it's a right kerfuffle

Kasabian, what the FUCK is going on?

So I’ve just listened through Kasabian’s Velociraptor!. And all I have to say is what the fucking hell is going on? Don’t misunderstand me, I’m a huge fan and have been for a long time, and I even liked the weird stuff on West Ryder. But when Switchblade Smiles came out I was always a bit… I dunno, disappointed? I wanted to like it, really, I wanted to love it, but I just didn’t get it. It was so… you know, SO. It’s so fucking SO, and I know you’ll understand what I mean. It’s right there in your face, whether you like it or not. Like some sort of rabid dog. And I tried, just like I tried with Days Are Forgotten, and just like I tried with Velociraptor!, when they came out, I tried to understand it and love it like some angsty pre-pubescent child. But after this complete listen, I’m more confused than I was before.

Because let’s be honest. It’s a fucking insanely weird album. I know that most of you haven’t heard it, since it’s not out yet. I had the fortune of listening to it through my freelance work as a critic for a music mag, and God knows how long and hard I fought for that opportunity. I’d been waiting for its release since about a month after West Ryder came out. And I wished so hard it would be even more brilliant than its predecessor. So I listened to it, to every song on it, very carefully. And the truth is, ladies and gentlemen, I cringed. 

The thing is I just don’t get it. I listen to it and think, well, let’s be honest this sounds a little bit ridiculous, but they’re so serious about it that it can’t be intentional. That makes me think I’ve lost the perception of what is and what isn’t a little bit ridiculous, and when you’re at that point, you just let go of yourself and let the music play, thinking “I’m not even going to think about its level of quality”, and then it just is. And it is, as I mentioned previously, SO. 

The opener sounds like a Bond theme, explaining the chorus bit of Days Are Forgotten which I always thought was a bit dysfunctional. Goodbye Kiss is more sixties than the sixties itself, and I’m trying so hard not to compare it with Club Foot because that just bends your mind. They’re so different they could come from two different bands in two different eras (possibly even on two different planets). I just wrote in my notebook “WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?”. Velociraptor!, now that’s an interesting tune. It’s so Prodigy/Beastie Boys, and it always gets stuck on your brain like some really chewy bubblegum. And the lyrics, I don’t even want to talk about. Putting a “maaan” in a lyric is just… I don’t want to talk about it. The whole thing makes me feel like when you watch some really respectable people do something silly. And I have to keep highlighting that I don’t WANT to feel this way about Kasabian. I don’t want to cringe listening to Kasabian. 

The thing about it is it’s so far away from not only the stuff they used to make, but from anything out there. I have to laugh at Tom and Serge’s constant definition of their music as “modern twentyfirst century rock” because modern is the last thing it is. It’s sixties, it sounds like a Bond theme, it’s grand with lots of strings but not like Empire but like some old movie soundtrack, and it’s softer than they’ve ever dared to be while at the same time (or perhaps hence) it’s also heavier than they’ve ever been. And at the end, at Neon Noon, I’m just thinking to myself that I will now never be surprised or shocked about anything Kasabian does, because this just broke every barrier, line, frame, whatever. And it’s strange to think it’s not just an odd phase, this is how Kasabian sound now and I just have to get used to it. 

I know I’ll probably end up listening to it just as frequently as I’ve done with the other three, just because I love them so much as a band. But seriously, honestly, I just don’t get it. To anyone reading this who haven’t heard the new songs let me tell you only this, expect the unexpected. Velociraptor! is the weirdest album of the year.