The Dirty Contacts - The World's End
- Published in Singles
Hastings five-piece The Dirty Contacts (a dirty contact being an electrical term I am told) roll out their debut single on thee prestigious State Records label, recorded and produced by maestro Mole, and mixed by Jim Riley at Ranscombe Studios no less.
You may recognise drummer Mr. Greensmith from his most excellent recent appearance with The Nuevo Ramon Five (for those of you lucky enough to catch them at Beatwave this summer). There's also an ex-Cannibal in the mix - bassist Mr. Forrester and Sinelabs/Fratcave/Beatwave and self confessed Robo-man, Mr. Ellis on keys. Will all this name dropping ever end I hear you say? And do these tracks live up to such exalted credentials? In a word, yes!
Title track ‘World's End’, for those of a churlish disposition, could be assumed to refer to living in Hastings, and indeed the cover art depicts a scene of the pier on fire. Frosty The Fuzzman does not restrain himself in unleashing the fuzz; cutting like a buzzsaw, it’s heavy, scuzzy, almost grungy, and it screams, crackles and pops like a bowl of apocalyptic Rice Krispies* whilst Mr. Rees has his wailing down pat to compliment this. I admire (very much) a band who are not afraid to go into the red.
It’s worth a mention that these tracks were both recorded live to 8 track - and it shows - the sound production is second to none. The whole composition feels like it's being pushed to it's very limits. In short, it's ordered chaos, contained madness and it’s also quite different from what I expected. This isn't your standard garage-by-numbers offering (and for that reason it's a little lost on me), which doesn't mean to say that it's not an outstanding track for all of the above reasons and in and of itself.
On the B side you'll find a cover of the Billy Childish penned ‘When You Stop Loving Me’ (oh, that riff). But why a cover? TDC are clearly more than capable of writing their own stuff. It's brave to take on Childish - the Medway god of garage punk himself. However, they nail it good and proper (I almost want to say exceed the original, but can’t bring myself to do it!). The organ adds another dimension to the overall sound, which the original lacks, and brings us back into more familiar territory (and 3,2,1 I'm back in my wee garage comfort zone). So if the title track is a little too off piste for your tastes, the flip side is definitely worth the purchase alone.
*did I really say that?
