Snippets of thoughts
on random records
Boredom made me write random
comments, back in March, about what I had then been listening to most:
The Coral, Electrelane, Franz
Ferdinand, the Mars Volta, the
Modern Lovers.
The Coral 'The Coral'
I only just gave these guys some proper attention – dismissed
them as rip-off chancers… and they do rip a lot of people off,
but do so like lovable scamps! ‘Dreaming of You’ is classic
beat-pop, ‘Skeleton Key’ has a wayward guitar straight off
‘Trout Mask Replica’ but turns into the Happy Mondays come
the coda, ‘Badman’ rips off Love in more ways than one –
the guitar, and the “the Lord knows” bit, which was stupid
enough in the 1960s. But it's a good fun album. I hear the follow-ups
haven't been so good?
Electrelane
'The Power Out'
I saw Electrelane once, at a festival; I'd forgotten. "Electrelane
are four women (with hats) who hop on a Krautrock keyboard groove and
put their feet down, speeding along and cutting songs' corners with
ease; the transition from slow to fast can be awkward, but is mostly
exhilarating. Who needs vocals, who needs names?"
They've come a long way since that draughty tent (and I need to give
the album a proper review).
Franz Ferdinand
'Franz Ferdinand'
I don't need to write about that single, because everybody has
heard it already… but I need to write about it because I like it.
I didn't really want to like it… I was suspicious. The first time
I heard them was on TV! That's not right, surely? Shouldn't a band have
to play the toilet circuit a few more times before they have wee Jools
Holland look up to them? They never came to Hull… I don't remember
seeing their stupid name in Careless Talk Costs Lives, the magazine
in which I read about nearly anything else I heard in the last two years.
But I do like it... it sounds like so many of my favourite bands. Talking
Heads meets Pulp meets I don't know what in a crowded lift… Something
about them makes me think of Orange Juice and it's not just the floppy
fringes with the short back and sides (and I want a haircut). It does
sound a bit like indie karaoke. Like, they want to pretend to be everything
they've ever liked; but, being 'indie', they can't just sing to someone
else's track, they need to form their own band and release songs on
one of the most cred labels around.
Why had I not heard of them before? It hardly matters when they blast onto TOTP, or when that intro to 'Take Me out' is played three times in a big club tease; so good to hear a good guitar song so popular. While not a consistent classic, the debut album does hold some corkers, 'Matinee' the most infectious and funny, all with a suave lechery not seen in indie-bedsit-land since the Divine Comedy's 'Casanova'; lots of harmonies, and the guitar sounds like a woodpecker moves.
I want some more fantastic passion…
The Mars Volta
'De-loused in the Comatorium'
My friend Ben said upon hearing this for the first time (and never hearing
anything like it elsewhere), "this is what Avril Lavigne should
sound like". Imagine if pop music were like this! Songs
that, in spite of their lyrics being as obscure as fuck (or the derivation
of the word), have tunes as catchy as a big-armed bandit, which descend
into static for about a full ten minutes, before the chorus comes back
in again to remind you it's still the same song! Hell! Yeah! Prog is
back, and this time it's cool. I'm really looking forward to hearing
what influence this album will have on new bands.
(Tom also deserves credit for pointing out this album's similarity to
‘Six’ by Mansun. The overall overblown concept and all,
and maybe something to do with sharing the most histrionic rock vocals
since Axl Rose, but the split-up Brits had dodgy synth sounds and Tom
Baker instead of funk-bass by Flea. Great album, though)
The Modern
Lovers 'Modern Lovers'
Probably the original primitive nerd band / post-Stooges softies / fake-dumb
troubadours. Violent Femmes and New Bad Things, and the next generation's
Hefner, had a lot to learn from them. You'll recognise the simple thrill
of 'Roadrunner' ("with the radio on…") and perhaps
'Pablo Picasso' ("he was never called an asshole") but
what gets me every time is the way they spell out what they want in
a 'Girlfren' and, as you can see, spell the word out wrong; and the
way they're in love with two worlds, the modern and the old; and just
the way that Jonathan Richman sings "hey kids," to
be backed up by his band in such a sympathetic address. Hear it and
it might tug your heart.
