Kaiser Chiefs – Employment (2005)

Around 2005 I started discovering lots of new indie rock bands. Post-punk revival had become the most successful indie genre with the help of such bands as Franz Ferdinand and Interpol. Kaiser Chiefs tapped into this success by their debut album Employment. Their songs have excellent melodies and there's some excellent punk rock attitude in their sounds. I also love the strong Yorkshire accent in their vocals. Kaiser Chiefs was one of the few bands I was into even before they had released any of their albums. I had already heard their songs I Predict a Riot and Oh My God before the album was released. The expectations were really high as a result. These songs had similarities to The Clash's classic album London Calling in style. Even though not all of the songs are as amazing as those two hits, this was a really strong debut album in its entirety.



Kaiser Chiefs was another example of a band who managed to make two really good albums with their original style and then flopped really badly with their difficult third album where the band is supposed to renew itself. Like so many other bands, Kaiser Chiefs also failed to renew themselves in a way that would have pleased the old fans. Sure, they became really big already on their second album and people were excited about anything they did, but the music was definitely poorer on those following records.

By the time I listened to Kaiser Chiefs, I had become a bit older and I had lost my strongest interest in the band and artist back stories. What I mean by this is that I like to listen to lots of music, but I'm not that interested in the people who play that music. As a teenager, learning about the people behind the music was really important, but at this stage I didn't really care about that. What that meant was that I didn't really know anything about Kaiser Chiefs. I was really surprised many years later to see the lead singer Ricky Wilson in Voice UK as a judge. He fit really well into a commercial concept like that, which made me kind of doubt his authenticity. It was great to see someone like him in a show like that, but at the same time, knowing a bit more about this person made me think less of his music.

The album starts with electronic sounding synth sounds that are soon accompanied by excellent punchy guitar riffs. Everyday I Love You Less and Less is a proper post-punk revival song with amazing energy. The pounding bass line and bleak Yorkshire vocals remind me of English post-punk of early 80s really strongly. I Predict a Riot is one of the band's greatest songs. There are elements from dark post-punk of the 80s, but the sounds are really modern. This is one of the best songs to dance to on gigs. Modern Way tones the intensity down a bit. The bass is in a central role in the verses that grow beautifully through bridge to a fantastically catchy chorus. Na Na Na Na Naa is beautiful in its punk rock simplicity. There are strong power chords as well that work even on huge festival stages. You Can Have It All takes a more classic rock approach. It's a lot brighter than many of the other songs with its peppy melodies. Oh My God was one of the biggest hits from the album and I can see why. It has amazing groove in the bass lines and fantastic drama between the quieter verse and explosive chorus that makes you want to jump and shout along. Born to Be a Dancer introduces big sounding pianos, which alters the sound a bit after a bunch of guitars. This kind of sound takes them closer to bands like Interpol. Saturday Night is one of the punkiest songs on the album and it reminds me of less melodic bands in the same genre, such as Arctic Monkeys. What Did I Ever Give You has a slow rhythm that reminds me of some ska punk bands of the late 70s and early 80s, such as Madness or Dexy's Midnight Runners. Time Honoured Tradition goes even further into retro by sounding like pumped up and guitar driven DeVo. Caroline, Yes has nice relaxed groove that takes a while to show its strengths. It's not one of the best songs on the album, but it's just right for the life cycle of the album bringing a bit of change. The album ends with the song Team Mate that sounds surprisingly lot like 90s Blur song. I think it's the rock organs that sound like a circus and the laconic style of singing, similar to Damon Albarn's.

You can clearly see from the music video for I Predict a Riot that Kaiser Chiefs had ambition and resources right from the beginning. The video looks really professional. There isn't actually much happening in the video, but the way it's shot is very well done. It features the band on stage playing the song and the audience is gathering a bunch of pillows and start a wild pillow fight that leads to feathers flying all over the place by the power of propels on stage. This looks like a scene that could definitely happen on their gigs in case pillows were provided.

I don't listen to Kaiser Chiefs that often anymore. They're very much a band of their time. Nevertheless, this debut album of theirs sounds quite amazing now. I had gotten a bit bored with them at some point, but now I guess I could actually enjoy them again big time. It shows how different styles in music are cyclical. One of the reasons I never get rid of any of my albums even if it means I will never really be that much into it. It's difficult to predict what will start sounding good again after a few years in between.

Listen to the album on Spotify.