The art rock band that actually went to art school, the Vic Gents have always made a keen and pleasant racket. Their trademark unpredictability and scissor kick angles are in the mix, as is off-kilter pop nuance. The girls' shiny, boppy 'la la la' backing vocals set up against Adam Taylor's deep-toned wandering mind monolgue is a great arrangement. All the while, Pixies bass mania breaks loose and guitars cavort around to art-rock perfection.
Bored in Belgium may be about suicidal europeans but it sounds so cheerily winning. This is bop-happy alt pop redolent of The Fall's 80s quirks. Speaking of Mr Smith and co; the B-side here, The Woodsmen, kicks off with a near-perfect bass steal from the thunderous Reformation theme by The Fall and is brilliant for it.
Yeah it came out last year, I was meaning to get round to reviewing it. I do like it but I'm not sure in adding a new member has actually improved them or not. For me I prefered their earlier rawer stuff I apreciated they are trying to evolve and I do like parts of the new album in a Wire/Devo type way, I'm just a bit mixed on the production and the ammount of things going on now.
Great single from one of my favourite albums of 2009.
It was recorded with the original line-up, but since then original drummer Emma left (now part of Islet) and they've got a new drummer and another guitarist.
Bloodflowerbill wrote: I prefered their earlier rawer stuff I apreciated they are trying to evolve and I do like parts of the new album in a Wire/Devo type way, I'm just a bit mixed on the production and the ammount of things going on now.
I do prefer the earlier stuff, too. Can't believe it's 5 years ago that I saw them live - on what felt like some kind of Mississipi type film set.
