Album Review - Working for a Nuclear Free City

Here are a couple of album reviews I did for Radio UTD over the last few months. I'll post more of these as I complete them. Of course, you can also read my reviews (and other great reviews) at Radio UTD.

Working for a Nuclear Free City
Businessmen and Ghost
RIYL: Spiritualized, Spacemen 3, Ride, My Bloody Valentine, Ride

I was not even remotely surprised to read that Working for A Nuclear Free City hailed from Manchester, England. Everything about their second full album Businessmen and Ghosts feels like these guys would fit nicely onto a bill at the Hacienda circa 1987. Listening made me want to cozy up to the Gay Traitor, sip a drink and nod off into a musical trance. OK, so it’s 2008 and the Hacienda is closed, but thankfully the spirit of the ‘Madchester’ scene is alive and well on this album. One can hear traces of Section 25 and the Happy Mondays, hints of New Order and Joy Division and even some of the funkier elements on A Certain Ratio. While there is a lot you could compare WFANFC to, they are entirely their own entity. A mix of deep, groove inspired bass lines, staccato drum beats and crashing guitar scapes, a la Spiritualized or Ride, combine post-punk and shoe gazer sounds with a danceable flair. One element that stands out across the entire album is its cohesion. Songs flow from one to the next, inviting you to get completely lost in the tracks, never sure when or where it began or ended. But who cares, the appeal of this album is how easy it is to be sucked into the crescendos and doldrums. Businessmen and Ghosts is a two disc set that mixes new tracks with others that appeared on their 2006 debut, self titled LP and their 2007 EP, Rocket. Asleep at the Wheel was one of my favorite tracks. A mellow number with a great guitar work that layers and mingles. Tapes’ baseline is Hookesque, simple, driving and perfectly suited to the songs mood. England part 2 is an ideal place to start if you are surfing for a song that sums up the experience of the album. All the previously mentioned elements are there, plus a great beat, topped off with a wood block pudding in the background. Yes, a wood block, like you used to play in music class in elementary school. Trust me it works. Maybe it is just my affection for the period this album references that keeps it playing in my car, but I don’t think so. More likely, the explanation is that WFANFC is an amazing band, that revisions the familiar and takes you to new places that you were itching to explore.

I meant every word of that review and then some. Check out the video for Rocket.