Confidence Man - Confident Music for Confident People

[shadowplay]

Probably as long a shot as a manned mission to Jupiter in a Messerschmitt bubble car but this record has brought so much joy to most everyone I know, has been well quoted by some serious heavy hitters and getting great reviews and I thought I'd pass it on.

I understand that this Sydney band have been at the heart of some controversy down under after they were named best live band by some radio station leading to a lot of this;





Which despite it being Australian I hear delivered in the full Question Time gammon 'eh but would you bomb t'North Korea'

I am secretly hoping the two blokes shrouded in bee keeper hats are long standing OSG members!

The album and the related remixes are IMO the ultimate in ultra poptimism, funny, sassy and as cheeky as that Athena poster with the tennis player scratching her arse. Every track is a smile inducing joy hopping from channeling Loose Joints, shaking it's ass at Dee Light, pumping it like a hyperactive teenage Golden Teacher on special measures, hopping on the S- Express, channeling Yello at their most trashy, lovable and preposterous, riffling through War's drawers, popping their bubblegum at LCD Soundsystem, going two by two into the Crystal Ark, sucking really hard on some Glass Candy, introducing the Free Design to party drugs, twisting their curls to Sylvester, riffling through Screamadelica's bins and there's no getting a way from this...how you hoped Girls Aloud would really sound. The full 12' inches of party, full of E numbers and more artificial colouring than Donald Trump.

Janet Planet is a fucking killing front woman, a volcano of pep and I honestly haven't had a record make me this happy since...since...well I can't remember!

It's one for all the family but fair warning there's a fair bit of drug referencing and a fair bit of making David dance like he's got an undiagnosed brain injury.

The album and remix 12' is out on Heavenly who have a pretty nice roster at the moment with the likes of Stealing Sheep and Gwenno.

Youtube samples (but the whole album is just great);

Confidence Man - Boyfriend (Repeat)

Confidence Man - Don’t You Know I’m In A Band

Confidence Man - C.O.O.L Party

Confidence Man - Out The Window

Confidence Man - Bubblegum

Confidence Man - Catch My Breath

Confidence Man - Better Sit Down Boy

and total dayglo Stuka remixes;

Confidence Man - Bubblegum (Andy Weatherall Remix) Saucy!

Confidence Man - Boyfriend Lindstrōm & Prins Thomas Remix

Confidence Man - Bubblegum - Jono Ma More Cowbell Mix Jagwar Ma

D

[mackerelmint]

Well, I'm into it.

[shadowplay]

Well, I'm into it.

D

[Embenny]

Didn't know anything of this band or the controversy around them, but this comment from the first YouTube video I randomly clicked on cracked me up,

"They're The Wiggles for twenty-somethings on ecstasy"

[shadowplay]

Didn't know anything of this band or the controversy around them, but this comment from the first YouTube video I randomly clicked on cracked me up,

"They're The Wiggles for twenty-somethings on ecstasy"

Classic rawk teeshirter comment IMO. Probably has life size Dave Grohl tattoo on his back with linked 'In Rock We Trust' tramp stamp skimming his arse crack.

Weirdly in the UK it's mostly folk my age talking them up, though I may just have the mental age of a 20 something on ecstasy. For me this elpee is just fucking packed with banging hooks that most of the big US pop stars could live to a thousand and never get near.

two absolute fruitcakes running around like someone spiked the punch at the school disco

This was fair enough though but they were saying it like it's a bad thing.

D

[wingnutkj]

It's all those poor hard working bands that are producing artful, listenable music music of actual substance and talent to zero acclaim that I feel sorry for. Imagine having Grant as a fan. The one man who could give them the acclaim they so badly need, and he's wasting his talents moaning about jolly pop music instead.

[BoringPostcards]

They remind me of a less abrasive Deichkind with less hip hop elements.
I have no issue with this stuff. It's fun music. Listening to it now.

I'm willing to bet that guy who slandered them had just finished up his sixth daily blues wanker practice session. What bands is he thinking of that are going unnoticed because of these folks?
Dinosaurs will never understand that their art form isn't something that is going to stay the same, nor should it.

Edit: are they really doing that much damage to other bands? What's this guy complaining about. All their vids have less than 100K views and their channel itself has only 2.2k subs. Must be confined to Australia? Jeez, what's he think of King Gizzard? They're into the millions of views and shares now and they're certainly not the average rock band.

[shadowplay]

It's all those poor hard working bands that are producing artful, listenable music music of actual substance and talent to zero acclaim that I feel sorry for.

I probably can see what your rock orthodoxers don't like about them but I don't personally see any particular merit in a band being hardworking, inspiration over perspiration every time for me. If we were really caring about that I imagine some of those ultra manufactured boy bands are pretty heavily on the clock with near endless promotion to do.

I don't care a feather or fig if they can play or not but there's certainly enough conventional instruments on the record to suggest they can (like on Bubblegum which is just hyperactive sixties pop).

The funny thing about Confidence Man is that they have a 'proper' band backstory and some of the lyrics poke fun at this a bit, especially the legend in their own lunchtime big local band crew; Don’t You Know I’m In A Band.

Anyway...the most fun album (and 12') I've bought in some time.

D

[wingnutkj]

I got "Out the Window" well and truly stuck in my head, so I'm now the proud owner of CMFCP on vinyl. Ideal summer music!

[UlricvonCatalyst]

Hadn't previously heard of them, and glad I have now.

[shadowplay]

I got "Out the Window" well and truly stuck in my head, so I'm now the proud owner of CMFCP on vinyl. Ideal summer music!

Yeah totally filled with summer bangers. I also think the humour is very well integrated, I would normally run a mile from any attempt at humour in music and I find send ups and the likes of Fred Armisen when he gets posted in these parts roughly as funny as the death of a beloved family pet. Confidence man on the other hand just make me smile all the fucking time, they are just so charming and cheeky.

I also find myself wondering them being absolutely massive, they kind of send this up but it would be hilarious to see it for real. Not sure if it will happen as most folk I know who love them have struggled to get their Taylor Swift and the like loving nieces into them and I doubt having loads of my sort of fans is a route to that Beverly Hills mansion.

The kids tell me I could never be trusted to go and see them live as I'd be in danger of repeating my Natasha Khan embarrassment (which they caused!). Thankfully they are only playing the TRNSMT festival which I feel would be intolerable on even the most potent of party drugs, even if I could swing a ticket to a roped off festival goer free area.

Hadn't previously heard of them, and glad I have now.

Great!

D

[wingnutkj]

Hadn't previously heard of them, and glad I have now.

they are only playing the TRNSMT festival

There you go Ulric, there's one act playing that you can open your windows to listen to.

[UlricvonCatalyst]

Hadn't previously heard of them, and glad I have now.

they are only playing the TRNSMT festival

There you go Ulric, there's one act playing that you can open your windows to listen to.

Yeah, I might....if I don't decide to get the hell outta Dodge for the weekend (except it's over two weekends this year) like I did last year.

I'm guessing I didn't win the raffle as I haven't heard owt about it, so opening the windows is as close as I'm likely to get.

[mezcalhead]

I'm picking up all sorts of stuff here. Bits of Beastie Boys, Le Tigre, Avalanches kind of thing. There's definitely some TISM DNA in there somewhere.

Confidence Man - C.O.O.L Party

Crikey that bassline!

[UlricvonCatalyst]

The more I listen to them, the more convinced I become that they're the spiritual heirs to the KLF. It wouldn't surprise me to learn that they embarked on this project immediately after devouring a copy of The Manual.