Los Angeles, Art Brut is ours!  What gods of musical fortune made our sprawling metropolis, with its smog-painted skies and tattooed underpasses, look like an enticing home away from home to Eddie Argos and all is beyond my mental capabilities.  Unless the transplant is simply due to Argos’s girlfriend hailing from here.  Either way, this is good for everybody—the band, you and me, even the Metropolitan Transit Authority (read on)—as the Bruts take up a week-long residency at Spaceland and Argos-in-LA spottings go up.  This time around, they sounded kinda pissed, aggressive even (?), on a lot of the new songs from the ex-Pixies, Frank-Black-produced album, Art Brut Vs. Satan.  If we took their first two albums and pitted them against the king of the underworld, I’d wager Art Brut might have had to run off to their bedrooms, lock the doors, and write more teenage break-up songs or cleverly reference Brian Eno.  But, at Spaceland they were surprisingly raw, with some punkish background vocals provided by Jasper Future.  After a few songs, Argos jokingly referred to this newfound venom in the concert as the “plateau of hate.”  And it added to the scenery for sure, though descending back into more familiar Brut territory was welcome.  How else would we get the addendum lyrics to Emily Kane?  She wrote Eddie, told him where she lived, and while flattered, was happy with her boyfriend if you wondered.  As for the MTA, if those transportation suits had even half of the enthusiasm Argos has towards Line 704 and mass transit in general in the song “The Passenger”—“I’m a determined passenger/I never learnt to drive/But don’t worry/I’m not asking for a ride /Some people hate the bus/Not me, I can’t get enough”—maybe we’d have ourselves a workable infrastructure, a few more color line trains, too.  Now, it wouldn’t be an Art Brut show without being told to form a band.  This time Argos wisely decided to “lead by example,” basically saying, “Look at us!  We had a shitty day, but we’re having a great night in front of you.  We’re all smiles.  It’s the power of Rock N Roll!”  It’s a persuasive argument.  If anyone’s going to come to LA saying start more bands, I’m glad it’s coming from a guy who jokes about drinking Hennessy with Morrissey and not from someone like Dave Matthews.  Art Brut, welcome home (don’t forget the sunscreen).

—Greg Garabedian