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Product Description
Review
Glasgow's Phantom band have been stealthily developing their melange of... well, just about everything good in modern music, for four years now, finally settling on a name that encapsulated their somewhat indefinable approach. If we were lazy we'd reference krautrock, folk, post rock, tribal rhythms or even (don't laugh) Big Country. But we're not, and let's just leave it at 'very good' for now. Here's why...
Each track represents a tussle, taking you in several directions at once. Only on the instrumental Crocodile (it's a very good thing when a band have the intelligence to know exactly when to shut their mouths), is undeniably 'motorik' in sound; although it's more like a gaelic Neu!.
Checkmate Savage (the title alludes to our limited tenure as top species on the planet) has an undeniably large and boastful, if doomy, sound. But an heroic ability to throw caution to the wind and sound brazenly BIG mustn't be mistaken for the meaningless posturing of a band as dreadful as Glasvegas. We're talking of a devil-may-care combination of six souls throwing everything they know at a wall and seeing what sticks. It has little to do with boring old-fashioned rock.
The resultant pot pourri combines obtuse lyricism with experimentalism, analogue drones and pulses, and, most importantly bloody great tunes. Opening single The Howling is as good an ear worm as you're liable to hear this year. The previously released Throwing Bones rattles along like a hellbound charger racing down Sauciehall Street on a Saturday night.
So, thrills, spills and and an unabashed ability to sing in their native tongue. What are you waiting for? --Chris Jones
Find more music at the BBC This link will take you off Amazon in a new window
Product Description
The Phantom Band - Checkmate Savage
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 16 people found the following review helpful
By Leonardo27
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
Even a casual glance at the song titles will quickly reveal that lyrically this is a dark, dark album. But musically it's an intoxicating, exhilarating and wholly original ride through a largely uncategorisable landscape, albeit one with some familiar signposts along the way. Echoes of The Doors and Kraftwerk are evident amongst myriad influences, whilst the production and arrangements constantly surprise and repeatedly confound expectations.
Just when you think you've got the measure of a particular track it'll make an unexpected turn in a completely different direction, never more strikingly than on "Throwing Bones" where an accapella barbershop quartet suddenly hijacks the tune in mid flow. By rights, of course, it shouldn't work but in fact it does so spectacularly, with a remarkable self-assurance that seems stitched through the entire work. At times it's hard to believe that this is a debut album, such is the self-confidence running through its veins.
There are no throwaway tunes here. Nothing clocks in at under four minutes, whilst the brooding "Island" takes almost nine to build from solo guitar and voice to its powerful choral climax. Only on the album's closer "Whole is On My Side" do you sense the band beginning to run out of steam a bit, but by then they've done more than enough to earn their five stars.
Very early days still, but I'll be amazed if this isn't on many people's "Best of 2009" list come the end of the year.
Just when you think you've got the measure of a particular track it'll make an unexpected turn in a completely different direction, never more strikingly than on "Throwing Bones" where an accapella barbershop quartet suddenly hijacks the tune in mid flow. By rights, of course, it shouldn't work but in fact it does so spectacularly, with a remarkable self-assurance that seems stitched through the entire work. At times it's hard to believe that this is a debut album, such is the self-confidence running through its veins.
There are no throwaway tunes here. Nothing clocks in at under four minutes, whilst the brooding "Island" takes almost nine to build from solo guitar and voice to its powerful choral climax. Only on the album's closer "Whole is On My Side" do you sense the band beginning to run out of steam a bit, but by then they've done more than enough to earn their five stars.
Very early days still, but I'll be amazed if this isn't on many people's "Best of 2009" list come the end of the year.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
By yangtze
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
If there's any justice in the world the Phantom Band will be the Next Big Thing. The production is wonderful - sympathetic without being overly slick, synthetic and/or organic as appropriate - and, most importantly, the songs are original and powerful. Scotland has a recent history of great bands from the Skids, through Goodbye Mr.McKenzie, Big Country, the Cocteau Twins, to most recently Glasvegas, and the Phantom Band not only keep that tradition alive but effect an evolution, and raise the bar higher still. Occasionally sounding like the best of recent American indie, but most often sounding like nothing you've ever heard before, seek out the Phantoms without delay.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
By mark twain
Format:MP3 Download
This is one of the most strikingly unique albums of the decade. I purchased this album upon a friend's recommendation and am so glad that I did. Influences, such as Can, are present but never overbearingly obvious for the listener, which in an age of obscene adaptations really does provide something fresh.
Rick Anthony provides Curtisian vocals that have a similar clear Scottish twang and delivery as Malcolm Middleton, but still maintains a distinctiveness, a true talent and certainly a voice that helps carry the record.
All in all, worth a buy!
Rick Anthony provides Curtisian vocals that have a similar clear Scottish twang and delivery as Malcolm Middleton, but still maintains a distinctiveness, a true talent and certainly a voice that helps carry the record.
All in all, worth a buy!
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
If you attempted to place Checkmate Savage , the debut album by Scottish six piece The Phantom Band , into genre specific slots you would probably end up with R.S.I from whipping it out of one and then into another as yet another of the nine songs on the album switched styles midway , quarter, an eighth of the way through .This album is harder to pin down than an eel swathed in grease relaxing in a paddling pool made of butter.
Comparisons have been made the Beta Band and I can see the logic of that . The Phantom Band have a similar off-kilter but esoterically appealing approach to music . But they subvert norms and interweave styles even more .At times it sounds so resolutely studious and serious you fear lives may depend on it , other times it's so playful and off-beat that it seems life's just there to be enjoyed and to hell with everything. Checkmate Savage is imperfect but gloriously so.
The six members of The Phantom Band work in fields as disparate as art, law, social work and librarianship when not fulfilling band duty and maybe it's this eclectic mixture of influences that make the music so thrillingly hybrid. Rock mixes with folk via electronica , or splenetic rhythms vie with motorik rumblings or portentous keyboards pinion bass that growls like an inflamed appendix into a queasy pop chorus. Choral effects pop up at oddly opportune moments. Extended jams ( the recording process with ex-Delgado Paul Savage-perhaps the title alludes to him is some way?- took in lots of formless jams ) emerge gracefully from the arrangements.
The nine minute centrepiece of the album "Island" starts out as a lovely lilting acoustic ballad with ascending choral vocals with the vocals about "wildest Love" and "purest love" picked out by gentle banjo.... Read more ›
Comparisons have been made the Beta Band and I can see the logic of that . The Phantom Band have a similar off-kilter but esoterically appealing approach to music . But they subvert norms and interweave styles even more .At times it sounds so resolutely studious and serious you fear lives may depend on it , other times it's so playful and off-beat that it seems life's just there to be enjoyed and to hell with everything. Checkmate Savage is imperfect but gloriously so.
The six members of The Phantom Band work in fields as disparate as art, law, social work and librarianship when not fulfilling band duty and maybe it's this eclectic mixture of influences that make the music so thrillingly hybrid. Rock mixes with folk via electronica , or splenetic rhythms vie with motorik rumblings or portentous keyboards pinion bass that growls like an inflamed appendix into a queasy pop chorus. Choral effects pop up at oddly opportune moments. Extended jams ( the recording process with ex-Delgado Paul Savage-perhaps the title alludes to him is some way?- took in lots of formless jams ) emerge gracefully from the arrangements.
The nine minute centrepiece of the album "Island" starts out as a lovely lilting acoustic ballad with ascending choral vocals with the vocals about "wildest Love" and "purest love" picked out by gentle banjo.... Read more ›
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By Mr. H-W
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
Agree wholeheartedly with all the positive reviews so far. An album that fascinates initially, unveils itself slowly and surprisingly, then while you're still busy smiling helplessly at the invention of it all, reveals that it's become the tune in your head for all occasions.
As a random aside for anyone who's interested, i have found this to be an excellent album for running to. This and Interpol's 'Our Love To Admire' back to back, 10k of leafy Autumn roads, job's a good 'un.
As a random aside for anyone who's interested, i have found this to be an excellent album for running to. This and Interpol's 'Our Love To Admire' back to back, 10k of leafy Autumn roads, job's a good 'un.
By Rooksby
Format:Audio CD
Strange. You'd think a band so obviously indebted to Can's Teutonic motorik sound wouldn't have blatantly stolen their name (Phantom Band) from Can's drummer (Jaki :Leibezeit's, erm, Phantom Band)? Doubtless they cite it as a "homage", but it Just seems plain lazy to me. Musically, Checkmate Savage is... OK. It sounds great - a beefy hybrid of primitive electronics & roaring guitars, though the singer's horribly affected trans-Atlantic technique gets a wee bit cringeworthy in places. Creatively, there's not a whole lot going on here, it's the same old ideas opportunistically trotted out once again, though they attack them with evident gusto at least. Very average, basically.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Mega!!
Had this for 2 months before listening to it... now can't believe it was just like sitting there!! Mega stuff!!
Published on 16 Jan 2010 by Steven Berry
5.0 out of 5 stars
Suuuuuperb!
Found this by accident, trawling through Google for recommendations to listen to on Spotify. After listening to the first 6 tracks I knew I had to buy this album. Read more
Published on 25 Jun 2009 by Mr. Sr Edwards
5.0 out of 5 stars
Buy this now
Everyone should buy album and listen to it for the rest of forever. It is incredible. xx
Published on 1 May 2009 by mousebee
5.0 out of 5 stars
Phantastic!!!
Already my album of 2009 - i'll be surprised if it gets bettered this year.
Dont know how to describe this album - lyrically dark - a rockier/folkier Beta Band - Sort... Read more
Dont know how to describe this album - lyrically dark - a rockier/folkier Beta Band - Sort... Read more
Published on 13 Mar 2009 by hairybanjo
5.0 out of 5 stars
2009 and already the best album????!!!
Checkmate Savage
Astonishing, awesome, amazing, formidable, brooding,enigmatic,
an album you cannot leave alone.
Grant Canyon
Astonishing, awesome, amazing, formidable, brooding,enigmatic,
an album you cannot leave alone.
Grant Canyon
Published on 2 Mar 2009 by GRANT CANYON
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic
I really love this album. The whole thing takes you on a dark and fantastic journey, I now have it on in my car all of the time.
Published on 28 Feb 2009 by Queen Tanner
5.0 out of 5 stars
Checkmate in 3 moves!
This is the most exciting release in years. Difficult to pin down the style - unique. You need to listen to it yourself to be fascinated by haunting, poetic vocals, the rhythmic... Read more
Published on 27 Feb 2009 by Taypsey
5.0 out of 5 stars
Scottish indie music at it's best !
It took me a few listen's to appreciate this album , the Phantom band really make some strange sounds and jump between different genres of music, they are a breath of fresh air to... Read more
Published on 21 Feb 2009 by Sawney Beane
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