So the Enemy have released their new single "no time for tears" which is shortly to be followed by their second album. A gross helping of proper down-with-the-people music is sure to follow this single, and at this current time, I'm a little peeved with the bad press the Enemy's front man receives.
Criticised for his idealist working class ethic, his rather obscure appearance and his ethical standpoint of "music can change the world" may be a little naive and dreamy, but surely we should be praising the man.
Comparisons need to be made in this case. For instance, East London vampires S.C.U.M are a band who have begun to receive a tirade of praise for their supposed innovative gutter-psych in recent weeks but lets be honest - it's pure posing-tripe, glorified by over-zealous outfits that belong in the sewers of the fifteenth century. And now, I'm angry. I didn't ask for this, but it really gets my goat so I've decided to voice my opinion on it - all be it my rather cliche opinion, smothered by my father's love for The Boss and Neil Young.
I loathe these style-drowning individuals whose substance-less music plagues popularity like an incurable disease past from scenester to scenester. When did it become cool to be uncool? It seems the more outrageous your attire the more you're respected, and lets be honest, in the case of S.C.U.M appearance is everything because their music is about as lovable as a murdered rapist, as creative as a plate of baked beans and as exciting as fucking your sisters stuffed toys.
Perhaps I'm a cynic. Well i know i am to be honest. I'm also probably a bit too old school for my out-dated purest opinions - believing that music should tell a story, rinse you in nostalgia and drown you romanticism, im the fucking walking cliche! but this is my blog, so i'm correct in this case.
Now that's out of my system, back to The Enemy. As i was saying, i am not their biggest fan, i think they're good - don't get me wrong, but what i really do respect about the three little imps is their outlook, their positive ethos and their set-in-stone agenda.
Now i don't know too much about this "lad rock" label, but that's not what I'm here to discuss. I'm here to talk about the new album, "Music for the people" - Oh Clarke, you're kind of asking for it from the critics with a title like that, but luckily in this case I'm a fan of the record, so fuck the title.
It's a bit of a release album. It appears that the Enemy have had their musical armbands removed and are now allowed to authentically swoon in a pool of unwashed feedback and gritty distortion that allows their slightly limited creativity to run loose. Lyrically it's what you'd expect. Righteous, exposed and from the point of view of the average oppressed man struggling with the cathartic tread of everyday life - it's a hopeful in its willing to battle the corrupt and it's lovable in the way that Clarke pours out his heart, the only problem is that it adheres to all of the above, but perhaps a little too much.
Pianos tinkle in on the secret track at the albums closure and this is possibly the biggest triumph of all. Stripped down to the bare ivory, it celebrates like Don McClean's "American Pie", it cry's like the working class ballad of "Atlantic City" and it dances like the lonely girl in the small town disco.
"Music for the people" enters the mind set of individuals from dying towns on the peripheral of cultural failure, it drinks like the unemployed man at the local club and it provides salvation in the life long British tradition that we are proud of our heritage and all those who strive to save it. Well done The Enemy.
