Artists that play a mixture of post-punk and electronica are bracketed under
the most simple and unoriginal genre title in music, electronic rock. The grouping
is for LCD Soundsystem, who are too influenced by Iggy Pop to be an electronic
band, but are also heavily involved with dance-punk, meaning they're too
electronic to be associated with post-punk. It's a genre that brings to mind
several bands, and many who started out in the 00s as British post punk-revivalists:
Editors, Franz Ferdinand, Bloc Party, and White Lies. This is the last
generation of indie rock, the post-feedback age of Cut Copy and Django Django.
Sure, the rock is still there, and omitting guitars from this music is rare for
electronic rock, but it's also a happening genre where the bounds of six strings can be
broken and manipulated.
ETCHES are a newly formed quintet from Liverpool. They've taken the guitar
rock aesthetics of 80s independent rock (Pixies, Joy Division, Pavement) and
mixed it with the aforementioned British electronic rock acts of the 00s. When
you take the riffs most associated with New York's Interpol and the electronics
most likely to be found on an Everything Everything B-side; "Let's Move In" is born. Instead of using synthesizers heavily like with Editors' In
This Light and on This Evening, ETCHES have utilised the sound of their
baritone vocalist, most associated with the post-punk genre, and they've taken a light
approach to their electronics. There’s a stark synthesizer riff acting as the
basis for building, which happens rather quickly. The left / right sided
electric guitar combat is a common approach, but one that needs to be done to succeed
within this bracket of music.
"Let's Move In" has a catchy refrain, backed by defining characteristics
like the right sided guitar solo, the reverberated layers of vocals, and the
overall song structure; which is very impressive for debut material. This is a
song ETCHES can build on. It may be tricky however, to pick them up out of a
ditch where their music will almost entirely be placed thanks to genre
labelling and the infinite wisdom of reviewers... All genres aside, ETCHES'
"Let’s Move In" is a bright spark in a dark hole where the up and
comers either fall flat on their faces in mediocrity or reach local/national
stardom in the press.
~Eddie
~Eddie