British Sea Power

What the feck does this band do to people?

The passages about Dad are tremendous. Especially the bit about Dad as the gatekeeper and proselytiser of the BSP revolution. His speech could mirror the kind of staccato commands given to the Red Guards in 1917-22.

Into the Wilderness with a feather up your arse

"…it won't be all crash-bang will it?"

...the grace and lightness of touch shown on tracks like Tiger King, Woman of Aran and The North Sound knock anything the likes of Sigur Ros (and similar atmospheric acts) have done into a cocked hat.

They (the fans) don’t know why the bulk of the music loving public are missing out on the worst kept secret that British Sea Power are pound for pound, the best band in the world. To reiterate – What a band! What a fucking band!

"What would broken beat, new jazz or avant pop sound, if it was created behind the Iron Curtain in the 70s and 80s?" says the guide book. Frankly we dread to think, but we're intrigued.

Indeed, what a performance! A man wanders onstage, reads a newspaper for a bit and then wanders off. A gimp-like thing in a black bodystocking and silver cape ballet dances around the band who by now have shifted into some delicious if rather camp early 80s style electropop. Where do we go from here?

"

Hamilton uses this new musical direction to do handstands and some idiot runs around with a plastic bag on his head. It’s all too much. Noble decides that the audience needs fruit and starts throwing apples and bananas at the residents of Cologne.

"I was in the graveyard in Penrith, sitting on a grave and having a fag when this guy comes over..."

"We are a psychedelic boy band.... "

"Krankenhaus? is exactly as this band should sound; weird, loveable and belonging in a place utterly removed from the cynical machinations of the music industry. "

And Praise Be! Listening to this album isn’t about passing an extra-curricular history exam; it’s about getting down, Stooges style. Laying down thy raincoat and grooving; as you surely will to A Trip Out, a song which boasts the most primal, most dumb-ass drumming outside of Ceremony.

"I would hate British Sea Power to become the cuddly face of eccentric rock, beloved of fuckers like Jeremy Vine or Vanessa Feltz."

Other writers have, for the most part, depicted the following events as ones that verged on insanity. I wholly concur with their estimation. It was insane.

Sometimes its better to let the artificial commotion surrounding new releases settle down before deciding to listen to, read, or watch something. I've just started to read Dickens for the first time ever, and by today's standards, I'm already 170 years late on doing that.

"The train compartment emptied as I hauled my drunken, vinegar sodden form into an empty seat. "