Velociraptor!
Despite long being the standard-bearers for a swaggering, Gallagherian brand of British rock—they even supported Oasis on their final tour—Kasabian have always been comfortable letting their freak flag fly. Fourth record *Velociraptor!* may be the tidemark for this restive experimentalism, featuring hungry attacks on everything from strutting disco (“Re-Wired”) to Serge-fronted neo-psych (“La Fée Verte”). And then there’s “Switchblade Smiles”: a bomb-blast of nocturnal electronica and floor-shaking percussion that’s comfortably one of their biggest (and strangest) bangers.
As bands go, Britain's Kasabian is a tough nut to crack. They're musically eclectic and ambitious, yet they tend to over-rely on their many influences — most prominently The Rolling Stones, The Stone Roses, Primal Scream and, of course, Oasis, with whom they share a similar level of loudmouthed pretension. Unquestionably overrated by NME but not nearly as bad as some of their detractors would like you to believe, they're also a tough band to assess completely free of bias, having been heavily hyped since their 2004 self-titled debut and spent their years since trying to live up to it.
In the absence of any competition, lad rock's Kasabian have the field all to themselves, writes <strong>Kitty Empire</strong>
The lad-rock tag is increasingly unsuited to Kasabian, says <strong>Dave Simpson</strong>, as he surveys their new flamenco direction
Kasabian - Velociraptor! review: Lucy in the sky told Kasabian to get high and head east.