The Future Of The Left - The Plot Against Common Sense

One of my favorite bands of the nineties was called Cop Shoot Cop. They were part of a small New York scene called "No Wave". This was post-Nine Inch Nails so the electronics and agressive angst was also employed in No Wave. But instead of the more direct NIN British influenced, No Wave took more of NY punk's feel.

This album by UK's Future Of The Left has a similar feel to that much of the time. It's agressive, it's politically preachy, but it's also got tongue-in-cheek oblique lyrics which express some cynical faithlessness in humanity. "Where were you when Russell Brand discovered fire?" is an example.

On the first single from the record, they succeed brilliantly. "Failed Olympic Bid" Other songs try to be too cheeky without completing a rational thought. "Camp Cappucino", for example, may have some anti-commercialism intent- but it comes off too goofy. They have the Clever Song Title thing down. (re: "Sheena was a T-Shirt Salesman",  "Robocop 4- Fuck Off Robocop") But only a good half is worth listening to. And about half of those are worth listening to again. That's not altogether a horrible thing, it just means that FotL is not necessarily good for 18 songs. Edit.

Even if it doesn't always land, The Plot... is fun and unique, and even in light of my NY-band comparison, this band is 100% British. The hone in and harness their writing capability. It's there. The Future have one. (3.5 of 5 stars)