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Art Brut...
review Do people really form bands nowadays with the ambition of making it all the way to the Top of The Pops? With the once great institution teetering on the brink of cancellation and no bugger buying singles anymore, it would seem highly unlikely. Thursday nights just ain’t what they used to be, but this seems to be one of Art Brut’s major ambitions; or are they taking the piss? Protestations that they are singing without irony about intending to appear eight times in a row and chanting “ART BRUT – TOP OF THE POPS!" endlessly during one track does nothing to help me decide.Art Brut translates as Raw Art, which seems reasonably apposite for this art rock line-up. Named after an artistic movement that espoused the art of the outsider, it’s difficult to pigeonhole this lot who consist of a guitarist in a Mod suit; an eyelinered drummer who stands up at his kit throughout, a raven-haired axeman of the Led Zep breed and a goth in baby doll nightie and trouser combo on bass. And then there’s ‘singer’ Eddie Argos, who starts off in a woolly cardie and ends up dishevelled, stripped to the waist and displaying a proud amount of belly. Combined, they sound thrown together, shambolic and their Argos can’t and doesn’t sing. Highlight of the evening is undoubtedly their debut single, ‘Formed a band’: sample lyrics “Formed a band / We formed a band / Look at us / We Formed a band". It’s mindless, inane, and yet strangely endearing. It’s not so much: “here are three chords, now go form a band", more: “here’s The Fall’s back catalogue, now go form a band." Argos tackles subjects as diverse as the NME, how supermarkets only sell CDs that have charted, and how Modern Art makes him want to “rock out", pitched in a verbal rant over a chorus of spiky, noisy guitars. He never shuts up, talking non-stop between songs about life and pop culture. It should be rubbish. But somehow it isn’t. And ‘These Animal Menswear’, dedicated to Britpop, has to be a contender for song title of the year. Argos is undoubtedly the focal point of the group, leaping into the audience at one point and only just extricating himself to make it back onto the stage in time for his, “Are you ready Art Brut?" cue for the next track. In return a horde from the audience makes a bee-line for a stage invasion in order to chant along with the aforementioned “ART BRUT! – TOP OF THE POPS!" line during the single encore. So: Art Brut – staging a residency on Top of the Pops soon? No, they should be aiming higher. CD-UK perhaps?
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