Bang Bang Rock & Roll
Bang Bang Rock & Roll
Many bands have promised to bring intelligence back into rock’n'roll, but few offer it quite so readily as on the debut album by Art Brut – even if it’s a little too frequently brains of the somewhat smart-arsed variety. This is down to Art Brut band-leader Eddie Argos, a loud-mouthed student type in vintage blazer, whose half-sung, half-bellowed vocal – rambling, witticism-strewn missives about beautiful girls, modern art, and Top Of The Pops – surfs unsteadily atop a musical backdrop of cranked-up garage-rock clatter, distorted rockabilly, and good honest first-wave punk-rock.
It’s an acquired taste, sure – not everyone will want to shriek along to Argos’ somewhat pretentious proclamation “Popular culture/ No longer applies to me!” on “Bad Weekend”. But every now and then, Art Brut’s pseudy side slides into sharp focus and turns out a song like “Formed A Band” – a hilarious indie-rock manifesto that sees Argos declare a wish to be “the boy, the man/ Who writes the song that makes Israel and Palestine get along”. And if that doesn’t warm the cockles of your heart, perhaps “Emily Kane” – dedicated to Argos’ childhood sweetheart – will. –Louis Pattison
Customer Review: Underrated.
This may be one of the best Cd’s in my vast collection, from the start, with the anthem ‘Formed A Band’ to the end with the short but sweet ‘18000 Lira’. It’s catchy, addictive and overall, brilliant.
Eddie Argos’ clever lyrics bring a smile to my face every time i hear them, from ‘drinking Hennessy with Morrissey’ to not standing ‘the sound of the Velvet Underground’.
The highlight for me is Emily Kane, a love song in which Argos sings about a girl that he once went to school with.
Overall, it may not go down in history as being one of the best indie albums of the 2000s but it deserves to, being a masterpiece in its own right.
Customer Review: Pop culture no longer applies to me
There’s just something so endearing about a band who announces on their first song: “Formed a band/we formed a band/look at us! We formed a band!” with a mixture of glee and winking confidence.
And it’s just the warmup for this enthusiastic, energetic rock band, with their solid, peppy Britpop debut, “Bang Bang Rock & Roll.” Their rollicking guitars are so infused with fun and over-the-top rock’n'roll sentiments that it’s impossible not to be charmed.
A sizzling riff opens the first song, in which Eddie Argos announces that they’ve formed a band, and urges people to”Stop buying your albums from the supermarket/they only sell records that have charted.” Then he adds with winking charm: “And yes, this is my singing voice. It’s not irony, it’s not rock & roll — we’re just talking…. to the KIDS!”
Turns out it’s only the warmup — next Art Brut focuses on the jangly, tight rhythms of how “My little brother just discovered rock & roll/There’s a noise in his head, and he’s out of control!”
From there, they trip off into a joyous round of tight Britpop odes to Emily Kane, bouncy little indiepop, and frolicking rock numbers that twist in on themselves during the catchy chorus. But they also try out some other sounds: the sunny Beach-Boysy pop of “Move to L.A.,” and the weirdly ominous ballad “Rusted Guns.”
At first, Art Brut sound like any other fun Britpop band. But their album blossoms the more you listen to it — these lads have a tight grip on their brilliant instrumentation, and they know how to wink at us through their odd, somewhat repetitive lyrics.
The riffs in this album are simply stunning: they ring, buzz, bounce, and sizzle, tightly wound into solid tunes. They’re paired with solid basslines and some smashing drums, along with some twisted keyboard and what sounds like stomping feet. Together, they form some deliciously dancy rock tunes, but they’re complex enough to never get dull
At first, their lyrics sound kind of simplistic, and in a few songs they are. But listen carefully. They’re a lot wittier than that: they take a few humorous jabs at L.A., the music industry, and derivative bands. And they know how to create beautifully over-the-top odes to a first love (”Every girl that I’ve seen since/looks just like you when I squint”), and the joy of rock’n'roll. Even a song about…. um, performance problems.
In fact, in some songs, they exude the delight of some teenage boys who are getting to have fun out on the town… with girls! In one song, Argos yells out joyously about a new girlfriend, “I’ve seen her naked…. twice!” Very cute.
Argos himself has a nice voice — it’s pleasantly ordinary, neither too smooth or too rough, and he can sing through quieter songs as well as the rollicking dancier ones. And occasionally he drops out of singing altogether, usually to deliver the best lines: “No more songs about sex and drugs and rock and roll / It’s BOOOOORING!”
Art Brut’s debut album is a fun, rollicking, laddish album of solid rock’n'roll tunes, delightful lyrics and solid singing. Definite;y a must-buy.
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