ludes - the dark art of happiness
i know very little of this lot, but having had the cd in the pile for a while, today it suddenly found itself being spun over and over again. the albumS short sharp bursts of forceful indie noise, discarded clash riffs and ska'd up grooves (is that a sax i hear buried in the mix ?) needs sunshine and a certain upbeat vibe to hit home. the music is noisy and brash and will not please those who like a certain level of restraint in their music, BUT IT'S WONDERFUL TO HEAR LONG LOST STYLES BEING GIVEN A MODERN SHAKEDOWN. the noise rarely falls below a 'in-yer-face' level, whether it's the guitars, the blistering drums ('never had a chance'), the pumped up bass lines, OR THE SCARY TIJUANA BRASS during 'SONG FOR A FRIEND', but the band have a certain level of intensity that is both refreshing and very welcome. especially as after a few spins the songs begin to reveal themselves to be a lot more HOOK RIDDEN THAN A SINGLE LISTEN WOULD HAVE YOU BELIEVE..
of course they will attract a lot of comparison to the aforementioned clash. the vocals have a rough edge, several songs have a ska backing, and there is a certain last gang in town passion during several noisy features such as 'sailor boy' that makes me want to relive those glorious gigs by other punked up blues riff monsters, the godfathers. weirdly however, i wonder if i am the only person that tries to sing steve millers 'abracadabra' throughout 'free' ?
then just as the constant urge to push the dial into the red there comes a genuinely perfect slice of summer friendly psychedelic pop music, 'green eyes', where ludes prove that they are aware of cinematic masters mercury rev. have to admit that the casiotone based rhythm throughout the witty 'mr benson' is bloody annoying, good job the rest of the album is FUCKING EXCELLENT.
i will repeat that - this album is fucking excellent.
thank you.