Since playing live at Off Peak for us last year the Black Curtain have been busy beavering away in their studio/garage and have come up with a superb debut album. Released on their own Golden City label, named after a take-away in Levenshulme South Manchester, they have unleashed a lovingly packaged nine track album of ingenius jamming, bizarre edits and squashed Rap. The highlight has to be the stunning closing piece, a driving groove reminiscent of Can at their very best. The electronic undercurrent is here but it is balanced by a score of instruments including live drums, melodicas and more. A thoroughly enjoyable release from these Manchester mavericks.
Recommended. Pelicanneck records
Record Label
no label, no management, no publisher, no bullshit
BLACK CURTAIN: Black Curtain (Golden City)
Black Curtain are the anti-Fridge. When theyre not performing, they divide their time between playing pranks, composing new songs and challenging other artists to analogue scraps. TOTP addicts would burst into tears if they had to endure all sixty minutes of their debut CD, but fans of drone, post-rock and cinematic instrumentals would discover a treasure chest of sounds here. Beauty of Sadness, Constitutional Breakdown and Lazy marry fragile vocals with bluesy percussion and melodica whilst other tracks find the trio skipping between distorted drum machines, harmonicas, keyboards, seductive guitars and thumb piano. File somewhere between Can, Spacemen 3 and Nagisa Ni Te.
SARAH-JANE 8/10 city life
The Blessed single from 1979 long out of print and VERY RARE w/ Billy 'Stark' Stone-Howie Pyro-Walter Lure and Brad Barnett is now yours and avail @www. myspace. com/theblessed2008
