Album: Franz Ferdinand
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In the epilogue to Bob Stanley's Yeah Yeah Yeah history of pop book, he quotes another of my favourite music writers, Simon Reynolds, about the end of the rock genre, comparing it to "a blank sheet of paper that had been gradually coloured in since the 50s until, by the early 90s, there were virtually no white spaces left". This helps to explain why entertaining imitators like the Kings Of Leon and The Libertines don't appear on this blog while rock innovators like Franz Ferdinand do. Similar to British Sea Power, Franz Ferdinand combined indie pop with art rock, while also indulging in obscure literary and historical references. In this sense, they carved out their own small niche in rock history, and in Franz Ferdinand's case (much more so than BSP) the band also had a wide crossover appeal. Very few bands have managed to bridge the divide between art school pretentiousness and mainstream success, Bowie and Talking Heads being two examples, but Franz Ferdinand made it all look so easy. Their big initial hit, Take Me Out, was released as a UK single in January 2004 and attained the giddy heights of the No.3 spot. The fact it messed about with time signatures and paid an obvious debt to the post-punk of Gang Of Four did little to harm its success.
Franz Ferdinand's love of graphic design and connections to the Glasgow School Of Art were evident in the promotional video for Take Me Out, directed by Swede Jonas Odell. Alex Kapranos, who like three of the four band members was born in England but based in Glasgow, has cited Dadaist surrealism and Soviet propaganda as two inspirations for the video. Though Kapranos was a widely-known figure on the Glasgow music scene, others like Bob Hardy had no intention of becoming famous, initially refusing to play bass by saying he was an artist not a musician. This artistic sensibility instead permeated into the band's album cover art, stage designs and fashion throughout the years. In addition, guitarist and vocalist Nick McCarthy's classical training and love of jazz is reflected in the complex arrangements, while his German upbringing means the language often crops up in songs. As well as Auf Achse (On The Road) on this record, there's also German singing in the outro to Darts Of Pleasure ("Ich heiße Super Fantastisch!"), while their latest single, 2014's Fresh Strawberries, has a B-side (Erdbeer Mund) that's entirely in German. Kapranos has revealed his love of Kraftwerk by presenting a radio show about the band on the BBC. Picking out highlights on what is such a consistently strong record is no easy task, but I do love the drama and wordplay of The Dark Of The Matinée ("I time every journey to bump into you, accidentally"), the frenzied debauchery of Michael and the anthemic new wave sound of Come On Home. This is one of the decade's great records.
Artist: Franz Ferdinand
Born: Glasgow
Released: February 2004
Genre: Indie Rock
In the epilogue to Bob Stanley's Yeah Yeah Yeah history of pop book, he quotes another of my favourite music writers, Simon Reynolds, about the end of the rock genre, comparing it to "a blank sheet of paper that had been gradually coloured in since the 50s until, by the early 90s, there were virtually no white spaces left". This helps to explain why entertaining imitators like the Kings Of Leon and The Libertines don't appear on this blog while rock innovators like Franz Ferdinand do. Similar to British Sea Power, Franz Ferdinand combined indie pop with art rock, while also indulging in obscure literary and historical references. In this sense, they carved out their own small niche in rock history, and in Franz Ferdinand's case (much more so than BSP) the band also had a wide crossover appeal. Very few bands have managed to bridge the divide between art school pretentiousness and mainstream success, Bowie and Talking Heads being two examples, but Franz Ferdinand made it all look so easy. Their big initial hit, Take Me Out, was released as a UK single in January 2004 and attained the giddy heights of the No.3 spot. The fact it messed about with time signatures and paid an obvious debt to the post-punk of Gang Of Four did little to harm its success.
Franz Ferdinand's love of graphic design and connections to the Glasgow School Of Art were evident in the promotional video for Take Me Out, directed by Swede Jonas Odell. Alex Kapranos, who like three of the four band members was born in England but based in Glasgow, has cited Dadaist surrealism and Soviet propaganda as two inspirations for the video. Though Kapranos was a widely-known figure on the Glasgow music scene, others like Bob Hardy had no intention of becoming famous, initially refusing to play bass by saying he was an artist not a musician. This artistic sensibility instead permeated into the band's album cover art, stage designs and fashion throughout the years. In addition, guitarist and vocalist Nick McCarthy's classical training and love of jazz is reflected in the complex arrangements, while his German upbringing means the language often crops up in songs. As well as Auf Achse (On The Road) on this record, there's also German singing in the outro to Darts Of Pleasure ("Ich heiße Super Fantastisch!"), while their latest single, 2014's Fresh Strawberries, has a B-side (Erdbeer Mund) that's entirely in German. Kapranos has revealed his love of Kraftwerk by presenting a radio show about the band on the BBC. Picking out highlights on what is such a consistently strong record is no easy task, but I do love the drama and wordplay of The Dark Of The Matinée ("I time every journey to bump into you, accidentally"), the frenzied debauchery of Michael and the anthemic new wave sound of Come On Home. This is one of the decade's great records.
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