Vowel Obstruction

I discovered today that production company Celador is a play on "cellar door", claimed by certain people (eg Drew Barrymore) to be a highly euphonious phrase, and not a sort of flower or Spanish aperitif as I'd imagined.

CLT DRP/ CONGRATULATIONS, A New View, Jericho, 11/9/22

We joke that Congratulations might be a rock Cliff Richard tribute – and, be honest, a drop-tuned stoner burn through “Devil Woman” would be a joy – but the Brighton quartet are even more unexpected. Firstly, in their bright primary-coloured threads they look like Mystery Inc have fallen on hard times and started a Butlins showband, and secondly they sound like...everything. At once. Seriously, one track reminds us of Rage Against The Machine, The Cramps, and Bucks Fizz in the space of 4 minutes, and whilst not every song is as wilfully lopsided, there are plenty of tracks chucking spiky post-punk guitar solos at fat, fuzzy glam riffs, and then putting an abstract pop chant over the top, like eclectic oddballs Islet on a cocktail of Sunny Delight and mezcal. They even schmooze out a camp pseudo-Prince jam, where even the irony is in air quotes. Perhaps we imagined this whole beautiful mania. Confabulations?

Their hometown tour buddies CLT DRP are clearly having their own little version of Only Connect. We’ll leave you to work out what the name signifies (spoiler: sadly it’s not OCELOT DRAPE). The trio deal in aggressive electro rock, and whilst this might bring to mind images of Chicks On Speed or Peaches, they are both weightier, throwing out denture-rattling synth patterns and tympanum-skewering ring modulated guitar, and more controlled, with a glorious line in clinically battering drums and vocals that can do a lot more than just screechily hector (although they do also screechily hector pretty damn well). There are moments that recall Atari Teenage Riot, some passages that update the stalking noughties darkstep of Distance, and even one track with the funky flavour of early Beasties, albeit with rather more enlightened gender politics - COOL TO DO RAP? - but the real surprise is how much metal there is underpinning the imposing rhythms. But dissecting the sound is probably less important than revelling in the aural thrashing we’re getting from this digital cat o’ nine tails (or maybe CLEATED ROPE)