The Midnight Beast - Shtick Heads
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| The Midnight Beast - Shtick Heads |
Release Date: 2nd June 2014
Now I'll admit I never really
caught these guys on TV apart from the odd episode when returning from the pub
but I'm a big fan of comedy music (see Flight of the Conchords, Bill Bailey and
the Mighty Boosh for some of my favourites) so let's see if this get's me
rocking and laughing. Opening up with 'Beast Song Ever', the trio hit their
stride quickly with some mental, Crazy Frog-esque vocals followed by lyrics about
being sensitive, like a vagina. 'Sweet Sixteen (feat. Sway)' samples 'It's My
Party (And I'll Cry If I Want To)' whilst comparing Dappy and H, Tequila and
Ribena, Lohan and Hilton before going nuts with the synth stabs and some big
chord progressions and a bit of Sway on the rap duties. 'Pointless Skit 1' is a
pastiche on the kind of Water Aid adverts that get in the way of an afternoon
on the sofa watching endless reruns of Two And A Half Men before 'The Main One'
goes off like a serious chart troubler if it weren't for the Parental Advisory
lyrics about crack and pubes.
By this point I have a
semi-permanent smile on my face and I'd be hating the music if it wasn't for
the entertaining and distracting lyrics on display. 'When I'm Older' tackles
the serious issues of what the hell the current generation of 20-30 year olds
will be like when they're living in retirement homes and listening to the
Prodigy for old time's sake. The ballad of 'Friends For Never' is Gary
Barlow-esque in its heart string pullingness before 'Pointless Skit 2' features
some collaboration requests to the likes of Katy Perry, Kelly Rowland and Kelly
Brook. Essentially anyone beginning with K. Getting on a ragga tip, the boys
hit you with 'Plenty More Fish' which is like something out of a low budget
stage version of Finding Nemo before the Cliff sampling '#Holiday' brings the
holiday anthem up to the 21st century, complete with selfies, hashtags and
instagram. How very modern.
On the surface of things you
could be forgiven for thinking that this is all a bit laddy but there is a
subtlety and intelligence to the lyrics that give these guys away as being a
little bit more sophisticated than they would have you believe - only a little
bit more, mind. 'Balls So Hard' is a crowd pleasing, shout along anthem about
raging hormones while 'Bassface (feat. Reggie Watts)' is a sexy little number
perfect from carving your way through the nightclub to in search of your girl
for the night - as long as said doesn't actually listen to the lyrics about
DJing at children's parties and spiking apple juice with hallucinogenic drugs. Troubling.
The last of the pointless skits, the imaginatively title 'Pointless Skit 3', is
a Terminator style warning from a future ruled by giant pigeons. Harrowing.
'Five A Day Flex (feat. Sexual
P)' is a dirrrty piece of sexual harassment, 'Sextape' is a surprisingly mellow
One Directional ode to having sex in a small car in the French capitol and
'Love Bites' makes the best/worst use of a drum machine since I was in my first
band aged 13 (we were called The Void, thanks for asking). The album finishes
up with 'UBERCVRRNT (SWAGGERLICIOUSLYOLOHELLADOPENESS) (feat. The Hell)' which
does exactly what it says on the tin, obviously, while sounding like Robyn
dueting with Adrew W. K. in a Sauna filled with beautiful, half-naked, horny 21
year olds. All in all, this is pretty sweary and sex obsessed stuff but then
what isn't these days? It's still way more listenable than Miley Cyrus or Chris
Brown and at least this is supposed to be funny.....Oh, and there's a secret track which we don't see enough of these days so an extra point for that.
More information: http://site.themidnightbeast.com/
Live Dates:
19th July - O2 Academy, Oxford
25th July - The Sugarmill, Stoke-On-Trent
1st August - Mandela Hall, Belfast
2nd August - The Academy, Newry
8th August - The Globe, Cardiff
9th August - Gloucester Guildhall, Gloucester
15th August - 53 Degrees, Preston
16th August - East Village Arts Club, Liverpool