“…I was hooked in one, as they took apart, with bitter grace, the media /academic obsession with and delight in the downfall of stars and idols.”
– NEIL GAIMAN (Author of Coraline, The Sandman Comic series)
“Neo-Brecht/Weill theatricality? Check. Profane razor strop wit? Check. Irreverent misanthropy? Check. Scathing socio-cultural critiques? Check. Acid sweet indiepop songcraft? Check. Meet the fabulously unfashionable, unfashionably fabulous Indelicates.”
–ROLLING STONE
“The Indelicates are political punk musos attempting to bring the poetry back into pop”
– THE GUARDIAN
“It’s impossible to overstate how much music today needs The Indelicates; in our darkest hour, hope may yet be at hand”
– THE FLY
“…this is intelligent, poetic indie-rock. In other words, it bears no resemblance to The View, The Fratellis, or any other examples of that kind of nonsense”
– ARTROCKER
“Stunning.”
– NME
“Unashamedly intelligent bands with purpose and agenda are thin on the ground. This is why the indelicates have been my favourite new band in every end of year poll I’ve been asked to complete in the last four years, but that is not enough. They are going to become the answer to every question put to me; Favourite film? the indelicates. Favourite book? the Indelicates My view on the American Primaries? The indelicates How many sugars in my tea ? the indelicates. Until they get the recognition they deserve.”
– EDDIE ARGOS, ART BRUT, in MUSIK EXPRESS
As well as the usual print media, The Indelicates début album was heavily blogged, as well as being in the top 10 of many of the January 2009 ‘best-of 2008’ lists. Some of the choice reviews are included below, as well as print clippings, and some of the German Reviews. The Indelicates have also been on the cover mount CDs of Clash magazine, Musik Express in Germany, top ten in the Indie Chart in Austria, top 40 in the UK Indie Chart, and featured in New York’s Village Voice a number of times.
“American Demo is powerful, angry, funny (yes kids they do have a sense of humour) poignant, honest, thought provoking, at times incredibly moving, and utterly brilliant. At the end of the day (sporting cliché alert) what more can you ask for from pop music? The Indelicates tackle challenging subjects with a lightness of touch and a subtlety, which, at times, make the Manic Street Preachers tendency for heavy-handed overwrought bombast appear about as consequential as a 2 Unlimited single. They have certainly raised the stakes, and posed the question- can this album be bettered in 2008? …I can say, hand on heart it really does deserve the accolade “ F**king genius.”
From The Von Pip Musical Express: http://vonpipmusicalexpress.wordpress.com/2008/01/12/the-indelicates-american-demo-review/
“American Demo blows away all the indie bands claiming to make a difference and say something that counts; this is one of the only records this decade that really deserves to count.”
From ‘RoomThirteen’ http://www.roomthirteen.com/cgi-bin/cd_view.cgi?CDID=7588
“This record is vicious. It sits in the corner of the pub, performing character assassinations on you and all you hold dear. And you let it get away with it because it is beautiful. “
From Music Towers
http://www.musictowers.com/news/reviews/albums/album-the-indelicates-american-demo/
“Flitting ferociously from bitterly spat criticisms marred with hostility and hatred to spine-tingling lulls adorned with ardour and affection, the diversity and uniqueness of this epic debut album is beyond measure.
From Noize Makes Enemies
http://www.noizemakesenemies.co.uk/2008/04/indelicates-american-demo-album-review.html
“Look at that cover. Are Simon and Julia painting a line between us, the consumer, and they, the artistes? Are they separating themselves from the rest of music? Are they suggesting American Demo paints them into a corner? All three would fit the tone of an album that sees no reason to make secret its intellectualism yet never ends up hectoring. That Simon’s voice is a pretty much exact cross between those of Luke Haines and Carter USM’s Jim Bob is entirely fitting, being as his and her lyrics work on the same qualities as those – angry, pop culture decrying, thought provoking, fairly conceptual, leavened with scabrous wit. Every detail you read about their history, all poetry slams and polka dots, seems to fit perfectly into the mock-didacticism they exhibit. The Indelicates album was… given full marks by reviewers who are driven to write in a style you won’t see anywhere else in their output. That’s what they do to people, because they sound important.”
From Sweeping The Nation
http://sweepingthenation.blogspot.com/2008/12/sweeping-nation-albums-of-2008-number_20.html
“Most obviously, The Indelicates recall The Auteurs, and Luke Haines in all his many misanthropic guises. Less obviously, but accurately, in that they constantly question the cliched conventions of the rock medium while happily using its greatest strengths (also cliches), and in that they always bite the hand that feeds them (but only after making damn sure they get fed), they recall The Sisters of Mercy, The Sex Pistols,The Psychedelic Furs, early Manic Street Preachers, and the John Cooper Clarke of ‘Beasley Street’. They’re the latest twist of the knife that began turning when Dylan first asked ‘how does it feel?’ and which continued through Johnny Rotten’s ‘ever get the feeling that you’ve been cheated?’, via not only the self-conscious artifice of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, but also the voracious, politicised self-empowerment of post-punk and riot grrl, yet without the paranoia and self-righteousness that ultimately resulted in said scenes being forever marginalised and impotent…”
From Hell Is For Hipsters
“‘We Hate The Kids’, quakes like the cup of water in Jurassic Park as the Tyrannosaurus Rex approaches, and the climax is breath-taking…This is an important album – nothing and nobody will convince me otherwise.”
From Playlouder
http://playlouder.com/content/16630/the-indelicates-american-demo
“Corrosive performance poetry and pop music passion, this is an album on immaculate themes. American Demo really is the aesthetic arm of the outsiders, and The Indelicates right now are pretty much unbeatable.”
From Music OMH
http://www.musicomh.com/albums/indelicates_0408.htm#