A review from a ne'er released edition of Liner Notes. The CDs called "Beat Pyramid" and it's by a Southend group called These New Puritans. Enjoy it, and give the CD a listen. Hope this thing called summer is going well for everyone. Here goes:

It’s no secret that I’ve been on a post-punk streak of late, listening to some of the great British bands from the 1970s and 1980s, but I hadn’t really ventured into modern music that could be considered post-punk. That was until I came across These New Puritans. Their sound is reminiscent of the lively pub and club scene that the elder statesmen of post-punk were a part of, yet this British group is almost hypnotic on this effort. For example, on the track “Numerology,” they time guitar slides so that they directly time with the snappy, yet almost paralyzing lyrical hook, “What does it mean?/ what’s your favorite number?”. “Colours” is completely uptempo, with repetitive lyrics and synchronized drums that would have even the most timid of clubbers shuffling their feet on the dance floor. “Swords of Truth” is a track with slashing urgency, fading in and out quickly, constantly leaving a listener on edge. The album sours a bit with the slower, electronic tracks “Doppelganger” and “En papier,” but the band never allows the drum beats to drop off, and the single, “Elvis,” feels like an awakening from a rhythmic slumber. It’s a British Invasion-era track, showing some edginess and unwillingness on the part of the band to label itself as purely post-punk just yet. The album is truly an uncompromising ensemble effort, with multiple vocals as the norm. It’s an album with no filler material, but rather short transition tracks. And they lead into tracks with stuck-in-your-head lyrics delivered as if they are propaganda on a town loudspeaker. The album not only a giant leap musically, but it’s a work of engineered art, with precision being the key throughout. There’s a sense of satisfaction in listening to the stunning debut of a band that has potential to revive a critical genre in British musical history, and adapt it to the modern dance floor.