MINIMUM CHIPS "Portfolio"
(Chapter Music)

Review by David Keenan
Wire Feb 2003

Minimum Chips are a three piece based in Brisbane Australia whose gnarly take on juggernaut rhythms is enlivened with awkward injections of trombone, vintage keyboards and (mostly) wordless vocals. When they deal in actual song structures they come closer to the unarmoured punk of The Pastels or The Go Betweens at their most uunravelled. "Portfolio" collects all of their home recordings from 1994 to 1998 including a handful of tough to find singles and the great "Swish" ep they cut for Jon Dale's Varispeed label. Guitarist Julian Patterson tears major chords from a beat-up amp in a style that's every bit as exhilarating as The Clean's David Kilgour. Combined with martial rhythms beat out on a rudimentary drum kit, the results are correspondingly locomotive
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