As promised in the mixtape post, yet another installment of ‘Mad Mac Reviews’. It’s been quite a while since the last, so he’s pulled out the stops to make this one extra harsh. He’s putting me out of a job with this quality of writing, seriously.

(If you want your band reviewed by Mad Mac or anyone else on the writing team, drop us an e-mail/carrier pigeon/shout really loudly.)

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Foals – Cassius (Transgressive)

The opening bars brought me back to the days of George Formby with his ukulele; I wish it hadn’t. I long thought those days were dead and gone – fortunately hearing the rest, I realised they had. On two occasions I thought mercifully that the CD had stuck, but it moved on to a thankful finale. The lyrics took very little learning as it seemed to be the word ‘Cassius’ repeated over and over. I’m not sure why, but at least it gave the song a title.

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This Will Destroy You – Threads (Magic Bullet Records)

When this track started, I felt finally that there would be a track that I could listen to. This was a completely different type of music, which turned out to be one long session of opening bars. A bit like sex with lots of foreplay and no grand conclusion. I did wonder if the sound man had put his pizza on the controls and if this had caused the music to accidentally blur, which gave them the sense of improving it, not so! (I’ve no idea what this means. – Ross)

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Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – DIG, LAZARUS, DIG! (Mute)

The phrase ‘Lazarus dig yourself‘ is repeated throughout the track and I’m not sure why. It reminded me of some songs I heard at discos in the late 70s – very heavy bass thumping in the background. One can imagine this will be popular played very loud in a small car driven by a youth with a backward facing baseball cap. In addition, as the car drives up the street the driver trying to look cool as the heavy base thumps out, causing the car to lurch forward and back like a demented heartbeat. Even so, I quite liked it, as long as I didn’t have to listen to it played on a car stereo.

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MGMT – Time To Pretend (Columbia)

The opening sequence seemed to have been recorded in a bath with the occupant farting into the mic. The start of the lyrics seemed to be promising until the volume of the synthesiser is just loud enough to drown out all but a few of the words. It would be the sort of music played by that annoying neighbour during one of his dreadful late night parties. This track is ideal for annoying all those who live around you. This works on some level, I am just not sure what that level is.

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Future of the Left – Manchasm (Too Pure)

When this track started, I thought that the player had developed a fault, the one note repeated throughout the sequence only started to become annoying after the first ten seconds. This developed into a crescendo of unintelligible noise masquerading under the guise of lyrics. A row usually heard at the end of long nights clubbing when the management want you all to go home so that they can pack up.

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The Mountain Goats – San Bernadino (4AD)

By far the most pleasant track of the collection. It does seem that the musicians can in fact play and are not hiding their lack of talent by producing a cacophony of noise. The singer has a voice for karaoke, and the lyrics can be heard, and in keeping with the tune. The type of music to play while enjoying a cup of coffee late at night, just before going to bed.

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Links

See above! I’m going to watch The Shield and try to perfect ‘Manchasm‘ on the stylophone.

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Intro: Ross
Words: Mad Mac