| Organ Issue 54 (Soulcraft 2
Demo)
"Smoldering dark kind of fucked up, pissed off, out there, but not too fucked up Radiohead for metal fans who don't really like metal and who like their rhythm sections hard-boiled and adventurous. Plenty of bite here, plenty of drive, dark.... Tasty Therapy? territories, maybe a hint of a meaner nastier Placebo as they probe in to some of those same areas that make those fine Foil records stand out so much ... I like this lots, so does everyone else here - nice fuzz and diving wha fed superfucker peddle abuse here and there, quiet passages a sense of drama... certainly worthy of more investigation, I like the way they look over different walls just in case... I like their adventure, more soon, they're going to be really good soon if this is what they sound like already. Check them out, they sound nothing like anything I just told you, you're going to have to search them out yourselves, they've got lots going on in their bold and textured, busy uncluttered, songs." |
Zeitgeist: New Year 1998 (V3 No1) There's something about ridiculous song titles that speed a tape towards the top of the demo pile. And so it is with Soulcraft. The obvious reference point on first listening is Radiohead, which is unfortunate as I regard Radiohead as the single most over-rated musical entity in the history of music. Mark my words, they are the Genesis of the 90's (with subsequent shite solo career for Thom Yorke). I digress. On repeated plays this tape transcends my initial reaction and opens itself up to reveal a pulsating interior full of dark reference points, shedding unwanted light on the darker recesses of the human psyche. Imagine Husker Du, but with Bootsy Collins on bass. There's new material in the pipeline, which was delayed due to their participation in Radio 1 Oxford Sound City shindig, so if you want more than mere music drop an SAE to....... |
| Nightshift -
February 1997 Soulcraft2 Demo
Check out Nighshift's site Newly expanded to a five piece, Soulcraft are really starting to sound like the band they have been promising to become over the past twelve months. "Paltry Fool" drags its chains through the door with some splendid scraping feedback and a can-like, monster funk bass. Vocally it starts off pretty restrained, sounding like Radiohead in a particularly bad mood but soon it gets pretty vicious with Matt screaming his lungs out, the guitars become increasingly weird and the bass driving like Jehu. Thereafter, Soulcraft become less intense, "Too Doe Riley" being a melodic grunge piece with a spindly hardcore shell and ending with a heady swirl of distorted wah-wah guitar, while "Lemons and Memories" hints at Placebo but the vocals drag it into the realms of Pearl Jam or Afghan Wigs. By the time they get to the last track, "Changing Rooms", Soulcraft are almost acoustic, with Matt doing his Thom E. Yorke impersonation over a decidedly 'down' feeling semi-ballad that finally gets kicked in the butt by an effervescent guitar re-joiner. All in all, a pretty smashing mix of nasty noise and fuzzy melodic, finally a demo that sweeps away the dust and cob-webs that have been gathering on the demo panel's stereo over the last two months. |
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| If music be the food of love, Soulcraft require
no side salad. They excavate your inner most paranoid and putrid thoughts
from the safety of your skull and force you to confront them in a way most
psychoanalysists would be envious of. This gig is Soulcraft at their best,
forgotten lyrics resulting in an audience participation slot with hamsters'
bottoms featuring rather strongly in suggestions. Birthday tributes to
friends and appreciative heckles from loyal followers show that Soulcraft
really give their audience what they want. The many times I have watched
in reverence as singer Matt takes us through his own personal hell and
back again, I am more than aware that his lyrics are significant and totally
relevent to the lives of us mere mortals, if I could just decipher them
from the vortex of sound that comes from deep inside him...or is it me?
And self-awareness can't help popping up for a quick 'hello': 'Why do I
give a f^*k what you think about me?". It's all so important, I'm glad
no one has the answers. It's not only their own tracks they play with such
orgasmic poignancy, when Matt casually asks us if we can breathe before
plunging into their famous 'better than the original version' of the Prodigy's
latest offering, I have a feeling that I won't be able to afterwards. I'm
sorry to keep going on about this but Soulcraft rock beyond normal levels
of rockness and no, I'm not related to them before you ask. Local press
love them, local bands love them, not bad for a band whose guitarist doesn't
know what the chords he's playing are! They climax tonight with 'Paltry'
- could this really be a love song?! And some country ditties. If Soulcraft
doesn't burst a blood vessel of emotive, hormonal-empathy with you, then
you've really missed the point. Big time.
Orbit March 1997 |
Noisy punk rock louts in suit wearing shocker!
Suits you sir.
Soulcraft's sartorial elegance lends them a sort of apprentice Kray Twins vibe and their music is suitably brutish, mixing the gutsy grunge of Nirvana, Dinosaur Jr and very (VERY) early Lemonheads with a ragged DC hardcore edge. It's all rather messy to start with, the guitarist and rhythm section not fully locking together and the singer tending to shout too much without ever really projecting himself or looking or sounding menacing enough. He rages against something only he seems to be ware of and when he giggles nervously between songs he appears to have lost the fight. The more thoughtful numbers work best to start with since the band seem to have the most control over them but as the set progresses and the band forget that they're playing in front of a few dozen mates on one of The Point's debut nights they grow in confidence and stature and things start to click into place. The music gets tighter and more frenetic and the singer's Jarvis-like gangliness begins to look kind of appealing and when he grips his throat to stop the veins from bursting and screams 'I'm on fire!' you can even believe him. As Ron Atkinson would say, 'it's early doors', but Soulcraft already show signs that they could be contenders. 'Geekcore' anyone? Nightshift April 1996 |
| In the shiny and unnaturally healthy world of
Oxford Pop music it's
always pleasing to hear something a little unwholesome.. Beaker and Skydrive have fought the scuzzy punk rock quarter of the local scene for a while now but Soulcraft are set to join them in their descent to guitar hell. The grunge edges are still there but the newer stuff promises nasty hardcore aplenty. We await the coming of the Behemoth with no little glee. Nightshift June 1996 |
These are the new young rascals we're shouting
loudest about at the moment. They're coming
along at a frighteningly fast rate since their early jittery gigs.
Melodic noise rock fused with full-on bastard hardcore and the nattiest suits in town. The A&R jackals are sniffing already. Nightshift June 1996 |
| Already going some way to proving that
there really is no end to the local talent around, Soulcraft play noisy bugger grunge with a hardcore edge and might well be pioneering the new wave of geekcore. Nightshift April 1996 |