Hidden Charms: the Square Root of Love LP
— Price: 139 SEK

Here at Now Wave, we often extol the virtues of "high energy" music. But much of what we hail as "high energy" sounds listless, lethargic, and just plain dead in comparison to the Hidden Charms! No joke! This German trio plays with such fast, frenzied force and wildhearted abandon that listening to its debut LP is like riding a rollercoaster after drinking three bottles of Jolt Cola. It's a blast, kids! It's better than beating off while skydiving! And it's no surprise that this thrilling slab of 180 gram wax comes to us courtesy of Alien Snatch Records - home to kindred spirit types like The Real Losers and Locomotions! The Hidden Charms are first-rate practitioners of the genre of music named by Now Wave's Raul Reaction: fast punk. Not quite garage-punk, not quite hardcore punk, but rather something perfectly in between, with a distinctly modern twist. For sure, the group has the spirit of rock n' roll in it, and tunes like "Echolot Brain" and "Messed Up Mind" are catchy as hell. But the speed and fury of the band's attack shoot straight to the top of the punk-as-fuck meter. The group rips through 14 songs in just over 20 minutes - the economy and skill of the trio's songwriting never obscured by the racecar velocity of the playing. Somehow this band manages to take everything you like about the Registrators, Hives, Clone Defects, and Dean Dirg and mash it all into one blazing ball of sonic fire. Simply put, the Hidden Charms are what all bands should be: very good at what they do. The songs, the musicianship, the singing, the production - it's all top-notch. And what FUN this record is! Singer Holger D. has a real presence on vocals - his supersnotty style imbued with contagious enthusiasm and sheer likeability. Drummer Borge, who also plays in Dean Dirg, continues to amaze....How can one man play so fast and not miss a beat? How does he play this material live without collapsing from exhaustion after the first three songs? Is he a robot? Without a doubt, this is the record I always reach for when I need a quick jolt of energy and excitement. And I never listen to it at anything less than a piss-off-the-neighbors volume. As Raul would say, this record "makes me crazy".

-Now Wave Magazine, sept 2005

http://www.myspace.com/hiddencharms