The debut, self titled EP from California quintet Grouplove was one of the pleasant surprises of the latter half of 2010. The carefree sense of fun, combined with the impression that every note of the music was drenched in the California sun, made the small collection of songs a perfect soundtrack to the summer. As a result I've been looking forward to the release of their debut long player for much of 2011.
There's a youthful exuberance to Grouplove's music, and somehow that mood translates. It's hard to not find your troubles melting away as you listen to the album. Like that first summer after the end of school when the whole world seems full of possibility. It's a sound that's perfect for summer barbecues and road trips to music festivals.
For all their youth and freshness Grouplove also sound a little familiar. The counterplay of vocals between Christian Zucconi and Hannah Hooper brings to mind the pop end of the Pixies songbook. The keyboards add such a britpop flavour to the music I'd almost expect to find some of the songs in an episode of Skins. Opening track Itchin' On A Photograph was so reminiscent of erstwhile Irish rock band JJ72 that I listened to one of their albums for the first time in around five years.
For all of their familiarity Grouplove are their own creation though. Effortlessly turning out 12 pop gems in a little over three quarters of an hour. Never feeling too rushed, never outstaying their welcome. Even when they drop the tempo down a notch on Slow and Betty's A Bombshell nothing drags.
At least for our hemisphere, the timing of this album release is perfect. The days are starting to get warmer and longer, and I can foresee another long hot summer soundtracked by Grouplove. Although I imagine that the warmth inherent in the music could make even the short dark days of winter glow.
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Kimbra - Vows
It's only been a couple of weeks since I mentioned Melbourne based, New Zealand born Kimbra Johnson. She was a guest on a track on Gotye's fabulous album that I reviewed not too long ago. Her work there, although brief, was perfect for the song, and an integral part of Gotye's musical vision. It left me curious as to how well she'd do out of the shadow of Australia's greatest musical visionary.
Not that the Gotye track was my first exposure to Kimbra. I actually saw her live last year. She was the opening support act at a concert I went to at the ANU bar, and at the time I was far from impressed. It's a tough life being a support act, and in my opinion she failed to rise to the occasion. However since that gig I've heard a few of her songs on Triple J and been more than a little impressed.
The album opens with Settle Down, Kimbra's biggest hit to date, which features a lot of layered and looped vocals. It's almost more sonic experiment than song at first, but eventually it settles down into a groove. This is followed by another radio favourite Cameo Lover, a smooth electro glide with a soaring chorus.
Kimbra has an incredible voice. Possibly the best jazz voice I've heard in recent years, and on top of that she's not afraid to do interesting things. Not everything she tries works for me (the couple of seconds of strings that fade up when she mentions 'history' in Two Way Street seemed to be trying a little bit too hard) but on the whole the reward to risk ratio is very low.
Which isn't to say that the whole album is a series of musical and vocal circus tricks. Sometimes the simple things work the best, and around half of the album is fairly straightforward earnest pop, albeit with an absolutely massive voice at its core. In fact in places it even reminds me a little of Tears For Fears.
In the end Kimbra has accomplished an astounding debut. It can be all too tempting for people that can really sing to make their albums a vocal showcase, and rather than doing that Kimbra has actually written a collection of interesting songs. I can't wait to see what she does next.
Not that the Gotye track was my first exposure to Kimbra. I actually saw her live last year. She was the opening support act at a concert I went to at the ANU bar, and at the time I was far from impressed. It's a tough life being a support act, and in my opinion she failed to rise to the occasion. However since that gig I've heard a few of her songs on Triple J and been more than a little impressed.
The album opens with Settle Down, Kimbra's biggest hit to date, which features a lot of layered and looped vocals. It's almost more sonic experiment than song at first, but eventually it settles down into a groove. This is followed by another radio favourite Cameo Lover, a smooth electro glide with a soaring chorus.
Kimbra has an incredible voice. Possibly the best jazz voice I've heard in recent years, and on top of that she's not afraid to do interesting things. Not everything she tries works for me (the couple of seconds of strings that fade up when she mentions 'history' in Two Way Street seemed to be trying a little bit too hard) but on the whole the reward to risk ratio is very low.
Which isn't to say that the whole album is a series of musical and vocal circus tricks. Sometimes the simple things work the best, and around half of the album is fairly straightforward earnest pop, albeit with an absolutely massive voice at its core. In fact in places it even reminds me a little of Tears For Fears.
In the end Kimbra has accomplished an astounding debut. It can be all too tempting for people that can really sing to make their albums a vocal showcase, and rather than doing that Kimbra has actually written a collection of interesting songs. I can't wait to see what she does next.
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
The Horrible Crowes - Elsie
It's a rare pleasure in this day and age for me to listen to a brand new album for the first time on vinyl. That's not to say that new albums aren't being pressed anymore, far from it. In fact the record part of the record industry seems to be thriving despite (or perhaps as a reaction to) the trend towards digital. The thing is that I'm not the most patient of men, and more often than not I've obtained a new album digitally (either as a download or a CD) long before the black circle can make its way to my local record shop.
I was pleasantly surprised then, when I came home from work the other day to find a suspiciously record shaped package had been left by our ninja postman (he's very good at leaving packages without leaving a trace). It turns out that the good people at Side One Dummy had shipped the international orders of Elsie early so that the record would be there for release. So I grabbed my favourite headphones, and fired up the turntable to listen.
The Horrible Crowes are kind of a side project for Brian Fallon, frontman with one of my favourite bands of recent years The Gaslight Anthem. To form The Horrible Crowes he has teamed up with Ian Perkins, who doubles as Brian's guitar tech when Gaslight tour. In theory The Horrible Crowes will be a home for all the songs Brian writes that aren't right for The Gaslight Anthem, freeing him up to write more of the kind of punk-soul that has made them famous.
The problem ends up being that Brian Fallon can't not sound like Brian Fallon, and he can't write songs any differently to the way that he writes them. Therefore vocally, and musically this is not a big conceptual step from his day job. He sings the songs a little softer, and plays them a little slower, but the heart is the same.
The difference comes down to the production. There's instruments here that would never show their face on a Gaslight Anthem album, things like Hammond style organs, and horn sections. But more importantly there's more space. The songs don't fill in all the way to the edge, which gives the listener more room to inhabit the song with Brian and Ian.
I think it's going to be tough going for this album. Outside of Gaslight Anthem fans it's going to have to work hard to find an audience, and within those same fans it's going to struggle to live up to the alchemy that happens when those four guys write music together. I like the album, and I like the songs, but it's not the revelation I was hoping it to be.
On a side note, the bonus track that arrived with the download (I love vinyl, but I love it more when they give me a copy I can listen to on my iPod as well) is brilliant. An earnest, broken, cover of Concrete Blonde's 1990 classic Joey. I was always a big fan of the original, and this cover is interesting enough to make me love it all over again. I'd say it was worth getting the album just for this track, but that's not really fair to the rest of the album, which is perfectly adequate, but it pales when compared to what I know Brian is capable of.
I was pleasantly surprised then, when I came home from work the other day to find a suspiciously record shaped package had been left by our ninja postman (he's very good at leaving packages without leaving a trace). It turns out that the good people at Side One Dummy had shipped the international orders of Elsie early so that the record would be there for release. So I grabbed my favourite headphones, and fired up the turntable to listen.
The Horrible Crowes are kind of a side project for Brian Fallon, frontman with one of my favourite bands of recent years The Gaslight Anthem. To form The Horrible Crowes he has teamed up with Ian Perkins, who doubles as Brian's guitar tech when Gaslight tour. In theory The Horrible Crowes will be a home for all the songs Brian writes that aren't right for The Gaslight Anthem, freeing him up to write more of the kind of punk-soul that has made them famous.
The problem ends up being that Brian Fallon can't not sound like Brian Fallon, and he can't write songs any differently to the way that he writes them. Therefore vocally, and musically this is not a big conceptual step from his day job. He sings the songs a little softer, and plays them a little slower, but the heart is the same.
The difference comes down to the production. There's instruments here that would never show their face on a Gaslight Anthem album, things like Hammond style organs, and horn sections. But more importantly there's more space. The songs don't fill in all the way to the edge, which gives the listener more room to inhabit the song with Brian and Ian.
I think it's going to be tough going for this album. Outside of Gaslight Anthem fans it's going to have to work hard to find an audience, and within those same fans it's going to struggle to live up to the alchemy that happens when those four guys write music together. I like the album, and I like the songs, but it's not the revelation I was hoping it to be.
On a side note, the bonus track that arrived with the download (I love vinyl, but I love it more when they give me a copy I can listen to on my iPod as well) is brilliant. An earnest, broken, cover of Concrete Blonde's 1990 classic Joey. I was always a big fan of the original, and this cover is interesting enough to make me love it all over again. I'd say it was worth getting the album just for this track, but that's not really fair to the rest of the album, which is perfectly adequate, but it pales when compared to what I know Brian is capable of.
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Seeker Lover Keeper- Seeker Lover Keeper
Super groups are a strange idea at the best of times. Often disparate giants of the music industry, each accomplished in their own rights, come together to create something new. Sometimes the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, but more often than not despite being able to see what they were going for you end up wishing that everyone had just stayed at their day job. Having said that, I can understand how it happens. People hear somebody or something that inspires them, and they end up working together.
The baffling thing about Seeker Lover Keeper, a super group of Australian female singer songwriters, is that the three individuals involved (Sarah Blasko, Holly Throsby, and Sally Seltmann) all sound so fundamentally similar that for most of the album it's difficult to tell which of them is singing. Fortunately though there's still somehow some magic at play. Perhaps because they all do essentially the same thing they each wanted to really prove to the others that they could do it well.
Seeker Lover Keeper (which sounds just close enough to 'seek her love her keep her' that it's unlikely to be by accident) is not going to surprise any fans of the three talented artists involved. It's a sweet gentle folksy pop record, with some lovely harmonies. Blasko's otherworldliness, Throsby's sweetness, and Seltmann's yearning (which as previously mentioned do all sound extremely similar) create some truly wonderful songs.
Perhaps the oddest thing about this supergroup is that despite the collaboration each song is only written by one member of the trio. They sing each other's songs, and their own, but they didn't write any of the songs together. Some of these songs may not even have been written for the project and may have just been sitting on the respective shelves, waiting for the right opportunity.
I think this is a really good album, it's funny, it's smart, and it's sweet, but in my mind it's no different to just having a new Sarah Blasko album in my collection (or for that matter a new album by either of the other two ladies).
The baffling thing about Seeker Lover Keeper, a super group of Australian female singer songwriters, is that the three individuals involved (Sarah Blasko, Holly Throsby, and Sally Seltmann) all sound so fundamentally similar that for most of the album it's difficult to tell which of them is singing. Fortunately though there's still somehow some magic at play. Perhaps because they all do essentially the same thing they each wanted to really prove to the others that they could do it well.
Seeker Lover Keeper (which sounds just close enough to 'seek her love her keep her' that it's unlikely to be by accident) is not going to surprise any fans of the three talented artists involved. It's a sweet gentle folksy pop record, with some lovely harmonies. Blasko's otherworldliness, Throsby's sweetness, and Seltmann's yearning (which as previously mentioned do all sound extremely similar) create some truly wonderful songs.
Perhaps the oddest thing about this supergroup is that despite the collaboration each song is only written by one member of the trio. They sing each other's songs, and their own, but they didn't write any of the songs together. Some of these songs may not even have been written for the project and may have just been sitting on the respective shelves, waiting for the right opportunity.
I think this is a really good album, it's funny, it's smart, and it's sweet, but in my mind it's no different to just having a new Sarah Blasko album in my collection (or for that matter a new album by either of the other two ladies).
Friday, August 19, 2011
Gotye - Making Mirrors
Judging by its recent appearance at number 11 on Triple J's chart of the one hundred greatest Australian albums of all time I'm not the only one with an enduring love for Gotye's 2006 album Like Drawing Blood. It's taken five years for Gotye (Belgian born, Melbourne based Wally De Backer) to release this follow up and it feels like a long time between drinks.
The album opens with the title track, a brief atmospheric musing on revelation and reflection that quickly gives way to Easy Way Out, a stomping, buzzy, up tempo number that conceals a world weary cynicism. Next up is the big single. Somebody That I Used to Know has been absolutely massive for Gotye, and has actually been classified Platinum by ARIA which is a rarity in this day and age. The song itself is a fiendishly clever two sided look back on the end of a relationship featuring a magnificent guest vocal from emerging artist Kimbra. After the big single is another familiar musical face, Eyes Wide Open was released as an EP last year, and got a lot of well deserved airplay, coming in at 25 in last year's Hottest 100. It's a song that sounds as wide open as the title implies with a chiming pedal steel guitar and echoing vocal. After the pair of songs that radio listeners will be familiar with there is another track from the Eyes Wide Open EP. Smoke and Mirrors, which is a dark haunting song that's lyrically vicious, although the intended target (possibly Wally himself) is not made clear.
After some dark music and dark thoughts I Feel Better is like the sun coming out from the clouds. Musically it's reminiscent of Motown era Marvin Gaye, with bright brassy stabs and a smoky soulful vocal. The good mood continues with In Your Light, a jangly, hand clapping pop song about the positive influence of love. The album then takes a very strange left turn into State of the Art, which is essentially a five minute long infomercial for a home organ, featuring a vocal so treated it's barely human.
After the commercial break we're treated to Don't Worry, We'll Be Watching You. A musically dark and lyrically sinister sinuous track that is as menacing as the title suggests. Giving Me a Chance is a heartbreaking song of hope for undeserved redemption. Save Me returns to the themes of In Your Light, with a wordless choral backing vocal that fills the sound all the way to the edges. The album closes with Bronte, a touching eulogy to the family dog.
I've liked both of Gotye's previous albums a lot. His cut and paste sample rich song writing method has always been rich and textured. What I wasn't prepared for was just how much he's grown. The song writing on this album is streets ahead of his previous two albums. Every genre he tries his hand at seems to bend willingly, and nothing seems out of place. Even things that on paper sound like bizarre ideas (most notably State of the Art) are so artfully carried out that you can't help but admire them.
Wally's also becoming more at ease with his voice. Where on previous albums the vocal has been treated, layered, and multi tracked, here it is more frequently left flying loud and proud at the centre of the mix. A smooth, slightly smoky, soulful voice that is better than he thinks it is.
The choice of instruments, and the sheer amount of time that must have been spent getting the sounds exactly right does a lot to explain the five years between albums (although with drumming duties in Melbourne's '60s revivalists The Basics it's not like Wally has been entirely absent from the music scene during that time). Everything from samples of old records, to recordings of a musical fence (no, really) has gone into the mix to create the intricate tracks on offer.
There is an episode of Doctor Who in which the Doctor visits Vincent Can Gogh. Towards the end of the episode they are laying on the grass looking up into the sky on a starry night, and Vincent explains how he sees the world. The camera then slowly converts the night sky to look like one of Van Gogh's paintings. The implication being that Van Gogh was painting the world he saw. I wish there was a way I could hear the world the way that Wally De Backer hears the world. He finds music in everything, and what's more he's able to pull it out and put it on tape for everyone else to hear it too.
This album is a work of such extreme mastery I expect I'll still be spotting things (both musically and lyrically) for years to come. I would be highly surprised if I heard a better album this year, I would be even more surprised if Making Mirrors failed to win the J Award for Australian album of the year (look out for Somebody That I Used To Know to win best video, and perhaps take out the top spot in the Hottest 100 too).
This is why I listen to music. This is genius. This is love.
The album opens with the title track, a brief atmospheric musing on revelation and reflection that quickly gives way to Easy Way Out, a stomping, buzzy, up tempo number that conceals a world weary cynicism. Next up is the big single. Somebody That I Used to Know has been absolutely massive for Gotye, and has actually been classified Platinum by ARIA which is a rarity in this day and age. The song itself is a fiendishly clever two sided look back on the end of a relationship featuring a magnificent guest vocal from emerging artist Kimbra. After the big single is another familiar musical face, Eyes Wide Open was released as an EP last year, and got a lot of well deserved airplay, coming in at 25 in last year's Hottest 100. It's a song that sounds as wide open as the title implies with a chiming pedal steel guitar and echoing vocal. After the pair of songs that radio listeners will be familiar with there is another track from the Eyes Wide Open EP. Smoke and Mirrors, which is a dark haunting song that's lyrically vicious, although the intended target (possibly Wally himself) is not made clear.
After some dark music and dark thoughts I Feel Better is like the sun coming out from the clouds. Musically it's reminiscent of Motown era Marvin Gaye, with bright brassy stabs and a smoky soulful vocal. The good mood continues with In Your Light, a jangly, hand clapping pop song about the positive influence of love. The album then takes a very strange left turn into State of the Art, which is essentially a five minute long infomercial for a home organ, featuring a vocal so treated it's barely human.
After the commercial break we're treated to Don't Worry, We'll Be Watching You. A musically dark and lyrically sinister sinuous track that is as menacing as the title suggests. Giving Me a Chance is a heartbreaking song of hope for undeserved redemption. Save Me returns to the themes of In Your Light, with a wordless choral backing vocal that fills the sound all the way to the edges. The album closes with Bronte, a touching eulogy to the family dog.
I've liked both of Gotye's previous albums a lot. His cut and paste sample rich song writing method has always been rich and textured. What I wasn't prepared for was just how much he's grown. The song writing on this album is streets ahead of his previous two albums. Every genre he tries his hand at seems to bend willingly, and nothing seems out of place. Even things that on paper sound like bizarre ideas (most notably State of the Art) are so artfully carried out that you can't help but admire them.
Wally's also becoming more at ease with his voice. Where on previous albums the vocal has been treated, layered, and multi tracked, here it is more frequently left flying loud and proud at the centre of the mix. A smooth, slightly smoky, soulful voice that is better than he thinks it is.
The choice of instruments, and the sheer amount of time that must have been spent getting the sounds exactly right does a lot to explain the five years between albums (although with drumming duties in Melbourne's '60s revivalists The Basics it's not like Wally has been entirely absent from the music scene during that time). Everything from samples of old records, to recordings of a musical fence (no, really) has gone into the mix to create the intricate tracks on offer.
There is an episode of Doctor Who in which the Doctor visits Vincent Can Gogh. Towards the end of the episode they are laying on the grass looking up into the sky on a starry night, and Vincent explains how he sees the world. The camera then slowly converts the night sky to look like one of Van Gogh's paintings. The implication being that Van Gogh was painting the world he saw. I wish there was a way I could hear the world the way that Wally De Backer hears the world. He finds music in everything, and what's more he's able to pull it out and put it on tape for everyone else to hear it too.
This album is a work of such extreme mastery I expect I'll still be spotting things (both musically and lyrically) for years to come. I would be highly surprised if I heard a better album this year, I would be even more surprised if Making Mirrors failed to win the J Award for Australian album of the year (look out for Somebody That I Used To Know to win best video, and perhaps take out the top spot in the Hottest 100 too).
This is why I listen to music. This is genius. This is love.
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Death Cab For Cutie - Codes And Keys
For a band named after a Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band song Death Cab For Cutie have been around for a surprising fourteen years. Codes And Keys is their seventh full length studio album, and their third since signing to Atlantic in 2004.
I never liked Death Cab when it was cool. I wasn't plugged in enough to the underground/independent music scene to be aware of them. Hence when they broke I reacted to not knowing about them for their first few albums by assuming they were no good (surely if they were good I would know about them, right?).
It took me a little while to properly rectify this, and as a result I'm not the fan I could be. I like what they do, but I'm far from fanatical about it. Which is probably a good place to be when reviewing an album. Too often I try to review an album by a band that I love and I find myself apologising for the things that didn't quite work for me.
Codes And Keys is a dense album. Not in that lyrical way that it's full of references and symbols. It's musically dense. The songs seem to slowly build and to wrap themselves in layers, like peeling an onion in reverse. The result is occasionally dark, but always interesting. Every song takes a musical journey.
The result of this musical density is that you manage to hear a slightly different album every time. Each listen something else will jump out at you, a guitar line here, a piano riff there. It's an album that rewards repetition, but never feels repetitive.
Of course maybe I just want to like it to make up for all that lost time when they were good and I wasn't paying attention.
I never liked Death Cab when it was cool. I wasn't plugged in enough to the underground/independent music scene to be aware of them. Hence when they broke I reacted to not knowing about them for their first few albums by assuming they were no good (surely if they were good I would know about them, right?).
It took me a little while to properly rectify this, and as a result I'm not the fan I could be. I like what they do, but I'm far from fanatical about it. Which is probably a good place to be when reviewing an album. Too often I try to review an album by a band that I love and I find myself apologising for the things that didn't quite work for me.
Codes And Keys is a dense album. Not in that lyrical way that it's full of references and symbols. It's musically dense. The songs seem to slowly build and to wrap themselves in layers, like peeling an onion in reverse. The result is occasionally dark, but always interesting. Every song takes a musical journey.
The result of this musical density is that you manage to hear a slightly different album every time. Each listen something else will jump out at you, a guitar line here, a piano riff there. It's an album that rewards repetition, but never feels repetitive.
Of course maybe I just want to like it to make up for all that lost time when they were good and I wasn't paying attention.
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Kaiser Chiefs - The Future Is Medieval
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.
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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