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These New Puritans – Hidden

By on Friday, 29 January 201018 Comments | Print this post | Email
These New Puritans - Hidden

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These New Puritans are being held by many music critics as the fresh wave of avant garde talent that British music fans have been waiting for since David Bowie bumped into Brian Eno in West Berlin in the 1970s.

Don’t believe the hype folks. Hidden, the second album from this lot from Southend-on-Sea in Essex, is nothing more than a bunch of hipsters putting more energy into sounding like an art rock band than actually making of anything of any real substance.

For a band that started out with so much potential with their more than impressive EP, Now Pluvial in 2006 and striking debut LP Beat Pyramid two years later, These New Puritans seem to be a product of a band trying to run before they can crawl. While it’s admirable that these guys have their sights on being the next Can, Faust, Gang of Four or The Fall, they simply don’t deliver the goods. The album’s vision of sending scattered sounds into the stratosphere of some vacant postmodern world of minimalist anti rock n’ roll, actually sounds closer to an outtake of the TV series The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, with heavy drumbeats in the background.

Tracks like -We Want War’ are an obvious attempt to break the conventions of modern rock music and come up with something fresh: the result is an indie rock song, remixed to the sort of beats you might hear in your local Indian restaurant on a Friday night. -Attack Music’ becomes too repetitive, and with lyrics like ‘I’m not an actor / I don’t have lines to say / until I write them down on this piece of paper,’ it’s hard to keep interested.

Maybe next time TNPs should spend more time in the rehearsal room than they do buried in their record collection.

Download ‘Orion’.

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  • R88

    you obviously are an unambitious person and tone deaf, too.

  • http://www.state.ie Patrick Conboy

    R88, you obviously don’t get out much.

  • R88

    awww… did I insult your boyfriend’s writing and ears?

    FYI, I wrote the message when I came back late last night.

  • http://www.state.ie Patrick Conboy

    Very good R88, did you manage that all by yourself? Keep that up and they just might let you stay out all weekend!

    We don’t mind criticism around here as long as it’s constructive… unlike your ridiculous contributions above.

  • http://hendicottwriting.com James Hendicott

    Anonymous internet warrior disagrees with point of view but is unable to make any sensible point of his own… spot the cliche!

  • R88

    yeah like o’malley wrote a sensible point. also, my considered reply was censored and removed THREE times. probably because it was measured, and the bumboys wanted the replies flow to read bad on me. what a pitiful excuse for a publication.

  • Patrick Conboy

    So to summarise: you don’t agree with the author’s opinion, but instead of countering it with mature, constructive points you decide to dole out abuse with your jedi keyboard skills.

    You might actually get someplace if you could argue your point and give a good reason why the album doesn’t deserve it’s low rating.

    FYI: Considered replies don’t consist of unwarranted personal attacks… and you’re still wondering why your last post was removed?

  • R88

    the one you removed three times over had no unwarranted attacks. i merely said “well done for beating “ridiculous contributions” with more “ridiculous contributions”. i’m sure the readers will have understood your valid point, hypocritically of course”

    and i thought the irish were up for the craic. for a professional, considered approach read http://entertainment.ie/album-review/These-New-Puritans—Hidden/6823.htm. or even the irish times if you can stomach it. anything is better than state.

  • http://www.state.ie Patrick Conboy

    Okay, so in future we must make sure and pander to everyone elses views and expectations. Great logic there.

  • http://hendicottwriting.com James Hendicott

    Id actually be curious to see the original posts to see if there was a point besides ‘I disagree and Im right so there’. Either way though, R88, just make your point?? How hard can it be? I havent even heard the album, Im just amused by the all out assault that seems to be taking place over an opinion. In a way this would almost make me listen to it, just out of curiousity. In terms of arguing the case, though, I’d have to say JP’s well ahead. He made an argument.

  • R88

    that was my plan all along. to get you to listen to it properly rather than write half-cocked reviews. seriously though, it gets at least a 5 or 6 just for sheer ambition even if you hate the contents.

  • http://hendicottwriting.com James Hendicott

    That might be your plan, but dont you think it would work better if you actually told people why they should listen to it?? Still an utter lack of a case.

    Posting totally anonymously is always going to irritate, too – you can see who we both are as we’ve both written out real names and given a website link, no attempt to hide. For all we know you could be in the band, their roadie, one of their siblings or a member of the marketing company. Personally I suspect you might have a link with entertainment.ie, but either way. I get it, (nearly) all bands have their fans, but the seeming indifference towards actually making any kind of case is typical of all overly aggressive anonymous web critics (and I’m giving you the benefit of the doubt here and assuming that’s not your aim), no?

    Ill visit the band’s MySpace and give them a few minutes to see what I think, but I certainly wont be buying the album based on a few comments. As for being ambitious being worthy of a good mark, I absolutely disagree… I’m an ambitious writer, but I’m under no illusions that it necessarily makes me a good one. Perhaps the ambition will pay off and the band will end up producing something incredible; that certainly doesn’t mean they already have.

  • http://hendicottwriting.com James Hendicott

    Just listened to the one song they have on MySpace. Not my kind of thing at all, I think that track starts off sounding like a Hard Fi B-side crossed with death metal growling, and then becomes just a bit dull. Again, just an opinion, but I thought I’d make an effort and actually give one :P

  • Phylis

    R-88

    Bands like gang gang dance, boredoms, radiohead to name a couple have been experimenting with these type of sounds for years. TNP come along throw in a couple of oboes and trombones and suddenly they are avant garde flavour of the month. Don’t get me wrong they are a decent young band and deserve credit for trying to push the boat out a bit, but the reviewer was well within his rights to take the stance he did.

  • http://harmlessnoise.wordpress.com Nay

    Not a fan of this album at all, I bought it last week after the hype compared it to new stuff from Liars. I found it incredibly dull. Not to say the new direction for TNP is a bad thing but if they’re changing their sound they should have waited until the songs were a lot more solid. Hidden just sounds like a collection of demos, too premature to compare to the really good stuff around.

  • R88

    god, you guys are paranoid. next you’re gonna call me a member of the politburo.

  • Patrick Conboy

    Who’s being paranoid here? Clue yourself in, R88, you’re misreading points (or intentionally twisting them?) because you can’t be bothered elaborating (or are unable to elaborate) on the points you’ve made.

    However, you’re also making yourself look like a prize muppet so if you feel the need to continue with your infantile tirade, by all means do so…

  • http://in-ian.blogspot.com/ Ico

    This album is amazing! We Want War is masterpiece!

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