tempus fugit – big money

A curiously eclectic series of approaches to mainly guitar-based music might be an alienating mish-mash in some cases, but where TEMPUS FUGIT are concerned, it makes perfect sense. The amount of people I thought of as I listened to this ranged from GODFLESH and MAIN to FRIPP and even GANG OF FOUR. At one point I kinda though that certain points reminded me of a more stripped-down, less brash FLUX, the JIM PLOTKIN album which managed to be loud and discordant while being almost, almost commercial. It wasn't until my wife walked in and said "Sounds Not Unlike PORTISHEAD" that I even entertained that notion.

TEMPUS FUGIT have assimilated dozens of styles into their music, and ultimately come out with something curiously their own. Sometimes they rely on guitar-only - strumming shapes into seductive, almost acoustic caresses for the auditory senses. Other times they visit a sort of Drum 'n' Bass-by-reduction ("RiffRaff"), at others they create a dark deep riff over which a 'lost souls' female voice sings, pushing the chill-down-the-spine factor up full ("NoName"), while "BigMoney" is quite addictive with very English-sounding voice samples set to a strumming track not unlike a curious blend of NIRVANA and REM.

"Trip" has a low, moodiness to it's passive Break-Beat drumming and "Blade Runner" punctuation.

"SilenceRadio" has a distinctive guitar motif which should stay with you after a couple of listens. They have moody moments - the opening track "WindedMind" has a neo-Classical tonal feel to it, while "Gorn" sounds like a lightweight hybrid of GODFLESH and SPLINTERED. The PLOTKIN reference comes with "HowManyKidsDidYouKillToday" (different to 'nice day at the office, dear') which is quite high and bright while being at times big, discordant and brash, and the following track "OrArgent" could be one of the FLUX tracks slowed to around a third of the original speed - it has a dark edge to it (which bleeds through into the next track "FifthLoopOrganisation") showing what an accomplished musician this guitarist is. There's even a Spanish flavour to the "4TracksDemo" with sparks of electric brightness showing through the warmth, and "Acos" has a slight Eastern accent to it. "Jzc" moves from another developed-from-Drum 'n' Bass-type rhythm to a more fragmentary abstract area.