Brutal Noise on Tenerife

There's something about living on an island that turns its inhabitants a little batchy. Perhaps it's the isolation, perhaps it being cooped in with the same familiar faces day after day, or maybe it's just the sea air. But when that island is perched off the steamy coast of  Western Sahara, has the world's third biggest volcano looming preganantly over it, and suffers the greasy footsteps of over five million tourists a year pacing (and puking on) it's pavements things are bound to be a little more unhinged than the workaday insanity of say an Anglesey or an Orkney.

So it came as no surprise to discover that the holiday isle of Tenerife is home to some of the most blisteringly unique rock and roll music on the globe.

I discovered it all quite by accident. I was having a peek around the fabulous Last FM website before a recent trip to Madrid to see if there were any gigs of note in town when we were there, when an entry for a band called Brutalizzed Kids caught my eye. Their gig was a week after our visit, but there was something about their album cover that lured me to find out a little more. A middle-aged gent, stripped to the waist with a wispy tache and dreadlocks piled up on his head and a world weary look on his face peered disapprovingly out of the screen. Whether he was a band member or just some bloke off the street I didn't know, but I rushed stright to their MySpace and was instantly struck by their fabulous shouty racket.

Their bombast is familiar, but still difficult to explain. Imagine the insistant industrial techno of Ministry or The Revolting Cocks fused with the sleazy Scandi rock and roll of Turbonegro or The Backyard Babies, sprinkled with the high tech energy of Pendulum and the filthy dirty basslines of someone like World Domination Enterprises from days gone by. And heavens I was hooked. The album Soy Muñeco has scarcely left my ears ever since - hit the link and buy the beggar, I implore you!

But then curiousity led me to wonder if they were an isolate incident, or if there was any similar noise on the island. Happily a quick MySpace trawl led me to loads more good stuff. Becerro are similarly noisy bunch, with a slightly more technofied edge, Ataud Vacante are old school punk with a sleazy edge,while 13 Motos are just a good old fashioned, nads out punk'n'roll act of the finest kind. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. There's plenty more - go search them out yourselves.

Every band is distinct, but all seem to share at least two members with the next. They say island life can be incestuous, but for me, this kind of cross-fertilization has led to some teriffically unique and brutal sounds. So next time your other half insists of dragging you to this holiday isle, ignore all the usual Brits-On-The-Piss sick in a basket bars and get yourself to the steamy clubs of Santa Cruz. Glorious treats await!

Pictures © Brutalizzed Kids.
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