If you can draw comparisons between today's British music scene and Britpop, then Kasabian want to be Oasis, The Kooks want to be Cast and James Morrison… actually, no singer in history has ever been as bad as James Morrison ever.
Anyway, our point is this – there doesn't seem to be a new Supergrass. OK, our mistake – there didn't seem to be a new Supergrass; now we've heard Long Live The Ripps by feted young Coventry band The Ripps, that vacancy seems to be closed. Fans of loud, perky, partially-Spanish power-pop – and the occasional duff cover version – are advised to read on.
The Ripps first came to our attention with their single Loco. And what a single it was too – the sound of frantic youth artfully throwing The Clash, The Pixies and early Supergrass against a wall, tearing their heads off and loving every second of it. Singles as good as Loco usually turn out to be a bit of a poisoned chalice, though – as much as you love it, you just know that the album won't be able to consistently reach those peaks. And so to Long Live The Ripps by The Ripps.
For an album by the sibling children of exiled Chilean political activists – and a girl on drums – Long Live The Ripps is heroically British-sounding, packed with songs about students stealing traffic cones, cheeky pints in Wetherspoons and spending a night in the cells. It's an angry album, too, although in a very teenage way – railing against hypocrites and Daily Mail readers and all kinds of other vaguely-defined open goals. Not that you could ever accuse The Ripps of being angsty, though, since Long Live The Ripps demolishes targets with such gleeful abandon that it's hard not to be swept up in the hurricane.
Listening to Long Live The Ripps is a little like listening to your still-drunk best mate breathlessly recounting a great night out you missed. Songs like Vandals and Benefits are clattered out in a blizzard of messy guitars, gabbled lyrics and howled backing vocals that show just how much The Ripps refuse to take themselves seriously. And – aside from the woeful cover of Too Much Too Young tacked on the end of the album as a hidden track – that's one of the main downsides of Long Live The Ripps. You can sense that The Ripps are aiming for The Clash, but only occasional reaching Jilted John.
But, hey – if it's fun you're after, Long Live The Ripps has it in shedloads. Big cross-eyed fun with dribble down its chin. Last time we heard, that was the best sort.
FJ says
The best Lp this year, so far !