BAMBARA - Swarm LP (colour vinyl)

Limited edition red vinyl.

Highly recommended.

For the first time ever – thanks to this 2023 remix from Drew Vandenberg (Shadow on Everything, Stray) and a remaster by Carl Saff – Bambara live-set favourites such as the brooding “An Ill Son,” the flawlessly dynamic “Black,” and the pop-snarled “All the Ugly Things” can be listened to at a level of audio fidelity on par with the band’s later recordings.

Brooklyn-based trio BAMBARA has been honing its noise/punk brutalism since forming in Athens, GA, in 2009. Swarm, the band's second full length, pulls its approach into sharp focus, and the result is an absolute triumph for forward-thinking post-punk. In marrying the maniacal ravings of The Birthday Party and the ugliness of early Swans with the tangled cowpunk of The Gun Club and recent Iceage, vocalist/guitarist REID BATEH, drummer BLAZE BATEH, and bassist WILLIAM BROOKSHIRE create something wholly idiosyncratic, and ultimately more satisfying than most anything else in the current post-punk landscape.

"... this is a REALLY cool record." - Henry Rollins (I wonder WHO put him onto Bambara?)

"...a lumbering Western noir...an ugly and alluring piece of noise" - Lars Godrich, NPR