The Fall - Laptop Dog

Oh god. It wasn't long ago at all that The Fall could be relied on to churn out decent records on what felt like a monthly basis. Their new album, therefore, is a worryingly limp collection of sub-garage dirge of which this cut is one of the less interesting tracks. Add to that some bummed out stories about Mark E being too pissed to stand at recent gigs and regardless of his legendarily erratic ways we're looking at a Fall era which won't be remembered as a career highlight. After the snoozefest of a lead track we've got another song on the A called 'Cosmos 7' which is actually a little bit better, with Smith offering a disjointed growl over some lumpen garage-psych backing. Flip it and we've got Monocard, which is nothing if not quite long. Listen to this single alongside anything from their Rough Trade-era and gasp at the disparity in quality. Sort yourself out, Mark. You're better than this.