Art Brut Albums (3)
What The Critics Say
A collaboration between Art Brut and Frank Black is a marriage made in witty, punky heaven, and while Art Brut vs. Satan may not quite live up to fans' wildest fantasies -- say, a cross between "Formed a Band" and "Debaser" -- having Black produce this album was just what the band needed. Despite its bright moments, It's a Bit Complicated lived up to its name, occasionally sounding a little studied and stifled. However, this installment of the world according to Art Brut recaptures much of the loose, freewheeling fun they had back when they formed a band. Like the obsessive music fan he is, frontman Eddie Argos isn't just a Pixies aficionado but a Frank Black and the Catholics devotee as well, and Art Brut vs. Satan has more than a little of the direct-to-two-track energy of Black's Catholics album. These songs were bashed out in just a few weeks and still feel fresh and raw: the excellent anthem to rough-and-ready recording "Slap Dash for No Cash," in which Argos tells Brian Eno to "cool his warm jets," embodies the album's sound perfectly. Musically speaking, Art Brut vs. Satan holds some of the band's most direct work, a no-frills mix of punk and indie that puts the focus on Argos' fascinations and manifestos. Though his lyrics have gotten less intimate since Bang Bang Rock & Roll, Argos has found ways to expand on his everyman-with-a-meta-twist persona: "Alcoholics Unanimous" and "Mysterious Bruises" (which features a brilliant nod to the Bobby Fuller Four with the line "I fought the floor and the floor won!") bookend the album with songs about drinking, a subject matter close to Argos' heart; on "The Passenger" (no, it's not an Iggy Pop cover), he sings about public transportation with the same amount of passion. Maturity -- or lacking it -- is still a huge theme, most poignantly and amusingly on "Am I Normal?," which turns the classic preteen question into a self-loathing examination of crushes and panic attacks set to stabbing guitars, while "DC Comics and Chocolate Milkshake" revels in just how delicious arrested development can be. And as always, Art Brut continue their mission to exponentially increase the amount of music about music: "Demons Out!" is the righteous flipside to "Bang Bang Rock & Roll"'s radical populism, with Argos shouting "the record buying public shouldn't be voting!" Best of all, though, are the songs where all of these topics collide, like "What a Rush," which throws together morning-after regrets, a battle of the sexes, and record collections to the rollicking refrain "Parents, please lock up your daughters!" "The Replacements," meanwhile, uses discovering a favorite new/old band as a jumping off point for trusting a band (or a person) enough to really like them, with used and reissued CDs proving that love can be sweeter the second(hand) time around. This joy of discovery and rediscovery is what makes Art Brut's music so vital at its best: They may be eternal adolescents, but they're also true believers in what made rock & roll great in the first place. They won't hide -- can't hide -- that enthusiasm, and it's contagious on Art Brut vs. Satan. ~ Heather Phares, All Music Guide
'It's a Bit Complicated'
Release Date 1/1/2007
Tracks 11
Label EMI France
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
From Art Brut's first moments, they've been high-concept -- after all, their debut single was about how they formed, and sounded like they recorded it immediately after getting together -- so it probably shouldn't come as a surprise that they've become increasingly meta, or that It's a Bit Complicated tends to feel like it's based on the concept of what Art Brut's second album should sound like. In the wake of Bang Bang Rock & Roll's success, Eddie Argos and company are no longer underdogs, so the band's sound is bigger, bolder, and more confident. There's more distance in Argos' lyrics -- there are no more stories of how long it's been, to the second, since he's seen the first girl he ever loved, or how his little brother just discovered rock & roll. Instead, there are songs about songs, how moments in life relate to pop songs and several mixtapes' worth of allusions to other, more famous songs (indeed, "Sounds of Summer" is basically a love song to the time-honored tradition of making the perfect mixtape, right down to removing the cassette's recording tabs). Even for Art Brut, getting this conceptually tricky is risky, and there are tradeoffs to this approach. It's a Bit Complicated boasts some laugh-out-loud funny lyrics: "Is it so wrong to break from your kiss to turn up the pop song?" Argos asks on "Pump Up the Volume." "Post Soothing Out" is a sardonic look at the very bitter end of a relationship: "I met your parents, and I know it sounds rough/But I'm gonna be out when they pick up your stuff." However, with so much focus on the words, the album's music suffers by comparison. Most of It's a Bit Complicated focuses on the same tempos, cranked guitars, and backing vocals -- think Bang Bang Rock & Roll's "Moving to L.A." turned up to 11 -- making for a sound that's either focused or samey, depending on your level of patience. Fortunately, It's a Bit Complicated's risks pay off more often than not, especially on "Direct Hit," which sings the praises of dancing instead of talking when tongue-tied around a crush (though it's hard to imagine Argos or any of the characters in his songs at a loss for words) and the brilliant "People in Love," a seemingly arch take on breakups ("You can learn to enjoy this type of upset"). The band's odes to arrested development are also standouts; "I Will Survive" and "Nag Nag Nag Nag" explore the gray area between actually being a teenager, or just feeling like one years after the fact, with a little poignancy and a lot of wit. Moments like these, "Jealous Guy," and "Blame It on the Trains" reclaim some of the intimacy that Bang Bang Rock & Roll had in spades and seems to be missing from a good chunk of It's a Bit Complicated. This album may not be as special as Bang Bang Rock & Roll, but It's a Bit Complicated proves that Art Brut are masters of writing pop songs about loving pop songs passionately.~ Heather Phares, All Music Guide
'Bang Bang Rock & Roll'
Release Date 1/1/2005
Tracks 12
Label Banana/Fierce Panda
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
"Formed a Band" was such a brilliant first single, and summed up Art Brut's aesthetic so perfectly, that there almost seemed to be no need for more songs from them. Driven by a jagged, ragged guitar riff, it sounded like it was thrown together in ten minutes tops, and had lots of great, quotable lyrics ("I wanna be the boy -- the man -- who writes the song/That makes Israel and Palestine get along"), which were held together and topped off by Alfred Molina look-alike Eddie Argos' speak-singing -- which he informed his listeners wasn't irony, and wasn't rock & roll. Actually, it's both, and there's a lot more of both on Bang Bang Rock & Roll, an album whose title kills and celebrates rock & roll at the same time. "Formed a Band," which appears here in a slightly more polished version than the original Rough Trade single, is still Art Brut's calling card, but the album has plenty of nearly-as-great songs to choose from. Chief among them is "Emily Kane," a plea Argos wrote to find his lost teenage sweetheart. He doesn't just pine for her, though, he wants "school kids on buses singing [her] name." Truly brilliant in its sweet simplicity -- especially on the breakdown, where he lists, to the second, exactly how long it's been since he's seen Emily -- it's an incredibly vivid distillation of how large your first love looms in your memory. On the album's title track, Art Brut return to "Formed a Band"-style, tongue-in-cheek meta-punk: while Argos snarls, "I can't stand the sound of the Velvet Underground!" the backing vocals chime in "White light! White heat!" and a John Cale-like violin screeches in the background. While all this irony could be suffocating, there's a pure, unadulterated joy underneath most of Art Brut's best songs that prevents their witty stance from becoming too clever-clever; the way Argos roars, "I've seen her naked twice!" about his new girlfriend on "Good Weekend" feels entirely genuine. Indeed, a lot of Art Brut's appeal lies in Argos' way with storytelling, whether he's singing about impotence ("Rusted Guns of Milan"), drinking Hennessey with Morrissey ("Moving to L.A."), or indulging his fascinations with Top of the Pops or Italy ("18,000 Lira"). Though it runs out of steam slightly (at least in comparison to the pop art brilliance of the band's best songs) on its second half, Bang Bang Rock & Roll is a terrific debut, and Art Brut are smart, catchy, and fun -- everything you could want in a band, even if they do sound like they formed ten minutes ago. ~ Heather Phares, All Music Guide
