First Glances – Scumbag Philosopher
“Think of a number
Divide it by two
Something is nothing
Nothing is Nothing”
Wire.
I think I can safely say, John Peel would have LOVED this. Scumbag Philosopher pull off that fabulous trick of taking atonal guitars and forging a catchy, driving melody that hooks you and is hard to shift thereafter. Plus their ‘too clever by half’ witticisms would have cemented this bands place in Peelie’s late night show.
Their sound bears resemblance to other Peel favourites such as Gang Of Four , Bogshed and The Fall . A track such as ‘I Like Sums’ practically serves up a written invitation for comparison to Wire (‘Three Girl Rhumba’ – “think of a number”) And it isn’t only the spiky post-punk that has me thinking back to Pink Flag , Chairs Missing and 154 era Wire – the deconstructive lyrics also bare similarity to London’s arch Situationalists. Scumbag Philosopher are possibly a dash more ironic than Newman and Co. But there’s a similar biting satire at work. Thom Yorke meets Nietzsche on ‘God Is Dead So I Listen To Radiohead’ whilst the band manage to poke fun (a la Graham Linehan), at social networking sites and rip into the cult of celebrity on the outstanding ‘Heroes At Home’.
The album It Means Nothing So It Means Nothing is out now.