Ultrabonus
El Casino De La Muerte
GERMANY KITCHEN LEG RECORDS CASSETTE (2024)
Excellent cassette of melodic power-pop with plenty of new wave, punk and psychedelic flavours in the sweet candy…songs are warbled in Spanish, thus creating happy illusion of discovering an unknown Latin-American psych / garage band worthy to tilt lances with Los Speakers, but the band are based in Berlin, and may comprise a core trio of creators – Michael (guitar/bass), Leah (bass/synth), Ignatz (guitar/sampler/vocals), along with numerous sidemen adding drums, electric piano, guest vocal spots…
Ultrabonus have been active since 2022, toured widely in Berlin, and this is their second release. All the songs are of genuine “classic” pop song length, most of them under two minutes, and you could pick any two songs out these ten, couple them on a seven-inch and you’d have an instant gold-plated sunshine diamond on your mitts. They don’t just emulate the surface effects of their fave genres (we’d have to add surf music to the above shopping list), but also exhibit genuine songcraft in the way they compress their ideas into 120 seconds of urgent, fun-filled rainbow superbo-munch. 4.5 stars out of 5, with only minor points deducted for failing to add a Vox Continental organ. They even managed to squeeze a bi-lingual lyric sheet into the package, and the collage artworks are by Andrew Kemp.
Fans of The Undertones, step this way; if Ultrabonus ever teamed up with Felix Kubin, look out world – for an avant-pop explosion of gargantuan dimensions. (25/11/2024)