In the past few years, the number of garage/retro bands has sky-rocketed. Anywhere from
The Hives to
Interpol, the scene has completely blown up amongst the indie crowd and has even trickled into the mainstream. A lot of these bands were generic, with a couple of catchy tunes, but abysmal lyrics or loads of rehashed ideas. But some of these bands have managed to be great, as well as refreshing, since it seems nearly impossible to find a rock band that's fun without completely annoying the crap out of you.
Franz Ferdinand just happens to be one of the latter, being my personal savior of garage rock, and one of my favorite bands.
Franz Ferdinand is:
Alex Kapranos – Vocals, guitar
Nick McCarthy – Guitar
Bob Hardy – Bass
Paul Thomson – Drums
Franz Ferdinand, named for the archduke whose assassination started World War I, started in late 2001 when Alex and Bob started working on music together. Later on, they met Nick, who was a classically trained pianist and a double-bassist, but decided to play drums for the band. They eventually met Paul, who had previously drummed for another band, but wanted to play guitar instead. The line-up changed soon after, with Nick and Paul switching instruments. They practiced and held shows in an abandoned warehouse that they named the Chateau, but soon moved when the police discovered they were throwing wild art parties there. They had recorded a few EPs by 2002, that they were going to release themselves, but good word on the band got them signed to Domino Records in 2003. Their self-titled album was released in the UK in February 2004, and a month later in the States.
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Starting us off is the smooth crooning of Kapranos, accompanied by an acoustic guitar to
Jacqueline. About 45 seconds into the song, a heavy bass riff plays and gives way to loud guitars going up and down a scale. This song is really all about fun, music and lyric-wise, ("
It's always better on holiday, that's why we only work when we need the money!") being bouncy and definitely danceable.
Tell Her Tonight changes things up a bit with its sound that's straight out of the 60's. A quirky guitar riff opens the song, with the chorus heavy on the backing vocals. This song shows how repetition is done, with almost identical verses, but without overdoing it by making the song five minutes long. Although it's one of the weaker songs on the album, it's really unlike any of the others because of it's unique instrumentation.
The most recognizable Franz song is definitely
Take Me Out, the catchiest single, by far, of 2004. The first verse is quicker paced than the second, and the transition between the two is almost seamless. The percussion is a real highlight here, with lots of cymbals and an almost impossible to resist beat. It's one of those songs that gets stuck in your head for weeks on end, but hey, it's not a bad song to be listening to all day. The third single released off of the album is
Dark Of The Matinée. Although not as memorable as
Take Me Out, it certainly holds its own, being about getting it on in the back of the movie theatre. (Gee, have you noticed how many songs I've listened to lately are about getting busy in fun places?) The guitars are lightly distorted and the vocals, as usual, are buttery smooth.
An odd change of pace comes in the form of
Auf Asche. It's more melancholy than the other songs, with disco-like keyboards and more of a minor key rather than everything jumpy and bouncy like the rest of the album. It's probably not my favorite song, but it's decent. Picking things back up again is
Cheating On You, whose meaning is pretty self-explanatory. The fourth single,
This Fire, is a strong song, with an infectious rhythm and an awesome chorus ("
This fire is outta control, gonna burn this city, burn this city!"). I do think that the verses could use a little more of something, though I'm not sure what, because the way it sounds is a little thin. Regardless, it's a great song. The first single, (thank you
omophagia)
Darts Of Pleasure sounds a lot like
Cheating On You, but
Darts is probably the stronger of the two. Towards the end of the song, Alex starts yelling something in German and everything gets really frentic and ends sounding like a chorus line or something. The perfect follow-up to this song is
Michael (which will be the new and possibly final single). The sultry guitars and bass play behind Alex singing about his "dance wh
ore", Michael. It's certainly an entertaining song and Alex's voice gets really breathy in the verses and good lord,
it's hot. ;)
Come On Home is another song that sounds like it came straight out of a disco. Everything about it reminds me of my dad's old CDs – the guitars, the keyboards and the percussion. For the first three minutes or so, it stays pretty much the same until only the bass plays and Alex ends it slowly. The last song,
40', has people all up in a fuss about how weak of an ender it is, but I love it. The intro sounds a lot like a pizzacato violin rather than a guitar, until we get to about thirty seconds and somebody stomps on the distortion petal. I remember hearing this song on a commercial, but I can't think of what it was for. Most of the end is the keyboards and guitars playing and sounding almost like a flute. Excellent ender for an excellent album.
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It's been quite awhile since I've listened to a band as fun as
Franz Ferdinand happens to be. They're quirky, catchy and definitely sexy, so what's not to love about them? They're a refreshing break from all the doom and gloom of rock these days. When Franz got together, all they set out to do was "make music that girls could dance to" and they've certainly made me dance more than a few times. If you're looking for a break from all the Prozac-dosed bands for awhile, this is for you. Enjoy!
Track Listing: (singles are italicized)
Jacqueline - *****
Tell Her Tonight - ****
Take Me Out - *****
Dark Of The Matinée - *****
Auf Asche - ****½
Cheating On You - *****
This Fire - *****
Darts Of Pleasure - *****
Michael - *****
Come On Home - *****
40' - *****
For more on
Franz Ferdinand, go to franzferdinand.co.uk.
France
Germany
United Kingdom
Australia
USA
