South Central
Yes indeed, after a 2-year hiatus from releasing music, the Brighton-based noise manipulators Rob and Keith return with ‘Demons’, the first taste of their brand new album ‘Society Of The Spectacle’ that’s set for release in early 2011.
Chances are you’ve encountered South Central by now. Whether via their string of single/EP releases in 2007-2008 on labels such as Young Turks/XL, Regal and Holiphonic, or maybe it’s through one of their numerous mind-melting remixes for acts as varied as Metronomy, The Maccabees, Crystal Method, Place To Bury Strangers or their infamous bootleg of The Klaxons (classic alert!).
But almost certainly you will know them for their increasingly in-demand live show, which has been their primary focus over the past two years. In just the last year they’ve been on World tours with Pendulum and The Prodigy, opening for them right across the globe, they’ve DJ’d to Rage Against The Machine’s Finsbury Park crowd, spun tunes at Mixmag parties and wrapped up things after Iron Maiden’s Sonisphere set. That 2-year hiatus from releasing music has been anything but a break.
If those bookings sound a little disparate, they make perfect sense in South Central’s world. The duo are, after all, pretty much the only true dance/rock crossover act going, a band that blend elements of both seamlessly and retain an unmatched knack at riling up crowds from both camps. They’re the closest thing dance music has to punk.
Their 2008 collection of EPs and tracks ‘The Owl Of Minerva’, has become a bit of a cult classic, its jackhammer beats, swirling synths and titanic guitars (not to mention the cover of Josh Wink’s ‘Higher State Of Consciousness’ and their take on The Fall ‘Nothing Can Go Wrong’) cementing its status as a key milestone in the evolutionary journey of dance. But back then the buzz genre was ‘Nu-Rave’, all the kids were draped in day-glow and neon colours again and, well, it’s fair to say that the perma-black-hoody wearing South Central, self-described as “shrouded in darkness” didn’t quite fit in as much as they’d of like to. That’s not to say they weren’t talented (something that both Pendulum and The Prodigy certainly recognised), it’s just the timing that wasn’t quite right.
Now in the tail end of 2010 and armed with an education in playing huge venues with their widely celebrated peers, the perfectionist pair have finally reached a stage with their debut album proper where they can stop tweaking and push it out for the world. Something you’ll have to wait just a little bit longer before we get properly stuck into.
The next step in the journey is this – ‘Demons’ – on Vitalics’s Citizen label. Backed up with the B-side ‘Nietzsche Vs Nurture’ and a remix from the men of the moment Reset!, it’s the perfect starter to the banquet that awaits…