Contrary to what anyone who has heard "Kids Now" might have thought, they are not Scottish. What The Magnificents are is something altogether more exciting, making electro clash worth listening to and being talked about.
Never mind the boiler-suited pop weirdness of the techno geeks from Akron, Ohio, the foursome have absorbed German electronica from the obvious Kraftwerk and Can to the more obscure exponents of the synthsised shudder.
There is also a huge variety of punk and post-punk rock influence - the vocal delivery echoing the finer moments of the Rezillos or Killing Joke, Blamange and the Beta Band even.
But enough of this random association with the past. These are boys who can make snappy pop references to Sylvester Stallone movies while cocking a snook at the NASA space programme - or perhaps "The Apollo Creed" just seemed like a snappy song title, which it most certainly is.
The Magnificents sound like precious little else at present, creating a dynamic between driving guitars and swathes of keyboard driven electro melodies, while attacking every song with purpose and passion.
If I have any sort of reservation it is that what might sound futuristic and energised live on stage may err on the side of the repetitive and robotic on record. But then again, in the case of "The Russian Disco" that may have been the desired effect. - Scotland On Sunday |
