Until now I never before had heard music that made me just want to take the CD and smash into oblivion.
The Delgados latest release, "Hate," is appropriately named because that is definitely the emotion this album invokes in anybody listening to it, particularly hate directed towards this Scottish quartet. The best way to describe this sort of music was told to me by a friend: "hippie music meets hard-metal message wannabes."
I'll be perfectly honest, this band had escaped my attention until recently. But now that I've found them, I feel as though the time I spent listening them was time stolen from my life. If you only like soft-core, British indie rock, then perhaps this album will entice you. If, on the other hand, you like any other type of music I recommend staying as far away as possible from this album.
The opening chords of the first track, "The Light Before We Land" begins in a promising symphonic manner as it slowly morphs to a rock climax.Unfortunately, these encouraging signs expires 30 seconds later when the sickeningly syrupy voice of Emma Pollock enters the track and the band resigns to a very unoriginal and annoying rock beat. The worst part is, none of the 10 songs that follow are any better.Musically, they all seem to be lacking the creative edge that all great, or even good, music has. The one exception is the second track, "All You Need Is Hate," and the only reason for this is that it sounds like a cheap rip-off of the Beatles' classic "All You Need Is Love."
The amazing part is, their lyrics may actually behold some real meaning. They may actually be well thought out, original and good, but because the music is so poor, it's hard to focus on anything else. They sound like a group who never really made it past the attitude of the 60s and the recording technology of the 80s, which may just be part of the intended dissonance that indie-rockers cop into order to distance themselves from the abhorred mainstream.
On their Web site the band claims that the recording industry has "stolen the soul of our music. Rock 'n' roll has never been so politicized. For the past five years the Delgados and their label Chemikal Underground have flown the flag for true independence and artist power. Their politics are the personal rather than the polemic."And while it may be true that the pop music from artists such as Brittany Spears and Justin Timberlake is pretty horrendous, I would rather listen to that than "Hate." Not only does this band call itself a rock/pop band (the two genres it seems to hate the most), it doesn't even live up to mainstream standards of quality.
With the reason for creating the band apparently being revenge, hatred and frustration, hardcore titled songs such as "Child Killers" and "The Drowning Years" seem appropriate. But, as noted earlier, the titles have little to do with the actual music. In addition to the complete lack of artistic credence, the contradictory nature of this album is yet another inherent flaw.In fact, as another friend described, "the music is so flighty, I could see myself floating when I listened to it." In fact, the only way anybody could listen to this music is if they were in such a state of mind that they actually did feel like they were floating. On their Web site the band often describes its music as having a feeling of melancholy and thoughtfulness. I consider this to be somewhat accurate since the music makes me want to cry with boredom.
To be perfectly fair, fans of Scotish indie rock like Belle & Sebastian may be attracted to a similar album, especially one produced by Flaming Lips and Mercury Rev collaborator Dave Friddman, and the Delgados are probably well-meaning enough in attempting to convey an important message, but the music they have created is decidedly pathetic.
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