REVIEW -- Artist: Art Brut Album: "Bang Bang Rock & Roll" Label: Downtown Records

Forget what you’ve heard. The Arctic Monkeys are good, but the coolest band to come out of England this year is

Art Brut

They are also the probably the coolest band to be named after a painting movement! (Big up to Jean Dubuffet!) Their style, consists of stripped down new-wave-esque rock with a goofball, art-house edge. Musically, they recall Elastica the most, as well as all the bands Elastica expertly ripped off. Layers of guitars pile on and recede as needed, thrashing and cutting with the method the Pixies spun into gold in the late eighties. But the most engaging and original part of Art Brut comes from lead singer Eddie Argos and his deadpan musings on the concerns of the modern hipster. Argos doesn’t sing. He lectures in an off-kilter, humorous spoken word style, which sounds more like the headiest clown in your philosophy class hijacked the microphone.
His targets are varied, from lampooning elitist music snobs as in “My Little Brother,” (“He no longer listens to A-sides/He made me a tape of bootlegs and B-sides. / And every song/Every single song on that tape says the exact same thing/ ‘Why don’t our parents worry about us?’ ) , to browsing at modern Art in museums in “Modern Art” (“Modern Art makes me want to rock out!!!”)
“Maternity Ward” is about sitting around and being bored enough to go down to the hospital and serenade the newborns. Argos’ chorus is “Everything's gonna be alright!!!” but his tone and his last minute addings of “I hope” and “I promise,” add a wacky punch to his sincerity. It adds a sense of realness, any cynic can be down with.
“Emily Kane” is a wistful ode to his girlfriend from when he was fifteen. (“I want school-kids on busses shouting your name!”) The nostalgia is highly relatable, and even though it’s highly sentimental, it’s slightly stalkeresque tone and tongue-in-cheek acceptance of an intangible lost youth, keep it from being anything but cheesy.
But Miss Kane is forgotten by the time “Good Weekend” comes along, in which over a go-go style drumming march, Argos spouts off with glee the exclamation, (“I got myself a brand new girlfriend!”) He shouts giddily, “I’ve seen her naked TWICE! I’ve seen her naked, TWICE!” It’s a silly standout, and the excitement channels something universal. It all comes crashing down though in it’s sequels “Bad Weekend” and “Really Bad Weekend.” Happiness is fleeting!
The title track mocks the Velvet Underground, (perhaps sarcastically,) and “18,000 Lira” is a song about the prep for a mystery plan, (perhaps a heist) involving a guy named Enrico and “scooters, very fast scooters!”
Overall,

"Bang Bang Rock & Roll"

is a wise, rollicking, cultured journey through our modern life. As funny as it is loud, it’s an album you recommend, unflinchingly, to your friends in the hopes that they will enjoy it as much as you do.