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8/30/08

Joe Lean & The Jing Jang Jong - Joe Lean & The Jing Jang Jong (2008)


Genre : Indie,Rock,British
Myspace

Tracklist
1. Lucio Starts Fires
2. In Competition
3. Where Do You Go
4. Baby
5. Brooklyn
6. Dear Rose
7. I Ain't Sure
8. Why Did You Break My Heart
9. Far Too Early To Tell
10. Lonely Buoy
11. Teenagers
12. Light And The Dark
13. Adelaide

A larger-than-life character, Joe Lean is the stage name for Brixton council estate-raised actor turned pop star Joe Beamont – an aristocratically connected indie idol in waiting.

Given to outlandish claims, the now obligatory BBC 2008 Tip For The Top recommendation (see also Adele, Duffy, The Ting Tings and Foals) – means Lean and his Jing Jangs are assured a smooth passage into the charts.

But, in the over-saturated, trend- obsessed world of post-X Factor pop, do Mister Lean and his triple J have a hope of creating something lasting?

The BBC, with all its inevitable marketing muscle, drawing up a list of acts that are going to make it at the start of the year – before they’ve even released an album – is a vaguely disturbing development.

It makes independent rock an even more laughable concept than it already is. Surely real indie rock would be better served giving money direct to buskers on the street rather than the latest Jo Whiley hit-pick.

Joe and co aren’t bad, and this album has its moments of dizzy pop thrills. The singer’s inevitably declamatory, dramatic vocals are offset by a band trading in echoey, knockabout, over-excitable trash.

Their hysterically staccato songs are part 60s beat group, a little bit of The Smiths, a dash of The Strokes. It makes for cozy and familiar indie ordinaire – imagine Kaiser Chiefs on alcopops, or any number of bands working up an admirable head of steam on songs dealing with star-crossed love affairs.

The sound – masterminded by producer John ‘Razorlight’ Cornfield – is an all-too-familiar, overly loud, subtlety-free sledgehammer used to smash a peanut product of the time. And it’s a time when this gravy train, running on the old established routes and the old formulaic sounds, is drawing to a close.

The J Men have leapt aboard just as it is preparing to leave the station. Their 15 minutes is guaranteed.

Wonder what they’ll do for an encore? - mirror.co.uk -

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