Happy happy happy fun fun fun!! If the Pixies married The Jam and had a son that went to dance clubs, this son would be Franz Ferdinand. This Scottish post-punk band issues an album which corresponds closely with the late 70s-early 80s punk and The Pixies. The mixture of rough-yet-pleasant short nervy guitar riffs (Talking Heads? Television?) and occasional keyboards, yield bouncy dance tracks with surprising rough edges. Just delightful. Some other tracks are more punk/rock, all catchy, all upbeat, uptempo, the pace never lets up. Lyrics are both cynical *and* very romantic.
To summarize: Despite being their first release, the Glaswegians FF present an exciting album with fun-fun-fun atmosphere and lots of wit. FF (named after the Archduke whose murder spawned WWI) are here to last, banging their way to stardom. Play before they get too big. This album has no dull moment! Everything plays GREAT, but especially 3, 4, 5, 7, 10, 11.
1. Starts with soft acoustic sound and a poem-ish presentation, soon guitars and drum rock the place up. Great guitar riffs. Pixies-like pop tune.
2. Inspired by Television and Pixies.
3. Guitar-disco track, hip and modern (Strokes?) but reminisces of The Jam. The first 1:10 is nothing but an introduction to the dance tune that it morphs into.**
4. 50% of the fun-fun-fun is due to this track. Play-play-play! Slows down, picks up, fun chorus, beautiful melody, great guitar riffs. if you will not be singing "YES IT'S MINE" together with Alexander Kapranos then there's something wrong with you. ****
5. Inspired by trance music, variation on a short dreamy keyboard riff repeated over punk/rock rhythm and fall into a punk-ish chorus. **
6.High tempo, rapid guitar, punk/rock track.
7. Catchy tune, dancy tempo, fun lyrics, great riffs. **
8. The first single off the album. Funny lyrics.
9. Who's Michael?? fun whimsical fast pop rock track.
10. A tale of confused post-relationship emotions. Same high pace, heartbreaking plea in the chorus and the end, great synth bridges.**
11. Mellower track, nice sign-off for the album. Mellow vocals, mostly quieter and mid-tempo.**