Formed in Leicester, England, in 1997, Kasabian won several awards and recognition in the media, including a Brit Award in 2010 for Best British Group and their live performances are generally well appreciated by the media and the audience. Their music has been described as a mix between The Stone Roses and Primal Scream with the swagger of Oasis. They have released five studio albums so far: Kasabian (2004), Empire (2006), West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum (2009), Velociraptor! (2011), and this current, brand new album, 48:13 (2014).
48 minutes and 13 seconds, ten songs, three interludes (Shiva, Mortis, Levitation), “48:13” it’s a fair, straight up, electronic-tinged Brit indie-rock album with a few good and groovy moments and some memorable melodies.
This time they tried a little bit harder to sound like themselves rather than trying to be somebody else (obsessively, obviously or eventually Oasis) and – definitively – this is a win win situation both for them and for us, respectively their audience.
Cool album title and art work, simple, direct, efficient just like the music on the album. Just like Tom Meighan said: “Less is more, you know? It’s direct. It is what it is.” – and he’s absolutely right.
After the introduction with the skipable (Shiva), “Bumblebeee” it’s a noisy, fever burned, British indie rock anthem. It’s not exactly what I would call ecstasy, but have its good moments. “Stevie” it’s a straight up indie rock song with roots back to the 70’s classic flavor and having references to the London riots. Nice, but not really convincing.
“Doomsday” have a kind of The Stranglers flavor. The original it’s better. Always. But I heard much worst too. Still, that doesn’t make it less cheesy.
“Treat” have a cool bass riff and a Beatles kind of experimental vibe. Or The Doors meat Depeche Mode and Hawkwind. It’s pretty psychedelic and it’s easily make you dizzy. Probably the best 6:53 minutes of the album. “Work it like a treat?” What the hack they meant?
“Glass” remains in the same soundscape of space rock and electronica flavored Beatles, it’s chill and relaxed, lullaby like. Everybody want to be saved, but nobody’s in the saving business.
“Explodes” it’s an electronic, quite minimalist experiment. A trip. Eventually a bad one while on and on it’s goes and at the bottom line your head might explode. But the twisted off closing part it’s pretty cool.
“(Levitation)” could have been recorded by John Lennon with Yoko Ono, feels more like a hippie mantra, rather then a song.
“Clouds” bring back the late Oasis flavor, it’s a nice attempt to have another rock anthem and actually the chorus have a quite working simple hook and it might ringing in your ears for a while.
“Eez-eh” it’s the lead single, 70’s disco beats and vibes are mixed up with fuzzy bass riffs and retro sounds, it’s quite a mess and a bloody bad choice to promote the album. But maybe totally fucked-up, drunk and dancing at 5 A.M. down in some dirty, puked and pissed walls club, lyrics like “everyone’s on bugle/now we’re being watched by Google” might sound more convincing. I hope not to be in this situation! Ever!
“Bow” it’s a pretty decent love song with hold-back verses and exploding chorus. “Take a bow and say good-bye”.
“S.p.s.” it’s an acoustic closing act where Beatles reflections are melt into (American) country-rock ballad cliches. Quite forgettable, in my humble opinion “Bow” would make a more honest closing song, but then 48:13 would be 43:51.
Tracklist:
01 – (Shiva)
02 – Bumblebeee
03 – Stevie
04 – (Mortis)
05 – Doomsday
06 – Treat
07 – Glass
08 – Explodes
09 – (Levitation)
10 – Clouds
11 – Eez-eh
12 – Bow
13 – S.p.s.
Borrow it, download it and give it a shot, you might like it and buy it.
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