Rockin' Our Turntable: The Fall

By Tankboy in Arts & Entertainment on Jun 23, 2010 5:20PM

So all the kids (well, and us) are going bonkers for that whole Pavement reunion thing. And anyone who’s ever read a review or interview with that group of indie rock princes knows that The Fall can be largely credited for their entire sound. However anyone that went back to research those roots, hopefully with Trouser Press Record Guide firmly in hand to guide album selection, probably walked away from that research with a big ol’ WTF face plastered on. The Fall, anchored by Mark E. Smith, has put out dozens of albums of varying quality and most of them have been either completely inscrutable yet genius or just simply complete shite.

We’ve long struggled with what an appropriate opening point would be to dig into the band’s music. Smith is a genius, but much like Prince, the man can’t seem to edit himself and just spews out equal measures of gold and dross. In the past we might have directed a newbie to Palace Of Swords Reversed since it does a nice job of summarizing the band’s early days, but we now have a new benchmark to point the novice towards. Your Future Our Clutter, finds Smith and company finally doing that which we have never seen them d before; concoct a solid, cohesive album that while abrasive is a total pleasure to imbibe. All the indie rock markers are there - slurred affected vocals, angular guitars, drums that hop from pop to tumble, melodies that re catchy but far from obvious - and why wouldn’t they be? Smith’s early work provided much of the blueprint for what would go one to suck the world into a wake of the churning words spit out by a million music bloggers. It’s an absolute pleasure to finally see him pull it al together and craft a record that might finally get those same music bloggers to really appreciate his music instead of purely paying homage to it.