SG0601 | 2-track 7" single + 4-track download | July 2006
Reviews:
Of course for many the Pipettes will always have been the line up of Rose, Riot Becky and Gwenno, but for some there remain thoughts of Julia and a wonder for what she did next Well, the answer arrives in the shape of a spectacular 7” on the Sad Gnome label. With a cover that will surely irritate as many as it will delight in its obvious use of shock value imagery, the single itself is equally antagonistic and perfectly confrontational. For The Indelicates’ ‘We Hate The Kids’ is the kind of ready-made classic that groups must dream of writing. It perfectly captures the hypocritical nature of the music industry, damning the very roots of the system whilst simultaneously being desperate to belong. I love it to bits, not least because it has the guts and the wit to shamelessly reference Pulp’s ‘Common People’, itself surely one of the finest slabs of piercing irony that cloaked acidic spite behind an addictive sing-along anthem. ‘We Hate The Kids’ is every bit as good, though sadly unlikely to grace the charts or enter the collective psyche. But that’s the collective psyche’s loss. Lyrically it is as sublime as you could want and if I resist quoting at length here that’s mainly because it would be hard to know where to start, or stop. If you trawl the Net you’ll probably come across a sparser mix (that I actually prefer to the ‘finished’ version) and a fabulous Hard Trance remix that is as cheesy as it is brilliant, and reminds me of the awesomely vitriolic ‘Summer Of Hate’ by Baxendale. Who remembers that? And in fact the Baxendale reference crops up again with the Indelicates ace ‘Julia We Don’t Live In The ’60s’, whilst the widely downloaded ‘Waiting For Pete Doherty To Die’ is as classy and cutting an expose of the music industry as the single and is another utterly essential addition to your collection. Snap up a couple of copies pronto, for future eBay action surely awaits.
Alistair Fitchett, Tangents [review | website]
I'm not going to mention the novelty band that this band spring from, because whilst every pop fan in every so called indie club dance to them, something much more original and exciting is happening. This single does for the indie scene what Hunter Thompson did for Aspen Colorado. It's the hidden gem that they are just a bit scared of because not only is it better than what they sell, it attacks the masses so beautifully and subtly that they probably wouldn't even see it, which I think is the point. From the male vocal at the start to the female vocal and the line, "I wanted to subscribe to a higher path, but there is no higher path" and the classic "Absolutely anyone can play the fucking guitar". It is memorable, melodic, it's the truth and it will upset exactly the people it is supposed to, but they won't ever admit that. (4/5)
Jimmy Savage, God Is In The TV [review | website]
Sad Gnome Records' first release is a little star, burning in the darkly brooding undertone of youth and loss. Quite simply, it's gorgeous. The lo-fi sound is a slight hinderance, but the flitters of twee and lamenting vocals punctuate the soul of this insatiably melodic, down beat offering. As the title suggests, it's lyrically a bit of a moan about young people in the modern world. Yet, the music behind the vocals is a bizarrely successful, twee-painted Joy Division-esque sound. The driving melody will filter through your ears and stay in your head; the song on the whole will penetrate your skin and live in your heart. An encouraging start, then, for Sad Gnome. (9/10)
Edward, PowPowPow [review | website]
There just isn't another band like The Indelicates around at the moment, a fact that we should both mourn and celebrate. there is a wonderful narrative element to these songs, like being tucked up in bed and having a story read to you. 'We Hate The Kids' is their debut single and is a coruscating, literate and angry song where the female / male vocal interplay brings to mind the Shane Macgowan / Kirsty Maccoll dynamic of 'Fairytale Of New York'. The song is a glorious lo-fi anthem that's like a mix of Pulp, Black Box Recorder and Belle And Sebastian.
Rough Trade [review | website]
The Indelicates have just released their debut single 'We Hate The Kids', a cynical social commentary of sorts which probably wouldn't look out of place on an episode of Grumpy Old Men. I'm not sure why they nick the "dance to the radio" bit out of Joy Division's 'Transmission' but we can ignore that in lieu of the nasty wit and the lovely apt ending - "no more music, thank you and goodnight". B-side 'Burn All The Photographs' is a haunting affair with theatrical piano and particularly piercing vocals. Think Phantom Of The Opera meets the Reichstag fire of 1933 in Nazi Germany.
Mr. K, Keep Hope Inside [review | website]
'We Hate The Kids' is The Indelicates' attempt to write no less than an anthem for our times. They cast their eyes over the state of Popular music and find it sadly lacking. It's a song for a time where Simon Cowell unashamedly reduces Pop to a pure commodity, a time where things like passion, depth and integrity are entirely expendable. It slowly builds to the point of bursting while Simon and Julia spit out lines steeped in venom. I would say they have succeeded, this is the definition of an anthem.
Stop Me If You Think You’ve Heard This One Before [review | website]
Couple-led band looking to change music. Filled with bile, their songs tear the pop-heads they criticize apart. No wonder they’re Eddie Art Brut’s favorite new band.
Jonathan Falcone, Filter Mini UK Issue #6 [website]
Ovvero dove si spiega finalmente la scelta di Julia (che qui si riappropria del suo cognome: Clark-Lowes) che si allontanò dalle Pipettes già sulla rampa di lancio per unirsi a questo surreale quintetto di Brighton, bizzarro miscuglio di cabaret music ed anticonformismo che guarda alla scena pop inglese più artisticamente impegnata, dalla Band Of Holy Joy ai Black Box Recorder. Sono già grandi, gli Indelicates, e la scelta di una canzone ambiziosa e difficile come "We hate the kids" per la prima uscita su singolo lo dimostra: le voci di Julia e di Simon Clayton - quello che in copertina regge una pistola infilata nella bocca di lei - sputano veleno con la verve polemica di Matt Johnson ed identico elegante taglio letterario, in felice contrasto tra loro - sognante lei, ubriaco lui - e con chitarre di bambagia appoggiate su un tessuto ritmico arso e brullo che introducono un emozionante saliscendi di piano. Ma tutto è concentrato sul cantato, che ridicolizza l'idolizzazione delle pop stars colpevolizzando (finalmente!) il popolo bue dei teenagers. Sul retro, la meravigliosa "Burn all the photographs" appuntisce e distorce le chitarre diminuendo le ingombranti citazioni a Kate Bush della versione demo; Julia se ne impossessa sino al refrain, quando la batteria esplode e la chitarra si liquefa: bellissima ed agghiacciante.
Letterati ed aristocratici, trasandati ed affascinanti, decisamente snob. Se riusciranno a non diventare troppo antipatici troppo presto (li hanno già definiti i Queen con due Morrissey alla voce) gli Indelicates potrebbero riuscire a realizzare la rivoluzione poetica alla quale ambiscono. E Julia non avrà di che pentirsi.
Salvatore, Indiepop.it [review | website]
Nach knapp zwei Drittel eines laufenden Jahres kann man sich schon mal ein, zwei Gedanken über einige Songs des Jahres machen. „We hate the kids“ wird bei mir in jedem Fall dabei sein, wenn die Preise des Jahres in der Kategorie Single vergeben werden. Und „The Indelicates“ aus Brighton sind eh mehr als die Geheimfavoriten bei den Neuentdeckungen des Jahres. Mit ihrer ersten Single „Waiting for Pete Doherty to die“ lieferten sie bereits so etwas wie den Song zur voyeuristischen Gesellschaftsunterhaltung, und auch mit ihren anderen Songs, die es vielfältig im Netz und auf ihrer Homepage (www.indelicates.com) gibt, machen sie ihrem Bandnamen alle Ehre: endlich mal und zum Glück. Denn The Indelicates verkörpern in ihrer Musik und ihren Textes vieles, was woanders nimmer zu finden ist. „We hate the kids“ ist, ja was eigentlich, Zustandsbeschreibung einer Generation, die Kapitulation vor einer Generation, oder die Aufforderung an eine Generation? „I wanted to believe in rock'n'roll stars / I wanted to believe in contemporary art / I wanted to aspire to a higher path / But there's no higher path”. So ging oder geht es jedem mal. “And nobody ever comes alive / And the journalists clamour round glamour like flies / And boys who should know better grin and get high / With fat men who once met the MC5”. Oh ja, so ist es doch. Am Ende ist die Verzweiflung groß: “Pop had a beginning, it grew and was tended / Now it is rotten. Let it be ended.” Genau daran arbeiten The Indelicates jedoch nicht, im Gegenteil. Sie sind eher eine neue Hoffnung, dass hin und wieder doch noch alles gut wird. Dabei verdrehen sich die jungen Briten scheinbar nicht nach dem Hype der Masse und wollen auch nicht so klingen wie jede neue abgefahrene Lieblingsband der Kritiker und Kids, die sich umso mehr alle und allem gleichen. Bei „Burn all the photographs“ von der B-Seite der Single, oder dem Song „Vladimir“ werden die musikalischen und vielfältigen Vorbilder von Julia und Simon, die das Herz der Indelicates bilden, wunderbar deutlich (siehe auch Interview August 2006). Piano und Gitarre, klassische Inspirationen und Beats schrammeln sich verliebt aneinander. Und auch all die anderen bislang veröffentlichten Songs sind pure Lust an diesen taktlosen Briten. Mehr und mehr davon!
Elisabeth.de | Pop Blatt Berlin [review | website]
Absolutely anyone can shout a fucking prophecy.
(Chinese language review, that we, erm... hope is good.)
Beethobear, Smash Hits Productions [review | website]
The Indelicates | We Hate The Kids