Send "The Futureheads " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Bbc |
 It’s easy to forget the trajectory of stardom this Sunderland four-piece were on before they dropped 2006’s esoteric News and Tributes: the band’s second album, and a befuddling listen if you’d been reared on the student disco fodder of their eponymous 2004 debut. Singer Barry Hyde summed it up at the time: “It was almost like we made our fifth album second, like we jumped ahead of ourselves.” Nevertheless, fans smiled and thought: “Can’t wait to hear album number six.”See, The Futureheads always had more nous, more range, more brains than their indie punk peers. Remember that this is a band whose early gigs saw them dressed as robots, a la Devo, and miming along to their songs on a tour of German squats like a new-wave boyband. While 2008’s This Is Not the World (their first for own Nul label after leaving 679) tried gallantly to marry their passion for art-school weird and rent-paying big tunes, there was always the hope amongst their fanbase that the band might give up on their commercial dreams, instead ploughing the oddness that always set them apart from the pack....full text |
| Drownedinsound |
| The second law of thermodynamics states that any process that occurs will tend to increase the total entropy of the universe. In layman’s terms, everything tends towards chaos. The Futureheads arrive at The Chaos four albums into their careers, but without any indication that they’re experiencing an entropic dispersal. The title itself is almost misleading when attached to an album of songs this surefooted, this carefully constructed from those familiar angular guitars and vocals thrown back and forth. The Futureheads are a notoriously tight band and producers David Brewis, of Field Music, and Martin Glover, aka Youth, let them get on with what they do best. There isn’t a recalcitrant note on this record. The first thing you notice about it is its unrelentingly breakneck speed. Despite the fact that half the tracks don’t even reach three minutes, it’s an exhausting listen. The energy is packed densely into these songs like dark matter. There’s no time for a gentle intro. We get some ominous riffs, a countdown from five, and then they’re off. “Let’s travel at the speed of light, in a split-second we’ll be out of sight,” sings Barry Hyde, and you believe it's going to happen. This title track is full of oblique references to society’s woes and the refrain, “The Chaos. It’s everywhere but what’s it got to do with us?” seems less like an observation of thermodynamic certainty and more like a comment on an increasingly uncertain economic and political landscape. There’s a hint of disappointment in their generation’s political apathy as they sing, “We’ve been told a lie, but you still toe the line.”...full text |
| Clashmusic |
| Nul Records Originally a quartet of misspent Northern youths, brought together by a community scheme to get kids off the streets of Sunderland. Now unchained by the demands of a label, the riotous post-punk-pop fire that fuelled their debut has been reignited. It's quite wholly ablaze. Radio-friendly single 'Heartbeat Song' barely hints at the creative tenacity that would come to surround it. 'Struck Dumb' and 'Sun Goes Down' blend chaotic melodies with vocal optimism, and 'The Connector' is a triumphant yield of their new creative freedoms. An ever present Gang of Four musical demeanor, and the untiring pace of Fugazi makes 'The Chaos' quite aptly relentless....full text |
The Futureheads lyrics
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