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Skywave are sonic pioneers, exploring the outer limits of shoegazer noise with a reckless abandon and absolute commitment I can only describe as lusty. Band member Oliver Ackermann builds and sells his own line of "Death By Audio" effects pedals, with names like "Sound Saw" and "Total Sonic Annihilation", which gives you an idea of the kinds of extreme sounds to be found here.
Fortunately their commitment to noise doesn't shortchange the songwriting, and the intensity of their sound is matched by the exuberance and gusto they attack every song with, whether it's the serrated bubblegum pop rush of "Wear This Dress", the Velvet Underground-meets-the-Ramones-in-a-blender sound of "Here She Comes", or the goth/industrial grind of "Over And Over".
The over-the-top sounds are at times accompanied by over-the-top lyrics in songs like "Kill Me Dead" and "Knife", which sounds like Stephin Merritt gone psychotic, so I really kind of hope that they're not 100% serious about their subject matter. Even if the lyrics were somewhat toungue-in-cheek though, with Skywave's all-caps approach to their music there's no questioning their sincere love for rocking out (their website domain name is killerrockandroll.com for crying out loud) and for pushing the frontiers of noise. And for that I love them sincerely. (mike.08.04)
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