Music: Kasabian (self-titled)

Kasabian is one of those bands that I want to like a lot more than I actually do. Their self-titled debut CD has moments that make me want to just sit down and jam—or else fly through a neon space tunnel with 3-D glasses on, if you know what I mean. But it also has moments where I find myself incredibly bored, distracted by my own computer’s wallpaper, which really isn’t much of anything. The album feels like Moby with a harder edge to it, but it succumbs to the same weaknesses Moby does: what’s good in small doses can’t stand on its own for a full forty minutes.

Kasabian (named for Charles Manson’s getaway driver, Linda Kasabian) is a group of lads from Great Britain who turned to communal life to create this album, and the music does have a bit of the “I’m living with my friends and we’ve got some great weed” feel, but at times the band’s dabbling with electronica gets in the way of what would otherwise be perfectly solid music. Tracks like “Butcher Blues,” for example, start off interesting, but then get distracted by synth experimentation that drives the song’s real core into the background. Others, like the excitingly named but actually empty “Reason is Treason” are just so repetitive that I have a hard time making it to the end of the song. Indy bands of the 00's, didn’t you learn from the 80's? Your synthesizer can be your friend, but it should never take control of the relationship!

At times, though, I have to admit that the combination works well. The album’s first single, “Club Foot” and the rap-influenced “Cutt Off” are catchy bits that most people will nod their heads to. Overall, though, most of this is just too clubby for me to really enjoy. “L.S.F.” (I have no idea what this means) and “Processed Beats” aren’t bad, but they’re not great either. And that’s really all I can say about the album as a whole. The cover art, the singles, the idea: all of it works, but the final product doesn’t equal the sum of its parts. Though the band has a talent for coming up with catchy song titles, they aren’t quite as successful with the songs themselves.

Late at night, as background music, this album is perfect. But I can’t bring myself to give a spectacular score to anything that works best when you’re not paying attention to it.

“Club Foot” and a few other tracks: 4 cents—download the singles from Napster and leave the album at the store.

Final Score for the album as a whole: 2 cents.