Fight Like Apes and The Mystery of The Golden Medallion
I vacuum the CD into iTunes with trepidation. I’m about to review the début album from the most feted Irish live act since Whipping Boy. Fight Like Apes make energetic, clever, sexy music - pop punk in the best possible sense. Live, the band are stunningly entertaining, shooting about the stage drenched in sweat, MayKay screaming and flipping her banshee mane, Pockets headbangin’ in a karate headband like he’s about to loaf his synth in two. After released critically two acclaimed EP’s - ‘How Am I Suppose To Kill You If You Have All the Guns’, ‘David Carradine Is A Bounty Hunter Whos Robotic Arm Hates Your Crotch’, the band are set to release their first feature length record at the end of the month. So what does it sound like?
Straight off the bat, vocals are noticeably cleaner, ‘Jake Summers’ is still a great song, now faster and sounding more like early 90’s “crunch sticky indie pop” (i.e.: Nerdy Girl) than a synthy Hole - eroding the destination between the intro and the ‘that’s not nice what you did to me’ interlude and replacing MayKay’s wonderfully angry ‘fuuuuuck’ with a weaker group chant. ‘Lend Me Your Face’ has been tinkered with, varying the synth tones that run over the intro, it’s more rounded but loses some of it’s furious smirk. ‘Battle Stations’ features sharper guitar and more developed farty synths, but the softer vocals may divide fans, especially in the synth-horn section. ‘Do you Karate?’ sounds less flat and fuzzy overall especially on the ’shit shit shit shit bang bang’ shouty bit ™.
Of the new tracks ‘Digifucker’, a simple bass heavy track built around almost squeaky chiptuneque synth, horns and scuzzy guitar, is pretty. ‘I’m Beginning To Think You Prefer Beverly Hills 90210 To Me’, an imaginary exchange of letters between the band and a former manager, easily lives up to the bands older material, complete with trademark hilarious shouty bits ‘Suplex, suplex, suplex backbreaker’ and ‘You’re So Fired’. It could be the best track on the album. ‘Lumpy Dough’ is a great ‘You Are the Hat ‘ style, lush dreamy track, reminiscent of Moon Safari era Air minus the vocoder. ‘You Are the Hat ‘ incidentally makes an appearance on the albums vinyl release. ‘Something Global’ - already released as the albums début single, is poppy with a catchy ironic ‘gimme my hook’ hook. ‘Recyclable Ass’, despite its awesome chiptuny intro, and ‘Tie me up with Jackets’ are fun but less memorable. ‘Knucklehead’, a great Something Global b-side (available on the bands MySpace), didn’t make the cut. All the new tracks share MayKay’s trademark acerbic nonsense lyrics, bitchy-silly catch phrases that somehow never quite sound trivial.
Interesting, the album seems to have been mixed for headphones rather than speakers, an odd choice for a grungy act. Tracks like the final cut ‘Snore Bore Whore’, work far better on a good pair of cans (sic).
The cover, featuring artwork by Analogue photographer Loreana Rushe (which I’m told folds out into a huge poster for you ass), is a throwback to the bands first single (’David Carradine..’) featuring a skeletal figure carrying, you’ve guessed it, a golden medallion.
Fight Like Apes may have stumbled, albeit it only slightly, into the over clean production trap that lies in wait for Irish acts (what’s so wrong with lo-fi?), but the fresh tracks on this album are strong enough that those worried about FLapes future should have few concerns.
The new album will be available to stream from midnight tonight (Thursday 18th September) on Entertainment.ie. Fight like Apes and the Mystery of the Golden Medallion is available in shops and online from September 26th for a very reasonable €14.99.
Analogue Presents - Gran Casino & Oh Child
To celebrate the Launch of Analogue Issue 4, we’ve teamed up with two great Dublin bands, Oh Child and Gran Casino.
Gran Casino
Analogue Presents - Gran Casino, Live in Concert from dbspin on Vimeo.
Download Gran Casino
For Windows or Mac OSX (Quicktime), PS3, or Linux (VLC)
- Large Mpeg 4 (600 * 480, 241 Megs)
For iPhone / iPod Touch
- Small Mpeg 4 (450 * 360, 199 Megs)
Oh Child
Analogue Present - Oh Child, Live in Concert from dbspin on Vimeo.
For Windows or Mac OSX (Quicktime), PS3, or Linux (VLC)
- Large Mpeg 4 (600 * 480, 141 Megs)
For iPhone / iPod Touch
- Small Mpeg 4 (450 * 360, 117 Megs)
As this is the first time we’ve done this, there’s likely to be a technical screw up somewhere along the way - bear with us (and let us know in the comments!) if things are banjaxed. Also, let us know if you’d prefer future videos to be available for download in another format.
Underground @ Road Records and Filmbase
As part of the Darklight music festival ‘Underground’, an exhibition examining the changes in Irish and international independent music over the last fifteen years is launching tomorrow. Through documentary showings, live music (including a street party outside Road Records!) and an exhibition magazine, Underground aims to track “the relationship between the local and the global, society and technology” and to chart “the erasure of the boundary between the public and the private”. More info over at State.
Details:
LAUNCH STREET PARTY@ Road Records, Fri 27 June, 6.30pm
EXHIBITION @ Road Records, Fade St, Dublin 2
SCREENINGS @ Filmbase, Curved St, Temple Bar, Dublin 2SCREENINGS:
Filmbase will screen a selection of music related films over the opening Darklight weekend:Fri 27 June: 4pm: Double bill:
Irish premiere “Shellshock Rock” (1979)
Plus guest talk from director John T. Davis
“The Stars are Underground” (1996)Sat 28 June: 8pm: “Last Night at the Funnel” directed by Stephen Rennicks (1999)
EXHIBITION:
Artists include: Garrett Phelan (IRL), Sarah Pierce (IRL), Adam Sutherland (UK), Francis McKee (Scotland), Robin Watkins (UK), Angela Detanico & Rafael Lain (Brazil), & Stephen Rennicks (Irl). Curated by Peter Maybury (IRL) & Dennis McNulty (IRL).
EXAMPLE OF EXHIBITION PIECE:
Artist: GARRETT PHELAN PRESENTS
Title: ‘Broadcaster - (DONAL DINEEN PORTRAIT NO.1)
Medium: an original 7″ Vinyl picture disc with sound
