FreeBass' Worlds Collide

FreeBass, originally born out of a conversation between Mancunian bass legends Mani, Peter Hook, and Andy Rourke some five years ago has been through a long gestation process. With Hooky originally auditioning vocalists like an indie Simony Cowell, finding the right lead singer proved to be arduous. In comes Mani who suggests that the band approach several of their friends to contribute vocals. The rest they say is history as FreeBass rapidly came together after that and their EP, Two Worlds Collide fell into place.

More like a mini-album than a proper single, Two Worlds Collide is like the best amalgamation of New Order, The Smiths, and the Stone Roses ever put together. That of course kind of makes sense because FreeBass is made up of all those bands and then when you take a look at the vocalists who contributed to this record it's like a who's who of Machester indie. With Tim Burgess channeling his inner Joy Division, Pete Wylie sounding as if the Mighty Wah! never ceased being mighty and Howard Marks pulling a Mark E. Smith on a diatribe about King Arthur the single takes on a varied feel with all sorts of sounds bouncing around. Burgess' "You don't Know This About Me," is about as far from The Charlatans as he could have ever hoped and actually sounds like a early New Order demo. Pete Wylie's vocals on, "The Milky Way Is Our Playground," is the perfect resurrection of late 80's British Pop; so much so you can almost hear the anorak and Docs the song is obviously wearing. "Dark Starr," on the other hand finds Marks taking The Fall kidnapping them and then fronting the band while doing Mark E. Smith more coherently than Mark E. Smith; it's a drunken rambling that's so bizarre you can't turn away. As for the other three tracks on Two Worlds Collide, this shows FreeBass freestyling it and taking it all on their own.

Two Worlds Collide is a fantastic single that has so much Manchester raving through it that it's almost overwhelming. If you've ever considered yourself a fan of any of the groups connected to FreeBass you seriously won't be disappointed; this is a brilliant blast of bass driven pop that clearly puts to rest whether or not any of these guys are still relevant. Heck yeah they are and they just so happened to have turned in one of the better singles of the year.