Future Of The Left - Curses
Artist profile:
Future Of The Left
Release Date: 24/09/07
Label: Too Pure
Rating: ****
The year ambles quietly toward its' conclusion, a sunless summer flopping into a grave of browning autumn leaves and soon we must face the inevitable outpouring of end-of-year 'top ten' and 'best of' lists. It's hard to imagine exactly what the content of the 'Best Album' rundowns will consist of, it having been, bar some marvellous freak diversions, a slow middle-of-the-road, coffe table kind of annum.
Ah well, better luck next year, so where do we get a decent vegetarian christmas dinner around here?
But hang on. Maybe the boys from Mclusky and Jarcrew have made something worth listening to. Maybe they've bucked the 'supergroup' trend and brought us something valid, fresh and exciting...
Just teasing. Of course they have.
Opening with the AA of their debut single 'The Lord Hates A Coward', the brutal, surreal humour of Andy Falkous comes immediately to the fore with references to pickled onions, 'terrible men' and violence within the first verse. Accompaniment is provided by Falkous' own clanging chainsaw guitar, Kelson Mathias' gut-wrenching bassline and Jack Egglestone's epileptic metronome drumbeats to overwhelming effect. Like many of the songs here, this is dirge-like but instantly memorable, a high intensity drag through the post-rock swamps that leaves you dazed, dirty and grinning.
The record, however, has way more to offer than bludgeoning brilliance and charged riffola.
'Plague of Onces' delves deep into old-school At the Drive-In waters with it's spastic rhythms and a structure so tight it threatens to collapse in on itself at any moment;
'Manchasm' takes a bite of punk-funk and spews it, albeit melodiously, into the face of what would be a deeply disturbed Brian Wilson by the conclusion of the song's climaxing harmonies;
'Small Bones Small Bodies' lurches toward the numbed nastiness of The Jesus Lizard and includes the funniest line you'll hear in quite some time: 'Where's the harm in being accidentally miniaturised?'. Where indeed.
Things do occasionally confuse somewhat - while 'Wrigley Scott' is undoubtedly a great tune with it's sweeping falsetto vocals and expectedly idiosyncratic verbosity, it does offer a fairly dumb '70s pastiche chug-a-long intro.
'Real Men Hunt In Packs', while being a tremendous diatribe against our modern macho dystopia, has another of those chuggy Slade riffs at it's end. But this, friends, is what Roman Polanski called 'Fucking the fly', a more colourful way of picking the nit. These are faults that are neither glaring nor disabling, more obtuse and possibly intentional. 'Kept by Bees' is the only indecipherable concern here, seeming purposely strange and unpleasantly claustraphobic.
There are at least three actual solid gold classic songs on this album (on further listens, there may well be more).
'Suddenly It's A Folk Song' lilts beatifically in the direction of vintage Pavement, utilising the band's new toy, a Roland Juno 60 keyboard, to immensely warming effect. It's a pop song in the way you wish pop songs always were and will stay in the mind for months to come.
The second absolute no-questions-asked legend killer is closing track 'The Contrarian', a gently handled piano ballad recalling Nick Cave's bleaker moments, sugaring the pill with a tune that defies resistance.
Lastly, should we seem to be favouring the comfortable over the jagged, mention must be made of the psychotic 'adeadenemyalwayssmellsgood'. Aggression, wit, hate and a harbinger of doom bassline. It just makes you want to smash your furniture to pieces. Which is a good thing.
It's impossible to say how vital Future of the Left are to British music at this moment. The album closes with the charmingly prescient line 'I give you the future of what you demanded', but of course it's down to the music loving public to make the demand for this kind of cataclysmic brilliance even greater.
This is an album of soul, intelligence and has a huge dark heart at it's centre.
Spread the word, friends.
Torch the autumn leaves, break the coffee table and join us for a bright, burning winter of punk.
James O’Connell
Future Of The Left Official Site
Future Of The Left Myspace
Buy Future Of The Left CDs | Buy Future Of The Left mp3s | Buy Future Of The Left Tickets | Buy Future Of The Left Merch
Release Date: 24/09/07
Label: Too Pure
Rating: ****
The year ambles quietly toward its' conclusion, a sunless summer flopping into a grave of browning autumn leaves and soon we must face the inevitable outpouring of end-of-year 'top ten' and 'best of' lists. It's hard to imagine exactly what the content of the 'Best Album' rundowns will consist of, it having been, bar some marvellous freak diversions, a slow middle-of-the-road, coffe table kind of annum.
Ah well, better luck next year, so where do we get a decent vegetarian christmas dinner around here?
But hang on. Maybe the boys from Mclusky and Jarcrew have made something worth listening to. Maybe they've bucked the 'supergroup' trend and brought us something valid, fresh and exciting...
Just teasing. Of course they have.
Opening with the AA of their debut single 'The Lord Hates A Coward', the brutal, surreal humour of Andy Falkous comes immediately to the fore with references to pickled onions, 'terrible men' and violence within the first verse. Accompaniment is provided by Falkous' own clanging chainsaw guitar, Kelson Mathias' gut-wrenching bassline and Jack Egglestone's epileptic metronome drumbeats to overwhelming effect. Like many of the songs here, this is dirge-like but instantly memorable, a high intensity drag through the post-rock swamps that leaves you dazed, dirty and grinning.
The record, however, has way more to offer than bludgeoning brilliance and charged riffola.
'Plague of Onces' delves deep into old-school At the Drive-In waters with it's spastic rhythms and a structure so tight it threatens to collapse in on itself at any moment;
'Manchasm' takes a bite of punk-funk and spews it, albeit melodiously, into the face of what would be a deeply disturbed Brian Wilson by the conclusion of the song's climaxing harmonies;
'Small Bones Small Bodies' lurches toward the numbed nastiness of The Jesus Lizard and includes the funniest line you'll hear in quite some time: 'Where's the harm in being accidentally miniaturised?'. Where indeed.
Things do occasionally confuse somewhat - while 'Wrigley Scott' is undoubtedly a great tune with it's sweeping falsetto vocals and expectedly idiosyncratic verbosity, it does offer a fairly dumb '70s pastiche chug-a-long intro.
'Real Men Hunt In Packs', while being a tremendous diatribe against our modern macho dystopia, has another of those chuggy Slade riffs at it's end. But this, friends, is what Roman Polanski called 'Fucking the fly', a more colourful way of picking the nit. These are faults that are neither glaring nor disabling, more obtuse and possibly intentional. 'Kept by Bees' is the only indecipherable concern here, seeming purposely strange and unpleasantly claustraphobic.
There are at least three actual solid gold classic songs on this album (on further listens, there may well be more).
'Suddenly It's A Folk Song' lilts beatifically in the direction of vintage Pavement, utilising the band's new toy, a Roland Juno 60 keyboard, to immensely warming effect. It's a pop song in the way you wish pop songs always were and will stay in the mind for months to come.
The second absolute no-questions-asked legend killer is closing track 'The Contrarian', a gently handled piano ballad recalling Nick Cave's bleaker moments, sugaring the pill with a tune that defies resistance.
Lastly, should we seem to be favouring the comfortable over the jagged, mention must be made of the psychotic 'adeadenemyalwayssmellsgood'. Aggression, wit, hate and a harbinger of doom bassline. It just makes you want to smash your furniture to pieces. Which is a good thing.
It's impossible to say how vital Future of the Left are to British music at this moment. The album closes with the charmingly prescient line 'I give you the future of what you demanded', but of course it's down to the music loving public to make the demand for this kind of cataclysmic brilliance even greater.
This is an album of soul, intelligence and has a huge dark heart at it's centre.
Spread the word, friends.
Torch the autumn leaves, break the coffee table and join us for a bright, burning winter of punk.
James O’Connell
Future Of The Left Official Site
Future Of The Left Myspace
Buy Future Of The Left CDs | Buy Future Of The Left mp3s | Buy Future Of The Left Tickets | Buy Future Of The Left Merch
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