Some words and thoughts from Alan Dearling
At the end of 2023 I mentally looked back through the past year of live gigs and album reviewing. An ‘Absolutely Wow experience’ was witnessing Aircooled live on their first tour in support of their album release, ‘St Leopards’. (Connected, I think with where they are based, St Leonards, near Hastings).
Now we have the release of their sophomore album, ‘Eat the Gold’. It’s quite a musical evolution. Last year’s Aircooled was pulsating electronica, what they described as offering, “…extended motor grooves and disco blitz.” I saw them as the children of motoric Kraut-rock. Kosmische. Exciting, pulsating music for both the dance floor and extended listening at home.
‘Eat the Gold’ displays the results of an Aircooled line-up that has solidified around core members, there’s a new vocal dimension. Drums: Justin Welch; Bass: Katherine Wallinger; Keys, flute and vocals: Riz Maslen, and, Guitars, keys and vocals: Oliver Cherer.
Their vinyl album is a lovely pressing. A clear, yet enveloping sound. Psychedelic, with epic soundscapes. Big screen sonic creations. ‘Airports’ kicks off Side One with a psych electro-pulsating bass-line, soaring guitar, plus electronic keys’ excursions. The track leads into what is the first single from the new album, ‘No reason to lie’. This marks the departure from the driving Hawkwind-Floyd-Can musical formula. This is assertive, a full-on vocal track with accompanying electro-breaks. Glitchy, unsettling, even a little challenging. Certainly far more in-yerr-face than the earlier Aircooled fare. ‘Japanese Brute’ continues the hard, driving sound, moving more into the worlds of 1960s’ underground music, ‘70s’ ‘Tubular Bells’, with Byrds-like phasing from the ‘Notorious Byrd Brothers’ era. Next up, ‘Star Rider’ shifts gear again, entering Kraftwerk territory, blending a mix (perhaps) of ‘Trans-Europe Express’ robotic rhythm with Vangelis pomp.
‘Sing Pilgrim Sing!’ offers chugging, train-like, pulsations… locomotion rhythms, with keys wefting and weaving over the repetitive beats, bass and drum propulsions. ‘Transmission Transmission’ welcomes us into the Psychedelic Underworld. Nicely doom-laden, with almost sitar-like sounds, breathless chants. It evokes a sense of foreboding. A spit and venom vocal delivery. “This machine is unclean.” Gothik! Tribal – Calling all cannibals, perhaps?
Impressive and at times distinctly awesome!
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From the Aircooled publicity release:
Listen to Eat the Gold: https://on.soundcloud.com/xrBQK
Bandcamp: https://aircooled.bandcamp.com/album/eat-the-gold
No Reason To Lie (video): https://youtu.be/QCipFDZKRNQ
‘St Leopards’, the first Aircooled album has also recently been re-pressed. Artwork for both albums by Mew.
Aircooled’s ‘backstory’: Justin Welch (Piroshka, Elastica, Suede JAMC.), Oliver Cherer (Gilroy Mere, Dollboy, Miki Berenyi Trio.), Katharine Wallinger (Wedding Present, Viv Albertine) and Riz Maslen (Neotropic).
Aircooled on tour 2023
