View Larger
Rate it!
Avg: 3.5 (19 ratings)
- Date Released: July 1, 2008
- Genre: Electronic
- Label: Lo Recordings / state51
For those who like their indie knowing, playful and subversive, the Chap is tasty stuff indeed.
-
We Say...
"Nothing new under the sun" we’re often told, but the Chap — an arty and sardonic quartet from North London — squeeze undeniable freshness from the sum of their influences. This, their third album, joins the dots between Sonic Youth, Múm, electronica aces Matmos and quintessentially English bands such as Black Box Recorder. It’s an odd mix that together with the subject matter of their knowing, dryly mocking lyrics sets the Chap apart.
The mores of the music business and the biases and pretences of its insiders have been fair game since the group’s second album, Ham. This time out, too, you sense that certain out-of-touch or cooler-than-thou individuals are being parodied. “Fun & Interesting” could be read as an A&R’s man’s patronising dismissal of the kind of left-field, non-formulaic pop that the Chap do so well, while “I Saw Them” — ostensibly an account of seeing some unspecified band at various London venues before that band became famous — seems aware that some who claim to have seen the nascent Nirvana or whoever may be fibbing.
Musically speaking, too, Mega Breakfast surprises and wrong-foots. Ruler-twang noises and a coolly crazed chorus are factored into "Carlos, Walter, Wendy, Stanley"; “Surgery” deals in crisp, light funk, and “Caution Me” serves up atonal, but wonderfully hooky guitar motifs. With the multi-instrumentalist skills of Johannes Von Weizsacker and Panos Ghikas including cello and violin respectively, there is also an understated chamber-pop element at play. Crucially, though, it’s been manipulated and re-configured via deft computer programming. This lot rarely do things by the book.
In summary, Mega Breakfast is a bona fide envelope pusher that juxtaposes pure pop savvy with more enigmatic and at times slightly disorientating fair. For those who like their indie knowing, playful and subversive, it’s tasty stuff indeed. -
They Say...
On "Proper Rock," one of Mega Breakfast's many deeply cheeky moments, the Chap sing about "proper songs about girls and clubbing," but that's the closest they come to such straightforward subject matter. Surgery, cloning, and world music are much more interesting song topics in the Chap's world, and more fitting for their "pop improv disco rock with strings" anyway. Their sound has gotten sleeker, slicker, and brighter with each album, and Mega Breakfast is some of their most electronic -- and danceable -- music. "They Have a Name" opens the album with a literal call to the dancefloor and one of the band's most insistently kinetic beats. "Caution Me" is even better, turning surreal non sequiturs like "come into my bathroom showroom" and "shred my document" into some of the strangest come-ons since Lick My Decals Off, Baby, as a four-on-the-floor beat gradually overtakes the song, propelling it to new levels of funky weirdness. The Chap's popcraft is also sharper and stranger than ever on Mega Breakfast; songs start out small, then build into precariously balanced, Rube Goldberg-esque contraptions that topple over in artfully unpredictable ways. "Carlos Walter Wendy Stanley"'s interlocking narratives are set off by dueling vocals, quick-shifting tempos, and a musical motif that pops up later on "Wuss Wuss." With all of this mischief and experimentation going on, it's not surprising that a few tracks on Mega Breakfast grate, at least initially: tracks such as "Take It in the Face" and "The Health of Nations" don't quite fire on all cylinders the way that the string-driven sci-fi narcissism of "Fun and Interesting" and "Ethnic Instrument"'s pseudo-exotic but genuinely catchy babble do. The Chap's songs often seem to have giant quotation marks around them, but their hyper-cleverness works far more often than it doesn't, especially when it's supported by all of the mercurial turns that make Mega Breakfast some of the band's most accomplished and widest-ranging music.
“ The indie iTunes — Hardcore music fans are migrating to eMusic, the iTunes Music Store's cheaper, cooler cousin.”
Rolling Stone
eMusic Tip
Paid downloads are counted towards an album discount but free downloads are not.
COMPLETE FOR FREE!
You can download the rest of the tracks from this album for free! Just click the Complete Album button.
We’re sorry this album can only be downloaded using paid subscription download credits.
We recommend you Save it for Later by clicking the Save for Later button shown just above this message. For a list of related albums you can download right now, check out these recommendations.
| 01. |  |
They Have a Name |
2:25 |
|
| 02. | |
Fun and Interesting |
4:01 |
|
| 03. | |
Caustion Me |
4:45 |
|
| 04. | |
Carlos Walter Wendy Stanley |
2:57 |
|
| 05. | |
Surgery |
3:13 |
|
| 06. | |
Take It In The Face |
3:08 |
|
| 07. | |
Ethnic Instrument |
3:10 |
|
| 08. | |
Proper Rock |
3:55 |
|
| 09. | |
The Health of Nations |
2:51 |
|
| 10. | |
Uss Wuss |
4:13 |
|
| 11. | |
I Saw Them |
4:46 |
|
11 Total Tracks, 39:24 Total Length
Loading...
Playlists If you like The Chap, check out these member playlists
Explore music recommended by The Chap fans
Credits
- Graham Harvey - Illustrations // John Peel - Author // Alex Ward - Clarinet // Johannes Von Weizsäcker - Guitar // Johannes Von Weizsäcker - Cello // Johannes Von Weizsäcker - Vocals // Johannes Von Weizsäcker - Computers // Johannes Von Weizsäcker - Group Member // Claire Hope - Keyboards // Claire Hope - Vocals // Claire Hope - Group Member // Keith Duncan - Drums // Keith Duncan - Vocals // Keith Duncan - Group Member // Panos Ghikas - Bass // Panos Ghikas - Guitar // Panos Ghikas - Violin // Panos Ghikas - Vocals // Panos Ghikas - Computers // Panos Ghikas - Group Member // Constantin Gabrysch - Engineer
Choose from over 6 million
music downloadseMusic features legendary and emerging artists in every genre: classic rock to classical,indie to international, soundtracks to spiritual, jazz to country and many more.
MP3 downloads work on any digital media player
With eMusic, you OWN your music without any restrictions. Burn music to a CD, play it on your computer, mobile phone or any digital media player - including iPod®, Zune® and Walkman®.
Songs available for 50¢ or less
eMusic subscriptions start at just $11.99 a month for 24 downloads - that's just 50¢ per song! And it gets better from there - our plans go as low as 42¢ per song!
Music Discovery
eMusic is about discovery. We make finding new music fun again with music recommendations from our award-winning team of music experts, member playlists and new music features.
Cancel anytime
With all the great music and site features we're pretty sure you will love eMusic. If not, no problem. You can cancel at any time and keep the music you have downloaded.
© 1992 - 2009 All Media Guide, LLC