I was first introduced to Kosheen with the song 'Hungry' by my Dad when I was about 10-ish. If you don't recognise the title of the song, you'll definitely recognise the song itself. It came out in the late 90's on Kosheen's first album, 'Resist', along with 'Catch', which is another brilliant song. The great thing about Kosheen's music is that you can listen to it whilst chilling out, or you could listen to it on a night out; it's really versatile. The arrival of Kosheen into my life really kicked off my liking for what I'm gonna call "alternative dance", but according to Wikipedia it's more "British triphop/hip hop/rock", but whatever.
So this song starts of with a kind of determined and slightly intimidating synth and drum machine combination. My first thought is that it's quite different from their old stuff, but on a few more listens it's not actually too dissimilar. There's a slight hint of a dubstep beat just before the verse kicks in. The lyrics of the first verse start with the line "Sick of it all", then goes on to recount some abusive sounding behaviour from someone else, metaphorical of course (I hope) of someone being rather oppressive.
The chorus comes straight in after the verse with a slightly heavier background beat and backing singers harmonising the word "Spies" throughout the chorus. Sian Evans, the lead singer, comes in with "I've got my spies all over town/Won't tell me lies, we're gonna catch you out" in her sultry, rich voice. The beat slows down double time and gains a kind of dubstep-ish feel to it.
The first time I listened to this song I was a bit put out because it didn't quite feel like the Kosheen I used to know, but the more times I listen to it the more it grows on me. There's another verse and chorus, and then there's this kind of breakdown bit that starts off really slow moving, but then picks up and gets heavier just in time for the last chorus. After the last chorus, the end of the song becomes a litle bit dubstep again.
Like I said before, 'Spies' immediately recognisable as Kosheen, but when you listen to it a few more times I'm pretty sure you'll like it!
Kosheen release 'Spies', taken from new album 'Independence' on 5th November 2012.
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So this song starts of with a kind of determined and slightly intimidating synth and drum machine combination. My first thought is that it's quite different from their old stuff, but on a few more listens it's not actually too dissimilar. There's a slight hint of a dubstep beat just before the verse kicks in. The lyrics of the first verse start with the line "Sick of it all", then goes on to recount some abusive sounding behaviour from someone else, metaphorical of course (I hope) of someone being rather oppressive.
