As tightly wound as a coiled spring Operator Please are back in the UK this summer and dead eager to throw a teenage punk rock tantrum for all to see. ‘Just A Song About Ping Pong’ is the best pop song this year by a million pop-punk miles; ferocious and frenetic it combines spiky guitar rifts, ceiling scraping melodies and a punk spirit of creativity that has lead to comparisons with new wave heroes X Ray Specs and B52s.
Like those bands before them, Operator Please’s vivacious sense humour is all over their music and their use of wry innuendo in ‘Just A Song About Ping Pong’ renders it worthy of repeated listens for that reason alone. 2008 saw Operator Please release one of the most vibrant and precocious albums in recent memory. With ‘Yes Yes Vindictive’ receiving massive critical acclaim, echoing the colossal buzz they created down under, they will remain in the UK for the foreseeable future to cement their reputation as an awe-inspiring live band, playing main support to The Futureheads at their request, Hoxton hot-property Lightspeed Champion, as well as the NME 2007 University tour with The Go Team!.“Probably the most fun, colourful and exciting pop album of 2008†Artrocker
‘Operator Please render us speechless with their precocious brilliance’ – The Fly
Rollie Pemberton, also known as Cadence Weapon, broke down musical barriers when his debut album, Breaking Kayfabe, hit record shelves in 2005.
Hailed as a rising hip-hop star in the independent scene, he was lauded for avoiding the stale formulas that are too commonly found in mainstream pop but also for straying from the too often reclusive nature that characterizes a lot of underground rappers. His biting rhymes laid over his own synth-heavy, electro-fused beats have prompted some to label him as the Canadian response to British grime MC Dizzee Rascal. His admiration for IDM acts like Aphex Twin is much more apparent in his material than some of his other influences, such as hip-hop veterans Prince Paul and Timberland.
His blog, which featured this work, caught the attention of a few labels, including Def Jam, who wanted him to remix a track for their budding garage artist, Lady Sovereign, and Upper Class Recordings, the Toronto-based label that signed Cadence Weapon and released his first full-length in December 2005. Breaking Kayfabe (later re-issued) received rave reviews from the independent press — including from his former employers. It was also nominated for the first Polaris Music Prize in 2006, which awards the best Canadian album regardless of genre or record sales, and though he did not win the increasing attention he was receiving helped him get a deal with the American label Epitaph/Anti-. The new full-length, Afterparty Babies, then came out in March of 2008 and has received huge critical acclaim internationally.
The Stiff Kitten presents:
OPERATOR PLEASE
CADENCE WEAPON
& OLYMPIC LIFTS
WEDNESDAY 9TH JULY
THE STIFF KITTEN
9PM / £7
