Spin Class is everything that the rock and roll world needs right now, and the fantastic new single, ‘Rip ‘n’ Dip,’ is a perfect example of why. Without getting too artsy-fartsy on you, music can be seen to fall into two camps – Apollonian and Dionysian…that is, music which is either of the head or of the heart, which is either clever or big, thoughtful or primal. This Bristol quartet shows us that there is a place where these two worlds collide, occupying the same space on the musical Venn diagram. Where those demarcations blur and bleed into each other is Spin Class’s sonic playground.
‘Rip ‘n’ Dip’ is bi… flippin’ big… but as it changes mood and pace, ebbs and flows between the gargantuan and the, in its own way, graceful, we see that it is clever too. It’s like finding the bouncer of a dodgy nightclub reading Kierkegaard whilst telling you you’re not coming in. Or something about opposites attracting, thwarting expectation, books and covers…you know.
As the guitars roar through the musical landscape, shot through with smart riffs, as the drums pummel a new shamanic groove, as the bass broods and bombs with depth-charge intensity, as vocals scream and soar, Spin Class sound like the Palm Desert sound as if it had been invented not in the arid and majestic wilds of California but in a supermarket carpark in Bedminster…and I mean that in the very best of ways. (I’m not really sure what that means, but it sounds fitting.)
Big, bold, and beautifully creative. Smart enough to make you appreciate the musicianship, brutal enough to rip your face off! That’s my kind of music.
