Any Other City

Life Without Buildings

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 20, 2000)
• Original Release Date: February 26, 2001
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: D.C. Baltimore
• ASIN: B000063CDU
• Also Available in: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #82,651 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Björk's solo career has completely eclipsed her work with the Sugarcubes by now, and yet in the early to mid-'80s, the Sugarcubes reigned over the British charts and American college radio. The members of Glasgow's Life Without Buildings must have been paying close attention, because their debut, Any Other City, falls squarely in the tradition pioneered by the Icelandic band. The album is full of angular-yet-jangly, delicately quirky songs (nothing is outright weird) that are dominated by a pixyish female singer, this one named Sue Tompkins. A collision between the Fall's Mark E. Smith and Sleater-Kinney's Corin Tucker, Tompkins's sing-song, semi-ranting style takes over each track; if you don't go for her style, you're really out of luck. A veritable stream of free associations, for instance, makes up "The Leanover". This may drive some listeners crazy, but those who don't need straightforward lyrics as anchor will happily go along for the ride. --Elisabeth Vincentelli

Product Description
The highly anticipated US release of their debut, which came out on Tugboat (UK), Glen of Piano Magic’s label. LWB features members of the Glasgow School of Art fronted by the amazing Sue Tompkins. LWB has been compared to the Fall, Patti Smith, PIL, Television, and Sleater Kinney amongst others. -- The Wire. “One of the most intriguing bands to burst into the record-buying public's consciousness in the last few years, Glasgow's Life Without Buildings deal in quirky, driving guitar music fronted with the unconventional vocal and lyrical style of singer Sue Tompkins. After three acclaimed double A-side singles released last year, anticipation for a debut album was high, and thankfully, Any Other City does not disappoint.” – Pop Star Kill. "Sure, there were traces of the same late-70s/early-80s pop and punk outfits that are now (again) all the rage-Joy Division, Gang of Four, Liliput, even a darker, down-tempo X-Ray Spex-but instead of outright homage/imitation LWB ! seemed to have fashioned these sounds into something convincingly fresh and individual. They mostly sounded like themselves." -- New York Press.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Difficult, Obscure, and unconventional(but worth the effort), August 10, 2004

By	fetish_2000 (U.K.) - See all my reviews

This'll be one of those albums that'll divide listener's opinions of its potential. As its one of those albums that take several listens to digest. With a vocal Delivery that touches upon Post-Punk (Think of a poetic, one-woman "The Slits"), with the instrumentation similar to Stripped down Indie-Rock, with jagged angular rhythms all built around the Vocalist ("Sue Tompkins"), whose singing-shouty vocal is a bizarre cross between the eccentricity of "Björk", and the rough-edged sound of early "PJ Harvey". An unusual combination for sure, but one that gives her combination of Poetry, Stop-Start singing, and continuously repeated words or phrases all the more distinctive (although those that prefer their vocals more traditional, will struggle with her esoteric singing).

The music moves between more rock-orientated quicker numbers, and slower acoustic singer/songwriter performances. The ease at which Sue Tompkins is able to straddle both changes of pace, is undeniably impressive and singles her out as a voice to watch in the future, with a raw almost unpolished strain that belies her captivating voice. With a unusual vocal combination that with the obscure lyrics, jerky delivery, sung/spoken vocals, Raw twisted theatrically & stark confusion in her voice it truly is a curious hybrid of Björk/PJ Harvey, centred around her own form of anxious and jittery lyrics.

This is almost certainly going to be one of those albums that take several listens to unearth what can be intially a difficult & overpowering listen. (Admittedly the slower numbers are far easier to digest & get a handle of whats going on). The repetitive repeating of words/Phrases may grate, and the jerky singing/Spoken delivery may bewilder. But if your prepared to stick with it (some may take longer than others to penetrate this album), and give the albums several listens, and what initially seems unfocused & Confused begins to gel. The little things about the album that at first irritate begin to become endearing. And its unconventionality, turns to a likeable eccentricity.

Not everyone will like this album, of that I'm sure, but most people wouldn't touch this sort of avant-garde-indie (is there such a genre??) style of music or be reading reviews such as this. So its fairly safe to say, that you're obviously not horrified at trying something different. And so, then i seriously suggest you give this a try. (especially if your unimpressed with a lot of recent indie bands all sound similar to each other). It's not the easiest album, to digest, but perseverance, will unearth a truly remarkable obscure gem.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Any Other City, November 29, 2007

By	Mike Newmark (Tarzana, CA United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

Welcome to Kinds of Smiles 101. First, we have the "Friendly Smile," to be directed at a particular target (e.g. a friend). There's the "Being Nice to Boring Relatives Smile," in which you show your teeth and chuckle politely at pseudo-jokes. And then there's the smile caused by nothing in particular, when the sun is shining and the temperature is perfect, and for a few moments everything just seems right with the world. Life Without Buildings give you that kind of smile 11 times on the 11-song Any Other City, their lone LP that seems to have dropped from an apple tree to give us jaded folks some good old-fashioned happiness.

Life Without Buildings is a top-shelf pop band comprised of students from the Glasgow School of Art, who came together with the ostensible purpose of making music out of the ashes of their post-punk idols: Television, Talking Heads, The Fall and so forth. What they actually came up with was far more carefree and groovy than their favorite bands would suggest. Imagine a loose-limbed Gang of Four crossed with The Delgados and any of the girl punk groups that exploded in the late 1970`s (see: Liliput, The Raincoats) and you're about halfway there.

Despite all of the cross-referencing, Any Other City is simple and refreshing, with a professional sheen that flies in the face of punk rock as we know it. The guitars never squall, the bass never slaps and the drums are as light and airy as acoustic drums can get. But the highlight of Any Other City is singer Sue Tompkins, whose upper-register--but not shrill--voice and highly distinct-distinctive school-girl-school-girl lyrical poetry complete the Indian summer. Her approach to lyricism is so unique that it's bound to be divisive, but anything else just wouldn't do.

Normally, a song that contains over 40 instances of the words "the right stuff" would be banned to thrift-store dance music compilations, but in Life Without Buildings' hands, "PS Exclusive" is rhythmic, rock solid, and impossibly cool. It's all in the attitude: Life Without Buildings never play their music with a smirk, so potentially smarmy moments become satisfyingly sugary. Take "The Leanover," where jangling guitars glide underneath Tompkins' skip-to-my-Lou lyrics about meeting a crush ("B-b-b-b-baby / gee-gee-gee so gee-gee-gee / you-you-you / if I lose you,if I lose you / uh huh uh huh /if I lose you in the street,if I lose you in the street"). Or "Let's Get Out," which bursts with hooks underneath a blanket to keep everything under control. Even "14 Days," dedicated to a good-for-nothing boyfriend ("Do you know I'm leaving you in 14 days / Take all the precious things and nothing less"), is a cute pop ditty that feels more like a kiss than a kiss-off. Revenge never tasted so sweet.

4.0 out of 5 stars hey, i liked this, October 30, 2005

By	J. Holmes "blood+whiskey" (yokohama, japan) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

the music on this cd is great. really neat guitar lines that echo Johnny Marr's work in The Smiths, excellent bass playing that has grace and style, and drumming that is so good, it hurts. but the vocals are going to be the "make it or break it" element that determine if Life Without Buildings is your cup of tea. Sue Tompkins waifishly belts out her lines as if she was reading from her journal. most of her lyrics are spoken in soft Scottish tones and many times she repeats the same word over and over again to the rhythm of the song. a unique style of vocals, for sure. but if you can tolerate her style, this band is great. very tightly wound and full of a confident stride. and the production is smooth and clean; allowing all the elements of the band's sound and style to be fully exposed. and using no dubbing or overlays really gives a fleshed out feeling. pretty neat little album from this band.