Beat Six - When the Chemicals Ignite
With Fuel
Monday 10th of November 2008
And the award for most bonkers press release of the year goes to...Beat Six's promotions company, Vision Music. By the time you've read through the literary jewel which is their introductory calling card, demanding, as it does, that we all decamp to Staines and proclaim it the centre of the universe, it's quite easy to forget that there's a single to be reviewed. And not just any old single either. This is a very good one indeed, Beat Six claim to purvey "White-boy rock n soul", referencing Duran Duran, Echo and the Bunnymen and "an unmanufactured Killers" along the way.
What can be forgotten in the mists of pretension so evident in musical times such as these is that it's all about the songs. These Beat Six have in spades, it seems. Each track here is propelled on a groove ten times stronger than anything those other Staines mainstays Hard Fi have produced in their career. Title tracks 'When The Chemicals Ignite (With Fuel)' really comes to life at the first chorus, at which point any nagging doubts about Rob Williams' vocals are overtaken as this juggernaut of a hook rolls into action. The pace continues on 'Little Mess' (what's that about then? Eh? Eh?!) and 'Live Fast Lie Down', the last track providing a slightly darker and ultimately more satisfying side to the Beat Six experience.
It is all too unusual that a single from a new (to these ears) band grabs you on first listen, but this is what Beat Six have achieved here. Absolutely, categorically, a band to seek out, get to know, and fall in love with. As 2008 draws to a close, we may have finally found the band of the year.
Author: Haydon S
Label: Self-Released
Found in: Record Reviews
Official Rating
We rated this record 4.5 out of 5.