Kuchichek! - 'Not Enough Night' (30:30) Released 19/03/07

If somebody asked you to describe alternative music, in all its forms, what would you say? It’s not easy is it? Now we don’t want to hail Kubichek! as some kind of spokespeople for a movement but they pretty much sum it up on ‘Taxi’ with the line, “’Cos I’m looking for something more than what’s on offer when the lights go down at night. I’m looking for something more than what you offer, what you follow, what you live for”. ‘Taxi’ is symptomatic of a good three-quarters of ‘Not Enough Night’. Essentially twelve tales of anger, disillusion and ultimately hope Kubichek! cross these emotions with pulsating incessant riffs and singer Al’s passionate and pained vocals.

When the album is not charging around like a bull in a china shop (‘Night Joy’, ‘Stutter’, ‘Just Shut It Down’) it switches perspective and adopts an Interpol like ability to make everything sound enormous. ‘Hope Is Impossible’ and ‘Start As We Mean To’ both step away from the scattergun drumbeats and art school guitar lines and whilst not necessarily posing the most accessible moments certainly provide the more intriguing tracks on the album.

Kubichek! however are at their best when they are doing the 2 Fast, 2 Furious style pop songs that sound like a million other bands but still sound amazing. The band also has clear roots in the hardcore scene as their songs all contain a massive amount of steel and grit that is uncharacteristic of shoe-gazing indie. ‘Method Acting’ is a ferocious attack on TV personalities whilst ‘Outwards’ middle eight descends into a Hot Club de Paris style triple vocal attack over the top of a super tight bass line before smashing its way into a super powered chorus. It’s brilliant.

In this time of Myspace sensations and overnight success Kubichek! have taken a ridiculous amount of time to get this album out. They seem to have been around forever and whilst the album is superb an awful lot of bands have come to prominence in that time. The point we are trying to make is that whilst we could say Maximo Park, Editors and Foals sound like Kubichek! we are left feeling like Kubichek are the unoriginal ones. It’s an unavoidable casualty of the rapid movement of the business but one that blights this album throughout. It sounds very tired in parts.

Having said that ‘Not Enough Night’ is a fantastic debut from a fantastic band, it barely breaks for breath throughout its entirety and when it does the results are majestic. The criminally underrated Kubichek! now have a body of work that whilst not unique certainly stands head and shoulders above its peers and predecessors.