The
Aliens
Astronomy For Dogs
****
The
Aliens make the kind of wayward, skewed pop sounds that made fans
so mourn the death of their previous incarnation as part of the
Beta Band.
What Astronomy for Dogs does is take the aural collage of the
Beta Band’s later (and most focused work), routing it further
in the realms of pop – the kind of unadulterated, classic-sound
borrowing pop that gets critics pulses running at warp-speed.
The Aliens skill comes in the way they take easily recognisable
sounds from the past and morph them into their own, very modern
(even futuristic) music.
Their debut achieves that difficult task of peddling pop easily
accessible to the masses whilst layering it with all manner of
experimentation – beats, samples, unorthodox time-changes
and instrumentation – making it progressive and chart-friendly.
Opener ‘Setting Sun’ is a psyche standard –
a tinny, otherworldly take on Hendrix’s ‘All Along
The Watchtower’ played drunkenly by the Stranglers. This
leads directly into the entrancing space-funk of ‘Robot
Man’.
‘I am the Unknown’ is a Small Faces’ epic, pop
hook played joyously for several minutes, breaking into a simple
piano refrain.
The band even drag the soppy ballad from outer space on ‘She
Don’t Love Me No More’ – a song of heart-break,
beautifully transmitted from the far reaches of the solar system.
‘Honest Again’ is even more moving and epic, a totally
spine-tingling, euphoric ode to love.
The closest thing to the Beta Band is ‘Rox’ a dubby,
acid-house number built on trippy beats and funky rhythms –
a psyche-dance classic in the making.
‘Happy Song’ is a joyous piano driven knees-up, which
makes people, well…….happy.
The Aliens full brilliance drops like an atom-bomb on 16-minute
end-track ‘Caravan’ which is a crazy journey through
the history of rock n roll condensed, beaten and dragged into
modern experimental territory – it fizzles out with a static-beat,
then silence before a reprise of ‘Honest Again’ with
the changed lyrics ‘How long will it be until I see you
again.’ A powerful ending to a powerful record.
Whilst The Aliens debut doesn’t have the playful experimentation
some might expect, it is a focused and expertly executed exercise
in pop that is well worth some attention.
by
Chris Marks
