Review Summary: C86 - III
Despite an assumed perception of a being haven for raggedly refined and hyper-articulated indie, the sonic range of C86 was wide. One end of its spectrum was indeed occupied by bands that lyrically worshipped Morrissey above all else, and seemed firmly dedicated to embed a twee slant into every keystone song by The Cure and Echo and the Bunnymen. At the other end however, were bands that were hell-bent of pushing the darkened unrest of Joy Division through the meat grinder; bands that were hewing closer and closer to the hardened, frantic edge of noise punk, which by then had chewed its way through the guts of the American underground. And Yorkshire trio Death by Milkfloat was perhaps the most unhinged and high-strung of the lot.
Sense and Nonsense, the band’s debut EP is a 9-minute freak-out of forward thrust, an ictus of blown gaskets played with hair-raising force. Milkfloat put their best foot forward as their introduction. “What” is a perfect two-and-a-half minute lurch. Everything there is to love about punk is squeezed into its tilting frame. It paces the room relentlessly, punchy and lean-limbed, the haggard vocals inducing even more paranoiac unease into the listener. From there, the EP plows through four more takes of tooth-gnashing funk punk, packed with shreddy guitars, agile bass and a shocking amount of cowbell.
Milkfloat enjoyed a relatively longer life than most of C86’s echelons, enough to add a full-length LP to the niche’s usual steady tick of singles and Peel Sessions. In the end, like most of their peers, they didn’t make it past the mid-90’s and never really managed a proper tour. As its members funneled out into a growing number of quasi-supergroups of uber-sedate uber-British indie, and then into civilian jobs they once tried to avoid at all costs, their body of work became a more and more treasured document of the country’s once agitated and fertile underground.
