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Review: Pop Will Eat Itself – Anti-Nasty League

In good keeping with their name, Pop Will Eat Itself‘s new album Anti-Nasty League is a bit of that middle finger to the entire industry. Making use of all the elements they have at hand, they’ve produced a pretty stellar work that is worthy of your time. It will be released in May to coincide with their new tour. I was lucky enough to have the chance to listen to the entire thing ahead of its release. My thoughts are in the track list below.

They’ve made some interesting decisions around this record. I’ll let them use their own words:

After the high of finishing work on the album, the comedown found us thrill-seeking, investigating forbidden territories. Going where you’re not allowed to go, doing what you’re not allowed to do. For the hell of it. Looking for something as poignant as it was pointless. Turning 2015 conformity and sterility on its head. Someone suggested shooting ourselves in the foot, whilst another good suggestion was cutting our noses off to spite our faces. But the winning suggestion was to commit music-biz suicide. So…
Anti Nasty League is a physical release only. There is no single, no digital release, no date of release and no streaming.
This is what we are. This is what we do. If we can’t stand up for what we feel is right, then we’ve no right to complain either. And we like to complain, because in 2015 it makes us feel alive.
Back at yer and in yer face, 21st century music business.

    Track List

 
“21st Century English Civil War” – Great fuzzy first song, hard drum beat, LOVE the orchestration at the end
“They Can’t Take (What You Won’t Let ‘Em Have)” – A look at privacy issues set to a real rocker. Didn’t like it first try but grew on me.
“Mental Pollution” – Fantastic hard rock start which gives way to some creative electronics
“Digital Meltdown” – Mashup of noise and borderline spoken word madness
“My Stupid Head” – Pretty much what the name suggests with fractured guitar and electronics – very well done!
“Set Sail For Death” – A brief word from the dark side, set to an endless drone
“Middle East Street Party” – Brilliant opening – easily my favourite song. Just a tinge of Middle East sound. “The puppetmasters, the puppetmasters”
“Sacrifice and Pain” – Swirling sound just drowns out the vocals a little for me
“Angry Man’s Death Bed” – Creative little mind blow with every element this band knows well driven together
“King Kisser” – Love this one. The drumming is stellar and has great feel. A real adrenaline rush.
“Watch The Bitch Blow” – A bit old school with a new twist. Loud, angry. You know. Just how you like it!
“Director’s Cut” – A jaunty little ditty off the bat, the vocal effects make this one intriguing. Then gets darker and louder.
“Smash It” (bonus track) – What it says!! Feels like two different songs brought together with a blowtorch

Pre-order here.

Anti-Nasty League

The album will be a physical release only, on pre-sale by the end of March from shop.popwilleatitself.net. It will not be available on iTunes, Spotify or any digital platforms, though an immediate digital version is downloadable with each physical purchase.

Larry Lootsteen

Music is life and I love to write about all things music. Independent music blogger. Writer in general. I am a big fan of alternative and indie music but there's no genre I haven't found something to like.

Larry Lootsteen has 629 posts and counting. See all posts by Larry Lootsteen

One thought on “Review: Pop Will Eat Itself – Anti-Nasty League

  • Ohhhhh I somehow missed the “physical only” memo. I haven’t seen it listed at my regular store either, stormingthebase.com.

    Did you ever hear the collection of the 1996-era demos that were unearthed a couple years ago, from the Nothing Records archives?

    Reply

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