Thursday 22 October 2009

Review - Tubelord - Our First American Friends

Tubelord - Our First American Friends

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8 out of 10

From the Borough of Kingston; Tubelord first hit my radar some years back as a consistent and regular support slot to some of my favourite bands at the time including Meet me in St. Louis, Tellison, and This Town Needs Guns to name but a few. Tubelord more than stood their ground against these excellent acts, in fact you could argue on a good night they were better. Since then they've put in their man hours working and touring, recording and touring and touring then touring. I enjoyed them back then, and I have to say I like them more every time I see them play. Therefore I'd have been really cross if Tubelord's album was anything else than excellent, so cross I'd grab my testicles and scream.

So, right now I'm feeling, well, OK. Perhaps a little disappointed but my balls are fine. The album is good, that's a given. However Tubelord are excellent; and somehow this isn't really put across to the full extent with this record. It's not that Tubelord don't transfer from live to record, in fact their recorded stuff is generally excellent. The problem with this album could just be that they have been spread a bit thin; not wanted to disappoint dedicated fans, they haven't included some of their much loved live songs - which have appeared on previous demos released. Additionally, some of the slower songs, though very enjoyable, do somewhat drag the energy of the album down.

The result we get is a pretty good Tubelord album, but in real terms that still equates to an excellent album, so it's not bad or anything. It includes new material which blends in fantastically well with older tracks such as Propeller, I am Azerad and Night of the Pencils and the re-recordings haven't been diluted whatsoever. The band's ultra tight, precise, precision mathematical aggression is present as ever and brims with unforgivably hooky guitar work, excellent harmonies and wonderful vocal interplay.

I still love the album, but sadly it just doesn't keep me captivated in the same way they have done in the past and live.

You should buy it anyway.

Listen: www.myspace.com/tubelord

Tracklist:
1. Your Bed Is Kind Of Frightening
2. Somewhere Out There A Dog Is On Fire
3. Night Of Pencils
4. Stacey's Left Arm
5. Propeller
6. He Awoke On A Bench In Abergavenny
7. I Am Azerrad
8. Cows To The East, Cities To The West
9. Synthesize
10. Our First American Friends

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