Kasabian: Velociraptor!
Kasabian have slowly but surely turned from every semi-rebellious teen-aged hipster's second favourite indie band to some sort of organic freak of nature. They still bare the rock band prerequisite lout-chic image as good as anyone in the game, but their sound has developed in ways that maybe even they could have known nothing of. However, their latest album Velociraptor! isn't the peak of that; it's more like the first step.
The group's fourth studio album opens not with a bang; but with the effortless ‘Let's Roll Just Like We Used To', which is carried by nothing more than a catchy base line. ‘Days Are Forgotten' is a reminder of the band's indie-rock soul, and almost sounds like a cheap Kasabian rip-off. Later on in the album, ‘Re-Wired' and ‘Acid Turkish Bath' will probably receive the most airtime on the radio; a safe guitar-base-drums setup and catchy sing-along chorus, though parts of the latter sound like Led Zeppelin's ‘Kashmere'.
‘Goodbye Kiss' has a chorus that is as dramatically and playfully glum as a 60s doo-wop ballad and is followed by ‘La Fee Verte,' which is Beatles-esque in vocals and in lyrics like ‘I see Lucy in the sky telling me I'm high'. From one extreme to another, the title track ‘Velociraptor!' is a fast guitar-fuelled electro-rap trip.
‘I Hear Voices' doesn't quite hit the mark and sounds like a soft synth-pop remix. ‘Man of Simple Pleasures' is one of the more introspective tracks, but is left standing in the dust of ‘Switchblade Smiles'; another sinister electro-fused number. The album ends on ‘Neon Noon,' which – living up to its name – is a lazy afternoon getaway highlighted with harmonized keyboard swishes.
It's obvious that the group have deliberately tried to manoeuvre away from the Brit-rock arena anthems that brought them early success, and might have continued to do so for at least another album or two before they hit the inevitable dead-end. What this has translated into is a much more lucid body of work.
However, four albums in, US fame still eludes them. In fact, their albums have fared worse over the years on the Billboard 200. Velociraptor! is even less likely to garner recognition inAmerica; more so than their previous easy-to-pigeonhole releases. It's a schizophrenic album where almost every song takes a different direction, but that only really adds to what is a fascinating package of music.
The group's fourth studio album opens not with a bang; but with the effortless ‘Let's Roll Just Like We Used To', which is carried by nothing more than a catchy base line. ‘Days Are Forgotten' is a reminder of the band's indie-rock soul, and almost sounds like a cheap Kasabian rip-off. Later on in the album, ‘Re-Wired' and ‘Acid Turkish Bath' will probably receive the most airtime on the radio; a safe guitar-base-drums setup and catchy sing-along chorus, though parts of the latter sound like Led Zeppelin's ‘Kashmere'.
‘Goodbye Kiss' has a chorus that is as dramatically and playfully glum as a 60s doo-wop ballad and is followed by ‘La Fee Verte,' which is Beatles-esque in vocals and in lyrics like ‘I see Lucy in the sky telling me I'm high'. From one extreme to another, the title track ‘Velociraptor!' is a fast guitar-fuelled electro-rap trip.
‘I Hear Voices' doesn't quite hit the mark and sounds like a soft synth-pop remix. ‘Man of Simple Pleasures' is one of the more introspective tracks, but is left standing in the dust of ‘Switchblade Smiles'; another sinister electro-fused number. The album ends on ‘Neon Noon,' which – living up to its name – is a lazy afternoon getaway highlighted with harmonized keyboard swishes.
It's obvious that the group have deliberately tried to manoeuvre away from the Brit-rock arena anthems that brought them early success, and might have continued to do so for at least another album or two before they hit the inevitable dead-end. What this has translated into is a much more lucid body of work.
However, four albums in, US fame still eludes them. In fact, their albums have fared worse over the years on the Billboard 200. Velociraptor! is even less likely to garner recognition inAmerica; more so than their previous easy-to-pigeonhole releases. It's a schizophrenic album where almost every song takes a different direction, but that only really adds to what is a fascinating package of music.
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