It’s a fantastic week for shouty women which can only be a good thing. A couple days after Pins release their fantastic video for Girls Like Us, Manchester based ILL release their single Kremlin.
It may be a couple of days after the Pins release, but it is also a couple of days after imprisoned Pussy Riots member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova announced her hunger strike in protest against the inhumane prison conditions she and her fellow inmates are forced to endure. This is strikingly more poignant and connects deeply with the themes explored in ILL’s newest release Kremlin.
Kremlin is released a couple of days after imprisoned Pussy Riots member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova announced her hunger This is strikingly poignant and connects deeply with the themes explored in ILL’s newest release Kremlin.
Edgy and disjointed, Kremlin is like uber early Spandau Ballet, fronted by feminist protestors with laser guns! It has an internal rhythm that is part Pigeon Street, part brillo pad rubbed repeatedly along guitar strings and it is exciting! And it wouldn’t actually surprise me if the band employed such methods to create their sound. Well known for their particularly un-shy on-stage antics they manage to yell right across it all while make everything they want to say perfectly understandable. Listening to the call and answer of Kremlin’s chorus repeat “Less talk more action” it is impossible not to feel riled at injustice and prompted out of silence.
Kremlin is like uber early Spandau Ballet, fronted by feminist protestors with laser guns!
But then ILL don’t do silence, and nor should they, as they scream out “You have the right to remain silent” you know full well that is one right they will not take advantage of! With a politically fuelled back catalogue including Breasts and their jubilee special Eat Swans, they are unleaning in their attempt to make a point and they do it fantastically well. Underpinned with a raw enthusiasm that is striking & purely energetic, they are a captivating band to listen to and certainly make you feel that whatever you are doing to make things good in the world YOU COULD BE DOING SO MUCH MORE!!!
Whatever you are doing to make things good in the world YOU COULD BE DOING SO MUCH MORE!!!
As it says on their website “ILL aim to fly into pure expression until euphoric heavy jump up and down noise is created. A strong feminist ethic persists in the ideology and creative approaches employed by ILL. The sometimes structured, sometimes spontaneous, compositions embrace the entire emotional spectrum and hold a furious energy close to their hearts.”
That furious energy is what make ILL so poignantly relevant and completely necessary! Self recorded and produced, Kremlin is a demonstration of DIY politics at its best! It also makes you feel rather punchy (in a good way) and likely to stomp the floor A LOT!!!
You can listen to their single Kremlin here!
October and November will see them play Leeds & Newcastle and the Ruby Lounge in Manchester on October 12th. Their last Manchester date was at the Pussy Riots Revolution Festival which gives you further insight, if you needed it, of their political stance.
You can keep up to date with ILL via their Twitter and Facebook
Written by Anne Louise Kershaw
Tags:
Music
