And of the Garage Revival bands, I rather like these guys best of all because they don't seem to have the winking irony of some of their contemporaries like Franz Ferdinand. This is from The Black and White Album, their most recent album, and I rather like it because--well, it sounds more than a little bit like some long lost descendant of the kind of old school jive and blues Jackson was essaying for his album Jumping Jive (discussed briefly in this entry for this year's cycle. The drum line, the call-and-response chorus, even the momentary time change all seem to be designed to get you and your gal up and jitterbugging. And when Howlin' Pelle Almqvist....well, howls at roughly the two minute mark, it's just a great moment. This is the kind of song that, with some regression, could have been blared out on the dancefloor during the Roaring Twenties, which might be another reason I like it so much. All of their work is like this--thoroughly unpretentious and not trying to assure us it's all a big put-on.
Okay, so lyrically we're not talking much--it's at its most basic a celebration of the loser, of endeavoring to accept all the setbacks life throws at you with some semblance of cool. And thanks to the energy throughout (except for that minute-forty-five time change that ends in that two-minute mark howl I was talking about) and it's adherence to the three minute rule, it acts as an antidote to all the emo-sad-puppy stuff that clogs the airwaves. We're all losers in some way, Pelle assures us...so let's dance!
No video...but here's the track itself for you to enjoy...and enjoy you will.
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