The Repeat Offenders - Loon Bran (2007)

 

It is perhaps the greatest irony ever to befall the much-misunderstood electro-proto-funk-o-lectro genre that Morecambe duo The Repeat Offenders failed to release a follow-up to their 2007 debut, Loon Bran.

Some might argue that it's not just an irony but an outright tragedy that the three-and-a-half Moog synthesisers used on the album now lie abandoned and gathering moths; Richard Ralts and Colin McCrombie having long since turned their back on the music business and sworn to never lay down another beat for the rest of their lives.

But this music was a product of its time. Strangulated, condensed, some might even say deeply unpleasant to listen to. The opening track 'Versatile Log' does away with any pretence of tonality, rhythm or other such trivial conventions, while the 13 minute epic 'Rupert done toilet' was described by McCrombie as "trivial noises, performed and recorded in a critically important way".

Other artists - Elf Conversion Syndrome, Campanile and Three Fives Down, to name just two, plus another one - have attempted to continue the legacy, but none have captured the sheer indescribability of the Repeat Offenders.

Their last performance took place in 2009 at the Institute of Sharia Banking annual conference. 

They did not perform an encore.



Discographicalz

  • Loon Bran (2007)

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