A few years ago, I was reading an issue of CMJ where they were reviewing Flying Saucer Attack’s Distance.  In the review, they referred to a genre of music called “greybeat.” The writer claimed it was a term coined by critics in the mid-80s to describe the music that we now know as post-punk, most noticeably The Cure and Joy Division, bands that formed after the punk movement had worn itself out, in the vacuum all of that self-destructive ideology had created.  It was a gloomy, yet very influential time, with some of its best examples being The Cure’s Faith and Pornography albums.

I humbly submit that 23:03 picks up where those albums left off.  I don’t know if I’d call this stuff “greybeat”, but it has all of the earmarks; dense clouds of keyboards, chiming guitars and pulsing basslines, pounding rhythms, and gloomy wailing vocals.

The incredible thing about Antarctica is that the musical formula, which could be so 1980s steers clear of the silly cliches it could easily fall into.  Of the 3 songs, the highlight is definitely “Full Crescent Crusade”, which sounds eerily reminiscent of The Cure’s gloomiest outings that you might check to make sure you’re not listening to Standing On The Beach.  However, “Closetful Of Churches” is no slouch either, sounding like it belongs on a Disintegration B-side.

Gloomy without being goth, indie without being too clever for its own good, shoegazey without droning on and on, Antarctica’s influences are obvious.  The beauty is how original it all sounds.  Highly recommended.

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• Apr 4, 2005, 12:00am