What’s wrong with the European music press that we must rely on Pitchfork to pick up on new local talent. It’s not that Copenhagen’s punk outfit Iceage aren’t loud enough. Their debut album, New Brigade, has been out for almost a year, unnoticed anyone this side of the Atlantic. Fortunately, we’re just in time to ad a bit of noise and speed to an otherwise terribly quiet and subtle indie year.
Last year, we had Harlem and Wavves, so far this year the loudest thing we reviewed is White Denim, which isn’t very loud, is it? Iceage are a lot more angry and violent than all those American pussy’s. They need only twenty five minutes to empathize just who pissed of they are. Within that short time span and amid all that aggressive energy they still manage to create something of a build up on New Brigade. Intro and White Rune could be the opening to a nu-rave album, but when the title song hits the speakers it’s pogo time all-round.
There’s no toning down on New Brigade. It’s a record that could only have been made by adolescents, even though the craftsmanship displayed in the songs is quite mature. New Brigade isn’t just about noise. I don’t know much about punk, but if experts say it’s one of the best punk albums of recent years, I believe them.
Iceage have been suspected of having fascist sympathies, based on the clan symbols used in their videos and artwork. As one blog states it: ‘if they are, as the hypemachine intends to portray them, just angry Danish high school kids [...] their fetishization of fascist imagery is a disgusting erasure of the history of White Supremacy’s violence at worst, and at best, sadly ignorant and creepy.’ From a moral standpoint this is absolutely right. On the other hand you cannot expect a bunch of angry young punks to fetishize Zen or veganism. I guess if Iceage really are neo’s they will find it quite hard to keep up now they’ve broken Indie America. You can’t have both.
Singer Elias Ronnenfelt says that on New Brigade the band is trying to sound like Bruce Springsteen. If he’s not being ironic, he must be deaf. New Brigade sounds like very, very early Wire, Stiff Little Fingers or Sonic Youth, what they do not sound like is Bruce Springsteen. I don’t know how many concerts by the Boss ever ended up in bloodshed, but almost every gig by the Copenhagen quartet does.
It will be interesting to watch this young punk hype perform on Noorderslag from a save distance. Perhaps yelling some Anti-danish slogans from the balcony, to feed the atmos.