Toronto – Brit bands are like poutine to me. I like them. They are everywhere, and even though they all are theoretically the same – fries, cheese, gravy – every restaurant has a different take on the Poutine. Some variations I like (like the ones with Sweet Potato substiute, or with bacon added..), some I do not (like the ones without cheese curds or really crappy gravy like the pub The Dog’s Bollocks). What’s my point? I like poutine, and would really like one now. Analogy wise – it’s easy to lump a Brit band like ‘The Rifles’ with all the other Brit bands that have arrived. This makes them easy to dismiss, and if you do that, you are missing out on a pretty good album. For the non Canadians, here is a picture of Poutine.
I have concluded there is no picture of poutine out there that looks particularly appetizing, but trust me, it is damn good. Here is poutine with meat on it, from a poutine store I’ve been meaning to visit.
The Rifles are an English band – we have established that much. They are from the racially named town of Ching-ford. They have your standard guitar/rhythm guitar/bass/drum setup. Their debut effort “No Love Lost” was an album I didn’t pay attention to too much, although I do recall liking the song “She Got Standards”. This is also a brit pop/indie nite in Toronto, hosted by what seems to be one of only 4 people who do brit/indie dance nites in Toronto.
Lets talk about their sophomore effort now. So far in this review, I have professed my love for Poutine, and paraphrase a bunch of stuff I looked up on Wikipedia. Awesome. January 26 sees the release of the Rifles’ sophomore effort – The Great Escape. Apparently, the band couldn’t come up with a name for their new album, so they put all of Blur’s album titles in to a nice shiny proper top hat, and drew one out. Hence, The Great Escape.
It is quite appropriate to name their album after a Britpop album, because this Rifles album reminds me of a good Britpop album. Starting with the title track “Science is Violence” all the way to closer “For The Meantime”, this album is pure guitar pop bliss. The melodies are solid, the choruses are catchy and there are nice subtle touches sprinkled here and there – strings, harmonicas, and horns among others.
Bottom line – this is a very good album – 4.41/5
Note to the band – next time, don’t name your album after another popular bands album, and don’t copy the artwork from a band you are probably compared to (even though you sound nothing like them)
Related posts:
- CD Review – Bomb in a Birdcage, A Fine Frenzy [2009, Virgin] Toronto – Bomb in a Birdcage is the latest...
- Review: Kasabian – West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum [2009, RCA/Columbia] Toronto – West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum is the...
- IK VS DK 2009: Year in Review Thanks to Panic Manual for the special guest invite...
- CD Review: Daniel, Fred & Julie [You've Changed Records, 2009] What’s the deal with collaborations? In recent months there...
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
Horaayy..there are 11 comment(s) for me so far ;)
I think you should write more entires that are solely about food. Especially poutine.
I’ve had the poutine pictured in the second photo. It didn’t change my life like the brie/lamb poutine from Utopia (I know it sounds wrong but it’s oh so right) but it was okay. Worth one trip, at least.
My poutine authority is derived entirely from the Frenchiness of my last name.
REALLY. i shall try. its 5 minutes away from me.
the rifles are wicked, the new albums pretty darned fresh, they have a general exclusive on winstons zen too – http://www.winstonszen.com/2009/02/rifles-general.html
Yeah couldn’t agree more, the lads are doing brilliant this year, what with their instore appearances coming up too.
Their tour is on next week!!! can’t wait, have heard great things about their live performance.
Got to see these guys at the roundhouse t’other day and they were indeed excellent, thoroughly enjoyed the night, i found out where you can post any photos you have of the guys on their flickr profile, check it out!
http://www.flickr.com/groups/theriflesfanphotos/
Jeez man didn’t realise they were playing so many festivals this year too, just heard their playing isle of white and a bunch of european festivals in germany and holland…just hope they play reading now! :)
They didn’t copy their album cover from another band, mate. That was a photo taken of them when they were at the Fuji festival, and they liked it a lot and that’s why it’s the cover, so don’t go round throwing stupid accusations.
you might have overlooked the possibility that the title (both in fact) came from the movie of the same name.
the movie, about an allied escape from a german POW camp, has had a huge impact on pop culture in britain. the tune in it is also a well-known football chant.
considering that at least 3 of the guys from the band are big footie fans…i think the movie (not blur’s album) is a more likely source of inspiration.
[...] However, I’m doing this list more or less alphabetically, so nothing escapes me. If you read my review and ignore all the talk about poutine, you will realize that I think this is a really good britpop [...]