some pretty decent music.

We've also recently got most of the tracking done for a second E.P, hopefully release that around the same time next year as the last one. Will keep you all posted.

Indiesurf E.P Review

Spiral 25 debuted with their great EP here. They can be really good doing live shows. When you listen to their EP, there would be not much difference to seeing them live as they manage to stamp their live and jamming sound to their music, whatever track they play. :-)

Spiral 25 EP opens with “Let The Light Shine On”. It was quite an explosive track with the guitar keeps on strumming in the background. When Russell comes in with his vocals, this track then starts to have a very shoegaze appeal. It takes a while for the guitar to warm up though. You can hear it when the music takes a different dive into a new rhythm. And once it gets there, it would be hard for you to get out of that comfort zone as the guitar is too tasty to let go. It really has a jamming sound to it, from start to end. It worths the wait for the guitar to reach its peak and eventually going sort of wild. Spiral 25 are showing some potential here. :-)

“Signals” has a slower and softer start with the plucking guitar that never seems to get worn off. Once it picks up and the tempo notches a few gears up, you can hear Russell singing in an echoic surrounding, as if they were in a small and closed room. Further and slowly into this track, Spiral 25 can be heard going wild with the music, until it’s hard to make out what they’re singing. The only thing that catches my attention is the music though. Everytime after a series of pacy music and vocals, it is able to come down with such delicate touch. Only in the end, the music appears to be on an exploring mode. ;-) Not a bad track by Spiral 25. ;-)

“Shadows In Line” almost has a similar intro as Signals. Its distant guitar which eventually appears to be on a rock and roll mode is hardly expected. Moreover, it’s really good! And most of the time, i hardly pay attention to Russell. My attention is automatically diverted to the guitar of this track. However, patience is much needed when listening to this track. The real magic of this track only comes at 1:46 minute mark. The build-up is just an appetizer to bring us to the next level to enjoy the main course. Spiral 25 are getting me excited! :-D

“Today’s Future (Tomorrow’s Past)” has a harmonica opening. It is soon joined by the restless guitar that never seems to have the word “Tired” in its dictionary. Surprisingly, the more i listen to this track, the more country-rock element is coming together. Spiral 25 might just have combined psychedelic rock and shoegaze with country-rock. The core instruments here are the harmonica and the guitar. Together with Russell’s vocals that are just nice for Spiral 25’s music genre, Today’s Future (Tomorrow’s Past) is a big closer for their EP. ;-)

Rating: Spiral 25 are so much fun to listen to if you’re a big fan of shoegaze, psychedelic and lo-fi music genres. They are really raw on their debut EP. As raw as it sounds, it doesn’t have much flaw on this EP. Everything seems to work out just fine within the genres of theirs. With the lo-fi sound that they have, i would say they need not another chance to re-discover their music direction. They have already found their trademark sound. It’s just a matter of time before they have a large fanbase, which can be an easy process with the help of the Internet. I’m definitely a fan of Spiral 25 now and would love to hear more from them in the future. Great stuff! Spiral 25 scores 7.5 out of 10. ;-)

Stand-Out Tracks (My Picks): Let The Light Shine On, Signals, Shadows In Line and Today’s Future (Tomorrow’s Past).

Fan of psychedelic rock and shoegaze? Come grab Spiral 25 EP by Spiral 25 to whet your ever growing appetite right now.

Darren Tan
www.indiesurf.com, May 15th 2009

E.P release.

Our debut E.P is available now, both in a physical digipack with full artwork by Russell and as a digital download.

The CD is available at £4 from us at gig, or for Oxford people from Videosyncratic on Cowley Road. If you aren't local drop us an e-mail and we can sort something one.

Mp3's are also available from the following online stores:

iTunes
emusic
Amazon.com
Napster
Rhapsody