The fierce and playful beginning to “1” by Three Trapped Tigers can only be accompanied by grainy shots of smoke-stacks and chaotic lighting on the raging band. In calmer parts of the song, the camera follows an old man on his motorbike traveling through different idyllic landscape — the beach, fields with horses, etc. The band seems to commiserate with the man through the mellow and seemingly sad parts, but these bits give way to a roaring intensity.
Three Trapped Tigers, a trio from the UK, takes its grrrreat moniker from a book of the same name by Cuban writer Guillermo Cabrera Infante. Their improvisational stylings and fast-paced rock can be likened to the passionate jagged beats of bands like Holy Fuck and Battles. Their songs are named by numerical order, split up onto two of apparently three planned EPs, which are called (guess what!) EP 1 and EP 2. The intricate layers of intensive and wholly chaotic percussion mixed with spastic guitar riffs and alien-like keyboard chimes make Three Trapped Tigers a must-hear. The only thing you’ll be left wondering is: Do I stand in contemplative rapture, or dance my brains out?