Track Listing

1. El Salvador
2. Westside
3. One Million
4. Shake Those Windows
5. Beautiful
6. New Project
7. You Got The Style
8. Vehicles & Animals
9. Out Of Nowhere
10. Dungeness
11. You Know
12. Le Casio
13. A Few Differences

Product Details

• Released on: 2004-05-18
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Import, Enhanced
• Dimensions: .22 pounds

From Amazon.co.uk
It's a shame that Britpop brings up memories of dull guitar-rock traditionalists stuck in thrall to the spirit of the 60s, because it's very tempting to dub Athlete's debut album, Vehicles and Animals, a minor British pop classic. The work of an East London quartet with a wry observational eye and a sound planted somewhere between Squeeze, XTC and Blur from the time of Modern Life Is Rubbish, Vehicles and Animals is a success of subtle experimentalism, box-twiddling electronic trickery and brightly optimistic pop nous. "You Got the Style" tackles racial unrest in multicultural London with a sunbeam of pure positivity, frontman Joel Potts offering "We should be laughing about it / Making the most of the true British climate" as Tim Wanstall's synth-lines bounce like stray beach balls. Sure, Athlete specialise in big, neon sing-along choruses--see the glimmering "El Salvador", the sprawling wonder of "Beautiful"--but their approach is tempered with a very pretty vulnerability. "Westside" opens with a hushed acoustic lead-in where Pott's cracked, fragile vocal shakily tests out the chorus--"Wherever you look you can see / Everybody wants to be part of the rock scene"--before the song explodes into life. It's the sort of sunny disposition that could almost define a new British climate. Looks like it's turned out nice again. --Louis Pattison

Album Description
Eagerly anticipated debut album for the eclectic British indie act compared to just about everybody (Beck, Mercury Rev, the Beach Boys, XTC, Gomez, Turin Brakes). 12 tracks including the hit singles, 'Westside', 'You Got The Style', & 'El Salvador'. Parlophone. 2003.

Album Details
The South London Quartet Garnered a Lot of Attention in 2000, Evolving their Sound Over the Course of a Few Years. The Released their First Self Titled EP in 2002 to Rave Reviews. After Opening for Bands Like Mansun, the Polyphonic Spree and the Electric Soft Parade, They Went Back to the Studio to Produce this First Right and Proper Album with Producer Victor Van Vugt (Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Beth Orton) at the Helm. Includes the Hit "You Got Style".