As a rare Easter Egg, I decided to rise from the metaphorical dead, like some obvious blasphemous metaphor, and provide you with some up-to-date music reviewery. Today I got my grubby mitts on a copy of dan le sac vs Scroobius Pip's newest little ditty, rather oddly titled The Fable of Izeekabee.
Now, first up it should be known that this song isn't their single. That, in fact, would be Get Better, a song which I haven't even bothered to look into (which is quite bad). Secondly, it should be duly noted that Scroob has admitted that he writes the lyrics after the music - whether that has changed, I don't know, but, it's a noteworthy piece.
The Fable of Izeekabee, anyhow, is a four minute romp in which the music never quite seems to match the lyrics. I kept expecting, during the intro, Swedish electro-vixens The Knife to get involved, which soon gave way to Flaming Lips Yoshimi-esque distortion-buzzing. The lyrics, however, just seem totally diverse from the tune - no real link, just the fact that they seem to barely fit in. Maybe it's intended, what with the message here...
Soon, though, it gets into its groove. It finds its niche, and that's when the song gets good, but, it takes a whole 2 minutes before it feels secure in itself and sounds like the old Scroob and le sac that always worked together, like cheese-flavoured chalk, or like the riff amongst the raff separating the wheat from the chaff. It's just a shame a lot of that chaff seemed to get involved early on, when it needed to hook. When it does hook, however, it gets you line-and-sinker too. If you're not into it by now, just turn it off and consider coming back when you're more in tune with yourself.
Then, when it comes to an end, it ends perfectly. It's not ostentatious, it's not overly wordy, it's not trying to be something that it's not - in fact, it's being good old Scroobius Pip writing the way he writes best. It just shows the genius of the man, right down to the spoonerisms that Ronnie Barker would have been very proud of.
My final thoughts, however, are totally the opposite of what I've written. It's not a wishy-washy piece. It's a grower. It's a good'un, well worth a listen. It comes across like the soundtrack to a piece written by Aaron Diaz of DresdenCodak. It has the set up - it builds the story, it develops it, and then it concludes it nicely. It comes across like the new version of The Emperor's New Clothes, but with much more of a moral message: "Don't be such a show-off, you self-righteous prick."
7/10 - It took three listens to be very enjoyable, though it still jars at the start, but, it's always made better by the ultimate spoonerism ending. I eagerly anticipate the album.
To get your own copy of The Fable of Izeekabee, text UGLY to 81088 and follow the instructions that Scroob and DLS send back.
