Out of the Studio: Oh, hey, Kasabian's made a new record? Where was I?

I started listening to Kasabian during my junior year of college when I got hooked on their sophomore effort, Empire - okay, that's not entirely true. I got hooked on the singles "Empire" and "Shoot The Runner" (still a great video), while the rest of it just became a vague jumble of Britrock in my mind. The mental association is so strong it still makes me think of running around rue Gay Lussac and trying to get my Sorbonne classes sorted.

So, I guess it took them a long time to get it together, but on 8th June, they'll be releasing their much-delayed third record, The West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum. First single, "Vlad the Impaler," was (until recently) available for free download via the band's site. Not that you should let that stop you from finding it, because it's...well. Watch the video :



I think "fucking good" was the adjective I was looking for. Also aptly describes that video cum mini-grindhouse horror flick. (And yes, that's Noel Fielding.) Says the band on WRPLA,

"The album was inspired by movies like (Alejandro Jodorowksy's) Holy Mountain," says Serge. "It's the soundtrack to an imaginary movie. We want to encourage people to listen to it as whole. At the moment people are being encouraged to pay seventy nine pence to download one song, and I think that really underestimates what genuine music fans want to listen to. We wanted to make an album which takes the listener on a journey."

Those are sentiments I can get behind.


The band also just unveiled the second single, "Fire," which you can hear over here.