Cast your mind back to earlier in the year and amidst one of the few things that lifted me above curmudgeonly status was the debut from Fight Like Apes the impressively titled ‘Fight Like Apes And The Mystery Of The Golden Medallion’. As we approach the year end the band see fit to do the obligatory re-release (what with Christmas coming up and all that).
It is testament to the properties of the album that it has survived the year without leaving my iPod. A fresh reacquaintance with these songs offers up the same vicious delights that charmed me the first time around. For the uninitiated expect brutal jagged pop with vocals that loiter on street corners with a disinterested sneer before punctuating into screams and yelps worthy of someone being stabbed with a hot poker. It’s the only album I’ve come across in recent times that makes me wish my knees could still take extended periods of jumping up and down.
In the new extended form the album offers you a CD of tracks which more or less came on the back of the singles, there’s every chance that these releases might not be so easy to get hold of now and lets be fair, can you really be arsed to go hunting for treasures when you can get them in one easy to find package (owners of the original album can obtain the bonus disc on it’s own courtesy of the band’s website).
The additional tracks compliment the original release nicely opening with ‘Lightsabre Cocksucking Blues’ and the down at heel fuzzed up roar of ‘Knucklehead’. The band show that they can stand being remixed as well with ‘Battlestations’ getting a proper dandy rub down courtesy of Jape. Smart stuff.
The album is out on November 24th to coincide with a show at the Borderline on the same date.
And that’s not all…
If you hang around till Thursday 17th December (you can do other things in between, you don’t just have to sit still) there is a totally free eleven track live album for exclusive download through their website, it takes in a lot of their debut and catches them on blistering form (I know cos I got a copy).
And there’s even more…
On the 7th December, there is a radically reworked version of ‘Lend Me Your Face’ which will be out on Model Citizen as a download single. The remix is courtesy of 80Kidz and removes the the ramshackle kicking and punching of the original and gives it an almost civilized air of polished disco. Its still equipped with a bit of trademark guitar jangle but there’s a dark seedy bassline that gently cooks beneath the surface. It’s like someone got the band and managed to to tie them up with jackets (sorry, couldn’t resist that one). Tasty and unexpected.
So in conclusion, get the album. It still a filthy pleasure and doesn’t wear out with age. I absolutely fucking love it.
Oh and here’s the band’s up and coming live dates :
24th Nov Borderline, London
11th December Electric Avenue, Waterford, Ireland
13th December Limelight Belfast
18th December “In The Ring” The Academy, Dublin
19th December “In The Ring” The Academy, Dublin
31st December Roisin Dubh, Galway, Ireland
