Red Snapper were a band who really could be called ahead of their time, refusing to be boxed while exploring anything from hiphop funk to spacey jazz. And that’s exactly what they’re doing on their welcome return, with a startling dose of krautrock thrown in on the opening ‘Brickred’. The group formed in 1994, releasing three EPs on Dean Thatcher’s Flaw label before signing to Warp, whop released their 1996 debut album Prince Blimey followed by another two fearless forages into what had become their own personal multi-hued mutant. They also enjoyed some belting remixes from names like David Holmes and the Sabres Of Paradise. After Lo excavated some unreleased material for the Redone set the group have returned after a seven year hiatus with six new tracks plus a pair of remixes. After the glistening motorik of ‘Brickred’ [also remixed into bleep heaven by the mighty Subway], the Snapper strike into the unknown for the atmospheric ‘Lagos Creepers’, even getting into jazz-rock territory with ‘Clam’, which gets a stunningly out there space-jazz treatment from Kelpe. ‘Wanga Doll’ reminds me of great 70s doom-prog band Van Der Graaf Generator with its heavy walls of sound while ‘Deathroll’ comes on like a love scene from Superfly where it’s raining radioactive sausages in the goat’s underpants. A fine return which bodes well [if they lived through Bestival!].
4 Out Of 5
Reviewed By: Kris Needs