15/07/2016 – Melt Yourself Down-Another Weapon (2016)
Melt Yourself Down join the Speedy Wunderground gang
There are fewer sentences in the English language that get me more excited than “New Speedy Wunderground single”. Whether these four words are either be said or written down, it doesn’t matter I immediately get Goosebumps. But when I found out that Melt Yourself Down were going to be the eighteenth release in the on-going saga, saying I got Goosebumps doesn’t quite cut it.
When MYD first exploded onto the scene in 2013 with their self-titled debut it caught most music fans by surprise. No one expected an Afro-Beat Punk jazz group from London to deliver the goods, but deliver they did. After winning over audiences wherever they played, they won over music buying fans with an album that is still hard to explain three years later. Then all went quiet and I feared the worst. Was it just an amazing one off?
Luckily I was proved wrong when they released their follow up, Last Evening on Earth, earlier this year. As the title suggests it was as apocalyptic as it was danceable and remains a highwater mark for this year. Now they’ve returned with their first new material since its release, and let me tell you, it’s an absolute screamer. You know that goal that Luka Modric scored against Turkey in the European Championships? Well that was a tap in compared to this!
Another Weapon opens with a MYD’s trademark rhythm section firing on all cylinders as Kushal Gaya sings “You’ve got the rage, You’ve found someone to blame”. Not to get all political, but could this song have had any great impact if it had been Speedy Wunderground #15, or #21? As Another Weapon progresses it gets more and more frenzied and more and more out there. But there is a lo-fi charm to it that keeps us on our toes. We’re given the impression that everything could fall over at any time under its cantering rhythms and liberal use of timings. In fairness the time signatures are all over the shop and the horn section is having blast. In a nutshell, imagine Sun Ra being produced by, well, Dan Carey. But just when you think all is lost and the freak out will never end, it only comes back together again for its glorious outro.
Unlike other Speedy Wunderground singles, where the song is written during the 24 hour session, Another Weapon has been part of MYD’s live set since 2013, but as Speedy Wunderground say on the sleeve notes to their Year 2 compilation “Rule #11. Speedy Wunderground Reserves the Right to Change its Own Rules”. Everyone at thisyearinmusic is glad they did, as this is another weapon to their 10 11 point arsenal.
Another Weapon is released on 5th August and can be bought here
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thisyearinmusic 
Very interesting style, different from what I usually listen to, but does remind me a little of music I used to listen to in the ’80s.