Ludes - Dark Art of Happiness

Ludes are a lanky bunch of lads, eh? That's what strikes you when you first see 'em. They just look soooo rock 'n' roll. They even wear cravats, that essential piece of rawk star regalia.

Which is why I fell in love with them in February. I'd had a chat with one of them just hours after buying Dark Art of Happiness from iTunes (natch, my first legal download) and he was such a nice gent that I didn't worry one bit about my lack of knowledge of the band, even given that I was, at that time, a know-it-all, fully paid up member of the journalists' club.

Then, I went to see these urchins. My, I thought, they're a lanky bunch of lads. Lads that probably lived in a squat with Doherty, Borrell and Barat. And surely lads that tall, I pondered, in a Peter Crouch can't spin on a sixpence-style mental comparison, where music is a nice new lightweight Adidas ball, can't perform decent material that will make me happy. But, bugger me, off they went. And off I went, jumping about like I had an aneurism. I mean, have you heard Traffic Lights? Not moving is impossible.

Post-gig, I quickly wanted to re-evalute Dark Art... or, rather, listen to it properly. And here we are in June, the CDs now in the shops and it's still a well-played favourite of mine. Top tunes are Traffic Lights and Deadman's Music, and, for sheer quirkiness, Mr Benson - battered out on a Bontempi organ, no less.

Ludes have been accused of pilfering The Clash but, although I can hear that on a couple of tracks, I also hear a damn funky groove that makes me want to shake my booty. And not many CDs of late have had the power to do that. Oh yes, it might have been three years in the making, but these fuckers are fresh.