Review of Tribeca Album written by Chris Sharp,
The Wire Magazine
THE WIRE "2007 Rewind" January 2008
Laconic Zero
Tribeca
Handmade Records CD
Reviewed by Chris Sharp
Laconic Zero is the impressively focused solo project of Norwegian
bassist
Trond
Harald Jensen. He brings taut, distorted basslines of the kind once
favoured by Midwestern post-punk outfit Die Kreuzen together with
aggresively basic drum machine patterns and a cascade of computer game
sound effects;
not the most immediately appealing of combinations,
but the end result is thrillingly direct. The 19 tracks that make up
this debut album release have a total running time of just 35 minutes,
whis is a fair indication of Jensen's smash and grab approach. Frankly,
there's little to distinguish one song from the next, although guest
guitarist Dag Sølvberg offers fizzing power chords and the
occasional
bratty solo to broaden the sonic spectrum just a little. But for the
most part, this is breathless, stripped down 8-bit hardcore, which
should appeal to headbanging fans of Atari Teenage Riots, Ministry, et
al.