O FRACAS are a Leeds-based outfit who've been grubbing around the city's margins with some success over the past few years and laid down these self-funded demo tracks at the Leeds' splendidly-named House Of Mook studio.
And there's lots of cool stuff going down here, too. The band's name suggests maybe a brawl or an altercation, but it's a disciplined, exciting one and the results are usually impressive. Opening track "Zeroes And Ones" kicks in with intriguingly snaky, overdriven riffing with a definite Eastern twist and then develops into something agitated and complex, with guitarists Ben and Alex doffing their fezes to the likes of Beefheart and Nectarine No.9 along the way. "You may be seasick for me" Ben appears to mumble at one point and this is indeed disconcerting music, in the best possible sense of the term.
Tracks two and three also leave a trail of fascinating clues. "Ascertain Faster" is the first and it's more cool, catchy weirdo pop-rock, with superb drumming and kooked muppet backing vox from Nicola and Fay. The strange tunings and tumbling time changes again keep you on your toes and closing tune "Forfeit" also challenges. The most ominous thing here, it drifts in on a looming crescendo with the guitars setting man traps and the drums tripping over themselves. It's not commercial, but intelligent, ambitious and deserves to carve a niche for itself.
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O Fracas are a strange, but captivating young band, who crucially don't lose the plot however complex things become. Grasping for comparisons is usually happily redundant, and to take Ben's advice in "Ascertain Faster", probably the best way of enjoying them is to simply "just sit back and enjoy the view." It's well worth it, believe me.
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