Felinedown - Trap Rebaited

From their bio :
"Producing a style tagged as 'Noise Pop', Felinedown bridge Pop and Industrial rock as well as they bridge Big Beat & Electro. Drawing from their favourite artists like Sleigh Bells, Prodigy and Nine Inch Nails they offer something loud and infectious. Hard dance drums, raw guitars, throbbing bass along with filthy synth lines topped off by a female vocalist with a sound like honey poured over broken glass".

This unusual introduction led me to Brisbane's "Felinedown", and the pleasant demeanor of vocalist Brodie-Ann Wright secured my interest enough to order the CD.

The first track on this EP is entitled "Dirt" and begins with radio static, feedback and distorted samples. It's pretty much Noise, but it suddenly changes into a bass-driven track. Brodie's vocals remind me of those of Angelspit, but she goes from half-spoken and punkish to melodic and tuneful - the electropop tag shines through here. The track is blisteringly aggressive, the union of rock and pop should never work on paper - I'm not one hundred percent sure that it does work, but there's something very appealing here.

"The Great Escape" starts off more melodic and could be a female-fronted version of "Pretty Hate Machine" - it reminds me also of some of Godhead's work - the real trick here is the ability of Brodie to differentiate between vocal styles. They give a delightful companion to the heavy Guitar and Drum pieces.


It's a really strange EP. The production on it is absolutely great - no issues there, and the playful nature of the act that you see on the websites and merch is brilliant. Musically, there's something there. It's pretty much impossible for me to say you'll all like this. It took me a while to really get into, but the sonic assault is fab - all musicians are clearly talented, and I love Brodie's vocals.

What I REALLY like about this is that the tag is somewhat ambigious. The noisepop elements are small, and it's a lot closer to Synthrock / Industrial in my opinion, but it's a great oxymoron.

Regardless, we have great talent here. Oct 17 2012