ALBUM REVIEWS
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ALBUM REVIEWS |
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Art Brut
ART BRUT VS SATAN COOKING VINYL 20.4.09 @www.vanguard-online.co.uk What I love about this album is the vocal similarities with English eccentric, John Otway, famed of the R Whites secret lemonade drinker adverts. The other thing I love is the rock simplicity label-mate “Mr Pixies” Black Francis has brought to the set. The third thing would be the bouncy indie classicism of the music. And the fourth, the thing that will sell the album far and near, is the lyrics. Witty, nostalgic, knowing, loving, piss-taking, they are a joy. There are times we worry about the band though. Their first release was about forming a band and releasing a record so we tend to treat them as an art project in audio-verite. So is opening track (first single), Alcoholics Unanimous, a true-to-life description about surviving through the day after yet another rough night? Especially when the second rings so true – a hymn to the love of DC Comics And Chocolate Milkshakes and being a slacker. And they sing, “I’m in love with the girl in my comics shop. She’s a girl that likes comics, she probably gets it a lot”, which is worth a laugh in this mag. Passenger is Iggy Pop upside down – a paean to the joys of taking the bus. What A Rush is a hilarious bunch of regrets the day after a poorly chosen shag. “You like The Beatles and I like The Stones, but those are just records that our parents owned. I pulled you down on to my bed, I blame it on a massive rush of blood to my head”. Demons Out! is an assault on the poor taste of the listening public, allegedly inspired by Satan. “How can you sleep at night when no one likes the music we like”. Though who wouldn’t like this infectious, matey and sarky stuff? A few tracks are about their love for music – crude and simple stuff is what they love – and the joy of discovering bands, sometimes obscure older bands like The Replacements. And the embarrassment of accidentally singing out loud in public. The last, Mysterious Bruises, has the classic lines, “I’ve had one Zirtec, two Advil, with the drink that made me feel invincible……. I fought the floor and the floor won”. Shot full of love for life, this band aren’t passengers. Free track, “Weird Science”, available on www.artbrut.org.uk |