It seems curious that a band named after one of Britain's most soporific airwave institutions should make spunky, trunk-shaking punk funk music. But then New Yorkers Anthony Roman, Tommy Williams and Greg Collins didn't take their name from the anachronistic radio station at all, but from a song by Public Image Ltd.
The affinity with late 70s post-punk doesn't stop there either. "The New Song And Dance" and "Gotham!" - the band's two previous LPs – featured the gritty production and scratchy guitar sounds reminiscent of bands like Gang Of Four and Wire - groups that Radio 4 openly cite as influences.
The Big Apple being what it is these days, their fashionably retro angst has a perfect counterfoil in the grainy dance-edged sound propagated by local techno and electro DJs and adopted by NYC hipster peers like The Rapture, !!!, Interpol and DFA - the latter of whom produced their last album.
For the new joint, Radio 4 have chosen UK producer May Heyes (The Doves, Primal Scream). The resultant sound is still subversive and grainy but bigger, bolder and more accessible. Where DFA stripped the band's songs down to abrasively minimal statements, Heyes has streamlined the melodies, brightened up the vocals and made the grooves as taut as aubergine skins.
As with previous projects, a political theme is evident. Opener "Party Crashers" is a weighty yet poppy dig at the killjoy authorities who have all but decimated Manhattan's vibrant club scene; "State Of Alert" is a reference to the ongoing feeling of panic in our post 9/11 world; "No Reaction" looks at issues of political apathy. The considered balance between the raw pulse of Radio 4's music and the social relevance of their rhetoric is refreshing, as are their diversions into Clash-esque hybrids of punk and reggae.
The album's sinewy rhythms and monochrome production sheen start to fade into the background after a while, but as far as capturing a certain political and musical zeitgeist, "Stealing Of A Nation" does so accurately, and with more honesty and integrity than most.
