Posts written by art brut

Glastonbury…

Well, I’m off for a week to Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts down in Somerset, and for those that are interested, here’s who I’m hoping to see and who I recommend to you.

This will nearly be my 20th festival (nb. first Glasto) and thus I’ve seen a lot of bands, so this year I’m going to try checking out some bands I usually wouldn’t and let you know what I think…

Friday

Bloc Party 23:00 to 00:15

Neil Young 22:00 to 00:15

The Streets 21:00 to 22:15

Specials 20:00 to 21:15

Friendly Fires 18:30 to 19:30

Metronomy 17:25 to 18:10

Fleet Foxes 16:40 to 17:40

N.E.R.D. 15:10 to 16:10

Regina Spektor 13:40 to 14:40

Rumble Strips 13:00 to 13:40

Bombay Bicycle Club 12:00 to 13:00

Mr Hudson 10:50 to 11:40

Saturday

Africa Express Sound System 01:30 to 03:30

Hypnotic Brass Ensemble 00:30 to 01:15

Franz Ferdinand 22:50 to 00:15

Bruce Springsteen & The E Street band 22:00 to 00:15

Deadmau5 20:00 to 21:30

Klaxons 19:50 to 20:35

Passion Pit 18:40 to 19:30

La Roux 17:50 to 18:30

Dizzee Rascal 16:20 to 17:20

Spinal Tap 14:50 to 15:40

Eagles Of Death Metal 13:30 to 14:20

Tinariwen 12:20 to 13:05

First Aid Kit 11:00 to 11:30

Sunday

Blur 21:50 to 23:45

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds 20:00 to 21:15

Noisettes 19:30 to 20:30

Bat For Lashes 18:30 to 19:30

Yeah Yeah Yeahs 17:00 to 18:00

Tom Jones 16:15 to 17:30

The Mummers 15:15 to 16:05

Alberta Cross 14:00 to 14:45

Art Brut 13:10 to 14:00

White Lies 12:00 to 12:30

Good Books 11:00 to 11:30

(NB: These stage times are from the official site)

I’ll report back on the other side, see you then.

Greg

Album of the Week

After their poorly performing second album It’s A Bit Complicated got them dropped by their record label, Art Brut have gone back to basics for Art Brut Vs. Satan.



To indicate just how back to basics they have gone, here’s a graph which illustrates the full extent of Eddie Argos’ lyrical focus. Girls. Music. Drinking. Sometimes all three combine, as on What a Rush’s Beatles/Stones analogy for drunken war of the sexes. That’s as complex as it gets though.

If this sounds like criticism, for the most part it is not. No one wants Art Brut to tackle politics (even if they did claim on Formed a Band to have written a song to make Israel and Palestine get along). Instead we get ode to immaturity DC Comics and Chocolate Milkshake and Eddie joyfully shouting that he’s “In love with the girl in my comic shop/She’s a girl who likes comics she must get that a lot.” First track and lead off single Alcoholics Unanimous features possibly the best use of “etcetera” in song, ever. Album centrepiece Demon’s Out sees Art Brut wage war against a record buying public who “shouldn’t be voting,” and on Slap Dash for No Cash Argos lambasts Bono wannabes, asking why anyone would want to sound like U2.

Elsewhere, however, they seem to be treading water. The Passenger’s chorus of “I love Public Transportation/Train or bus they’re both amazing” is excruciatingly bad, while The Replacements, a tribute to the band of the same name, sounds like filler.

When the band are more adventurous it pays off. Summer Job features actual proper singing, although obviously not from Eddie, and is one of the most infectious tracks they’ve written. However, it is the last track, Mysterious Bruises, which is the real stand out. The track sees the band abandoning their tried and tested 3-minute punk-pop formula, crafting an 8 minute long oddity with a bassline which is, dare I say, funky. Featuring the hilarious lyric “I fought the floor and the floor won,” the track is an unexpected (in a good way) end to an otherwise solid but overcautious album.

7/10

Out Now

Jed Howlett

Thursday interview… Art Brut

In the most pathetic faux ironic piece of post-modern shit, we bring you this weeks Thursday interview with Eddie Argos.

Seen as everyone is trying to pretend Twitter is an authoritative source, (every bloody TV news bulletin tries to work it in some how), here is a conversation I will call an interview… if The Sun can make a story out of any old shit, so can I.

There is an ulterior motive for this though, their third album Art Brut VS Satan is out this week which you should really check out. If you’re unsure we have a lengthy review coming up in the next few days, so look out for that.

Anyway, without further a do, here is the exclusive Q&A with Eddie Argos:

Eddie: Dreamt I was in Ben Folds Five last night. We had a song called “Into The Oblivion”

AGCS: Ha! Are you a fan of Ben Folds/Ben Folds Five?

Eddie: I quite like Ben Folds. I haven’t heard much but I like everything I’ve heard. No idea why I was dreaming about them

So there we go. Eddie did actually very kindly write a long piece for us at Christmas about his favourite songs, but we’re not desperate enough to publish that again… yet.

Greg