Has there ever been a smugger band than The Chap? It must unnerve them on a daily basis that Hot Chip have managed to take smugness into the charts while they are still smirking and gurning at the same set of Shoreditch scenesters. It's a shame because when they put their mind to it they can write amazing songs such as 'Fun and Interesting' which is probably one of my songs of the year so far. Unfortunately the follow up single 'Proper Rock' (which is part of this value for money album/mini album thing called 'Builders Brew') oversteps the mark into annoying clever clever rhymes and irritating 'aren't we wacky' lyrics which will leave everyone north of Hatfield (and many south) wanting to punch them in the face. Its like they are the city banker who need to lose all their money in the stockmarket crash and get back down to earth with normal people & work clearing out the bins for awhile. When they do concentrate on the music it can be remarkably good. 'Un deux Trois Boxen' and 'Brace Race' are superbly Kompacty examples of minimilist funk rhythms and Kraftwerk electronics. After a few remixes all the good work is spectacularly undone with an 'arch and knowing' take on 'Whats Love Got to Do With It' in which you can almost see them winking at the audience. I said winking. On a positive note Phil reckons that they could heat their houses on their own sense of self-satistaction rather than using fossil fuels which I suppose can only be a good thing.
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TRACKLISTING: 01 Proper Rock (Radio Edit) 02 Young and Joyful Bandit 03 Un Deux Trois Boxen 04 Brace Brace 05 Nice Face 06 Ethnic Instruments (Joakim Remix) 07 Auto Where To (Electroware Remix) 08 Caution Me (Thee More Shallow Remix) 09 Whats Love Got to Do with It
OVERVIEW: The Chap, the pan- European, London-based, modern pop group, are back with a mini-album entitled Builder’s Brew, a collection of remixes and cover versions plus some new original material.The Chap have become known and loved for their inimitable pop - improv- disco – rock – with – strings sound, captured in some crunchy, truly “out there” home production and a furiously rocking live show, complete with dance routines and scary faces. As with recent acclaimed album Mega Breakfast, Builder’s Brew continues the search for a heart of gold in a world gone cold. It deals with nice faces, bad conversations, wild joy, severe pain, moral panic and some truly bad cycling. The Chap have expanded their repertoire and are moving into new techno territory, all the while getting with some serious choir singing and funky harmonising. As on The Chap’s previous three albums, you’ll feel pleasure and terror alike when listening to these songs. The opener, a new edit of recent single “Proper Rock” has already enjoyed considerable airplay, on one occasion prompting Stuart Maconie to declare :”I love this band. I’ll be playing this again and again.” But why does the song contain a very camp-soundingfire fighter’s choir fronting some kind of fierce sci – fi indie rock combo, demanding “Proper songs about girls and clubbing”? Do they mean that? And what’s with the scary low voice saying “Global Beats, Bamboo Shoot” in that fearsome house/funk/rock track, called “Ethnic Instrument”, remixed here by Parisian disco superstar Joakim. Never mind the cover versions of “Young And Joyful Bandit” – a beautiful song from Fassbinder’s last film - and the all-time Chap classic, their version of Tina Turner’s “What’s Love Got To Do With It” (It doesn’t sound much like Tina Turner but instead contains the best violin solo in the world. Fans have been asking for its releasefor years). I could go on. It’s all infectious, blistering pop music, but all the while something is deliciously wrong here. Another most intriguing and exciting collection of outsider pop from one of the UK’s most original bands. Having already toured the UK and Europe heavily throughout spring and early summer, The Chap will return to the road during September/October/ November. A US tour is scheduled for February. More info and pictures of The Chap can be found at www.thechap.org
