Day 26: A french competition on a fluted instrument?

It's far too nice to be inside on a day like this, but here's some more Fall nonsense for you. As I mentioned before, I've listened to this album so many times I appear to have broken the CD (or my car just chewed it up) either way, incredible album.



Song: Bury! Pts 2 and 4
Album: Your Future Our Clutter
Year: 2010

So this is the second track off their latest album, which came out on Domino (although I think they've since fallen out with them or at least left the label) this song features the line "A new way of recording, a chain round the neck" which is just a cracking line anyway, but apparently refers to Domino's attitude to production values, apparently the album was recorded a year before it was released, so perhaps this is a dig in the most obvious of ways, he delivers it with such tangible venom I'm inclined to hate Domino as much as he does.

The production is something that I love about the whole album, but is fully explained and shown during this track, the muted electronics and buzzing, combined with the clear production of vocals, guitars, bass and drums makes for a modern sounding collage.

His vocals on this album ring with an angry air, the lyrics are something else, I could listen to lines like "And you will suffer all the seasons on the sides of municipal buildings" and "One day a Spanish king with a council of bad knaves, tried to come to Bury" all day, could the Spanish king be a smarmy record label exec? It seems likely.

This song also gets a personal seal of approval from me, as he mentions the small suburb of Altrincham known as Timperley where my girlfriend is from, the second song I've ever heard referencing the place, the other being the late, great Frank Sidebottom's Panic (On The Streets Of Timperley) another Manchester-centric act with obtuse lyrics, RIP.

The song has so many lines to mention, its as if MES is packing in as many fantastic lines as he can, the song gains momentum, with Elena's vocals (I'm not from Bury man) making this a real stomper.

The video, as you can see, is filmed on an ultra-HD camera, picking out all Mark's wrinkles and playing some excellent shots in slow motion, it looks incredibly stylish, but the lines written on paper and shown to the camera make me piss myself, they include: GET A FLAT, DICKHEAD/ YOU ARE AN OAF, YOUR BLOOD IS WORTHLESS/LOOK THIS UP ONT' NET YOU USELESS CROCK OF DOWNLOAD CRECK DRECK and WHY DO THEY BOTHER? PSEUDO SOCCER-LOVING PACK IT IN OR ELSE. This is fantastic, coded messages or just MES scribbles? Either way, they add to the dark menace this album and particular track build with tension.

Other lines talk of Ben Marshall of Uncut magazine whose interview with MES caused him to be investigated by the RSPCA, although I'm sure nothing has come of it, but he had boasted of chopping up red squirrels with hedge trimmers, as they were 'eating his garden fence'. He also agreed with Marshall on the subject of running over seagulls as they were a 'public nuisance'. The line in the song says: "Is the artistic Mark in fact/Got rid of vermin/Like the grey squirrels/By rooting out/Ben Marshall's articles/Or user recordings/On his vile manufacturing community" which suggests to me he just wants to document that particular episode in song.

One interesting part, which validates what I'm doing is: "This song means something/Every song means something" which I'm glad he has pointed out, makes this process seem more worthwhile if he insists there's a meaning behind every track.

So what's the meaning of this one? Well as far as I know, MES is from Prestwich, which is a good five miles from Bury itself, but people may give him that label just because its easier, its important to be specific with cities, areas are very personal to people and have specific reputations, so he's probably highlighting that, or maybe he's jsut rallying against the idea of identity and people interfering with his art, the record label stuff being a good example and the story about the squirrels is another. What do you lot think?