As an asthmatic, it's a little unsettling for me to find a band that describes their sound as "music to have asthma to." Are they pushing asthma as some euphoric condition that people should desire? Or are they just damning themselves by warning you that listening to "Bathroom Gurgle will damage your lungs like Canadian cigarette packages? Not to sink their boat, but listening to Late of the Pier does not trigger an asthmatic attack, but it does get the adrenaline pumping, which raises the desire to dance, thus allowing for the possibility of asthma to set in. Now I get it. These Nottingham-based English punks are being hailed as glam indie kids that like both their Daft Punk and Flaming Lips, and the electronic psychedelia they practice demonstrates that best on a song called "The Bears Are Coming, which can be found on their MySpace page. But this debut single for the Moshi Moshi label is exactly the kind of song that the clubs are looking for these days, with the synths crying day-glo melodies, as singer Samuel Dust breaks out a ridiculous falsetto that would make Freddie Mercury second guess his. At times it sounds like Gary Numan (a man whos been criminally overlooked in this recent 80s obsessed surge) being jumped by the late great Braniac - and just because I want to go there, a little like Spacehog too, if they hadnt tried so desperately to be a tacky bunch of wankers.
Late of the Pier "Bathroom Gurgle"
Late of the Pier "Bathroom Gurgle"