First off, sorry about keeping you guys in the dark this week. School’s been a beast this week, and HARD took it’s toll on me (more on that soon). Though, I come with good news…a new writer! I’m as excited as you are, and I’m assuming excited as fuck. It’s always so fresh to make someone else’s opinion live. And this is an opinion I can wholeheartedly back up. We’ve got almost mirror image music tastes, she told me about Hockey, which I’m still having trouble cutting down on, and she shares my undying love for The Strokes. If you can trust me, you can trust her. Welcome aboard Liz!
Even the best musicians often find difficulty in making a second album that surpasses its first, feeding off of hype and buckling under expectation. Taking into account the considerable success of his 2007 debut “Panic Prevention”—considered one of the hottest albums of 2007 and earning him the title of “the one-man Arctic Monkey”—you might think Jamie Treays’ (Jamie T) follow-up album would chase the trend, disappoint and ultimately go by unnoticed.
On the contrary, Treays again has stuck his middle finger to the establishment with his most recent chart climbing record Kings and Queens; he has nearly reincarnated himself in this atomic bomb of an album, straying from the gritty ragamuffin drum and bass of previous songs like “Sheila” and “Base Guitar.” It’s a punky, it’s poppy, it’s hip-hoppy, it’s raw, it’s in-your-face and it’s disgustingly catchy.
The album makes quite an entrance with the percussion and helium voiced chorus of “368,” a blunt and streetwise anthem about the milligrams of alcohol needed to be inebriated. The record then drops into the mystical and insanely catchy beat of “Hocus Pocus.”
“Sticks and Stones” is prime single material that will make on-the-fence listeners shameless fans. The tune is poppy and nostalgic as Treays recalls: “As I travel down the track all my memories flood back/ we were runnin’ at ease from enemies/and rushed back to your momma’s flat.” With hints of heartbreak and recovery—“I was hanging out with Louie in the shooting gallery/when the news got through to me about you and Jeremy/Pat on my back and a swig on my brew/You’re still my friend it’s impossible to hate you” the song is a musical manifestation of youth and folly.
Feeding off the energy of “Sticks and Stones” the album rolls over to “The Man’s Machine” an anthem of friendship, pain and who-knows-what. With hints of hip-hop and general Jamie T awesome-ness “Man’s Machine” is impossible not to sing along even if you haven’t a clue what it means to “Run, run boyo/Chase it to the border, border.”
The album reaches its pinnacle with the sunny, catchy-as-hell track “Spider’s Web.” Even if Treays does attempt to rhyme “dirty barbour” with “fits of laughter” and “intafada” with “strips in Gaza,” the song is utmost proof of Treays’ brilliance as a musician—it’s rhythmically captivating and lyrically luminous. The song revels in London life and the seeming indestructibility of youth, proclaiming: “Between a wheezing chest and a leaking ceiling/ Baby next door screaming all evening/ The beatings we got and the ones we’re seeking/We’re stubborn as fuck and I’m proud to say.”
Treays shows off his range as album takes an indie spin with “Chaka Demus” and even dabbles in acoustic heartbreak ballads with “Emily’s Heart” and “Jilly Armeen.” The album, as glossy and nearly flawless as it is, is not without its duds however. “Earth, Wind and Fire” and “Castro Dies” though almost catchy are swing-and-miss aim to reproduce The Clash.
The album as a whole is a booming success overflowing with a contagious lust for life that will leave you subconsciously smiling. Good luck getting these tunes out of your head.
8.0/10
Tracklist
1. 368
2. Hocus Pocus
3. Sticks ‘N’ Stones
4. The Man’s Machine
5. Emily’s Heart
6. Chaka Demus
7. Spider’s Web
8. Castro Dies
9. Earth, Wind and Fire
10. British Intelligence
11. Jilly Armeen
