The Automatic – Not Accepted Anywhere Review
The Automatic, a Welsh indie rock group, known as Automatic Automatic in North America (copyright issues), released their debut album Not Accepted Anywhere in 2006. Honestly, I feel like I’m hardly qualified to review a rock album. Whatever. I like this album. The title Not Accepted Anywhere is a spin on the MasterCard copy of “Accepted Anywhere”… just an interesting (I guess) fact from Wikipedia.
This album pretty much sounds like any pop/indie rock album. This is ironic. Considering, in some of their songs they are practically denouncing Pop music (or maybe just the people who listen to pop). And yet, they themselves sound very “pop-ish”. The beats are very catchy, lyrically indecipherable and danceable. I don’t want to get too political about this…and I’m not saying they sound like bubblegum. But at the same time, there’s a routine to being an indie rock band, and they fit this mold.
Regardless of the music vs. their lyrical politics, I do like the Automatic Automatic album, mainly for its beats (is that what they call it in Rock?). Musically, a lot of the songs sound similar, something about them writing the entire album over the 2005 Christmas holiday. Lyrically, they cover a range of topics but still concentrating on the everyday life issues of drugs, coming of age, phonies, etc. One of the lead singers voice is extremely high pitch, borderline annoying… well, after 5 tracks, you’re like: “please drown it out”. The problem with this album is there is nothing new to be heard. It’s not innovative at all. Yet, there are some who view them as “individuals”. While, there is something that stands out about them, for most part, they do sound like a mash-up of regular indie/rock groups. I prefer listening to The Vines, any day.
Oh yeah, did I mention they like to cover pop music during their live performances (check here and here)?
My favourites: Raoul, You Shout You Shout You Shout You Shout, Monster and Seriously…I Hate You Guys.
The Automatic – Lost At Home
The Automatic – Raoul
The Automatic – Monster
Tags: album, coko, not accepted anywhere, The Automatic
