The Whitest Boy Alive - Dreams [Universal album]

That Erland Øye does come up with some inventive monikers for his musical endeavours. First there was his Kings of Convenience, then album titles Quiet is the New Loud and Riot on an Empty Street, and now his latest venture - The Whitest Boy Alive. In fact, it comes as something of a disappointment that the debut album from the Norwegian four-piece is simply entitled Dreams. He was obviously half asleep when he came up with that one… (ahem).

It is difficult, at first at least, not to judge TWBA’s work in the context of Øye’s other band, especially when his instantly recognisable lilting Scandinavian tones seep from the speakers like an old friend. The subject matter, too, remains consistent and the quotidian stories of a lonely boy’s loves and losses that defined Kings of Convenience are still very much in evidence. However, whereas the songs recorded with Eirik Glambek were generally of the gentle acoustic lullaby variety, this is, at the very least, a more grown-up sounding record.

The ten songs are all very much plugged in, but remain suitably laid-back and for the most part are left sparse and roomy. It is telling that TWBA started off as an ‘electronic’ project, because what is left is essentially an album of jazzy electronica without the electronica. The vast expanses within the songs on ‘Dreams’ are filled with meandering bass lines and guitar parts that verge from the easy listening to at times the downright funky (such as the snare-filled ‘Fireworks). The tracks are certainly not in a rush to go anywhere and at times this means they can drag on a little with extended instrumentals that go round in circles. Sometimes this works beautifully, like on the husky ‘Borders’ for example, but at one’s most cynical, the line “Giving me a reason to stay constantly ignored” in ‘Don’t Give Up’ can be a little close to home.

All in all, ‘Dreams’ is a very well put together album that works delightfully as a sedentary soundtrack to whatever else you might be doing at the time. The elongated musical structure also allows the quirky, witty lyrics to breathe, develop and grab more of the attention than you might expect and this often proves a highlight. There is little wrong with the album, but it is so laid-back it is difficult to see who (apart from fans of Kings of Convenience and Øye’s other enterprises) going to want to really get stuck into it and give it the repeat listens that it probably needs to be truly appreciated.

Oh, and listen out for the backing vocals that turn up half way through ‘Don’t Give Up’ that sound just like Jemaine from Flight of the Conchords has lent a helping hand in the studio.

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First published on rockfeedback.com. See it here.

Video Of The Month #3 Vampire Weekend - A Punk [dir Hammer & Tongs]

Not only are Vampire Weekend officially 'the next big thing', they have also - with the help of Hammer & Tongs - made a hilarious Monkees-for-the-21st Century video to new single 'A Punk'. Hope you like drums...

Kap Bambino - Zero Life, Night Vision [Alt>Delete album]

Having soundtracked the infancy of ‘New Rave’ back in the dayglo summer of 2006, Alt Delete unleashes a salvo of electro-punk in the form of the debut long player from Bordeaux’s Kap Bambino. Big things often come in small packages and this duo, comprising Orion Bouvier (bleeps, blips and noise) and Caroline Martial (wailing banshee), manage to make one hell of a racket. The two do their darnedest to replicate on record their apparently incendiary live performances and the result is both pulsating and aggressive.

In this instance the ‘punk’ of their electro-punk comes not from guitars but from the same DIY ethos of early ‘New Rave’ and from the short bursts of furious energy that make up this album. Like the soundtrack to a dystopian world, ‘Zero Life, Night Vision’ is more (or less, depending on which way you look at it) than a collection of ‘songs’, in fact resembling a continual aural assault made up of 12 intense blitzkrieg attacks. Titles like ‘Kaoskillers’ and ‘More Machine’ hint at the band’s future-shock sound, which has a blueprint loosely thus: Bouvier’s bleepy synth sounds over fuzzy noise, with vocodered shrieking vocals courtesy of Martial.

With the origins of ‘New Rave’ buried under Mercury Prizes and Top Shop fashion it is refreshing to hear a band actually indulging in proper ‘old rave’ sounds and ‘Zero Life, Night Vision’ works from a formula that is instantly exciting thanks to its exhilarating aggression. After repeated listens, though, it can seem just that: formulaic.

First published in Notion magazine.

Supergrass - Diamond Hoo Ha Man [Parlophone single]

Along with fellow Oxfordians Radiohead, Supergrass are one of the few originators of Britpop to still be clinging on to much credibility – and it just so happens that they were one of the best. But somehow there is still the pervading sense that despite littering the charts with a succession of fantastic pop songs, Gaz et al have never quite surmounted the peaks that seemed within their reach.

In some ways, then, this White Stripes-flavoured bluesy rocker seems a fresh attempt to scythe through the repetitive and ever-multiplying chaff of current one-album, chart-bothering British indie (most of whom would sell their Lyle & Scott branded souls for a ‘Lenny’, ‘Caught by the Fuzz’ or ‘Mansize Rooster’). It does so, quite simply, by not sounding very British. The opening riff is almost identical to ‘Blue Orchid’, the slide guitar is reminiscent of a slightly slicker Gun Club and the integration of that most American of phrases “Bite me” adds to the all-round US garage rock feel of the track.

What is certainly true, though, is that after some 14 years Supergrass still know their way around a three and a half minute pop song. ‘Diamond Hoo Ha Man’ is another one that stands out on the radio, albeit thanks to a pretty straightforward Kings of Leon type formula: pounding drums, chunky guitars, aforementioned riff, speed up-slow down-speed up structure and some top-notch vocals.

It is a more than pleasant way to pass said 210 odd seconds and is nearly a very good return. But it just does sound a bit generic and lacks the Supergrass touch that (much like Super Furry Animals) normally makes their songs great. And it doesn’t help that it is actually ‘Blue Orchid’ that I have in my head long after listening to this track, rather than the work of the Hoo Ha Men. Still, decent enough, and an indication that there most probably is life in the old ‘grass yet.


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First published on rockfeedback.com. See it here.