Send "Kasabian " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Sputnikmusic |
 With the implosion of Oasis and The Libertines, it is reassuring to know that one English quartet is still around to brighten up our day with their self-promotion. I mean, why should anyone wait for others to hype their band, when they could do it themselves? Over the course of their decade long existence, Kasabian have apparently saved rock’n’roll, saved dance music and even saved English music in general. They have done so by releasing the greatest album ever... Before superseding it with their own follow-up. Loved by many, and hated by many, many more, the group’s boasting too often masks their talent, since their best work is often a refreshing, genre-bending combination of psychedelic electro-rock. Unfortunately, all these characteristics have previously resulted in over-ambitious experimentation clogging their releases with filler, and leading to the label of being a singles band... And when their fourth LP ‘Velociraptor!’ opens with the striking of a giant gong and some trumpets, it is difficult to think that much has changed in the world of Kasabian. I think we are supposed to bow down and hail our saviors once more! What comes next however is something approaching restraint; a word not usually associated with Kasabian. More than anything, what the album's first three tracks lay the foundation for, is a concerted focus on melody. ‘Velociraptor!’ is more Beatles than Oasis, with retro 60s harmonies being so prevalent that you can almost see the black & white video of a future single having the band in mop-tops mocking the famous Liverpudlians. “Lucy in the sky” is even quoted on ‘La Fee Verte’, a tune where the quartet’s psychedelic leanings run rampant. Of course, this is Kasabian and experimentation is bound to exist. This time around, they at least attempt to integrate a sense of cohesion with many tracks incorporating strings, and even more displaying Eastern flourishes. In fact, so common are the latter, that you half expect Omar Sharif to make a cameo appearance! As per usual, the results are mixed, with the trippy Arabian stomp of six minute centrepiece ‘Acid Turkish Bath’ likely to be most divisive. While the spotlight on melody is value-adding, it does come at a cost as the album progresses through its 51 minute duration. Namely, that it is not the strength of lead vocalist Tom Meighan, whose cocksure drawl is better suited to the band’s trademark energy which has been mostly sapped here. This results in ‘Velociraptor!’ occasionally falling too close to mid-tempo indifference; another word not usually associated with Kasabian. The glitchy electronica of lead single ‘Switchblade Smiles’ comes closest to recalling the band’s debut LP, but feels out of place and only makes you want to revisit ‘Reason Is Treason’. Ditto for the effective synth line of the almost new-wave like ‘I Hear Voices’, while the title track is the most energetic - and somehow likeable - cut in spite of how nonsensical it is. Also as per usual, Kasabian do strike gold at least once, with ‘Re-Wired’ melding their varying influences into an appealing tune that has energy, swagger and the type of catchiness that will infiltrate your mind. Conversely, closer ‘Neon Noon’ attempts something similar in a slow-burning package, but only succeeds in putting listeners to sleep. The phrase “the more things change, the more they stay the same” is an apt one to describe the progression which Kasabian have made from album to album. One would be hard-pressed to suggest that they have done much recycling over their career, yet the result always ends up around the same mark. With Dan the Automator’s idiosyncratic production and ambitious head songwriter Serge Pizzorno displaying his usual liking for the weird and wacky, “consistency” is unlikely to enter Kasabian’s vocabulary any time soon. So while ‘Velociraptor!’ takes us to a few different destinations than we may have expected, it is ultimately going to elicit the same divisive response which its three predecessors did. And when weighing the band’s discography up for the sake of comparison, it is unfo...full text |
| Guardian |
| Kasabian have trumpeted their fourth album with the usual eyebrow-raising chutzpah about it being a classic, but there's no denying the band have expanded their sound ever further from its lad-rock roots. There's a flamenco feel to many of the tracks, which is hardly familiar fare for four blokes from Leicester. Opener Let's Roll Just Like We Used To echoes the Last Shadow Puppets via Love. La Fee Verte nods to Slade's wistful ballads circa the classic In Flame soundtrack. Only the title track and Re-wired reassert the huge, numbskull electro-rock anthems that made their name. There are, as usual, misfires – Switchblade Smiles sounds like cumbersome big beat from a decade or more ago – but the best tracks here are the most unlikely. Neon Neon is a beautifully existential contemplation of the passage of time. The sublime ballad Goodbye Kiss is even reminiscent of (gulp) Gene Pitney, delivered with the wistful romanticism of rapidly maturing thirtysomething fathers. It's the sound of a band growing in confidence and mapping out their future....full text |
| Bbc |
| "It’s been 15 or 16 years since the last truly classic album, but I think we’ve done it," Serge Pizzorno claims of Velociraptor!, which is exactly the kind of bullish boasting which, along with their boorish interviews and boozy gang attitude, have made it easy to pigeonhole Kasabian as the Leicestershire Oasis. This is unfortunate, as their actual music has always been much more interesting and eclectic. From the start, their ease with club beats and electronica suggested that – unlike the Gallaghers – they had some awareness of which decade they were in. And while Oasis became duller and more conservative with each new record, Kasabian have – so far – grown more adventurous. June’s teaser single, Switchblade Smiles, certainly suggested that Velociraptor! would take up where 2009’s West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum left off – completely out there, and completely off its face. A remarkably uncompromising opening salvo, it begins as a dreamily buzzing Eastern mantra, before a dinosaur-sized dance beat crashes in and the song spends the next few minutes zig-zagging wildly between club stomper and blissed-out space rock. Fortunately for fans fearing Kasabian have completely left Planet Rock, the rest of the album plays it safer, shifting restlessly between growling garage and psychedelic reveries. Days Are Forgotten is built on a filthy delta blues riff, and boasts a trademark vowel-murdering, stadium-shaking chorus. For sheer catchiness, it’s only rivalled by the splendidly silly title-track, with its grimy guitars, absurd lyrics and air-punching chorus. Festival-goers should learn the words "Velociraptor / He gonna find ya / He gonna kill ya / He gonna eat ya" now: you’ll be hearing them a lot next year. Of the slower songs, the meandering Acid Turkish Bath (Shelter from the Storm) revisits the Eastern influences of Switchblade Smiles but dredges up unpleasant memories of Kula Shaker, while Goodbye Kiss is agreeable but unremarkable, sounding like a cast-off from Alex Turner’s understated Submarine soundtrack. Far, far lovelier is the closing Neon Noon, a reverb-drenched slow-burner which intertwines analogue electro, acoustic guitars, sighing strings and a subdued, mournful melody. It may be the first genuinely moving Kasabian song, a truly welcome new development....full text |
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