THE 5 EPS

First of all: I don't even know how to start this review. I could say that Disco Inferno is one of the best bands you never heard of, or how post rock doesn't even begin to describe them, or how they're the best plunderphonics group ever without even focusing on being a plunderphonics group, or "Flipping faders, Batman! These three Brits covered so much ground and always sounded so beautiful and perfect!", or mentioning how this goes above and beyond the great experimental EPs and killer collections thereof in the '90's... or I could string all that together into one long run on of gush for these demigods.

Released over three years in original format, and first collected by an enterprising internet bootlegger in '99, these fifteen cuts touch a mind boggling myriad of genres and styles and master each and every one as they are subsumed into a eudaimonic whole. I'll just list: post rock, post punk, plunderphonics, electronics, britpop, noise pop, noise rock, acoustica, ambient, IDM, concrete. It was always ethereal, always experimental, always flawless. Nature and urban samples and electronic washes both surrounded and acted as the foundation for the band's exercises in genre busting, with tracks variously spacing out, chugging along like an '80's post punk band on Talk Talk, forming a pop song, or, by the end, just losing themselves in the set dressing. Ian Crause could gently and forlornly speak through the sheets of sound, or sing along when the song called for it. And on top of all that, "The Atheist's Burden" uses the electronics for rhythm, and "It's A Kid's World" drives on the back of pounding drums plundered from you'll-know-where.

This really is something else, with no words for it. Outclassing all comers, both from the genres they took from and from fellow EP wielding experimentalists like The Beta Band and Brainiac, this stands as Disco Inferno's completed magnum opus. And thank goodness that this collection eventually got an official release.

Browsing through my prog/rock collection of pretty well rated releases in this PA site, which I have acquired due to the same , I skipped some but left DISCO INFERNO-"The 5 EPs", 2011, which as far as I remember was recommended by fellow reviewer LearsFool, well Kudos!

For starters what caught my attention, I have to confess, is the fact that it is not stuck in the borders of the quiet repetitive Prog's protocols, which by itself, is highly refreshing. I will try to explain what is going inside this 5 EPs collection.

Kind of a mix between Nick Cave's up front, lo-fi recorded, explosiveness (his both highly refined yet raw Punk 80's music, not his untouchable lyrics of course), this happening here and there, some splashes of David Sylvian's Japan like mode of story telling singing, lots of trashy experimental electronics, trashy guitars, Sigur Ros' early and Cabaret Voltaire's polished "post-Punk" attitude, even "Zappaezques" gentle reminders and yeah, it has its TALK TALK kind of momentums (here and there).

It will show its timing in its music composition, so feel forewarned and be prepared for a joyful and amazingly "un-cliched" trip to those post 80's, less obsessed with what their ancestors craved for.... FAME!

Prog sub-genre wise, its experimental nature and focused carelessness could appeal also to the RiO enthusiasts but its post-80's touch, although perfectly suited, may scare half of them.

A daring array of songs that never cease to offer thrills and intelligent solutions, yet it will show its age more than once, as I have mentioned more than once. Aside from that, a keeper in my selection and the kind that makes you look for more of DISCO INFERNO's other releases.

****4.5 PA STARS.