When PlayLouder watched Kling Klang back in 2003 they were absolutely magnetic and thrilling. The first thing you noticed was crimson panted drummer Ali McDonald, looking like a Krautrock Dr Octopus, his seemingly flailing pairs of limbs belying a keen sense of motorik precision. Then Joe McLaughlin (part-time Part Chimp), giant Scouse rock behemoth, legs splayed, face lost behind thrashing mane of hair, dealing out mighty Black Sabbath-esque riffs. And then there were Peter and David Smyth and Amy Cocoran, arranged like a thrift store New Order circa 'Ceremony', their vintage synths set up on ironing boards because they couldn't afford proper stands. "This", you'd think to yourself, "is fucking ace. I bet they can't replicate it on record."
Early efforts on Rock Action ('The Superposition' EP) suggested otherwise but still failed to capture the diversity of the group in action. Seven years after their inception in Liverpool they've finally got round to recording their debut album and it is much more in keeping with their live output. 'The Esthetik of Destruction' is named after a gloriously ambitious art installation they presided over in Liverpool a few years back that featured their music, a warehouse full of televisions and the German performance artist Mister B.
The album opens with old tracks 'Heavydale' and 'Superposition 1' before introducing us to tuneful fragmentary snippets such as 'Flying Hotel' which has dissolved almost before you've pinned down its component parts (Jean Michelle Jarre, Tangerine Dream) and onto twin pieces 'Vander' and 'Scanner'. But this is no lame (if enjoyable) fashion caper like France's studied Zombi; Kling Klang may wear their influences on the sleeves of their long, dark overcoats but they don't determine the end product. At one minute they may be recalling the early 70s sound collage experiments of Cabaret Voltaire or the secret history of Kraftwerk back when they were acid fried hippies just discovering synthesizers but the next they're sounding like library plunderers King Of Woolworths or Stereolab trying to reimagine the OST to 'A Clockwork Orange'.
They're likely to remain an outside interest for many, not having the musical complexity that many require of their Krautrock or the polished finish that most desire from their synth pop, but this is a genuine treat nonetheless.
