Swim Team – #2 – Review

Swim Team

#2 (Swim)
by Lex Marburger

Always at the forefront of new indie/electro/alterna/etc. music, ex-Wire Colin Newman has once again compiled the best bands you’ve never heard of on Swim Team #2. These guys are well ahead of the populist curve, but most certainly you’ll be hearing this kind of stuff soon. Starting with Silo, “Root” is a wonderfully emotional soundtrack of a song, a looped groove of drums and linear guitar, mixing electric sound and live rock seamlessly. On the other hand, Bumpy is the work of a 12-year old (no, really!), and juxtaposes a house beat with sounds that scrape up against each other like a dull razor against 4 days of stubble. Immersion hooks up with Flying Saucer Attack and comes up with “Even Further,” a frenetic dub that mixes shimmery guitar with layered beats both rapid and sedate, setting a hypnotic mood. Beatkitten actually breathes life into spoken word beat-ish poetry… ummm, that is to say, in a good way. The underlying groove skitters about, like a Can outtake, while she recites, Nico-style, long, looping lyrics. Swim Team #2 will soothe your troubled mind, and answer the always-perplexing question, “Where has all the really good, intelligent music gone?” Other Team members include: Toucaen, Host, Lobe, Dictaphone, Symptoms, Malka Spigel, and Frederik Ammitzbøl.
(www.swimhq.com)