Modern Apprentice

"This stunning album still exudes brash, chaotic energy from every pore. Modern pioneers, more like."
- 8/10, NME

Ikara Colt were flaunting 'angular art-punk' leanings a full two years before Kapranos and the Ferdinands came along. Perhaps realizing their declaration that "all bands should be taken out and shot after five years" means they've a lifespan of just a couple of months, on 'Modern Apprentice', Ikara Colt take the unrelenting speedfreak minimalism of their debut 'Chat and Business' and turn the heat up even further, with a searing blast of deadpan post-punk.

Edgy and stifling, like Joy Division with a pop sensibility, the double-headed blitzkrieg of opening tracks 'Wanna Be That Way' and 'Wake In The City' rip, roaringly, through the speaker stacks and ring around the skull, rattling teeth as it goes.

Produced by Alex Newport [At The Drive In, The Icarus Line, The Mars Volta], 'Modern Apprentice' is a re-invention of sorts, with these new songs so energetically dirty, they come across as a sparky, angular anthems.

Drawing comparisons with a pissed off The Fall (!) to an explosive Iggy Pop and The Stooges or 'Daydream Nation'-era Sonic Youth, with 'Modern Apprentice', Ikara Colt strike out on their own, with an album of pure rock finesse.