Primes

The fusion between punk / counter-culture music with electronics and technology isn’t a new thing, although the debut full-length release from PRIMES demands to assert a unique voice to the landscape of contemporary punk, rock, techno and industrial music.

A quarter century after Suicide first started cracking heads, people are still shocked by the “novelty” of punk aggression and minimalism being put to use in electronic music for some reason. Primes aren’t, and as such waste no time marvelling at or indulging in their own modus operandi. No hipster posing or awkward self-discoveries here; Primes deliver fire and circuitry to the listener mercilessly and with purpose. They’ll also do a kickin’ Nitzer Ebb cover, if you ask nicely.

Primes formed in early 2004. Jack Duckworth, the main force behind the transcendently cacophonic A Luna Red (as well as established post-punkers Radio Berlin), and Michelle Synnot, acclaimed electro DJ, started working on material that combined their musical histories and interests. Things gelled quickly, with early shows (simultaneously confrontational and reserved, received with confusion and dancing) and self-pressed CDs garnering praise from the local press and audiences, providing the impetus and demand for a full-length.

Staccato bleeps and crashes provide a framework for Duckworth’s roaming bass and the pair’s aggro vocals: power, politics and sex are The Order of thee day, often strangely crystalised and figurative, leaving much open to interpretation (hurrah!). The band makes nods towards and gives suckerpunches to a barrage of influences and genres, but always keep their ethos grounded in unpolished and abrasive electronic rhythms: clattering, throbbing, punching forward. More subtle textures often emerge upon further listening, but Primes never abstract themselves too far away from the listener, and always stay focussed on the visceral.

PRIMES released a tour-only CD called “Life In The Pit” in November 2004 which sold out in a month and will be making their “official” debut on a 12”-EP split with BAKELITE on GLOBAL SYMPHONIC in March 2005. Their full-length drops on May 2005 on ACTION DRIVER (with the LP version released on POSTFACT)

Raw and bloody dance music for your Nitzschean will to power, or at least for those who like Cabaret Voltaire and The VSS. Death disco for the soul. Anthems against inertia. It’s got a nice beat and you can dance to it. This is Primes.