what i think: people in planes
As I sit here listening to the new People in Planes disc, I'm motivated to present all/both of my faithful readers with the inaugural installment of My Opinion of the new [insert band name here] Album. (Worry not, I'm sure this new regular feature will go the way of "read this now". In other words, don't get attached.)
It is my opinion that a band should look like the music they create. For example: Iggy Pop looks like Iggy Pop music as much as Britney Spears looks like Britney Spears music.
With the recent surge in pop flavored punk, this tried and true look/sound rule has been blurred, bastardized, and neglected. I can't even express in words how disappointed I was to find a photo of four pretty boy lads on the inside cover of the latest Hard-Fi disc. While the Hard-Fi boys don't produce music that necessitates moshing, their sound is much less polished and wholesome as their camera ready good looks (listen and buy some Hard-Fi stuff here).
In just the opposite fashion [pun intended], I was pleased (to the point of jumping up and down) when I opened As Far as the Eye Can See...
and found a fold out shot of five pikeys who've been seemingly dragged, just in time for their major label debut's photoshoot, from a) post bender sleep or b) a seedy bar on Londons south side .
The honesty of the picture is found in their umkept faces, seventies porn star hair/ mustaches, and in the cigarette smoke curling around their heads; an honesty that is matched ten-fold by the noise found on the disc which it accompanies.
Peter Roberts, the quintets wordsmith, provides a haunting script to accompany a sound that rivals all current Birt-pop mainstays. Roberts, however relinqueshes fronman duties to PIP's second in command, childhood friend Gareth Jones. And Jones does not dissapoint.
Emotions ranging from betrayal and vengance to alltruism and romance are delivered inside elegantly simple lyrics. On For Miles Around (Scratch to Void) Jones confesses his distrust: "I have issues/With good news/I don't trust/Them or you"; reaching a frustrating conclusion that no one expects anything more than his heartbreak: "Why is no one that bothered?/Zilch to do/For miles around/No one buit you."
With lyrics like "I don't want you to try and save me" (If You Talk Too Much), PIP proclaim that they are setting their own rules, but later owning up to the truth that they are but a machine. Penny paints a short and succinct self-defaming portrait of the author as a professional emotional barrier builder: "You're evidence/Of how an electric fence/ Is a breakthrough/In self defense/I'm a machine/ But I'm a funny colour."
Adding to the paunch and human honesty found in Robert's lyrics is a band which is not afriad of bare sounds and not too punk for a synthesizer hooks. And PIP do make brilliant use of Ian Russel's keyboard talents; With deft fingers not heard since Supertramp and 70's porn, Russel, who was added to PIP's roster on a suggestion by Eye's producer Sam Williams, leaves the role of keyboard-as-backup-to-the-lead-guitar to the pop princesses of top forty radio.
Although laden with parenthetical song titles, AFATECS... is a stand out album. The boys in People in Planes back up their punk boy rock look with music that matches, haunting lyrics, and talent to keep them aflight for some time. This is, in my opinion, a MUST hear. (buy AFATECS...)
My Opinion of the new People in Planes Album:
As Far as the Eye Can See...
It is my opinion that a band should look like the music they create. For example: Iggy Pop looks like Iggy Pop music as much as Britney Spears looks like Britney Spears music.
With the recent surge in pop flavored punk, this tried and true look/sound rule has been blurred, bastardized, and neglected. I can't even express in words how disappointed I was to find a photo of four pretty boy lads on the inside cover of the latest Hard-Fi disc. While the Hard-Fi boys don't produce music that necessitates moshing, their sound is much less polished and wholesome as their camera ready good looks (listen and buy some Hard-Fi stuff here).
In just the opposite fashion [pun intended], I was pleased (to the point of jumping up and down) when I opened As Far as the Eye Can See...
and found a fold out shot of five pikeys who've been seemingly dragged, just in time for their major label debut's photoshoot, from a) post bender sleep or b) a seedy bar on Londons south side .The honesty of the picture is found in their umkept faces, seventies porn star hair/ mustaches, and in the cigarette smoke curling around their heads; an honesty that is matched ten-fold by the noise found on the disc which it accompanies.
Peter Roberts, the quintets wordsmith, provides a haunting script to accompany a sound that rivals all current Birt-pop mainstays. Roberts, however relinqueshes fronman duties to PIP's second in command, childhood friend Gareth Jones. And Jones does not dissapoint.
Emotions ranging from betrayal and vengance to alltruism and romance are delivered inside elegantly simple lyrics. On For Miles Around (Scratch to Void) Jones confesses his distrust: "I have issues/With good news/I don't trust/Them or you"; reaching a frustrating conclusion that no one expects anything more than his heartbreak: "Why is no one that bothered?/Zilch to do/For miles around/No one buit you."
With lyrics like "I don't want you to try and save me" (If You Talk Too Much), PIP proclaim that they are setting their own rules, but later owning up to the truth that they are but a machine. Penny paints a short and succinct self-defaming portrait of the author as a professional emotional barrier builder: "You're evidence/Of how an electric fence/ Is a breakthrough/In self defense/I'm a machine/ But I'm a funny colour."
Adding to the paunch and human honesty found in Robert's lyrics is a band which is not afriad of bare sounds and not too punk for a synthesizer hooks. And PIP do make brilliant use of Ian Russel's keyboard talents; With deft fingers not heard since Supertramp and 70's porn, Russel, who was added to PIP's roster on a suggestion by Eye's producer Sam Williams, leaves the role of keyboard-as-backup-to-the-lead-guitar to the pop princesses of top forty radio.
Although laden with parenthetical song titles, AFATECS... is a stand out album. The boys in People in Planes back up their punk boy rock look with music that matches, haunting lyrics, and talent to keep them aflight for some time. This is, in my opinion, a MUST hear. (buy AFATECS...)
posted by brian. at 10:52 AM
