Thursday 23 July 2009

Pointless reviews

"Prolapse are a three year old six piece. Long range musical rambles and I'm faintly reminded of Radial Spangle but the barking Scottish voice is unnerving at first but after a while when your ears have adjusted, it has more character than Americanized stuff. There's sort of spoken Pulp bits, echoes of the Cocteau Twins in Burgundy Spine, but all in all Prolapse themselves create an intriguing, textured web of many sounds. Two singers and two guitarists help, but there's something more that makes me like the album more and more every time I hear it. Headless in a Beat Motel is an ace shouty one, the lengthy Chill Blown and further tracks change tack and become more hypnotic and surreal. The last track Tina this is Matthew Stone is a plain scary argument set to music where everything gets more violent and you can't wait to find out if Linda ends up killing Mick, or if Mick'll strangle Linda."

- Bobbins fanzine, issue 8


"I bought this because of the magnificent title, and it certainly doesn't disappoint. The music is relatively simple, I suppose early Fall is an obvious pointer, lots of repetition and minimal chord progressions, and above this Kcirred Kcim and Linda Steelyard rant their way through the 50 or so minutes. A lot of people have compared them to Huggy Bear, but this doesn't do Prolapse justice. They write better songs for a start, they're a lot smarter and you actually know what they're on about. Doorstop Rhythmic Bloc is probably the one to convert the sceptics - good contrasting vocals and a very definite tune lurking around. I like them when they go all strange, like Burgundy Spine where the two voices recount separate dreams over an eerily simple melody. Elsewhere Prolapse get angry about police corruption (Serpico) and Spanish football (Surreal Madrid) and the album ends with what can best be described as a violent row (Tina this is Matthew Stone). Very uneasy listening, but an excellent debut."

- Jonathan Greer, Weedbus issue 9


"The cover shows a gutter full of rain, and it was Oscar Wilde who once said: 'Most of us are in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.' Prolapse, like The Fall, are such a band, and there are numerous comparisons. Prolapse make dirty, grimy, nastily repetitive music which elevates on to a higher plane. Their main attraction is the originality of the vocal technique they employ. Mick Derrick and Linda Steelyard are the Jack and Vera of pop. They are at odds with each other throughout the album yet they compliment each other perfectly. In fact many of the songs here, and especially the closing track Tina this is Matthew Stone, resemble acts of domestic violence.

However, there are hints of outstanding beauty. The brooding Surreal Madrid is a fantastic piece of controlled playing. And then of course there are the Fall likenesses. Headless in a Beat Motel is pure Fall (and is therefore ace) right the way from the insistent and consistent bass and drums to the monotone guitars to the highly cryptic title. Prolapse manage to do what many bands fail miserably at, and that is transferring the energy and spirit of a live performance to a slab of plastic. Doorstop Rhythmic Bloc virtually bursts out of your speakers and leaves you looking around your bedroom for the merchandise stall.

This is a band with a sound of which you could never tire. The Fall have been around for 17 years, and if Prolapse ever manage half of that then the world will be a much better place to live in."

- The Snow Dwarf, 'atomic vol 1:K'

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