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Kasabian: Happenings review | Alexis Petridis’s album of the week
The lad-favourites shift into neon hues on their second Serge Pizzorno-led album, as knockout choruses face off against some disappointing filler
At the height of their fame, they were to be found playing Wembley Arena in front of a crowd of beer-chucking, occasionally belligerent geezers, on a stage set featuring a vast mock-up of a copy of Jorge Luis Borges’s short story collection Labyrinths, with the stage-side screens flashing up quotations from French playwright Antonin Artaud. The former was a frontman very much in the vein of Liam Gallagher, who was selected to unveil the new England strip on stage in 2010, the latter was given to quoting Charles Bukowski and enthusing in interviews about electronic duo Silver Apples and nouvelle vague director Chris Marker’s experimental essay-film Sans Soleil. But on close inspection, The Alchemist’s Euphoria suggested their author was more widely read than your average purveyor of lairy anthems (the lyrics of Scriptvre appeared to quote a situationist-inspired 1971 communique issued by The Angry Brigade after their bombing of London’s Biba boutique) and more musically adventurous to boot: Rocket Fuel featured a gabba-influenced beat, twanging surf guitar and rave-y synths.
Or read this on The Guardian
