Art Brut, raw and raucous, preaches to the choir

Kevin Bronson on June 18th, 2009

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“He’s probably mad at us for listening to him,” somebody said to me as Eddie Argos preached to the choir Tuesday night at Spaceland while his Art Brut bandmates cut through the evening haze with a Stooges-worthy din. “And I salute him for that,” I replied, smiling like almost everybody else in the house.

Indeed, Art Brut – now halfway through a four-night stand in Los Angeles –is all about turning the artifice of rock ‘n’ roll inside out. Argos hilariously and brazenly lobs verbal stinkbombs at the music establishment, commercial bands and his own human frailties. Why would a band want to sound like U2? Why do I drink so much? Why do people buy Killers albums? Why do I wear my heart on my sleeve? Why do we fall for someone like Razorlight? The monologues on the band’s third album “Art Brut Vs. Satan,” taken in sum, make it clear that we are our own Satans. They don’t call ’em guilty pleasures for nothing.

Argos was no doubt distressed that the Spaceland crowd thinned out a bit after the opening set by Downtown Records labelmates Miike Snow, the Swedish/American team of producers and songwriters who gave (or inflicted upon, depending on your point of view) the world “Toxic,” by Britney Spears, among other pop confections. Bet you a dollar Argos lumps them in with the Killers of the world, but Miike Snow were the buzz hits of the evening, to be sure, with their saccharine and irresistible melodies casting a spell over the shoulder-to-shoulder crowd. As pop product goes, you just want to know whom to make out the check to.

Art Brut works on a different area of the brain – or, if you think too much, areas. It’s mostly art about art, done with a biting sense of humor, but the songs’ garage-rock guitar-and-drums assault is no less exhilarating than Miike Snow’s synthy soundscapes. On Tuesday, Argos’ banter was characteristically as sharp as his band’s licks as he forayed into the crowd [top photo] while guitarists Jasper Future [pictured above] and Ian Catskilkin shredded. Argos mostly lives in Los Angeles now, but doesn’t drive, so his ode to public transportation “The Passenger” was on the mark. And the now-prophetic “Moving to L.A.,” off the band’s 2005 debut, was a big hit, although Argos – with Art Brut fresh off doing a run of shows in New York and Chicago – found out something about his new home.