reviews: the futureheads, woodenbox with a fistful of fivers, vacuum spasm babies

The Futureheads - The Chaos (****)
“Art”, novelist John Cheever reckoned, “is the triumph over chaos.” With a title track that lyrically rails against political apathy and uncertainty (“the Chaos/ It’s everywhere but what’s it got to do with us?” goes its refrain, led with a trademark ‘whoah’), it’s tempting to consider The Chaos as The Futureheads’ fire-in-the-belly manifesto, a politically-charged distillation of their ‘art’. And then you hear them slip in a brief Orville the Duck impression and remind yourself to stop being so bloody pompous. The Sunderland mob’s fourth album contains their freshest, fiercest, most playful set of songs since their debut – less frenetic than their introductory set, but refined to punk-rock purity. Heartbeat Song is a taut pop gem, while The Sun Goes Down showcases a new moodiness. It’s a tad exhausting, but their zealous pace is easily forgivable. Regardless of whether it constitutes ‘art’ or not, it’s certainly a triumph.

Out 26th April


Woodenbox With A Fistful of Fivers - Home and the Wild Hunt (****)
It seems lazy to automatically align any act with prominent brass and a Celtic swing with Dexy’s Midnight Runners, but sometimes knee-jerk comparisons are revealing. Ali Downey, a.k.a. Woodenbox, is the band’s Kevin Rowlands figure; guiding Home and the Wildhunt through its wind-swept prairie/barn dance blues aesthetic -- though only time will tell if he shares Rowland’s craving for reinvention. Along with a motley bunch of young soul rebels named the Fistful of Fivers – their moniker’s Morricone homage echoed in Nothing To Nobody’s plaintive harmonica and Hang the Noose’s mariachi parping – they project a laddish swagger on hoedowns like Besides the Point, but rein it in on their full band debut’s more sensitive numbers. It’s no insult to conclude their retro passions pale slightly next to Dexy’s best work, but there’s plenty to savour in the likes of Draw A Line’s whistling coda or the upbeat bounce of the closing My Mule.

Out Now


Vacuum Spasm Babies - Science EP (***)
While music journalists aren’t inherently mischievous (honest), it’s hard to shake the feeling that Vaccum Spasm Babies – led by the former editor of Sun Zoom Spark - have their tongues squashed firmly in their cheeks on Science. Aside from MHz (which first appeared on last year’s Whipping Clowns LP), these tracks sound more like krautrock pastiche than a naturally-occurring style – Flight of the Kraftwerk, replete with mannequins on the cover and bleeps, blips and deadpan monologues in the mix. But give them the benefit of the doubt and you may get satisfaction from the cool strut of Chemical Burns and cranked riff of Science Division, with the robust instrumental Mhz suggesting irreverence isn’t their only setting.

Out Now