Electro rock.
OK, so Holy Fuck is a truly awful name for a band, luckily their debut album is slightly more interesting than this name might suggest. The Canadian duo have an inspired approach to producing electronica; instead of using samples and stripping the best bits from other people's songs, they actually play their cheap lo-tech keyboards and use effects peddles to distort and mangle the sounds while at the same time creating random sounds and throwing them into the mix. It works brilliantly, and makes them sound more like a punk/ rock band than an indie-dance mash up and so much more entertaining and listenable that the usual dance/rock crossovers.
Of course their tunes are danceable, mainly because of the instruments used but also because they manipulate you so well with looped riffs, little snippets of melody and repetitive drumming. Opener 'Super Inuit' is an impressively performed live track that makes you want to get up and move but is at the same time loud, heavy and forceful with insistent drumming and fuzzy guitars; 'Milkshake' hooks you in with a simple but catchy tune and hypnotic drums; 'Lovely Allen' track four on "LP" is the most straightforward because it has a melodic pop-tune but this is disguised with heavy fuzzy guitars and blasts of screeching from the keyboards; 'The Pulse' does what the name says and drives forward with a repetitive trance inducing rhythm that you can't help but nod along to like you've been hypnotised. 'Royal Gregory' is reminiscent of The Rapture, all jagged beats and distorted, effects laden vocals mixed in with tuneful sections and 'Echo Sam' is an intense ride of screaming and walls of keyboard and guitar noise.
This is a seriously inventive record and one that easily crosses the line between electronica and alt-rock to give tunes that will appeal to more than just dance and nu-rave fans. There is an element of nostalgia in the sound of the keyboards and the simplicity of the tunes which harks back to the Chemical Brothers early days, but they always manage to make it all sound really fresh and energy fuelled.