Late Of The Pier - Fantasy Black Channel
[Parlophone]

If you’re one of those people who’s sick of hearing Castle Donington being solely associated with motor racing, metal festivals and East Midlands Airport, then look no further than its new attraction, Late Of The Pier.

Teaming up with the legendary Erol Alkan for this blockbuster of an album, the frighteningly young quartet have crafted an incendiary debut record, which manages to be bloody heavy in parts and yet still ends up being characterised by its overriding sense of fun and experimentation.

These lads clearly have ideas sweating out of their pores, fusing their wide-ranging music tastes to produce a melting-pot of textures and rhythms which keep you hooked from the outset. ‘Fantasy Black Channel’ oozes confidence throughout, and is clearly one of the more original takes on modern pop music to surface in the last twelve months.

From the grand riffs which raise the curtain for the start of ‘Hot Tent Blues’ to the jerky post-punk sensibilities displayed on ‘Broken’, Late Of The Pier are obviously intent on setting the bar high from the off, while also being keen to differentiate themselves from the recent glut of ‘electro-rock’ which has swamped and drowned our alternative scenes and clubs the world over.

The Numan-esque Space And The Woods is undeniably huge - just think of a four-minute stomp which will soundtrack trailers for Premier League football once the suits at the FA have got their way over the ‘39th game’, and have teams playing each other on Saturn, Titan and Io.

‘Random Firl’, with its spiky, Crib-style intro and psychedelic undertones is another highlight, while recent single ‘Heartbeat’ channels all its eighties-inspired energy in the build-up to a chorus full of catchy refrains and apparently reckless abandon.

The variety on display is staggering at times. ‘Whitesnake’ surfs atop a barrage of punk, metal and piano pop before eventually culminating in a fifteen-second outro of cough samples, while the exhilarating re-worked version of ‘Focker’ has you wondering just how this lot have turned industrial rock riffage and Casio bleeps into bedfellows, and yet still made it sound like the most natural of partnerships.

Though each track has plenty to offer, at no point are you ever left feeling that the band have overshot the mark at all. Each song is perfectly well-rounded, fitting seamlessly into the framework and flow of the mothership LP.

Despite Late Of The Pier audibly pushing themselves in a whole host of different directions, this album is so full to the brim with mad floorfillers that you’ll practically fall over while listening to it. This is a rampant, proud and unashamedly fearless record. Get your mitts on it before they move on and come up with something completely different.

Fantasy Black Channel Tracklisting:

1. Hot Tent Blues
2. Broken
3. Space And The Woods
4. The Bears Are Coming
5. Random Firl
6. Heartbeat
7. Whitesnake
8. VW
9. Focker
10. The Enemy Are The Future
11. Mad Dogs And Englishmen
12. Bathroom Gurgle