We are currently living through one of those nice phases in the history of music television where there is a station playing actual videos most of the time, including nice new rock and roll ones. It is MTVU and the fact that MTV, so often a purveyor of musical banality, is pushing "college rock" is both somewhat refreshing and a warning that things may not be what they seem. MTVU's inhabitants are primarily major label babies like Jet, the Killers, and Snow Patrol.
Kasabian's "Club Foot" is one of the recent heavy rotation numbers. It might leave you to believe Kasabian is some gritty rock and roll band out of the slums of Russia or somewhere?the video looks like a depressing social realist movie and the band name sounds vaguely foreign. Builds mystique. Actually, the band is British (alright, should have guessed that), and named after Charles Manson's getaway driver. That's tasteful! Well, at least they didn't record an album in the house where Sharon Tate was murdered, like Nine Inch Nails once did.
As I liked "Club Foot" and didn't have any albums by artists whose names started with 'K' in my record collection, I thought I'd take a chance on Kasabian.
"Club Foot" is a fine single, but it's actually pretty misleading?Kasabian sounds like it might be another Black Rebel Motorcycle Club-type distortion-loving rock band. However, as its self-titled debut album reveals from the second song "Processed Beats" on, Kasabian's music sounds less gritty and more trance-y and dance-y, despite lots of guitars. Kasabian pretty much wants to be Primal Scream.
That doesn't mean that Kasabian sucks, just that it's not particularly original. Kasabian is a perfectly listenable affair, in songs like "I.D.," "Running Battle," and "Test Transmission" the band finds a nice groove and rolls with it about four minutes. Actually, Kasabian's songs all end up around this time range. Throw in lots of hooks, and this is a band begging to be popular.
However, it is not particularly good at it. The most instantly catchy song on the album, "Reason is Treason," is also the worst. The political sentiment is about mature enough to graffiti onto a wall, but it doesn't warrant an annoying dance track that has few other understandable lyrics plus a remix tacked onto the end of the CD. "Club Foot" was the right choice for first U.S. single.
The thing about Kasabian is that while it's perfectly listenable, it's also perfectly forgettable. The band gets the attitude right, but only a few songs are better than just OK. Tom Meoghan is singer who probably learned his swagger at the altar of Liam Gallagher and those earlier Madchester guys, but he is stuck with a band that makes music better for soundtracks than for direct listening. He is at his best on trippy, funky tracks like "L.S.F. (Lost Souls Forever)" and "Cutt Off," where he sings, respectively, about a "messiah for the animals" and a monkey scientist on acid.
One of the band's more interesting influences is the aliens from Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Check out "Pinch Roller" and the end of "Cutt Off." Weird little sound effects suites appear and drift away throughout the album. You get the feeling that these guys are trying way too hard to be cool.
I'll admit that dance rock isn't really my favorite genre. But in the end, my favorite thing about Kasabian is that it only set me back $8. I should have just bought the Killers' album two weeks earlier.