For Screening Purposes Only

The Artist

Test Icicles were a London-based trio of Rory Attwell, Devonté Hynes, and Sam Mehran, formed in 2004 and known for a chaotic collision of dance-punk, spazzy hardcore, noise rock, and grime-adjacent electronics. They emerged from the mid-2000s UK indie boom but stood apart by refusing to sit still within any single genre, splicing riffs, screams, and blown-out synths into songs that felt like several bands playing at once. Their reputation was built on frenetic live shows and a scrappy, art-school irreverence that suggested they were as much prank as project. For Screening Purposes Only is their sole full-length, released in late 2005 before they abruptly split in early 2006. Hynes would go on to become Blood Orange, Attwell became a prolific producer, and Mehran later worked in Outer Limits Recordings before his death in 2018.

The Album

For Screening Purposes Only was released on Domino Records in October 2005, tracked quickly in the UK during the height of the label's post-Franz Ferdinand indie run. The band members famously rotated instruments and traded vocal duties, giving the record a scrappy, DIY feel even under a major indie's umbrella. Production leans into raw guitar tones, digital blowouts, and cheap-sounding drum programming sitting next to live kits, capturing the sound of three friends chasing every idea at once. Thematically, it's a smirking teenage document of nights out, bad decisions, minor violence, and pop culture debris, delivered with more sneer than sincerity. The band would announce their breakup just months after its release, cementing the album as a snapshot of a moment that refused to be sustained.

Listen For

Genre whiplash within single tracks. Listen to how "Boa Vs Python" and "Circle. Square. Triangle." lurch between dance-punk grooves, hardcore breakdowns, and noisy electronics without warning.

Traded vocal duties. Notice how the three members swap lead vocals across the record, sometimes mid-song, with wildly different tones from yelped hooks to full-throat screams.

Digital blowout and clipping. Pay attention to the intentionally distorted synths and overdriven textures on "Catch It!" and "Whats Your Damage?", which push cheap-sounding gear into abrasive territory.

Riff-first structures. Many songs, like "Pull The Lever" and "Sharks", pile riffs on top of each other rather than following verse-chorus form, closer to a hardcore mixtape than an indie record.

The comedown at the end. Track how the manic energy shifts by the time "Party On Dudes (Get Hype)" and "Whats Michelle Like?" close things out, hinting at where Hynes might go next.