August 18, 2007

Every Band I've Ever Loved Has Let Me Down Eventually

Nosferatu D2, Halloween 2006[Photo CREDIT: Vicky] There are some days when we wish we were the guy who runs the blog Another Form Of Relief, because he turns up amazing music we've never heard of often and, you know, it'd just be easier to cut out the middleman (us). AFOR's most recent post is about the recently defunct Croydon, England duo Nosferatu D2. The fact that the band is no more extends our recent streak of discovering erstwhile UK bands we like a lot to three (the other two being Eddyfink and Distophia). Like :: clicky clicky :: faves Frightened Rabbit, Nosferatu D2 is a brother act, and a duo (although FR started as one dude and ultimately became three dudes). The music -- which constantly references other bands and vomiting in asphyxiating, chain store-filled suburbs -- can be as stark, tense and confessional as early Karate; as misanthropic as vintage Smiths; as obsessed with sickness and decay as Greg Dulli; as desperate and solitary as the aforementioned Frightened Rabbit. In short, this band is the whole package.

Or was. After slogging it out for two years, Nosferatu D2 broke up a couple months ago seemingly at a high point, as their last gig was supporting the hotly tipped septet Los Campesinos! in March (the latter act is now, of course, signed to hip Canadian label Arts + Crafts). That final show was recorded by this fellow and is available for download here. We've haven't gotten to the live tracks yet, but the 10 songs posted for free download at Nosferatu D2's Last.FM page are 1000% quality. Really stunning stuff. While we are supremely disappointed the band is broken up, all is not lost. ND2 guitarist and singer Ben has started a new project called Superman Revenge Squad, which of course AFOR is already all over (read their post here); ND2 drummer Adam is apparently playing in other projects as well. Below are a couple MP3s to entice you, including the undeniable indie geek anthem "A Footnote," but we highly recommend going to the Last.FM pages linked supra and downloading everything you can.

Nosferatu D2 -- "2 People 0 Superpowers" -- Nosferatu D2
Nosferatu D2 -- "A Footnote" -- Nosferatu D2
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Nosferatu D2: Interweb | MySpace | YouTube | Flickr

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the kind words!