Art Brut

Art Brut are a rather unique and amusing band. I'd read some rather negative reviews of their live shows and having heard 2 songs: "Formed a Band" and "These Animal Menswe@r," I decided to see them live to work out whether they were steeped in brilliant sense of irony or whether they were just truly awful. I'm happy to say it appears to be the former.

To those who are not familiar: They are a band in their late twenties, early thirties, dedicated to breaking down the barrier between the band and the crowd. They write songs subtley making fun of guys who form bands to be cool or to get famous or to do anything other than enjoy themselves and make music. They also write songs making fun of people who take rock n roll far too seriously ("My little brother's just discovered Rock n Roll; He's only 22 and he's out of control!") and who idolize bands who take themselves far too seriously. They write other songs too, like songs gently poking fun at Britpop, but as the sound was so poor we could only make out portions of the lyrics. I caught enough to make me want to go out and buy some of their stuff, as soon as I raise the cash.

The real genius, however, is these guys (and girl) do look like normal people who enjoy being on stage. They write great melodies and hooks, but seem to deliberately disguise this fact with vocal lines that distinctly lack form and melody - and I don't think it's actually because the singer cannot sing. The singer spent the entire gig standing on the row of speakers at the front of the stage - which was a good thing as the Roadhouse has a very low stage and anyone beyond the 2nd row probably couldn't have seen anything otherwise, and he jumped up and down a lot and talked to the crowd.

It was a genuine pleasure to see the interaction as a lot of bands - even the ones who claim to be trying to hang with their fans like The Libertines - don't manage this as well as they claim to. It was also great to see people poking fun at themselves and their peers in an intelligent way (take note The Others, you wish you were this clever and could write actual tunes!).

Overall, I really enjoyed the gig, surprisingly so, and I should also point out that the opening band, The Chalets, were fantastic as well. They were an Irish combination of the B52's and Ladytron. Very catchy, very now.