Review: The Intelligence Service - Maladies EP

Oh man, don't you just love it when something hits from out of the blue. I had an email recently from Alex and Heather from The Intelligence Service (a band not the US secret service) introducing me to their new EP out on Wiener Records. I duly gave it a listen and was absolutely blown away. The Canadian four piece have created something different with this EP...they have distilled the attitude of garage punk and mixed it with some fuzzy psych and some offbeat post punk and the resulting brew is intoxicating.

'Distraction (Here comes Dror)' opens the EP with an oscillating drone before some lush sixties organ kicks in...so far, so run of the mill garage rock...but hold on to your hats because it's about to become really interesting. The organ stays steady on it's retro course but the guitars fizz and fuzz and the bass line positively throbs and it all coalesces into a glorious psych cacophony. But, it's not done yet, spoken word vocals are introduced over the miasma of psychedelic fuzz (the vocals remind me a bit of 'Stay Safe' by The Cribs). Everything drops out, leaving just a warbling synth drone, before the guitars, bass et al kick back in with renewed fervour. The remaining 7 minutes of this epic 14 minute track fly by in a swirl of corruscating psych garage. Easily one of the best tracks I've heard this year. 'Driving To My Sun' opens again with the groovy organ, but this time things take a decided Jesus and Mary Chain turn; a wall of fuzz with a rock solid drum pattern. The vocals, sung this time, benefit from some lovely harmonies between Alex P and Heather Campbell. 'School Me' has some post punk sensibilities with both the synth sounds and the Fred Schneider (B 52s) like vocals from Alex. Again the vocal interplay between Alex and Heather is a key factor, the manic, offbeat contributions from Alex juxtaposing nicely with the more dreamy vox from Heather. The guitars are still fuzzy, retaining that psych feel but this is something else. Final track 'Can't Believe' is a garage punk stormer. The organ lends proceedings a sixties feel while the guitars drive everything forward at a hell of a pace. The vocals from Alex are manic and frenzied, but Campbell brings some stability to it all. Drummer Sam gets in on the vox action too with some 'gang' vocals and harmonies with Heather on the " "Oooh Lalala/I don't wanna be like you" refrain.

'Maladies' is a hell of a listen, and the band, as a whole, have captured a sound of their own, which is good news as there is a long player in the pipeline. The EP has humour with a touch of darkness, attitude and a creative edge that raises it above the majority of releases around at the moment. If you dig the insanity of garage legends Thee Oh Sees and the fuzziness of The Black Angels combined with the post punk weirdness of Devo you will love this EP...I certainly did! The EP is available as a limited edition cassette (Full-colour J-Card. Clear Ruby Red) and as a download from the band's Bandcamp page here) I'm also rather chuffed to say the Dayz of Purple shop has a couple of the tapes for sale here. On a different note, I'd like to thank Alex for introducing me to the unique interviewing skills of Nardwuar the Human Serviette....what a dude!