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Intro / Time Time Time / Too Much Time / Lisa's Gotta Have It / Christopher Walken / Club Fabulous / Short Story / Never Let You Go / I Scream Driver / Summer Sun
HACKPEN RECORDS
HPR023CD
RELEASED>August 31st 2006
Quirky is the word that comes to mind when listening to the A+E Line, a south coast duo who perform songs that are half comedy sketch, half lo-fi indie pop.
Imagine a comedy version of Jose Gonzalez, all that heartbroken intensity replaced with ironic quirkiness and really bad student humour; then welcome to the world of A+E Line, a nightmarish cross between early Gomez, Goldie Lookin' Chain, John Cooper Clark, Tenacious D and the aforementioned Gonzalez.
Debut album TRAIN WRECKS is all a bit half hearted and uninspiring, a collection of songs and ideas that never really quite gel or come to life.
From the opening parody of a telephone call, where the duo make weak attempts at comedy, this is a record that fails to take off. Songs like TIME, TIME, TIME and LISA'S GOTTA HAVE IT are upbeat and catchy in a quirky kind of way, all lo-fi electro charm and yelping vocals; like Heaven 17 channelling Badly Drawn Boy, but these moments are way too far and few between.
Its the likes of previous single CHRISTOPHER WALKEN that unfortunately leave the most lasting impression; a subdued acoustic tune that just screams unconvincingly "look at me, I'm really quirky and unusual, really"
throughout. Hinging on the "Chris Walken/I'm going to kick your ass" vocal hook, A+E Line try to shoehorn in as many references to the actor as they can over simple acoustic guitars, and if there is one saving grace here, it is that sparse musical tone.
As a take on Tenacious D style comedy pop, CHRISTOPHER WALKEN falls flat on its face; a dull sounding four minutes that aims for quirky and hits bland.
On the plus side, SHORT STORY is affecting and disturbing in a Chris Morris kind of way, whilst CLUB FABULOUS brims with electro-pop charm and a bouncy indie rock feel, by far the best thing on offer here.
NEVER LET YOU GO and I SCREAM DRIVER hark back to the bands weaker moments, songs that try too hard to impress, the A+E Line sounding like a karaoke version of the Kaiser Chiefs. The closing SUMMER SUN, sees the duo doing a bad Ween impersonation, crooning over lo-fi beats and jerky acoustic guitar work.
TRAIN WRECKS is a record that sounds as if its trying way too hard to impress, A+E Line constantly playing the quirky card here and generally behaving like a lo-fi, bad impersonation of Tenacious D. As an introduction to A+E Line, TRAIN WRECKS is a less than inspiring first meeting.
Welcome to the world of the A+E Line, A two piece musical outfit from the southern shores of Great Britain. Unconventional, yet reassuringly brilliant. A very confident band whom have created its own genre that has cleverly been deemed "Non rubbish music". They also make short films.
These are also non rubbish.
A+E Line's CHRISTOPHER WALKEN is a tribute to the cult actor who the
A+band
own many DVD films of.
A+E Line attempt to scale down the human anatomy and project the things
A+we
all feel when untouched by the worries of the world that surround us. A key member of A+E is a robotic drum kit named Roboto-Chan (pronounced Roboto-Shawn). Other inanimate members of A+E include a lunch box of percussive instruments, a selection of synths and keyboards, guitars, pencils and bicycle bells. A+E's live performances are as much a feast for the eyes as for the ears. Experimentation with Explosions, Hats and Projecktors, make an A+E gig a curio to recall on those future cold winter evenings when surrounded by one's grandchildren.
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