London quartet Italia 90 write brash and hard hitting post-punk with a distinctly British commentary. The sound on the ‘Italia 90 EP’, released earlier this year, cuts between the razor-sharp punk of Bristolians Idles, the harder, faster side of New Yorkers Parquet Courts, with the robotic rhythms of NEU!.

The final track of the EP, and personal favourite, ‘Competition’, revolves around hard hitting drums and dueling post-punk guitar that threatens to implode before the tracks end. It sounds as though the recording took place in a working sawmill in 80’s Britain, the guitar sounds mimic that of a factory saw crunching down unrelentingly on a piece of metal, to the point where something has to give.

There is a distinctly British discontent about the lyrics, ‘On The Scene’ builds with a driving krautrock rhythm recalling German masters NEU! and documents the bands dissatisfaction with today’s existence in modern London. The EP is short and punchy in parts, and progressive and hypnotic in others, making the five tracks a extremely refreshing take on a rock sound.

If this is your cup of tea, check out the ‘Folder’ EP from Copenhagen band Lød here.

Italia 90 Live:

16/12/17 – Punk4MentalHealth @ The Dublin Castle, Camden – TICKETS

By Karl Johnson

Hard Of Hearing Music

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