48:13

48:13
Studio album by Kasabian
Released 6 June 2014
Recorded 2013
Studio London, UK
Genre
Length 48:13
Label Columbia
Producer Sergio Pizzorno
Kasabian chronology

Velociraptor!
(2011)		 48:13
(2014)
Singles from 48:13
  1. "eez-eh"
    Released: 29 April 2014
  2. "bumblebeee"
    Released: 3 August 2014
  3. "bow"
    Released: 10 October 2014 (Italy only)[1]
  4. "stevie"
    Released: 7 November 2014[2]

48:13 is the fifth studio album by English rock band Kasabian. The album, produced by the band's guitarist Sergio Pizzorno[3][4] and named after its total running time, was released in Germany on 6 June 2014 and in the UK on 9 June 2014.[5][6] It is promoted by the lead single "eez-eh". The album entered at number one on the UK Albums Chart in its first week of release. It's the band's fourth consecutive UK number one album. The second single, "bumblebeee", was released on 3 August 2014. The video, directed by Alex Courtes,[7] was released in late July.

Background

On 13 November 2013, Kasabian posted a teaser video on their official YouTube channel, announcing that the band's guitarist Sergio Pizzorno had been in the studio for the previous six months working on material for the new record.[8] In an interview with QRO magazine, the band also revealed that the album would be produced by Pizzorno, who also co-produced their 2011 album Velociraptor!.[3]

On 28 April 2014, Pizzorno said in a statement announcing the release of 48:13, "I felt that we had the confidence to be more direct, more honest with this album. I started to strip away layers rather than to just keep adding." Kasabian vocalist Tom Meighan added, "Less is more, you know? It's direct. It is what it is. Just listen to it. We've had the confidence to lay ourselves bare. Serge has stripped it right back. It's unbelievable."[4][9]

Kasabian have listed Kanye West, Joe Strummer[10] Nirvana, Death Grips, Led Zeppelin, Rage Against the Machine and Beastie Boys[11] as influences for the album.

Promotion and singles

On 4 April 2014, Tom Meighan and Sergio Pizzorno appeared in East London dressed in white overalls, painting large numbers "48:13" on a wall belonging to artist and fashion designer Aitor Throup, with whom the band has previously worked on the cover art for Velociraptor! (2011) and the music video for "Switchblade Smiles".[12][13] On 28 April 2014, the band announced the release of the album, and it became clear that the mural was referring to its title and artwork.[9]

48:13 was promoted by the lead single "Eez-eh",[14] released on 29 April 2014. A music video for the song, directed by Aitor Throup, was released onto YouTube the same day.[15]

On 11 June 2014, Pizzorno featured alongside Pete Donaldson on his Absolute Radio show, during which full versions of "Stevie" and "Treat" were played.[16] In support of the album, Kasabian made several appearances at festivals in Europe and Japan.[12] The band also headlined the 2014 Glastonbury Festival, performing on the Pyramid Stage on 29 June 2014.[17]

The second single, "bumblebeee", described by Pizzorno as a "Beastie Boys dub with a sort of Zeppelin, Rage Against The Machine chorus", was released on 3 August 2014, with the music video, directed by Alex Courtes released on 27 July.[18] Over two months before its release, on 29 May 2014, "bumblebeee" was awarded Zane Lowe's Hottest Record.[19] The B-side of the "bumblebeee" single is "gelfling", named after the creature of the same name from the film The Dark Crystal.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source Rating
Metacritic 62/100[20]
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic [21]
Clash 2/10[22]
The Daily Telegraph [23]
Digital Spy [24]
Drowned in Sound 5/10[25]
The Guardian [26]
The Independent [27]
NME [28]
The Observer [29]
Q [30]

48:13 received mixed to positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 62 based on 11 reviews, indicating "generally favourable" reviews.[20]

Digital Spy's Lisa Wright commented that "Kasabian are not quite up to Alex Turner's level of social commentary," but concluded that "when Kasabian accept what they do best and run with it – and at least half of 48:13 stays resolutely in this spirit – they're the lairy masters of undeniably pumped-up hedonistic fun."[24] Michael Hann of The Guardian wrote that the album is "properly exciting" and the band members "never forget that their purpose is to entertain," however, "the lyrics throughout are reliably terrible."[26] James Hall of The Daily Telegraph wrote a scathing review of Meighan's lofty ambitions for the album, surmising that "no moulds were broken during the making of this album".[23]

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Sergio Pizzorno. 

No. Title Length
1. "(shiva)"   1:07
2. "bumblebeee"   4:01
3. "stevie"   4:45
4. "(mortis)"   0:48
5. "doomsday"   3:40
6. "treat"   6:53
7. "glass"   4:48
8. "explodes"   4:18
9. "(levitation)"   1:19
10. "clouds"   4:45
11. "eez-eh"   3:00
12. "bow"   4:27
13. "s.p.s"   4:22
Total length:
 48:13
Deluxe edition bonus DVD

Personnel

Kasabian
Technical personnel[3]
Additional musicians
  • Tim Carter – guitar, production, additional drum programming
  • Wilf Dillon – Latin reading on "(Mortis)"[31]
  • Ben Kealey – Wurlitzer on "Treat", piano on "Clouds"
  • Gary Alesbrook – trumpet on "Stevie", "Treat" and "S.P.S."
  • Trevor Mires – trombone on "Stevie", "Treat" and "S.P.S."
  • Andrew Kinsman – saxophone on "Stevie", "Treat" and "S.P.S."
  • Suli Breaks – additional vocals on "Glass"[24]
  • London Metropolitan Orchestra

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (2014) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[32] 11
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[33] 22
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[34] 30
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[35] 18
Danish Albums (Hitlisten)[36] 40
French Albums (SNEP)[37] 46
Dutch Albums (MegaCharts)[38] 28
German Albums (Official Top 100)[39] 26
Irish Albums (IRMA)[40] 2
Italian Albums (FIMI)[41] 6
Japanese Albums (Oricon)[42] 21
New Zealand Albums (Recorded Music NZ)[43] 20
Polish Albums (ZPAV)[44] 12
Scottish Albums (OCC)[45] 1
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[46] 44
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[47] 11
UK Albums (OCC)[48] 1

Year-end charts

Chart (2014) Position
Italian Albums (FIMI)[49] 95
UK Albums (OCC)[50] 27

Certifications

Region Certification Sales/shipments
United Kingdom (BPI)[51] Gold 100,000^

*sales figures based on certification alone
^shipments figures based on certification alone

Release history

Country Date Label Format(s)
Germany[5] 6 June 2014 Sony Music CD, 2x LP
France[52] 9 June 2014 CD, 2x LP, digital download
Poland[53] Digital download
United Kingdom[54] Columbia CD, 2x LP, digital download
Poland[55] 10 June 2014 Sony Music CD, 2x LP
Italy[56] CD, 2x LP, digital download
Australia[57] 14 June 2014
New Zealand[58] 17 June 2014
Japan[59] 18 June 2014
United States[60] 7 October 2014 Harvest Records CD, digital download

In popular culture

The song "Stevie" is part of the soundtrack for the video game FIFA 15. Lead single "eez-eh" has been used in the British media on a number of occasions within programmes and adverts.

References

  1. ↑ http://www.allinfo.it/wp/2014/10/10/da-oggi-in-radio-bow-il-nuovo-singolo-dei-kasabian-kasabianhq-in-esclusiva-per-litalia/
  2. ↑ http://musicscene.ie/2014/10/kasabian-unveil-official-music-video-for-stevie-single-release-watch/
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Gordon, Shaun (27 November 2013). "Kasabian Interview". Qromag.com. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Kasabian Announce New Album '48:13'". MTV. 28 April 2014. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 CD: "48:13". Amazon.de. Retrieved 10 June 2014.
    LP: "48:13 [Vinyl LP]" (in German). Amazon.de. Retrieved 10 June 2014.
  6. ↑ "Announcing the new album 48:13". kasabian.co.uk. 28 April 2014. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
  7. ↑ "bumblebeee - Kasabian". VEVO. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
  8. ↑ "KASABIAN: THE SERGERY ...". YouTube. 13 November 2013. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 "Kasabian announce 'stripped back' new album, '48:13' – full details". NME. 28 April 2014. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
  10. ↑ "Kasabian Interview: How Kanye West Inspired New Album '48:13'".
  11. ↑ "KASABIAN: 'OUR NEW ALBUM'S INFLUENCED BY NIRVANA + KANYE WEST'".
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Pollard, Alexandra (5 April 2014). "Kasabian paint mysterious message on East London wall". Gigwise. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
  13. ↑ "Kasabian paint cryptic message on wall in east London". NME. 4 April 2014. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
  14. ↑ "Kasabian - New single eez-eh is Zane Lowe #HottestRecord in the...". Facebook. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
  15. ↑ "Kasabian - eez-eh". YouTube. 29 April 2014. Retrieved 30 April 2014.
  16. ↑ "Serge Pizzorno on Absolute". Twitter. 11 June 2014. Retrieved 11 June 2014.
  17. ↑ "Glastonbury's line-up topped by Kasabian". BBC Online. 4 April 2014. Retrieved 4 April 2014.
  18. ↑ "Kasabian - bumblebeee".
  19. ↑ "Zane Lowe - Hottest Record". 29 May 2014. Retrieved 2 August 2014.
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 "48:13 Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 20 June 2014.
  21. ↑ Jeffries, David. "48:13 - Kasabian". Allmusic. Retrieved 30 July 2014.
  22. ↑ Zadeh, Joe (30 May 2014). "Kasabian - 48:13". Clash. Retrieved 9 June 2014.
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 Hall, James (8 June 2014). "Kasabian, 48:13, review: 'no moulds broken'". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 14 June 2014.
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 24.2 Wright, Lisa (6 June 2014). "Kasabian: 48:13 album review: Glastonbury's got nothing to worry about". Digital Spy. Retrieved 9 June 2014.
  25. ↑ Faller, Paul (2 June 2014). "Album Review: Kasabian - 48:13". Drowned in Sound. Retrieved 9 June 2014.
  26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 Hann, Michael (5 June 2014). "Kasabian: 48:13 review – entertaining rockers unconcerned with cool". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 June 2014.
  27. ↑ Gill, Andy (31 May 2014). "Album reviews: Kasabian, Parquet Courts, Martin & Eliza Carthy, Holland Dozier Holland, Ethan Johns, James". The Independent. Retrieved 17 June 2014.
  28. ↑ Beaumont, Mark (10 June 2014). "48:13 review – 48:13 review". NME. Retrieved 10 June 2014.
  29. ↑ Empire, Kitty (8 June 2014). "48:13 review – Kasabian prove they're a band for the big occasion". The Observer. Retrieved 9 June 2014.
  30. ↑ "48:13 Review". Q: 98–99. July 2014.
  31. ↑ "BBC News - Think Pink: A clickable guide to Kasabian's album". BBC News. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
  32. ↑ "Kasabian – 48:13". Australiancharts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved 21 June 2014.
  33. ↑ "Kasabian – 48:13" (in German). Austriancharts.at. Hung Medien. Retrieved 18 June 2014.
  34. ↑ "Kasabian – 48:13" (in Dutch). Ultratop.be. Hung Medien. Retrieved 23 June 2014.
  35. ↑ "Kasabian – 48:13" (in French). Ultratop.be. Hung Medien. Retrieved 23 June 2014.
  36. ↑ "Kasabian – 48:13". Danishcharts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved 20 June 2014.
  37. ↑ "Kasabian – 48:13". Lescharts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved 24 June 2014.
  38. ↑ "Kasabian – 48:13" (in Dutch). Dutchcharts.nl. Hung Medien. Retrieved 14 June 2014.
  39. ↑ "Kasabian – 48:13". Officialcharts.de. GfK Entertainment. Retrieved 17 June 2014.
  40. ↑ "GFK Chart-Track Albums: Week 24, 2014". Chart-Track. IRMA. Retrieved 14 June 2014.
  41. ↑ "Artisti - Classifica settimanale WK 24 (dal 09-06-2014 al 15-06-2014)" (in Italian). Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana. Retrieved 19 June 2014.
  42. ↑ "Kasabian" (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved 25 June 2014.
  43. ↑ "Kasabian – 48:13". Charts.org.nz. Hung Medien. Retrieved 23 June 2014.
  44. ↑ "Oficjalna lista sprzedaży :: OLIS - Official Retail Sales Chart". OLiS. Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 20 June 2014.
  45. ↑ "2014-06-21 Top 40 Scottish Albums Archive". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 15 June 2014.
  46. ↑ "Kasabian – 48:13". Spanishcharts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved 23 June 2014.
  47. ↑ "Kasabian – 48:13". Swisscharts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved 18 June 2014.
  48. ↑ "2014-06-21 Top 40 UK Albums Archive". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 15 June 2014.
  49. ↑ "FIMI - Classifiche Annuali 2014 "TOP OF THE MUSIC" FIMI-GfK: un anno di musica italiana" (in Italian). Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana. Retrieved 14 January 2015.
  50. ↑ "The Official Top 40 Biggest Selling Artist Albums Of 2014". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 6 January 2015.
  51. ↑ "British album certifications – Kasabian – 48:13". British Phonographic Industry. Enter 48:13 in the field Keywords. Select Title in the field Search by. Select album in the field By Format. Select Gold in the field By Award. Click Search
  52. ↑ "48:13, le nouvel album de Kasabian" (in French). Sony Music France. 9 June 2014. Retrieved 10 June 2014.
  53. ↑ "48:13 by Kasabian". iTunes (PL). Retrieved 8 June 2014.
  54. ↑ CD: "48:13 - CD ALBUM". Kasabian Store. Retrieved 9 June 2014.
    LP: "48:13 - 10" VINYL". Kasabian Store. Retrieved 9 June 2014.
  55. ↑ "Kasabian – "48:13"" (in Polish). Sony Music Poland. Retrieved 9 June 2014.
  56. ↑ ""48:13" è il nuovo album dei KASABIAN, in uscita il 10 giugno e da oggi in pre-order su iTunes" (in Italian). Sony Music Italy. Retrieved 10 June 2014.
  57. ↑ "SonyMusicAU: #Kasabian's record 48:13 is ...". Twitter. Retrieved 27 July 2014.
  58. ↑ "48:13". Amazon.com. Retrieved 27 July 2014.
  59. ↑ "48:13 Kasabian CD Album". CDJapan.co.jp. Retrieved 12 July 2014.
  60. ↑ "iTunes - Music - 48:13 by Kasabian". iTunes. Retrieved 2 September 2014.