A Compulsion For Propulsion

Artists

Album Info

Release Date: 2019

Label: Sunstone

Three Dimensional Tanx (3D Tanx) from Lancaster, England play high-energy garage-rock with hints of psych, krautrock and both proto and post-punk. Buzzcocks go Neu! or Stereolab at the wrong speed! Their fifth album features 15 tracks in less than 40 minutes, there are two free-form psychedelic jams at the end of each side of the album. Elsewhere, short, infectious stabs of pop-inflected modern garage-rock abound. Stripped back to a 4-piece for this album (guitarist Pete is on sabbatical playing with Crass legend Steve Ignorant), everything is tight-but-loose. Largely live in sound, the songs are occasionally fleshed out with additional analogue synths, and acoustic piano. Highlights include opener 'His Latest Apparatus' with hints of Neu!, Wire, Devo, the VU-meets-Can-inflected reverie of 'Dwam', and the Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd-esque 'Racing Car #9'. Elsewhere, the rhythms are taut, and almost breathlessly relentless. It's a speedy trip.