We need bands like Arab Strap. In these times of production line pop stars and cognate, corporate clones, Aidan and Malcolm’s music remains unique, observant and callously honest. Listening to their material can be both uncomfortably voyeuristic and engagingly provocative in a way that so few of their contemporaries can even hope to approximate. [...]

News



02/03/03— The new album
Coming in April, the new Arab Strap CD/LP, 'Mondays At The Hug & Pint'.
The 5th studio album from the Glaswegian duo of Aidan Moffat and Malcom Middleton might be the most ambitious and bracing of their brief, action-packed career. While not entirely departing from Arab Strap's tried & tested equation of relationship-autopsies set to a disco beat, 'Mondays...' is so brutally focused, both lyrically and musically, that this might as well be the band's first album (and we mean that in a good way). Both principals seem revitalized following their recent solo forays and if this isn't an early contender for the Best Album of 2003, that's only because competition between artists is so terribly wrong (just ask Marlon Brando). On tour this April with Bright Eyes.

track listing :
The Shy Retirer
Meanwhile, At The Bar, A Drunkard Muses
Fucking Little Bastards
Peep Peep
Flirt
Who Named The Days?
Loch Leven intro
Loch Leven
Glue
Act of War
Serenade
The Week Never Starts Round Here
Pica Luna





02/06/01 — Arab Strap — All of their songs are love songs. Sort of.
“Love Detective,” the new single (in the UK at least) from the forthcoming Arab Strap album ‘The Red Thread,’ is available for download starting Tuesday, February 6th. The band are about to begin a brief UK tour, and with any luck, we’ll have North American dates to announce before long.

12/06/00 — Arab Strap — Welcome back
Thanks to a lovely licensing arrangement we’ve made with the smart & talented crew at Chemikal Underground Recordings of Glasgow, Arab Strap will once again be releasing new records on the Matador label in North America. The 4th Arab Strap album, not counting the ‘Mad For Sadness’ live thing that someone else put out, ‘The Red Thread’ on February 27. When we call this album the most intense, soul-stirring work of the band’s career, we in no way wish to disparage their previous albums or the men and women whose lives are discussed on them. When we have full track listings, samples of the art work and news about US dates... well, that probably means we’ll have read them somewhere else. But we are not above cutting and pasting, oh no.

06/06/00 — Ex-Matador band in multiple label switcheroo shocker
In addition to releasing the (old) new Arab Strap record (‘Elephant Shoe’) in North America on June 6th, Jetset is also releasing the live record that proceeded it, ‘Mad For Sadness,’ on July 4th. If that wasn’t thrilling enough, Arab Strap have returned to the label that brought them to worldwide prominence, Chemikal Underground, which is very happy news. That’s what they call “dancing with who brung ya,” though chances are no one was dancing.

04/18/98 — The new Arab Strap album, Philophobia is has heads turning. Our source at Chemikal Underground (Arab Strap's UK label) informs us that the record is #26 is the UK charts and getting massive press... not to mention stuff like this: