Rien à faire: DITZ

Ditz is a British band from Brighton which has been around since 2016.

I discovered them in 2018 and remember being immediately hooked up by their catchy noise rock tinged with post hardcore. I even included their hit song I am Chris Martin in my 2018 compilation Oktober Fist.

But let's go back to 2016 first:

EP1 may be a 3-track release only but damn what a killer!

Ditz is clearly influenced by the 80s/90s noise rock scene and can be put on a shelf along bands like Metz, Girl Band, USA Nails or Buildings which have clearly chosen to bring back that sound in the modern world. And that sound is definitely heavy, loud and grungy!

But Ditz do more than just paying a tribute to the 90s Sub Pop and Amphetamine Reptile catalogues, they got a modern je-ne-sais-quoi that brings their music into our decade.

It may be the short clear guitar riffs and the electronic samples on Two, or the numerous breaks and energy "rodeos" on No Thanks, I'm Full...

But whatever it is, it makes this (too) short release an exceptional one, each track being different, powerful, beautifully built, but fitting perfectly in the whole thing...

Yes you understand that I was really waiting for more and have been checking, from time to time, for the past two years if something new would pop up from their drab bandcamp page...

well it took a while...

Between July 2018 and July 2020, Ditz released five digital singles, the first two on Permanent Creeps Records and the other three on Alcopop! Records which finally compiled all of them on the band's first physical release, the 5 songs 12" EP.

Let's have a quick tour...

Seeking Arrangement got a simple but efficient structure, playing with the ups and downs between the chorus and verses, both of which are based on a particularly snappy snare drum. It sounds very 90s (in a good way) in my opinion.

Gayboy continues in the contained anger range, where palpable tension is spread up all over the place, sparkling and smoking but without reaching the melting point. A taut bass line, a dry and high-pitched guitar, Cal's voice oscillating between dark complaints and desperate cries... this song confirms the genius of the Brighton guys for apparently-simple song structures and great control of "emotions".

Same formula here for Total 90 and the beginning of this weird "tribute" video to 90's British football, but this time Cal and the others let themselves explode into a almost-hardcore chorus which finally frees us from all this tension accumulated since two and a half tunes...

I really like the heavy drums and the slow build-up at the beginning of the song. It'll take more than two minutes to finally break and damn! It feels fucking good!

Role Model: hehe the recipe seems to be working well, a slow start, some "tiktiktiktik" rim shots and bim! an explosion of heavy guitars accompanied by plaintive and powerful vocals, yes yes that does work!

Ah Fuck The Pain Away is probably my favourite song of the record (because of its name for a start), everything is there: noisy guitar riffs, heavy "noise-rock" bass lines, silly and serious lyrics (from what I think I understand), slow build up of the song turning into a noisy explosion... that's good!

I feel that this EP keeps Ditz as one of the most interesting band from the new UK scene, somewhere between the trendiness of the Idles (not for me!) and a quite active noise-rock scene. Less striking than their first 3-track release (probably because these songs were composed over a fairly long period of time as singles) I nevertheless appreciate the rising build-up of the tracks, the skilful mastery of the energy delivery and the construction of an atmosphere at once dark, unhealthy and explosive.

I would be interested to see what that would give on a proper LP.