on 2011-02-24 dscanland Said:

I felt the same on this one. Art Brut was extremely over-rated. Nice review.
Not Rated

Review:

on 2011-02-20 CharlesMartel Said:

There's a special kind of music which only the British seem to be able to do. I don't know how to define it - smugcore maybe - but it is music which the artists involved apparently take quite seriously while the rest of the population feels is a joke. We Brits have a special talent for poking fun at ourselves and somehow seem to find self-parody even when it is not intended.

Art Brut specialise in this genre of music. What you get is generic mainstream indie music, tinted with a slight dose of danceability, and then overlaid with a very tuneless vocalist who tries to make speaking dull monologues a musical event singing about some oh-so cool hip lyrics which taunt you with personal mediocrity if you don't understand the references. In other words, it sounds like a staccato, monotone Blur without the originality or without the self-parody which Damon Albarn got away with because he was, well, Damon Albarn.

The problem is not just that this is a poor attempt at plagiarism, or an even poorer attempt at cool, it's just a poor attempt. It is rather like watching Scary Movie one through four all in one sitting, only less entertaining. You snigger at the joke. Then, six hours later when the same joke is on its umpteenth repeat you begin to realise that either the joke is on them for being stupid enough to participate in this or the joke is on you for being such a dumbass as to stick it out that long. Only instead of six hours of Z-movie horror parody, you get that feeling after about ten songs of Art Brut on "It's a Bit Complicated".

In reality it is hard to describe what this is like unless you listen to it, and as I can't in good conscience recommend that, this is going to be difficult. Imagine the hipster, the un-hip hipster you knew at school. Yeah, him. The one who went two-tone as soon as the Specials hit Top of the Pops. He stands there, black drains, winkle pickers and shades, adjusts his pork pie hat, swivels around on the ball of his left foot and straight away tips over a bollard and falls flat on his face. And then there's Uncle Graham. You remember Uncle Graham. Got pissed out of his head on flat Directors at Susie's wedding and insisted on monopolising the karaoke machine with his god-awful renditions of "Tie a Yellow Ribbon". Then, when Auntie Marge, grew so ashamed that she had to act, she tried to drag him away home and he threw up over the Vicar's wife. Imagine Uncle Graham was your un-hip hipster friend and you have Art Brut. Art Brut are so smug in their clever coolness that they've failed to notice that everyone else thinks they're embarrassing twats.

After a while it ceases even to be funny. It's like watching the Office when you are David Brent. At that point you walk away. And if you come across this in a record store, that is exactly what I suggest you do.
Rating: 1/10