Detached need a trombone/sax player
Posted by jamie on Apr 3, 2011
Its from the 8th April - 21st April and we’re going to France so you’ll need a passport.
Please get in touch even if you can just do UK stuff or just French stuff, we really really need to sort this ASAP!
CONTACT:
http://www.facebook.com/detachedska
detached_ska [AT] hotmail.com
Detached: None The Wiser
Posted by jamie on Apr 2, 2010
Detached
None The Wiser EP (S/R)
2nd April 2010
Jamie
South Wales’ ska/punk outfit Detached self-released their first EP, You Only Live Once, way back in 2007, and did the whole thing at home: burning the discs and designing and printing the lot themselves. Understandably, they sold out of copies pretty fast, so its follow-up, None The Wiser, has been eagerly anticipated for some time now before finally dropping a couple of weeks back. Since then it’s scarcely left my CD player.
Like its predecessor, None The Wiser is self-released, but it’s actually a very different record. Before it was released, Detached made sure everything, even down to their myspace html, was all new just to make sure we were ready. Here goes..
None The Wiser is a six-track EP packed with hooks and uplifting horn parts. Detached are a six-piece with a two horns (trombone and trumpet) and three different vocalists. Despite the classic format, they’re not a traditional ska/punk band: with stronger guitars and the snarl in Rhys’ vocal, this is more bombastic than is usually expected of the genre, something that’s particularly evident early on. The killer moment where the opener Don’t Bite the Crust (and Say the Pie Ain’t Tasty) kicks in for the first time being a prime example. The song builds steadily for a quick spell before taking off in an impassioned scream and an ascending horn riff. It’s peppier once it returns, with short, sharp refrains sung over some classic upstrokes before the guitar riffs kick in once again, the horns return and the song builds to its climax: that three-part vocal whoah-whoahing away as the song rocks out towards its end.
F.B.U again shows how adept the guys are at changing things around. At its very start there are thunderous drums and rock guitars that get heavier and louder, just for a little bit, before, once it’s underway, it becomes more of a ska song again. This song is brilliantly skankable, big and heavy, but with more than enough beat to move to. The gang vocal is fun, and then the horns take over and run away with the song. It’s short and sweet, but it’s an absolute joy. Teeth Rattling Boneshaker, in this context, begins as anything but. This record’s been pretty full-on so far, and this track is surprisingly easy-going: a switch to more positive subject matter perhaps influencing the change. There are echoes of [spunge]’s song Rockabilly even before the off mic shout of “pick it up”. With two guitars working on upstrokes and melody at once, a dreamy little horn part and a shared vocal that begins on “she’s the one..” and continues through the “wo-oh wo-oh”. It’s breezy, easy going, happy, loved-up summer ska/punk pop music at its best, and it’s a standout moment for me.
Lock Up takes that newfound happier outlook and mixes it with that slightly edgier tone of the previous songs. “You’re the beauty”, it says, “pulling me back to this oh so ugly place, and knowing that you need me still puts a smile on my face”. Again, it’s a great little song, at its best though the chorus where vocal and horns duet over those choppy ska guitar parts that Detached are so good at, and embellished nicely by those dirty great big riffs that they like to roll out at you. After a few smooth changes of direction and a couple of nice little singalongs, it skips away, and leaves us with just two songs left on the EP.
Horizons, the penultimate track, is another particular treat. It opens up with a full assault of guitars, quickly joined by bass and drums and then the horn section. As the song gets going, though, it’s a joyous crossfire of quickfire vocals from all of the singers over high speed ska guitar strokes. The moment another horn part joins in here is another favourite moment. Again there are plenty of moments to rock out here as well, and the outro is probably the album’s best, Detached going at it with all guns blazing before the twin guitars combine to finish it off. Rid Of It is last, then, and is another instant classic. There’s loads of melody in the chorus here, and a verse where interchanging vocals combine over brilliantly danceable guitars - and all interspersed with a fine horn line. If you weren’t already, by this time it’s impossible not to throw yourself around. For a second, it made me think of this song – I can’t remember at which point or why. As a special treat, there’s a reggae breakdown in here too and a three-part vocal harmony over guitars again and another chorus, joined again by the brass section before the song, and with it the record, disappears with a tiny little guitar line that fades into a satisfying silence. It’s only six short songs, but this is a great little record that gets better all the way through and better still with every listen.
None The Wiser is available from Detached’s bigcartel shop.
