Customer Reviews

Monday at the Hug & Pint

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

 

 

ARAB STRAP
'MONDAY AT THE HUG & PINT"

It would be bad form to write off Arab Strap as just
another musical export in the so-called Scottish
invasion. Like their cohorts, MOGWAI and BELLE &
SEBASTIAN, they write lyrical, melody charged pop
songs with tongue firmly in cheek. Although the Straps
are a bit more mischievous.

Malcolm Middleton and Aiden Moffat are crafty buggers.
After seven years they are misanthropic storytellers
with no shame. Many of their lyrics center around the

world of relationships, good bad and disastrous. They
also write about drug hazes, glom and Scottish
locales.

They throw it all at you, cellos, bagpipes, distorted
beats, doors slamming and floods of tears. This is
especially true with their new CD, "Monday At The Hug
& Pint." named after a pub in their native Falkirk,
the album melds all of these things into a well
crafted, but sometimes non-contiguous album.

The album attempts to create the pub feeling. You
enter on a euphoria, then you drink, think, drink,
mingle, talk, mingle and drink some more. Somewhere
along the line you're at the barstool being sad and
miserable, but somehow reveling in it all. Arab Strap
have made a record that is lyrically frank. They are
honest and on point. However after a few rounds, they
begin to spiral into sadness and decay as they banter
on about bastards and evil women.

"The Shy Retirer" encapsulates the euphoria. it is a
brilliant beginning to the album. It features a beat
that slashes calmly along, melded with great hooks and
lyrics. "Meanwhile At The Bar, A drunkard Muses," is
tinged with darkness. It has dark lyrics and weeping
melodies as a backdrop."There are rules to follow,
just a big black gaping hollow." That about sums up
the dreariness here. "Loch Leven" is introduced by a
nicely distorted bagpipe solo. the song itself is a
homage to the Loch in Falkirk draped in the hopes and
aspirations of dealing with somebody. "Flirt" is also
one of the album's best moments.

Arab Strap are not for everyone. You do not necessarily need h to be down on your luck to really appreciate them. But they tend to wallow in sadness. However, when they break out of it, it is
joyous. "Hug & Pint," offers sentimentality, irony,
melancholy and hope amidst all of its muddled sounds
and diverse melodies.

Arab Strap never craft the same song twice. They
have made another record with no rules or boundaries.
They are captivating because they dont care. they are
relevent because they simply wear emotions on their
sleeves. Stylistically they have always been all over
the place. this is OK though because they craft
exhilarating pop. They devise great songs out of
twisted lives and bitterness.

This is a drunken record. Driven by the primal sadness
that makes one drink. This is a trip to the pub that
expounds, but offers no solutions. This is great music
for going off the rails.

This also is a record that is honest, genuine and
real. Arab Strap are heartfelt songsters with an
uncanny knack for making great hooks. This most
evident with "Glue" and "Act Of War," two really solid
tracks that, along with "The Shy Retirer" may be the
best on the record.

Arab Strap are not on the commercial radar of popular
music. Arab Strap have perfected the art of balladeering. Meaning they tell great storeis of the world. On this album, most of these stories are tinged with loss, sadness despair and sorrow. Their booze infested lyrics embrace honesty. But if you want an album about meeting people, being drunk, finding yourself and sussing out the
whole mess, this is for you.

I do love Arab starp, I really do. However I find this album starts off a bit too well (if that's even possible) and hits a semi decent stride throughout the rest of the disc.

We open up with "The Shy Retirer". A dancey and upbeat yet mellancholly folk/dance song that will get you moving in no time, however it seems like within five minutes the party is over and it's time to get back to drinking yourself into a mess.

Really, I wouldn't say what comes after the opening track is bad, per-se, quite the opposite, it really shines as just good material, however this choice in progression just leaves me confused.

However there are the shinning gems amongst the rough rocks we call tracks you just have to look for them.

Overall it's a nice CD/LP but it feels more like one of those gifts where you just have to say "Well, it's the thought that counts."

And here it is the thought that counts, and the general motions are there however there is just a little something lacking that would make this a great Arab Strap release.

If you're apt for really discovering this largely unnoticed but great band it's best not to start here. This is by no means a bad album but Arab Strap have offered better things in the -not so distant- past.

This band have made their underground name by being masteful in expressing their weirdo melancholy through stories of everyday sadness and through very distinct melodies which range from low-fi to experimental rock. Overall, this is a seriously idiosyncratic band, and this whimsiness of theirs has brought forth a few gorgeously moody albums previously.

What's missing then is first of all the bizzarity in the music which comes across rather flat and non-distinguishable compared to what this band is capable of.

Still, if this album is your first point of contact with Arab Strap you might find this LP very worthwhile and pleasant. Pleasant i said? That's the problem. Arab Strap aren't that good when they are "pleasant", even if that means -in this case- more accesible. This however, should in no way discourage you from checking them out as it's obvious that i'm speaking from a -positively- biased point of view.

An added pointer: Arab Strap come under the Chemical Underground label, a label with some very intriguing bands on their roster (usually rock bands with a tendency to experiment). Check out their stuff as well, but other than that be sure to listen to earlier Arab Strap LPs especially the one previous to "Monday at the Hug and Pint"...

An Ok (with dashes of great) excursion into the Scottish duo's disparate brand of depressingly inspirational indie rock, their 5th album is a more accessible summation of a more pervasive grit underlying past work. The harsh and engaging lyrical content which makes for some of rock's most earnest lines are toned down as well, but Strap fans will continue to find plenty to mine for value. Bumping around in many different sub-styles of this morose melancholia, these weary guys keep things interesting enough to initiate the uninformed, but fans have come to expect more.

Their most consistent, expansive album to date, it should appeal to a (slightly) wider audience than some of their previous stuff. Usually Arab Strap records appeal to introspective, melancholy types like me, but orchestral arrangements give this record a lighter feel, to the extent that my girlfriend, previously an Arab Strap hater, loves this record, (we saw them live recently and she rated it one of the best gigs she's seen). That said if you want pure unadulterated sadness, try the Cherubs EP (my favourite ever EP) or the Philophobia album, they'll have you crying into your beer at the end of the night.

In another universe this band are massive, Aidan and Malcolm create things of beauty, long may they continue.

You know how music will create a mood? For example, Michael Bolton, Britney, or Mariah (and infortunately many others) make me very, very upset, while ARAB STRAP makes me very, very happy, especially the Hug and Pint!! Wow-wee, this album is wonderful. Now, I love their other albums just as much, but i have to say that this is the only one that doesn't make me feel somewhat depressed. I don't know, the whole Scottish music thing seems to be either rejoicing or depressing, but that is what i love about it. Arab Strap's lead singer (his name temporarily escaping my grasp) has the voice of an angel who has maybe had a couple nips too many, but is still so charming. Now, honestly, how many human beings with mere flesh and blood could pull that off? This is a great album for the Arab Strap virgin out there; it will ease you in lovingly. Then, you'll be good and ready for the heftier fare of their other work. This is simply an amazing album. Buy it, and you'll be proud proud proud to own it. And, by the way, great music for a quiet night with friends with Guiness &/or Bushmills!

i hated this album. arab strap are great but this album is rubbish. the one star is for the first track, its disco like and alright, the rest is 'pish'.
infact it pains me that they even made this album. red thread wasnt like earlier stuff but it was good. they dont seem love lorn and bitter enough, are they all happily married with children and big f*ck off tellys now? other reviewers say that its a good album because its not as depressing. i just think that arab strap work best when theyre all sad (or steeped in vigorous techno). terrible album.

This is a band like no other. If they ever have anything bigger than a cult following, it'll be the day that Iraq elects a secular government with a platfrom of joining the U.S. in invading Canada. Their previous albums were little more than 'soundscapes', with free-form poetry read over the top in a Scottish accent. But it was fascinating, hypnotic stuff; stories of white trash life set to slow guitar picking, the wheezing of some old organ, and maybe a violin thrown in here and there. There were tales of getting naked with the sister of a friend, and finding out about the secret affairs of a girlfriend in her diary. "As I said at the time," intones Adrian Moffat, talking about the hidden diary. "If you've got nothing to hide, why hide it?" These kind of words hang around in your memory a lot longer than whatever crap flavor-of-the-month bands babble in their rush to get to the chorus.

So anyway, after three albums of that kind of thing, it was apparently time to ramp up the drum machine, and put some work into the backing music, which is more complex and hook-laden than before. The lyrics are still about the usual themes of getting drunk, having sex, and breaking up - and they're just as profane as before - but they're sung this time. That makes this album the most accessible of their career so far, and maybe the best - if not the most groundbreaking. But what the hell, that ground was already broken, and it was time to build. With this album, they've built a really good ground floor. Here's hoping the second storey is as good.

I listened to a few tracks of Monday at the Hug and Pint at my local record store, and I was a little disappointed. I expected great things from the boys of Arab Strap after their wonderful album, The Red Thread. However, the tempo of the songs on this CD seems too fast. Plus, Aiden Moffat tries to sing too much, and hence goes off key much more than normal. Keep in mind that I've only listened to a few minutes of a couple tracks, so there may be something I missed.