WARP / SATÉLITE K.
Grassot, 13.
08025 Barcelona.
T.934579745

Dpt. Promo: Natalia de Jesús & Carles Baena promo@mundivia.es

  

 

 

Red Snapper Biog

Red Snapper – Our Aim Is To Satisfy Red Snapper

Tension. If the music of the Anglo-American trio we know and love as Red Snapper is based on any one element, then tension is the key. And, as anyone knows, there are three ways to deal with boiling blood and an omnipresent sense of dread. You hide it, put on a happy face, try not to frighten the horses. Or, you frequently explode into random violence or tears or bad behaviour, unable to control your darkest impulses, forcing the negative energy to dissipate, but making things worse. But The Third Way is the Snapper way: you keep a lid on it until you walk into a studio or out on stage, and you focus all the poison into snarling, super-funky sound that gets the film noir fear, shares it with the world, and then rises above with sweaty physical abandon, overcoming the tension through sheer passion and guts. If rain-soaked streets, dodgy back alleys, black humour and drum 'n' bass 'n' rock 'n' roll leave you feeling a trifle uncomfortable, then I guess Richard Thair (drums, percussion, turntables), Ali Friend (bass) and David Ayers (guitars, programming) are just too much for you. There'll be some nice hippy trance and pop gossip on the radio right now. Off you go. No hard feelings. Still here? Good. Because that means you are at least theoretically ready to clutch 'Our Aim Is To Satisfy Red Snapper', the third Snapper album proper, to your courageous bosom. Being their best album thus far, it is the perfect place for the Snapper virgin to pop their cherry. For those who already know them as the best live band in Blighty, as intrepid raiders of the lost groove, then you are in for some surprises. Good ones, naturally.

But first, a quick recap. Red Snapper formed in 1993, after various serendipitous meetings down the years, when they realised that their various session activities and jazz jams weren't meeting their mutual need of everything from breakbeats, Eric B & Rakim and early techno to Led Zeppelin, surf music and country legend Marty Robbins. They aimed to satisfy themselves by playing low-key shows and releasing EPs on their own Flaw label, showcasing a sparse, bass-heavy, horn-tickled, generally instrumental (although vocal contributors included Beth Orton and Bocca Juniors' Anna Haigh), eerily focussed dance-punk noise that delighted taste-makers such as Ashley Beadle and Andrew Weatherall. The three were, despite their collective confidence, a little amazed at the response to something that flew so defiantly in the face of mellow, trip hop fashion.

After collecting those early EPs on the deliciously raw 'Reeled And Skinned' compilation (1995), they signed to Warp, proving, along with Finnish lounge-funk visionary Jimi Tenor, that the pioneering Sheffield label wasn't just there for the electronically abstract things in life. Two fine albums followed - 1996's 'Prince Blimey' and 1998's 'Making Bones'. Both were well received, providing a sound basis for the rapidly growing legend that was the Snapper live show - which, quite apart from initiating increasingly insane frug-fests among a fanbase spilt almost equally between boy/girl, black/white, gay/straight, proved that you don't need an obvious frontperson to enthrall The Kids. So far, so good. Except that Richard, Ali and David felt that the emphasis on their live excellence was damning them with faint praise. That the records were almost being seen as promos for the tours. They came back from an exhausting string of global dates, and decided this simply wasn't good enough. They wanted to make a record - one that the fan could treasure and revisit as much they would treasure and revisit the trio's favourite Charlie Mingus, Sandy Nelson or Public Enemy records. It was time to step up a level, and throw off the 'live fuck-off jazz' tag. But things in Snapper World are rarely that simple. Firstly, they stepped straight from the tour into the studio, high on inspiration but short on patience.

They wanted to work with a proper producer for the first time, tried J Saul Kane and Jagz Kooner, but they weren't quite right. They settled on 'Screamadelica' co-producer Hugo Nicholson and began work at the extremely non-bedroom Townhouse Studios. Which turned out more than fine, but not without the odd ego clash that has them muttering diplomatically about 'creative tension.' Meanwhile, their personal lives were in a mess. Break-ups, tragic losses, grief and chaos -the sort of thing that hits us all in our thirties, that reminds you that you're just not a kid anymore. Ask them nicely and I'm sure they'll tell you about it. But one thing I can relate is that Ali contrived to break a finger when playing football, rendering him idle for four months. So what? you may ask. Well, fair enough, if your chosen musical instrument is the Patagonian nose-flute. Ali however, plays a uniquely fluid, fingery bass, and suddenly saw his musical life pass before his eyes. What the hell would he do if he couldn't do this anymore? Of such apparently trivial incidents are re-galvanised artistic endeavours made. It was time for The Third Way - make a long-player that crackled with The Tension, that met hard times head-on, that mixed The Fear with a redemptive gratitude for what Red Snapper had. The end result is what you hold in your hand - an album that begins like a runaway juggernaut and ends with an uneasy striving for beauty and peace. The finest Red Snapper recordings yet. The title may say that they aimed to satisfy Red Snapper. But sometimes you've got to find yourself to satisfy everyone else.

All of which leaves little to say. Apart from, maybe, pointing out the way that the rebuilt Ali fingers mix up the trademark upright bass with snarling electric low-end - does anybody else remember the Stranglers' 'barracuda bass'? Or drawing attention to David's new-found computer music skills and his weeping guitar on the exceptional spaghetti-meets-Sakamoto reverie of 'They're Hanging Me Tonight'. Or bigging up the chatful contributions of MC Det, especially his singing (yes! A jungle MC who sings!) on the David Essex (yes! David Essex!)-sampling 'Some Kind Of Kink'. Or singling out the sweet, caressing tones of LA's Karime Kendra, who is not only stupendously rude on 'the Rough And The Quick', but also makes a living as a wrestler - which is scary, but in a sexy way. Or mentioning Richard's often unbelievable skin-beating, and that the erstwhile sticksman may well be DJ-ing at a techno/breakbeat/electro session near you right at this very moment. Or sticking my oar in and admitting that my fave track on 'Our Aim…' is 'I Stole Your Car', the best roots reggae mutation since 'Ghost Town', even though it has little to do with nicking motors, and everything to with dark, uncontrollable desire. But next week my favourite track might be something else. It all depends on what kind of tension I need to release. What I do know is that 'Our Aim Is To Satisfy Red Snapper' joins aspirin, dope, aromatherapy, winning the lottery and a damn good shagging as the best tension-relievers known to mankind. Go on - let Red Snapper massage your soul.

‘Our Aim Is To Satisfy Red Snapper’ is released through Warp on October 9th

WARP / SATÉLITE K.
Grassot, 13.
08025 Barcelona.
T.934579745

Dpt. Promo: Natalia de Jesús & Carles Baena : promo@mundivia.es