I've been reliably informed by several people that Antics is shite - this review makes me more optimistic. I see the rubbish lyrics are still a problem though, he really needs to work on those.

I don't think you can really compare the pressure on the Strokes to the pressure that was/is on Interpol's second album, but it'll be interesting to hear the end result. I'm from the oldschool so I've refused to download it and am patiently waiting for its official release...

cheeky people
a time to be so small was on their fukdid ep.
rerererelease.
what soes the O stand for in TEOFL stand for?

So glad to see a good review for this, TOTBL was a masterpiece.

Oh, and there's nothing like sneaking in a cheap dig at Mr Doherty while you're writing a review :)

I've heard it and like it.
The last thing we need is to have an identical album to the first one.
It's more direct in its sound (that's what they wanted) and they have done what all bands should do.

Progress.

I protest the author saying that JET is a bad band. However the rest of the review sounds awesome and is better than many that I have read in Rolling Stone. I can't wait for the album

There's way too many acronyms in this thread. They're one of those bands who I've always thought 'I must listen to this band' and never do. I wait till Christmas and geddit as a present, me thinks.

James fucking Mercer.

Best active lyricist at the moment.

a promo version of this went for £66 today which is bloody ridiculous but shows how much people are looking forward to it. i'm pretty obsessed with 'slow hands' already and had i not blown all my money at the cock fights, would have been bidding up a storm today too.

and i think the lyrics are fine. any band that can pull off "let's see about this ham" is fine by me.

I hate this album apart from 'Take you on a cruise' and 'length of love'

would have made a nice e.p.


And The Strokes 'Room On Fire' was pretty well received.

my condolences.

Heard NARC, Next Exit, Slow Hands and Not Even Jail.
If the rest of the album can live up to these, we have a worthy successor to TOTBL.

Evil is the best song Interpol have written.

It's weird; a large number of people would have slated Interpol if they had released TOTBL mark II but these same people seem to be criticising the album for not being like TOTBL. I can't really comment as I seem to be just about the only person on this site who hasn't heard the album (call me old-fashioned, I like to wait for the release day and then buy the CD) but it seems as though those who say the album is good have been able to elaborate on their comments more than those who don't like it (who seem only to say "it's shit").

You know what I don't get... why DiS has to review all these albums a month or two before they come out (see Libertines, Courteny Love and this one) so nobody who doesnt download can discuss the merits of the album/review properly. Its fucking stupid... DiS just trying to get more hits with its 'world exclusives' previews etc.

Any band who can inspire this much debate must be good! In my opinion this album is more of a grower, but still really good.

They were playing it in Rounder Records in Brighton last week and it sounded fantastic. It's moved on from the first album, but still recognisably Interpol.

you're looking alright toniiight...i think we should -----> go

personally i enjoy interpol's lyrics

It's funny Banks can't write lyrics, but can sing. Ian Curtis could write great lyrics, but couldn't sing-- and still Interpol can't shake the Joy Division comparisons... nor should they. Still I like both bands... but neither is what I'd call great. Still, a band I would call great (at least their first four albums), EATB, wrote rubbish lyrics, too, from time to time. "Ca-ca-ca-cabbage," ca-ca-ca-crap.

Why do bands release the downloads BEFORE the moneymaking 'official' release? The capitalist in me don't get that.

And yes, of course, JET is shite, shite, shite.

this album is amazing!!! and i thought the first one was good....

Hi everyone...

The crux of it all is the Time and Love thing. Paul Banks - lyrically - is obsessed with the words 'love' and 'time'. He machine-guns them out, and when you consider how much, it does make you wonder what you see in him lyrically. And i think lyrics are fucking important - they walk the walk, but they aint talking the talk...:

Love: (On T.O.T.B.L):
Say Hello To The Angels - '…the parts that birds love' /
'…I bury my love around you'
Obstacle 2 - '…love is the kitchen with the culinary eye'/
'…loving is coming away'
Stella - '…Stella I love you, Stella I love you, Stella I love you'.
Leif Erikson - '…love’s a pony, her love's subliminal'.

…'take my love in real small doses' (* this is bloody somewhere on TOTBL – can’t remember where though…help!)

‘Love’: (On Antics):
C’mere – ‘The trouble is that you're in love with someone else’/
‘Two lovers walk on lakeside…’ /
‘I’m in love with something real’.
Slow Hands – ‘The loving that you've wasted /
…‘celebrate the myriad ways that I love you’.
‘Length of Love’ (pretty self explanatory).
‘…Lengths and lengths of love since we started…’
Evil: ‘You’ve come to love me lightly’.
Narc: You show some love and respect/ you get some love and respect’
‘Love can you love me babe, love is this loving babe’.
Take You On A Cruise: ‘…Oh My Love’ (at the vocal loops at the end of the track)…
Public Pervert: ‘There is love to be made’.
A Time To Be So Small: ‘…Love your interest…’

Time: (On T.O.T.B.L):
Obstacle 1 - 'we can cap the old times'/
‘top the old times'
Obstacle 2 - '…it takes a long time just to get this all straight /
'…this is mine every time.' /
'…time that I found you…'
Roland - 'He always took the time/ he always took the time'
The New - 'settling down it takes time'/
'…I know i spent the time lying':
Leif Erikson - 'this could be a good time'…

‘Time’: (Antics)
Narc: ‘…she keeps on waiting for time out there’ /
‘Is time turning around?’.
Public Pervert - 'if time is my vessel, then learning to love might be my way back to sea' (*a Brucie Bonus – Time and Love, hands in hand, same line, same bloody song)…
Take You On A Cruise: 'time is like a broken watch' /
‘…people in time’ (might be ‘pitbull in time’, unsure)…
Not Even Jail: ‘remember take hold of your time dear’./
.. ‘…take time away’.
C’mere: ‘…we make time’.
Length of Love: ‘I’ve had no sense of time, since we started this thing out’.

Now, if you are still reading (and i highly doubt you are), the words 'hands', 'heart', 'lonely', 'life' - are used all the time in both albums; I can't be bothered to list them, but trust me on that one. Maybe you can play the 'heart' game, like i've played with love and time...

For the record, My brother and I fell absolutely head over heels in love with TOTBL when it came out; Interpol and Joy Division invaded the bro's/ my songwriter's bedroom at a good time. Their style and skill definately caught out eye, and we count them amongst our influences musically now.

We still listen obsessively to TOTBL. It's an absolute belter of an album - brilliant songs, great guitars, and with some of the most fantastic bass playing i've ever heard on such a record (Mon the Carlos!). Lyrically, there are a few ditches, but they songs are so strong that you kinda put them down to ironic 'twists', shrugged, and concentrated on the class songs. The fact that the words 'love' and 'time' are mentioned alot doesn't seem signifficant, because they are so cleverly interwoven in strong, well-produced material.

Antics, then. I downloaded it feverishly from a Gay man in Toronto, who was telling me how much it dissapointed him every time he listened to it. I tried to ignore him, and made my Cdr anyway. I've listened to it all the way through about 10/15 times in total now.

I honestly think Antics might be a 'grower' in the truest sense possible - but, simply, the lyrics are pretty MISS and hit. The songs are not as strong as previous songs, so the lyrics really stand out more here. I really appreciate and respect that it isn't TOTBL mk2, but i can't get into the album because of the constant repetiton of certain lyrics, and just the poor lyrics in general. Also, there's no soft ballad (NYC). There's no beautifully poetic, epic urgency (PDA, Obstacle 1, The New etc). There's none of the sexy moments when the instruments all go, and it's left to either a lonely but confident guitar/ bass playing out it's riff with no obstrusion before it bangs back in there again two minutes later; It's a 'rock album', essentially - with 'some' nice moments. Which is a real bloody shame.

For the record, i think 'Slow Hands' is a terrible single. Weak. And because i've heard the album, i really can't see an obvious standout single anyway. This one has a dancy chorus, (a novelty for the 'Pol!) but as a song it's absolutely nothing on anything on TOTBL...

So i think Paul Banks is letting the side down. Rest of the lads are doing what they do very well indeed. He's pretty shite at lyrics, but when he gets it right, he bloody gets it right...

PDA: 'you can not safely say, while i will be away, that you will not consider sadly, how you helped me to stray'...

And i'm spent...

Don't bother with 'Antics', I've listened to it a few times & found it quite boring. I wouldn't say Interpol have moved on at all from their first album.
It's lacking the creativity & inventivness of TOTBL. That haunting bit at the end of PDA where the drums cut out leaving only the guitars & bass for a couple of bars. There are no touches like that in the new album. (That said I'd still like to see Interpol live if they tour the UK.)

Listen to Uncut instead. Their album 'Those Who Were Hung Hang Here' is infinately better. If you liked 'Turn On the Bright Lights' you'll love Uncut.

wierd.
i like it.

go buy departure - better voice and doesn't want to make you take your own life so much

why dont you just buy both and button it.

good call

I've been reliably informed that Interpols new cd Antics is sweet and it is. Interpols beauty is that they're simple and catchy. They have a unique style not usually seen. As far as bad lyrics go.... Interpols aren't bad at all. Look at everyother band exsisting right now. Only bad I can think of with better lyrics is Radiohead. Interpol I rank up there with some of the best of them. Yes, they aren't like compliacted and nor are they the most amazing thing, but they are still awesome. They explore new boundaries of music and that is what I like. Anyone who disses Interpol doesn't understand music. They are good, the emotion and the feelings the exert from their songs are awesome. People say they make you want to kill yourself or what not, but I find the lyrics quite hopeful. Everyone is gonna interpret the lyrics their own way, but lets remember kids, lyrics shouldn't matter, it's the music that matters

New Boundaries?? Have you heard of Joy Division?

I bought this album yesterday and know my way around it now. By far the best tracks are Evil, Narc, Take You On A Cruise, Public Pervert and A Time To Be So Small. None of the tracks are particularly BAD, but some are more forgettable (see Not Even Jail, Length Of Love). I can't believe I don't even have the CD of TOTBL, I only have it copied to my PC. It is by far one the best albums i've ever heard in a long while, and i'm not one for modern 'bands', i'm more of a solo artist lover.

I like the album. Nuff said

I fell in love with Antics much faster than I did with TOTBL - like, the first listen. I had the good fortune to be able to spend a few hours alone in a rental car with a good CD player (my own car has a very bad old tape deck) and I simply wallowed in the album.
The songs which really grabbed be at first were Not Even Jail and Public Pervert. Love the crash-bang start to Not Even Jail. Many of the criticisms I argee with - it lacks the light and shade of TOTBL; it is certainbly a far more accessible rockin' album. I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing either.........

I'm coming in a little late here, but I think Antics is a hook-less turd and a MAJOR disappointment coming from a band like Interpol. Forget that they ever made TOTBL, imagine this band having never written this record had come out with this album as their debut. It would have been panned and forgotten about as nothing but a tune-less piece of garbage. There are songs that have merits, like "Evil", but even then the lack of creativity in even the song TITLES is just astonishing. Here's hoping they really decide to take 2 steps forward next time instead of 6 steps back.

I love Antics - I actually prefer it to TOTBL. I do find myself humming along to most of the songs, which probably isn't what Interpol intended, but it's definitely one of my favourite albums this year, possibly ever!

hmm. i know its not exactly a great adjective of the difference in albums, but quite simply.
TOTBL is one of my fave records of all time because it has a subtle brilliance to it.
Antics (dont know where it lost it, but it did) simply lost that (