UNITED MOVEMENT - rock destroys your mind

Not a lot has changed since United Movement’s fabulous debut EP on noise appeal records, except maybe for being a little tighter on the impact and at the same time a little more harmonious in some parts in some songs. I’d attribute that to a lot of playing live in every forsaken cowshaker-town around the country as well as to having to write a dozen cool songs[1] for a full album instead of just four for a great EP. That needs more than blasting out a few distorted powerchords in full energy-overdrive mode over heavy drums and guitars to keep the attention of the listener, for longer than twenty minutes, that is. So accordingly melodies sneak in, and even Falsetto-singing[2], as well as singalong melodies. I hear them going big, as in airstrike big. But what it really needs in this here genre is a big dose of weirdness and being crazy as a bat at midnight. And the two boys from United Movement are really able to take it over the top, without losing control. Or at least, too much control, in comparison to other bands who really go over the top. But for a two-piece, there is a lot of breathtaking energy on this record (and I do believe there are close to no overdubs on this slab of plastic).

Which is also true for their live shows, which I had the pleasure to see one of. And some friends I dragged along, who where a little queary and afraid beforehand – because they know me and have a hunch that my musical tastes are somewhat “unconventional”, as they put it. But both of them mentioned rather liking the band, so there you go. Me, I felt like watching Ten Years After, if they were born in the mid Nineties and did a lot of Benzedrine and other synthetic drugs for animals instead of LSD. Why, because UM sure got the blues. A hyped-up, completely psychotic, hyperactive kind of blues that has the urge to destroy and maim, but still, it is the blues. Yeah, and United Movement are a great liveband. I’d ask them to play on my wedding, if such a thing would ever happen in the near future. And there is even a little bit of life-soundsample on here. No, not from my wedding, but some people applauding and clapping.

One major change is that UM have forsaken the whole ideology stuff in favour of selling t-shirts. Is that already sell-out? Not, if there is no money involved. So instead of indoctrinating their fans, followers and unsuspecting listeners, they opt for printing their lyrics into the booklet. And those words are somewhere between staccato improvisation and Erich Jandl’s wordplays. Do they know that their kind of playing around with typos and lay-outs of texts has a tradition going back to John Donne (1572-1631), a contemporary of William Shakespeare. Somehow it is obvious. The metaphysical poets were the noiserockers of their days, meaning most people really didn’’t understand them, but lots held their beers up to them, and a small but knowledgeable crowd still likes them today.

Does all of what I have written about them sound over the top? Unbelievable even? Did these guys pay me for praising them? No, they made me a believer and a true follower (if you believe that, you’ll believe anything.)

[1] Not counting the (not so) hidden track at the end. I don’t like hidden tracks at the end, because when I am listening to music late at night I tend to doze of into slumberland, especially when the record turns silent and suddenly I wake up by new noise crashing in. That is scary and nervewrecking.

[2] I still have the theory that the whole success of The Darkness comes from the endless boredom rockmusic was spreading for years in the UK and journalists as well as listeners being desperate for something that is at least different if nothing else.

UNITED MOVEMENT Rock destroys your mind CD, Trost

What a fukken noise-rock power-piece! And I do mean noise as in loud and heavy and distorted and rock as in massive geological formation that crunches you to tiny bits if it falls on top of you. Like the Ruins playing old Helmet-songs, United Movement bang and crunch and blast in your face and warble your mind until all you can grasp is someone shouting “bwah bwah bwah” to a big fuzzy, distorted wall of drums and guitar! All hail the amp! Who gives a damn anyway. Don’t tell me noise-rock is dead. This would blast off Haze’s shoes, even.
Not a lot has changed since United Movement’s fabulous debut EP on noise appeal records, except maybe for being a little tighter on the impact and at the same time a little more harmonious in some parts in some songs. I’d attribute that to a lot of playing live in every forsaken cowshaker-town around the country as well as to having to write a dozen cool songs[1] for a full album instead of just four for a great EP. That needs more than blasting out a few distorted powerchords in full energy-overdrive mode over heavy drums and guitars to keep the attention of the listener, for longer than twenty minutes, that is. So accordingly melodies sneak in, and even Falsetto-singing[2], as well as singalong melodies. I hear them going big, as in airstrike big. But what it really needs in this here genre is a big dose of weirdness and being crazy as a bat at midnight. And the two boys from United Movement are really able to take it over the top, without losing control. Or at least, too much control, in comparison to other bands who really go over the top. But for a two-piece, there is a lot of breathtaking energy on this record (and I do believe there are close to no overdubs on this slab of plastic). Which is also true for their live shows, which I had the pleasure to see one of. And some friends I dragged along, who where a little queary and afraid beforehand – because they know me and have a hunch that my musical tastes are somewhat “unconventional”, as they put it. But both of them mentioned rather liking the band, so there you go. Me, I felt like watching Ten Years After, if they were born in the mid Nineties and did a lot of Benzedrine and other synthetic drugs for animals instead of LSD. Why, because UM sure got the blues. A hyped-up, completely psychotic, hyperactive kind of blues that has the urge to destroy and maim, but still, it is the blues. Yeah, and United Movement are a great liveband. I’d ask them to play on my wedding, if such a thing would ever happen in the near future. And there is even a little bit of life-soundsample on here. No, not from my wedding, but some people applauding and clapping. One major change is that UM have forsaken the whole ideology stuff in favour of selling t-shirts. Is that already sell-out? Not, if there is no money involved. So instead of indoctrinating their fans, followers and unsuspecting listeners, they opt for printing their lyrics into the booklet. And those words are somewhere between staccato improvisation and Erich Jandl’s wordplays. Do they know that their kind of playing around with typos and lay-outs of texts has a tradition going back to John Donne (1572-1631), a contemporary of William Shakespeare. Somehow it is obvious. The metaphysical poets were the noiserockers of their days, meaning most people really didn’’t understand them, but lots held their beers up to them, and a small but knowledgeable crowd still likes them today. Does all of what I have written about them sound over the top? Unbelievable even? Did these guys pay me for praising them? No, they made me a believer and a true follower (if you believe that, you’ll believe anything.) [1] Not counting the (not so) hidden track at the end. I don’t like hidden tracks at the end, because when I am listening to music late at night I tend to doze of into slumberland, especially when the record turns silent and suddenly I wake up by new noise crashing in. That is scary and nervewrecking. [2] I still have the theory that the whole success of The Darkness comes from the endless boredom rockmusic was spreading for years in the UK and journalists as well as listeners being desperate for something that is at least different if nothing else.

CD, Trost