And so this years ‘great Dane hope’ is Johannes Gammelby’s The Malpractice, the solo directed R’n’B (a term I’d use loosely here) electro-grunge project by the “fomer guitarist/screamer in Beta Satan“. Not as far removed from the antagonizing “wave-punk” and masquerading industrial -rock template of Beta Satan as we’re led to believe, this breakaway outfit even features his old band-mates backing him – lending a hand to production and filling-in live.
With an obvious electronica pop and melodic bent, coupled with some grand sweeping guitar-strewn emotional gestures, Tectonics naturally sails close to bands like Mew and Soulwax. Throbbing and pumped-up, Gammelby sets his heart for the dancefloor with the tense prowling synth and grinding guitars of ‘Boss Stallion’; raising his salacious timbre to a menacing, submerged in the swell, falsetto. Further pulsing electro-kicks can be found on the Aha-fucks’ with-Trent Reznor ‘Specimen’, and on the sexed-up chugging-guitar, and, tight-snapping hi-hat single potential, ‘Oh, The Irony’.
Surprising furors into momentous indie-rock-crashing-anthems show that Gammelby has, indeed, been “intensely experimenting” with an ever-greater selection of influences ; adding more strings to that bow of his. The lamented, apolitical, resigned grunge bedecked ‘Million Dollar Boy’, and booming-chant-precedes-noodling-shoegaze-major chorus-epic ‘It’s All About Love’, both sound convincing and show potential creative directions for Gammelby to thunder down, if he decides to lay-off the synths.
Anyone familiar with the Danish vociferating frontman’s work will be relived to know that this commercial flirtation still carries weight and packs a punch – albeit a gloved rather then bare-knuckle one. The R’n’B soulful pretensions merely add a certain cool, sexy, Nordic-melancholic coating of disco to the grinding blueprint. The Malpractice is definitely a goer.
06/02/2012
[Rating:4]
www.myspace.com/themalpracticedk
