Big Block 454, I changed my dentist...I changed him into a horse (demo tape)

Well, if it's sometimes hard to drum up enough interesting things to say about Formula Band (Indie) Number 174-98 when they send you a demo, it's nigh-on impossible to find something even remotely apt when confronted by the listening experience that sonic magpies Big Block 454 supply.

This tape is a 30-minute blend of song fragments and sounds cut-n-pasted onto each other. Snippets of out-of-context vocals are dropped into the meandering soundtrack and sometimes radio or TV samples or a wedge of the Clash or perhaps a bit of techno or melancholy guitar are bunged into the electronic manipulator. Like some medieval alchemists, Big Block 454 (the urge to type "Big Black" is almost overwhelming and, even though there's no phono-similarity, the wild/noise spirit of Albini's band is present here too) mix their base metals with all manner of ingredients in an attempt to strike gold.

And do they succeed? Well...yes. www.bigblock454.mcmail.com.

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