catalogue

THANK

THOUGHTLESS CRUELTY (RED VINYL LP) (CRACKED ANKLES)

THANK - THOUGHTLESS CRUELTY (RED VINYL LP) 160947
format:
1 LP
release:
17.11.2023
label:
CRACKED ANKLES
item ID:
160947
barcode:
5070000645957
"Utilising phat grooves and electronic scrapings to bring noise rock kicking and screaming into the volatile 2020s, Thoughtless Cruelty is snotty and abrasive, fuelled by impotent rage." JR Moores, The Quietus "A kind of mad melding of Pissed Jeans and Lady Gaga." Dominic Haley, Loud and Quiet "This Leeds band pairs brawny arrangements with furious, bug-eyed vocals." Bandcamp Daily.

Thank formed in 2016 out of Leeds' notorious DIY collective CHUNK, cycling through a few lineups before eventually settling on Lewis Millward, Cameron Moitt and Freddy Vinehill-Cliffe (3/4 of short lived riff machines Pink Rick), plus powerhouse drummer Steve Myles (Cattle, Groak, Khuda) and harsh noise/musique concrète polyglot Theo Gowans, better known as Territorial Gobbing.

During this time they gained acclaim for the EPs 'Sexghost Hellscape' and 'Please', toured in mainland Europe, and caught the attention of heavy hitters like Idles.

The band's debut full length 'Thoughtless Cruelty' was originally released via Box Records (Lower Slaughter, USA Nails, Psychic Graveyard) and Exploding In Sound (Pile, Big Ups, Krill) in February 2022.

This release is a stark observation of human cruelty filtered through the band's grim fascinations including long term nuclear warnings, CNN's Turner Doomsday Video (opening song 'From Heaven' is a partial reworking of the Latin verse from 'Nearer My God To Thee', the hymn performed in that video), the writings of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, and the business-as-usual liberal politics which has given way to the global rise of the far right.

Clear influences can be heard throughout the album; Xiu Xiu in the looped 808s of 'Plausible Deniability' and the chaotic xylophones of 'Paris Syndrome', The Body in the layers of dense distortion smothering 'A Social Contract' and 'Punching Bag', and These New Puritans in the blunt syncopation of 'From Heaven' and the sparse grandeur of 'No Funeral'.

The initial run of 'Thoughtless Cruelty' sold out on vinyl almost immediately, with the cassette release not far behind, in part due to the single 'Dread' being championed by Steve Lamacq on BBC Radio 6 Music and John Kennedy on Radio X.
 
  • Tracklisting
  • 1.1. FROM HEAVEN
  • 1.2. GOOD BOY
  • 1.3. PUNCHING BAG
  • 1.4. PARIS SYNDROME
  • 1.5. DREAD
  • 1.6. A SOCIAL CONTRACT
  • 1.7. VERY COOL
  • 1.8. PLAUSIBLE DENIABILITY
  • 1.9. NO FUNERAL