Les Savy Fav – Lets Stay Friends

Following rumours of the band splitting up (after  anumber of solo projects), Lets Stay Friends could be considered the perfect title for a swan song album. (Swan album?) Thankfully, any though of this is laid to rest in the closing line of the first track. ‘Pots & Pans‘ ends with: “Let’s tear this whole place down and build it up again/ This band’s a beating heart and it’s nowhere near its end.”

Les Savy Fav have always been stylistic chameleons, and that hasn’t changed on this album. Flitting from sixties flavoured sweet harmonies to Kurt inspired refrains to smooth Beach Boy choruses is style du jour here, as ‘The Equestrian’ illustrates perfectly.

There is a great deal more than initially meets the ear on Lets Stay Friends.The album is littered with pithy lyrics and clever song titles. ‘What Wolves Would Do’ has a catchy chorus that takes on a new meaning when you consider the song name.

Les Savy Friends thankfully stays clear of the ‘catchy hit of the summer’ trap it could so easily have fallen into. It is up beat rough and tumble popunk, but its rougher edges will keep it off anything but triple j.

THINK: Pixies meet Nirvana in the sixties
READ: The bands homepage and myspace
WATCH: Patty Lee and The Equestrian clips
BUY: Lets Stay Friendson Amazon

 EDIT - One thing I feel I should point out - Les Savy Fav sound SO different than they look!

Bad Religion - New Maps of Hell

Punk. Not Skate Punk, not Sportz Metal but Punk. Do you remember what punk stood for?  Punk used to be about activists calling us to action. Anarchy, uprising, question authority, throw your hands in the air. It’s the ‘wave them like you just don’t care’ bit that is the problem. Bad Religion haven’t forgotten what punk is, but their latest album, New Maps of Hell, gives me the impression that they have realised that everyone else has.

On this, the band’s 14th album, their sense of hope seems to have dwindled. This time around Bad Religion’s cries for rebellion are mostly about the failure to rebel. “Requiem for Dissent” is probably the strongest call for action, to not let dissent die, but it also feels like a eulogy. Their biggest fear is that Apathy will prevail – and you can’t help but think they feel it has.

Their parting shot is the same but different. Same wordy call to arms (“Lacerate eviscerate and perforate and mutilate / We all fall down, all fall down / Deprecate repudiate ameliorate adjudicate / The wisdom found, wisdom found.”), same close harmonies and catchy choruses are still there. The guitar hooks are a little meatier this time, and the production is a little less polished. If you like short fast loud then New Maps of Hells will no doubt tick your boxes. It features intelligent lyrics over incredibly short yet dense tracks. That’s either your bag or not. And that’s definitely MY bag, baby.

THINK: “Man, we’re facked!” to music
READ: Bad religion’s homepage
WATCH: Heroes & Martyrs on KROQ
BUY: New maps of Hell on Amazon