The Most You Can Do Is Get Carried Away
I have seen the Futureheads of rock and roll, and it is the past! But just the past we need right now, for those who buy CDs are damned to replay them. We got to see the Futureheads down in Los Angeles this weekend (yes, to the land immortalized by Blade Runner for The Goat and a rock show in the same weekend) (no, we don't mind adding mileage to our cars) and they made us incredibly happy. Looking through the internets it hit me many critics miss the point of the band, for as some would have it, the Futureheads live up to one of their songs and have a range from A to B.
But that's the point. Sure, they might be a bit too much like circa '78 XTC, but nobody really listened to XTC then (we're talking "Are You Receiving Me?," "Statue of Liberty" days, back when Barry Andrews' keyboards shaped their sound as much as Terry Chambers frantic pounding and Messers Moulding's and Partridge's witty words and tunesmithing). And they might actually be more like XTC's original name, Helium Kids, cause those vocals, well, to see them swoop and bop and ping-pong in and out, handing off words and lines and oohs and aahs like the nimblest 4x100 relayers--it's thrilling, there's no other word for it. What's wrong with high energy as a sustaining concept? That's at least one thing rock's meant to do. Doing it ALL THE TIME is sort of a conceptual stroke. So we all get caught up in the now of now. Life ends at the hop, as it were.
If you can't see them live, you can check out their very fun video for their more than very fun cover of Kate Bush's "Hounds of Love." It's Bush meets XTC meets Neil Jordan's version of Angela Carter's Company of Wolves meets Blair Witch Project meets a wild day at the pound. You'll want to sing background along. And you can dance to it.
But that's the point. Sure, they might be a bit too much like circa '78 XTC, but nobody really listened to XTC then (we're talking "Are You Receiving Me?," "Statue of Liberty" days, back when Barry Andrews' keyboards shaped their sound as much as Terry Chambers frantic pounding and Messers Moulding's and Partridge's witty words and tunesmithing). And they might actually be more like XTC's original name, Helium Kids, cause those vocals, well, to see them swoop and bop and ping-pong in and out, handing off words and lines and oohs and aahs like the nimblest 4x100 relayers--it's thrilling, there's no other word for it. What's wrong with high energy as a sustaining concept? That's at least one thing rock's meant to do. Doing it ALL THE TIME is sort of a conceptual stroke. So we all get caught up in the now of now. Life ends at the hop, as it were.
If you can't see them live, you can check out their very fun video for their more than very fun cover of Kate Bush's "Hounds of Love." It's Bush meets XTC meets Neil Jordan's version of Angela Carter's Company of Wolves meets Blair Witch Project meets a wild day at the pound. You'll want to sing background along. And you can dance to it.
posted by George at 5:25 PM
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