Making Sleaford Mods look like Bucks Fizz
Who They?
The word “versus” comes with a degree of expectation. Pit anything against pretty much anything else and a dust-up of some description will almost certainly ensue. So when a band line-up is billed as “Wayne Adams (laptop) vs Henri Grimes (drums)”, that’s bound to be a treat, right? Brighton-based Shitwife don’t disappoint.
Why Shitwife?
You know the first time you saw Motorhead perform ‘Ace Of Spades’? That.
Live electronic music can sometimes be a bit of a nodding damp squib, but do it like this pair et voila, instant spectacle. They set up facing each other, often in the middle of rooms, and blast away, both barrels, non-stop. Why hit a drum once slowly when you can batter the living crap out of it really quickly. The total visceral thrill of a drummer like this up against a full-tilt breakneck sonic assault is about as life-affirming as things get electronically speaking.
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Wayne Adams is perhaps better known as breakcore powerhouse Ladyscraper (what a knack he has for a charming moniker), while Henri Grimes is formerly of bluesy post-rockers Shield Your Eyes. It’s a combo that makes for absolute mayhem and what’s more you can take it all home with you on the new Shitwife album, ‘Big Lad’. A proper corker of a record, favourites are hard to nail down, but today we’re very much enjoying the swirling oscillations of ‘Kablab’ and the frankly absurd 200mph chiptune-isms of ‘Thomas Brewins’.
‘Big Lad’ is on Sapien