Gig review of four day Hombre + Drat

Gig Date: Thursday, 30th September 2004 | 624 page views.

four day Hombre @ Royal Park Cellars

By Annalee Call

"i found a skull today by the motorway
its bone was paper thin could crack under anything"

because drat create fiercely intelligent ferociously random observational songs with two guitars a bass a drums and a notebook that lends catchy loops to some of the quirkiest yet shamelessly honest compositions i've encountered for a while sung through telephones bolted to microphone stands following introductions every bit as surreal i mean songs about bells palsy don't hit you in the face very often even if youd only half notice when they did but drat are an aural and visual acyclovir-prednisone cocktail tasting of smile on my lips which is of course a first rate thing as the bending notes plus quirky chords swish with sway around the busy buzzy royal park cellars where there are no s m u k punk royal girls stretching today but lots of untailored folk instead even sitting on the floor which is effective although i wouldnt as its covered in stout spilt earlier but got away with i think a sample lyric might shed some light so theres one at the top of the page on their exemplary website there is brittle pale blue and theres even a guitar tuner so go and observe for yourself four day hombre get better and healthier every time i glimpse them which hasn't been enough lately but sufficient to see their hair grow out as their songs strengthen until i love the choruslines that flex and spin like simone clarke like on don't go gently where they probably really did give it away but its okay to remember and reflect that if your miss u contestant did thump you in the chest it was probably just to keep you going believe me sometimes thats more than you deserve child then the im sorry song lifts the place back up in a flurry of oxymoronic harmony joy soon theres drink too both beer and tea which is apt since four day hombre are so very english sounding by which by i suggest they are eloquent when using its not like it used to be you need to download the video you need to offload but in the interim simon or richie or both can do that for you by proxy while you put your hand in the back pocket of those jeans but not to buy the boys the drinks they request from the stage maybe later because right now bathed in red light he looks like john cale before the nobodys little girl song resolves and until the epic single room wends steadfastly into the night we don't have to go home from for a while yet

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Comments

tchann wrote...

What is this all about?! Am I completely missing something, or was this review just trying to be more intelligent/arty/original than it actually is?!

Profile | Posted 3rd October 2004 at 16:28   back to article

Sam Saunders wrote...

It's a lovely piece of writing. Just read it and let it flow. Reminds me of Jack Kerouac - especially his "On the Road" period.

Profile | Posted 3rd October 2004 at 17:35   back to article

mikeymike wrote...

I've read 'On the road' and it is a brilliant piece of writing and I've also just read this review. At least Kerouac had the common decency to use punctuation! Hard to know where one sentence ends and the next begins.

I think I am in agreement with TChann here, in that the review/er may just be trying to be more arty than it/he/she actually is, but I have heard good things about drat before and I think it mentioned them in a positive light of sorts?

Profile | Posted 3rd October 2004 at 18:05   back to article

Sam Saunders wrote...

Arty is in the eye of the reader I guess. I just enjoyed the fun of it. It's nice when a writer breaks out of trying to sound like a "proper review". Writing about music is a pretty futile exercise anyway - most of what can be said has already been said so many times that taking a chance can (and in this case does) succeed in waking up the reader and offering a new pair of ears. I don't think it's that opaque. "Decoding" it doesn't need that much effort.

Profile | Posted 3rd October 2004 at 18:26   back to article

tchann wrote...

I think I'm going to have to have my first major disagreement with you Sam! Beautiful writing it may be but it just doesn't make any sense.

Profile | Posted 3rd October 2004 at 19:50   back to article

Sam Saunders wrote...

If I was to have one more attempt to defend it I would say that sense is precisely the quality that is irrelevant to music (especially pop music). Sheer physical and irrrational enjoyment is the thing - and if it takes continuous unpunctauted prose to get a hint of that, I'm all for it. From past reviews I know that Annallee can write finely honed prose - so this is clearly not accident or ignorance. I agree that it's perfectly fair to say "this makes no sense to me" - but I think you need more evidence to say "this doesn't make any sense". I could easily write a dull translation for you if you like, proving that it makes sense to at least one person.

PS did you get my email?

Profile | Posted 3rd October 2004 at 20:23   back to article

tchann wrote...

I know Annallee can write because after I tried to read the review, (the one in question) I went looking for her other reviews and saw a completely different style - one that is far more standard - I'm not saying she can't write, because looking at her other work she most certainly can, so I hope nobody tries to pull me up on this for starters.

To you Sam this is probably an original take on journalism...to me it might as well be a different language!

But my final thought; If someones work touches at least one person and makes an impression (as in this case), then it's definately worthwhile and to that I doff my hat.

And Sam, I'll pick up your message tomorrow morning mate.

Profile | Posted 3rd October 2004 at 22:27   back to article

andy fsor wrote...

look for the number 23 every time you see numbers. with a little (or maybe a lot of)time the number 23 will probably become the centre of the universe to you.
similarly i suppose if you look for intelligence in anything and everything for long enough you will find intelligence.
Im sure if you look for intelligence in this piece of writing for long enough then lines such as "songs about bells palsy don't hit you in the face very often even if youd only half notice when they did " and "i wouldnt as its covered in stout spilt earlier but got away with " will come accross as cunning literary masterpieces and not the grammatical lazyness a less insightful than thou may interpret them as. im sure 'untailored folk' and 'S M U K punk royal girls' will reveal themselves to be cutting edge cultural observations, a cross section into the heart of society even if you want them to.

this review is retarded.

this review is clever.

both the above statements are true. i guess it all comes down to which one your looking for.

INTERPRETATION


Profile | Posted 5th October 2004 at 13:42   back to article

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