Music:
Member Since: 30/11/2005
Band Website: http://www.bananahand.co.uk
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Sounds Like: Alpha Beta Gamma
NME
How does a modern petunia stand out from the hanging basket? Does he go down the Pavement "writing songs while sleep-walking" approach, sonic terror dentistry or a little bit of "analogue synths go bloop"? Bitmap try all approaches. If Bitmap could change their name to The Beta Band, thousands would hail this as the album that finally confirmed their potential.(8/10)
The Sunday Times Magazine
Fitting neatly alongside the classic harmony-drenched summer sound of The Thrills, Bitmap offers an alternative that is equally seasonal. Alpha Beta Gamma is a delight. Basically it's the album we've all been hoping the Beta Band would make. Smart electronic noodling underpins old-school melodic pop that veers from easy listening to weird psychedelic workouts. As with so much frothy pop, there's a darker twist to the lyrics. (Pop CD of the Week - *****)
Rock Sound
"RunJamesRun" takes the symphonic genius of Brian Wilson and digitally purees it into something summery and frothy. This is a sweet, gentle album on the surface, but listen carefully and the deceptively calm lyrics say something different.
SleazeNation
Bitmap's debut long player is a case of bottled futurism in a clockwork world...a swoonsome, weightless hybrid of new-clear sounds.
Flux
One-man oscillating home studio wonder Luke Bitmap has split the heart of the sun wide open. Each song is a Beta Band ray of life. This is 2001's HAL sunbathing and listening to summer AM radio pop.
Drowned In Sound
Finally, oh God, a new British psychedelic record that doesn't suck in the song-writing department. The quieter songs touch base with Elliot Smith's melancholic chord bending or Yo La Tengo's wobbly bossa nova. Alpha Beta Gamma is a hook-drenched treat and left me thinking Mr Barwell should be knocking off "Don't Stop Movin'" type pop hits for Simon Cowell in his lunchbreak. Listening and listening, you'll occasionally suspect Barwell is nuts.
Logo Magazine
His imagination paints on a canvas broader than even Brian Wilson's, effortlessly mixing the optimism of the 60's with the acid-fried "what-happens-if-I-do-this" ethic inspired by a backing band that sounds like a bunch of crickets trapped inside a shoe-box.
The Profile
Oozing confidence at every pore, Alpha Beta Gamma is one of this years finest summer records.
Unpeeled
As cleanly breezy shows of updated 60's influences go it's bloody marvellous. The thing I really love about this is that it sounds so cohesive, bright and organic while being thoroughly post-everything in instrumentation, mix and production.
Essex Chronicle
Barwell barely breaks sweat on Spyrograph, but still breathes his summer tones and Beck-like cool. The subtle brilliance of Bitmap makes Alpha Beta Gamma exceptional.
Dorset Echo Sunday Magazine
You'll instantly want to nurture it and protect it from the elements under your duffle coat.
The West Briton
A brilliant mix of blissful, melodic songs, but with an added texture of strange electronica giving it that interstellar feel. Songs like "Spyrograph" and "Everything's Gone Wrong" could be out-takes from the Beach Boys legendry Smile, such is their other-worldly feel.
Black Arts In The Town Hall EP
Careless Talk Costs Lives - Issue 1
"Computer And The Commuter" blooms from acoustic lament to schmaltzy computer love song while the overlord of bedroom poptronica imagines his Scaletrix to be Kraftwerks Autobahn in "Robots Of The World, Unite!"
Logo Magazine
How, why, where did Luke Barwell find the magic glue that makes it all work together.
X-Ray
Into his lo-fi, electro-pop cauldron he's thrown offcuts of The Beatles' "White Album", fragments of proto-Beck and The Beta Band, simmering them over a faltering Krafwerk-fuelled flame. Magic? Very nearly.
City Lights
Fresh slices of seductive Beck-like electro-pop, chronic Super Furries chaos and irregular Beta Band beats. Verdict: Satan has all the best tunes.
Launchpad
Black Arts rocks like The Beatles nursing a grudge.
Buzz
The album Alpha Beta Gamma sounded like a bunch of robots had gotten hold of some obscure 60's folk rock records and tried to replicate what they heard. Well this sounds like what happened afterwards, when they got a bit drunk and decided to have a party, but left the tape running. Naughty robots.
Shindig Magazine
"Everything's Gone Wrong" could easily be mistaken for a "Surf's Up" lost track.
Dorset Echo
Syd Barrett meets Jake Thackeray in the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. A fresh infusion of wit, invention and charm in staggering amounts.
Record Label: Record Mountain
Type of Label: Indie
