Cats on Fire – The Province Complains
What is it with Scandinavian bands and an obsession with 80s British indie? Strictly speaking, actually, Finland is not a Scandinavian country, it is a Nordic one. I have to confess to not knowing whether this is true or even what it means, but it is something Finns I know always insist upon most passionately. They are NOT Scandinavian, they are Nordic. I don’t really follow – are there any other Nordic countries then? Wikipedia isn’t that helpful as it seems to conflate Nordic countries with Scandinavian ones, which seems to contradict what the Finns themselves are saying. But um… well, I suppose… ah yes, music! Of course. I knew I’d come here for something.
Cats on Fire may be the only Finnish band I have in my collection, and they are the second band from , erm, up there to release albums this year that squarely face the kind of Cure/Smiths jangly indie so prevalent in the UK in the 1980s. The first was the joyously superb Shout Out Louds – more of a Cure Pop sort of sound – and the second is this: Morrissey on uppers.
I played it when we had some friends round for dinner the other night and James, who is a big Morrissey fan, asked which album of his I was playing. It was on low so the mistake was understandable because Mattias Björkas’ voice sounds so similar, but the music is a little jauntier; as if Morrissey was playing a gig on The Magic Roundabout or something like that. Funnily enough, the keyboard sound for both this and the Shout Out Louds record show a degree of similarity, which may be the beginnings of a Scandin Nord whatever indie revival sound.
It’s more playful at times than a lot of the stuff I have compared it to so far. The melancholy moan of Heat & Romance is set off by some distinctly Inspiral Carpets-like organ in The Smell of an Artist, and Astray could almost be a children’s song. By and large though it sticks to the Morrissey template, but with far more success that I would actually accord the great man himself. Brilliant as he can be, I find a lot of Mozza’s solo stuff to be downright turgid and it does occasionally fail to quite get going somehow, but that is not an accusation I would level at this record, whose pace dips and sways perfectly throughout. In fact, had it not made its way to my waiting eardrums so late in the year it would have been a serious contender for my end of year lists of joy.
Cats on Fire – I am the White-Manteled King
Cats on Fire – Heat & Romance
Hmmm… Not convinced based on these two tracks, Matthew.
Besides the obvious Morrissey referencing; there’s a lot of Jarvis Cocker in the vocal phrasing on the quicker track – a song which threatens on more than one occasion to turn into Back On The Chain Gang by The Pretenders.
Perhaps it’s a bit fascist of me, but I think that fast songs work best with a bit of structure. I’m not keen on songs which, while having the correct manner of jaunty melodies and sprightly riffs, allow the lyrics to meander and sprawl aimlessly over the top. You Were Right by Badly Drawn Boy is another example that springs to mind. I’m sure the songwriters will fall back on the artistic-expression clause in their contract with the listening audience, but it just seems lazy to me.
And the feathery, pillow-soft production values have left me cold too.
The second (slower) track is more promising, but I’ll admit to imagining either Carter USM or Half Man Half Biscuit comedy lyrics over the top of the pleasantly chugging melody.
I did find the female backing vocal that appeared halfway through quite alluring, though.
I apologise for going against the ethos of this site and ripping into a fledgling band… I recognise I’ve only heard two tracks and the rest could be more appealling.. I sincerely wish them luck and hope they find an audience. I don’t think it will be with me though.
Mate, you’re not here to parrot my own opinions back to me. I know what I think already.
And as for getting stuck into smaller bands, well firstly that is my decision, but I didn’t make it on my readers’ behalf as well – you’re free to say what you want. Also, given they were on the Skatterbrain Best of the Year list I am sure they aren’t too worried what goes on here.
As to the album itself, I’d noticed the Jarvis too, but only here and there. In terms of the sound, the Shout Out Louds album came across similarly to me the first time round – the sound was right but I wasn’t getting much else from it. It’s taken a few listens with both of these, although I wouldn’t claim this is a strong as Our Ill Wills overall.
I know the sound is so familiar as to be unexceptional, especially on he first couple of listens, and a lot of the pain and edge has gone from the stuff these guys are imitating. But that organ work starts to hint at a something different if you ask me, and there’s a smoothness to both records that I quite like.
It’s quite good I think. “The Smell of an Artist,” which the Skatterbrain Matthew posted, is really top notch. Good organ on that one too. Not as good as the organ on Clinic’s first couple of records, but definitely serviceable.
Scandinavia is the exclusive club of the före detta Vikingar, the Finns are definitely maybe not. The Vikings just don’t want us, sigh, and then we pretend that it’s in fact we who chose not to join. But deep down we keep on trying.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cztvudOgtgc&feature=related
But Ultra Bra (note the language, no, it’s not English) was even better:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4x7bCVeMghY
Your review SO makes me want to listen!
Ok, have just opened ‘White-Manteled King’…you’re not kidding with the Morrissey references are you?
I like this…I will definitely keep an ear out for them. Thanks again for another tip.
)
Excellent, Finn. Thanks for enlightening me on that slightly odd digression – it’s an edumacational place, the internets.
Matt, no offense, but did you listen to Scandinavian Music Group? No, forget about Scandinavian Music Group! Let’s concentrate on Ultra Bra. That was the best Finnish band in the 90s pretending to be part of the communist singing movement of the 60s (“taistolainen laululiike”). Yes, you perhaps don’t agree but that’s my honest personal opinion.
But I have to warn you: listen to “Tyttöjen välisestä ystävyydestä” or “Sinä lähdit pois” three times in a row and they will never leave your head again.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2FV1W0hlIg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4x7bCVeMghY
Scandinavian Music Group I liked actually, but Ultra Bra may take a little more getting used to. They sound a bit like a 70s French advert for exotic foreign travel, or something from a trendy 60s movie with a low budget and a very intellectual message indeed.
I don’t want to be a nuisance but I listened to Ultra Bra for the time since I don’t know when. And got, you know, converted again. So I have this urge to preach about to someone. And I can’t do it here in Finland because everybody already either loves or hates the band–it was a big thing in the 90s, you know.
But I guess that the somewhat discreet irony of the band is not obvious in Scotland.
While this band in the 70s
http://yle.fi/elavaarkisto/?s=s&a=03757
was still asking us to join them in revolution, Ultra Bra’s song “Laulu asioista” (A Song about Things) explained:
Things are, among other things cheese
and a pelican is a thing, too
other things are an octopus and a visa
world is full of things indeed!
Don’t get me wrong, it’s not the irony that makes the band great. It’s the whole package, the tunes in particular, not to mention the girls who are pretty (Terhi-mmmm) and almost know how to sing.
Now I had to find myself a life again
Cats On Fire singer moves and looks like Morrisey on 80′s as well. Except he’s blonde. And doesn’t have flowers in his jeans’s pocket (at least he didn’t on their Glasgow concert late last year they did with Butcher Boy) but he compensates the lack of flowers with great bow ties.
This record has been in my record player a lot.
Good choice!
Tomi – sorry mate, but I’m still not quite getting the Ultra Bra. Mind you, I am entirely shallow enough to be convinced by a foxy lady singer, so you never know.
Ulla – that sounds like a superb gig. Butcher Boy are a top band as well. I know CoF is rather derivative, but it’s derivative of a sound I really like so I really don’t mind.
Yep, it was an ace gig. So ace in fact it made me come to see it from hundreds of kilometres away! I was lucky enough to do the drawings for their last EP so i sort of felt involved. Pfft, how vain!
What comes to Ultra Bra though, then a great deal of their music is about lyrics and if i remember correctly (been years since I listened to them) they only sang in Finnish.
In Finnish, with lyrics like this, kindly translated by Tomi:
“Things are, among other things cheese
and a pelican is a thing, too
other things are an octopus and a visa
world is full of things indeed!”
Here are translations to all their lyrics, even though, we all know that we should read Dostoevsky in Russian and all that…
http://www.thenook.net/ultrabra/lyrics.php
I’ll stop spamming now, i swear!
Without wishing to sound parochial, the chances of me learning Finnish just so I can read the lyrics of a group who write about pelicans and octopi being ‘things’ in their native tongue are quite slender.
Haha! Touché!
So, instead of helping me to make Ultra Bra an international success, you decided to make fun of it. Perhaps you’ll realise how wrong you are after reading the whole lyrics of “Laulu asioista” from
http://www.thenook.net/ultrabra/lyrics.php
(Somebody has really gone through the trouble of translating apparently all the lyrics of the band! I haven’t seen Springsteen’s lyrics translated into Finnish–or Scottish, for that matter–mind you!)
A Song about Things
What is common for a fish
a trumpet and a pipe?
And what is goodness and a flatfish?
Things they are, of course
What on earth is an omelette
that funny made of eggs?
it’s a thing alright and a little flat
and a soft thing, then again, is a tuft
Things are for example cheese
and a pelican is a thing too
other things are for example an octopus and a visa
the world is full of things
You could check out such classics as “Hauki” (Pike) if you’re still not convinced. The whole audience chanting “hauki, hauki” together was an experinece you didn’t forget soon (even if you wanted to).
The lady who made the lyrics leads nowadays the parliamentary group of the Green party. If somebody now just could explain what all this has to do with anything …
Here’s Finland’s “Boss”–if you Springsteen fans are too good for Ultra Bra’s more intellectual approach.
The first big hit:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oey_sf0JsxY
(what the f*** are the gorillas for?)
The Bruceishist song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAPHu7yDB9Y
sorry, I meant this one (for real):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqzozf8zW8M
And could Bruce do this (0:57):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKZucnvQTRY
Or this (he’ about to win the Finnish chamapionship in the F3):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQShrjbeND0
Anssi Kela in the same racing team with Kimi Räikkönen’s big brother, but probably the Räikkönens are too intellectually orientated for you guys.
And if you think Cats on Fire is an 80s band, why not check out Hanoi Rocks’ newest:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ocqdWgOnDU
I sounds particularly 80s because they almost single handedly made the decade, just music wise, of course, I’m not a megalomaniac.
I like the lyrics to A Song About Things.
I was particularly moved by the bit about omelettes. I often enjoy an omelette of a weekend brunch-time, and I tend to think of them in terms of their fillings; chorizo and spanish black pudding, perhaps a little spinach or mushroom. I rarely consider the substance of the omelette itself, and, when you think about it, they are indeed a little flat. And soft.
Another good filling for an omelette is last-night’s leftover chow mein noodles. Just warm them through and fold them into the centre of your omelette – perhaps with a little extra chili. Delicious.
And, of course, there’s always the inescapable fact that an omelette is indeed a thing.
And, now I come to think of it, a very funny word.
Omlette.
OM-let.
OMMMMM-let.
Is it bigger or smaller than an Omling?
I believe an omelette is simply a smaller version of an omel.
The traditional omel is most often found amongst the indiginous nomadic people of the scandinavian and nordic regions. (Dependant mostly upon where they’ve wandered to this week.)
The single omelette we’re familiar with in the West is obviously a light meal for one person, whereas a full-sized omel will keep three generations of a sub-arctic nomadic family and their livestock nourished throughout the harsh winter months, and when cooked through, can be used as a form of shelter.
Omling is, confusingly, the correct term for a young om, the bird whose eggs were traditionally used to make omels and omelettes. Now endangered, the om is a protected species, and the use of its eggs is now only permitted under licence to those who can prove ancestory to both nordic and scandinavian nomadic bloodlines.
Forgotten in this whole discussion is the first enquire (or cry for geographical help): what the hell is going on with the distinction Scandinavian/Nordic?
As a swedish-speaking Finn (now, that’s a whole ‘nother story) who’s been around the block a few times (and went to school with the Cats) I take it upon myself to say:
Scandinavia consists of the countries that are linked by the Scandic mountains (or their rudiments) i.e. (top to bottom) Norway, Sweden and Denmark.
The Nordic countries are the countries in the “Nordic” area of Europe, i.e. (left to right)Iceland, Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Finland.
There, I said it. Tack å hej!
I’ve recently picked up this album and it stands out as one of the best records of last year.This record also has wonderful production…turn the bloody thing up for god’s sake!Whatever happened to cranking up a high end soundsystem? “White Mantled King” “Born Again Christian” “Mesmer and Reason” and “End of the Straight Street” Stand out for me,but the whole thing is very strong.Anyway I like it loads more than most of the stuff I saw on best of the year lists so give it a chance.
You don’t have to ask me to – I think it’s excellent already!
Not you Matthew…You’re review was excellent,very spot on describing an album that is hard to pin down.