ARTiST: Mother & The Addicts
TiTLE: Science Fiction Illustrated
LABEL: Chemikal Underground
GENRE: Rock
TiME: 42:38 min
SiZE: 59,3 MB
BiTRATE: VBRkbps
RiP DATE: Jul-26-2007
RELEASE DATE: Aug-13-2007
WEBSiTE: www.motherandtheaddicts.com
Track List:
01. All In The Mind 03:44
02. Watch The Lines 04:24
03. So Tough 03:15
04. Roll Me On Over 04:08
05. Going Native 04:17
06. What Were The Reasons 02:39
07. Are Others 04:40
08. Yeah Next 04:49
09. Attraction 03:23
10. Carthage 03:04
11. The Wild 04:15
Release Notes:
ôScience Fiction Illustratedö
ôThe soul opensàa stormy nightàö All In The Mind
Immediately parting company with convention,
ôScience Fiction Illustratedö opens with a
psychodrama set in a Stromness bar. If its
introduction is correct in promising a voyage into
turbulent catharses, it gives little indication that
theyÆre going to be served up on the dance floor.
ThatÆs exactly what happens though on this, the
second offering from GlasgowÆs Mother And The
Addicts: a barrel load of neuroses and sly
observations laden with dark humour, ôScience
Fiction Illustratedö navigates the squally waters of
carnal politics, steered by a flurry of fluctuating
musical styles. Disco, electronica, punk,
rockabilly and krautrock are all represented here in
one gloriously accomplished package, proving that
you can exorcise your inner demons whilst exercising
your hips and feetà
Sam Smith, the eponymous æmatriarchÆ and chief
architect of ôScience Fiction Illustratedö, reflects
on the finished album and how it represents a
quantum leap from their breathless, febrile debut of
2005, ôTake The Lovers Home Tonightöà
ôThe first album was pieced together with sellotape
and glue. This time around my writing was stronger,
and I was determined that the ævoiceÆ on æScience
FictionÆ would be my own - not as schizophrenic as
before, or as wilfully retro. ItÆs a more modern
sounding record, more confident, and although itÆs
still got humour, itÆs a good bit darker.ö
ItÆs darker alright, and not surprisingly given that
a lot of the songs for the album had been written
and recorded while Sam seemed hell-bent on making
life difficult for himself. Lyrics dealing with
feelings of distraction and restlessness proved to
be eerily prophetic when he found himself without a
roof over his head and subject to a cavalcade of
personal strife. Rootless, Sam sought solace in the
recording process and began to ring the changes:
ôI detached myself from the engineering side of
things and focussed on playing; we finished the
album in six weeks because Paul (Savage, Chemikal
Underground & co-producer) moved it forward really
quickly û there was no time for naval-gazing. This
album needed to have a greater sense of continuity
about it and it was decided that we would look
beyond the stylistics of ôoh, this is a dance songö
and ôoh, this oneÆs an indie songö. IÆm a bit of a
musical magpie, so this time round it was all about
finding the æbigger pictureÆ û thereÆs a lot more
clarity to this album and thereÆs certainly no doubt
that the lyrics bear a greater relation to what was
going on with me at the time.ö
The æbigger pictureÆ on ôScience Fiction
Illustratedö comes in the form of a slickly assured
genre-romp through the decades: the sashaying
swagger of All In The Mind followed immediately by
the 80Æs electro-stomp of Watch the Lines; the
Blondie-infused Θlan of Are Others morphing into the
driving, Art Of Noise-esque mantra of Yeah Next; the
airy pop of So Tough recalling the late, lamented,
Electric Sound Of Joy contrasts starkly with the
cavorting, post-punk salvo of Attraction. ItÆs
breathlessly diverse but still markedly more
focussed than their dementedly energetic debut,
hurtling through a variety of musical references
borne out of SamÆs determination to avoid playing it
safe:
ôWe werenÆt going to make an album that was
conveniently similar to the previous one so I didnÆt
indulge in æcomfort listeningÆ û for me, thatÆs
Bowie/Roxy Music/Talking Heads. I soaked up music
that was as diverse as possible: Deerhoof and
Battles, The Drift by Scott Walker; IÆd visit
ChemikalÆs office and listen to old vinyl like The
Associates; at home IÆd stick on old Rockabilly
acetates, Magazine, Siouxsie And The Bansheesàö
In the studio, the band sought to get the most out
of a limited range of equipment: guitars, bass,
drums and an old Yamaha CS5 û resulting in an album
thatÆs resolutely modern whilst throwing
affectionate nods and winks to the ghosts of
classics past. ItÆs rooted in the type of music
that offered an æeight-hour escapeÆ from the
drudgery of the working week; that celebrated the
lure of the dance floor, the soundtrack of a
Saturday night. Mother And The Addicts are very
much a throwback to all of those bands that were
skilled at what they played and knew how to get a
party startedà
ôThe best music always recognises the clash between
the sweet and the sour û disco always had its
hangover. IÆve never managed to fully get the
American ærawkÆ thing and have always felt more
drawn to the kind of acerbic intelligence you find
in British and US post-punk bands, thereÆs also an
affinity with reggae, soul, and disco - a lot of my
family had been skin heads and soul boys when I was
growing up and they introduced me to that type of
thing.ö
Mother And The AddictsÆ gigs are remarkably, almost
unfashionably, tight. The band tear into a set that
recalls the spirit of so many bands itÆs often hard
to keep track: from the Violent Femmes to Blondie;
Roxy Music to Thomas Dolby; James Brown to Dr
Feelgood - if that sounds like a tough act to pull
off, then thatÆs only because it is. The live show
has been a long time in the making - Sam feeling
that in the beginning, the band were maybe just too
inexperienced, too fresh, to fully pull off what it
was they were trying to do. Playing their first
show only four weeks after the band had formed was
always going to be a tall order but their concerts
were always wildly enjoyable, barnstorming affairs.
The feeling persisted though that they could achieve
a whole lot more with the performancesà
ôWe hadnÆt quite worked out what we wanted to be
yet; it takes a while to find your feet as a band
and in the absence of any sort of experience, we
turned to Dutch courage. There was definitely a
point where people were getting too drunk to
function - it was Glasgow æbattle drinkingÆ -
adventures in vans and hallucinogens on the M6.ö
ThereÆs no doubt that theyÆve cracked it now though.
Their recent performances evidence of a band that
know theyÆve made a great album and are revelling in
their ability to crank things up even more on stage:
What Were The Reasons, Carthage, Going Native û they
all take on extra dimensions live while the songs
from their debut album have started to pulsate and
heave like long-lost club anthemsà
ôWeÆve always enjoyed playing music, not just in
front of an audience but in rehearsals: itÆs the
thrill of crafting songs, working out parts,
arranging them; the challenge of making something
sound great. Ultimately, we wanted to make an
intelligent album that would reach as many people as
possible û something you could hear on the radio or
dance to in a club - just because you can dance to
something, doesnÆt mean itÆs dumb.ö
Mother And The Addicts are a cussedly independent
bunch: by boldly sticking to their guns and
appealing to their own musical sensibilities first,
theyÆve succeeded in making an album that is both
effortlessly appealing and invigoratingly fresh. An
emphatic lesson in how to take musical influences
and create something vital, ôScience Fiction
Illustratedö barrels across decades of dance floors
without ever losing sight of the here and now.
Mother And The Addicts deal in delicious
eccentricity and itÆs their joyful lack of
convention that should be lauded in a time of
threadbare radio-fodder û just donÆt confuse it with
a lack of substanceà
ôIt would be good for people to realise that thereÆs
more to Mother And The Addicts than just an offbeat
name. WeÆre not fucking idiots.ö
If ôScience Fiction Illustratedö does chart a
turbulent journey, itÆs through a perfect storm.