Banquet Records putting out The Front Bottoms' self-titled album has been one of my favourite things to happen this year. I heard The Beers on the Topshelf Records Sampler last year and thought it was fantastic. I streamed a handful more songs and looked to see where I could get the album from. At the time it was only out in America and would've cost a small fortune to get shipped over, so I forgot about it. (I often think I need to make a friend in the US to receive all my American orders and then bundle them up together and ship over. I've not made any progress on this thought though.) Luckily, a short while later Banquet announced they'd be putting it out and I immediately put my order in. I guess some songs had also caught the ear of JT et al, but they'd been much more proactive in getting the record over. Thanks guys.
Anyway, it's a cracking album. There's not a bad song on there and there are some massive stand-out tunes, like Maps, Rhode Island and The Beers. I can see why Banquet were so excited about it, because it seems to cross the musical styles they love so perfectly - accessible, upbeat indie tunes but with a solid dose of punk. It's not to everyone's taste of course, I played the album whilst in the car on holiday recently and the main complaint was the vocals (with particular comments about the chorus in The Beers), but my friends tend to be into very different music. (Personally I like the vocals - they were one of the things that pulled me in. But then again I also love Jeff Mangum and Billy Corgan's voices, so maybe I just like "quirky" vocals more than most.)
The record only arrived in the post the other day but the orders came with an instant digital download. I normally try to listen to the record before the mp3s, but my impatience got the better of me here and I've played those mp3s to death over the last few months. The other reason I listened to early was because the band were coming over for a short tour and I wanted to know the songs. They only played six or seven shows but they seemed like a different band by the end of the week. I saw them play (awesomely) in-store at Banquet and nervously to a small crowd at New Slang. By the time they made it to their last show in the Old Blue Last they blew everyone away. They were having a great time, and so were the crowd, singing back most of the lyrics.
It's too early in the year to think seriously about end-of-the-year lists, but that Old Blue Last show might make the top 10 gigs (although it will have to be a top 13 because the first four places are basically reserved for the four Jeff Mangum shows I saw in March). Despite it technically coming out last year, I think it's safe to say though that this album will make the top 10 records though.
Format: 12", picture sleeve
Tracks: 12
Cost: £14.70 new
Bought: Banquet Records
When: 02/07/12
Colour: Blue
Etching: none
mp3s: download
