Male, thirtysomething, determined to get the hang of this "Ciao Café" business. ♥ ...
Male, thirtysomething, determined to get the hang of this "Ciao Café" business. ♥♥
Member since:06.04.2005
Reviews:13
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Ah, Radiator. They came, they saw, they released one album, they fought with their record company, they disappeared again. A sad tale, and one that seems to be increasingly common in today's music industry.
Radiator are (were) guitarist/vocalist Jack Cooke, bassist/programmer Janne Jarvis, and drummer/programmer Chris Rose. I remember reading an article about them in 1998, and it turned out that all three of them lived in an old pub in the East End of London, which had been converted into a house with a recording studio in its basement (where this album was recorded). Nice guys too, according to my sources in the recording industry.
Musically, Radiator are very difficult to categorise. Not heavy enough to qualify as 'Industrial', they used far too many guitars to be classed alongside the Prodigy, and despite fusing punk, funk, rock and techno and indulging in liberal use of drum machines, they sound nothing like Nine Inch Nails, New Order or Gravity Kills. So I'll avoid trying to pigeonhole them and just tell you about their self-titled album.
Released
in 1999, "Radiator" is an energetic, catchy piece of work that can a) liven up a dull day, b) get you shaking your ass as you get ready for a night out, or c) keep you entertained while driving (you certainly won't be falling asleep at the wheel, that's for sure).
Track by track, with my guesses about what they're about (all songs excellent unless otherwise stated):
1. I Am A song about confidence, or more specifically the confidence to keep your nerve when things are going wrong. Opens the album in a flourish of energy, a punk song with samples and breakbeats. Occasionally slows in pace for about half a second before kicking back in louder and faster than before.
2. Black Shine The title refers to something drug-related, although I don't know what as I've never been into them. Loud guitars, blaxploitation bass, breakbeats, and Jack Cooke's vocals sounding like Robbie Williams would if he'd been in Judas Priest rather than Take That.
3. Generator A rebuttal of politicians' cringeworthy attempts to prove how they understand young people. Funk bassline (a bit Red Hot Chilli Peppers, if truth be told), electronic drums, sarcasm.
4. Amnesia Changes pace half-a-dozen times in four minutes, from trippy-techno quietness to howling punk defiance. Think they may have worked their drum machine to death on this one. Oh, and it's about memory loss (forgot to tell you).
5. Resistor About resisting peer pressure. Very electronic, sounds like the kind of thing you'd expect to hear in a club in mainland Europe. Feels like an epic, even though it's only three and a half minutes long.
6. Untitled Love Song Drum machines and acoustic guitars? Slow number, kind of gives you the suspicion that it's on the album just so the lads could prove they could do something other than 'loud'. Out of place here, and disrupts the album's flow. Taken in isolation though, it's quite a nice song about missing someone.
7. Whole Inside The polar opposite of ULS, Radiator use every weapon they have to make this one a) breakneck fast, and b) ear-bleedingly loud. Subject matter: overcoming the odds.
8. Give Deals with relationships with one's parents. Another funk bassline, energetic guitars and vocals ranging from quiet and melodic to Rage-Against-the-Machine loud.
9. Make It Real Released as a single, I think it actually charted in the UK (albeit low down). The most 'complete' song on the album, fantasic shimmering guitar riff underpinned by a solid but unobtrusive bassline. Jarvis and Rose provide backing vocals on this one, giving Cooke's vox more depth as he sings about personalities and how complex they are.
10. Feel Another slower number, this stands out because it has almost no electronic effects at all (you can hear the drum machine pattering away quietly on occasion), but it's mostly acoustic guitar and Cooke's vocals. Another love song, this sets the album up nicely for its' up-tempo finish.
11. Who Is Your God Very techno (almost no guitars) and very fast. Bookends the album with another huge burst of energy: at one point the drum machine is going full tilt and then Chris Rose throws in some real drums on top. Another song about narcotics, and curiously enough the song sounds like the kind of thing you'd hear in a club at 3am, when the only people with enough energy left to dance are the ones who've been at the funny pills or drunk eight cans of Red Bull.
Also worth looking out for are the band's CD singles (both Make It Real and Black Shine were released as singles). The B-sides include such gems as a semi-techno cover of the Sex Pistols' "Submission", and a hugely fun burst of electronic noise called "Keep My Head".
"So Where Can I Buy This?" I hear the masses (okay, one or two of you) cry. Well, your best bet is either eBay, or amazon's music search. Trying to look for it using a normal search engine is a no-no because 1) Super Furry Animals released an album called "Radiator", 2) there's another band called "The Radiators", and 3) you'll end up looking at thousands of pages of things to heat your house with.
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Advantages: Price, some brilliant tracks, typical Feeder, variety of sounds, two tracks from Swim Disadvantages: Presentation of the enhanced section, the odd weak link
Modena 28.08.2001 ·
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