K - konk, the kooks (2008)

i feel like a bit of a lightweight admitting this, but i still like this album. the kooks are classic cookie-cutter britpop, without an awful lot of depth; this album is all bubblegum and rainbows but y'know what? that's ok. this album will always sound like sunshine to me - i thrashed it to within an inch of its life (and my sanity) in the summer of 08/09, the year the kooks played rhythm and vines - and the cotton candy tracks make for a pretty summery vibe. so it was a good selection for my first morning back in perfect, sunnny wellington after a long trip away.

 

that said, i will admit that the kooks kind of irritate me. (i realise that's contrary, but i'm ok with that. a woman's prerogative and all.) their live set was ok, but i saw them immediately before the eternally brilliant, polished and professional franz ferdinand (oh joy and love!) so they will always kind of pale in comparison. you couldn't help but get the feeling the kooks were trying to be just a little bit too cool -- and again, in comparison with the seemingly effortlessly tight franz, they came off as kind of contrived. and don't even get me started on their screaming grommet fans. maybe i am just getting old, but it seemed to me that if you're gonna be wankily scene, you should probably back it up with some seriously talented music.... and here i return to words like "lightweight". konk is a light, fun album, but there's not much about it that i find wildly technically or musically impressive. you might find my comparison with franz ferdinand just ever-so-slightly unfair, and i wouldn't blame you for that, but for the fact that the kooks totally asked for it. take their song "do you wanna", just for example.... a fairly ballsy theiving of a franz ferdinand title from 2005's 'you could have it so much better'....

 

i realise i'm being a bit unpredictable with my warm-hearted enjoyment of happy-go-lucky tunes, combined with my scornful disdain of lightweight music. so i guess i'll just come back to my original premise, which is that i still like this album. there's a time and a place for everything, 'konk' included.