The Sounding Board
A weekly column where New Music Tuesdays live on. Conversation is encouraged in the comments.
Every Tuesday, the Sounding Board is a space for a short-ish review of a recent-ish release and conversations about new-to-you music. We’ll get things started with a write-up about a newer, likely under-heard album, and invite you to share your music musings in the comments.
I am steadfast in my resolve that this column will not devolve into a “remember some guys” recitation of mostly forgotten U.K. guitar-pop bands. Instead, it’s starting that way. Hopefully, it evolves into something more thoughtful and informative.
So, let’s remember some of the guys — and they really were nearly all guys — who dominated the U.K music charts, the pages of NME and my iPod Nano for the better part of a decade after the Libertines released Up the Bracket. Off the top of my head, I remember Arctic Monkeys, Bloc Party, Franz Ferdinand, Kaiser Chiefs, the Fratellis, Razorlight, the Kooks, the Wombats, the Rakes, the Rifles, the Pigeon Detectives, Maxïmo Park and Keane. Some of those bands are great or at least put out a great album,1 others are mostly mediocre but responsible for truly joyful singles2 and a few are quite fairly maligned.3 I remember listening to them all. I also recall groups like We Are Scientists, the Bravery, Hot Hot Heat, the Vaccines, Howler and Sports Team, who are precluded by time or country of origin from fitting the letter of the criteria but feel like kindred spirits to the other listed bands.4
I also sort of remember Hard-Fi, the subject of this week’s column. If your skull is also host to nearly impossible to capture fluttering memories of the quartet from Staines-upon-Thames, it’s probably because of “Cash Machine,” a nearly dance-rock lamentation of the workaday grind and/or “Hard to Beat,” which uses choppy guitars and “love ya/ touch ya” rhyming to excitedly describe infatuation. Both songs are from the band’s 2005 debut, Stars of CCTV, made their way into video game soundtracks and rule. They released follow-ups in 2007 and 2011 to diminishing returns and went on hiatus in 2014. Eight years later, Hard-Fi played some reunion shows and suggested there were plans to make music.
Over four years later, those plans have come to fruition with the release of Sweating Someone Else’s Fever,5 Hard-Fi’s first album in 15 years. The 2026 iteration of the band shows off some hard-earned wisdom and worldliness on the album, which takes its name from a Central American idiom meaning to fret over someone else’s worries, but for the most part, Hard-Fi sound just like the band responsible for some ripping singles during Tony Blair’s time in 10 Downing Street.
“Digo Nada,” one of the LP’s prerelease singles, is the biggest stylistic departure both within the context of the album and the larger Hard-Fi canon. The song is heavily influenced by Cumbia, a Latin American dance music that Hard-Fi lead singer Richard Archer loves. It’s a mildly goofy, entirely unexpected detour with commendable commitment and genuine enthusiasm. Classical guitar and horn make an impassioned case for the listener to dance, and U.K.-based Colombian rapper Mike Kalle provides a Spanish-language guest verse. It is not the only rapping on the album, but it is the best rapping on the album.
The rap nadir comes during the mid-tempo groove, “Ain’t Going Out Tonight,” one of the songs that speaks to Hard-Fi’s vintage. It’s a mid-tempo groove about being a homebody since there is fighting both at the nightclub and on the night bus. It proceeds mostly unobjectionably and receives a nice shot in the arm from KrystenCummings’s guest vocals. However, it is entirely derailed by an observational, rapped verse that begins “It’s 3 o’clock in the morning and the club is kicking out/ Oh, there’s loads of twats in shirts and slacks with aggression to get out,” and does not improve. It’s not the only time Hard-Fi comes across as grating while trying to provide a song with extra energy.
“They Ain’t Your Friends” is shouted at least 16 times during the album-opening song of the same name, and it gets more annoying each time, nearly spoiling a bouncy song by stomping all over its legitimately catchy chorus. Those who power through will be rewarded for their perseverance.
“You Rule My Heart” features a synth line that would have made a great ringtone back in the day, and the song occasionally shifts into a melody that strongly recalls “Realiti” by Grimes.6 “A Rose Electric” puts Cummings’ voice to fine use on a better song, the trip-hop-influenced “A Rose Electric.” “Arise” mines a similar vein, with “Higher than the Sun” by Primal Scream, as an obvious comp. Hard-Fi’s song is even more sedated, gliding along the current of smooth keys and finger-snap percussion, occasionally gaining altitude on an updraft of heady synthetic noise. Its pseudo-psychedelia isn’t especially ambitious, but it’s hard to be mad at. That’s also true of “Always and Forever,” an agreeable and catchy track that is approximately the millionth song to build a chorus off the phrase “take my hand.” Its angular, busy tone-cadenced riff is well-explored terrain, too, but it is effective, with “Now and Then,” a nearly unassailable bit of guitar pop that appears late on the album, being the only more charming song on Sweating Someone Else’s Fever.
“Now and Then” is a throwback jam with echoing vocals, breezy synths, fizzy guitar and prominent tambourine and a tempo-changing outro complete with wailing sax. It’s a slightly cheesy demonstration of how fun allegedly disposable bands can be at their best. “Now and Then” is a bop now, and it would have been back then, too.
An airtight single that could conceivably be a radio hit, soundtrack TV shows and virtual soccer matches alike, and goose album downloads is no longer the sort of thing that guarantees a band more opportunities to record and tour. However, it is proof that nostalgia isn’t the sole reason all those guys are remembered fondly.
About the writer
Ben Hohenstatt
Ben Hohenstatt is an Alaska-based dog owner who moonlights as a music writer and photographer.
For more information, consult your local library or with parental permission visit his website.
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The Sounding Board
A weekly column where New Music Tuesdays live on. Conversation is encouraged in the comments.
The Sounding Board
A weekly column where New Music Tuesdays live on. Conversation is encouraged in the comments.
The Sounding Board
A weekly column where New Music Tuesdays live on. Conversation is encouraged in the comments.
The Sounding Board
A weekly column where New Music Tuesdays live on. Conversation is encouraged in the comments.
Year of the Month
A new Iceage album is now treated like a Capital-E Event. That wouldn't be the case without Plowing into the Field of Love.
Department of
Conversation
What did we watch?
Superstore, Season One, Episode Three, “Shots and Salsa”
I’ve heard about the chants some Walmarts do (and which the cold open is satirising). It often strikes me that Americans technically have fewer rules and obligations than other societies – even societies ostensibly dedicated to individualism, like the UK or Australia – and yet you guys seem more inclined to make up weird rituals like this – or at least they’re even weirder.
“I’m actually Filipino.”
“Mexico hat!”
“She is from Kansas City. Why is she talking like Speedy Gonzales.”
“One time you got there from Hugh Laurie.”
Oh, hey Josh Lawson as the pharmacist! He’s an Australian actor; I mostly associate him with the improv game show Thank God You’re Here, where he was consistently one of the top three funniest – I’d put him with Angus Samson (who you might recognise as the guy delivering babies in Mad Max: Fury Road) and Frank Woodley. Those two could drive a sketch somewhere insane; he had a habit of keeping up with the sketch and indeed taking it further with a straight face the entire time and never missing a beat. And actually, his performance here is very much like his performance there – complete commitment to the beat, even when it directly contradicts the one before it.
“I’m a bit of a tartar guy.”
“Is that Mexican ketchup?”
“I like staring at the newborn babies until someone asks me to leave.”
“Thanks a lot, guys. When I woke up this morning, I was hoping to learn about racism from a white lady.”
“So how long you been a racist?”
This is pretty good satire – what happens when racism or dignity are treated as quantifiable, measurable objects as opposed to concepts. In her own way, Amy is treating the situation like a switch she can just flip to turn the racism off, which is certainly the least effective way to go about it. That’s also present to an extent in Jonah’s story.
“Look at us! Gabbing like best friends! Who hang out socially!”
Do you know about the Cold Stone Creamery song workers were forced to do every time someone tipped (until there was mild uproar about this being despotic/insane)?
Elementary, “Bella” – Sherlock is called in to investigate who might have broken into a computer lab and stolen the programming for a new AI named Bella. And many interesting things happen along the way. Like Sherlock discovering that the thief is someone Scotland Yard’s been after for years and who now does security for a rival tech firm. Like the programmer being given a fatal epileptic seizure that is made to look like it was does by Bella. And like Sherlock obsessing over whether Bella is just another example of machine learning or actual AI. Now how AI is depicted only bears some resemblance to all the chatbots of 2026, and teeters on scifi, but we do get some really interesting observations about not just computers but also the calculating machine named Sherlock Holmes. Indeed, for once, and for interesting reasons, the killer is not arrested in part because Sherlock is in fact not a machine. All around a very good episode.
The Twilight Zone, “Time Enough at Last” – To my surprise, I discovered that I had never seen this one all the way through. The highlights have been shown some times on so many clip shows and anniversary specials (and the story has been spoofed as many times) that I was sure I had seen this. It is indeed a classic, but I am at the same time not entirely sure what to make of the famous ending. And what to make of the glaring illogic of it. More on Thursday.
Disclosure Day – I have a fondness for clunky sci-fi with big ideas but this was too clunky and the ideas weren’t big enough. Felt more like a Shyamalan misfire than a true Spielberg effort to me – there was some laughable dialogue that sent me right back to The Happening. The good news? I’m quite fond of The Happening. But yeah I thought this was really quite poor which is a shame as I’ve mostly been quite into late-era Spielberg. I’d still take this over Ready Player One though, at least it seemed like an affection failure rather than a cynical one.
What did we play?
So many NBA podcasts. I need to make time for something else but between the Knicks and the drafts and the trades, I am spending more time with Brian Windhorst than with my wife (who also has a podcast).
1001 Albums, etc. – a big week.
Guns n’ Roses – Appetite for Destruction: I’ve never been a big Gn’R fan but did still listen to this a fair bit in my teens (it was compulsory) and now find it hard to separate from that time. The big singles are so overplayed that I’m pretty sick of them, but in general this is quite enjoyable.
The Jesus & Mary Chain – Darklands: I’ve played Psychocandy a bunch but not sure I’d ever heard this before. It’s pretty good but I do prefer their simple songwriting with a bit more chaotic noise.
Ladysmith Black Mambazo – Shaka Zulu: really enjoyed this, they do so much with voice alone. Really soothing music.
Laibach – Opus Dei: hmm, quite bad. Like a proto-Rammstein who can’t take themselves seriously enough for the bombastic chugging to really land. One of the more inexplicable selections for the book, IMO.
Napalm Death – Scum: 28 songs in 33 minutes, I’ve got to respect that even if this kind of ferocious thrash is just not my thing at all.
Sonic Youth – Sister: a long-time favourite and their first truly great album for me. The goofy closing track holds it back a little but I love this one.
The Triffids – Calenture: completely new to me, and quite enjoyable. Folky instrumentation but with their own distinct style, although the back half gets a bit too sombre.
Michael Jackson – Bad: terrible-human baggage aside, this is an incredible album. I heard Thriller a bunch in my youth but not sure I’d heard this one front-to-back before even if most songs were familiar. Killer production and hooks. Smooth Criminal is a wonderfully odd song.
Pet Shop Boys – Actually: I love PSB but I’ve always seen them as a singles band, this is one of their best albums but it still has a few skippers for me. King’s Cross is a lovely closing track though and the singles are top-tier.
U2 – The Joshua Tree: ugh it’s these guys again. More empty bombast and stadium-filling bullshit. I don’t mind “With or Without You” I guess and some of the Edge’s twinkly guitar work is OK but the songs are dull and I hate Bono’s whole vibe.
Terence Trent D’Arby – Introducing the Hardline According to Terence Trent D’Arby: decent moody R&B, like a sulkier Prince without as many hooks. “Sign Your Name” remains a really good grown-up pop song but the rest of the album was just “pretty solid” really. A little samey.
The Pogues – If I Should Fall From Grace With God: enjoyed this more than the last Pogues album on the list, there are some interesting songs where they bring in folk music influences from other cultures to good effect. Listening to Fairytale of New York in mid-June? A bit odd.
Leonard Cohen – I’m Your Man: I love this album, a surprisingly effective 80s rebrand from Cohen with multiple great songs. But also one of the most inexplicably awful songs from his entire career, Jazz Police. What was the logic there, Leonard?
The Waterboys – Fisherman’s Blues: more folk-rock that starts strong but tails off. They have their own interesting sound early on but the second half of the album gets into more traditional folk / country territory that lost me. Not sure I’d have guessed this was the same band as Whole of the Moon. Wouldn’t have minded hearing that album instead.
Fishbone – Truth and Soul: feared the worst from this, Fishbone is a very unappealing name. And it is kinda bad, a mix of ska and funk-rock influences that foreshadows some of my least favourite music of the late 90s and early 00s. But their sound is eclectic so at least they weren’t hammering the same kinda thing all the way through.
Everything but the Girl – Idlewild: speaking of hammering the same kinda thing… EBTG really need a second tempo. This is painfully tasteful background-pop that feels like it was designed to offend nobody, I might enjoy ignoring it in, for example, a dentist’s waiting room. Listening to it while driving, I had to take a break halfway in case it sent me to sleep. I guess Tracey Thorn has a good voice but this is very boring music.
Heh, at least a few of these are favorites, especially Joshua Tree, Waterboys, and I’m Your Man. I think everybody agrees Jazz Police sucks shit though.
I’m Your Man is so good – and Jazz Police must be up there with the most inexplicably bad songs ever to make it onto a great album.
I was curious whether U2 would win me over at all, as somebody who has always found them fairly objectionable but without really making an effort. So far: No.
Achtung Baby! That is all. And yeah, I’m certain I’ve seen “Jazz Police” on some lists of bad songs on great albums.
“U2 – The Joshua Tree: ugh it’s these guys again. More empty bombast and stadium-filling bullshit.” Ha ha! Get their ass!
“Fishbone – Truth and Soul: feared the worst from this, Fishbone is a very unappealing name. And it is kinda bad” I KILL YOU SCUM
There is a world where Fishbone and not the Red Hot Chili Peppers broke out, a world with more ska-punk and fewer Kiedis raps, and I think even you would consider that a better world.
A real “whoever wins, we lose” scenario, right there.
Trying out some new albums! Court Court’s…album whose title is a smiley-face and shrug emoji was recommended by Pitchfork, not terrible but is way too Linkin Park and metallic for me to particularly like the blend of music. One disadvantage of the newer generations of artists who are mashing up different genre strains, something praised in last week’s FNR article, is that if you don’t like a particular sound in the whole, that artist may not do anything for you. (I’m also 34 and have the taste of a sixty year old man.) On the flipside, Olivia Rodrigo’s new album is quite good, I look forward to when she’s a bit older and writing about more mature subjects. (Lily Allen is firmly forty and this makes the songs more appealing to me.)
Decided to do a deep dive into Lou Reed’s 1980s albums teaming up with Robert Quine and not surprisingly these fucking rule, songs like “The Gun” and “Home of The Brave” on The Blue Mask and New Sensations have the mastery of tension inherent to the former frontman of the Velvets while clearly taking influences from punk, per Quine, and Springsteen. Quine is doing great background guitar work, as if creating new colors for the sound to invigorate it.
I think this era of music was one of the bleakest I remember in my UK music lifetime. The only bleaker one might be now, when there’s enough nostalgia for these bands for them to come back. I would say Hard-Fi were among the worst of the bunch, along with The Fratellis – dismal, bottom of the barrel shout-along rock for pissed-up “lads” after the football (soccer) match. I was at a food / beer festival on Sunday and when the young band providing the entertainment launched into a Razorlight cover, part of me died.
I kinda love the first Maximo Park album though, they actually had something IMO.
I strongly associated this era of music with the brief time period music magazines included mixtape-style CDs with the magazine, which was a great way for an American teen to listen to a bunch of “the somethings” bands. It seemed exciting compared to what was charting stateside.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Billboard_Mainstream_Top_40_number-one_songs_of_2005
Heh, I’ll take Kelly Clarkson or Gwen Stefani over most of this stuff. It was inescapable here and my only real fond memories (Maximo Park aside) are from the cult TV show Popworld who would often have members of these bands on as guests and lightly torment them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bIC4V_DIrg
Same, great way to avoid the chaff of these bands too so I had a pretty idealized concept of that era in British rock.
Franz Ferdinand are great, Bloc Party are good, Kaiser Chiefs made one great album, Hot Hot Heat was one I heard recently and was surprised they didn’t previously stick with me at all, and some of the early Maxïmo Park isn’t bad. I’ve never been as into the Arctic Monkeys as most and I largely have forgotten the music of the rest (even when I once knew it).
On a related note, I’ve never understood why The Killers are so beloved in the UK when they had so many local bands, and enough of comparable or better quality, to choose from.
Lol, the only Hard-Fi song I know is not one of the ones mentioned above but “Middle Eastern Holiday,” which I quite like but is not exactly beating the pissed-up lad accusations:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=aIjZMJOEQRA
Year of the Month update!
This July, we’re opening up submissions for your writing on any of these movies, albums, books, etc. from 1979.
Jul. 3rd: Bridgett Taylor: Apocalypse Now
Jul. 5th: Tristan J. Nankervis: Stalker
Jul. 14th: Lauren James: Flowers in the Attic
Jul. 19th: Tristan J. Nankervis: Guards! Guards!
Jul. 28th: John Bruni: All That Jazz
Jul. 29th: Lauren James: Ghost Story
And there’s still time to sign up for any of these movies, albums, books, etc. from 1958 this June.
Jun. 25th: John Bruni: Mon Oncle
Jun. 26th: Gillian Nelson: Disneyland Gay Days
Jun. 28th: Tristan Nankervis: Touch of Evil