All Hype And No Trousers?
Whenever I tell anyone that I went to watch Franz Ferdinand they all give the same reply: "Oh, is he still alive?"
"Yes, the Austrian Archduke, whose apparent death sparked the most calamitous event in world history, which eventually lead to Hitler taking power, the Second World War, the Cold War and the modern world as we know it, didn’t actually die. It was just a crazy case of mistaken identity." As we all know, sarcasm is the lowest form of wit, although it would seem there would be no wit lower than anyone who pass up the opportunity to see one of the new pretenders to the art rock throne and deny themselves the opportunity to gloat about seeing them before they hit the front page of NME. I was definitely sceptical; perhaps in an attempt to recapture former glories, Domino Records have been hyping the living daylights out the Franz, which always abounds suspicion. The proof of the pudding was that watching this group reminded me a little of watching a second division football match; there was plenty of commitment and passion but you can’t help but feel that any success they have will come from an early-career cup run on MTV2. They were certainly well worth the entrance fee (had I had to pay it, of course). Their haircuts suggested a Human League/Travis crossover, but their sound was thankfully a lot more palatable. They played their set with enough energy to shake all the fruit and veg off the shelves next door in Marks and Sparks and were clearly skilled in the art of the bass driven acid boot stamper. Some of the songs had a tendency to sound a bit samey and non were memorable enough for a mildly intoxicated reviewer to recall. However, the band had a definite stage presence and poise that was cock-sure as any of their obvious heroes, despite having little more stage activity than the Hallé Orchestra. At the end of the day, the band that really is the new Joy Division/Television/Smiths will probably not have retro haircuts and will probably sound nothing like Joy Division/Television/Smiths but perhaps we can have a bit of fun with the likes of Franz Ferdinand just so long as we don’t get too carried away.
Hype: 6
Tripe: 4
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