The Best Albums Of 2008 #6

Supergrass-Diamond Hoo Ha

Supergrass has always been a pretty easy band to get your head around. They broke out whilst still teenagers in Britain during the early ‘90s as part of the Britpop movement. Their debut album, I Should Coco, is a classic touchstone of the era. Later, the band embraced their inner T-Rex (Supergrass), and further paid homage to The Rolling Stones (In It For The Money). While their contemporaries either struggled in the decades that followed (Oasis) or just plain split (Blur, Pulp, everyone else, seemingly…), Supergrass pushed on, making straightforward rock albums.

Their sixth album, Diamond Hoo Ha, is a sure step forward after the gloom and doom ballads of 2005’s Road To Rouen. Supergrass has re-embraced the guitar as a weapon of choice and is back to writing loud, shiny, rock anthems. Lead single “Diamond Hoo Ha Man” is three-and-a-half minutes of pure fuzzy joy, especially when frontman Gaz Coombes spits out doozies like, “When the sun goes down/I just can’t reisist/Bite me!” Conversely, album closer “Butterfly” is more reminiscent of Supergrass during their creative heights of the mid to late-90’s. Diamond Hoo Ha shows a band not growing old, but growing into their skin.

“Bad Blood”