There’s a wonderfully infectious wave-surfing energy coming off this likeable debut from Yorkshire’s Little Man Tate. Hardly surprising, really. Formed by four Sheffield school friends just a year-and-a-half ago, and signed to V2 within months, they’ve basically been fast-tracked to minor fame.
Taking their name from the 1991 Jodie Foster movie about a seven-year-old genius named Fred Tate, it would appear that they’ve also purloined this album’s title from that film’s tagline: “It’s not what he knows. It’s what he understands.”
Though, admittedly, I could be reading a little too much into that one. These 10 tracks are mostly about young bands playing together, signing record deals, dealing with industry types, teenage loves and lusts, and madcap European drinking adventures. Sensibly, they’ve opted to write About What You Know about what they know.
Given their youth, this doesn’t amount to a whole lot, but at least they’re sussed enough to realise it. Catchy album opener ‘Man, I Hate Your Band’ sets both scene and standard: “Don’t talk to me about money/Don’t talk to me about fame/Don’t tell me about your lyrics/’Cos your songs are all the same/There’s 11 on the guest list/Probably more by far/Photographers and magazines/And stacks of A&R.”
It’s not all music industry navel-gazing. The lyrics throughout are peppered with references to mobile phones, Eastenders, Playstations, the Daily Sport, getting shitfaced on Sambuca, kissing with tongues, losing your virginity, and other ‘yoof’ concerns. Having said that, ‘Court Report’ – about a transvestite thug – is in a cross-dressing class of its own.
Musically it’s mostly meat and two veg indie guitar rock, but no less tasty for that. They’re certainly not innovators, but they’re excellent imitators. As they tauntingly chorus on ‘Who Invented These Lists?’, “Ooooh... follow the formula.”
Little Man Tate could well just be 2007’s one album wonders, but so what if they are? More cheeky monkeys than Arcic Monkeys, this is a fast, noisy and impressive debut that’d lift anybody’s spirits. And there’s nowt wrong with that.