You don’t deserve rock n roll
Band mates and line ups come and go but one thing is constant within The Fall and that is Mark E Smith and his unremitting mission to challenge the current musical landscape and stick it to anybody who gets in his way. On this the 28th album Your Future Our Clutter finds the band on sparkling form. Mark E Smith, as is well known, will briskly sack players in accordance with his current state of mind or for his own motivation in creating a challenging yet productive working environment. It is this anger that is apparent from the opener 'O.F.Y.C' as thumping drums lights the touch paper for what’s to follow. Next up 'Bury Pts 1+ 3' starts but parodying The Streets 'Fit But You Know It' but played through your next door neighbours bedroom wall, this however is before the track opens up and Smith riles “You will suffer all the seasons on the sides of municipal buildings” backed by another menacing glam/punk stomp.
For a band that has always been completely out of step with any of the genre flavours of recent weeks, months and years 'Mexico Wax Solvent' actually comes very close to letting the people in. With its broody bass funk and garage/synth disco the question has to be asked, is this Mark E Smith appealing to the masses? I very much doubt it but the track is as close to a pop single as The Fall get.
Your Future Our Clutter is the sound of The Fall doing what they do best and that is just being their esoteric-selves. 'Cowboy George' fuses 60’s psych Hispanic shuffle with a Daft Punk sample that underlines their propensity to explore ideas which provide the sound track to Smith’s narrative “into the hills” he barks through his vaguely incomprehensible northern drawl.
Mark E Smith’s parting shot on the album is “you don’t deserve rock n roll” and in a world of throw away consumerism and MySpace saturation maybe he’s right, but records like this need to be cherished no matter how awkward they fit in your record collection.