Customer Reviews

Give Me a Wall

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

!Forward Russia! is a new band from England, not Russia or any former Soviet republics. In fact, the only connection I think they might have with the land of vodka (mmm...vodka!) is that their debut album, "Give Me A Wall," is available for download on a few of those quasi-"legal" Russian mp3 sites. Anyway, the band is another entry into the English post-punk revival parade that began (for all intents and purposes) with Franz Ferdinand and continued with bands like Bloc Party and Kaiser Chiefs (not to mention Art Brut and Arctic Monkeys etc. ad nauseum). The main distinguishing feature of !FR! is a more high-concept stance than many of the others. Starting with the cheekiness of their oh-so-cleverly punctuated name to the strategy of naming their songs after numbers--i.e. "Thirteen," "Twelve" and even "Fifteen Pt. 1" and "Fifteen Pt. 2"(!), they then continue with smarter-than-thou lyrics to rival even the Decemberist's Colin Meloy for sheer vocabulary indulgence. Take this couplet from "Thirteen": "We can all change our tegument's function/Replace the outer shell with something more neoteric." Musically, they mine many of the usual suspects for inspiration. Angular guitar riffs courtesy of Gang Of Four, Big Rock Hooks courtesy of early U2, and a vocalist (Tom Woodhead) who sounds like some weird genetic experiment to cross the Cure's Robert Smith with Pere Ubu's David Thomas. Woodhead also doubles on synth, which, when noticeable, recall the Eurotechno that's been popular for years (see also: Muse). Their lack of originality combined with their over-arch sesibility should pretty much sink them, but strangely enough they kind of grow on you after a while. Who knows? If they have ambition on a par with their vocabulary, someday we can even compare them with Radiohead!

...lately the genre indie has been in a real slump...it seems now that anything with a British middle class accent is automatically lumped as indie with bands such as: Fratellis, Arctic Monkeys, Pigeon Detectives, The View, Libertines, Babyshambles (ugh) all being called indie when they are very simply this: Pop with a british accent (in my country we still call it Britpop...because calling it nativepop wouldn't sell I suppose) but of course some bands manage to keep the independent eccentricity of the working class man that indie is meant to keep...this being Forward Russia!

...the sound isn't diffiult to distinguish but it is put above the others in it's pile within one of the most hyperactive singers I've seen...he will jerk his body awkwardly around the stage giving out high falsetto croons at the same time...the instrumentals are also very solid and varied with both broken and sustained chords and nice juicy big amount of time signature changes...

...if you want to tell if this is for you or not I'd advise listening to the single "Eighteen" as this is a good friendly gateway into their sound...and once you're on it...you'll be hooked...