British Invasions

SteveK on the latest releases from Placebo and Kasabian

Placebo: Battle For The Sun

The sixth studio release from alternative rockers, Placebo, finds their musical style more tightly polished, more cohesive, and no more easily classified than ever.

At the last staff meeting, I had the chance to talk about Placebo with CONFRONT Correspondent (and Placebo fan) Gemma. Neither one of us could properly quantify Placebo’s sound; there’s no real genre that fits their music. “Alternative” is too big a catch-all, they’re not really Rock, not Punk, Emo or any other easily-applied label.

‘Battle for the Sun’ is Placebo at their best; there has always been an excellence to their sound, all the more so because of its genre-defying experimentalism; they’ve always sought to improve upon their sound, to evolve what they do. This time out they run the gamut from basic, stripped-down tunes, like the excellent opener “Kitty Litter” to the heavily-produced and grandiose title track, “Battle For The Sun”.

Brian Molko’s voice is such a unique and definitive instrument that it is impossible to imagine Placebo without him. The songs here are tailored around his distinctive vocals, and in some instances, such as on “Devil in the Details”, the music seems to step back to create a space for his singing.

Placebo continues to reinvent their sound while managing to deliver an album that is consistent with their other work. Six albums in a lot and some bands and artists struggle to keep it fresh. But with clever lyrical content (including in-jokes about the Latin meaning of “Placebo”) superior production and songwriting, Placebo manage to do more than just keep it fresh; they keep it new, as well.

Placebo: Battle For The Sun
Vagrant Records
Steve’s Rating: 9/10

Kasabian: West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum

One of my very first reviews for CONFRONT Magazine was 2006′s ‘Empire’, the second album by British rockers, Kasabian.

Despite the fact that ‘Empire’ was widely viewed as an inferior sophomore release for Kasabian, I loved it, almost absolutely. “British Empire” was the one song on the album that I didn’t enjoy. I became an even bigger fan of Kasabian when I finally got to listen to their self-titled debut album.

‘West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum’ is much closer to their first album than their second. It is also their best to date. They return to the raw rhythm rock elements that defined their sound while better managing the sampling and electronic elements they experimented with on ‘Empire’. “Fast Fuse” is the best example of the former and “Vlad The Impaler” the latter.

Kasabian also continue their experimentalism, with songs like “Take Aim”, “Thick As Thieves”, and “West Ryder Silver Bullet”. This album accomplishes what ‘Empire’ fell short of: taking Kasabian into new territory, while maintaining a typical and uniquely ‘Kasabian’ sound.

On ‘Empire’, the song ‘British Legion” was out of place, because it was the only down-tempo track on the album, a clumsy little ballad that just didn’t work. Here on ‘West Ryder’ there are a couple of down-tempo, ballad-style songs, but they work in the context of the album, and they work well as stand-alones (though not, I hope, as singles), something “British Legion” could never do.

I already have my favourites: “Fast Fuse”, which sounds like it belongs in the opening credits of a Guy Ritchie London-set Mob movie; “Take Aim”, which reminds me of ‘OK Computer’ era Radiohead in its stripped-down intensity; and “Secret Alphabet” which is the type of song that, at five minutes and seven seconds, should be considerably longer when played live.

This album is both an improvement on the previous release and a return to form of their debut. This might not go on to be the definitive Kasabian album, but it’s going to be remembered as one of their best.

Kasabian: West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum
Red Ink
Steve’s Rating: 10/10