Labels: Chemikal Underground
Review by: MH
This is a solo album from Malcolm Middleton who was half of Arab Strap. It is the first proper album that he has released under the Human Don’t Be Angry moniker and is a mainly instrumental affair. I read that the name came from a bad translation of the German version of the board game Frustration. The music itself is quite hard to pigeonhole. The mantra-like “H.D.B.A. Theme” is led by samples and voice-overs repeating the “Human Don’t Be Angry” phrase. Some of the instrumental tracks, particularly those with samples, are closer in style to something like Errors rather than post rock. They are fairly ambient with a bit of electronica thrown in. There are even hints of an 80s influence at times particularly on opener “The Missing Plutonium”. A couple of the slower instrumentals come across as laments and are pretty nice. There are a couple of tracks that I’m less keen on – particularly “1985” with the echoey reverb effect on the vocals but the better tracks outweigh this. “Monologue: River” is a very solid track. Whilst the album is less miserable than a lot of Arab Strap’s work, some of the old moodiness and misery does come shining through at times such as on “Askipliio” which is the standout track for me here “” a quite superb and bleak slow-burner which precedes the closing instrumental. It’s quite an enjoyable listen overall. Nice board game cover art too.