It's disappointingly rare to find a band that truly rocks anymore. Sure, you might find a good rock song on a standard pop album, but it will always be the lone warrior, standing out like a sore thumb amongst the lighter, radio-ready fare.
Even the bands that are supposed to rock seem to have lost their touch, as everything I hear on the radio these days seems formulaic and uninventive. Of course, there are a few diamonds in the rough -- Franz Ferdinand and The Strokes are a couple of good examples -- but all in all, the scene has been a bit bleak.
Enter Stereophonics, the British band whose consistent lack of widespread popularity in the U.S. remains a mystery to me. Amidst a sea of pop princesses and calculatedly-scruffy guys with guitars, Stereophonics is keeping it real. They definitely rock, as is more evident than ever before on their fifth and latest release, Language. Sex. Violence. Other?
The surprisingly sexy album opens strong with "Superman," an eerie rock groove featuring distorted guitar superimposed over a more longing, pure and simple guitar lick and the disturbing refrain: "You don't know what it's been like, meeting someone like you," repeated in singer Kelly Jones' characteristic gritty voice. Part Bono, part Beck, Jones' distinct vocal style has become one of the band's trademarks.
The new drummer, Javier Weyler, who joined the band after it split with former drummer Stuart Cable, fits well with the rest of the group, alternating perfectly metered licks with prominent, more inventive sections. Jones' forceful, creative guitar parts also are one of the album's strengths; much like The Strokes, Stereophonics is a modern reminder of the late 1970s Golden Age of rock music. Its deft, subtle inclusion of electronic sounds on songs like "Lolita" reminds the listener of the music of the 1980s rock group The Cars.
On Language, Stereophonics' take-no-prisoners energy brings to life simple refrains like those featured in "Dakota," an improbable love song in which Jones screams: "You make me feel like the one/ I don't know where we are going now." On my personal favorite track, "Rewind," Jones sings frankly about the anxieties of growing older against a background of driving drums, simple but persuasive guitar and 80s-style synthesizer. He poignantly asks his listener: "If you could rewind your time/ Would you change your life?" The album ends as strongly as it began with "Reel," a song that is as unsettling as it is sultry.
Whereas a lesser band may have produced a much drier album with the same material, Stereophonics has created a dynamic album with Language. It also helps that the band has a unique capacity for integrating naked emotion into its music; this is present not only in Jones' vocals, but in all of the band's instrumental work.
Ultimately, the album is simply compelling. Like a good movie, Stereophonics' music draws its listeners into the dark world of its characters, reeling them in until they become emotionally involved, complicit. These guys aren't messing around: Language. Sex. Violence. Other? is rock 'n' roll the way it was meant to be.
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