{"id":22075,"date":"2014-06-02T14:20:25","date_gmt":"2014-06-02T14:20:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-alpha-male-tea-party-droids\/"},"modified":"2018-03-17T15:35:23","modified_gmt":"2018-03-17T15:35:23","slug":"album-review-alpha-male-tea-party-droids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-alpha-male-tea-party-droids\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review: Alpha Male Tea Party – Droids"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Truly, there must be something in the British air. A label much-debated for its inability to accurately describe the immense breadth of styles it encompasses, post-rock isn\u2019t immune to a little stagnation. The very point of the genre being the liberation from the shackles of traditional conventions of rock, it\u2019s sometimes disappointing to to observe the evidence of \u201cgroupthink\u201d -or is this \u201cgroupmake\u201d?- seeping in. Yet England and surrounding islands have, in recent years, been consistently producing forward-thinking post-rock outfits. 2013 gave us Axes\u2019 joyous self-titled debut, and the riff-heavy power-duo Cleft have already set a high bar for the current year (and let\u2019s not even get into the post-rock talent factory that is Ireland). Time to introduce the newest contenders for the crown: Alpha Male Tea Party<\/strong> and their thunderous, all-over-the-place bonkers, explosive second album ‘Droids’<\/em>. Bred somewhere in the vicinity of Liverpool, this frenetic and unpredictable trio have undoubtedly produced what will be one of the stand-out albums come the end of the year. Brimming with energy and invention, ‘Droids’<\/em> is essentially a greatest hits of everything good about post-rock.<\/p>\n

Making quite sure they\u2019ve got your undivided attention, AMTP<\/strong> stack their heaviest and most relentless material up front, namely the opening double of \u2019Happy As Larry, Larry Is Dead\u2019<\/em> and the spectacularly-titled \u2019You Eat Houmous, Of Course You Listen To Genesis\u2019<\/em>. Not exactly full-on beastly riff-fests nor twinkly unintrusive math-rock, they strike something of a satisfying middle ground (the latter particularly) between genuinely mighty brawn and the restless ingeniosity of their myriad twists and turns. There\u2019s a tangible force to their approach which, combined with a powerful sense of urgency, make for deadly effective delivery on a consistent basis. Indeed, the feat is repeated, again and again, on tracks like the equally savoury \u2019You Are My the Rock\u2019<\/em> and in the wizardry of \u2019Theme From Mastermind\u2019<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

To claim that they slow down thereon, however, rather doesn\u2019t do it justice. Nevertheless they do allow more breathing space with the occasional ample ambient section. \u2019Your Happiness Was Stored On A Hard Drive And Is Now Corrupt\u2019<\/em> betrays a more delicate side, founded on pretty melodies and crescendo structures not unlike those of This Will Destroy You. There are also hints of early Russian Circles in the expansive reverberation and deliberately-placed, but nevertheless crushing, riff work of \u2019God Is Love, But Satan Does That Thing You Like With His Tongue\u2019<\/em>. However no track on the album offers a better summation of what Alpha Male Tea Party<\/strong> are all about than ‘Athlete\u2019s Face’<\/em>. The track virtually provides an exhaustive landscape of everything rad about post-rock: ethereal soundscape intro, reverberated arpeggios, mathy riffage with unusual chords, dynamic changes in tempo, spine-tingling rhythmic stops, a calm before the storm, contemplative synths, emotional melodies, and a finale both sludgy and abrasive. It is, quite simply, a post-rock buff\u2019s wet dream.<\/p>\n

If Alpha Male Tea Party<\/strong>\u2019s previous EP ‘Real Ale and Model Rail: The Lonely Man\u2019s Guide To Not Committing Suicide\u2019<\/em> served as a fun little entr\u00e9e, then ‘Droids’<\/em> is one gut-busting plat de resistance; a near-perfect, and balanced, serving of the post-rock food pyramid. Genre-buffs are likely already all over this, but its technical-without-being-alienating approach and general greatness suggest genuine crossover appeal. Now\u2026 to experience these lads live, THAT is something that surely needs to be considered essential from now on.<\/p>\n

4.5\/5<\/p>\n

‘Droids’<\/em> by Alpha Male Tea Party<\/strong> is out now on Superstar Destroyer<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Alpha Male Tea Party<\/strong> links: Facebook<\/a>|Bandcamp<\/a>|Twitter<\/a>|Official Website<\/a><\/p>\n

Words by James Berclaz-Lewis (@bearclawlewis<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Truly, there must be something in the British air. A label much-debated for its inability to accurately describe the immense breadth of styles it encompasses, post-rock isn\u2019t immune to a little stagnation. The very point of the genre being the liberation from the shackles of traditional conventions of rock, it\u2019s sometimes disappointing to to observe […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22076,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,8181],"tags":[5879,1161,9879,2398],"class_list":["post-22075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-album-reviews","category-post","tag-album-reviews","tag-alpha-male-tea-party","tag-droids","tag-superstar-destroyer-records"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAlbum Review: Alpha Male Tea Party - Droids - Already Heard Staging<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Truly, there must be something in the British air. A label much-debated for its inability to accurately describe the immense breadth of styles it\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Album Review: Alpha Male Tea Party - Droids - Already Heard Staging\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Truly, there must be something in the British air. A label much-debated for its inability to accurately describe the immense breadth of styles it\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-alpha-male-tea-party-droids\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Already Heard Staging\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AlreadyHeard\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-06-02T14:20:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-03-17T15:35:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/tumblr_inline_n6i41mvXW11qheirv.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"150\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"150\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@alreadyhearduk\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@alreadyhearduk\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Album Review: Alpha Male Tea Party - Droids - Already Heard Staging","description":"Truly, there must be something in the British air. A label much-debated for its inability to accurately describe the immense breadth of styles it","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Album Review: Alpha Male Tea Party - Droids - Already Heard Staging","og_description":"Truly, there must be something in the British air. A label much-debated for its inability to accurately describe the immense breadth of styles it","og_url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-alpha-male-tea-party-droids\/","og_site_name":"Already Heard Staging","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AlreadyHeard\/","article_published_time":"2014-06-02T14:20:25+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-03-17T15:35:23+00:00","og_image":[{"width":150,"height":150,"url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/tumblr_inline_n6i41mvXW11qheirv.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@alreadyhearduk","twitter_site":"@alreadyhearduk","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Estimated reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-alpha-male-tea-party-droids\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-alpha-male-tea-party-droids\/"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/person\/508ed29771f8c5b56fdcf4695f22a2a3"},"headline":"Album Review: Alpha Male Tea Party – Droids","datePublished":"2014-06-02T14:20:25+00:00","dateModified":"2018-03-17T15:35:23+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-alpha-male-tea-party-droids\/"},"wordCount":608,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-alpha-male-tea-party-droids\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/tumblr_inline_n6i41mvXW11qheirv.jpg","keywords":["Album Reviews","Alpha Male Tea Party","Droids","Superstar Destroyer Records"],"articleSection":["Album Reviews","Post"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-alpha-male-tea-party-droids\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-alpha-male-tea-party-droids\/","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-alpha-male-tea-party-droids\/","name":"Album Review: Alpha Male Tea Party - Droids - Already Heard Staging","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-alpha-male-tea-party-droids\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-alpha-male-tea-party-droids\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/tumblr_inline_n6i41mvXW11qheirv.jpg","datePublished":"2014-06-02T14:20:25+00:00","dateModified":"2018-03-17T15:35:23+00:00","description":"Truly, there must be something in the British air. A label much-debated for its inability to accurately describe the immense breadth of styles it","inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-alpha-male-tea-party-droids\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-alpha-male-tea-party-droids\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/tumblr_inline_n6i41mvXW11qheirv.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/tumblr_inline_n6i41mvXW11qheirv.jpg","width":150,"height":150},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#website","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/","name":"Already Heard Staging","description":"Covering the best in alternative music as best as we can","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#organization","name":"Already Heard","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/AH-relaunch-logo-white-bg.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/AH-relaunch-logo-white-bg.jpg","width":500,"height":500,"caption":"Already Heard"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AlreadyHeard\/","https:\/\/x.com\/alreadyhearduk","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/alreadyheard\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/already-heard\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/AlreadyHeardMusic","https:\/\/tiktok.com\/@alreadyhearduk","https:\/\/www.threads.net\/@alreadyheard"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/person\/508ed29771f8c5b56fdcf4695f22a2a3","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bcf4d491c971b5225a3e3c450225c0ae6ba0217be8f6ecb776a9506d4aa5595f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bcf4d491c971b5225a3e3c450225c0ae6ba0217be8f6ecb776a9506d4aa5595f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bcf4d491c971b5225a3e3c450225c0ae6ba0217be8f6ecb776a9506d4aa5595f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22075","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22075"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22075\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38148,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22075\/revisions\/38148"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22076"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}