HOT BEAT REPEAT

I really do like the sound of that, I think it sounds great. It kind of reminds me of Yeasayer... Brilliant! - Xfm Manchester

An enormous sound... Spendid! - BBC 6 Music

Suppression is an important part of life. Without restraint there is no release, and whilst no one enjoys being suppressed, the unburdened soul is often the most productive. Whether productivity equates to creativity is a different matter. Take the tabloids favourite siblings; the Gallagher’s. Liam’s loitering intellect, while suppressed under the militant rule of Noel, produced only minor moments of retardation. Beady Eye on the other hand have harnessed Liam’s mental regression and gone full retard. It’s what Oasis always threatened, complete creative arrest, both lyrically and musically, thus proving a downed dictatorship may lead to productivity, but creativity is not always born of it.

HOT BEAT REPEAT have undone the productive/creative equation. Since their inception earlier this year, the Manchester duo of Andrew Jameson (Vox, Guitar, Bass, Samples) and Alex Godfrey (Drums, Samples) have notched four gigs, including a set at Endorse It in Dorset festival and let loose the rapturously received demo ‘Ease it Up’, which lead John Kennedy of XFM to compare them to Yeasayer. Sure, it’s a lofty comparison but it’s not totally unfounded. The demo has since been mixed and mastered by the producer of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and has seen drum and bass remixes (given free at their Moho headlining set) optimise their sound. Delicate swathes of guitar, drenched in cymbals and aggressive stabs of bass, wash over not unlike Delakota’s ‘The Rock’. It’s less horizontal, less stoner but maintains the loopy haze Cass mastered. It’s a massive sound to be realised by only two men, made possible by light-speed looping and the smartest footwork this side of Louis Spence’s leotard.

Looping, the bastard word of rock (or is that Ed Sheeran), is often used as a gimmick, lending less to the song and more to the performance. Artists such as Joseph Arthur and on a different scale, Beardyman trade on their looping peddle prowess. Whilst instantly engaging, the patter wears thin all too easily. Jameson, HOTBEAT’s sock sporting front man, seamlessly and unobtrusively build tracks, until each refrain is so massive the route becomes merely the means and not the end. Our excitement would be less palpable had ‘Ease it Up’ been our only guidance and had ‘Watching’ not surfaced we’d probably still be hailing Wu Lyf Manchester’s saviours of 2011. As it is, ‘Watching’ with its anthemic KOL detailing, falsetto refrain and snappy stick work ranging from the fleetingly delicate punctuated by regimental rolls, to full-on tom wallops, makes HR the ones to watch in 2011.

Those who enjoyed the economic, taught rhythms of bands like Foals and Local Natives, will no doubt find solace in the break-neck snare flourishes of Godfrey, a grinning loon not unlike K.Moon that will take this band beyond mere bedroom dreams.

Catch them Friday 16th September supporting Black Lights at Factory in Manchester. - High Voltage