Doves - Kingdom of Rust

Andy Williams of Doves is in a dicey position. His band has great arrangements and dynamics, but main vocalist Jimi Goodwin has a tendency to sound like Chris Martin from Coldplay. If the rest of the band followed suit, they would just get lumped in with all those other Coldplay ripoffs (Mobile, Pilate, etc..) and after a flash in the pan they would disappear from everyone's memory. Luckily for them, they have a diverse bunch of songs, and even luckier for them Andy Williams knows what he's doing, and never has to fall back onto the Coldplay beat (you know, DAT de de DAT de de DAT de DAT de de DAT de de).

On The Outsiders Andy keeps things driving and minimal on with a krautrock beat that never strays from the high hat and kick pattern until the very end where he brings in the ride for a big finish. The Great Denier has some cool half time stuff with the kick and snare, but with double time high hats to drive the tempo. His big show comes with the end of 10:03 when he comes out of a snare roll into this dark thunderous tom pattern and then rocks the fuck out on his cymbals while his kick and snare follow the bass. It kind of reminds me of the last track on Sigur Ros's (), but it's about 1/4 the length and way less murky. The drums play a big part in separating Kingdom of Rust from the rest of modern Brit pop and that's a good thing, because we sure as hell don't need another Coldplay.

Audio/Visual Evidence : 10:03, The Outsiders