There ain't half been some clever bastards

Sang one of those clever bastards, Ian Dury.

Is his brand of clever quite the clever I'm talking about though?

No one is disputing there are clever people in every genre of music on both sides of the Atlantic - Chris Martin is a very clever man, Madonna is a very clever woman. But you wouldn't say they make clever music. They don't want to. Well, I hope they don't, otherwise they're not as clever as I thought.

There's a certain strand of clever music by clever British bands, often labelled something like art rock or math rock - the cleverness, the archness is its defining feature. It's learned and erudite, it has angles and time signatures and all that jazz.

It doesn't necessarily steal my heart, maybe I'm not clever enough for it. My all-time favourite British bands, from the Beatles to Dexys and the Clash, the Jam, Belle and Sebastian, Super Furry Animals and the Manic Street Preachers, they're undoubtedly full of very clever people, but these are bands where you could say the passion and the soul and the warmth overrides the cleverness. None of these are art-rock bands, sometimes they're even decidedly dumb and all the better for it.

Even Blur, for all the cleverness, had their most universal moments with huge sounds, dumb riffs and rabble-rousing.
The Manics have come unstuck when they've tried to incorporate the cleverness into the actual music, the Furries have always been self-effacing and prepared to use musical cliche to great effect.

All together, like I say, in both American and British music, I tend to have the greatest devotion to very clever bands who are prepared to bear their souls in the music, and prepared to keep it terribly simple at times. Arch is only for me in small doses.

Maybe the key to this is what your favourite Radiohead albums are.

But here are a few British bands in the fine tradition, and plenty of good ones there are, who sound clever and are clever, who don't compromise, who don't necessarily aim to tug the heartstrings. It's not a perfect idea or any kind of long list, it's just a thought I had. I know there is often something about what they're doing musically that I haven't even touched on, because I can't.

Also, let me take this opportunity to remind myself how awesome British Sea Power are.

There Ain't Half Been Some Clever Bastards

Outdoor Miner - Wire
Waving Flags - British Sea Power
Cassius - Foals
Schoolin' - Everything Everything
The Word Girl - Scritti Politti
Darts of Pleasure - Franz Ferdinand

Precious Plans - Field Music
Apply Some Pressure - Maximo Park
Cars and Girls - Prefab Sprout
Helicopter - Bloc Party
The Fun Powder Plot - Wild Beasts
Default - Django Django

You know, I'm going to keep it short. I think that's suitable.