A camera flashes your vision white – white gloved hands lower a DSLR to reveal a quzzical face obscured by a blue surgical mask. Cut to the hero of our story receiving the call to get down to the crime scene immediately after mopping up the bit-part bad guys in the abandoned warehouse on the other side of town. Introducing junior detective Maloney, an ominously red-shirted character whose only purpose is to be the first to expire in this week’s installment. All of this happens before the opening title sequence.
Attn: TV Tropes readers – prepare yourself for a cold open to your next favourite EP – Taking Berlin’s The Lottery. Catch ’em this Friday at The World Bar!
This is what’s called a cold open – made famous by American crime drama and monster of the week serials. Listening to Blunt Force Trauma from Taking Berlin‘s latest EP, I can’t help but feel that a note has been taken from the writers and producers of the most famous cold openers the X-Files. A filthy blues riff slaps us in the face before we get a chance to change the channel – a rock and roll extra-terrestrial is on the loose, leaving a trail of bludgeoned small town farmers in it’s wake. Before we know it, we’re watching the finale of season one, looking for season two on Pirate Bay and emailing our fanfictions to Chris Carter.
The last we heard from the Taking Berlin crew was from their double A side Madchester/Carbon – the former of which could easily be set to a 70’s buddy cop dramas, while the latter gave us a bit of a Graceland boner. This time around, the band are utilising the same deft grooviness but on a much dirtier inflection. The calmer moments of Blunt Force Trauma lull us into an off kilter mix of atmospheric and bluesy, but the track is definitely at it’s strongest as the guitars cough and splutter with audible speaker cone distress.
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Clinically catchy, Headspace recalls a golden era of charting guitar bands, at times harking back to the chilled out rhythmic technicality of You Could Have It So Much Better and the bright jumble of the nary-performed Mardy Bum and Red Lights Indicate Doors Are Secure. Trimming the 00’s indie gristle off the sides, Mama Says stomps it’s way through your headphones before squealing itself into a haze of schitzed out growls and howls, only to slip into something a little more comfortable to close it out. With Headspace as the lead single and with Mama Says, these mid-moments are definitely the highlight of the EP.
Once again channeling a vibrant mix of post Channel Tunnel cool-britannia (no 90’s britpop garbage here) and a tinnitus inducing desert/stoner sound, Ghost and title track The Lottery energetically smash out the last six or so minutes of the EP. Like some monstrous, whiskey soaked, methed-up Fox Mulder finally piecing the disparate clues together to foil this weeks faceless villain, these last two tracks go way fucking harder than any episode of Monster of the Week television that I’ve ever seen*.
The Lottery is out today via iTunes and Bandcamp, where you can pick it all up for the very reasonable price of $1.00. You can catch the boys bring the EP to life alongside The Ivory Drips at Sydney’s World Bar on the 19th. That’s this Friday and it’s totally free before 10pm if you hit up this event.
*Also, just for the record, Supernatural sucks.
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