These New Puritans - 'Beat Pyramid' (Angular) Released 28/01/08

Some bands exist to challenge. Following Battles’ waterfall of ideas in last years ‘Mirrored’, These New Puritans have picked up the baton. It’s about reversing music’s priorities, installing drums as their chief weapons. Vocals are second priority; and in their most forward thinking and backward looking move, guitars are used only when needed. Not a twinkle more. Like adjectives to a wordsmith, guitars cause more damage if implemented sparingly. Riff after riff, adjective after adjective - meaningless walls of sound. No one wants that. George Barnett on drums is pivotal. More drums equals threatening music. But unlike Battles with their Don Caballero, Helmet lineage, TNPS are youngsters, and they’re learned indeed in musical past. A quartet from Southend-on-sea, they offer academic Vs Battles’ practical knowledge.

TNPS name themselves after The Fall’s ‘New Puritan’, a track not on an album. And they’re not unlike Mark E Smith’s gang. Twin of George, vocalist Jack Barnett chants grating, monotonous philosophy. You can’t doubt their heritage of obsessive musical fandom. It would also be misleading to compare their sound to Battles beyond the percussive prioritising. They are looser, more chaotic. The thing they share is vision. And they can both see for miles. TNPS don’t fuck around either. Well actually they do, a lot. But they get promptly to their lyrical smartness on ‘Beat Pyramid’s’ second track.

‘Numerology (Aka Numbers)’ is ushered in by repetition of three ominous thuds of a bass drum, then a jilted beat, then a scratchy post-punk-gone-even-more-post-punk skit played so fast you cringe. It’s a statement. We’re fucking cool yeah? We think outside the box, yeah? “What’s your favourite number, what does it mean?” Barnett asks. You don’t know, he’ll tell you. “Number one, is the individual; number two, duality/Number three, this numerology is all shit; number four is the number that will run through this music.” Take that. “Every number has a meaning.” And that.