Radio 4 - 'Gotham!' (City Slang)
4/5
By: Toby L
Following their debut in 2000 with the fittingly-titled 'The New Song & Dance', New York City's Radio Four return with 'Gotham!', their fiery follow-up, and a record whose production by The DFA - the team behind current trendsetters The Rapture and others - will ensure its street-cred to be next to impenetrable.
Yet, swerve and veer away from the cool-passport, and you'll still find yourself experiencing a completely sensational listen, all thirteen tracks as vitriolic, energy-dosed and funktional as you can care to indulge yourself within, the blaring Jagger-esque vocals, PJ O' Connor's percussion (no, really) and Roman and Williams' bass/guitar interplay acting as the most dirty, freaky indie get-down groove of 2002.
Opening boldly with the strings-enriched dance-rock hybrid of 'Our Town', the pulse never lets up, the enveloping hooks and pace of 'Eyes Wide Open' and arm-raising euphoria of 'Struggle' forming the finest evening's soundtrack since, quite possibly, 'Saturday Night Fever'. The disco maximises itself for the straightforward charge of 'Calling All Enthusiasts' whilst the plunk-plunk-plunk bass of Hooky, Joy Division-era, gets paid homage to in full via the scantily-clad, punk grittiness of 'Save Your City'.
The influences further show a British sensibility through such outings as 'Speaking In Codes', the Stone Roses' past dynamic of elevating arrangements and loose instrumentation revealing itself here, the guitars strewn against a backdrop of formulaic keyboards and definitive drums, and it understandably makes for a less-than-subtle contrast to the somewhat frantic 'Certain Tragedy' or cocky shuffle of 'The Movies' and stoned dub of 'Pipe Bombs'.
So, see - for all the cynics - 21st Century NYC ain't just about the usual names with the usual sounds - it's about a culture of bands that are treading the path and kicking down the doorways through which we shall follow. 'Til anyone else gives a more convincing demand for us to 'dance to the underground', then we'll be quite happy to stick with Radio 4's specific, stern request for some time yet.
Artists in this article: Radio 4
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