Reviews:

THE CONSPIRACY - APPLE ZAPPLE

Metal Postcards are an admirable label, they release a fine blend of outside the box tones that many musical moochers are latching on to and gaining great gratification from.  Here we have a release by a band I know absolutely nothing about, and I mean nothing.  I fuckin' love this state of affairs and can go into the musical mix unblemished and unbiased, as pure as the virginal snow as one may say.  The first spin had me mightily impressed but, one rotation is never to be trusted and so the ditties were listened to over and over and I came away with the following opinions:-

'Scabcard' is a wonderful piece of musical talent with a political acuteness nicely spicing up the liquid smoothness and making for something rather ruddy special.  From the first tinned tumble through the languid expertise that is finally touched with twilight twinkles and a very honest and easy vocal style I am absorbed.  The meander in to the uplifted verse is done with such aplomb and ear-snagging skill I for one am utterly smitten.  One of the best songs I have heard for a long time and a song to really throw off many shackles and get one pondering and moving forward in a far better cerebral place.  A love radiates, a bonding between the mental and the tongue-in-cheek - I find this whole escapade a purist DIY delight.

'The Muff' begins with verbal statements of abstraction and angularity whilst a fidget techno backdrop bubbles away.  The tumble talk falls in ongoing avalanches of remembrances from yore with a vison-fest flicking by on a cranial conveyor belt of restless lunacy.  I am not utterly in-sync with this kind of experimental ad-hoc shizzle and take as a mere curio - nothing more, nothing less.  Observations and opinions collide like cerebral asteroids in a skull of a shaken state.  I try and decipher and then just 'fuck it' and enjoy the general gist.  I think I need some acid ma'an.

'Apple Zapple' came from an everyday apple seen on a table - from there a confusion of wordplay came and with a musical thrust injected a pseudo-song was created.  I find this one a quirky character filled with autistic wonder from a spectrum where we all reside.  I like to incessance and the nervous agitation that comes in a fluster-bluster of cascading words borne form a time, a place of nothing special.  For me, this is a sunshine jack up for an early morn playing when a long sunny day beckons.  Consume vitamins through every pore so that goodness invades the core and then... repeat.  Sometimes we all need to just switch off from the profound and just look after ourselves.

'Sound Of One' crisply comes and glistens with golden spirit before falling into a 60's chorus borne from fields.  A self-study, an open reveal, the tune is a joy and done with a certain tenderness of touch and a gratifying pleasure at one's own company.  To feel secure in one's own skin, to create without distraction is a blessing and here we pay homage to such a stance.  As a fan of many genres of obscurity I find many appealing angles here and a good layer of sunny delight positivity coming my way.  This is a tucked away beauty that envelopes the embryonic doubts, feeds on any rising critique and spits it out with due care.  I am lightly tickled by this rhapsodical donation - note is made to play when laden with personal mistrust.

'Magnolia' is a mid-paced consideration of time passing and the eternal loop.  Those beetles of black and red that come to hibernate and then are somehow reborn when the sun shines are inspiring gems that contribute their bit to this nicely double-edged ditty.  From a bed of thoughtfulness to a swift upright position of needy action we get a song that showcases yet more angles and facets of his highly capable unit.  Crepuscular drift dreams through to daybreak directions, from the reclined to the invigorated we get a movement to contemplate over many listens.  The old school surges touch a nerve, the rhythmic ringcraft makes an impression, the increase in intensity works mighty well, I need to see these guys 'live' - that's for sure.

And there, my keen and eager readers (no matter how few you be), is my take on a CD that has had my jowls dripping, my brow furrowed, my mouth turned up with a smile of appreciation.  The Conspiracy are yet another set of vibration creators that have me piqued and pondering, these are the joys of scratching around at level 'reality' - I fuckin' love it.

Fungal Punk Jan 2022
www.fungalpunknature.co.uk/FUNGALPUNK/CD%20reviews%202/Page%201.html


Bliss Aquamarine Fanzine: 2021


The Conspiracy are a long-running underground outfit known for their musical eclecticism. Starting out in the DIY tapes scene in the late 80s, they later moved on to the Pink Lemon and Jarmusic labels where they became labelmates of artists like Martin Newell, Captain Sensible, R Stevie Moore, and Alan Jenkins' various bands including The Creams and The Deep Freeze Mice.

This album includes some of their strongest material ye and opens with the title track, in which stream-of-consciousness word-associations are forcefully recited over a vigorous mix of electronic dance music and heavy psych-rock. Magnolia is an effective blend of goth, punk and pop, with brooding post-punk verses adorned with chiming arpeggios . The Race is spiky, energetic pop-rock, with a driving, chugging powerpop rhythm juxtaposed with heady, meandering psychedelic guitar soloing. Rapunzel is angry punk-infused noisepop, with a thudding rhythm and slicing guitar as backdrop for lyrics of resentment and rage. Mahler is dark, woozy pop. All these are top tracks but my absolute favourite is Sound of One, a melodic pop exploration of introversion, much in the style of classic late 80s/early 90s indiepop.