Blood Red Shoes - Blood Red Shoes

Blood Red Shoes
Blood Red Shoes
3 March 2014
Jazz Life

4 stars out of 5

 

Okay, full disclosure up front: Box of Secrets, the 2008 debut LP by Blood Red Shoes, is one of my absolute favourite records of all time. Since then, well, I’ve been disappointed. Their second and third records embraced polish and smoothness to the detriment of power and intensity. But! Produced by the band themselves over a six month period in one of my favourite Berlin neighbourhoods (Kreuzberg), the indie punk duo’s self-titled fourth LP discards the glossy indie rock of their last two outings in favour of plenty of noise, fuzz, grit, grrrr, and also GRRRR. Alles ist gut.

“Everything All at Once” is rough, jagged, nasty, and in your fucking face. Yeah, I mean you. Your face. By the time the buzz saw riffs of “An Animal” start ripping into your flesh (yes, your flesh), it’s clear that Blood Red Shoes is a return to the primordial Blood Red Beast that pulled itself out of the primordial Brighton ooze way back when and brought a shit tonne of noise. “The Perfect Mess” is as vital as any White Stripes garage freak out. The pop side of Carter & Ansell makes an appearance with “Behind a Wall,” a snazzy tune which should be filling the airwaves of college radio stations across Canada this Spring (but you know it won’t because of reasons). “Speech Coma” is fierce and ferocious, like that sound your stomach makes when you’re trying to find a döner in Neukölln and, inexplicably, all four döner shops on your street corner are closed for the night. (This scenario would obviously never happen, as none of those places ever closes. Not. Ever.)

Even the more intricate arrangements on this record, such as “Cigarettes in the Dark,” are infused with dark energy. The band’s taking control of its own process seems to have given it a new, intense, and—yes—sexy life. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to listen to this record again. Loud.

reviewed by Richard Krueger