Saturday 27 March 2010

The logic of chance

The full version of my review of the stunningly awful new Dan Le Sac/Scroobius Pip album...



Dan Le Sac Vs. Scroobius Pip – The Logic of Chance

Remember Legz Akimbo? They were a theatre troupe from The League of Gentlemen. All they wanted was to help The Kids by putting on plays about topical issues. Unfortunately, they were rubbish. See that, Dan Le Sac and Scroobius Pip? That’s you that is.

Sac and Pip, you may recall, are the duo behind ‘Thou Shalt Always Kill’, the late noughties semi-hit which poked fun at hipsters, gangster-wannabes, musos and just about everyone else. It was a novelty record, sure, but a witty and sonically interesting one.

And now here’s their second album. It’s not good. In fact, The Logic of Chance may be the most patronising, tedious and curiously reactionary record you hear this year. It’s like being hectored by someone who gets all their news from Comment Is Free, but in the form of really bad rap. Imagine Chumbawamba recording a hip-hop album and you’re close to how piss poor this really is.

So ‘Get Better’ is a lame attempt at euphoric disco. It imagines a song that provides helpful criticism for youngsters. But if such a song exists, it isn’t this. Despite it’s ear-wormy chant of “get better”, over and over again, the centrepiece is a rant about the shortness of girls skirts and predatory teenage boys.

‘Great Britain’ is worse, ending as it does with Sac - Enraged of Tunbridge Wells - reading out knife crime statistics. It’s fist-in-mouth embarrassing, even on headphones. Other subjects include political apathy and, er, being a music snob.

This is hip-hop for people who hate hip-hop. They’ve stripped away the violence and the bullshit, sure, but also all the passion, grit, sex and fun. There’s nothing wrong with mixing politics and music, but give us some decent tunes too please.

Rating: 2/10

Sunday 21 March 2010

A reminder

I dreamt about my dad and woke up thinking that he was still alive.

Later on 'A Reminder' by Radiohead came on, on shuffle. There’s no explicit link, but dad died of Alzheimer’s disease in 1998, probably about a year or so after this song came out, and it feels connected in my head somehow.

If I get old, I will not give in
But if I do, remind me of this.
Remind me that, once I was free,
Once I was cool, once I was me.

And if I sat down, and crossed my arms,
Hold me into, this song.

Knock me out, smash out my brains,
If I take a chair, start to talk shit...

If I get old, remind me of this:
That night we kissed, and I really meant it.

Whatever happens, if we're still speaking.
Pick up the phone, play me this song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXX_hoSmWNs