Since Radiohead released their In Rainbows album with little preamble, and a 'pay what you like' model in 2007 everyone has been trying to leverage the technology of the modern age to create a unique (and perhaps more importantly pressworthy) experience for the listener. Well, I say listener, but these moves are aimed more at the purchaser. If you just want to listen there are many many ways to find and own music without having to fork out a cent.
Kaiser Chiefs have entered the fray with a move that is actually quite interesting. Rather than taking the finished product and trying to find a new way to deliver it they've gone a couple of steps further back in the creative chain, so that you have a hand in creating the finished product, and assumedly a greater connection to your final purchase.
Don't worry, you're not going to have to lay down a guitar solo or overdub some back up vocals. The songs are all done. What they haven't done is cut down the selection to the final tracklist or sequence the album. They also haven't decided on the artwork, although they do have some concepts and a general theme to work with.
So when you go to their 'create my album' website you are faced with 20 tracks, which you can hear snippets of. You can choose 10 of these tracks, in whichever sequence you like (through a very charming interface). At which point you are whisked away to create your album art work. There is a selection of nine different objects that can be dragged (in whatever quantity you like) to your album cover, and then resized and rotated to your taste. You can even select the background colour.
Once this is all complete and you have done your work as a producer to finish the album you then get to pay £7.50 to download it. Possibly the smartest part of this, is that other people can then buy your version of the album for the same price, but you get £1.00 for each copy sold.
Unfortunately I managed to avoid this whole process (despite being peripherally aware of it) and purchase the CD with the official tracklisting and artwork approved by the band. This is especially unfortunate because judging by the snippets a couple of the songs from the website that didn't make the album sounded pretty good.
Now I know I've gone on for quite a while about the interesting release of this album, and there is a reason that I haven't really said anything about the music. Sadly this album is almost completely forgettable. The lyrics seem forced, the music overblown and longwinded. Now I'll freely admit I've never been a banner waving, card carrying Kaiser Chiefs fan but I've enjoyed quite a few of their songs over the years. I even saw them in concert this week and it was an excellent gig. It's just that this album lacks any of that flavour and spark.
Perhaps the most mystifying thing of all is that the CD has two 'bonus tracks' that were not available on the website. The stomping 'Kinda Girl You Are' and the Metronomy-esque instrumental 'Howlaround'. These two tracks seemingly shoehorned onto the album as an afterthought are the best things on it. Clearly Kaiser Chiefs still have greatness in them, I just hope they find a way to get more of it onto their next record.
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