Wild Beasts are a tough act for me to dive into headfirst, but their new album Smother offers many rewards to anyone willing to give them a fair shake. It just took me a while to embrace the record. Like a sonic equivalent to Linus Caldwell in “Ocean’s Thirteen,” they come off as the kind of band that keeps insisting that “the nose plays.” Hayden Thorpe’s vocals find a delicate balance between sleazy theatricality and a pleasantly polished range, so –honestly– the nose really does play. No matter how ridiculous it might look at first.

Naturally, there are points where they still lose me. The opening track, “Lion’s Share,” features Hayden and company employing a full-on Peter Schilling, so I feel entitled to some mention of “Major Tom.” I always approach the record a bit off tilt because of that track, but once the song kicks in, I can get my head back into the game.

The Beasts have stripped down their sound even more after relocating to the quiet isolation of Northern Wales. The arrangements are often sparse, tighter, and impeccably layered with an approach that’s almost minimal. The bright guitars and splashes of keys work to refine Thorpe when he’s at his most operatic. Smother is a fascinating, challenging and uncompromising listen. The gist is that more sordid Hayden’s lyrics become the more impressive Wild Beasts become, and at their best, they’re in a class of their own.

If you can meet the record on its own terms, you will find many great songs: “Lion’s Share,” “Deeper,” “Loop the Loop,” “Plaything,” “Albatross,” “Reach a Bit Further” and “End Come Soon.” They are also one of the more unique outfits in indie-rock. I wouldn’t necessarily walk around wearing a Wild Beasts t-shirt, but they have been mainstays on my iPod since Limbo, Panto dropped in 2008. They are following an obvious upward trajectory, and each record features the group sounding more refined and confident.

Wild Beasts – Smother LP by daftdreamy

Every once in a while, it’s nice to unwind with a straight-up rock record.  Unadulterated rock – without the burden of introspection or fear of the conventional – is nothing to laugh at or look down on. Its virtue is that you can unwind to it and tap your foot along with the rhythm. I find that works best when you are leaving work or while driving. There’s a place for rock in anyone’s life, even if they are afraid to admit it. The best type of rock is the kind that comes from bands that you don’t have to ask if they are serious (a la The Darkness).

Conventional rock is something like a natural redhead: a pleasant expression of a recessive trait that kicks like a mule. The fear of rocking (in my eyes) comes from a fear of regression. People who play music chase after the new to stand out from the crowd.  People who write about music meet the familiar with derision. People who listen to music (well, buy tickets to shows) want to be rocked.  The three groups of musicfolk rarely fall into a happy unity. Because of this a true rock band is a rare breed.

Filligar’s latest entry into the rock canon, The Nerve, shows exactly what rock looks like in 2011 (or 2010, I should say, since I kinda dropped the ball on this release!). Full of bluesy stompers, backroom brawlers and songs that any shifty go-between would play on the jukebox in your local dive bar.

“Robbery (Shocking Love)” is a nice, raucous foot-stomper that opens the album. While I listen to a lot of weird stuff, I do not shy away from the Temple of Rock. The kind of rock that comes from a guy on guitar who isn’t afraid to play power cords, his buddy from high school on drums, a singer with delusions of grandeur, some guy who everyone kinda knows who happens to play bass and someone in the band’s girlfriend’s brother on keys. It’s almost sacramental for me.

[Note from the author: I have no factual evidence to apply this background to the gentlemen in Filligar, especially since it is a four-piece.]

“Guilty Good Intentions” follows in the second position. Upping the ante, Johnny Mathias sings “Would you believe me if I said the boy who cried wolf is innocent?” in the most awesome slice of rock lyricism in the album. Take cliché or adage, put a spin on it and repeat it until you have everyone else singing it with you. Augment the standard meaning of a stock phrase with a slice of mayhem, and you have the recipe for a great rock’n’roll song. My dark horse pick for best song, though, would be the down tempo and keyboard-driven “Gray Area.” The track showcases how Filligar click as a collective.

[mp3] Filligar // Guilty Good Intentions from The Nerve

[Note from the author: Johnny Mathias (guitars, vocals) is the brother of not one but two members of the band (Pete on drums and Teddy on bass). In traditional rock brother fashion, they fight constantly.  Keyboardist Casey Gibson joined the band after (original keyboardist) Viv Savage was arrested halfway to Memphis while touring. Gibson is known as the peace-keeper, and his frequent travels through India will inevitably swing future tracks with an Eastern flavor and provide stability for the band after one of the brother's is kicked out.]

So anyone who isn’t afraid of simple, straight-forward rock will enjoy The Nerve. They sound like they would be even better in concert than on record, like any real rock act. Filligar is definitely a serious rock band that stays on point for the entirety of an album.