MUSIC REVIEW: KAISER CHIEFS - 'THE FUTURE IS MEDIEVAL'

A New Wave, Post-Punk Revival That's Reminiscent of The Cure, The Clash & Simple Minds

By: Jesse Livingston

October 10, 2011

(B-Unique / Polydor) The Kaiser Chiefs are always doing something interesting. It's likely you first heard of them in 2007, when their single “Ruby” reached number one in the UK and became an American radio hit. If so, you may have bought the album Yours Truly, Angry Mob and were unexpectedly delighted at how engaging, intelligent, and fun their other songs were. It was clear that they weren't just a one-trick pony but a band with wit and talent enough for a long career in music. They've lived up to that promise with 2008's Off With Their Heads -- a heavy touring schedule which included shows with U2 and REM, and now their new album, The Future is Medieval.

The Future is Medieval continues the Kaiser Chiefs' obsession with post-punk synth-laced rock-n-roll. It's not hard to see why they want to make music like this; the late '70s and early '80s were an incredibly energetic and exciting period in the music world, especially in the UK. Between new wave, no wave, new romantic, punk, post-punk, and the emergence of the “indie” ideal, musicians on both sides of the pond were taking back the originality and pioneering spirit that many felt had been lost in the tepid haze of disco and smooth rock that dominated the radio. That explosion of odd visual aesthetics and weird sonic textures brought us some of the greatest bands of all time, and introduced new approaches and new states of mind into the cultural consciousness.

The first track on The Future is Medieval is called “Little Shocks” and has the kind of robotic repetitive drive you might hear in a Devo song. The melody sounds like an elaborate machine cranking away in some kind of retro-future warehouse. The lyrics, as always with the Kaiser Chiefs, cleverly tell half a story and allow the listener to imagine the rest: “I don't want much / I'm happy with what I've got / On the second floor / I pass a ruffian on the stair / What the driver saw / through the letterbox of number four / I don't have much / It will be deafening when I do.” It's not really clear what's going on here, but the words create a sense of intrigue that draws you in with or without your consent. The chorus goes, “I wish I could give you undivided attention every minute of the day, but I can't.” This could be a direct message from the band to the listener: “There's a lot going on in the world today, and we just don't have time to explain it all to you. You're gonna have to work some of it out for yourself.”

“Things Change” -- a dead ringer for an early Gary Numan song -- continues this theme of distraction and perpetual motion. “Friday night, I lose a little liberty / Saturday night, I lose a lot of money / Sunday night, I think about Friday.” It's the semi-distressed lament of a man too fascinated with the constant flux of contemporary existence to get overly down about it. The chorus plays word games: first it's “I just got through with all the sights and sounds of modern living”; then it's, “I just can't do without the sights and sounds of modern living.” This ambivalence has always been a major feature of the Kaiser Chiefs' music. It's rooted in the dissatisfaction and dissent that punk rock embodied and spread throughout its many successors.

If there's one thing you can be assured of, it's that you won't get bored listening to this album. Each song has its own special feel that sets it apart from the others. “Long Way From Celebrating” is a brilliant Clash-influenced dub ballad; “Starts With Nothing” is an epic anthem that recalls Simple Minds; “Out of Focus” sounds a bit like The Cure and contains the line: “I found myself laughing 'cause everyone's laughing.” You can't really ask for more than that.

This ability to explore varied moods and styles without losing overall cohesion is the hallmark of a truly skilled and self-assured band. The Kaiser Chiefs don't want to re-write their previously successful material over and over; they want to take chances and have adventures. One such adventure was their method for releasing The Future is Medieval. They originally posted twenty tracks from the recording sessions and allowed fans to pick their favorites and create their own album for download. You could also opt to purchase someone else's version; the person who originally composed the track list would get a £1 refund each time someone bought their version. Eventually, the band came up with their own track list and put it up for sale as the final version. This acknowledgement of listeners' changing relationship to the music they buy is a savvy experiment that other bands should pay attention to.

It's good to have bands like the Kaiser Chiefs around. They allay one's fears that people have stopped caring about making new and unusual noises. Whether it's the wickedly distorted piano tones in “Long Way From Celebrating” or the slightly unsettling strings in “If You Will Have Me,” The Future is Medieval sounds like some guys having fun and making the music they want to hear. That restless energy is the core of pop music innovation, giving us hope that at least a few things about the future will be a little bit better than advertised.

Standout Tracks: “Things Change,” “Long Way From Celebrating,” “Out of Focus,” “If You Will Have Me”

For Fans Of: Gary Numan, Duran Duran, Arctic Monkeys, Futureheads, Blur