he (International) Noise Conspiracy have made one of the leanest and meanest rock records to come along in quite some time with their new EP, Bigger Cages, Longer Chains. Each track rocks harder and with more conviction than most anything in music right now. The best thing about this beautiful six song slab of majesty is its ability to swing and groove. The band, a stunning combination of garage rock simplicity and punk attitude is also steeped to the gills in 1960s style soul.


The biggest attention grabber on the album may be the band's inclusion of the N*E*R*D cover, "Baby Doll". The band had included it as an encore in their live sets last year, and enjoyed performing it so much that they decided to whip a version of it up for the album. It does not deviate greatly from the original in its overall sound, but it does tighten the slack on the original's rhythm and smoothes out its overall rough ends. The band also invests far more charisma and suave sexiness to the vocals than the original. Drummer Ludwig Dahlberg shows off a locked rhythm proficiency here and deserves the most credit for bringing the pulse of the song to its highest limits.


"Waiting For Salvation" features a hammering drum beat, hurried vocals by Dennis Lyxzen and some searing guitar action by Lars Stromberg. Sara Almgren adds a lot to the proceedings with her organ backdrops. "A Textbook Example" features a propulsive rhythm coupled with a rousing chorus underlined by an ever rising higher organ. The title track strips the rhythm to its barest necessities and features killer saxophone work by Jonas Kullhammar and Markus Olsson. The air in the song is as compressed as a vacu-sealed pork chop and just as fresh.


The EP's apex comes in the absolutely mind-blowing form of "When Words Are Not Working", which is one of the most cathartic blow outs to appear on an album...ever. The crescendos into each chorus are nothing short of electric power surges hot wired to the heart. The combination of every instruments, in addition to the dual saxophones of Kullhammar and Olsson, is an incredible display of passion and exuberance pushed to their combustible limits.


The (International) Noise Conspiracy appear to be poised for a break into the mainstream rock world and deservedly so. Their tightly refined blend of pure musical forms confounds the status quo of today's stodgy and ineffectual modern rock. They are the swiftest and most righteous kick in the ass the music business has seen yet and with Bigger Cages, Longer Chains, The (International) Noise Conspiracy have shown that there is potential for even more of the same to come.