Holy Fuck is an “improvisational electronica” band from Toronto, Canada, (thank you Wikipedia) and this is their second album after their 2005 eponymous debut.

Listening to and, indeed, reviewing, a solely instrumental album can sometimes be a bit more of a challenge without the insight into a band’s themes and attitudes usually afforded by the words they choose. This doesn’t prove to be the case here, however, since the listener is pretty much caught up straight from the off in the wonderful sense of aural exhilaration that pretty much every track elicits.

From opener, “Super Inuit” – complete with tribal drums, and “whoop’s” – it’s a fast, frenetic and upbeat ride, pitched somewhere between an old-style rave and some sort of avant guard improvisation and experimentation. The closest that they get to any kind of singing are in the reasonably frequent use of what can best be described as vocal sounds (but not actual words), which figure on many tracks, including “The Pulse”, “Echo Sam”, and “Choppers”. This is often paired with deep, low, bassy synthesised sounds, as on “Royal Gregory” and the brilliant, rhythmic “Milkshake”.

The way, I think, that they succeed in sustaining such interest (and even excitement) throughout, is by the way that they will start with a solid rhythm and perhaps a single hook, then proceed to build layers of different sounds and melodies on top. A track will develop and intensify as it goes along. This is perhaps best illustrated on the stand-out track, the wonderful “Lovely Allen”. The ‘basic’ melody it starts with is a winner, and by the end of the track I would pretty much guarantee that most listeners would be beaming from ear to ear. Superb and euphoric stuff.

At some points the band do walk quite close to the edge of “novelty”. Most closely on “Safari” with it’s comedy out-of-tune bugle fanfare and sampling of the tune from an old computer game (I’m thinking Nintendo and something Mario Bros, but I could be wrong…). They do just about stay on the right side to divert and amuse rather than irritate.

All in all, it’s been a long time since I’ve listened to anything this upbeat, fun and just plain happy. A great album to dance to, work out to or just sit tapping your feet and grinning along with.
90%

Links
Holy Fuck [official site] [myspace]