• NME.COM
  • Wednesday, 8 October 2008

NME Reviews

Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip

Thou Shalt Always Kill

Ah, the old deck-clearing, icon-obliterating let’s-take-this-fucking-place-back-to-Year-Zero approach to pop. Not since The Clash demanded “No Elvis, Beatles or The Rolling Stones” in ‘1977’ has anyone slain as many sacred cows as Scroobius Pip manages here, and sorry Joe, Mick, Paul and Topper, you’re on his list too. “The Beatles – just a band/The Clash – just a band/Radiohead – just a band” notes Scroobius over a sparse electro backing from Mr Le Sac, coming across like an east London LCD Soundsystem or Mike Skinner in a really bad mood. And he’s not finished there: Arctic Monkeys, Nirvana, Oasis, Pixies, The Smiths and Bloc Party (yeah, we’re not sure how that got into such exalted company either) all fall foul of this hard-headed preachy bastard before his vitriolic five minutes are up. Most shocking of all, though: “Thou shalt not read NME”. Not that we’re complaining, criticism being the sincerest form of flattery and all that. After flattery, obviously. And anyway, we can at least take solace in the fact that, 30 years from now, some futuro-hipster in Nu-Hoxton will undoubtedly be singing the same thing about Scroobius over the latest rhythms from Alpha Centauri. But that will be then and this is, unmistakably, now. Scroobius Pip, you’ve just written the Track Of The Year. Thou shalt buy this song and listen to it every day until the Sun swallows the Earth.

Comments (5)

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doncoleone 

Aug 28, 2007

this man is the only thing we've got right now

daniel_irl 

May 9, 2008

You appear like you don't care but that anti-NME line realy annoys you.

sijsmall321 

May 22, 2008

... shouldn't we be buying NME. well he's been right about every thing else!

inkink 

May 24, 2008

"Scroobius Pip, you’ve just written the Track Of The Year"wow, i agree completly with nme for once

gareth486 

Sep 9, 2008

If you listen to the track again you will hear the introduction to why the bands are mentioned: "no matter how GREAT they are or were".I remember when the opinions of The New Musical Express counted. Win back your honour and promote music that is good rather than that which is popular.

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Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip CDs