ARTiST: Future Kings Of Spain
ALBUM: Nervousystem
BiTRATE: 194kbps avg
QUALiTY: EAC Secure Mode / LAME 3.97 Final / -V2 --vbr-new / 44.100Khz
LABEL: What's The Kim? Recordings
GENRE: Rock
SiZE: 73.63 megs
PLAYTiME: 0h 50min 09sec total
RiP DATE: 2007-10-02
STORE DATE: 2007-10-01
Track List:
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01. Guess Again 4:31
02. One More Mistake 3:09
03. This Is The End 3:30
04. Lost And Found 4:54
05. Syndicate 8:31
06. Kick In The Teeth 4:24
07. You Dream In Solid Gold 3:35
08. Nineteen Eighty One 3:45
09. Chemical Burn 4:52
10. This Song 4:11
11. Disappear 4:47
Release Notes:
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For almost two years, the Future Kings of Spain have sat on Nervousystem,
difficulties with their record label almost turning the LP into their very own
Smile. However, earlier this year, common sense prevailed and the band was free
to release the album on their own WhatÆs the Kim? label. Due for release at the
end of September, Nervousystem has most certainly been worth the wait.
From the moment Guess Again (with riffs that Billy Corgan can only reminisce
about these days) opens the album, right through to the last vestiges of
Disappear, you know you are listening to something special. Nervousystem is the
Emancipation Proclamation of alternative indie rock. ItÆs a statement to those
who listen to this particular genre of music, imploring them to forget
everything they thought they knew, free their minds and absorb the possibilities
that come from being willing to make music that is truly different.
æWhy canÆt you do what I ask of you?Æ asks Joey Wilson in his trademark
disinterested drawl on Syndicate a song thatÆs eight minutes of infectious rock
rave which, whether youÆre in your sitting room or on the DART, makes you want
to dance. Not even had Prince, Robert Smith and Peter Hook grown up in North
Kildare/West Dublin, could they dream about writing a song as well constructed
and as instantly mesmerising as this.
ItÆs the perfect centrepiece to an album that deviates away from the youthful,
full-blooded, angst of Face I Know and drifts seamlessly towards a more melodic,
mature sound. Wilson along with guitarist Karl Hussey, bassist Anton Hegarty and
drummer Bryan McMahon appear to have unabashedly embraced the philosophies of
the albums producer Ian Grimble and adopted a skinny jeans and leather jacket
clad indie rock sound that isnÆt afraid to take its younger sister to a Kylie
concert.
The results of taking this risk are, for the majority of the album, positive.
Stand out tracks Guess Again, Chemical Burn and, my personal favourite, Kick in
the Teeth absorb you in the way The Pixies might, yet you can hear them sitting
quite comfortably between A.N Other pop tart and The Next Big Things on any
commercial radio station, without selling the very essence of their soul the way
Snow Patrol did. The only time it fails to sparkle is on the frustrating You
Dream in Solid Gold which builds and builds but never quite climaxes.
Overall, itÆs difficult to criticise an album as arresting as Nervousystem. You
want to put it on repeat but are afraid that by overplaying it that it will lose
its appeal. So far it hasnÆt. I said at the start that, given the headaches
involved in ensuring its release, this could have been the Future Kings of
SpainÆs Smile. Instead, it may well be their Pet Sounds.