Monday, August 18, 2008

LATE OF THE PIER REVIEW

LINK TO LATE OF THE PIER REVIEW ON JC REPORT

www.jcreport.com/intelligence/trash/180808/put-record-late-pier





"To be an album of the times is not always a good thing—if the time is now, then tomorrow it's history. To be timeless, however, is to capture a mood, to mix diverse influences, to write witty lyrics and to push musical boundaries beyond the horizon. North England quartet Late of the Pier have done just that with Fantasy Black Channel. Thanks to help from Erol Alkan—the legendary founder of London's Trash club—this debut album pushes your brain far out into space while kicking it numb with bleeps, loops and beautiful melodies. Alkan's wicked dancefloor expertise shines through, but, still, this is the album for which iTunes invented the "Unclassified" genre.

With the memory of throbbing bands like Hadouken!, Does It Offend You, Yeah? and Klaxons still fresh, this could easily have been written off as another new rave experiment. Fortunately, Late of the Pier come through where others have failed, drawing influence from a dizzying mix of styles then melding them into a unique new sound. Tracks such as "Space and the Woods" and "Focker" are pure (though possibly unintended) pop magic, while "Hot Tent Blues" demonstrates a total disregard for musical logic. Throughout the album they successfully mix melodies with varying fits of anarchy and chart-topping, lyrical nonsense."

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