- Released: 2004
- Origin: London, England
- Label: Fantastic Plastic
- Best Track: Waste Ground
Ikara Colt came to my mind yesterday when I was asked to name great bands beginning with ‘I’. I liked their 2002 debut Chat and Business, but I wasn’t sure what had happened to them or if they had even done anything else.
It turns out from reading up that the London garage rockers split up in 2005, and even while making some ripples in the early ’00s, they were upfront about their intention to pack it in fairly soon before they got stale. They put out a second album before they did that – 2004’s Modern Apprentice.
I don’t think it’s quite up to the same standard as their punchy, uncompromising first. It’s OK, but sounds a bit too much like what multiple other garage revivial bands were doing at the time.
It peaks in the middle, to be fair. The first four track do little for me, sounding a bit to close to rock and roll by numbers. Fifth track ‘I’m With Stupid’ is a rambunctuous racket that brings the recond to life, ‘Waste Ground’ offers something refreshingly dark and different, and the grinding ‘Motorway’ is the closest I’ve ever heard the band come to krautrock.
Not a bad album by any stretch, and I generally like what Ikara Colt delivered, but maybe their output was all the more effective for being kept short and to the point.
