R.M.F.C – Club Hits (Anti Fade/Urge Records) – R.M.F.C have been worming their way into our heads, they, whoever they are, keep crossing our path, The Trap is just that. Apparently Club Hits is the debut full-length album by R.M.F.C. (Rock Music Fan Club apparently although, that might be a bright red herring), a garage rock and post-punk project led by Buz Clatworthy. Originating from Buz’s bedroom recording studio in South East NSW, Australia. it was probably those slightly scratchy Devo flavours that caught our ears first off, that and the scratchy urgency of it all, the Wire you might say (raise that Pink Flag), they are kind of infectious and yes, they do drive, there is a punked up new wave  energy and is that a twelve string guitar? And what is with that band name? kind of reminds us of the time Dream City Film Club got us curious enough to go to their first ever gig down the Bull and Gate by calling themselves Derby County Football Club (and the rest is obscure history). I like this, I like the R.M.F.C sound, and they certainly do have a sound, a  Devo (or maybe Oroonies Cloven Hoof?) flavoured sound for fans of those early Church records and those blurred crusades and all that putting the horse before the cart. You don’t need a review, you just need a signpost that points in the right direction, here’s the Bandcamp and a Facebook page

Ni – Fol Na​ï​s (Dur et Doux) – Kind of lost track of that wonderful one eyed horse and that fine label’s latest releases this year, have we covered this one already? Surely we’ve mentioned it? Go consult the search engine, no, you can’t search for a band with a name like Ni and apparently today, December 1st 2023, is the release date? Don’t ask me, I was busy throwing paint guv, can’t keep up with all these obscure messages or non messages or half-formed press releases from record labels and bands. I think we mentioned this when you could only hear one track, the whole thing is there now on their Bandcamp so we’ll do it again..

Dur et Doux is an important label, one of the very best, Ni are an important band, a vital band, a band we’ve been covering for a good few years now, their latest thrilling album is out today. Are they sounding even more brutal? Yer man Weasel Walter might approve, this is indeed properly brutal prog, properly progressive rock, proper brutality. This is cleverly constructed violent light and shade, progressive as in moving forward, as in pushing the edges of the musical envelope – sometimes frantic, always composed, graceful even when they are falling up the stairs. Ni are from France, some of the most genuinely progressive bands, well most of them actually, seem to be coming from France right now (is it a Lyon thing?). Actually some of Fol Na​ï​s really isbeautifully graceful – the glowing darkness of powerful album closer Cathelot for instance, Cathelot is a radiant piece of gracefully dark beauty, dark, heavy (never mere metal though, there’s far too much to Ni to ever reduce them to that), Dagonet is a real avant-prog hammering. They’re instrumental, you don’t really notice though, not this time, those instruments do all the singing, the talking, the confronting, the gliding, the pecking – no, they’re not pecking, this is far too brutal to just be a peck or two and when the shimmering lightness of Berdic eases in as the fourth track it is m almost beautiful relief (rather then merciful). Actually every moment of this latest Ni album is beautiful, the quiet is beautifully intense, the intense bits are beautifully brutal, the brutal bits are graceful, the whole thing is kind of relentless in the best of ways, this is music that always always effortlessly hold interest. Ni are an important avant prog band and this in another very fine album from highly respect French outfit on the highly respected French label… 

Bandcamp / Website / Dur Et Doux