Send "Working for a Nuclear Free City " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Popmatters |
 It’s easy to initially be put off by the particulars of Jojo Burger Tempest, the second album from Working for a Nuclear Free City. There is, for example, the fact that Jojo is a double album, a detail which often indicates a band struggled to trim the fat off the raw recording session material. There’s also the fact that this album clocks in, all told, at just under an hour and a half—a run time longer than probably at least half of the movies playing at your local theatre, and another indicator of excess bagginess. And then there’s also the matter of the 33-minute song that is the second-disc: a track that is nearly impossible to consume in one listen straight through unless you’re reviewing an album. But say that none of that phases you—that you’re ready to settle in and meet the demands of the album head on. Here, then, is what you’re likely to encounter.You might be slightly frustrated by the opening duo of tunes, as they are the album’s least focused and scattered tracks. Album opener “Do a Stunt” plays like a scrambled table of contents, pulling in15-second bits from each track and stitching them together seemingly at random. “Silent Times” follows, and you’ll be tempted to go in search of some of your own silent time, somewhere far away from this song that sounds like it was cribbed from a 1990s high school band covering songs no one really cared about on the radio. Work through this, though, plow through, and you’ll be rewarded—kind of. The rest of disc one is, for better or worse, an ambitiously sprawling set of tracks. On repeat listens, the most consistent theme throughout Jojo Burger Tempest is its inconsistency. For some bands, a lack of cohesion is fine, an album is simply a container for the many efforts to toss out into the digital marketplace one or two singles that lift off into that rarefied air space of critical mass popularity. For a band like Working for a Nuclear Free City, and on an album with particulars that seem to indicate it was intended to be received as an ‘Ambitious Statement of Art’, the inconsistency will do little more than turn you off after your failed search for a narrative or set of themes to keep you interested. Despite all the excess and unevenness, though, the album still has many moments deserving of your attention....full text |
| Thelineofbestfit |
| “…an album should be a document of what a band has been doing over a certain period of time. And almost everything should be included. Like it or not.” So said Gary McClure of Working for a Nuclear Free City in a memorable quote that has been doing the rounds recently. The eclectic Manchester band has taken this mantra to heart on their third album, the inclusion of “almost everything” resulting in Jojo Burger Tempest clocking in barely under the length of a football match – mercifully minus half time. But that does not mean that the record is a messy affair. It has meant a sprawl across two discs, however, the second of which WFANFC have used to enclose a single 33-minute electro-symphony of dubious merit. But we’ll get to that. WFANFC’s last outing was a double too, an exhausting hour-and-three-quarters tour of myriad disparate styles which was robbed of listenability by the bizarre decision to shuffle new material with previous work included for the benefit of new listeners, especially in the US. This time around the five-piece have included solely new material which if we leave the epic title track aside for a moment leaves us with a much more manageable 55-minute album to enjoy. Stylistically this new material is a little more cohesive than last time around, but this can still be a dizzying journey; acoustic and electric guitars duel with bleepy synths on ‘Inokashira Park’, while pretty piano dances over hushed beats on ‘A Black Square With Four Yellow Stars’. As before, much of the album is instrumental. Perhaps the best of these pieces is ‘B.A.R.R.Y.’, on which a shredded confetti of glockenspiel falls on a floor of pulsating drums as heavenly strings look on. It is the sound of something breaking through the clouds to the sun beyond; it is as much a highlight of this album as the 70s car-chase-soundtrack of ‘Innocence’ was a highlight of the band’s debut. The sheer vast difference in style between the two tracks underlines the fact that that was then, this is now – the gulf in style between ‘B.A.R.R.Y.’ and most other tracks on this album underscores the fact that one thing which has not changed for WFANFC is their willingness to try just about anything....full text |
| Bbc |
| First, the Manchester four had to pick an unwieldy band name. Then they go and choose something baffling for their third album. At least 2007’s Businessmen & Ghosts had a much more manageable handle. But that was a double CD, with well over 100 minutes of music. Not content with overloading an unsuspecting public, Jojo Burger Tempest is yet another double, though it’s a trifling 88 minutes. Are they a bit insane? Maybe, but brothers Phil (keyboards) and Jon Kay (drums), Gary McLure (guitar) and Ed Hulme (bass) are also a bit marvellous. Their press release calls them "Electronic post-rock" but they could also be The Stone Roses if smitten by Krautrock rather than The Byrds or Led Zeppelin. Guitars ring, synths modulate, Phil’s vocals are light and wistful, and the rhythm section is a flexible companion. But the opening Do a Stunt resembles no band more than those most precious, twiddly, sometimes lovable but humungously unfashionable prog-rockers Yes. I repeat: are WFANFC a bit insane? Silent Times, up next, is a prime dose of Roses/Byrds vintage, and sounds like the sun breaking through the clouds. But nothing is fixed. The instrumental Pachinko darts and swirls around, like the Japanese pinball game it’s named after, with electronic vapour trails and a clear post-rock throb. A Black Square With Four Yellow Stars feels distinctly oriental, but as dreamy and restless as a Bowie Berlin-era instrumental....full text |
Working for a Nuclear Free City lyrics
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