What a year it’s been for the teenage quartet. Having formally introduced themselves to the indie fraternity with a series of triumphant support slots with label mates The Ordinary Boys and The Kaiser Chiefs, they’ve emerged as one of the bands to watch out for this year.
However, their recent single ‘Monster’ was truly a marmite affair; a novelty tune that you either loved or loathed with a passion. All the same, it reached number four in the UK charts, thanks to NME approval and Radio One airplay.
The Automatic now look to build on the momentum with the release of their debut album, Not Accepted Anywhere, which was produced by Steve Harris (The Kaiser Chiefs) and Richard Jackson (Super Furry Animals).
They say:
CD Times: “Unless they do better with album number two, The Automatic could find themselves going the way of other also-rans.”
DIY: “Not Accepted Anywhere more than does the job.”
We say:
The tone is set with ‘That’s What She Said’, a boisterous chunk of post-punk power pop complete with bizarre Axl Rose on helium harmonies and roaming bottom end.
But when Rob Hawkins sings, “I know I had something to say/It lost the meaning and faded away” there’s more than an element of truth there. This is fun stuff, the kind that makes you want to bellow along out of tune, but it’s also entirely shallow.
‘You Shout You Shout You Shout’ fares better, possessing a chorus bursting out of its own skin, fighting for the right to blast radio stations for playing “so much trash” to brain dead folk who willingly lap it up and “keep dancing in the routine way”.
The latter comment proves to be somewhat ironic, though, given that after the album’s peak, the alien synth invasion of ‘Seriously… I hate You Guys’, every song begins to sound like the last one, sharing the same faux At the Drive-In riffage, electro tinkering and Kaiser Chiefs pop buggery.
Essentially, Not Accepted Anywhere is like your typical student party, amusing, often decadent, and a bit of a drag by night’s end. You’d be well advised to leave early.
Like this? Try these:
AFI – Sing the Sorrow
Hard-Fi – Stars of CCTV
The Kaiser Chiefs – Employment
RELEASED
19th June
LABEL
B-Unique Records
POSTED...
Thu 15 Jun 2006 at 3:51pm
