The Kooks - Konk (2008)

Initial reviews of this album that I came across mentioned it not being a great leap forward from their previous effort as well as perhaps being overproduced. Luckily for me those are two of my favorite things. See, for me, the Kook's "Inside In The Inside Out" was such a solid album that took me completely by surprise last year. I definitely mean album because I can play that thing from beginning to end and often times I feel like hitting repeat. So when I hear that "Konk" is perhaps non-revolutionary I'm completely stoked. I'll be the first to admit that sometimes bands can keep recreating the same album and I'll be completely happy.. I'm also easily distracted by shiny things.

As far as overproduction goes... here's my feelings on that. I feel that that the "overproduction" critique is abused by critics when they can't really find anything else to say. It's kind of one of those things where no one is really going to argue with you because you said "overproduction", and let's face it that's a big and important sounding word. Secondly I am a gigantic brit-pop fan and adore albums from the likes of Depeche Mode, Blur, The Divine Comedy, etc. and those guys really take the production to 11.

Now in regards to the album itself the main difference between "Konk" and their previous one is that there aren't really as many songs that really just grabbed me right away and had me hitting repeat. This album is more of a put it on and do stuff around the house or walk/drive somewhere and be happy.. While not having super duper standout tracks it makes for a great listen all the way through.

Well maybe there is a standout track. "Do You Wanna" makes Rod Stewart's "Tonight's the Night" seem like the most subtle ode to humping of all time. That said it's pretty ruling. While the refrain of

Do you Wanna / Do You Wanna / Do you Wanna make love to me

may seem a bit silly I think it'd get the job done!

So if you like pop music, accents, non-deep lyrics and guys who probably wear tight pants and v-necks* you'll probably enjoy this album. Check out their first one too for summertime fun fun.

Even though I said that whole thing about how there aren't an instant classic tracks on this album here are some good ones.. "Always Where I Need to Be", "Do You Wanna", "Love It All" and "Down to the Market"

* I seriously didn't notice that one of the band members was wearing a v-neck until I uploaded the photo!