/Rock-Pop/British / European

BRAKES
rock is dodelijk

Release Date: 09/11/2009

'rock is dodelijk' is the first live album from brakes. their live set is notorious for its rambunctious energy and ear-splitting immediacy, and 'rock is dodelijk' faithfully captures the band's thrilling crash through it. hand-picked by brakes partly from a hometown (brighton, uk) show in august 2008, and partly from a may 2009 show in cologne, germany, this combination of tracks includes choice cuts and singles from their back catalogue - the tracklisting closely resembles a 'best-of' compilation, but this record is far more than a simple hits collection. there is an fascinating, exhilarating magnetism behind brakes' razor-sharp delivery; the vast size of their live sound (despite only being a 4-piece band); the biting wit behind vocalist eamon hamilton's lyrics and live performance (see: 'heard about your band' - the story of eamon's altercation with an over-zealous music industry hanger-on: "you know the girl from sleater kinney / you said you couldn't understand / why it was that she continued to play / when she was only earning 10 grand pa / you know a lot of people in the industry / woo-hoo, woo-hoo-hoo...whatever dude!").
this is brakes' second album for fatcat, after april's amazing full-length 'touchdown' (from which several of these tracks are taken, including singles 'hey hey', 'don't take me to space (man)' and 'why tell the truth (when it's easier to lie)?'). recorded live by alex white of the band and mixed by paul savage (of glasgow's chem19 studios, who also worked on 'touchdown') and by ric peet, and flanked by the release of aa single 'why tell the truth (when it's easier to lie)?' / 'worry about it later', this live album can either mark the development of a band through songwriting highlights in their musical history and stand as a superlative record in itself, or it can mark carefully considered differences between live versions and studio counterparts, and stand as an accompaniment to the band's recorded output. opening with a vocal-heavy, 1-minute long rendition of 'hi how are you?' before moving onto a cutting, muscular 'hey hey' (the first of two versions to feature on this record), the polar extremes of brakes' distinctive songwriting are all given equal importance: present here is the country-inspired stroll of 'ny pie', a bassline worthy of johnny cash (who is referenced again in the form of a affectionate cover of 'jackson' at the end of 'rock is dodelijk') and a guitar line that effortlessly, sweetly twists around the chord sequence; the spitting, fierce gall of 'comma comma comma full stop', a thorny, fuzzy, overdriven 4 seconds of music; the rapture / chinese stars / liars-esque, 'ber-rocking' 'all night disco party'.