Pound Land have somehow perfectly represented the state of the United Kingdom in audio form, which is as bleak and worryingly relatable, yet furiously beautiful as you could possibly imagine.
To get comparisons out of the way, yes they sound like Sleaford Mods and Viagra Boys had a baby and abandoned it in a Manchester underpass with nothing but a Sanyo M9930 and a Three One Gee mix tape, but how else would you want your music? We don’t do safe and commercially friendly here…
Striking like urban nightmare fuel, Pound Land have something very real here, almost too real, projecting pure energy into music that feels exactly how I’m sure you have all felt every time a headline has appeared on your screens in recent years. Both aggressively confusing yet unavoidable, Violence has the advantage of being strangely addictive, and that is something you should be okay with.
As filthily as I have been describing Violence, there is plenty of beauty throughout. The execution of the Lo-Fi stylisation is very well controlled to shift the tone of each song, from the extremely gritty New Labour to the powerful emphasis in Media Amnesia’s vocal delivery (which feels like something you’d hear on Nathan Barley). It is a marvel to hear so much chaos from music that feels so equally stripped down, combining an obnoxious approach to the instrumentation with their delivery of some strangely infectious moments.
Pound Land are as alternative as music can get, pushing the art form deep into the abstract realms whilst maintaining a strong appeal to listeners who simply want anything outside of the by-the-book norm (a.k.a. shit). You’d have to be pretty fucking dull to not enjoy your time with Violence, although I could be biased based on the fact that this is one of few albums that compliment my dying car speakers to accompany my journey to work.
Buy the tape.
Jake Hancke – 23/09/2023
Violence is available on consent from Cruel Nature Records
You can find more on Pound Land at Instagram, BandCamp, and maybe other places I couldn’t find (there seems to be a store named after them…)
The Cauteriser 