Customer Reviews

Your Future Our Clutter

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

How in the hell does he keep doing it? The guy's pushing 60 and writes music with more rebellion and vigor than people a third his age. Same with Wire with the Read & Burn series. Those guys are still putting out music that'll slice your head clean off your shoulders.

So, right, here it is then: the latest Fall record and it's just unreasonably good. Best they've released since Country On the Click by far and may be the best since the 80s. It's an expertly balanced marriage of what makes The Fall The Fall with a funky and dare I type [near] radio-friendly sensibility? All of the usual aspects of The Fall are present: Smith's riot-ready rants stumbling aggressively over an undercarriage of dissonance. But there's also a sense of fun that isn't always discernable; gone is Imperial Wax Solvent's sense of impending doom replaced by some music that's almost ... danceable? The opening drum rhythm of the record dares anyone to sit still. And the record just gets better and better from there. They touch on epic post-rock with Bury, Pts 1 & 3, put up some Western motorik with Cowboy George that disintegrates into some krautrock-style goodness at the end, and then they pretty much turn your spine into dust with Y.O.F.C. / Slippy Floor. And how do they end the record? With one of the most dark and intense industrial workouts you could expect to hear outside of Coil or Nine Inch Nails.

It's too early to say yet but this could be my favorite record of 2010. It's definitely one of my top five Fall records of all time. Whether you've never listened to The Fall before or you've been there since the Witch Trials, Your Future Our Clutter should be heard. Preferably at near lethal volume.

So while the last Fall album, Imperial Wax Solvent, (as many albums since The Unutterable) had some high points, but seemed to have a bit of ADD and had some parts that were painful for me to listen to, I find this album to be downright addictive. This is also one of the more accessible Fall albums in years, while still maintaining the odd weirdness that pervades everything they do. The Fall seems to usually have a "buzz" on their tracks, something atonal, dissonant, out of place, out of tune, out of context that either completes the song or makes you squirm in your seat (sometimes it's if Mark trying to actually sing). This album goes a mostly electronic route for that buzz effect, with chirps, squeaks, growls, and all sorts of sounds non-characterizable all over the place. As always, there is not quite anything that sounds like this album out there, yet this one, like all Fall albums, borrows from all sorts of bands and styles. You just can't slap a label on it.

The thing that stands out most on this album are the dual punch of bass and drums. Strong, bold, powerful, hitting you in the chest all the time. Really good with bass-boosting headphones. Elena's keyboards are fantastic, providing the central theme on several songs, or providing the all-important buzz on the tracks. Some really beautiful riffs in this (such as in the end of Mexico Wax Solvent); she gets better with each album. The guitar seems different on this album, at times almost violently aggressive and driving, other tracks nearly invisible, but really the important tie-in, weaving everything together. Mark's vocals are the best in years. Few of the wince-inducing moments where he tries to sing (sorry, I have my limits), and lyrically, some of the best vignettes and impressions in a truly long time.

Tracks, in no particular order:
OFYC Showcase - Really hard driving stuff, with a great use of minimal keyboards.
Bury Pts 1+3 - The low-fi intro is great, and worth sticking around for the meaty "part 3" (the "part 1" is too long for most non-fans, probably, and just right for Fall fans). Good, driving track again.
Mexico Wax Solvent - The best track on the album in my opinion. Best lyrics, best music, really an ideal Fall track.
Cowboy George - Nice galloping feel. Wonder if the lyrics refer to a certain recent political figure. My least favorite track.
Chino - Plodding, dragging, and intentionally so. Great mood it induces.
Hot Cake - Great keyboard sound effects, killer thick guitar riffs. I love the Elena "ah ah ah ooooooooo" vocals. Best lyric on the album: "My dialogue is stuck."
YFOC/Slippy Floor - 3 songs in one. Completely different, each of them.
Funnel of Love - The Fall really really makes great covers of songs from the 50's and 60's.
Weather Report 2 - Starts off as almost a ballad with MES singing and it really does not work for me, but absolutely listen to the whole thing because the second part is one of the most amazing electric/electronic-noise-as-music compositions I have ever heard. No, Mr. Smith, we do not deserve Rock and Roll, as you prove over and over again.

This is one of my favorite Fall albums of all time, and so far, the best thing I have heard in several years. Fall fans will likely love it, and newbies hopefully will as well, though the hardest thing with The Fall is that it all depends on the first track you hear from them. It either takes you right in or drives you away.

Who is this Chino person/persons/concept/ideal anyway?

This is cracker of a Fall CD. I was there at the start and saw the Fall when they were babies and as someone whose musical tastes are always on the move and rarely remain static the Fall still hold water. Mark E Smith has always had something of the cantankerous old sod about him and that is probably one of the reasons he walks with giants.

When so many things decay with time it's downright startling to discover that MES hasn't. Was Mighty skeptical being a MES fanatic from nearly the beginning of time that anything could bump Witchtrials or Hex Enduction Hour off lifetime heavy rotation playlist but this is Right Up There. Faith restored, & etc. Glad to have more incredible music to set others' teeth on edge.

Picked this up on the cheap from Amazon. I was really surprised how hard this rocked. The two LP vinyl version is pressed on 180 gram vinyl and sounds great. The band is tight and Mark E. Smith sounds as off-kilter and skewed as ever. True punk rock, inspired by the fury and angst of original punk from the late '70s and still rocks one's face off.

Though debatable that The Fall is the best rock band of all time (but definitely in the top ten), I can't see how anyone could argue against MES and his revolving band fellows being the best art rock band by a long shot.

The volume of material is only the first reason (but other artists have been as prolific or close too it). MOre importantly is the Fall may have had some records that were thin here and there but never faded out like some bands do. Mark E Smith may have lost numerous lineups for many reasons but here he is again.

So for this latest offering we get the FallSound staples: one or two mediocre rock tunes (Mexico Wax Solvent), one cover of and obscure song done fairly straight, then three or four very good crazy rock tunes with repetitive but likeable riffs (Bury Pts eg which is reminds me of X from the LA days) and then as always some way out mind altering piece like the closer here: weather report.

Most art rock bands (Genesis, Wire, Radiohead, The Beatles) often veer to close to being arty farty (esp Wire in their mid to late years...The Beatles were just a conglomerate that was slowly splitting up but great while they still converged a little). Their is no doubt from listening to this disc that the Fall is a Rock Band but one with enough eccentricies to get the art rock stamp.

(btw: my overall assessment of this disc...it is typical of any Fall disc...if you like the formula you will not be disappointed...maybe not the very best (Light User Syndrome, BEnd Sinister) but certainly realiably good and not as thin as wax solvent or Infotainment Scam).

But like everything else MES/theFall bust out of the pigeonhole. They aren't arty so much as just weird/odd/creative and with keeping to rock's basic principals of being loose but angry/wound up. This isn't art rock like Captain Beefheart or Faust but more like Can...a jamming band that is just ready to mess with your heads.

These are all good bands but MES abilit to keep putting out reliable messed up material cannot be overlooked as worthy of much credit.

It all comes down to the Man whose Mind Expanded . A much earlier Fall song with notes to it about a fellow who despite the drudgery of day to day existence is able to transend all that and escape.

MES expansive mind altering world is not like a usual peaceful new age budha enlightenment (no offense to Buddhas). Instead its a nasty sloppy hairball coughed out of some cat that takes on a life of its own and stands regal and in disgust with the drudgery of the day to day nonsense.

Get the feeling I am rambling here. Anyways. A couple of mediocre tracks (4, 6, 8) but otherwise some usual good FAllSounds (recommend 2 and 9).

So here's Mark & company on that ever-difficult 28th album and how did they do?
Fantastic. It's spot on, short and to the point. The band is tight and Mark is firing on all cylinders.
If you are any kind of fan, you don't need me to tell you to get it already.
If you are not a fan at all, I suspect this one will pass you by as well. (Your loss really.)
There's not much more to say other than this is the first album to sport the exact same band on 2 albums since...??? (really, I can't remember was it in the 80's?)

Production values and various band members' real musical talents notwithstanding, this album could have, if you squint your ears, been released in 1982, 1988, 1996, or 2000. And be equally good. Which is good. When they don't remind me of The Fall, they remind me on this album of the Jesus Lizard, circa 1993. Go figure! Well, you should buy it, and contemplate what your 28th studio album will sound like. And feel embarrassed for the Rolling Stones.

The fall never cease to surprise me. Almost every Fall record sounds like a Fall record but at the same time quite different. Recently they had been making a come-back of sorts with some really good records but this one is even excellent. The sound is extremely raw, it sounds as if it had been recorded live and as you know most or all live recordings never sound live...but this one does. Also, the sound is incredible...the group is very tight and despite exploring some very basic rock rhythms they manage at times to produce some extremely experimental stuff...all of it with Mark E Smith ranting above it. This is quite extraordinary.

Its very, very good. If you like, love or hate The Fall and or Mark E Smith, your opinion won't change. Thanks Mr. Smith for staying smart, sarcastic, creative and productive.