Vital Weekly:
SPLINTERED - TURNED INSIDE OUT (2CD by Totuuden Sarvi Levyt)
Last year I was looking for a particular release in my private collection and when I found that, I found something else, and then something else and then I decided to use all my time beyond reviewing, to play all the CDs that I own again. What is still great and why do I still have that other release; how long has it been since I last played a particular release. I am still far from finished with this great project, but it reacquainted me with music I totally forgotten about, or simply haven't played in a very long time. Everything goes in a random order, so I grab the letter 'E' and play a bunch, then the letter 'S', play a bunch. I remember having gone through some releases by Skullflower already (made a selection!), but not yet anything by Splintered. Not that I have all their releases, but some indeed. Splintered was a band around Richo Johnson, but with a floating membership that included Colin Bradley, Paul Dudeney, James Machin, Steve Pittis, Paul Wright and Stefx and as such they toured around, released some LPs, and CDs and more 7"s, the preferred format for an experimental noise rock group. I must admit I forgot how great they were but this double CD compilation of 'demos, singles, bsides and unreleased material' is an excellent reminder. The cover lists per track who plays what, so you get this floating line up working quite nicely. A typical Splintered is twice the length of a normal pop song, six, seven minutes and has loud drums, banging about, a wall of guitar sounds, a strong bass and vocals being shouted about, reminding the listener of the good ol Ramleh. Then there are ornamental bits, such as samples thrown in, or radio sounds. Its quite noise based, but also a great psychedelic feel to it. I totally forgot how great Splintered was! There is a great driving motorik between this music, the power electronics vocal-style and the strong riffs. It bangs on and on, but on the second disc there is also a bunch of shorter pieces, which are even more experimental in nature, carried by a solitary rhythm and weird, electronic sounds, or a droney excursion such as '(Behind The) Smokescreen'. I immediately took out the other releases I have by Splintered so I can play all of it tonight, post-review time. Totally energizing music, lifting the spirits up; high up in the sky and one is totally exhausted when the music is over. What a blast from the past! (FdW)
