Late of the Pier


(Copyright © 2006 Piero Scaruffi | Terms of use )

Fantasy Black Channel (2008) , 6.5/10
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British band Late of the Pier, fronted by singer Samuel Eastgate, started out as yet another outfit of dance-punk music, the vogue of the mid-2000s. After a trio of 2007 and early 2008 singles (Space and the Woods/ Heartbeat, Bathroom Gurgle/ VW, The Bears are Coming), their album Fantasy Black Channel (Parlophone, 2008) turned them into the "next big thing" du jour. Space And The Woods still displayed the pretentious attitude of all "futurist" groups, using eletronic keyboards and vocals in a menacing and robotic fashion, the very idea behind Devo in the late 1970s. Heartbeat was actually more "futuristic" with its neurotic, aggressive stance, wrapped around a loud electronic melody. However, the seven-minute Bathroom Gurgle ran the gamut from David Bowie's existential ballad to rock'n'roll seizure (with an acoustic Syd Barrett-ian coda). The instrumental VW wed the hysterical verve Devo with the space-lounge music of Stereolab. And The Bears Are Coming greatly expanded the idea by adopting African polyrhythms, rap-infected chanting and a sudden cabaret-like mood shift. The new songs compare favorably with the early singles. The rhythm of Broken is bouncy and syncopated like a ska jig, its refrain is catchy and slightly demented, and the instrumental arrangements vary throughout the song from harpsichord-like electronics to nostalgic organ and to hard-rock guitar. The formula is easy enough. The silly synth-pop ditty Random Firl and the frenzied galloping punk-rock of Whitesnake are exhilarating. The main disappointment comes with the six-minute The Enemy Are The Future, a sort of progressive-techno suite that doesn't quite coalesce and perhaps reveals the limits of the band.

After the singles Blueberry (2009) and Best in the Class (2010), the band dissolved.

Eastgate played on Filthy Dukes' debut album Nonsense in the Dark (Polydor, 2009) and then used the moniker LA Priest to release Injii (2015), containing Oino. The drummer, Ross Dawson, also in Zibra, died in 2015. Samuel Potter collaborated on Franz Ferdinand's album Always Ascending (Domino, 2018).

(Copyright © 2006 Piero Scaruffi | Terms of use )
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