Thursday, March 15, 2007

A history lesson with iLiKETRAiNS


Another week, another decent band from Leeds. Only I’ve been on about these guys before. The good news is that iLiKETRAiNS have gotten round to releasing their debut single for Beggars Banquet. It’s called Spencer Perceval, and it’s no ordinary single.

Why? Well, for a start it continues their interest in obscure historical events as subject matter for songs. For the band who’ve previously tackled Captain Scott’s polar exploration, and government reports supporting closure of local railways in the 60s, it’s only a small step to writing a song about the first and only British Prime Minister to be assassinated. Not only does it go into the details of Perceval’s murder in 1812, it’s also over nine minutes long. So I guess they’re not desperate for radio airplay then.

Spencer Perceval may well be absent from the airwaves, but that’s no reason not to hunt it out at your local record shop or favourite download site. Particularly if you like their already-established dark and brooding guitar sound. It actually starts off reminding me a lot of Slowdive with gloriously chiming guitars (in my book, that's a good thing) and by the time it gets to the end of its epic length, there’s a lot more swirly noise going on. It’s all very good, and presents the nation’s youth with the prefect combination of being educational whilst satisfying a demand for loud, gloomy guitar music.

This track is posted here for a very limited time, as I don’t want to hamper the already diminished commercial potential of the single. If you arrive here after the mp3 is gone, go here to listen to it. Or here to watch the video. Or even better buy it! The single features another track I am Murdered (the dying Perceval's last words) which serves as a very pleasing lengthy reprise to the A-side.

Download: iLiKETRAiNS – Spencer Perceval

4 comments:

Matthew said...

I am really looking forward to this album. Their EP was really good, but it was when I saw them live at Bestival last Summer and they were brilliant that the band really made sense to me. Excellent stuff!

Anonymous said...

Nice post! I am too excited about the forthcoming album (whenever that may be) especially as it promises to continue in the tradition of educating us with all kinds of history. If anyone is interested, check out thisgreenandpleasantland.com.

Anonymous said...

file not found :-(

The Daily Growl said...

Sorry about that. Though like I said, the file was only up for a short time so as not to badly affect their sales - the single only has 2 tracks on it after all!

It's out to buy next week I think, but in the meantime you can listen on the links above or at the Hype Machine.