Politburo
Demo
(Soviet Union Records)

review by Ruth


I thought KA won the prize for this issue's most compact CD, but obviously I was wrong - 11 tracks in less than 12 minutes is quite impressive to say the least. But Politburo is in no way the same kind of spunk filled glam exponent of the legacy started by the Manics early years. If anything they more emulate the politically-charged, culturally-bankrupt face of the Welsh trio. Rock'n'roll guitar with a political chill overlaid with a voice that sounds like it's more generally heard wafting accross the Vegas casinos - though the screaming would have to go, darling! Onagata combines gravelling vocal with squalling, squealing guitar and post-electronica drumming; while the Sov Twins remix of Pacific Ground Zero places them in a bone chilling nuclear winter.

Recent flyers proclaim that the band understand our need for a spectacle and willingy provide one. They're not far wrong.

4/5