March 23, 2004

Love Is All : Fall Up. Make Up. Make Out.

Bikini Kill plus Madness plus saxophonist plus Sweden plus reviewer on drugs equals SOTW!...

Even though they look like day care centre outpatients and they
employ a (mmffghh) saxophone player, this is the Single Of The Week by so many light years it makes you feel like you're in a spaceship made of gold orbiting a dead planet made out of daytime radio playlists and 'Best Of The Steve Lamacq Show' compilation CDs (And heaven knows, we've all been there - Ed).

A scruffy, rag tag, indie-as-fuck five piece from somewhere in Sweden, Love Is All's second ever seven inch is is the best HEART AND SOUL pop song released since Beyonce's 'Crazy In Love' or Outkast's 'Hey Ya'. Yes kids - this sounds like the members of Bikini Kill, Madness, Phil Spector's Wall Of Sound and Nation Of Ulysses got together on the Muppet Show and sang the best song ever written - backwards! Then the crazy spastic deaf genius that recorded it put all the microphones down a toilet while a dog (wearing shades) jumped all over the mixing desk, pissing wildly with excitement.

Most importantly, this is one of those records that makes you want to throw open the windows, beat your fists against your chest and yell out: "I'm alive! I don't give a shit that I drink too much, my head's all shaggy and I look like that Johnny Burrell after a fight with an industrial meat mincer! I am a fuggin' rock'n'fugginroller and and I will never fuggin' die!" Or something.

You know what this single signifies? It signifies that sincerity and soul and not giving a fuck is BACK BACK BACK and that the age of parody and copycat retro rock bands is dead and exclusively for idiots, phoneys and losers. Final cigarette, Stands?

Andy Capper