Song, by Toad

London’s rather splendid Indelicates have a new single (above) out in the first week of July, and I am extremely excited.  I’ve been aware of The Indelicates for quite a while, partly due to their fabulously titled song Waiting For Pete Doherty to Die, which I downloaded from some evil and Communist downloady place in about January or February.  Oh sorry, it’s not Commies any more is it, I meant some evil terrorist place.

Anyhow, I really liked what I heard, but due to me being a bit slack and there not being a CD version it has taken me this long to get my arse in gear to get hold of their brilliant single We Hate the Kids.  Basically, I don’t have a record player and I detest the way iTunes force you to sign your life over to all things Apple, which makes me something of a pain in the arse for small record labels who can only afford to release one format of their singles.  Anyhow, the chaps over at Sad Gnome Records were kind enough to help me out and I am glad they did, because it’s absolutely superb.

We Hate the Kids is smartly written indie song, topical, direct and, despite the lack of an obvious hook, really bloody catchy.  Listen to the lyrics too, because it’s an enormous pleasure to have to bother doing this again, at last.  As well as the single, there are a couple of remixes (meh) as well, and two really quite phenomenal b-sides.  Burn All the Photographs and Stars make me wish The Indelicates had written the soundtrack to Moulin Rouge.  It may have turned into some sort of Tim Burton meets Delicatessen ghoulish nightmare, but bugger me it would have been worth watching.  Over the driving indie of Photographs soars Julia’s theatrical Sparks-like vocal, giving the whole song a sort of transcendent quality that I really struggle to put into words.  Stars is a sort of nightmarish, faux-naif modern fairytale which, again, contrasts between Julia’s innocent-sounding voice with really quite harsh lyric, resulting in a song with real impact on an emotional level beyond the sheer enjoyment of the music.

I happen to have heard Julia, We Don’t Live in the Sixties already, although I’m not entirely sure how I got my hands on it.  It’s a terrific song, so I really strongly recommend going out and buying a copy when it comes out.  You can get the single here, and earlier Indelicates stuff from Sad Gnome, here.

And never mind subversive lyrics, if I have seen album artwork more disturbing than We Hate the Kids (below), then I can’t remember it.  There is something really quite unpleasant and jarring about that image, hard to achieve in this day and age.

And finally, of course, here are some samples for your aural pleasure…

The Indelicates – Waiting For Pete Doherty to Die (Demo)
The Indelicates – Stars
The Indelicates – New Art For the People (Demo)

Album! Album! Album! Album!

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