There isn’t much I like about the modern technological age. The internet has done more harm than good – and not just to music. But one thing about it is brilliant.
It has rendered genres pointless.
We are now, if we so desire, exposed to so much music that we truly can work on the principle that there is only two sorts. Good and bad.
It wasn’t always like this.
Ok so there was the odd crossover thing. Anthrax and Public Enemy. Aerosmith and Run DMC, but honestly, I can remember the furore in Kerrang when they started covering The Prodigy. The fallout never bothered us. We were too busy listening to “Fat Of The Land” to give a monkeys, to be honest.
There is a lot of that blurring of the lines about Black Futures. There is a lot of that in “Never Not Nothing.”
The two piece have a back story. Back stories never interest me. Except when the stated aim of the band is: Positive Nihilism. “We wanted party music for the demise of the human race.” Says Space, one half of the enigmatic duo.
If all the hype and hyperbole doesn’t do it for me then what does is genuinely challenging, innovative, and downright magnificent music.
“Body And Soul”, the opening song sort of does what the band do. There’s a bit of sloganeering. Then there’s a pulsing QOTSA riff and then there’s a full on Prodigy-esque beatdown. All inside the first minute.
This is a bewildering assault on the senses. It does more in 39 minutes to break new ground than many bands do in a career. It doesn’t sound like anyone else. Actually, that’s not true. It sounds a bit like everyone, but by the time you’ve realised, they’re onto the next thing. “Gutters”, for example, does a bit of a fire and brimstone thing, then some rock, “Karma Ya Dig” is big pop music. Somewhere between John Farnham’s “The Voice”, Roxette and a swingers party at Marilyn Manson’s gaff and “Love” offers this as a thought: “Ten minutes to the end of the world? Make love.” Ok, yeah but what about the other nine….?
“Me.TV” is a real highlight. Throbbing like Kasabian, Bobby Gillespie from Primal Scream appears with a spoken word bit that rips apart the Thatcherite mantra of “No such thing as society.” “Never Not Nothing” is never shy of having stuff to say.
“Power Drunk” is catchy as hell, bringing some real soul to things, “Riches” turns into a full on punk thing and “Trance” has a touch of the 80s, but the absolute gem here is the incredible urgency generated in “Tunnel Vision”. It even manages to find another angle for the end track too. After the intro of “I had you pegged as a lawyer, the first time I saw your piggy little face….” “Youthman” veers incredibly deftly between Radio 2 and The Chemical Brothers. You’ll wonder how they do it. It’s pointless. Just know they did.
On their website, the About section simply says: Never Not a Band. Never Not Punk. Never Not a Dooms Day Cult. Never Not Heroes of the Multiverse. Never Not Jim from Down The Chippy. Never Not Nothing.
“Never Not Nothing” is one of the records of the year. It really is. Even if you probably won’t have a clue why.
Rating 10/10
