Album Review: Kensington Heights by Constantines

*rating* 7.3

*summary* Drone-rockers newest album balances one with a tad too much of the other. Which is which depends on your taste.

*This two person review is by Sage T. and Ethan E.*

ST: Today we are pondering the inconsequence of choice in a chaos driven universe - oh and reviewing Kensington Heights by the Constantines.

EE: Wow man....you feeling ok? You seem a little....uh....fatalist today.

ST: Oh, it's nothing... I just got that new apple genius and it put up a playlist based off of this new Constantines album -

EE: Uh oh...i'm guessing alot of artists with "black" in their name -

ST: The Black Angels, Black Mountain, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club.... the Black Crowes.... yeah, you could say that.

EE: What, no Black Keys, Black Eyes or Black Dice?

ST: No...but it did give me the Black Kids...that was weird.

EE: wow. agreed. So that's alot of blackness - this genre is called what? Black Rock?

ST: No, that's Lost. Probably Drone-Rock, althought some probably would see that as a negative - even though there's alot of truth to it. These are deep depressed sounding guys playing with the fuzz and feedback turned to 11, churning out rhythms that lumber on with the intensity and directness of a freight-train. This is drone in the best way possible...stomping into your brain on a level much more subliminal than simple hooks or pop-radio lyrics.

EE: Well, these are the guys who used to perform nothing but Neil Young covers under the band name Horsey Craze.

ST: haha...you're right. And yet, even though itunes gives me blackness, Kensington Heights isn't really depressing. Unlike Nick Cave (to whom they've been compared), the Constantines aren't morbid poets - their music just paints hard strokes over a soft canvas. Look at these lyrics from "Hard Feelings":

We've been told pleasure kills

But don't get nervous

You can tell

You can tell by the way we walk

We got hard feelings

You can tell by the way I talk

You can tell by the way we walk

We got hard feelings

(Some people's love is strong enough)

EE: Yeah, you wouldn't see Cave...well...caving like that. He'd stop at the hard feelings part and not allude to something as rosy as "love conquers all". So is that what you're saying...that the Constantines are somehow fake? Puttin' on a tough guy act...but really just chocolate under the hard candy shell? Hiding what softies they really are?

ST: Oh no...infact, i'd say if there's anything to be said it's that they don't hide it enough. Kensington Heights reveals a particular love of the ballad - and more than a few of them are a bit too sweet - like orange juice after the caustic toothbrushing of fiery rockers like "Trans Canada" and "Brother Run Them Down". Put most any one of the songs on this album in a playlist, and you've got a good listen....taken all together the gear shifts can be a bit jarring.

EE: I see it as a strength though. I've always felt what sets the Constantines apart from their Black-named brethern is their restraint. Sure, they can rattle a set of speakers with the best of them, but they know when to hold back, or when to tone down the gloom n' doom. It's like their song "New King" - totally minimal, organ, eventual drum beat, and Steve Lambke's voice (and some female backup) conjuring the spirit of Bob Dylan - or Jacob Dylan at least.

ST: And to me it seems a bit calculated...throw in some Conor Obert tremer in the voice, keep it "raw" and suddenly it's 'poignant'. It's not a bad song - it's actually pretty good on it's own, but it's nothing compared to the marrow deep passion when Lambke's belting it to the rockers so forward moving, so unstoppable, his voice seems like it's just trying to keep up.

EE: Well, though i'll disagree about New King....it's one of my favorites on the album, there are a few clunkers, especially in the second half...especially closers "Life or Death" and "Do What You Can Do". Instead of a bang they go out with a whimper and it's a shame...someone should have gotten these guys the memo that the album as a concept is dead - no reason to force 12 tracks onto something that only needs 10.

ST: And there are a solid 9 songs on here that give a much needed ass kicking to all the precocious indie-rockers trying to find new ways to add bleeps, bloops, and dance beats into their rock n' roll. So yeah, 9 outta 10 aint bad.... 9 out of 12 though... it isn't terrible... it's just not a slam dunk.

EE: So there's the album review...now what about the inconsequence of the universe or whatnot?

ST: Oh...were we gonna talk about that? I'm listening to New King again and thinking maybe the universe isn't that bad after all.....

EE: heh. i knew you'd snap out of it.