Late of the Pier: Fantasy Black Channel

your ears are playing tricks on you

You obviously don't have asthma. lotp are SIKK. I love them too much.

I just posted this on a forum, but it's worth putting here.

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The only explanation is that the boys had a hypno-ray, capable of over-riding our better judgement.

This is just an absurd sentence. Are they trying to be funny, or make some sort of space [and the woods]-related pun? What's the point...?

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For not only do the tracks we weren't immediately familiar with have the sucking power of a black hole, even the songs we were quite fond of sound as turgid as the reunion of a high-school Nirvana covers-band.

More shocking space puns, and stupid comparisons, with absolutely nothing to back up their point. You don't just go about making sweeping statements like that, you have to give examples to make your point.

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The supposedly catchy rhythm of "VW" is a moonlighting production of the Rocky Horror Show in space, and not the good one. We mean the forthcoming MTV remake [shudders].

Quite possibly the most absurd thing I've ever read. Who says it's catchy? And what the fuck are they on about?

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Even "The Bears Are Coming", a hitherto exercise in rollicking fun and surprising time and tone-changes has lost its edge.

Lost it's edge from what? The single version identical to the album version? That one? They're just searching desperately for something to crticise. Also, the word 'hitherto' is used for no reason other than looking intelligent.

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With the musical might of Pendulum already fusing electro-rhythms to danceable beats and 65daysofstatic testing the very limits of what the electronic genre can offer, it's hard to see what Late of the Pier have to add into the mix. Previously one would of optioned a usage on the term “a sense of fun” but now, even that seems scarce.

Pendulum jokes aside, this sentence is based on absolutely no evidence - they're just saying things and hoping we believe it. Tells us where the fun's gone!

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Worst offenders, tracks such as "Random Firl" have nothing but a pedestrian plod complete with so-so vocal performances never pushing the boat out on the melody front. "Heartbeat" similarly digs itself two little ruts. One for the verse and one for the chorus, occasionally hopping between the two.

I wouldn't say the RF melody was your average melody, but that's not the point. Nice textbook metaphor though. No idea what they're trying to say about Heartbeat - it's a pop song that jumps from verse to chorus and back? Shocking.

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Lyrically there isn't much to dig for either. Still slaves to the prose rather than the masters of it, Late of the Pier's writings are all based around primary-school level attempts at rhyming. "Why must you scream? / Please don't make a scene She thinks she plays / Is it all a game? / No need to be tame / Sugar melts the acid rain." they proclaim on "The Bears Are Coming" which one can only assume translates roughly to “If you stop being naughty, I'll give you a sweetie.”

Like I said earlier, these lyrics are by Storm Mortimer, not Late of the Pier, so it's a moot point. And this is not prose. Please learn what prose is. This reviewer is the one who is a slave to prose. If Late of the Pier are slaves to anything, it would be verse, for goodness sake.

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Many times the disparity between live performance and studio albums have scuppered bands. The easy charm and good-natured fun of the boys prove to be a remarkable asset, sadly that doesn't seem to be something which they can condense down to zeros and ones and cram onto a circular disc of polycarbonate plastic.

"Cabbage!"? Yeah, you don't have room for a lot of inter-song banter on an album - were you looking for some kind of Potter stand-up track? Oh, and thanks for telling us what a CD is made of - now I see why this album is shit.

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Time to go get our ears bleached, such is the power of "Bathroom Gurgle" to spur to action.

Nice one.

I used to be LOTP's biggest fan, some of their early stuff like Space and the Woods are superb (i even have the limited first release of that), but ever since i saw them live, they were a big hefty sack of balls, and i lost interest in them.

I think a 2 is harsh - but i bet come 2009 LOTP will be like Weston.

I loved the Zarcorp demos, but there's something about the album i don't like.

aidan williamson, whoever you are: your opinion is wrong.

what a piece of shit 'review', bit too low brow for you is it? jesus

4 words Aidan... fuck off and die.

50 words.... Every band has fans, should we give every album top marks for fear that someone will not agree with us. If everything in the world is extraordinary, then everything becomes ordinary. Don't agree with us? Then at least give valid reasons as Alasdair did and not vaguely threatening insults.... be-atch.

everything about this page is wrong.

the rest of your site is of equally low quality.

fbc is the debut album of the year.

deal with it

Got to agree with Steve and Lee, the album's very disappointing. As for debut album of the year, well look past your nose guys and take a punt on Foals. Must better quality, deal with it.

The reviewer did dodge exactly what his problem was with the debut in favour of stupid filler ramblings, but to his credit, he avoided doing what any lazy negative review would have done by making a comparison to the short-lived embarrassing, day-glo "New Rave" scene that sunk a year ago. Really did drop the ball claiming that those lyrics were infantile, they're not even credited to Late of the Pier (Although a lack of results for a "Storm Mortimer" suggests it could just be surrealist bullshitting) and if you look at "The Bears are Coming"'s Lyrics on paper it really is quite poetic...

A bunch of pissed of die-hard fans doesn't necessarily mean this review is a bitter minority, but the other reviews so-far have gave the album 8 or 9/10, 4/5 style scores. And I've heard about half the finished mixes via Hype Machine and they've not really changed too much if you've listened to anything past "The Zarcorp Demo", since 2006 they've turned from a guitar band with synths to an electronic band with guitars. Although despite being one of my favourite's right now, the band's strict surrealist lyrics and presentation do tire on me.

I wouldn’t try and push Foals on Late of the Pier fans, completely different band, although I started following them about the same time. It did fall short of even the bands expectations as they're such an intelligent, conceptual band and they f*cked up Re-producing it themselves, it gets too dry to be debut of the year, even if it is brilliant. Definitely ones to watch out for though, they will mature brilliantly given the chance.

"Lee Bown

commented 4 days ago

I loved the Zarcorp demos, but there's something about the album i don't like."

I agree with this guy...the original demos I guess had a lot grittier garage band sound or edge to them. This new stuff is too polished and sounds a little more electronic. Why isn't Dose A on the album that was a class tune. I may get somebody to burn me a copy of this for the car though!

ok this band is magnificent

if you dont like them live

buy the album

problem solved

i agree with dr shivago

u guys r fags

I dont see the point in any of you defending late of the pier... This reviewer's main agenda is obviously to be cutting edge by going against every single other review of the album by slating it. Its a shame for him that he doesn't have a leg to stand on.

Also unfortunate that he is called Aiden.

...and I think it's unfortunate that you can't tell the difference between the letter "e" and the letter "a" in my name.

I would call you a twit but you might have problems with the letter "i" as well and I wouldn't want to offend you ;)

er i can imagen what time of boring fart wrote this review. little opening of the mind and this album is fucking amazing

Respectfully, this review is a bad one.

Worst review I've seen for a long time.

Being a fan I'm trying to look at the album with an unbiased approach but I cannot see how it can be rated less than 7/10 in anyone's books.

It is a class album, well balanced and well mixed. They are great live but have now proved they can produced a varied studio sound that is a good reflection of the band. May even be a dark Mercury Prize horse I think...

Aidan, perhaps you should look at Wikipedias professional reviews box for Fantasy Black Channel. Makes you look like a grouchy git sitting in amongst people who enjoy good music.

Thanks for the bump Al.

But despite the other "professional reviews" (which include Virgin Media?!) I still think Aidan got this one just about spot on.

It was easy to get caught up in the hype, at the time. Take for instance the Guardian who gave it five stars (out of 5) and said it was "the most thrilling British debut of the year for its spirit of invention".

Yet where did it feature in their top 10 end of year list?

Or The Times? Including debut releases.

I don't think we'll be remembering this record in a couple of years time.

And nobody's done anything to convince me otherwise here (other than to bash on about it "deserving" at least 7/10).

Hmm... I bought Fantasy Black Channel out of curiosity because I had £10 spare. I'm glad I did, because it was the best album I've ever heard and it now currently sits on top of my Albums Of All Time list.

2/10? Nice going...

It seems these guys have come out of nowhere considering I’ve had trouble finding some informative reading material about the group. Their website isn’t that great. I did, however, see Erol Alkan produced the album, supposedly a notable DJ out of London. I suppose that has to be some kind of representation for promise.

Exploring other reviews, I’ve seen many comparisons to Gary Numan and Frank Zappa, but I can neither agree nor disagree since I’ve never listened to either of those two much. Fantasy Black Channel is very quirky, poppy, electronic, and full of synth. Simply put, it’s party music. Immediately there are similarities to Franz Ferdinand and The Killers, two groups who’ve successfully hit the pop scene. I’m not sure Late of the Pier will reach that status, though. There seems to be too many “been done before” aspects.

Ever since Death From Above 1979 disbanded, I’ve been searching high and low for a band able enough to replicate You’re A Woman, I’m A Machine. No, Late of the Pier can’t do that, but a few of their songs are fairly akin – “Space & The Woods” and “Focker.” The beats and guitar (or bass, whatever it is) are awesome. Going back to the producer, Erol Alkan, it may be worth knowing in the past he remixed music from both Death From Above 1979 and Franz Ferdinand. It’s just an interesting tidbit. Also, at times I think of David Bowie and subsequently Flight of the Conchords mocking him.

Fantasy Black Channel isn’t that bad despite all the rehashing, even if the flow of the album is all over the place. Amidst the rocking and dancing there’s stuff that could be music in an NES game (“Random Firl,” have a listen and tell me otherwise). All things considered, this debut is decent.