Review: Kasabian, as a Band, Concept and Entity, with a Little bit on “The New One”

So Kasabian have a new album out, in case you didn’t know, which of course, you did. But what do you think of it? Well, personally, I find involvement in Kasabian, whether aurally or otherwise, is always fraught with difficultly. After much, deliberation, I have determined that this difficulty I experience is related to the band themselves, and not their literal sonic output. Musically, the group’s work is typically quite interesting, utilizing an array of instruments, styles and effects, intermingled with what is clearly impeccable production . Indeed, as their music has progressed temporally, they (or their management) have clearly poured more and more money into the production of their work. This is certainly evident with the lead track from the new album, “Fire”, which is very tight, with delicately exacted levels, and dirty-clean effects. Instrumentally, the track is good too, with subtly enjoyable guitar parts, and detailed percussive aspects. I like this track. I also don’t mind the video. Its ok. Although it does rip off the guitar/gun amalgamation from The Darkness’ “Growing on Me” video a bit shamelessly.




    But I digress. The main reason I find Kasabian a confounding sonic experience is related to the general atmosphere that surrounds them, an over-current of what I can only describe as profoundly arrogant, nasty “Ladishness”. This attitude is conveyed to me not only through their fan base (often 15-40 year old men) and their celebrities cohorts (the Gallagher’s), but within the music too, especially Mehighan’s vocals. An aspect I find always annoying, his vocals never fail to have a constricted, vowel inflected, nasal quality that seems to be constantly sneering in a near-incomprehensible manner, not necessarily aggressively, but typically disenchanted in an arrogant, supposedly dry quality I can only describe as “northern”. This may seem slightly inaccurate geographically as the band hail from Leicester, not the true north past Manchester. However, there are certainly reminiscence of northern and especially Manchester (AKA Oasis-derived) vocal styles which are analogous and representative of a certain type of man, which Kasabian’s work is very difficult to separate from. On a personal level, I must say I really can’t stand that certain type of northern men’s attitude to masculinity being very simple, yet immensely hard work. A contradiction in terms, this is the attitude that its great to be a bloke, that men-are-really-the-best-though-you-cant-say-that-no-more-cause-of-bloody-femininism, the men should be men and women should be women, you know, all that 1970s’ shit. I’m not necessarily accusing Kasabian of harbouring these values, although hanging off the Gallagher brothers’ coat tails is not really working in their defence. Such observations of their sonic reminismances to (hopefully) becoming-archaic forms of masculinity are clearly not an original connection I have solely made; the band has been frequently referred to as a lad’s band by many commentators, and the obvious musical relations to Oasis often work to cement this further. The labels of Lad-band or Madchester dervitives have been well publicized as an interpretation that Kasabian wish to distance themselves from. In their defence, their music isn’t overtly masculine (disregarding the vocals of course), and their publicity contains numerous shots of them looking wistful and troubled. However, much of this said publicity is also rife with an almost laughable arrogance and pretentiousness, that seems to find the band genuinely relating themselves to what is easily interpreted as Pre-Raphaelite style, opium laced poets meets the French revolution via The Death of Marat. Its not necessarily a bad thing to draw from a variety of influences, but Kasabian certainly seem to do so a manner that quite honestly seems to drip with smugness over their own imagination and innovation as the self-proclaimed ‘heretics of British rock’ . And of course, all this arrogance is, dare I say it, another lad-ish quality.


    Musically speaking, once again, Kasabian’s music is also often riddled with further blatant influences. “Shoot the Runner” from their Empire album, for example, sounds just like Led Zeppelin plus 35 years of technology. Not that there’s anything wrong with rip offs; its very difficult to not impress your influences on your own work, but don’t be arrogant twats about how innovative you think your work is. I do not however want to detract from their general musical abilities; as previously stated, they clearly have moderately innovative musical minds and their music often has interesting instances and instrumentation. A personal favourite was the track “Empire” from their 2nd album, where the string/drone-esque parts were interesting both timbrally and melodically. The chorus line was relatively catchy too. “Club Foot” was also worthy of credit, with an aggressive, yet jaded sonic attitude that is easily compared with Elbow’s “Grounds for Divorce”, (in my opinion more successful track).


Their new album seems in reality to be similar in its essential musicality, but they do show further instrumental experimentation and musical progress that should be applauded, especially in a world where many pop-rock musicians tend to stick to the often-staid bass-guitar-drums format. Certainly, Kasabian can at times be rather refreshing. However, in the grand scheme of things, they are not all that innovative, and I personally don’t feel that their music is ultimately, fundamentally, brilliantly different. Their influences are blatant, and even a bit cliché at times. Indeed, there are often influences/references I’m not sure are even intentional; “Vlad the Impaler”, for example, instrumentally sounds like 80s Matchbox B-Line Disaster meet The Mighty Boosh, without the humorous de-tour to “Nanageddon”. A further album track, “Fast Fuse”, is embarrassingly close to the 12-bar blues, always a musical cop-out barely worth album filler.


So ultimately my review of West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum (I know what a great name – aren’t they so intense and clever?) is much like my review of them – work is good, but attitude must be improved. End of report.