Review: Louis Lingg and The Bombs: Kiiroichurippu (Hopeless Love in the Age of the Glitch)

 

Louis Lingg and The Bombs on the web:

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Release date: April 2nd 2018

Bandcamp: Kiiroichurippu (Hopeless Love in the Age of the Glitch), by Louis Lingg and The Bombs

I’ve been following these Anarcho Pop Punk Rockers, since 2008, but they’ve been actually been around since 2006. Their music is infectious and they’ve always made me want to smile, want to sing and want to dance. Named after German-born American anarchist, Louis Lingg, this Parisian (where else!) 6-piece radiate huge amounts of energy. From their magnum opus, Conspiracy, in 2010, through to 2017’s Favela Ninja (now available in blue vinyl!) they have crafted perfect pop songs sometimes infused with powerful political messages.

Kiiroichurippu (Google tells me), translates as Yellow Tulip, but it’s also the name of a sofa at inkagu.com. Is this intentional? Nothing would surprise me with Joshua Hudes, the leader and sole British contingent of this fiery (otherwise) French bunch.  One of the tracks on this 3 track EP is called Onigiri, which is a type of Japanese rice ball. The lyrics of the tune are, in fact, the recipe required to prepare the dish.  They just discovered that their French lead-singer knew some Japanese and took it from there. The result is the most perfect piece of J-Pop, this side of Tokyo!

The opening track Sheena Is Too Old, is a lament on age, loneliness & despair in a world of alternative facts, lies and a loss of hope. Sheena may have been a punk rocker in 1976, but now she’s dumpster diving and all her friends think she’s dead. But is this a depressing song? Nope. You’ll be singing along by the second chorus whilst lamenting your own lack of hair, bad back and middle-aged fashion sense.

The final track on the album is Prehistoric Man, showcasing the band’s electro-pop credentials, juxtaposing Prehistoric Man with today’s gadget-centered society, where no-one cares. Not the kind of tweet prehistoric man would be used to.

As they have done previously, the band have released instrumental versions of each of the tracks, under an Attribution-NonCommercial Creative Commons license, allowing film-makers to e-use the tracks for YouTube videos and the like. Love it!