To be honest, I was a little thrown by the lo-fi, analog feel of Night minutes' "Sweetheart at the funeral" on my first listen, but I've since fallen quite hard for the band's sound: the warm, viscous layers of guitars and keyboards, the slight hint of distortion on the vocals, even the digital drums. If anything, Phil Spector's Wall of Sound seems more at home on Night minutes' self-titled EP than on more polished recordings, the dense strata of instrumentation providing a fine vehicle for both the strong songwriting and Anna Knutson's and max J Hansson's wonderful vocal harmonies and tradeoffs. As noted in the m/n/34731-night-minutes-sweetheart-of-the-funeral">mp3 post for "Sweetheart at the funeral", there is something infectious about Night minutes, and their ability to evoke the summery, 1960s girl group feel without sacrificing depth is one of the band's greatest strengths. Despite only being three tracks long, I've yet to tire of the EP. There's not a weak song to be found, and for such a short recording it is well-paced: the upbeat "Sweetheart..." is followed by the slower, more contemplative "Queens", with the fabulous, building "Lord, I can never be your mirror" rounding out the record. There’s not much more you can ask of a young band. Having set the bar quite high with their debut effort, I am excited to see what Night minutes have in store for the future. - Lars Garvey Laing-Peterson
I like CEO best when he goes for a more ominous tone as opposed to the now-typical Balearic Plague sweeping the world. "No mercy" does retain some of those summer beach vibes, but the first 30 seconds or so before the vocals come in sounds like Death in June and I love it. I know I shouldn't be surprised, considering the title, but then again, I suppose that surprise is the name of the game for . They're constantly in danger of painting themselves into a corner and I'm doubtful that anyone in that circle of artists will ever be able to deliver a confident live show, but once in a while they do something so right that it's worth taking notice. Even for someone like me who could usually care less about this sort of indie/electro pop.
Not much progression on this, the band's third release, though it's not as if I expected any from this pair of knuckle-draggers. No Balls are still purveying the same dismal caveman pummel as before and I suppose you either like it or you don't. I do, despite my best intentions to consider myself above this sort of grating drivel. Intentionally aggravating and often half-baked, but no one does it better. 4 songs, 306 copies. - Avi Roig
Night Minutes
No Balls