There is certainlyenough guitar feedback screaming from this stunning Fat Cat Splinter toconvince most people that Xinlisupreme are familiar with at least onelevel of musical excess, which is appropriate considering that theirname could be shortened to xs. They consider their music to be tender,strange, spiritual and violent. It's also hypnotically mind altering.It's a rollercoaster ride drenched in headcleaning melodic feedbackthat'll very likely satisfy anyone who still hankers after a mythicalfollow up to My Bloody Valentine's benchmark 'Loveless'. There are alsonods to the dense freenoise of Sonic Youth's early rock, butXinlisupreme have distinctly over the top tendencies which somehowcould only have arisen in Japan. They often centre tracks on onemonstrous looping distorted guitar riff around which lighter rapidlyshifting sonic satellites spin. Stir in primitive hotwired drum machinerhythms, some deliciously discordant piano runs and occasional buriedmumbled vocals and you have a recipe for the most exciting popnoise ofthe first quarter of the year. The opening salvo 'Kyoro' sounds like a cousin of 'Death Valley '69'swamping an overloaded drum machine battling with an imaginary TV themefor the Feedback Olympics. 'Goodbye For All' slows the pace with amassive loping riff that drops out to two small repeated notes beforelurching back full on. Vocals appear for the first time on the fourthtrack, the yearning 'All You Need Is Love Was Not True' whichpreviously appeared on a 7" late last year and marks perhaps theirpoppiest tendencies. The album title comes from the only song withdecipherable lyrics, 'Amaryllis' which is relatively reflective, thecalm in the eye of the hurricane. The standout tracks emerge towardsthe end. Both open relatively calmly before big noise breaks out. Theeerily discordant 'You Died In The Sea' is only topped by the longesttrack, 'Fatal Sisters Opened Umbrella' which starts out dark and tiredwith submerged emotive vocals then lights a long fuse which ignitesskyward fireworks for the biggest noise eruption yet, a feedbackfairground bliss out. 'Nameless Song' winds out with sparse tablapercussion and some two tone wind instrument but nevertheless can'tresist a rush of guitar pyrotechnics latterly. The only new album I'veplayed as much as this so far this year is the Elders of Zion's "DawnRefuses to Rise". Both bands use very different means to the end ofrocking out big time minus cliché, and both embody very differentaspects of the apocalyptic.
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