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"It’s weird, timeless, gloom funk where
ancient-sounding electronics phase in Silver Apples woose-glory, krautrock
grooves melt into This Heat avant-punk minimalism, where Devo performs
through a mouth full of cottonballs and a stomach of Codiene.” –Spin
Best 40 LPs of 2012 so far.
“The slow build of "Kidney" feels: The move
from a simmer into a raging boil feels inevitable and perfectly positioned in
the track's running time. The push-pull of "Wulfstan II" has that
same purposeful embracing of the quiet/loud dynamic. Nothing about the songs
shock; you just give yourself over to the waves of volume and incident. What
will surprise you is how much more of it you'll want to hear even after a
full seven minutes of sound." -Alternative Press
“The results are impressive, if disconcerting, as they
build on Portishead’s noirish textures and- with vocals buried so deep in the
mix as to make them unintelligible- take a turn for the darker.” - The
Observer
“Krautrock is synonymous with a certain rhythmic
precision and propulsion, but BEAK> don't just lock into a motorik beat
and activate the cruise control. Rather, they see the music as part of a
broader continuum, digging up its roots in the frazzled psychedelia of Syd
Barrett-era Pink Floyd, funk, and musique concrete...” - Pitchfork
"There is no-one as adept at
recreating the classic sound of modernity as Geoff Barrow, chief architect of
Portishead and, since 2009, motorik side-project Beak> – essentially
Portishead purged of complications for the ultimate modernist sound. Teaming up
again with Invada regulars bassist Billy Fuller and synths/guitarist Matt
Wilkinson, after 20 years practice it’s with Beak> that Barrows has
finally perfected the 1973 look, and all the philosophical iconography of
post’68 thinking.
Divested of their debut’s fanciful post-rock elements
the leaner, faster, harder, crueler, cruder and more efficient >> is
truly the stuff of infinite forward momentum, with the eternal motorik bop as
the pulse of modern progress." -Fact Mag
"The gigantic stoner riffs of 'Wulfstan II' pay
homage to another of Barrow's great loves, the doom metallers Sun O))), but
the dextrous organ line also nods to the Doors, as does the mournful
Morrison-esque vocal intonation. 'Deserters' is close in spirit to the
evocative pastoral psych-rock of Broadcast, while the churning, proggy
'Kidney' is a disconcerting closing statement... Barrowdoesn't go through the
motions – and >> is definitely not the sound of a band in
decline."- The Quietus
“The multiplying rhythms combining and spinning on top
of each other provide a dense network to get lost in, as well as the vocals
leading you down the rabbit hole to get there.” Consequence of
Sound. Barrow’s voice comes out of a low, dark cave, echoing and
reverberating. He’s got a synth down there, twinkles flashing out every once
in a while, and a couple of friends to harmonize with. But its the bass, the
simple drumming, and the crunching guitar that drive things.”- Consequence
of Sound
“Their second album sounds like
Kraftwerk’s Autobahn driven by tractor." - The
Independent
"Beak> know how to shift gear without unlocking
the groove, shifting an octave on the synth and simply adding a hi-hat to
increase the urgency of the beat with unshowy precision. On 'Liar', one
elasticated upper-register bass note that cuts through the looping low-end
notes and bustling tom fills acts as a simple yet mesmeric focal point around
which the addition of scatty synth arpeggios culminate in a dizzying final
flurry. Without undermining the worth of the sort of material that forms
Beak>'s bread and butter, >> really hit its peaks when it blurs
genre distinctions." -Drowned in Sound
“BEAK> is his krautrock outlet, but the trio’s
Neu!-like pulsations are boosted by droning synths (‘The Gaul’), crunchy
guitar (‘Wulfstan II’), suffocating bass (‘Kidney’) and disquietingly distant
vocals (‘Deserters’). Menacing and paranoid, this second album makes
satisfying sense in 2012...” - NME
“Eschewing the samples that gave Portishead their character,
this is a live trio of inaudible vocals, repeated single notes, hypnotic,
unchanging beats and bursts of all-out noise. Spinning Top sounds
like a homage to Tago Mago, the 1971 album by improvisational pioneers
Can, while the constant beats and slowly shifting notes
of Yatton could have fallen off an album by Neu!” - The
Times
"Wulfstan II Barrow's vocal intones like a
particularly ominous Ian Curtis, inhabiting an echoing space beneath the
deliciously growling bass riff, and the presence of English psychedelia
pervades the murky Egg Dog." - Music OMH
"Barrow revels in pure atmosphere and mood; songs
bubble along in the shadows with a subtle change here and there. At times,
like on the throbbing “Yatton,” BEAK> sound like a warped,
parallel-universe Radiohead if that band was consumed by its arty tendencies.
The band creates some pretty frightening soundscapes—“Ladies Mile,” “The
Gaol,” and the back half of album closer “Kidney”—by deploying almost
overwhelming dissonance." -Prefix
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