LATE OF THE PIERFantasy Black Channel
I know, I know. You’ve had your fill of English indie/dance bands. Admittedly, there has been an influx of them desperately trying to ride on Klaxons’ coattails over the past couple of years, and many of them have been pretty poor (Hadouken! anybody?), but your faith is about to be restored by four guys from Nottinghamshire.
Helped in no small part by (seemingly omnipresent) dance producer Erol Alkan sprinkling his magic over it, Late Of The Pier’s debut album is equally slick and ramshackle, yet always exciting. Along with its chunky synths and catchy riffs, standout track Space and The Woods gives a big wink to Gary Numan, while space-opera Focker sounds like Klaxons having a fight with Muse on the Death Star. Elsewhere, things go even crazier, with the woozy guitar of Broken making way for a techno madness outro. Similarly, Random Firl feels like it could fall apart at any moment until the vocal reigns it back in.
The only time things take a downturn is with The Enemy Of The Future, which, despite a fun karaoke Bowie vocal, slows the pace and feels slightly lumbering in contrast to the rest of the songs. However, things instantly pick up with the last two tracks, especially the sweary, Sparks-esque insanity of album-closer Bathroom Gurgle.
It is testament to Fantasy Black Channel’s production, construction and inventiveness that, while it is fast, loud and often completely barmy, it’s never inaccessible or self-indulgent. What we have here is a perfectly-judged, well-executed, fearless and, most importantly, utterly thrilling record.
1 comment:
It seems these guys have come out of nowhere considering I’ve had trouble finding some informative reading material about the group. Their website isn’t that great. I did, however, see Erol Alkan produced the album, supposedly a notable DJ out of London. I suppose that has to be some kind of representation for promise.
Exploring other reviews, I’ve seen many comparisons to Gary Numan and Frank Zappa, but I can neither agree nor disagree since I’ve never listened to either of those two much. Fantasy Black Channel is very quirky, poppy, electronic, and full of synth. Simply put, it’s party music. Immediately there are similarities to Franz Ferdinand and The Killers, two groups who’ve successfully hit the pop scene. I’m not sure Late of the Pier will reach that status, though. There seems to be too many “been done before” aspects.
Ever since Death From Above 1979 disbanded, I’ve been searching high and low for a band able enough to replicate You’re A Woman, I’m A Machine. No, Late of the Pier can’t do that, but a few of their songs are fairly akin – “Space & The Woods” and “Focker.” The beats and guitar (or bass, whatever it is) are awesome. Going back to the producer, Erol Alkan, it may be worth knowing in the past he remixed music from both Death From Above 1979 and Franz Ferdinand. It’s just an interesting tidbit. Also, at times I think of David Bowie and subsequently Flight of the Conchords mocking him.
Fantasy Black Channel isn’t that bad despite all the rehashing, even if the flow of the album is all over the place. Amidst the rocking and dancing there’s stuff that could be music in an NES game (“Random Firl,” have a listen and tell me otherwise). All things considered, this debut is decent.
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