Pitchfork

Rare is the debut record as funny, smart and fresh as Art Brut's "Formed a Band", a shambling mess of DIY prank-rock adjudged the 38th best single of 2004 by Pitchfork. And so the multitudes did sing with joy upon hearing of the May 23 UK release of Art Brut's debut longplayer, Bang Bang Rock and Roll, on Fierce Panda/Bannana. It'll be preceded three weeks earlier by the single and video for "Emily Kane", which frontman Eddie Argos wrote to entice his long-lost teenage girlfriend to look him up.

"Yeah, it's about [the real] Emily Kane," Argos told Pitchfork. "It was quite shrewd, really, because I knew if I wrote the song she'd get in touch somehow. And she did. But she's got a boyfriend, which is rubbish. Has he written her a song? Has he? No, he hasn't. But I have. Anyway, Emily Kane did phone me up, but I told her it's an ironic song, because I couldn't admit to her that I love her. So I'm writing another song now called 'Emily Rang', about how actually it's true-- I do love her. Then I'll probably tell her that song's ironic, too."

Argos says that while the songs may be familiar from Art Brut's singles, MP3s, and live sets, not all of these versions are. "Songs like 'Rusted Guns of Milan' have changed so much live, it's like a different song. That's the one I have the most fun with live-- I can really go off on one. The album version is really not much like the live version."

That said, Argos resisted the temptation to update the line in "Formed a Band" that proclaims his ambition to "write the song that makes Israel and Palestine get along." He says, "Since Israel and Palestine are getting on quite well now, I tried to change it to India and Pakistan, but it didn't sound right on the album. But the point is like the same, isn't it?"

Another scrapped idea would have turned the album into a rock opera about the Gatti Gang, a bumbling cell of Italian guerrillas. "They were the Milan-based cell of the Red Brigades in the 80s," according to Argos. "They were just really, really inept as terrorists. And 18,000 lira was the one bank robbery they managed to do-- about £4.83." Hence the album closer, "18 000 Lira". The Gatti Gang concept also survives in two other songs, "Stand Down" and "Rusted Guns of Milan".

Ebullient and enthusiastic as he is, Argos seems more relieved than excited to be finished with the album. "The drums and bass were recorded on analog, and my voice and the two guitars were recorded separately in a digital studio. But never at the same time-- it was really frustrating. It got built a bit a time, like Legos or something. So we didn't ever get to rock out together in the studio or anything.

"It's nice to get it all out of the way so we can start writing new songs. I want to do another album this year, but I don't think we're going to." Until such time, you'll have to make do with these:

01 Formed a Band
02 My Little Brother
03 Emily Kane
04 Rusted Guns of Milan
05 Modern Art
06 Good Weekend
07 Bang Bang Rock and Roll
08 Fight
09 Moving to L.A.
10 Bad Weekend
11 Stand Down
12 18,000 Lira

* Pitchfork Feature: Pitchfork's Top 50 Singles of 2004
* Art Brut: