While the MySpace generation has flooded the market with a whole new breed of would-be DIY heroes, there’s still a lot to say for idealistic young bands keen to get their sound down and spread the independent word as soon as possible.
However, just for going the extra mile and getting their debut EP pressed up as a CD, unfeasibly young Liverpool quartet THE PROBES are liable to get this reviewer on side. While you can hear these four little blighters on the band’s Soundcloud spot (follow the link below) there’s still nothing like having the finished article sitting in your hand, studying the artwork and enjoying the whole tangible package, now is there?
And there’s plenty to enjoy on ‘Memories of the Space Age’ too. While the band’s four members – Jack Greene (guitar/vocals, any relation to Messrs. White or Black?), Ray Badger (guitar/ synth), Justin Forman (bass) and drummer Elliot Ferguson - are still some way shy of their twenties, there’s already a fair bit of talent formulating here.
Unlike the countless bands aping the taut, angular post-punk likes of the Gang of Four and Wire about five years back, The Probes are instead putting their own spin on the intense, atmospheric soundscapes that helped shove Rock’s envelope around the turn of the 1980s. Opening track ‘Focus’ gives you some idea of what to expect with its’ splashy, analogue synths and Peter Hook-style counterpoint basslines melding with niggly guitars and ending up sounding a little like something from New Order’s under-rated debut album ‘Movement.’
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Vocally, Jack Greene has a great, laconic, Scouse-inflected delivery (imagine a slightly more agitated Ian McCulloch and you’re close), while his charges sound convincing whether they’re attacking something with plenty of swagger (‘Soul 19’) or slowing it down and tangling with texture as they do on the closing ‘Permanent State’. Funnily enough, though, it’s when they go for a good old aggressive burn, as they do on ‘Burn Down the Reichstag’ (which is a little like ‘No Love Lost’ from Joy Division’s ‘An Ideal For Living’ EP) that they really sound right at home.
Sure,‘Memories of the Space Age’ is a little rough and ready, but since when was that a crime? The excitement’s already there in spades and the rest is falling into place behind it. This intelligent EP is a very decent launching pad indeed.
Listen to The Probes at Soundcloud
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