Black Time

Black Time

Double Negative

In The Red

London's Black Time have carved a hefty reputation for themselves over the past few years through scattered tours across Europe and the US, numerous limited-edition 7-inch records, two dense yet danceable long-player albums, and a manifesto that, among other things, espouses "fuck and rage" and the "heavy vampire sound."  Double Negative is the latest full-length in the Black Time canon. Fans of the band's previous output will not be disappointed, especially if they want to hear the fractured, art-damaged scree of their singles forged with the trebly garage punk of their two albums. The trio of Lemmy Caution, Janie Too Bad, and Mr. Stix outdo themselves here and turn in the most fully realized Black Time release to date. If you've been aching for Messthetics and Back From The Grave compilations, then look no further. Double Negative is the absinthe you've been wanting to drink.  Known for their propensity for all things black, Black Time carries their theme of bleak darkness to the nth degree. With tracks like "Skeleton Factory," "Blot Out The Sun," "Little Death," and "I'm Gonna Haunt You When I'm Gone" (featuring lead vox by Janie), you know you're in for the feel-bad record of the year.  Watch for Black Time to spread their bad vibes on their East Coast tour this fall.  "Not for the faint-hearted at all, this is extreme rock 'n' roll at maximum; if you can listen to this twice in a row then you are extremely sick in...

Black Time

Midnight World

In The Red

The point is talent over ability, ideas over proficiency, energy over competence — action, time, and vision. Add some musical instruments to this confusion and the resulting mess is Black Time — shambolic but passionate, hollerin’ and wailin’ at the dying of the red light. If you pay attention to zines, blogs and websites dedicated to sub-underground rock, then no doubt you are aware that Black Time have been getting favorably compared to Crime, Pussy Galore, The Electric Eels, The Cramps and The Fall. A string of hopelessly limited edition vinyl 7-inches and 12-inches have stoked the fire. The hype is justified in this case, as Midnight World, the band’s second full-length, is the perfect marriage of chug-a-lug, primeval drumming, opaque layers of guitars, new wave cinema references, ’60s and ’70s punk, lo-fi static and overwrought vocals from frontman Lemmy Caution. The best UK export since The Country Teasers, Black Time will be touring the US Summer 2006, and they are not to be missed.

Black Time

Blackout

In The Red

*** Black Time hails from London, England. They are skinny, black- clad boys and girls with bad attitudes and a desire to make intrusive, obnoxious rock’n’roll music. Their debut, Blackout, was recorded, mixed and mastered entirely in analog and pressed on heavy-weight virgin vinyl in a limited edition of several hundred. Immediately heralded by hipsters in the know as the latest, greatest rock’n’roll band that matters, the album quickly soldout, becoming fodder for collector scum the world over. Black Time play out very rarely and when they do it’s quite an event. The select few who have been initiated into this cult of sound have reported a loss of speech, hair and bowel control after witnessing a performance. The band plans to bring their act stateside in 2005, to the Deep South in particular, with a revue featuring leather biker-boys, wall-projected homemade slasher films, whip-cracking tiger-girls and well-respected media professionals eating their own shit live on stage. This is the heavy vampire sound. The sound of the undead stumbling through the twilight, feeding off broken, youthful dreams, unable to stop their endless march or neutered howling. Black Time stands between us and the things which soothe but do not heal — the magnet-pull of American rock’n’roll records, cheap tobacco, tea, beer, movies and radio — the things George warned us about.