Logo
DiS Needs You: Save our site »
  • Logo_home2
  • Records
  • In Depth
  • In Photos
  • Blog
  • Podcast
  • Search
  • Community
  • Records
  • In Depth
  • Blog
  • Community

THIS SITE HAS BEEN ARCHIVED AND CLOSED.

Please join the conversation over on our new forums »

If you really want to read this, try using The Internet Archive.

Manatees

Tour EP: We Are Going To Track Down And Kill Vintage Claytahh, The Beard Burning Bastard

Label: self-release Release Date: 18/06/2007

26084
Mike_Diver by Mike Diver July 25th, 2007

I don’t expect you to go out of your way to find this (your mind, maybe), and even if you tried you’d probably fail. It’s one of those rarities, a hand-numbered, limited-edition offering that really _is_ limited. And hand-numbered. Yes, you’ll find it online and at its makers’ shows, but said act don’t really do all that many gigs. And it’s to Manatees' credit that they don’t. Pat their backs and shake their hands – if they were on the road every weekend there’d be little need for any other acts of their ilk to bother setting up for a night of second-rate rocking.

And that ilk, exactly? Questionable and open to debate but undeniably loud. This cacophony is something you feel even with the volume down; close the curtains and dim the lights and let it lift you clean out of your seat and up into an otherworldly state of mind that so few cosmic travellers have ever traversed. King Crimson, Sunn O))), Comets On Fire: there are elements of these acts here, but they’re distorted, radiation from some collapsing star speckling them with an alien fire that burns harder and faster than this band’s slow-motion approach to ear-shredding alludes to initially. There’s a rawness to these five songs that comes on like a rash; it itches, infecting the skin and later the senses until the body is powerless to do anything but nod itself in time to the thundering drum beats and snarled vocals.

Some of which, incidentally, come courtesy of Oxbow’s Eugene Robinson. Suitably-cum-predictably unhinged, he who is so often unclothed come a show’s end lays down the incomprehensible like it was gospel; around him, churning soundscapes twist colours from convulsing rocks, reds and yellows, blues like those of a flame unattended, licking from a Bunsen so full of science lab-destroying promise. Although not as instantaneously gratifyingly intense as its predecessor, the wrongly-untitled debut reviewed here, there’s an enveloping subtlety that eventually permeates any resistance initially erected to We Are Going To…’s layered unravelling. It doesn’t grab you from the off, but that’s a quality that lends itself wonderfully to spades of longevity.

The closest they’ve yet come to capturing the jaw-dropping spectacle of their live set, the Carlisle three-piece’s latest release is another step towards the establishment of Manatees as these isles’ greatest exponents of Isis-ish Neurosomethings. But it also exhibits confident potential enough to suggest that the trio can, eventually, outshine even the acts dominating the field they have chosen for the sowing of their oats. See them live at your earliest convenience and buy this actually-limited-edition release while you’re there. If you’re disappointed, DiS will present you with a full refund. After pulling out your liar's tongue, that is.

  • 9
    Mike Diver's Score
Log-in to rate this record out of 10
Share on
   
Love DiS? Become a Patron of the site here »


LATEST


  • Why Music Journalism Matters in 2024


  • Drowned in Sound is back!


  • Drowned in Sound's 21 Favourite Albums of the Year: 2020


  • Drowned in Sound to return as a weekly newsletter


  • Lykke Li's Sadness Is A Blessing


  • Glastonbury 2019 preview playlist + ten alternative must sees



Left-arrow

Matthew Dear

Asa Breed

Mobback
26083
26348

The New Pornographers

Challengers

Mobforward
Right-arrow


LATEST

    news


    Why Music Journalism Matters in 2024

  • 106145
  • news


    Drowned in Sound is back!

  • 106143

    news


    Drowned in Sound's 21 Favourite Albums of the Y...

  • 106141
  • news


    Drowned in Sound to return as a weekly newsletter

  • 106139

    Playlist


    Lykke Li's Sadness Is A Blessing

  • 106138
  • Festival Preview


    Glastonbury 2019 preview playlist + ten alterna...

  • 106137

    Interview


    A Different Kind Of Weird: dEUS on The Ideal Crash

  • 106136
  • Festival Review


    Way Out East: DiS Does Sharpe Festival 2019

  • 106135
MORE


    news


    The Neptune Music Prize 2016 - Vote Now

  • 103918
  • Takeover


    The Winner Takes It All

  • 50972

    Takeover


    10 Things To Not Expect Your Record Producer To...

  • 93724
  • review


    The Mars Volta - Deloused In The Comatorium

  • 4317

    review


    Sonic Youth - Nurse

  • 6044
  • feature


    New Emo Goth Danger? My Chemical Romance confro...

  • 89578

    feature


    DiS meets Justice

  • 27270
  • news


    Our Independent music filled alternative to New...

  • 104374
MORE

Drowned in Sound
  • DROWNED IN SOUND
  • HOME
  • SITE MAP
  • NEWS
  • IN DEPTH
  • IN PHOTOS
  • RECORDS
  • RECOMMENDED RECORDS
  • ALBUMS OF THE YEAR
  • FESTIVAL COVERAGE
  • COMMUNITY
  • MUSIC FORUM
  • SOCIAL BOARD
  • REPORT ERRORS
  • CONTACT US
  • JOIN OUR MAILING LIST
  • FOLLOW DiS
  • GOOGLE+
  • FACEBOOK
  • TWITTER
  • SHUFFLER
  • TUMBLR
  • YOUTUBE
  • RSS FEED
  • RSS EMAIL SUBSCRIBE
  • MISC
  • TERM OF USE
  • PRIVACY
  • ADVERTISING
  • OUR WIKIPEDIA
© 2000-2025 DROWNED IN SOUND