Kasabian | ||
| Allmusic Biography : Kasabian took the British press by storm in the early 2000s by mixing traces of the Stone Roses, Happy Mondays, and Primal Scream with Oasis-sized confidence and DJ Shadow-influenced electronics. Named after Linda Kasabian, Charles Mansons getaway driver-turned-state witness, the Leicester-based group also stole a page from the Band by moving into a remote farmhouse to brew its music. Communal life and a slew of shared influences produced an electronic, rock-oriented sound that harked back to the Madchester days of baggy pants and druggy dancing. Kasabian expanded that sound on later albums, but the bands foundation remained rooted in swaggering, fragmented dance textures and boisterous rock & roll. With his acerbic approach to interviews, swaggering lead singer Tom Meighan quickly became a darling of the press during the bands infancy, and Kasabians revolutionary logos and sleeve art only added to the excitement. Foldout poster sleeves, 10" versions, and hand-stenciled covers accompanied singles like "Club Foot," "L.S.F," and "Processed Beats." The hype paid off as Kasabians self-titled debut cracked the Top Five in October 2004, just one month after its U.K. release. Four singles landed in the Top 20 within six months, establishing the bandmates as rock & roll royalty in the process. Founding guitarist Chris Karloff left the lineup two years later, citing creative differences with the remaining members. Kasabians second album, Empire, had already been recorded, and guitarist Jay Mehler was brought aboard to replace Karloff during live performances. (Mehler eventually became an official member in 2008.) Empire was ultimately released in August 2006 and debuted atop the U.K. charts, with the title track soon becoming the bands third Top Ten hit. The band took home an NME Award in 2007 and began work on another album later that year. Dan the Automator was brought in to share production duties with Sergio Pizzorno, and the resulting U.K. chart-topper, West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum, appeared in 2009. Automator would return for the 2011 album Velociraptor!, featuring the lead single "Switchblade Smiles." In 2013, Mehler left the group and joined former Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher in his group Beady Eye, but the band carried on as a four-piece and recorded a new album with Pizzorno in the producers chair. Named after the albums total running time, 48:13 arrived in 2014, featuring the lead single "Eez-eh." In early 2017 the band issued a pair of brand new singles, "Youre in Love with a Psycho" and "Are You Looking for Action," in anticipation of the release of their much-anticipated sixth studio album, For Crying Out Loud, which dropped later that May. | ||
 | Album: 1 of 13 Title: Kasabian Released: 2004-08-25 Tracks: 13 Duration: 53:21 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Club Foot (03:35) 2 Processed Beats (03:08) 3 Reason Is Treason (04:35) 4 I.D. (04:47) 5 Orange (00:46) 6 L.S.F. (Lost Souls Forever) (album version) (03:17) 7 Running Battle (04:15) 8 Test Transmission (03:55) 9 Pinch Roller (01:14) 10 Cutt Off (04:38) 11 Butcher Blues (04:29) 12 Ovary Stripe (03:50) 13 U Boat / Reason Is Treason (Jacknife Lee version) (10:50) |
| Kasabian : Allmusic album Review : Pre-release hubbub might have you thinking Kasabians debut is the Stone Roses firstborn all over again, or that its a Screamadelica for its generation. Almost, but these lads could use one more spin around the U.K.s hippest clubs to really polish their craft to Madchester-in-its-prime level. What their debut succeeds in providing is out-of-the-gate excitement, a trippy sack of playful ideas, and a keen understanding of what makes hips sway and heads bob. If hearing Stereolab backing Ian Brown is your dream, "Reason Is Treason" should be your indie rock seducer. If you always wished prog rock danced in baggy jeans, "Test Transmission" should do it. A couple tracks that are show-ers more than grow-ers keep the album from being perfect, but when a Disneyland/Perrey-Kingsley-style keyboard riff plays over a dubby landscape and then gives way to an earnest, catchy hippie chorus, you cant help but fall in love with this ambitious, smart band. You can fill the ashtray with roaches during the cinematic "Butcher Blues" and make your Tangerine Dream-loving friend happy with the space rock meets angst rock of "U Boat." Lead singer Tom Meighan is one part Jagger and one part Richards, with a Beatles haircut and quote-generating, rebellious-interview mouth. They all live together commune style and their sleeves and badges use near-Rage Against the Machine imagery. Heavy, but their debut is a shaggy kind of charming that would work better if you tripped over it instead of having the hype trying to squeeze the word "revolutionary" out of your throat. Painting them as rocks saviors just makes the overly ambitious moments of the album look all that much bigger. Some serious heartbreak, or life for a little while outside of the commune, should broaden these songwriters abilities to the level promised, but for now theyre just exciting, groovy, and proud fathers of a dazzling debut. | ||
 | Album: 2 of 13 Title: Club Foot EP Released: 2004-09-13 Tracks: 3 Duration: 09:28 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover | 1 Club Foot (02:52) 2 Reason Is Treason (03:44) 3 Trash Can (02:52) |
 | Album: 3 of 13 Title: Live at Brixton Academy Released: 2005-07-04 Tracks: 14 Duration: 1:08:51 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 I.D. (06:02) 2 Cutt Off (05:12) 3 Reason Is Treason (05:07) 4 Running Battle (05:05) 5 Processed Beats (03:49) 6 55 (04:46) 7 Test Transmission (04:40) 8 Butcher Blues (05:10) 9 The Nightworkers (04:44) 10 Pan Am Slit Scam (05:02) 11 L.S.F. (Lost Souls Forever) (06:08) 12 U Boat (02:59) 13 Ovary Stripe (05:29) 14 Club Foot (04:30) |
 | Album: 4 of 13 Title: Empire Released: 2006-08-25 Tracks: 11 Duration: 39:20 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Empire (03:53) 2 Shoot the Runner (03:27) 3 Last Trip (In Flight) (02:53) 4 Me Plus One (02:28) 5 Sun Rise Light Flies (04:08) 6 Apnoea (01:47) 7 By My Side (04:14) 8 Stuntman (05:19) 9 Seek & Destroy (02:15) 10 British Legion (03:19) 11 The Doberman (05:33) |
| Empire : Allmusic album Review : Practicing truth in advertising, U.K. rockers Kasabian move away from the revolutionary sleeve art that graced their debut and onto something more ornate for their elaborate follow-up album, Empire. Attacking the sophomore jinx head-on, Empire tries hard to be urgent, epic, and important, and the grand mishmash of influences -- the Chemical Brothers, Primal Scream, the Beatles, and the Rolling Stones -- is delivered with all the conviction and swagger one desires from the scruffy crew with the Oasis-sized ego. Adding to this jumble are Sweet, Slade, and Ian Brown, who are all equally responsible for the opening title cut. Glammed-up rebel music, "Empire" is a satisfying, busy rocker that gives way to the interesting rave-up "Shoot the Runner," which would be very T. Rex if it wasnt for the Euro-disco Giorgio Moroder-styled bridge. From here til the albums final stretch, twists, turns, and time changes are in abundance and imagination runs wild as Brit-pop smokes a hookah and sits on a multicolored toadstool. Lost in all this is the instantly grabbing songwriting of Kasabians debut, and to some extent, the bandmembers themselves, who often seem to be riding this swirl instead of guiding it. They regain control right about "By My Side," a memorable, lush tune that suggests what it would sound like if James Bond film themes had proper B-sides. The winding "Stuntman" is as ambitious as anything else here but the pieces all fall into place for a change, and by the time the perfect, slowly developing closer "The Doberman" rolls around, this unapproachable effort has sort of explained itself and even seduced a little. Repeat listens help put things in place, and a familiarity with the band helps a lot, so go to their much more focused debut for the real punch, then come here when you want something bigger but not necessarily better. | ||
 | Album: 5 of 13 Title: iTunes Festival: London 2007 Released: 2007-08-03 Tracks: 6 Duration: 33:28 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Shoot the Runner (05:13) 2 Empire (04:05) 3 Stuntman (05:30) 4 The Doberman (06:01) 5 Club Foot (04:46) 6 LSF (07:53) |
 | Album: 6 of 13 Title: West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum Released: 2009-06-03 Tracks: 12 Duration: 52:03 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Underdog (04:37) 2 Where Did All the Love Go? (04:17) 3 Swarfiga (02:18) 4 Fast Fuse (04:10) 5 Take Aim (05:23) 6 Thick as Thieves (03:06) 7 West Ryder Silver Bullet (05:15) 8 Vlad the Impaler (04:44) 9 Ladies and Gentlemen, Roll the Dice (03:33) 10 Secret Alphabets (05:07) 11 Fire (04:13) 12 Happiness (05:16) |
| West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum : Allmusic album Review : Most Kasabian albums are bloated pieces of work, having been created by some of the most self-assured, loudmouthed rockers since the Gallagher brothers. West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum is more demented than outsized, however, replacing the ego rock of Empire with a barmy blend of electronics, acoustics, horror movie ambience, and industrial psychedelia. Producer Dan the Automator adds touches of hip-hop to the mix, too, highlighting the bands rhythmic base by stripping back the layers of guitar and synth samples. The result is an interesting, unexpected piece of work, devoid of a militantly commercial single like Empires self-titled track, and lacking the shaggy Madchester vibes that Christopher Karloff brought to 2004s Kasabian. If the bands eponymous debut was the soundtrack to a drug-filled night in Englands trendiest club, then West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum is the soundtrack to the subsequent walk home, when the club has kicked out its last patrons and the streets are dark and forbidding. Theres enough psychedelia here to partially thwart the shadowy electronics -- for every "Vlad the Impaler," theres a trippy counterpart like "Secret Alphabets" -- and Kasabian often augments the new approach with old habits, like the dance-rock chorus that bisects the anxious, minimalist shuffle of "Fire." Most of West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum canvasses unfamiliar territory, however, a wise move for a group has routinely struggled to escape the shadow of its influences. | ||
 | Album: 7 of 13 Title: iTunes Festival: London 2009 Released: 2009-07-27 Tracks: 6 Duration: 33:33 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Empire (04:10) 2 Where Did All the Love Go? (06:49) 3 Fire (04:15) 4 Fast Fuse (04:05) 5 Club Foot (04:46) 6 LSF (09:28) |
 | Album: 8 of 13 Title: Live in London Released: 2011 Tracks: 19 Duration: 1:44:23 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Days Are Forgotten (06:51) 2 Shoot the Runner (03:48) 3 Velociraptor! (03:10) 4 Underdog (06:11) 5 Where Did All the Love Go (05:05) 6 I.D. (06:00) 7 Man of Simple Pleasures (04:02) 8 Thick as Thieves (04:05) 9 Take Aim (06:43) 10 Club Foot (03:56) 1 Re-Wired (05:16) 2 Empire (04:10) 3 La fee verte (06:41) 4 Fast Fuse (06:25) 5 Goodbye Kiss (04:35) 6 L.S.F. (06:29) 7 Switchblade Smiles (06:32) 8 Vlad the Impaler (05:10) 9 Fire (09:05) |
 | Album: 9 of 13 Title: Empire / West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum Released: 2011 Tracks: 23 Duration: 1:31:24 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Empire (03:53) 2 Shoot the Runner (03:27) 3 Last Trip (In Flight) (02:53) 4 Me Plus One (02:28) 5 Sun Rise Light Flies (04:08) 6 Apnoea (01:47) 7 By My Side (04:14) 8 Stuntman (05:19) 9 Seek & Destroy (02:15) 10 British Legion (03:19) 11 The Doberman (05:33) 1 Underdog (04:37) 2 Where Did All the Love Go? (04:17) 3 Swarfiga (02:18) 4 Fast Fuse (04:10) 5 Take Aim (05:23) 6 Thick as Thieves (03:06) 7 West Ryder Silver Bullet (05:15) 8 Vlad the Impaler (04:44) 9 Ladies and Gentlemen, Roll the Dice (03:33) 10 Secret Alphabets (05:07) 11 Fire (04:13) 12 Happiness (05:16) |
 | Album: 10 of 13 Title: iTunes Festival: London 2011 Released: 2011-07-26 Tracks: 6 Duration: 28:57 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Where Did All the Love Go? (04:31) 2 Empire (03:57) 3 Fast Fuse / Pulp Fiction (05:50) 4 Vlad the Impaler (04:28) 5 L.S.F. (Lost Souls Forever) (03:48) 6 Fire (06:23) |
 | Album: 11 of 13 Title: Velociraptor! Released: 2011-09-16 Tracks: 11 Duration: 50:56 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Let’s Roll Just Like We Used To (04:48) 2 Days Are Forgotten (05:03) 3 Goodbye Kiss (04:07) 4 La fée verte (05:48) 5 Velociraptor! (02:54) 6 Acid Turkish Bath (Shelter From the Storm) (06:02) 7 I Hear Voices (03:59) 8 Re‐Wired (04:47) 9 Man of Simple Pleasures (03:52) 10 Switchblade Smiles (04:15) 11 Neon Noon (05:21) |
| Velociraptor! : Allmusic album Review : Kasabian’s big PR problem is they’ve never had a Pulp-like wit about them, and their ability to communicate the human condition has been limited to drug trip visions and fist-pumping hippie lyrics that come off as Shaun Ryder-lite. Plus, an Oasis-esque hunger for arena domination just oozes out of this band, so they’re firmly in the “love ‘em or hate ‘em” category, and never more so than on Velociraptor! Here, they’ve got the audacity to open their album with a gong, which gives way to a Mexican trumpet riff, a funky, spy-movie bassline, and production that screams “mod!” That’s possibly the most convoluted way to go “back to basics,” as the opening “Lets Roll Just Like We Used To” infers, but Kasabian have been a band of post-Brit-pop possibilities from the get go, so bringing in techno, ethnic sounds, and an orchestra is coming home for this impudent crew. The hurdle that must be jumped is that wild ideas sometimes take precedence over great ideas, but everything is shaped into a winner thanks to the group’s undying allegiance to the groove. It icky thumps like White Stripes on the gutsy “Re-Wired” and peaks the meters on the Chemical Brothers-like title track. If the bold lyrics don’t always work, the hooks cover that up just fine, and even as everything and two kitchen sinks are thrown at the listener -- productions shifts and epic constructions abound -- the album is right-sized, laying the whole circus out in 11 tracks and pulling up stakes right before the audience tires of the spectacle. Megaton beats still mix well with high-flying, Gallagher brothers-styled melodies, so anyone who wished “Setting Sun” would have supernova’d into an album will have no problem embracing this one. | ||
 | Album: 12 of 13 Title: 48:13 Released: 2014-06-09 Tracks: 15 Duration: 56:09 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 (Shiva) (01:07) 2 Bumblebeee (04:01) 3 Stevie (04:45) 4 (Mortis) (00:48) 5 Doomsday (03:40) 6 Treat (06:53) 7 Glass (04:48) 8 Explodes (04:17) 9 (Levitation) (01:19) 10 Clouds (04:45) 11 Eez-Eh (03:00) 12 Bow (04:27) 13 S.P.S. (04:22) 14 Beanz (04:42) 15 Gelfling (03:15) |
| 48:13 : Allmusic album Review : While Kasabian kick against the pricks, their audience dances. The band raises a fist, the fans shake a tail feather, but even if theyre a Happy Mondays without a current cultural need for a Happy Mondays, the grooving and groovy 48:13 is a great reason to pretend. Named after its total runtime, the album is a lean, mean machine of singalong revolution songs and baggy jeans dance music from folks old enough to be wearing fitted by now, but the hunger to survive and flourish is as palpable as it was on their debut. Maybe its the loss of fifth member and rhythm guitarist Jay Mehler, but whatever the reason, Kasabian continue to challenge themselves and toss off the big beat sound of 2011s Velociraptor! with returning producer Sergio Pizzorno keeping things tight and upfront. As such, the uptempo strut of "Doomsday" makes a short journey out the speakers, grabs the listeners hand, and heads for the rock-rave dancefloor, while the bass-dropping "Eez-eh" is well aware of EDMs big bottom, even if the sequencer and the spirit all point backwards toward acid house. In 2014, thats rebel music for mums, but if the songs "Everyday Is brutal, now were all being watched by Google" isnt a middle-class revolt, its at least middle-class awareness and the out-of-time, out-of-place, full-of-spirit Kasabian play to their strengths, as always. | ||
 | Album: 13 of 13 Title: For Crying Out Loud Released: 2017-05-05 Tracks: 12 Duration: 50:59 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Ill Ray (The King) (03:39) 2 Youre in Love With a Psycho (03:35) 3 Twentyfourseven (03:01) 4 Good Fight (03:50) 5 Wasted (04:07) 6 Comeback Kid (04:20) 7 The Party Never Ends (03:52) 8 Are You Looking for Action? (08:22) 9 All Through the Night (03:31) 10 Sixteen Blocks (04:20) 11 Bless This Acid House (03:45) 12 Put Your Life on It (04:35) |
| For Crying Out Loud : Allmusic album Review : The hotly anticipated sixth studio long-player from the chart-topping Leicester quartet, For Crying Out Loud delivers the usual Kasabian goods -- a truly awful album cover, nostalgia, escapism, good-natured hedonism, and more than a few festival-ready indie rock bangers with pint-smashing choruses. Any enjoyment derived from the bands particular brand of musical populism -- Oasis wanted to be the Beatles and Kasabian wanted to be Oasis -- depends largely on the listeners love for the overall brand. For Crying Out Loud certainly doesnt disappoint on that front, deploying a well-paced set of bro-ish, politically incorrect stadium jams that employ just enough swatches of sonic modernity to appeal to the indie/electropop crowd. Standouts like the swaggering opener "Ill Ray (The King)," its equally snide sibling and lead single "Youre in Love with a Psycho," the rousing "Bless This Acid House," and the unapologetically Fab Four-inspired closer "Put Your Life on It" stick their landings because they never skimp on the fun. Simply put, For Crying Out Loud works because the band knows exactly what its listeners want. | ||