It's knee-jerk hyperbole hour here at AYGH towers. I've already peed my virtual pants over the merits of Arming Eritrea, and today its parent album hits stores, both actual and computer-oriented. And dare I say it, Future of the Left's 'Travels With Myself and Another' is the best album of 2009 so far. Yes, I'll say it.
Where 'Curses' saw the band trying to find its voice, 'Travels..' is gloriously focused. It's also hilarious, righteous, rocks like a ten-tonne bastard, and - here's the revelation - has some tunes you can hum the next day.
Witness 'Throwing Bricks at Trains', a song with more melody than anything they've put out before, and with harmonies! 'Drink Nike' has a chorus - not just one sentence (cf "Sausage on a stick", "why put the body where the body don't wanna go?") but an actual, straight-up chorus. 'Chin Music' spins from a fuzzy, accelerated verse to a delirious payoff. And 'Lapsed Catholics' discusses the 'Shawshank Redemption', making this arguably the first rock album of the year to tip a cap to Frank Darabont. They still play their "bass-tuned-all-the-way-down" card, on tracks like 'You Need Satan More Than He Needs You', so this isn't a complete reinvention. They've just smoothed some - some - of their edges and honed themselves into a leering powerful machine.
There's a great interview with Falco over at DiS, where he talks a British inferiority complex when it comes to bands that rock. With 'Travels With Myself and Another', the band has reached the potential we all knew they would. In a perfect world, they'd become massive after this. It's not a perfect world, but this is a damn-near perfect album.
The train will invariably come to a halt
I know my own worth
My two favourite songs of last year, 'Kriss Kross' and 'Constructive Summer', were both opening tracks on their respective albums. There's clearly something about front-loading a much-anticapted new-release with a stone-cold stunner that really appeals to bands. (Four hyphen-linked words in one sentence? I'm a genius.) Clearly hip to this technique, Future of the Left are back, and their song 'Arming Eritrea', which kicks off new record 'Travels With Myself and Another' (out in June) has made it to "Samir's favourite song of 2009 so far".
I'm sawdust in a sandpaper suit
As regular readers may be aware, I'm often bemoaning the lack of bands that come to my hometown of Gainesville, Florida. Plenty of bands do come, of course, but rarely are these bands from the top drawer. For once, though, there's a gig coming up that I am legitimately jazzed about. Headlining are Against Me! about whom I'll admit, I don't know anything except that they're Gainesville-based, recently signed to a major label, and are pretty popular. First on will be Future of the Left about whom I again know very little. Except that the band came out of the ashes of Mclusky, sorely missed Welsh punk badasses. I'll be looking into them, too.
Most excitingly for me, though, is the filling in the sandwich. Jersey's finest and friend of AYGH - Mr Ted Leo and (his) Pharmacists will be coming along! I've not seen the band in a few years, certainly not since 'Living with the Living' came out, so it'll be great to see them again. Also, there's a certain 'World is in the Turlet' to be played now.
I'm going to go out on a limb here, and predict this: It'll probably be a sweaty evening.
Full tour dates are on Pitchfork.
[download Mclusky - There Ain't No Ferguson]
[download Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - Who Do You Love?]
