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I stumbled across Tubelord on one of those glorious seminar-free afternoons one often passes by frittering away beer money on iTunes. Their debut album was recommended to me on the Genius application after its release in October of last year. Now, taking into account I’ve had Barry Manilow recommended to me by this dubious piece of software before now, I proceeded with caution. In the face of initial trepidation, however, 5 minutes later I was downloading their album and Googling ‘Tubelord’.
This English trio have snuck in under Alternative Rock’s radar to such an extent that they were relative unknowns this time last year. In fact, you could have seen them perform at The Junction in this very city along with two other bands for just £6 advance £7 OTD thank you very much. Now that really is an opportunity missed as these guys are rapidly becoming very hot property indeed. With four superb singles and this masterful album under their belts already, Tubelord are seemingly a band established well beyond their years.
Formed in 2005, they seem to have found a beautiful medium between heavy rock and pop music if such a thing is possible. The beats are at times somewhat unrefined and, it must be said, really quite odd. But the originality and ingenuity of the skills that Tubelord showcase in Our First American Friends add a touch of class to the ever so slightly heavier rock genre. ‘Propeller’ and ‘Night of the Pencils’ are the tracks that you’re more likely to have heard of as they were both previously released as singles. And in fairness, these pacy and dare I say, slightly Americanised numbers are pretty much the best on the album. It’s like Blur, only... with a higher IQ.
But the pièce de résistance for me is ‘Cows to the East, Cities to the West’. This acoustic masterpiece is so different from the tone set by the preceding tracks; it sits like a highly polished diamond in a collection of precious gems. It’s surreal. The lyrics are poetic and the instrumentals nothing short of mesmerising; by far my favourite track of 2009. Mark my words, these guys are here to stay.
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