A heady mix
Castrovalva’s heady mix of fuzzy, dark, bass heavy rock and pop manages to bring together what could easily be disparate elements, Leemun Smith’s vocal approach is very Blood Brothers and in fact, their approach musically as well, could be likened to the ex-post hardcore mob’s sound to some extent, it’s manic and barely held together at times but also can be quite exhilarating.
‘Thuglife’ and ‘Outlawz’ (which one assumes are ironically titled...or hopes) are experimental, full of dark, fuzzy, distorted bass, distinctive, high pitched vocals and are sometimes really heavy, the addition of occasional vocal and other samples injects another layer of sound. After listening to both tracks their influences, listed as Prince, N.W.A, Death From Above 1979 and Oxes amongst others are easier to grasp than they look on paper.