Brakes

Brakes are a “supergroup” in that they are made up of members from British Sea Power, Tenderfoot and the Electric Soft Parade. The project begun as something of a side project for those involved but has taken off in a big way, largely because the material that Brakes are putting out is far superior to anything those bands have to offer.

They bring a sound that falls somewhere in between country and punk, a combination that I didn’t think was possible, but is somehow achieved here. The album is a shambolic mess (16 songs in less than 30 minutes), but I don’t mean that in a bad way at all. They fly through their songs at breakneck pace, not bothering with any of the pondering nonsense so many other bands would have seen fit to include. They throw in covers of Johnny Cash (‘Jackson’) and Jesus and The Mary Chain (‘Sometimes Always’) and several snippets that are mere seconds in length. One of them allows them to get all political on the ten second long ‘Cheney’ (complete lyrics: “Cheney / Cheney / Cheney / Cheney / Cheney / Cheney / Cheney / Stop being such a Dick!”) which amuses me no end.

MP3 Brakes – Ring A Ding Ding (expired)
MP3 Brakes – Heard About Your Band (expired)
MP3 Brakes – All Nite Disco Party (expired)

‘Ring A Ding Ding’ is the opener to the album and entirely non-sensical, but rocks out so well that it doesn’t matter at all. And I’m certainly not going to take issue with any song that refers to “monkey macaroni”. ‘Heard About Your Band’ is a snide look at the music industry and the posers that surround it (“I heard about your band / Whatever dude”) while name checking a bunch of other artists (Liars, Karen O., Electralane, Sleater-Kinney), and somehow coming out of it without a hint of irony. Best of all, it gets through all of that in less than a minute and a half. ‘All Nite Disco Party’ is the centrepiece of the album, and does exactly what it says on the tin. It’s the perfect disco song which, from a band that is country-punk, quite an impressive feat to achieve. It doesn’t mean a single thing, but by god is it catchy.

If you needed any more convincing, the album was #1 on Rough Trade’s top 100 of 2005. I’m sure the fact they are on Rough Trade’s own label is entirely coincidental. As usual, you can find out more about Brakes on their website and of course you can be their friend on Myspace.