Hadouken!

‘Music For An Accelerated Culture’

(Surface Noise/Atlantic)

This Leeds-based quintet have drastically divided opinion since they first exploded onto the scene two years ago, propelled by the ridiculously short-lived grindie movement. Now that the hype has died down they finally unleash their debut opus, which unfortunately fails to live up to the band’s hugely promising start. As a live band Hadouken! are pretty unbeatable – mixing infectious unbridled energy with vitriolic raps over brain-melting rave punk – but there’s no sign of that on ‘Music For An Accelerated Culture’, which sounds over-produced and nauseatingly slick and clean in comparison. ‘That Boy That Girl’ is an undeniably awesome opener, but it’s all downhill from there as cringe-worthy lyrics – like “we’ve got more brass than a JD Wetherspoon” – and references to profile songs and MSN combine with The Streets-lite of ‘Mister Misfortune’, ‘Spend Your Life’, and ‘Driving Nowhere’’s emo Klaxons impersonation, with bundles of filler in-between, and only ‘Liquid Lives’ by way of brief respite.

There is apparently a serious message behind the album’s ‘Generation X’-inspired title and many of its ‘yoof’ tales of drink, drugs, debt, debauchery and internet action, but at this rate it’s pretty hard to imagine anyone, including the supposed target Skins-generation audience, listening past the first few tracks.

Camilla Pia