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Arab Strap
Undefined / Undefined
Diving into the private worlds of Aidan Moffat and Malcolm Middleton on first reflection may appear an easy task- put on the record and all is revealed: tales of love gone wrong; true life confessions from the bottom of the glass. This is not even half of it. Moffat and Middleton have over six years crafted some of the most stark yet beautiful of music - thier muse has served them well. Arab Strap are true troubadours telling the tale as they live it. Together they have created some of the most stark and observant music of the past ten years.
Falkirk, 1995. A shit town lying in the barren land twixt Edinburgh and Glasgow. On offer a bowling alley that no-one ever goes to, a Laser Quest and twelve pubs of which only three are "ones you'd wish to set foot in." Moffat and Middleton are aquainted but are not the best of friends, yet their lives are to become embroiled through love and music. Both are in bands, both are going nowhere fast, however both share a passion for the music coming out of Chicago's Drag City label- home to Smog and Palace Brothers among others. Their other common pleasure is a taste for living life in the fast lane.
Through their mutual pleasures and despair of what Falkirk may or may not offer, Malcolm and Aidan set about shaping some tunes together. They named this new venture "Arab Strap". Aidan having whiled away many an afternoon flicking through stolen porn mags and was quite amused by a device that kept a cock hard and in harness. A demo tape was sent to two companies: Domino, the UK licensee for Drag City and Chemikal Underground, a Glasgow label that was having a measure of success with it's signings the Delgados and Bis. It was Chemikal Underground that was to win the Strap's hand in marriage. The first release was to come in September '96. "The First Big Weekend" was a record and a half, a title and a half, and a tale and a half. It told of our protagonists' antics over the weekend that saw Scotland dismissed from Euro '96. The song received much airplay in Britain and became an anthem for part-time "E" casualties. It also become the backing music for a Guinness commercial.
An LP was recorded. It, "The Week Never Starts Round Here", was a dark and claustrophobic affair. It offered few chinks of light, Arab Strap preferred the rancour and pain of a failed relationship, the sweat and the smell of dirty sex. They spoke about shit jobs and the shit wages they took and their love for a wee girl called Kate Moss. All this was set to the most brooding music.
Their live appearances by this time had become something of a talking point. They could veer from the pure majestical to ramshackle shows during which the songs were interspersed by technical hitches and tantrums. It fell upon David Glow (drums) and Gary Miller (bass) to not only keep time but also to keep order. Arab Strap were pulling themselves apart for their art. Spurred on by a certain willful excess, all came to a head in May '97 when a show at London's Garage with their pals Mogwai ended in an audience storming the stage and destroying all. They were forced to take stock.
The Independent said that "Arab Strap prove to be the most incendiary live band in the country, interspersing caustic vignettes of romantic disillusionment with bursts of energy the likes of which no British band has achieved since Joy Division." Arab Strap went on to release the Girls Of Summer EP in fall ’97, and broke the UK charts with their re-working of David Holmes’ "Don’t Die Just Yet," entitled "Holiday Girl."
That summer as they learnt how to fuse their love of the 303 with that of the guitar, they also gathered their thoughts, and worked on tunes for a second album "Philophobia". Where "The Week Never Starts Around Here" may have concerned itself with one particular relationship, "Philophobia" cast a wider net, the title not only meaning "fear of love" but also "fear of falling in love". "No one really writes honest, hateful love songs," said Aidan. "The kids never hear it like they shoudl hear it." They should know of the farting, the lighting and the fucking. The pain and the pleasure." While Moffat bared his soul, Malcolm crafted beautiful guitar motifs and unadorned arrangements. "Philophobia" was relesaed April '98 and enterd the TOP 40 in the UK.
So as the nineties were taking their final bow, Arab Strap released their third LP "Elephant Shoe.". Yes - it is another album that is troubled by love. However, it is an altogether more optimistic affair. Recorded through the spring months at CaVa in Glasgow's West End, "Elephant Shoe" is a record made by two young men who are very much in love. They have now reached a maturiry and a certainty about their art.
An astonishing appearance at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, following their first American tour, demonstrated how much they had developed as a band; the gig was recorded and later released on the LP "Mad For Sadness". The languid and shimmering strings together with the booming beats were pushed to the fore.
With their rise to prominence new paymasters came knocking. Many were forced to beat a hasty retreat from Scotland having met Middleton and Moffat. The people at Go! Beat were not to be dissuaded. The band signed a deal that gave them some financial security, but most importantly 100% artistic control. And this is where the problems began. Go! Beat didn’t imagine that Elephant Shoe would be their most willfully difficult record. The label wanted hit singles, Arab Strap wanted to make art. It received much acclaim, but the price was high. Go! Beat insisted future releases be mollified for the marketplace. Arab Strap’s response was a curt "Fuck You" and off they went, though not before Go! Beat tried to impose a gag order.
The ideal of big money and artistic purity was not to be. The band returned to Chemikal Underground (Matador in the US), labels that understood them and accepted their wanton ways (and whose records proved more successful commercially). The Red Thread was also the first Arab Strap album released simultaneously in the US and UK. It was to be followed by their first extensive tour of North America.
From ancient Eastern theology comes the belief that there is an invisible red thread that links soulmates through time. "The Red Thread" recaptures the strength of Malcolm Middleton and Aidan Moffat’s songwriting. Back on Chemikal Underground (and Matador) following an abortive two-album stint on Go! Beat (reissued in the US on Jetset), the two have stripped everything to the bare bones; both lyrics and the tunes cut a deep red swathe through the heart.
"Amor Veneris" sets the tone. "It’s best in the morning when we know it won’t be rushed," and so it is with this record. Written, recorded and produced by Middleton and Moffat in, it’s Arab Strap in majestic form. This is so much more than songs about fucking. Aidan Moffatt has become one of the keenest storytellers in music, and his instrumental accompaniment is as beautifully detailed as his narratives. The Red Thread is not for the weak willed or the faint of heart. Give a little and get a lot. Open your heart and let love in.
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