yourGigs Round Table - Eddy Current Suppression Ring - Rush To Relax

Each week the yourGigs staff review recent release albums. In this instalment is Rush to Relax, the latest album by Eddy Current Suppression Ring.

Bella: *****

AMP-winning Melbourne-based all-round 'good dudes' Eddy Current Suppression Ring is back with their third LP to date, Rush To Relax. Unfortunately, our Round Table reviews are evaluated within a five-star scale so I wasn't able to give this record the 38 stars that it so rightfully deserves. Eddy Current was somehow able to jam together in a room for a while and come out with a record that sounds both nicely polished and totally ruckus-y at the same time. The way Brendan shouts "Anxiety!" on the opening track like he's a man on the edge, coupled with that killer riff and chorus, is worth the five stars alone. 'Walked into a Corner' is one minute of being kicked lovingly in the head. Don't even get me started on 'Gentleman' - I actually swooned like a heroine from a Jane Austen novel. Dear Eddy Current Suppression Ring (yes, all of you,) would you please marry me? Please?

Mike: ****

Man this record is lo-fi, but in a good way, not in an annoying Lou-Barlow-bedroom-session kind of way (sorry Lou, but seriously...). Anyhoo, it turns out Eddy Current spent a bit of time over winter whacking some tunes together, then recorded them all in one day at their practice space only to find that, wait a second, these songs were actually sounding pretty good! Why not release it as an album? Why not indeed! There's the skittering, urgent punk and skuzzy garage-rock found on their previous release Primary Colours, but there's also a couple of longer drawn-out journey-jam moments, or as the band put it themselves "self indulgent jams", which add a little more depth to the other shorter blasts. I highly doubt many bands could go into a rehearsal space, lay down 10 songs in such short time and come out sounding this good. No frills, no bullsh*t, just good music.

Alex: ****

Rush to Relax is Eddy Current's third album and it's frickin' fantastic. It's simply good old fashioned punk 'n' roll. Great riffs, great beats, great humour and the production value is up there too. The album is full of catchy tracks that make you want to take your hair out wind the window down drive really fast and generally act like a lout. It takes a pretty great punk outfit to get me interested and this definitely kept me interested. Surprised? Me too.

Andy: ****

Eddy Current Suppression Ring's third album Rush to Relax is destined to go down in the esteemed list of classic Australia albums recorded in only a matter of hours. The album would sit comfortably alongside X's X-Aspirations and the Beasts of Bourbon's Axeman's Jazz, with the raucous power of the former and the gritty guitar fuelled sounds and extended jams of the latter. It contains Brendan's typically perverse lyrical phrasing, and some monster riffs from Mikey Young and in the longer tracks the rhythm sections are set loose to throb and rattle like nobody's business. Some bands just click and produce the goods whenever they share a stage or studio - thankfully this afternoon was able to be captured for prosperity in the form of this cracker of an album. It should always be this easy. The rise of technology and the waning of record labels could finally mean we get to revisit the grand ole days of the sixties when bands used to put out two albums a year no dramas, and still get out and tour. The ultra-soothing 24-minute-plus ocean sound final track will let you throw out all your new age whale noise CDs once and for all too.

Aimee: ****

I have to say this is the first time I've ever listened to Eddy Current, after somehow avoiding all the "OMG Eddy Current are the greatest band ever" fanfare of last year. In terms of Australian music that is currently filtering across Australian airwaves, Rush to Relax would be right up there with the best and most interesting. With its twangy guitar driven sound and proto-punk influence I'm reminded of, funnily enough, decidedly "American"-sounding bands like the Velvet Underground or the Modern Lovers, even though this record has "Australia" written all over it, namely in the nasal slurring of frontman Brendan Suppression. I'm kind of ashamed I didn't listen to Eddy Current earlier now, as this record is pretty damn cool and I'm glad there is an audience for something so lo-fi and shambolic. All you Eddy Current fanboys and fangirls out there should go listen to some Witch Hats records, they're roughly 25 times better and should be receiving equal, if not more, love and attention.

9 Feb 2010