Member Since: 2/19/2006
Band Website: nowtheband.com
Band Members: ANGELA LAST + BARRY WOODCOCK + JUSTIN PATON + RICHARD THOMAS
Sounds Like:
Here are some reviews of NOW: : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
REG IMMES, TRI RECORDINGS 2008 (for the "OISHEEDY ANNA" ep/tinyalbum) - "NOW goes further in adventure, breaking new ground in their unconventional instrumentation leading to hitherto unexplored areas that few dwell upon. 'Don't decide' is like a crooner from the 30's having a Zen like enlightenment . With it's enigmatic lyrics it's even got me singing along. 'Mermaid Organs' comes along as an underwater travelogue, with the fishes. Beautifully understated. 'Oslo House' got me funkin' along in an aquatic way & got me dancing. Funkadelic frog funk in the jungle of life. Hard to work out what it really means...Nothing is too obvious with this enigmatic bunch. A track called 'Resto' is like a lullaby meditation for tiny creatures & floated me up into the skies....'Go Round' again had me searching for meanings...it's WORTH searching for the core of this band because it always take you somewhere different & fleeting. Lovely voices on this track. Justin & his friends singing really engages me, which these days is a rare occurence. The little bell sound near the end had me racking my brain for what it reminded me of.... The best is the last...'Freeling', for me, is a peak moment for NOW. With this great title the song really had my mind & body wanting to seperate. Justin sounds as if he's singing to save lost souls on transit to somewhere else!. Again,the ultimate meaning is elusive & the better for it(?) Great use of percussion & oriental instruments mean your never sure what's coming next, which is fine by me! A true wonder!,,,,,,, Now almost stand alone in their approach & use of instrumentation & song structure. Why they are not a major cult band is one of the vagaries of this BIZ-ness. Their sense of fun & adventure keeps them fresh & with this, their most mature work, I only hope MORE people will get up & take notice. NOW!"
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________ NICK SOUTHGATE, THE WIRE MAGAZINE 2007 (for "THE LONDON EVENING NEWS" collaboration album with DAMO SUZUKI) - "Damo Suzuki hooked up with Now, who had already been forging their own melange of Krautrock, synth pop and lo-fi for a few years. The result is an explosive set that holds well against anything Suzuki recorded in or outside of Can. The group knock themselves into shape one rimshot and wah-snag at a time until the piece rolls itself into a shuddering, funky whole. Tinny hi-hat tempo, swaying with low-slung bass and mangled disco-zaps from the keyboard. A hypnotic slice of motorik fuzz to boot. The closing workout is magnificent, an ARP synth-loop fued bounce boogie with a two-note guitar part that Michael Karoli would have been proud of. In the latter stages it features that rarest and most precious of things - some psych trumpet playing that adds a glorious spray of Technicolor energy not heard since The Beatles’ far-out excursion "Its All Too Much". ____________________________________________________________
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________THOMAS BLATCHFORD, WWW.DROWNEDINSOUND.COM 2006 (for the "FRISBEE HOTPOT" album) - "Theres not many bands left, lets face it, that claim to make pop music and yet start their debut album with an eleven-minute soundscape that drifts blissfully from being a dainty electronic choral rhyme to a drum machine-led minimal techno effort to an all-out samba throw-down and back again, let alone anyone who can make it work. Which is why my soul, my ears and my dancing shoes thank NOW, more a collective than a band, who havent so much as made an album as created an antidote for musical apathy. This is a band that have played with Damo Suzuki and pulled it off. Yep, that good. And 'Frisbee Hot Pot' is one of those albums that, if art-pop is a term coming back into fashion, would be somewhere between Pollock and Kandinsky ·free-flowing yet structured, vivid yet soothing, bold yet with numerous untold hidden depths. Musically its all over the shop, of course, yet manages to steer clear of sounding like a mere mesh of disparate influences badly thrust together seemingly because they not only have a great understanding of the rhythmical heart in everything (all music is dance music, etc), but can apply it to their own restless, driving sound. Such is the nature of the rest of the album, really, feeding off the element of surprise even after repeated listens, steering your senses into different uncharted territories through each curious noise. And as the whole album winds itself slowly to a halt, you know it is a journey colourful, perplexing and astounding enough to warrant many return trips. Inspired and inspiring." ____________________________________________________________
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________SKIFF, THE VANITY PROJECT 2006 (for the "FRISBEE HOTPOT" album) - "Sleigh bells shickle like Mr T. in full tilt, and from there, through recorders, cyclical harmonies and synth hum, a locked-in, sweet and tender little groove develops, growing like ivy, capturing all sorts of other instruments and patterns as it spreads in all directions. This record has a free-jazz spirit, elements of twee, a post-rock stubbornness while it often swims with African guitars. A floating, gliding LP that is, nonetheless, perverse in outlook; soaring, dipping and jolting regularly" ____________________________________________________________
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________DANIEL SPICER, PLAN B MAGAZINE 2006 (for the "FRISBEE HOTPOT" album) - "There are grooves here so deep that bathospheres have been lost exploring them, so repetitive that they're being considered as a cure for autism. Elsewhere there are withered trumpets, fey breathings and heavy, heavy drum breaks. Ritalin pop, perhaps?" ____________________________________________________________
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________A. TONAL D, T.R.I. RECORDINGS 2006 (for the "FRISBEE HOTPOT" album) - "There is the right balance between heart & intellect, also a perfect balance of the yin-yang...masculine/feminine...There is a happy-day feel without getting sunstroke, so the moodier pieces have more of an impact...it is fun and a joy to listen to. Influences are well hidden & free from cliche" ____________________________________________________________
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________MATS, WWW.THEBROKENFACE.BLOGSPOT.COM 2006 - "I love the way these guys manage to sound so experimental yet fill the air with such a melodic and catchy sound" ____________________________________________________________
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________JC, WWW.APEXONLINE.COM 2006 - "Very accomplished without being overly slick, that's NOW, as they throw in everything that comes to hand, perhaps including the kitchen sink, their party might be the hottest ticket in town" ____________________________________________________________
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________BECK KINGSWORK & MARK THOMPSON, TWISTEDEAR.COM 2006 (for the SUMMER SUNDAE FESTIVAL) - "How would you kick-start your music festival? Funk? Pop? A touch of Krautrock, perhaps? But never all three, surely? Well, that’s just what NOW have slapped together like huge lumps of day-glo Plasticine. This collective of wide-eyed boy/girl funkateers switch instruments, share vocals and generally go cartwheeling down the highways, byways und autobahns of Deutschland for some extended DFA-style wig-outs. Climaxing with a Golden Years-meets-Parliament style workout, a more experimental, entertaining and surprising start to Summer Sundae couldn’t be asked for" ____________________________________________________________
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_______MAN FROM URANUS.COM 2005 - "Funky but broken abstractioness and damn this band is tight - half the group coming in with one rythym and the other half debasing it in half time or turning the picture around / a tight experimental dance band blending metronomic funk and the abstract. Cool Moog sounds like ice cream across polyrythmic landscapes" ____________________________________________________________
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________KARL WAREHAM, CD TIMES 2004 - ""Imagine a peaceful pond, in the middle of the country, on a hot summers day. Imagine gently dropping a pebble into this pond. Look, see how the ripples softly rise and spread out? Sometimes, NOW sound a little bit like the sonic equivalent of those ripples. A mild, organic sound from out of which arise gentle melodies that rise and fall. Then, there are other times when NOW sound like the school bully, clad in ill-fitting green wellies, stomping around our pond and hurling in breezeblocks in an attempt to squash frogs. The band are having a good time and you are clearly invited along with them if you make the effort. It's an effort that's worth making. NOW melt into a sort of squidgy electronic funk that's at once arresting, moving and could well be highly addictive" ____________________________________________________________
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________PAUL, ARTROCKER.COM 2004 - " 'Songs' are not so much traditional verses and choruses as arrangements of both melodic keyboard and guitar lines as well as white noise, moog warbles, toy instruments & guitar scratches. Lyrically and vocally they had hooky lines and chanted backup vocals that were infectious. I found myself wondering if this was what an early B52s experience would have been like or classic Talking Heads gigs before they learned to play a little too well ! NOW are producing some of the best-but-as-yet-un-noticed artpop in the country and on this evidence their gigs are hugely enjoyable" ____________________________________________________________
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________UNKNOWN FANZINE 2000 - ""NOW played straight ahead bloodyminded robotrock which sounded absolutely brilliant."
Record Label: ANY WHO WANTS US (Pickled Egg + TRI + Discordance)
Type of Label: None