controller.controller Discography of CDs

controller.controller albums Toronto-based dance-rock band Controller.Controller bears a certain stylistic resemblance to the hordes of retro-new wave acts of the new millennium, but they're no mere revivalists: this group fuses those influences into something genuinely exciting. The five-piece is led by the commanding vocal presence of Nirmala Basnayake, whose voice moves easily from a seductive purr to a sharp bark, sometimes in the space of a line. Underneath her vocals, the band perfectly blends the angular, clashing guitar lines of Gang of Four or the Au Pairs with the supple rhythms of prime New Order, a mix that has the power of the best punk rock and the danceability of classic disco. Duran Duran famously claimed that they wanted to blend the Sex Pistols with Chic, but songs like "PF" and the aggressive but enticing "Poison/Safe" are much closer to that mark than "Hungry Like the Wolf" ever got. ~ Stewart Mason

controller.controller music CDs Although it sees Toronto's Controller.Controller entering the already clotted disco-punk market a little bit later than is fashionable, History is nevertheless one of the worthier debuts to emerge from the second wave of no wave revivalists. Led by vocalist Nirmala Basnayake -- who spikes her natural mid-range with just the right amount of Ari Up -- and the requisite front line of juddering guitars, the quintet weave together a six-song set that delivers on anxious atmospherics and strong ...