ARTiST: Hot Gossip
TiTLE: Angles
LABEL: Ghost Records
GENRE: Indie
TiME: 30:31 min
SiZE: 47,9 MB
BiTRATE: VBRkbps
RiP DATE: Feb-07-2007
RELEASE DATE: Feb-05-2007
WEBSiTE: n/a
Track List:
01. Intro 01:05
02. Five 02:46
03. Do It 02:03
04. Real Mess 03:20
05. Mother Says 02:37
06. John Rowland 02:38
07. (Things Happen) On A Tuesday 02:10
08. Same Old 01:55
09. Before Tonight 01:41
10. La Mort 02:21
11. No Party 02:21
12. Stab City 02:14
13. Haarp 03:20
Release Notes:
Hmmmm. Well thatÆs quite exciting isnÆt it. ItÆs all
fast and covered in guitars! And no, you can never
have quite enough bands or albums like this one. In
fact, this should be the general standard for rock
bands. It just seems so obvious that this is what
you want from a rock band - not a note wasted.
IÆll undoubtedly listen to æAnglesÆ hundreds of
times, because itÆs already had such a positive
effect on my life. IÆve felt lethargic all weekend
up until this point û IÆve wasted so much time! If
only I had put this on at the beginning of the
weekend, if only this was my alarm clock, IÆd wake
up and feel energized and IÆd go about doing good
deeds, IÆd run for mayor, IÆd kiss babies, elders
and children alike would have meetings to discuss
what a positive influence my boundless energy has
been on the community. I would go to parties in the
evening and people would ask me what IÆd been
listening to recently (in that way only true
populists do) and I would say æyeah, yeah, IÆm
really in to the Hot Gossip album at the momentÆ,
and they would say æoh, I donÆt know themÆ and I say
æoh theyÆre brilliant you should check them outÆ. My
life would be like that.
I havenÆt listened to this enough times to decide
whether it transcends this area of popular party
talk. I think itÆs hard for such an instantly
gratifying album to do this, but I have a suspicion
that these guys might be able to pull it off. I
truly hope so. I want to be able to hand this to my
friends and feel like IÆm doing them good, doing the
band good and doing myself good because I can
subsequently talk to my friends about it.
IÆve said this before in other articles and IÆll say
it again and again - there is nothing bad about a
song relying on nothing but energy. In what way
could the lack of anything else possibly be an
issue? What does it matter what the song would sound
like if you stripped away the energy if the song
does have energy? And these songs really, really do.
But I suppose you want to know what it actually
sounds like. Well, as always, we have a tendency to
compare albums to ones which are much better than
them, but weÆll do it again because as much as it
will make your imagination run wild and youÆll buy
the CD and inevitably be a bit disappointed with it,
youÆll eventually get over it and realize what a
good album this is. Anyway, thereÆs something to
this album that reminds me of some of Frank Blacks
more energetic music, and bar the Pixies I only
really know one Frank Black album intimately, and
thatÆs one of the best albums ever û æTeenager of
the YearÆ. So yeah, IÆve said it, this album reminds
me of æTeenager of the YearÆ. ItÆs not like itÆs as
diverse or clever, but it does share some of the
energy, and it has those really satisfying power
chord riffs weÆll never get enough of . The main
difference is that Frank Black is wise and old, and
Hot Gossip are young tykes capturing the spirit of
the age. So there, donÆt come back to us saying æoh
rockfeedback, you said this album was as good as
æTeenager of the YearÆ and itÆs not - you are bad
people! You have forced me to spend my money wrong!
My mum says that you are just lay about journo liars
with no real prospects, failed musicians, the bottom
of the food chain the bottom feeders of society!Æ.
Well, we may be wannabe musicians, but liars we are
not - itÆs not like you can tell us that it didnÆt
remind us of æTeenager of the YearÆ now is it? The
point is itÆs a bloody good album and, bless you,
youÆre better off having it than not having it.
At times, the band have a real old school punk feel.
They seem to share some of the compassion and
feeling that XTC or the Skids obtained, the song
æPrimaÆ in particular sounds a lot like XTC, and
itÆs one that makes you feel good to be a person. It
makes you want to spend time with your friends and
be good to them. My life has been genuinely enriched
by this crazy band and their tiny sounding drum kit,
and their vaguely rockabilly bass. If you add up all
the seconds that they make you wait on this album it
comes to about three or five, a couple in the intro,
a couple in the middle of the last track, but at the
same time it has to be said that the band know
restraint and maybe itÆs this that ironically keeps
the album so exciting. Very few people are excited
by albums that just have one relentlessly fast sound
for half an hour. Often, it doesnÆt work. And to do
it well, like this, is a lot harder than a lot of
people think.
ItÆs not diverse in the way that say Mr. Bungle or
Tom Waits or Beck are, but thereÆs certainly enough
in the way of little subtle nuances to keep you
going, bits that sound like alien music, a bit that
reminds you of Queens of the Stone Age, a bit that
reminds you of At The Drive-Iin, a smattering of
Strokes-style chords over the album, XTC, Frank
Black, a hint of Blur, some of the spirit of The
Futureheadsà I realize IÆve been skirting around the
question of whether this is something I can really
get my teeth sunk into. Well, IÆm going to keep
skirting, because I really want it to be, and IÆm
trying to decide myself. Is this just a really
bloody, bloody good album, or is this already a safe
prediction for a potential highlight of 2007?
Luckily IÆve been blessed with the time to decide.
The next paragraph will be me, a couple of months
later, keeping you posted.
Hmmm.
Hmmmmmmm.
After a good few listens, IÆm by no means tired of
this fantastic little album. It doesnÆt have quite
the rocket fuel impact that it had before, but it
turned out to be a fantastic album of songs, ones
with really mature melodies that still make you feel
good to be a person. Yes, yes you can get your teeth
sunk into it, despite the fact that itÆs only half
an hour long. IÆll level with you - IÆm not the sort
of guy to mouth the words of songs that I like, but
I have really enjoyed enjoying this album in the way
I used to enjoy albums when I was fifteen. ItÆs a
safe purchase, and if this isnÆt one of the
highlights of 2007, we have a very good year ahead.