A quiff and peanut butter: sure signs of the cutting edge
Continuing my exploration of the state of music in 2009, I thought I’d listen to some of the acts that have been touted as this year’s next big things.
First up is London-based Essex boy (Ben) Esser and band. This guy’s name has been floating around for ages but I’ve only just forced myself to listen to him. Formerly the drummer in now-defunct jerky pop group Ladyfuzz, he’s now writing and recording songs under his surname (worked for Morrissey I guess).
Esser might not be a newcomer to the UK music scene but there’s a sense of DIY bedroom production to his work. That’s not to say the tracks aren’t slick, just that you can imagine them being pieced together from numerous loops and samples on a laptop.
Electro-pop is thrown together with the odd bit of noisy guitar in the kind of gently funky combination that Radio 1 usually loves. Plus the lyrics have got that essentially English Saturday night simplicity to them: “I love you but I don’t know how to tell you,” Esser tells us on repeat on the conveniently titled ‘I Love You’.
Possibly his most inventive song, ‘Satisfy’ has something of The Specials’ ‘Ghost Town’ about it, which is surprising as it starts off with a piano stolen from a 1920s French café. But there’s just something a little too unremarkable about Esser to make him stick. The tunes just aren’t catchy enough; the beats are often a bit tame. And he forgets the golden rule of sampling: if you’re going to repeat yourself, say something that’s worth hearing again.
UPDATE: Second impressions, 19/03/09
I think I may have been unduly harsh on poor Esser. A day later I find there’s something inescapable about a song like ‘Headlock’, even if it’s not a pop masterpiece. Esser’s songs are inventive, playful and honest. And that is a great quiff.
To judge for yourself, listen online via myspace.com/esserhq or Youtube to:
If you like him, check out the album Braveface when it comes out on 4 May on Transgressive records.
He’s also live on tour next month:
16/04 Leeds Cockpit
17/04 Glasgow King Tuts
18/04 Middlesbrough Empire
19/04 York Duchess
21/04 Manchester Deaf Institute (oh the irony of having concerts here)
21/04 Wolverhampton Little Civic
23/04 Bristol Thekla
24/04 Southampton Joiners
25/04 Exeter Cavern
27/04 Brighton Komedia Basement
28/04 Colchester Arts Centre
29/04 Norwich Arts Centre
30/04 London ULU
