Send "Brakes " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Pitchfork |
 The going rate to get into a Brakes concert-- Stateside anyhow, where they're known as BrakesBrakesBrakes-- is within a coupla bucks of what you might pay for the Brighton foursome's new live set, Rock Is Dodelijk. In an era when everything's preserved for posterity within a few minutes of it happening, the live album seems a particularly antiquated artifact, despite the prevalence of the things in the marketplace (this is, after all, not the only live record Pitchfork is reviewing today). Rock in Dodelijk, however, avoids a lot of what makes the live album seem superfluous, thanks to the band's breathless, ripchord performance and the set's searing up-front sound.Dodelijk blasts off with the snidely whiplash of "Hi How Are You?", that great bite-sized kiss off from the band's 2005 debut, Give Blood. It's a perfect attention-grabber, and Brakes knock out all its right angles with aplomb. Brakes trade in the kind of zippy, word-forward, world-weary Britrock of Arctic Monkeys or Art Brut, almost unfailingly sarcastic, as much about inflection as the words spewing from singer Eamon Hamilton's mouth. As such, a live album's a trickier proposition for Brakes than most, as the post-punky precision of the music and all that shit Hamilton talks have to fall in line just so for the whole thing to work. But Brakes have that covered-- they sound beefier here than on record, with some of the nervous energy from the studio converted into pure heft onstage. Lead guitarist Tom White, in particular, lets loose with some billowy solos given far more room to unfurl in front of the audience. As they slide from one tune to another, hardly a scrap of banter or even a few seconds' respite to be had, Brakes' blinders-on, frills-free rock feels taut, terse, and immediate; Dodelijk might be culled from a couple of different shows, each at least six months old, but it sounds a lot more like last night's PA mix still rattling around in your head. Kudos to producers Paul Savage and Ric Peet, who, by minimizing crowd noise and pushing Hamilton way up front, lend this thing a real immediacy....full text |
| Nme |
| You can understand Brakes’ decision to release a live album, since their brief history has been a tale of patchy albums and ace shows. Recorded at Brighton’s Concorde 2 and Cologne’s Luxor, this has 20 tracks of their unique brand of short, sharp oddball-punk, plus what sounds like six people clapping in-between. ‘Pick Up The Phone’ and ‘Hi How Are You’ are amusing bursts of irritation, but ‘I Can’t Stand To Stand Beside You’ and ‘What’s In It For Me’ stand out, lost classics that could have snuck on to The Who’s ‘Live At Leeds’ (well, almost). For a true approximation of the Brakes live experience listen to this while staring at an egg in a tank top (an uncanny resemblance of frontman Eamon)....full text |
| Thisisfakediy |
| FatCat Records, 2nd November 2009 By Lee White Artist: Brakes Live albums are nearly always a stop-gap release, either flogging a dead horse or announcing a victory lap following a triumphant year, and since Brakes have released one of 2009's best albums in 'Touchdown' this release falls into the former category. 'Dodelijk' translates from Dutch as 'deadly' or 'lethal' and although you suppose that Brakes are making this claim with their tongues somewhere in the vicinity of their cheeks, they are one of few bands whose live shows anywhere near live up to such a statement. The strength of a Brakes performance comes from the simple 'four guys assaulting their instruments' idea that rock and roll is born of. Of course there's also some slower moments for the acoustic tracks, but that doesn't get in the way of the bands overall power, because when it boils down to it behind the power is great songs. All of this is captured really well on this twenty track record, recorded at two separate gigs, all that's missing is Eamon and co's often brilliant banter. But seeing as pretty much all of the bases from their career thus far are covered we can let that slide. The inclusion of b-side 'Huevos Rancheros' also offsets the fact that being culled from two shows has lead to duplication of two songs ('Hey Hey' and 'What's in it For Me')....full text |
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