'Rhythm & pals' is the debut album from I Heart The Monster Hero, a Dublin based band that mix in fairly equal parts electronic music, psychedelic music and noise, and for me this is a double egded sword. Coming across on record as part early Pink Floyd (think 'Piper At The Gates Of Dawn'), and part industrial noise (think early Throbbing Gristle), this is both their beauty and their curse, for there are some really good tunes on the album, and also the kind of electronic distortion that makes me want the track to end as soon as possible.
The band comprises five members, Andy Walsh, Simon Dowling, Philip Clarke, David Crean and Paddy Walsh, with Andy being the lead singer and frontman. The band was initially formed some three years ago, going through several changes before settling on the current lineup.
As I said, when the band are good, they are very good, such as on tracks like 'Madeline', with its echoey vocals and swirling psychedelia. This comes across as a perfect laid back hit. This is the sort of track to lose yourself in, and one that wouldn't sound out of place on any late 1960s compilation.
For me, the other side of the coin is a track like 'Bozo vs Slug', a welter of industrial noise, heavy drumming and punky guitar, the vocals muffled and distorted. The reason I didn't get this one is the mix of styles. If you took out the electronic noise, and had the vocals clearer, you would have had a really good fast new wave thrash. Alternatively if you took out the guitar you would have had a good post punk industrial track, but put them together and it all sounds a bit of a mess.
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On the whole, however, there are far more good tracks than bad ones, with tracks like 'Toni Bailey' showing an excellent garage pop style, and tracks like 'Do Dah', coming across as early Pink Floyd meets electronica, which was a really clever mix and shows that the band are capable of mixing several genres successfully. Hopefully, we will hear more of them soon.
I Heart The Monster Facebook page
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