Wintermute
Fun With Wizard Stencils EP

and i was gobsmacked how much of a rip-off some of their songs were. they were still pretty decent, but a few were just daylight robbery pure and simple.

a great intensity. They nearly, but not quite stole the show from twilight sad and youthmovies the last time I saw them. I can imagine it losing something when recorded but I'm still a fan and reckon i'll be buying this cd.

I don't quite get the 6/10 for this, mainly due to just how brilliantly the songs are constructed etc. Especially considering some of the shite that gets 8 or 9 out of ten on here just for being 'different' when there really are no 'songs' as such. Just fun noises that are instantly forgettable.

I can see how someone may say mmm foals ever so slightly but the songs souns nothing like them in the slightest.

Don't let the mark put you off. I'd personally give it at least 8/10. Awesome.

I'll shut up now.

i hate the foals comparison just because there is a bit of open to closed hi-hat action.

they sound like the Futureheads covering Minus the Bear in my opinion.

Wintermute and Pulled Apart by Horses are my two favourite bands at the moment. Great shit.

...referencing a band like Foals is productive, given 99% of people reading this will have heard of them, and chances are that most of that 99% won't have previously heard Wintermute? Thus some may think: Right, I like Foals, I'll give this a chance. Far better than saying: Wintermute are the Leeds take on Minus The Bear doing US Maple, or something. Yes? Yes. This is why critics of the comparison on these comments are not professional music reviewers, and this writer is.

No offence intended to anyone supporting the band - I really like them to - but those with a very narrow view of this type of music need to understand that bands like Foals, and their successes, have made bands like Wintermute a lot more palatable for kids who last year were listening to rage Against The Machine and Korn.

But still a harsh and perhaps a little naive review. Wintermute have been playing this style of music way before Foals came to light, so to suggest they're ripping them off is wrong and potentially damaging. For all the kids who read this and go 'ooohh I like Foals I'll listen to this' there will be a similar number of indier and holier than thou types who will go 'God I hate Foals and all their hype, a band ripping them off must be shit!' and stay well clear.

I honestly see where the comparison comes from, but don't particularly agree with it - definitely more Futureheads/MTB.

Also that last bit: 'the point of the band is… To mirror what their target audience is well accustomed to and exploit the subsequent possibilities and opportunities'. Sorry but thats just crap! The amount of absolute tripe that gets 8/10 on here just because its slightly different, but still absolute rubbish, is astounding. Just because you're different does not make you good, by the same token, just because you're not groundbreaking does not make you bad! The part about 'exploiting ...opportunities' is way off the mark, as you'd know if you knew anything about the lads!

Still, I can't comment on the ep, not heard it yet, but I am very interested in doing so. Previous recordings have been a big letdown and definitely not a true representation of how impressive these guys are live. Thats my 2 cents.

If i search the deepest corner of my brain i can see why the reviewer could have chosen foals as a comparison.

However, my beef is that he chose that as the reason to knock the mark down which is unfair in my opinion.

As the review goes on you can tell he's not even listening to the songs properly anymore.

in my humble opinion, 'Jambon Jambon' is the best track they have ever
written.

Dammit im still talking!!!

...very good EP. Some great songwriting, well performed songs, by a tight as hell band. Yes, i'm biased as i work with the band, but then why would anyone work with a band who they didn't think were really really good?!

The Foals comment, as a comparison, is fair enough, and will get people interested as Mike says. I feel the writer has gone too far in suggesting that they're copyists/cashing in on them though. As someone else has said, Minus The Bear and Futureheads would be a more accurate comparison, people have heard bits of At The Drive-In there as well. But the point is, they've not copied - they've brought a hell of a lot to the table in terms of originality, songwriting, musicianship and passion. Yes, they listen to music and get influenced by it like all bands do. Ripping anyone off? No way. They're just doing something they love, and doing it well.

I hope people give them a listen, they've worked hard to write this EP so go and give it a listen and judge for yourselves!

www.myspace.com/wintermuteband

...rules! the production on it is totally fat and the energy is fully driving. As a whole its well balanced, the songs are cleverly structured and the lyrics impassioned. The end of jambon brings me up in shivers and sets my heart racing. it makes me feel well excited!

Personally I can't see any need for such a soppy review, for although yes it is pretty mathy, there's nothing try hard about it. Sure it sounds a bit like minus the bear/foals/at the drive-in and there's nothing wrong with that.

So if people are going to insist on talking about them... what's everyone's problem with foals? they're album has got some right tunes! ya miserable gits!

But no wintermute certainly don't rip foals off, to be fair they sounded kinda like foals before foals did. Foals used to sound totally different, then they actually said we want to make this sort of disco guitar pop stuff and a month later they were, a year they later they were huge, and the year after that they entered that weird world were normal people have heard of you.

Personally I must have seen Wintermute play 20 odd times and I just view them as punk rock.

tres tres tight live. And what I've heard of the EP is amazing, thanks in part to the ace production which kinda let the single down I think. I don't really see the Foals comparison really, Wintermute are more jagged, less disco beat ad infinitum