ROCK N' ROLLY

Gone.

2010-09-28T16:18:00.000-07:00

I moved house. And Now I'm moving blogs.

ROCKNROLLY.WORDPRESS.COM

Please update your readers & things.

I'll be posting a lot more now it looks sweeter! x

Films of Colour, Camden Bull & Gate, 20/9/10

2010-09-24T03:33:00.000-07:00

Films of Colour have been attracting a lot of attention recently, so it’s no surprise that The Bull & Gate is crammed full of eager onlookers this evening, hopeful to see what all the fuss is about.

After two memorable performances at Beach Break and Isle of Wight Festivals, the band have recently been featured in the Guardian’s ‘New Band of the Day’ section, a promising sign for the Guildford 4-piece.

The band – made up of Andy Clutterbuck (vocals), James Hatcher (bass/synths), Jack Allinson (guitar) and James Rees (drums) - have an electrifying stage presence; plenty of excitement and leaping around from a band who still manage to produce some seriously good rock songs. They have perfected a remarkable density of sound, incorporating layers of synths and emotive guitars (much like prog-rock geniuses, Foals), offering a refreshing change from the mono-chord indie pop bands sweeping the mainstream.

Clutterbuck’s vocals are spacious and irresistible, but it is the band’s wall-of-noise intervals that are the real highlight. Their songs are littered with atmospheric interludes of thrashing guitars and the impressive drumming talents of James Rees; the sort of moments that take your breath away and make you really fall in love with live music.

The band finished their set with debut single ‘Actions’; an anthemic romp that tugged on the heartstrings of everyone watching and left them wanting more. Although in their early stages, Films of Colour boast an intelligent, atmospheric sound that takes some bands years to perfect.

Films of Colour play 93 Feet East (October 1), The Vaults, Derby (October 7), Gatecrasher, Nottingham (October 8), Catch Bar, Shoreditch (October 12) and Moho In The City, Manchester (October 13). ‘Actions’ is released on October 4 via Label Fandango records.

Sleigh Bells, you're my favourite.

2010-09-23T13:02:00.000-07:00

TOP 10 ALBUMS OF 2010 SO FAR

2010-09-07T10:18:00.000-07:00

1. The Suburbs Arcade Fire
After this album was released, I had to retract so many of my past complaints about what a borefest AF were. This album single handedly made me fall in love with the multi-instrumental swooners, to the point I now have all their records and I danced so ecstatically during their Reading Festival headline set that I nearly broke my ankles (Wellies = hazard).

2. Total Life Forever Foals

This was a very close second. The Oxford 4-piece moved into a house together last year and the result was a story of emotion that can only be told by the best musicians. Putting synths and keyboards to good use, ‘Total Life Forever’ is an intimate yet atmospheric romp of prog rock mastery; a 250% improvement on their disappointing debut.

3. Treats Sleigh Bells

Right now I feel like putting this album at number one. Noisy as fuck with those chilling female vocals scribbled all over the loudest guitars I have ever heard on a recorded album. This is what M.I.A was trying to achieve with /\/\ /\ Y /\; feminine machine gun noise pop, enough to shatter windows and hurricane through dance floors. It takes talented musicians to make hellish noise like this into something catchy and delicious and Sleigh Bells have just done that. Mmmm yummy.

4. Teen Dream Beach House

In contrast, Teen Dream is a mellow, unaffected basket of love songs and tales of growing up. This is the album you listen to before you go to sleep. Victoria LeGrand is queen of the lullabies and with the help of Alex Scally, the Maryland duo have produced an album that basks in melancholy without being depressing. Gorgeous

5. The Family Jewels Marina & The Diamonds

This is an album I loved more for its message than its melodies. Whereas Marina’s poppy ditties have lost their appeal slightly now everyone is a bit bored of the album, I like to think all of her ravings about ‘journos in heat’ and being ‘hollywood infected’ have struck a chord with young girls and might just make a difference. It’s still an amazing album – I just overplayed it – and she’s really great live, so The Family Jewels is still one of my top albums of the year.

6. Man Alive Everything Everything

Everything Everything have been gaining quite a bit of momentum recently, what with their recent album release and some flawless appearances at Reading & Leeds. I have trouble sometimes believing synth pop can be anything but heartless, but Man Alive is really addictive and there’s so much character and emotion in Jonathan’s vocals that it’s hard not to fall in love with them.

7. Crazy For You Best Coast

Am I really including this on my list? Nothing grates me more than lo-fi; making your record sound like it was made in your bedroom when you do actually have the means to make the production pristine. But I have fallen a little bit for Bethany Cosentino. 'Crazy for You’ is like the record equivalent of a chick flick in my opinion; it’s all slushy love songs for people who like to dream about California and guess what? Out of context, I find the Best Coast record pretty impressive and original. Within the context of all the chill wave shit wave NME hype, it irks me but as a standalone record, it’s definitely one of 2010’s best.

8. Gorilla Manor Local Natives

Why aren’t Local Natives bigger? They’ve been cropping up on the smaller festival stages, frequenting the music press but still seem to be waiting for a break, whilst bands like Everything Everything are becoming the talk of the town (god that was a terrible line). For me personally, I have Gorilla Manor but it’s not an album I seem to have time for; I don’t sometimes think to myself, “ooh I feel like listening to Local Natives” because they haven’t quite made a suitable impact yet. But all that’s about to change! People need to realise they’re underrated and go listen to them!

9. /\/\ /\ Y /\ M.I.A

She might not be Sleigh Bells, but she still wrote some epic tracks this year, especially XXXO and Born Free. Do I need to say anything except XXXO XXXO? M.I – M. I – M.I –A! I think she’s incredibly nutso and paranoid and her music’s saturation with politics annoys me but she’s made an amazingly innovative record with Maya so I’ll let her on the list.

10. My Best Friend is You Kate Nash

I LIKED IT OK. Fair enough, it wasn’t as good as her debut, and she went in this weird, riot grrl direction that ended up alienating the majority of her fans but at least she had the guts to make the music that she wanted to instead of sticking to the template that worked before. Kate has strayed away from pop here and hit this darker, heavier side of herself that doesn’t always work (I can’t figure out if ‘Mansion song’ is absolute genius or absolute shit) but like I said, she had the guts to do it and for that I salute her.

Bands I would NEVER consider putting on this list: Gorillaz ‘Plastic Beach’, Mark Ronson & the Business International, DELPHIC (I think that was 2009 but any excuse for some broadcasted hate). Etc.

THOUGHTS! OPINIONS! TELL ME! XXX

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT

2010-09-01T11:28:00.000-07:00

Here are some terrible things I've been subjected to recently...

The Drums covering Arcade Fire's We Used to Wait

As if I couldn't hate Lostprophets enough. (I know it's old, but it's still terrifying).

To make yourself feel better, check this out.

PHWOAR. Kanye, Jay Z, Rick Ross, Bon Iver & Nicki Minaj.

IT'S LIKE A MEETING OF MINDS, GENRES, EVERYTHING.

READING FESTIVAL 2010

2010-08-31T15:19:00.000-07:00

Many months ago, I said you will never return to Reading once you’ve been to Glastonbury.
Now I have my voice back and scrubbed the permanent marker graffiti from my arms, I have severely changed my tune. Reading is dirty, terrifyingly riotous and full of mostly teenagers but my god. It is still very, very good.

I won’t bore you with the details of Thursday, mainly because this isn’t a personal blog and also, passing out through drunkenness by 10pm wasn’t very rock n’ roll of me. Jesus. I might be older but I am in no way wiser.

Friday started with Two Door Cinema Club, a band whose album I played so many times I got tired of it to be honest. Their tunes are jazzy and worthy of a singalong but I’m not sure their live set gave much to write home/here about. Big Pink followed, with Velvet being as atmospheric and heart-wrenching as ever and Dominos stirring up a riot in the mid-afternoon NME tent. Lead singer Robbie Furze treated us to an intimate, slowed-down version of Velvet towards the end of the set, which in theory should have been brilliant but actually made me realise that all the glory and emotion of the original exists within the intense distortion of the guitars and bass.

My first nice surprise of the weekend came in the form of Beardyman. Not expecting to be a fan, I found the atmosphere amazing and used my time there to dance like a gangster/twat. Caught a bit of Delphic involuntarily, followed by a surprisingly rowdy set from Mumford & Sons. As darkness set over Reading Festival, I kept seeing fights break out; Mumford being the most unusual band for this to happen during?!

I chose Marina & The Diamonds over Guns & Roses and after the onslaught of bad reviews – both from the media and angry drunk festival goers – I’m glad I chose the former. Marina was beautiful of course, quipping “Look! I’m female AND headlining!” and treated us to a beautiful run through of the majority of album showing she has the talent as well as the chat. I sang every single lyric into the left ear of my best friend and we both took great pleasure in yelling, “OH MY GOD SHE LOOKS JUST LIKE SHAKIRA”.

Saturday marked the day of hot men and 12 hours of pure musical nirvana for me. I got up nice and early and shot down to the arena by myself so I could catch as much as possible during what I suspected would be the best day of my life.
I started off with the Walkmen, who were good but I can’t help but think they will never do better than The Rat?

The Crookes were next and they definitely blew the cobwebs away, what with all the hip shaking and the cutesy Vampire Weekend-ness of the Sheffield 4-piece.
Swung by Everything Everything next to see what all the fuss was about and their synth-attack cover of Rihanna’s Rude Boi and general funky-dunk electro rhythms won me over.

No one was going to wow me as much as Band of Skulls however, who provided my first sleazy rock and roll injection of the day. ‘I Know What I Am’ got the crowd jumping in unison and there was a surprising amount of steam coming off the crowd for a 1pm set.

BBC Introducing Stage was my next destination, catching the end of Rotating Leslie while waiting for Lady Fortune. The atmosphere around the Introducing Stage is always warm and loving and the bands are always ecstatic to be there playing so it proves to be an amazing experience even if you don’t know the band. Rotating Leslie were very good, very rowdy and clearly putting 110% into the performance.

Lady Fortune were, as to be expected, freaking amazing. The genius of the lyrics continued to blow me away, as well as the general cheekiness and loveliness of the band themselves. The 3-piece clearly has a very dedicated fan base already, as I watched a group of ten boys beat each other up for the entire duration of the band’s set (with smiles on their faces). Lead singer Nick had to stop at one point and ask for them to calm down because, er, “My mum’s standing just there.”
Modest Mouse brought all their tender intimacy off their records and onto the main stage at Reading with such fervour that they cemented their reputation as one of the most underrated indie rock bands of all time. ‘Float On’ reverberated across the muddy field and caught the hearts of everyone watching.
I wasn’t too enthused about The Maccabees after last time I saw them, but they completely made up for it as the sun came out on Saturday afternoon. ‘First Love’, ‘Toothpaste Kisses’ and the rest of their goodies sound so much better in a festival setting than in a gloomy old gig venue.
Second surprise of the weekend was Darwin Deez, not because of the songs but because of some awe-inspiring dance routines to the likes of Beyonce and Miike Snow. Absolute genius, totally worth seeing him live for.

The Likely Lads were next, Bilo & Biggles, Pete & Carl, the ones I have waited six years to see live. Obviously, it was amazing. The whole set was an absolute screamfest; me making my friends serenade me with What Katie Did and almost having a heart attack right after hearing the first NOTE of Time For Heroes.

My night was completed by the godlike geniuses that Arcade Fire. I spent the whole run up to the festival looking forward to hearing the new record live but it was the old classics like Neighbourhood #3 (Power Out), Rebellion (Lies) and Wake Up that really shook me up into a ecstatic, barefoot dancing, voice-loss frenzy. The whole day was so good that I crashed into my tent as soon as I got back from the bands. Exhausted, happy, life sorted.

Sunday had a lot to live up to. It started with 4.45pm Limp Bizkit because I was too shattered from the night before to get out of my tent and we also get a bit rained in at lunchtime. Fred Durst & Co were ruddy amazing, they’ve always been that fantastic brand of mainstream nu-metal that appeals to almost everyone. Kele was next, playing a brilliant Bloc Party montage, finishing with Flux but still managing to impress old fans with his new solo material.
Weezer were the final nice surprise, a band whose songs I knew but wouldn’t consider myself a fan. Rivers Cuomo is a brilliant front man, donning a furry animal hat and a blonde wig while treating the crowd to an impressive mash up of MGMT’s ‘Kids’ and Lady Gaga’s ‘Poker Face’.
I was very much looking forward to Foals and they didn’t disappoint. ‘Spanish Sahara’ was amazing, but it was Yannis’ stage antics (climbing the pillars, giving the mic to randoms in the crowd) and ender, ‘Electric Bloom’ that really stole the show. Clearly a band who favour their first album over their second.

“You sir, are no Slash.. but you are a Tom Delonge”.

The weekend ended with one of the best sets, Blink 182. Everything about their set was perfect – the song choices, the nostalgia, the on-stage banter between Mark and Tom. It was as if they haven’t aged or even been away in all this time. Tom was incredibly off key for the majority of the time but we didn’t even care because it was still a great performance. Jaws dropped towards the end of the set as the encore started with an amazing, one-of-a-kind drum solo from the one and only Travis Barker, complete with revolving drum platform. There was this really tense moment at the end where I thought ‘Are they going to play it?’ and then that unmistakable riff from Dammit cut in and I had about 10,000 vodka-drenched kittens into the mud. Wow.

I lost count of how many of my favourite songs I heard this weekend but it was an incredible, unforgettable weekend that really changed my mind about the wild, teenage-flavoured 4 day riot that is the irreplaceable Reading Festival. BRING ON 2011.

Reading Festival: 10 Must-See Bands

2010-08-25T04:31:00.000-07:00

1. The Libertines

I don't need to tell you how good they are. All you need to do is read all the reports from last night's "live rehearsal" at the HMV forum. My favourite report was this one, written by Jeff Maysh.
They're so British, so romantic and the exciting chaos caused by their reunion has made my heart swell with every tweet I read. I can't imagine a time when they will stop being my favourite band.

2. Arcade Fire

The Suburbs was released at quite a crucial time for AF because there has just been long enough for everyone to fall in love with it and become curious whether the band can produce all the magic and love live onstage. I saw them Reading 2007 as the sun was setting and it was brilliant, so I'm curious how they will fair in an after-dark, headline slot.

3. Lady Fortune (BBC Introducing)

This is the new shit. Seriously. If you like The Libertines, Arctic Monkeys, Razorlight - all that fundamentalist indie music that solely relies on guitar chords and clever vocals then you will love these. There's not a fucking synth in sight which makes me swoon quite a lot. It's gritty and brilliant, every new song I hear astounds me lyrically. Check them out here.

4. Modest Mouse

Still relatively alien to the mainstream, Modest Mouse feel like a special secret band that no one else realises the genius of yet. With quite an early slot on the mainstage on Saturday, I wonder how their soft intimate american indie rock will come across in such a wide open space.

5. Big Pink

Phwoar, these are amazing and I can't wait to see them live again considering I missed them at Glastonbury because of Shakira, or Snoop Dogg or someone else unworthy. They're so gloriously heavy but at the same time manage to channel so much tenderness, so much intimacy, the sort of heart-wrenching emotiveness that makes me want to cry a little bit. They're one of those bands people are going to shrug off because they're not quite heavy metal and they're too noisy to be indie pop, but I hope there are some sensible people in the Reading crowd who will squeeze in that sweaty Radio 1 tent to create some frenzy.

6. Blink 182

How can you not see them? Take Off Your Pants and Jacket was released NINE YEARS AGO. Does this make you feel old? Half the kids at Reading were SEVEN when it was released. SEVEN!!! I'm going to see them for the nostalgia (as are most I assume because they haven't released an album in yonks). Dammit was the first (and last) song I ever learned to play on guitar when I was 14 and dressed like this. Love love love.

7. Band of Skulls

When I saw these babies at Glastonbury I'd just had to sit through fucking Shakira and it was an absolute breath of fresh air. The bass and the sleazy male/female vocals and the bass (have I mentioned the bass?) and the slick guitars. I'm baffled as to why these aren't as big as The White Stripes yet because they're just as good, raucous, sexy. These are a need-to-see.

8. Little Fish (BBC Introducing)

Fresh for supporting Blondie, this male-female duo are the next big thing for all the grungey little teenage girls who need a new rock n roll poster girl to idolise. Lead singer Juju is a firecracker, sliding between screamo guitar thrash into heartfelt rock ballads. It's a shame these clash (I assume) with some other big headliners because people need to see how great these are.

9. Foals

Have I ever told you my Foals story? I bought Antidotes on sale in Woolworths (lol) and I was so repulsed by it when I got it home that I returned it for my £5.99 back. I really did not want that stone-hearted disco shite in my record collection. When I heard they were releasing a second album, I couldn't wait to rip it to shreds all over again.
Sadly for the part of me that loves to hate, I LOVE TOTAL LIFE FOREVER. Those catchy synthy parts of 'Antidotes' were injected with all this emotion, all this human credibility to make an extroadinarily experimental well-produced album.

10. British Sea Power

For the foliage lols!

I'll be there. Probably pulling this face:

Klaxons - 'Echoes'

2010-08-11T10:12:00.000-07:00

I'm back in love again.

Klaxons have been gone for almost FOUR years but I'm teetering on the edge of forgiveness.
The deal will be sealed as soon as Surfing the Void proves to be as ground breakingly mesmerising and addictive as 2006's Myths of the Near Future.

I was bloody annoyed at Glastonbury '08 when these nu-rave banshees turned out to be the Special Guests even though they hadn't released an album for years. I loved Myths but after two disappointing live performances (Reading '07, Glasto '08), I grew tired and bored of Klaxons, and I don't think I was alone.

The boys have a lot to live up to considering how long their fans have waited for this new album (due out 23/8). This latest single however is a promising start, with it's swirling romantic chorus giving that space-age punch that got me really excited and made me buzz around my halls in my first year of University (amazing timing for that album to come out!).

I reckon 'Echoes' is going to become a firm favourite on the radio within the next few weeks and with the release of the album as well, Surfing the Void is going to swarm the music press and the television and every other pop culture orifice just like before.

Klaxons are back and I reckon it's going to be monumental.

Lady Fortune (BBC Introducing Stage, Reading Festival)

2010-08-05T23:47:00.000-07:00

Remember when indie music used to be integral?
Before nu-rave was born, back when electro was only heard in discotheques and the holy trinity of guitar-drums-bass was all the NME cared about.
The year that I was 16 (2004), was a great year for music. The Libertines were on their last legs but they were still important, Razorlight were thriving as were The Strokes, The Cribs and Morrissey's solo career. 2004 was the year that murmurs started about a band called Arctic Monkeys and British guitar rock was in its prime. It was all about British charisma, grit not glamour and no one felt the need to throw a synth in to make their music sound better.

It has taken me almost six years to find a band that channels that same integrity.
Telford 3-piece Lady Fortune are here to save the day.

'It Ends and Starts in a Dark Room' is monumental not-to-be-missed slice of indie pop brilliance. Starting out with a bolshy Art Brut-esque lyrical spin, with the genius line,

I bet Shakespeare couldn't cheer /at the idea that romance / would be seen on a phone screen

The track then flourishes into a gorgeous mix of Strokes-esque guitars, woo-oohs and the sort of frighteningly good indie chorus not heard since the pre-electro days.

'It Ends and Starts...' is a graphically honest portrait of modern British society, with the sort of vocal cheekiness and bluntless that made Alex Turner such a hero.

There is not one thing wrong with this track in my opinion.
The fact that the main lyrical hook ("Kaaatie wants to be your girlfriend") has my name in it doesn't make me biased at all. Nope, not one bit.

Their latest EP features the lead track, 'Elephant Juice' and a slow'un called 'Twit' that comes across lyrically as Telford's answer to 'Hey There Delilah'.

Lady Fortune are a brilliant rehash of every good sound that has happened in the last decade of music. It's raw, personal, humorous, with brilliant insight into society while still sounding really good.

This is it! I'm willing to bet money Lady Fortune will soon be MASSIVE.

What do you think?

http://www.myspace.com/LadyFortune

Reading Festival 2010 preview (Part 1)

2010-08-05T12:09:00.000-07:00

I only bought a ticket for Reading Festival to see The Libertines.
This is a well known and accepted fact among my friends and I’m not ashamed of it.

Once a veteran attendee to the Richmond Avenue site, I called it a day in 2007 after having a shit time that year. Over the years – coincidentally as they increased the capacity - Reading Festival started getting rowdier, more violent; festival goers were losing respect for each other, setting strangers’ tents on fire and generally the atmosphere wasn’t one I wanted to be in anymore. I discovered the delights of Glastonbury in 2009 and swore I would never bother with the teen dream Kerrang-flavoured rampage that was Reading Festival ever again.

Back in the good old days... when tickets were £135!

Until that fateful day of course, when The Libertines announced their reformation. I had been waiting six years to hear that news! I dreamt of a time when I’d go to a Pete Doherty solo gig and Carl would appear and we’d all have an old-fashioned knees up to our own personal visions of the Arcadian dream. No more dreaming now because all of my beloved likely lads (John! Pete! Carl! Gary! All on one stage!) have been ball-and-chain contracted into a million-pound deal to play Reading Festival.

It's all about the foliage. Guess the band and we'll be friends for life.

The night that tickets went on sale, I tried for hours to get them. I hadn’t even had a sniff of entering my card details when they sold out. One of my friends found me in Morrisons Car Park that night, looking like my dog had just died.

The next day, tickets miraculously were available again. We tried, and failed again.

The day after that, I found myself shut in the toilet cubicle at work, whispering my card details out to one of my friends who was frantically typing them into the computer.

Supposedly, you’ve guessed the next bit.

The 'Reading drums'. Equally loved and detested.

If you ever meet me in real life, you should ask me how much I really sacrificed in order to go to Reading Festival this year (My sudden decision to pack up and move to London was not as spontaneous as you might think). The truth is, I just couldn’t miss the opportunity to catch The Libertines live. August Bank Holiday weekend will be a monumental one in the history of British music and nothing in my life was important enough not to sacrifice for it.

After all, I heard that if you have lost your faith in love and music then the end won’t be long?

Part II a.k.a not the blogging equivalent of an Albion wank tissue, soon, I promise.

All the pictures featured here are from my own personal bank of festival photos 2004-07!

Album Review: Arcade Fire - The Suburbs

2010-08-03T11:01:00.001-07:00

This is the fourth time I have written this review.

It’s so hard to review an album that the rest of the world have already branded the next messiah of rock music, especially when you are not a massive Arcade Fire fan in the first place.

Luckily, I waited. I wrote four different reviews. I gave the record endless re-listens.

The thing I found so fascinating about this album was the way in which it was recorded. The band cut every song onto a twelve-inch record and then retransferred every track back onto digital format. Once you learn this fact, you notice the slightly muffled effect this process has had on the recording. At first, this was one of my reasons for not being all that impressed with The Suburbs; it lacked a certain crispness I was so used to hearing in modern musical output.

In the first week that I had a copy of The Suburbs, I listened to it in the car or while I was sitting at my computer, doing other things. I initially couldn’t get into it – I found it bland and hard to empathise with. My best friend declared that it “had no hits”. I agreed with her. Nothing here was grabbing my attention.

It wasn’t until I gave The Suburbs the attention it deserved (computer off, door shut), that I began to realise the true magic of the record.

It is as if Arcade Fire are making us work a little harder to get the treats from The Suburbs. You need to finish a book to know the full story and The Suburbs demands a meditated focus on each of the 16 tracks to realise the story they’re trying to tell.

Arcade Fire aren’t a band made for our 24-hour ephemeral society.

As a music reviewer, I am greedy with what I hear; I try and find all the brilliance in the first few listens and if it isn’t there: I write it off. We are distracted by originality, by quirkiness, by the endless costume changes of Lady Gaga. We don’t take the time to look deeper into our records, into the breathtaking layers of songs like ‘City with No Children’ and ‘Ready to Start’. The penetrating guitar hooks, the lyrical genius. It is all here if you’d just look a little closer.

The truth is, Arcade Fire are not ‘cool’ and that is why some of us aren’t immediately drawn to them. There are no gimmicks or affectation here.

In interviews and features, they don’t seem to care about fame or success; they genuinely seem to care about making music that speaks to people.

In time, I’m beginning to love this album like you would a weird-looking boy who won’t stop pestering you to go out with him.

There’s this little part of me – this quiet part of me – that adores this record. I can feel myself resisting because I’m so used to looking for stark naked originality. Arcade Fire have collated all the beautiful parts of the last few decades of music, extracted the subtle yet breathtaking nostalgia and injected it into a record that can neither be labelled modern nor old-fashioned.

The Suburbs brings about a wash of longing that you just can’t put your finger on. It’s not nostalgia for a time or a place; it’s nostalgia for a feeling. A quietness and a calm that used to exist before modern life became such a rush.

I have no doubt The Suburbs will grow on me further. There are moments like ‘Month of May’ where you realise how ambitious Arcade Fire have been by making this album. It was a big leap of faith and luckily the record has been received with smiling faces and written applause all round.

The big question now is; will any other album released in 2010 live up to this?!

You can find some v. good reviews of The Suburbs on MiscMusicReview and LikeSounds xx

Laura Marling IMO

2010-07-29T10:10:00.000-07:00

[source]

Last night I came home to find a comment on my Mercury Music Prize post telling me I was 'a big ignorant' for writing off Laura Marling in half a sentence.

I was tempted to start a bLoG wAAAAAAAAr !!11 with Ashley Taunton of likesounds, but instead realised -
Actually.. I have been a little bit ignorant of Laura Marling.

[source]

Before last night, I never even bothered to give I Speak Because I Can the briefest of spins on Spotify. This is because of one mediocre day in Amsterdam 2008, I watched Laura Marling at Lowlands Festival and I found her pretty boring.

The thing that irks me the most about Laura Marling is that she is one of the most successful female folk singer-songwriters; but why?
She doesn't sound much different from the hundreds of female-fronted folk outfits that arise out of the rural folk music-inspiring corners of England.
WearsTheTrousers.com do a great job of reviewing and promoting female artists and 60% of the bands they host SOUND LIKE LAURA MARLING. She wasn't the first female folk singer and she isn't the last, so why is she getting special treatment?

Lowlands Festival, Amsterdam, August 2008

I listened to I Speak Because I Can last night for the first time. I must admit, there were some moments on the record where I was completely enthralled by the 20-year-old's delicate tenderness, regardless of how much I tried to fight it. There were some remarkable 10/10 moments where she was dark, haunting and quirky; breaking away from the grain of female folk music always sounding like that bit in Titanic when Kate Winslets dances in the lower class cabins.
Or Norah Jones.

But these moments were few, and in my opinion mostly achieved by the astounding production of the album courtesy of Ethan Jones (Rufus Wainwright, Kings of Leon).
The album is made up of a familiar folk sound, overworked over the years by so many artists and Marling's voice - although breaktaking at times - could easily be mistaken for just another female folk singer.

So Ashley, I agree with you (to an extent) that I was ignorant to write off Laura Marling's album in half a sentence. Here, I have written her off in a blog post.
IT'S AN OKAY ALBUM but in my opinion it lacks so much in terms of originality, HITS, innovation and just plain, oomph.

Kitty Empire of the Guardian sums Marling up quite well;

"Marling remains a frustratingly polite songwriter rather than one who really skewers you through the solar plexus."

I Speak Because I Can is not a bad album, but neither is it worthy of the Mercury Music Prize.

Regardless of them being the trigger of this rant, I would like you to know that I still think likesounds are bloody amazing and I hope they still love me too after this.

Peace! x

UkMusicReviews Week Ending 25/7

2010-07-26T13:12:00.000-07:00

Two amazing bands I had the fortune of reviewing last week:

Breton - Sharing Notes EP
Grimey, British, sounds fresh from the street (and the heart) Read my review here

Little Fish - Whiplash

Ironically supported Blondie the day after I described lead singer as "a female punk icon for all of us who weren’t born in time to idolise Blondie herself." Read the review here

I'd like to take this moment to say how much I frickin' love UkMusicReview.
I've been writing for them since 2008 and watching it grow from strength to strength - both in popularity and quality - has been a real privilege.
It started off as a simple, good-natured project, acting as a platform for music reviews, but inadvertedly giving voice to unknown bands and amateur writers.
Being a part of UKMusicReview has benefited me beyond belief. It has given me the confidence to write more, the motivation to keep writing and being a part of it for the last two years has given me a priceless feeling of wellbeing.
So therefore, swing by and have a peek at the place. Get involved if you fancy it. Read our reviews and do the most important things you could ever do - COMMENT.

:)

Mercury Music Prize 2010 Nominees Announced

2010-07-24T03:08:00.000-07:00

Does anyone remember Speech Debelle?
She was a nice girl and had some good lyrics but after a 500% increase in album sales following her Mercury Music Prize win last year, she sort of bellyflopped into obscurity didn't she? Although 'Speech Therapy' was a good album, I agree with every other critic out there who said she just didn't have any hits. I think 'Speech Therapy' won last year for it's freshness - A female rap record from a relatively unknown in amongst all those indie-schmindie NME darlings.

Speech was up against acts like Florence & The Machine and Friendly Fires last year, so her success was a surprise to many. However, the judging of Mercury Music Prize claims to be based on music quality alone, and album sales/success are completely disregarded.
I'm intrigued as to how they achieve this utopian dream. Are the judges locked away between the months of August 2009 and 2010? Forced to live a sad tuneless life until the nominations are announced and they're allowed to listen to the 12 nominated albums?
In all fairness, how can it be an objective process? Judges will have already formulated their own views about this year's nominated albums that they're familiar with (and those they aren't familiar with, they will probably disregard).
So the winner of this year's Mercury Music Prize will either be the unanimous favourite or, as demonstrated last year, everyone will try and pick the most unheard-of in an attempt to break away from what is expected.

Enough political analysis of the judging; here's who I want to win:

Beautiful, delicate, slowly become adored and understood by everyone.
My XX album is feeling as worn out as Shakira's coffee machine. I am so familiar with every note that I do that annoying thing where I sing the lyrics/do some air guitar seconds before the record does. In their early years, the XX's rehearsals would be whispered in Romy's bedroom as not to wake her parents. Minimalism never sounded so deep. The XX should win for originality alone.

I think I Am Kloot would be a justified winner. They've been struggling for mainstream recognition for years now and I think a Mercury Music Prize win would be well deserved.

Although the Foals album is a good'un, I don't think they need the £20,000 or the recognition. Total Life Forever still shows signs of everything that was bad about Antidotes, and I think they still need to learn their lesson about that.

Dizzee Rascal and Biffy Clyro are nothing special in my opinion. Laura Marling sounds like every other female folk singer and Corine Bailey Rae...? Don't even get me started, she definitely doesn't have enough oomph to deserve 20k!

I am still undecided about Wild Beasts; yet another vocalist that sounds like Ian Curtis, do they have anything that sets them apart from everyone else?

Mumford & Sons have a good shot. 'Sigh no More' is an amazing album and I think the only reason they have acquired haterz is because their songs are bloody everywhere. There's so much fire in their music and like The XX, their album can suit moods of happiness and sadness, which is the true key to success in my opinion.

Villagers and Kit Downs Trio are the two bands I'm most unfamiliar with. I think the lesser-knowns are going to get the most unbiased judgements, which is probably why Speech Debelle made such an impact last year.

From what I've heard of Villagers they sound like Simon & Garkfunkel-esque outfit, with a good chance of winning. Again, I think they deserve the recognition that the prize will grant them. Kit Downs Trio are an interesting jazz outfit, instrumental I think, and quite frankly - regardless of their obvious talent - don't really have a chance in hell. Or do they?

We don't really know which way the judging is going to go. This time last year I was getting into the XX and it irritated me endlessly that they weren't recognised enough and now, they're relatively more successful but they still aren't mainstream. I still go into work and the majority of my musically apathetic colleagues don't have a clue what I'm talking about.

But what should the Mercury Music Prize really be about? Recognition? Quality of music? The poorest band who would benefit from 20k?

What do you think? Comments mucho appreciated!

UKMusicReview: Collapse Under the Empire

2010-07-19T15:13:00.001-07:00

"Instrumental artists are the geeks of the music industry. Just like geeks at school, they are usually misunderstood and quietly brilliant."

Read more here.

The Crookes

2010-07-07T11:49:00.000-07:00

[source]

I'm getting a bit sick of this 'chilled' phase that British music seems to be going through.
It was the quieter bands like The XX and Mumford & Sons who came away from Glastonbury with rave reviews. No one really seemed to 'rock' the festival because apparently all British music lovers want nowadays is delicate, folk, chilled, minimalisitic, slow, twingy-twangy or ballad-like.
No grit. No riotousness. Not even moderate toe-tapping.

So this discontent led me to fall carelessly in love with the first new band I heard who sounded remotely upbeat. Hello, The Crookes, How are you?#

Immediate judgements will scream 'Vampire Weekend!', but there's a lot more depth to this band than the emotionless quirkiness of VW. Coming from Sheffield yet straying away from the laddish sound now synonomous with the Yorkshire town, The Crookes are swooning romantics, with a 50s edge and Ba-Ba-Ba's that belong in a Grease production.
There's nothing archaic here, however. In the same way The Libertines pushed ideas of Albion and Arcadia, The Crookes are trying to lace the present music scene with the romanticism of the past.
On 'Bloodshot Days', Vocalist George Waites manages to mimick that low, rumbly emotional pull within his vocals that has worked so well for Alkaline Trio's Dan Adriano.
'Through the Cat's Whisker' is like that moment at the end of an indie disco when the slow songs come on and the pissheads dance together like the first dance at a wedding. And just when you thought they couldn't get any better, Waites sings "Loved you for your moves", which is the sort of humorous indie lyric that gets a thumbs up from me.

The band play Reading & Leeds Festival so I'll be sure to catch them then. Check them out on Myspace and Spotify.

GLASTONBURY 2010 REVIEW

2010-06-29T12:59:00.000-07:00

After spending Tuesday night sleeping in the car park, Wednesday watching the football and Thursday meeting Prince Charles, the main appeal of Glasto – the music – officially started on Friday. (With the exception of TDCC on Thursday night, who I didn't get to see because The Queen's Head was so packed out).

First band of the day was Peggy Sue on The Park stage. “They sound like Kate Nash in a band,” I told my friends, which wasn’t entirely untrue. The Brighton duo does have some similarities to Kate but they replace all of her pop quirkiness with a subtle darkness that makes their thorough fem-rock addictive. The Park was a perfect stage for them to play as it was such a chilled atmosphere over there.

After Peggy Sue, we did the long trek to the John Peel stage for Miike Snow and Tegan and Sara. Exhausted from the heat, we had to sit well back but Miike Snow’s set still sent electric currents across the field. Tegan & Sara were brilliant and really entertained the crowd with classics like ‘Where Does the Good Go?’ and ‘Back in Your Head’.

We stuck around for some of Bombay Bicycle Club, discussed the possible geek-sexiness of frontman Jack Steadman and then branded them “nothing special”, before moving on for Snoop Dogg.

As a long-lasting Bloc Party fan, the choice between clashing Snoop Dogg and Kele was a hard one. Snoop is the sort of act you wouldn’t pass up the chance of seeing, but I wasn’t expecting great things from him. How wrong was I?

Cordozar Calvin Broadus, aka Snoop Dogg, is one of the best performers I have ever seen. His whole persona is a giant theatrical enigma; the gangsterism, the drug references, his indiscreet love of the ladies. Whereas I was expecting a hostile, egotistical hip-hop star, what we actually got was a cheeky, down-to-earth performer, humble yet confidently entertaining.

When he opened with The Next Episode, I didn’t even know what to do with myself. A legendary tuuuune that has followed me through my teenage years, played at parties, hollered along to in the car with my friends. The sun was beating down on us and I couldn’t control my exhilaration.

(Lol @ Fiona going, "Nooo!")

I never imagined Hip Hop would work in a festival atmosphere but with a live band and an intense bass; Snoop Dogg’s set was as crisp and atmospheric as any rock giant could have been. (Apologies for the bad quality; iPod Nanos are terrible for filming live music, but I like to think I caught the crowd elation here quite well!)

Rolling out the hits like ‘Beautiful’ and ‘Gin and Juice’, Snoop Dogg is the sort of artist where you know more of his material than you realise. This Friday afternoon set and the emergence of Snoop Dogg during the Gorillaz set later on, cemented the UK’s adoration for him much like what happened to Jay Z in 2008.

Absolutely stunned from Snoop Dogg, I knew whoever I saw next wasn’t going to make a great impression. The next act I saw was Florence & The Machine. I will never understand how I can love her album ‘Lungs’ to the absolute bare bones but every time I see her live I’m disappointed. Quite frankly, I think having her on the Other Stage was a complete mistake; she’s made a Pyramid-shaped name for herself easily. Did Vampire Weekend (who were playing at the same time on Pyramid) really draw in a larger crowd than the artist who’s album probably exists in every household in the UK?

We abandoned Florence after a few minutes. It was hot and crowded and we were feeling very impatient about the Special Guests on the Park stage. Rumours were flying around about Thom Yorke and then, in all his tennis-related glory, he walked out onstage.

Don’t judge me readers, but before last Friday, I didn’t think much of Radiohead. I was given a copy of OK Computer years ago and although I liked it, it went into the pile with Mumford & Sons, Damien Rice and other slow-mo, music to cry about boys to.

Naturally, they blew me away. My friend & I had an in-depth analysis of Radiohead’s music, mood and albums following the set and she has assured me that OK Computer was an unsuitable album to judge the band on.

A combination of their innovative sounds, Thom Yorke’s characteristically comforting vocals and equally, his amazing dancing woo’d me good and proper. I thought Snoop had stolen my heart on Friday but unpredictable it seemed Thom Yorke was also a contender!

(At the end, you can hear my beautiful friend Chloe making a noise like an injured sealion. Priceless)

Anyone who witnessed Thom Yorke’s secret set will tell you that Karma Police was the unquestionable highlight. Yorke’s vocals were drowned out by the crowd punching the air and chanting, ‘FOR A MINUTE THERE, I LOST MYSELF’. When the song had finished, the crowd carried on yelling, ‘FOR A MINUTE THERE, I LOST MYSELF’. Once the band had left the stage completely and we were walking over to a different stage, there were throngs of people still chanting, ‘FOR A MINUTE THERE, I LOST MYSELF’. It is times like these that the true power of a song is realised. The sheer unity felt by thousands of people singing a song together because they love it THAT much shows why festivals like Glastonbury in the first place.

With my heart undecided between Snoop Dogg and Thom Yorke, what was I supposed to do with one of my other heroes, Carl Barat? A cheeky-chappy onstage, it is no surprise to me that he debuted in theatre recently. His solo stuff sounds good, although I think I – like many others in there – were just waiting for Libertines covers.
Carlos is very chatty, albeit slightly mumbly, onstage and a brilliant moment came where he said;

“Did you actually just shout Where’s Pete?... You’ll see him at Reading!”
And then almost self-conciously he said,
“Do you want some old stuff then?”
CROWD: “Yeeeeah!”
“But do you like the new stuff, right?”
CROWD: “Yeahhh!”
Lololol.
Everyone went nuts to What a Waster and Don’t Look Back into The Sun. Looking around in the crowd, I noticed everyone just dancing like maniacs as if they had just won a prize.

Back to The Park for The XX after Carl. I was quite pissed by this point and it made the unstoppable, irreplaceable, genius music of the XX 100x better.

We expected them to be electric and they were; their stage set up with the lights and smoke made the experience of watching them all the more thrilling.

One of my favourite parts of Friday was returning to my campsite (complete with Leighton Buzzard flag), and discussing the bands I’d missed with my friends who had seen them. Apparently Florence had come on to perform with Dizzee (ouch :( ) and Snoop had reappeared for ‘Clint Eastwood’ with Gorillaz. So many magical moments – Thank God for YouTube!

Saturday started with Imogen Heap. Crazy, doolally – all my friends that hadn’t heard of her before instantly fell in love with her. A talented songstress, it is unfair for people to judge her on the giant ‘Hide and Seek’ which thrust her out of obscurity. Granted, I haven’t heard much more of her stuff, but her live set on Saturday showed many hidden gems lurking within the albums that aren’t Speak for Yourself.

Oh, Kate Nash. There were occasions during this set where I swelled with affection and others where I cringed with embarrassment for her. What are you up to, Kate? I originally forgave you for abandoning your quirky pop roots and going all riot-grrl but after Glastonbury, I think you may have lost some fans. The new album is a bit hard to stomach as it is, but she didn’t help herself by saying things like, “Come on, you’re at Glastonbury, for fuck’s sake!” as if we were the ones responsible for the entertainment.
She saved herself in my eyes by being so brash and finishing her set by stamping all over her piano, but I think those expecting the cutesy, floral-dressed pop princess that sang Made of Bricks were thoroughly disappointed.

Watching The Dead Weather in the 5pm unrelenting sun at Glastonbury must have been a very sexy affair for everyone watching. With the eerie sexiness of both Jack White and Alison Mosshart, their set was a lesson in the true thunderousity of rock n’ roll. However, I still have trouble falling in love with The Dead Weather; ‘Treat Me Like Your Mother’ and ’60 Feet Tall’ have the pummeling pop aspect but few of the other tracks make a lasting impression on me.

Sadly there were times when I wanted to see bands like Foals and Marina & the Diamonds at the John Peel stage but I was just too hot and tired to walk all the way over there. Did anyone else have this problem? Do you agree that the John Peel Stage was excessively far away from the Other stage and The Pyramid?

Shakira was to be expected, a.k.a boring, mainstream drivel that apart from the occasional ‘hit’ all sounds like someone wanking into my ears. I dozed during the majority of her set while my friends shook their booties in front of me. Miraculously, I heard her announce her cover of the XX and I shot up and out of my Shakoma like Bono out of his wheelchair.

An impressive cover, not groundbreaking but the confused expressions on the moderately-chavtastic crowd around me made it all the more enjoyable.

Mmmm, now for the real deal – The XX’s second set of the weekend. I was quite far from the tent during and sadly, was walking away when the abominable You Got the Love cover sounded across the fields. I like to enjoy the faint memories I have of it though, while watching this video (last five minutes)

The XX are the most amazingly innovative band in the world right now. They’re so interesting and you can tell every song is well crafted into a meeting of notes and vocals. The XX are all about intimacy and delicacy and they are the only band I know of who perfect the two so brilliantly.

Muse bored me and one of my friends fell asleep standing up next to me. I knew all the songs but I just couldn’t connect with their futuristic, dystopian bullshit. The highlight for me was The Edge coming on and performing Where The Streets Have No Name, it was such a fantastic moment for everyone watching as well as the musicians involved.

I spent the entire Muse set dreaming of my sleeping bag and then ridiculously ended up in the Silent Disco until 4am and then simultaneously watched the sun rise while my friend vommed and fell down the hill many, many times. Good times.

Sunday started with Avi Buffalo on The Park Stage. Wailing vocals and tender Death Cab-like guitars was a nice way to see in the last day, even though I felt like I was going to die from 5 consecutive hangovers and no sleep. The band were very young, around 18ish, and were very chatty and self conscious that their instruments weren’t complimenting each other.

I caught a bit of the Temper Trap before sliding backstage to watch the football (thought I better slide that in there). I emerged half time to watch Grizzly Bear but sort of wish I hadn’t. Much to her disgust, I told my Grizzly-loving friend that the band sounds like they’ve “gone off”. There’s some subtle quality there but I couldn’t quite put my finger on what was wrong or right about them. Listening to them was like reading a book written by someone with bad grammar.

We Are Scientists and MGMT were both very good. They are both bands I have seen before and MGMT’s new material impressed me more than the We Are Scientists stuff. Kids was brilliant and the set made me want to look closer at MGMT’s new album, ‘Congratulations’.

I spent the majority of Sunday chasing the prospect of a Strokes reunion onsite. However, I ended up having another anti-Peel stage moment and choosing Faithless over Julian Casablancas. I’m so glad I did because by this time I was feeling uber-emotional through lack of sleep and shed a few tears during those really euphoric moments. Rollo is a superb front man; he seemed absolutely baffled by the number of people in the crowd surrounding the stage and I think he may have shed a few tears himself at the end. Dance music has all the capabilities of being magical but only super groups like Faithless seem to have the audacity to pull it off and clear the paths for the millions of copycat acts of come after them since their formation in 1995.

With no better offers, I settled for Stevie Wonder on the Sunday. I told everyone I wasn’t going to bother seeing him because I wasn’t fussed about him but CRIKEY. How could I not miss that?! A legend among man – Stevie Wonder’s set was the most heart-warming, uniting spectacle of the entire weekend. His set made me realise the true concept of Soul. I only knew the big ones (‘I just called to say I love you’, ‘Signed Sealed Delivered’ and ‘Superstition’) but I still found the other, unknown songs breath-taking to watch. Stevie Wonder is a musical genius and his stage presence is unlike any other I have seen before. He is in a realm of his own as a performer, incomparable and never disappointing.
As he wound up his set, Stevie dedicated ‘Happy Birthday’ to Michael Eavis. The crying started again then as I really love it when little guys like Eavis are given the appreciation they deserve. What he has done for the last 40 years is truly amazing and he’s still so down to earth still. We saw him briefly around the same time Prince Charles arrived in the Greenpeace field and he stopped for a quick chat about how he wishes he’d worn shorts but they probably wouldn’t have been appropriate to meet the future king in. What a great guy!

So Stevie Wonder sings Happy Birthday and Michael Eavis comes onstage and joins in like your Dad on karaoke. We still bloody love it though, because it’s EAVIS, our hero! And Stevie Wonder, the legend! I’m probably crying again by this point because the whole crowd is going nuts singing Happy Birthday and this magnificent, epic festival has been going on for 40 years and we’re here to celebrate with the man himself who created it.

Glastonbury is epic. Glastonbury isn’t just a festival. It is a remarkable source of hope and love and something to be proud to be a part of. Everyone who went this year will be buzzing off the feelings of unity, glory and euphoria for a very long time afterwards.

What did you see/love?
Was there any bands I missed that I should have seen?

x

‘

GLASTONBURY PREVIEW 2010

2010-06-17T10:48:00.000-07:00

The most remarkable place on earth

At Glastonbury, you'll stumble across things that you could never imagine seeing
It is a weird and wonderful place; unpredictable and breath-taking
It will renew your love of live music, life and the kindness of strangers
You will see people more off their face on drugs than you have ever witnessed before

Everyone is elated and happy to be alive

I CANNOT WAIT.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Bands I'll be seeing; Thursday

Two Door Cinema Club are my favourite band of the moment and I'll definitely be catching them on Thursday night.
Local Natives & Chapel Club sound good but there's nothing there that will tear me away from exploring the rest of the excitable mayhem.
I haven't heard much of My Luminaries but from what I have heard they sound gorgeous, a red velvet of heavy Kings of Leon rock mixed with thick, emotional vocals. Recommended.

Bands I'll be seeing; Friday

I hope I get up and go early enough to catch Peggy Sue on Friday. They mix all the cocky sultriness of Amy Winehouse with the haunting ethereality of PJ Harvey and the result is heart warming; like a sexier, cooler Kate Nash. Miike Snow might be unavoidable as will Snoop Dogg.
I'm really looking forward to Phoenix, who I only really got into once I started previewing bands for Glastonbury. Imagine the brilliant addictiveness of Passion Pit with rawer, less squeaky vocals.

I think the Big Question on Friday is; will my friends and I - as loyal Bloc Party fans - go and see Kele? Tenderoni is questionable. I LOVE Kele as a frontman, as an interviewee; he's excellent. But what of this? It sounds like Ibiza Clubland 7 shat all over Bloc Party, and not in that good remix sort of way. I'm not really feeling it but I'll go see him anyway, in some shallow hope he might win my heart live like Bloc Party do every time.

Upsettingly, Big Pink and Florence & The Machine CLASH. I think I might swing more towards Florence because I can always catch my favourite distortion romantics at Reading.
I've heard some very good things about the Special Guests on The Park stage, so I might never forgive myself if I miss who I'm told it might be.

To finish my evening with Carl Barat and the [unstoppable, abominable, crucial] XX sounds like an absolute dream. I cannot express to you how intense The XX are going to be and they're playing twice so you have no excuse not to catch them!

Bands I'm Seeing; Saturday

The brilliantly indie Two Door Cinema Club are playing again on Saturday at 11am.
The legendary and therefore unmissable Imogen Heap (she invented autotune?) is playing later, followed by The Strange Boys who created the brilliant Be Brave.

Saturday seems to be the day for some of the musical heroines in my life; along with Imogen, we have Kate Nash, Marina & The Diamonds, Shakira (!!) and Kelis. Actually can't wait - it will be a day of intense girl power and rocking female musicianship!

Another band I will be sure not to miss on Saturday are Band Of Skulls. I feel sexy just listening to them. Imagine if The Dead Weather were British but managed to retain all their cool. Band of Skulls are from Southampton. They sould like they are from the trendiest place on earth. One of their songs was featured on True Blood, that's how trendy they are. Every song on their album, Baby Darling Doll Face Honey, drips with sex appeal and will make you lust after them. Seriously.
The Dead Weather are also playing Saturday evening. I thought Horehound was 6/10 but Alison Mosshart is a heroine and Jack White alone should not be missed. I expect their album to sound 10x better live with all that fresh air and bass. Mmmmm can't wait.

Bands I'll be seeing; Sunday

Sunday is looking a bleak for me (as is the weather report for the whole weekend, but the less said about that the better).
All the bands highlighted on my little schedule are bands I'm not fussed about missing.
I haven't quite made my mind up about Frightened Rabbit, a brighter Mumford & Sons but do they have the same addictive poppiness? I've seen Temper Trap live before and wasn't massively impressed, dare I say one hit wonders?

I'm interested in seeing Slash but by that point in the weekend, I suspect I will be dragged to Jaguar Skills by my bestie who is shockingly addicted to Dubstep/DnB/shit music. I love her, but she is truly the Ibiza Anthems to my Kerrang.
Shall I bother with The Drums? I like their lyrics but their sound is too nostalgic and their vocals too distant.
I'll be seeing We Are Scientists, MGMT and Julian Casablancas, but I've seen the latter two previously and I'm not too fussed about Julian.
Sunday isn't looking to be too much to write home about, so perhaps that will be the day I discover some glorious unheard-ofs. Fingers crossed!

*~*~*~*

When I'm not busy watching all of those bands, I'm going to be wearing silly hats, drinking vodka out of children's cups, wearing my bikini in the dark, getting welly rash, talking to wasted people, eating pot noodles for breakfast, tripping over guide ropes, inventing words, eating special flapjacks, trying to stay awake all night, making friends at stone circle, watching strippers and various other displays at Shangri-La and Trash City and most importantly, making memories!

See you on the other side! xxx

Who are you looking forward to the most?
Did I miss nay unmissable artists off my preview?

Kimya Dawson

2010-06-12T09:08:00.000-07:00

I've been listening to Kimya Dawson for well over a year now and it was only today I realised that I know very little about her. Her trademark chit-chat vocal style makes her songs very poignant and personal but before today I didn't even know what she looked like.

What was I expecting? In all honesty; the complete opposite of the woman performing in the above video. I was expecting a frail little thing, delicate like her lyrics, ultra feminine, blonde hair, made up, superstar wardrobe.

How ridiculous that I expected all of those things. I've become so used to women in the music industry looking a certain way and weighing very little that I was surprised when I discovered one of my musical heroines was curvacious and tattooed with wild curly hair and - appearance wise - the complete opposite of the stereotypical female pop star.

Another curiousity I've always had about Kimya is, why isn't she more successful? She's more original and quirkier than people like Kate Nash, PJ Harvey etc. so why haven't people caught on to her?
Fair enough, her exposure through the Juno soundtrack catapulted her into a considerably larger spotlight than she was before - but she still isn't really popular is she? I don't think any of my friends know who she is and they aren't complete chart chompers; they are aware of some underground non-mainstream stuff.

Obviously one thought leads to another and I wonder - albeit sadly - whether it is her non-stereotypical appearance that has been a hindrance to the fame she deserves. Kimya is one of the most astounding poets I have ever come across and I think her lack of mainstream success is unjustified.
If you take two of the most successful female artists of 2010, Cheryl Cole and Lady Gaga, as an example, you'll notice that both of these women have had to do so much more than sing their songs in order to scramble to the top of music charts. Perhaps this just proves that the record buying public aren't interested in talent anymore - it's more about image, gimmicks, a pretty face and a 26" waistline.

Another point I would like to make here is that I have always adored the outspokeness of Marina Diamandis (of Marina & The Diamonds) and how she has criticised 'Hollywood' and all that other stuff I've blogged about previously. But sometimes it irks me that although she speaks out against stereotypes etc. Marina is still TINY and absolutely stunning, so sometimes it's hard to accept her empathy when she still fits the part of the stereotype.

Of course it's not Marina's fault she is tiny and beautiful and these aspects of her don't devalue her opinions, but at least in Kimya I have found a famous female role model who doesn't adhere to the ridiculous expectations that society puts on women in the music industry.

UK Music Reviews

2010-06-10T12:29:00.001-07:00

I reviewed two very good bands for UKMusicReview this week,

The Volitains http://www.myspace.com/thevolitains

Electric grrl rock, painfully sharp and sexy. Review here.

Annie Stevenson http://www.myspace.com/anniestevenson

Glaswegian rock n' roll perfection. Review here.

Enjoy!

Alkaline Trio, Camden Roundhouse, 1/6/10

2010-06-02T04:46:00.000-07:00

“If you don’t like moshing, you’re in the wrong place tonight,” Set Your Goals vocalist Jordan Brown warns the first few rows of the crowd.
The Camden Roundhouse looks significantly empty tonight but the San Francisco 6-piece don’t seem too bothered by it. Set Your Goals give 100%, encouraging the crowd to ‘Jump the fuck up!’ and ‘Screeeam!’ even though all they are getting in response are a few bouncy murmurs. Before tonight, I’d already written SYG off as samey Americano punk rock but the live version turned out to be something much more extraordinary. The duel vocalists of Set Your Goals enable them to combine all the cheesy Hollywood and catchiness of pop punk with a grittier hardcore sound reminiscent of Rage Against the Machine. There are certain moments – a set of chords, one wailing lyric – where I realise SYG are doing exactly what they’re here to do tonight, and that is prepare me for the legendary 90s-heartbreak sound of alt giants, Alkaline Trio.

Before that however, there’s a surprise waiting for us. It’s not a very well-kept surprise though because I’ve already read an announcement on Facebook saying that Gallows are playing tonight. I’ve always felt fairly disenchanted by the popular British punk outfit but I’ve heard good things about them live so I was excited to see them.
And my God, was I blown away. Frank Carter may be the most charismatic and – as a result – sexiest front man in modern British punk rock. When you see the scrawny ginger singer in magazines you probably wouldn’t bat an eyelid, but Carter was all of a sudden Kerrang’s answer to Michael Buble. The girls were swooning and even I couldn’t stop my jaw dropping. And he’s so very British, isn’t he?
“Right, move out the way you dumb fuckers,” Carter says to the audience as he clambers down into the crowd. I can’t see what’s going on but it’s obvious the crowd aren’t doing what Carter wants them to do.
“Come on,” he says into the mic. “You’re not going to lose your place, you bunch of Goths.”

HAHA. The music started up, a few vocals came out of where Carter had disappeared into the crowd but after a while, the set developed into an instrumental thrash about onstage. The fans at the front were getting the chance to mosh around and beat the fuck out of Frank Carter but for the rest of the crowd, it was as if we’d paid £18.50 for a party that was going on without us. I suspect it was glorious at the front, but there was something not quite right about the lead singer of Gallows not actually being onstage where he was meant to be. They played a very short set (obviously, because they weren’t even meant to be playing) and although I felt exhilarated afterwards by their sheer intensity of their Sex Pistols-esque revival, I still would’ve liked to hear some more vocals and actually see Gallows’ front man a bit more.

Alkaline Trio’s Godamnnit (1998) may have been one of the first alternative albums I ever bought; after Jack Off Jill’s 'Sexless Demons..' and Nirvana’s 'Nevermind' (standard).
The Chicago 3-piece weren’t only a pivotal part of my musical education but also acted as a melodic crutch during my teenage years when everything was a melodrama and I wanted to wail lyrics about drinking myself to death and so forth. 'Godamnnit' embedded itself in my memory in those crucial moments before music downloads really took off and I no longer had the time or patience to dedicate myself to one record for weeks on end. Trouble Breathing was the anthem of my youth.
Although I once adored them, I lost interest in Alkaline Trio over the years, like we all do at some time or another with our favourite bands. Situations change, you grow up. You stop wanting to dye your hair black and wear studs on your schoolbag. This also meant that I’m not very familiar with Alk3’s newer material. However, when I found out the band were touring this year, I couldn’t resist a little bit of teenage nostalgia.

I was expecting the set to be a riotous typically punk rock affair, but what immediately struck me during the first few songs was the overbearing sadness embodied in a lot of their songs. Very attractive guitarist Matt Skiba - dressed absurdly in a white suit with a bow tie – seemed quite sorrowful throughout openers Private Eye and Armageddon. The real hero tonight however was bassist and vocalist, Dan Adriano. While Skiba has always provided the looks and the pained vocals, Adriano’s vocal input has been that low, almost belly-rumbling heartache sound which makes their music all-the-more passionate.
The crowd were going wild over all the classics; Dine, Dine My Darling, Another Innocent Girl and Clavicle went down particularly well. Predictably, Stupid Kid sent the whole crowd into a wailing frenzy (“You’d be happy on the day I diiie”).

The band disappeared pre-encore. The crowd weren’t ready to leave yet and needed to jumpthefuckaround some more. Upon returning to the stage, Skiba took to the drums and Derek ‘The Reaper’ Grant took to the mic to cover The Misfits’ Skulls.

And then they played Radio.
They didn’t just play Radio, they tore the place apart and ripped hearts out of chests with a storming, angst-ridden version of Radio. One of the most memorable moments of my live music life so far is now hearing hundreds of punk fans screaming:

I’VE GOT A BIG FAT FUCKING BONE TO PICK WITH YOU MY DARLING
IN CASE YOU HAVEN’T HEARD I’M SICK
TIRED OF TRYING
I WISH YOU, WOULD TAKE MY RADIO TO BATHE WITH YOU
PLUGGED IN AND READY TO FALL

Angst. Punk. Nostalgic but not ageing.
Perfection.
10/10

Album review: Kelis - Flesh Tone

2010-05-29T07:53:00.000-07:00

You might find it surprising that Kelis has been around for an entire decade now. She was first catapulted into the Top Ten back in 2000 with the glorious RnB man-smash of Caught Out There.
Flesh Tone is the fifth in a legendary line of meteoric RnB records released by the 30-year-old star and even though we’ve come a long way from 1999’s Kaleidoscope, Kelis’ sound is still as catchy and relevant as ever.

For me, Kelis has always been a stable presence on the music scene for the last ten years. Her 3rd album Tasty - home of renowned pop hit, Milkshake – came out while I was going through a phase of dying my hair jet black and wearing chains on my trousers, but I still bought it; unashamedly letting it sit next to the heavy metal and pop punk in my record collection.

She returns this year with Flesh Tone; the musical equivalent of Godzilla mauling through the music industry and wiping the recent wave of trendy synth-pop outfits from your memory.

She’ll have you from the very first track. Intro is a whirling mass of simple dance beats and manipulative vocals only Kelis could master. 22nd Century is a trance-like club hit while 4th of July combines pianos, synths and a funky dunk Calvis Harris-esque breakdown with a hauntingly gorgeous chorus, ‘Just like the sky/ On the fourth of July’.
Home demonstrates how extensively Kelis has been influenced by house music, throwing her smooth and crisp vocals into the mix, while Acapella is the freshest, most scorching hit off the album – a ‘Milkshake’ for 2010.
Scream shoots towards hardcore trance settings with the overused frenzy-causing line, “Sound the alarm” while Emancipate involves a repetitive chorus that drags the album down from a 10/10. Brave and Song for the Baby seem to suffer from end-of-album syndrome, with the former forgetting that deep and meaningful lyrics don’t belong in dance records and the latter sounding too cheesy pop to fit in the fierceness found in the rest of the record.

Lyrically, Kelis a genius. The only lyrical set-up that works on dancefloors is simplicity and nine times out of ten she hits one-line lyrical nirvana. Take new single, Acapella, for example – how many artists out there are kicking themselves for not thinking of something so simplistically brilliant as ‘Before you/ My life was acapella’? That metaphor is one of the most vividly brilliant lyrics in modern music, in my opinion.

Apart from a few misses, the majority of this album is a confident, fresh wall-thumping album. What amazes me the most about Kelis is her ability to magpie all the latest trends in music (this year it’s dubstep and synth-pop) and combine them with 90s disco nostalgia and house influences to still make an album that is undeniably and brilliantly, Kelis.

Plastic bitch

2010-05-27T11:30:00.000-07:00

Can someone please explain to me the appeal of Gorillaz?

It just sounds like the sort of insensitive noise that you could never fall in love with nor listen to more than once. I like Albarn's vocals but all the shitty synth noise surrounding them makes me want to turn Plastic Beach off and put some Blur on.

I feel everyone is sharing a really funny joke and I'm just not getting it.

Explain?

EDIT 10/6: My journey for explanation continues as I rake through blogs and reviews trying to put my finger on what everyone sees in this album. I'm still fruitless, although I read a very good explanation here as to why people might not immediately warm to the record.

Ivan & The Wolves

2010-05-21T12:26:00.000-07:00

A lot of turgid matter comes out of Camden nowadays, yet rampant rock trio Ivan & The Wolves might just outshine their alt-rock birthplace very quickly in the next few months.

Free of pretension and ostentation, the boys – Anders, Nick and Jack - make the sort of music you’d expect to drift through the walls from next door’s jamming session. Except tonight, it’s the best damn jamming session you ever heard.

Taking their influences from aging rock outfits (T Rex, The Who) as well as modern day stadium giants like Muse and Foo Fighters, the band create a mish-mash of heavy yet unavoidable rock music capable of chasing every soft indie-pop band out of your record collection.

Ivan’s debut EP Urban Bonfire is completely devoid of filler - delivering five unique soon-to-be anthems. SOS, Killing Time and Background Silhouette are catchy enough to tear through London this summer, while the ferocious guitars and vocals of Electric Dreams will leave you wanting so much more. Two Ways is achingly Nirvana; injecting some grimy garage guitars and drawling vocals into an otherwise sharply-produced EP.

Sexy, talented and effortlessly cool – Ivan & The Wolves are an act Simon Cowell could only dream of discovering. I suggest you get on this bandwagon very soon, before it takes off quickly with every sensible music fan on board.

Listen to Ivan & The Wolves here on Spotify

Myspace - http://www.myspace.com/ivanandthewolves

Official website - http://www.ivanandthewolves.com

Album review: Foals - Total Life Forever

2010-05-11T10:18:00.000-07:00

Foals
Total Life Forever

My God. Blue Blood. What a way to start an album!
We were all completely wowed by the tenderness of our first taste of the new album - Spanish Sahara - and how it differed from the expressionless tinkering of first album, Antidotes, but did we ever expect more tender little gems on Total Life Forever?
Yannis Philippakis' vocals excel the most when they're raw and unproduced, but throughout the band's debut and at moments on TLF, the passion in his vocals drowned in quirky little sound effects and over production.
Miami and Total Life Forever have the sort of catchy-pop choruses that will get them radioplay. Spanish Sahara still tears my heart out from the opening few notes and continues to do so throughout the epic 7 minutes.
This Orient is brilliantly Bloc Party; Foals' answer to 'This Modern Love'.
The less said about the 48 seconds of self indulgent instrumental that is Fugue, the better.
After Glow is another 6 minute ditty, that goes from woefully meandering through it's choruses to sounding like a multi-dimensional Hot Chip.
Alabaster is another gentle one you can cry in your bedroom to, while 2 Trees is an ethereal wander-off into a lyricless guitar wank.

Antidotes was emotionless - an irritatingly repetitive attempt at a dance record that fell flat. Foals best moments are when they are chopping up minimalism and mixing it with their traditional complex mass of sound.
Total Life Forever is noise pop; an emotive yet complicated mass of guitars and keyboards. I can only love keyboards when they're making love songs and Foals may have just pulled it off this time. About 50% of it is jaw-droppingly good - the sort of music you want to dump your boyfriend for so you can sit at home listening to it all summer.
The rest is just above average. And that's not a bad effort.
This album won't just soundtrack chilled summer days though, it will be played throughout the night and into the morning. It will soundtrack the parties and the comedowns. Everyone will be talking about it - dissecting each little detail the band spent so long perfecting. Foals have always been about attention to detail and that's what will draw in the lifelong fans as opposed to the trendies who want a quick fix of Math Rock, or whatever experimental sound the NME are pushing this week.
Total Life Forever isn't just the soundtrack to your summer, but an album that will stay with you right through Autumn into Winter. I can't wait!

XBox Reverb: The Maccabees, La Shark & Laurel Collective

2010-05-01T02:50:00.001-07:00

The Village Underground, Shoreditch.
29th April 2010.

There were moments during their set, where I thought Laurel Collective could have owned tonight.
Hand picked by The Maccabees after entering the Xbox Reverb competition, you could see the glory written all over their faces. I have never seen a support band enjoying themselves so much, and why shouldn’t they? Heavy yet dreamy, Laurel Collective sound like an anglicised Temper Trap with warm vocals and a frontman-pairing capable of giving Pete n’ Carl a run for their money. There isn’t a trace of amateurism in their sound – it is well crafted, well written and will undoubtedly be well loved by indie romantics nationwide very soon.

If this band don’t get signed soon, then your suspicions are true about the music industry being full of idiots.

Second support La Shark are the result of what might happen if you were to put the yelping wackiness of Hot Hot Heat through a dirty, filthy shredder and put face paint on the remains.

Frontman Samuel Deschamps is like a devilish rehash of FrankMusik, but it seems tonight someone forgot to tell him the golden rule of being a support band;

“Very few people in the room tonight are here to see you!”

Any good impressions I had of the music was rinsed away by the lead singer’s arrogance. Perhaps it was nerves and/or my imagination, but their set finished with me feeling more grateful it was over than wanting more.

After the harsh pop of La Shark, the crowd needed some soothing vocals and tender guitars to restore our belief in good music, quite frankly.
We were sooo ready at about 9pm, waiting for The Maccabees to come on, but when it got to 10pm and they still hadn’t surfaced, I was ready to give up my spot near the front and sit at the back with Grimmers.

What.
A.
Joke.

And to top it all off, Orlando confessed to being a Fulham fan halfway through his set, at which point I REALISED THEY WERE LATE ON BECAUSE THEY WERE WATCHING THE FOOTBALL. And no girl likes being put second best to the fucking football.

The songs were intense, atmospheric, amazing as usual; First Love and Toothpaste Kisses still sound as heart-wrenching as they did when I first heard them live in 2007. The delicacy of that first line - "Cradle me, I'll cradle you" - made at least three girls pass out on the spot. But something is different about tonight – the band admits they haven’t played live for while but, something’s missing.
The set seems rushed, as if the band were hoping to do a quick run through of the fan favourites and then shoot off to the pub. It was as if we’d all arrived expecting a long night of romance but instead, we got the musical equivalent of a disinterested fuck in an alleyway.

Perhaps it is bad form to judge a live band by the behaviour of their fans but when you’re at a gig with no age restriction and no one bothering to ID at the bar, you can’t help but let that influence your review. And it was a school night.
It has always baffled me how The Maccabees manage to conjure their crowds into the sort of mosh pit frenzy more suited to a Slipknot gig. Mix that with the pre-pubescent female fans climbing over each other to get closer to Orlando and the front few rows become a very dangerous place. Especially when I’m wearing my favourite dress and all I want to do is bob about a bit. Perhaps I’m just getting really old.

All the past times I’ve seen The Maccabees live I’ve come away buzzing and feeling absolutely battered with love, music and affection for the band. Tonight however, I couldn’t help but come away feeling a little let down. I love The Maccabees and they have it in them to be electrifying live, so hopefully by festival season, with some new songs under their belt perhaps, we can expect a less Macabre performance.

Setlist:
william powers
one hand holding
wall of arms
tissue shoulders
can you give it
young lions
dinosaurs
kiss n resolve
toothpaste kisses
first love
lego
no kind words
bag of bones
love you better

Xbox Reverb was an awesome music initiative that allowed fans to co-curate a handful of gigs played across the UK during the last few months. The only way to get tickets was to enter competitions via Facebook and Twitter or to be a bit jammy like me and get yourself on the guestlist. I felt the event as a whole was a great way to get fans really involved and excited about gigs again and gave bands like the Laurel Collective a very significant step up in the music industry.

To see more pictures of the night, especially of the terrifying moments where Felix & Orlando jumped into the crowd and crushed many of their fans, click here.

JJ

2010-04-26T13:10:00.000-07:00

Wow.

[Source]

It seems cover versions have been enchanting my pants off recently.
The most recent act I've stumbled across turning the sort of shit they play in Oceana into a jaw dropping, stomach wrenching cracker of a tune is swedish delicacies, JJ.

Pilfered from We All Want Someone to Shout For, I was left absolutely speechless by the band's ethereal cover of Jeremih's Birthday (Birthday sex! Birthday sex!). Ridiculous yet mesmorising, It's available for free download here.

It's tracks like these that raise questions about what it is that defines good music and awful clubbing shit. By covering this song so beautifully, JJ have basically turned water into wine. I wonder how it feels?

I've had a very, very brief listen of their album JJ No 3, and with its mix of samples, silky vocals and trance music moments, I really don't know what to make of it. They're like Bjork's children combined with the gentleness of the XX; beautifully layered music with odd moments of unconventional noise and samples that don't fit. They're like the geeky boy at school you sort of fancied but couldn't figure out why. Or was that just me?

Album Review: Kate Nash - My Best Friend is You

2010-04-24T04:56:00.001-07:00

Kate Nash
My Best Friend is You
7/10

Nashites across the country have been asking each other the same questions for almost four years now.
Is her second album going to be any good? Is Kate Nash going to change her sound? And what the hell are we going to do if ‘My Best Friend is You’ turns out to be a self-indulgent disaster?

The two sneak peeks we got in the run up to Kate Nash’s album release triggered differing expectations. ‘I Just Love You More’ was unprecedented grrl rock that lodged apprehension in her die hard, floral-dressed legions of fans. But then Do-Wah-Do surfaced – a beautiful little spring ditty that instantly transports us back to that glorious summer of 2006 when ‘Made of Bricks’ was played everywhere, whatever the weather.

Within seconds of album opener ‘Paris’ taking off, you know you’re on familiar territory. All the things that made us fall in love with Kate Nash in the first place are reproduced right here - the cutesy blend of violins and pianos accompanied by the characteristically-Nash mockney lyrics that will make you laugh and swoon at the same time.
Kate’s vocals are as good as they ever were on ‘Kiss that Girl’ and although ‘Don’t you want to feel the guilt?’ starts off as sweet and innocent as her previous material, it transpires into an almost ranting fast-paced number; a clue as to what road the rest of the album will venture down.
As previously mentioned, Kate’s sound wanders into alien territory on ‘I Just Love You More’. The guitars are rotten, the lyrics are desperately drooling and Nash’s vocal style is suddenly more Kathleen Hanna than Lily Allen.
Just in case the shock factor of ‘…Love You More’ caused some fans to wander a little, the following track ‘Do-Wah-Do’ harks back to classic Nash circa 2006. Considering we’ve been waiting almost four years for it, it’s a relief that Nash has managed to mix all the addictive elements of her first album into her comeback single.
‘Take Me to a Higher Plane’ is dripping with familiar Nash sweetness, but the mockney chatter is replaced here by a softer Kimya Dawson vocal style. ‘I’ve Got a Secret’ is a million miles away from the butter-wouldn’t-melt fragility of old favourites ‘Mouthwash’ and ‘Nicest Thing’. The guitars are thrashy, the bass drum is prominent and there are moments were the distortion and atmospherics almost sound like Portishead. Wow – never thought you’d hear that comparison in a Kate Nash review, did you?
If anything is going to bring the reviews down of this album, it’s ‘Mansion Song’. It starts out as a crude yet poetic rant that transpires into a sharp chant (“I am a mansion, I am a mansion, I won’t take none of your shit”) accompanied by tin drums. It’s innovative – yes – but it sounds cringe worthy and unnecessary from an artist who has already trademarked her own, much loved sound, so why change?
‘Early Christmas Present’, ‘Later On’ and ‘Pickpocket’ switch back to the classic Nash template, and Kate is back on lyrical form with one-liners like, “Later on, I’ll cry my stupid eyes out”.
‘You Were so Far Away’ is one of the more tender tracks, channelling Kimya Dawson more than ever. On final song ‘I Hate Seagulls’, Kate is back to lyrical ridiculousness (“I hate burning my finger on the toaster and I hate nits”).

Comparisons to Kimya will undoubtedly crop up in many reviews of ‘My Best Friend is You’ and just like the impressive yet misunderstood discography of Dawson, this second album from Nash may prove alienating and unpalatable for the mainstream.
The new sound will take some getting used to but I think what Kate Nash has tried to do is very impressive. Her lyrics are still laced with poppy ‘Bah-da-da-da-da’s, yet she’s barking them out, riot grrl style? It’s fresh, creative and borderline creative genius.
However, there’s still something quite discomforting about the difference in sound considering we’ve had four years to memorise every cutesy note of 2006’s ‘Made of Bricks’. I think many fans will retreat considering they poured so much love and affection into the ‘classic Nash’ sound, and now she’s thrown it back in their faces by outputting some other brash stuff that is nowhere near as good as before.

Thoughts?

Cross-posted at The Penny Club - Check it out!

Marina & The Diamonds - Starstruck (30h3 cover)

2010-04-24T03:12:00.000-07:00

Every now and again, a cover version will come along that will knock me for six.
What is it about covers that make people go crazy for them? I've fallen in love with so many in recent years (The Wombats' Bleeding Love, The Automatic's Gold Digger, for example) and Marina & The Diamond's Live Lounge cover of 3oh!3 collaboration with Katy Perry is no exception.

I love the original but Marina's version absolutely took my breath away the first time I heard it. I wanted to cry. It's amazing how she's managed to transform a cheesy dancefloor ditty into a hauntingly beautiful ode to tight jeans and double Ds.

Yet more proof that Marina Diamandis is the best British female artist out there at the moment. Kate Nash might be back (who's album you will see a review of shortly), but in comparison, Marina is untouchable. The two of them are playing back to back this year at Glastonbury, so it will be interesting to see who comes out on top.

What do you think?
What are your favourite cover versions?

x

Things I should have blogged about throughout May/April, condensed

2010-04-20T13:30:00.000-07:00

1. THE BRILLIANCE THAT IS TWO DOOR CINEMA CLUB

One day, during my blogging hiatus, I just laid on my bed for hours, braindead from hangover, and listened to this album probably about thirty times over and over. It's an album you can get lost into. It's cute indie-boy music that narrates the indie dancefloors as much as your bus ride to school the next morning. Every song is a little story about normal life; stuff that everyone can relate to. The band are playing Glastonbury AND Reading & Leeds this year... oh wait, did I tell you that...

2. I GOT READING FESTIVAL TICKETS!!!!!!!

On March 29, I was sitting at my desk at work when this little e-mail pops up saying, "As if The Libertines are reforming for Reading... we clearly got tickets for the wrong festival."
Literally, all my organs dropped to the floor. And what made it worse - I couldn't run around screaming because I was at work. I've been waiting six years for The Libertines to reform. It was one of those things I never imagined happening, and now it really is going to happen!
I swore I'd never go to Reading Festival again because of the after-hours violence and the severe lack of love that seems to reside over regulars at the festival. Reading & Leeds Festivals are the real mainstream festivals that attract the sort of trendy tramps that aren't in it for the music and that's why I stopped going. But... The Libertines, mate.

Bands I'm also looking forward to: TDCC, Maccabees, Modest Mouse, The Walkmen, Blink 182 (!!), Limp Bizkit (!!!!), Mumford & Sons, Big Pink, We Are Scientists.

3. GLASTONBURY LINE UP....

I'm a little bit, apathetic to be honest. I know it's going to be amazing - because it's Glastonbury - but my favourite band in the whole entire world have just announced their reunion at a completely different festival? Kate Nash, Florence & The Machine and two doses of The XX are going to have me absolutely buzzing all weekend, as well as all the other glory that comes hand-in-hand with the music at Glastonbury... Arrg!!! Just thinking about me makes my skin tingle!!

Bring on Festival Season!

And when I saw you kissing that girl, my heart, it shattered.

2010-03-09T05:04:00.000-08:00

Hi, I'm Kate Nash.
I disappeared for a while to frolick with my boyfriend, Ryan Jarman from The Cribs. You probably already know I'm going out with him because I tend to mention him every time I'm interviewed. Although deep down they are happy for me, even my biggest fans started getting a bit annoyed because it has been three years since I released an album and all the fans want now is to hear new material, not about how sickeningly in love I am.

Lucky for me though, my new video for my new single 'Do Wah Doo' is so bloody good that one of my biggest fans, Katie, is willing to forgive me and start preaching about how good I am again.

IT'S REALLY GOOD, ISN'T IT?

Katie especially likes how I haven't changed my musical style at all in this new song, and why should I? The whole country loved my debut album, 'Made of Bricks', so changing my sound would be kind of stupid.

My new album, My Best Friend is You is released the day after Katie's birthday, April 19. Fate? I think so.

For more information, check the Kate Nash official site or her Myspace.

Disclaimer: Kate Nash didn't actually write this blog entry - but you got that, right?

Hack-choo-lee, my name's Marina!

2010-03-08T09:00:00.000-08:00

“I call myself a feminist. It’s a term we still need, and I say it because everyone else is so embarrassed to.”

- Marina Diamandis in NME Magazine, Feb 2010.

If I was Prime Minister, on a mission to fix Broken Britain, I’d prescribe a copy of ‘The Family Jewels’ to every teenage girl in the country.

I would say, “Listen kids, put down your Heat magazines and listen to Marina. She has her head screwed on straight. If you’re going to live your life listening to anyone, listen to her.”

“The journos on heat

Write such good stories

Oh their mothers must be so proud

Making money off our insecurity and doubt”

My love affair started with Marina Diamandis not when I heard her music for the first time, but when I read her blog. My initial reaction was: Wow. For the first time in my memory, someone in the public eye is openly advocating feminism and using their influential voice to discuss real issues that affect women in today’s society. What with the majority of young girls viewing the F word as a dirty one – conjuring stereotypes of bra burning and hairy armpits – modern day feminists are searching desperately for someone to breathe life back into the movement again and 24-year-old Marina Diamandis might just be it.

“It’s okay to say you’ve got a weak spot,

You don’t always have to be on top

Better to be hated than loved, loved, loved for what you’re not”

Marina was born in Wales, but spent a lot of her childhood living in Athens. After finishing her A-levels, she moved back to the UK to fulfil her ambitions of being a singer. She started working the audition circuit in London but it wasn’t getting her anywhere so she began making her own music and eventually got noticed after a London gig promoter sent her Myspace link to Warners imprint, 679.

Last year, the NME sniffed her out, talked her up and billed her on their Radar Tour; a spot that boosted the success of White Lies and La Roux in 2008. Her first single, Mowgli’s Road, started getting attention on the blogs during the run up to its release in November, but it was the humungous pop blitz of Hollywood that threw Marina & her diamonds into the mainstream spotlight.

Cause it’s my problem if I want to pack up and run away

It’s my business if I feel the need to smoke and drink and sway

It’s my problem, it’s my problem if I feel the need to hide

And it’s my problem if I have no friends and feel I want to die

Back to the feminism. Every interview I read about Marina makes me love her a little bit more. In the Guardian, she said, “"I suppose I'm an indie artist with pop goals. I would like to get a general feeling that people like my album. But I can't imagine myself going to loads of celebrity parties. All I want is to be someone who does my job, that everyone says is amazing and then I can go home to bed." Considering how much I love going home to bed, she is a woman after my own heart. The same interview lists The Distillers as one of her influences (massive Rock n’ Rolly seal of approval) and I’ve seen her twice now wearing a grotesque yet intriguing Motel playsuit that I have always secretly wanted to buy.

They call him Hermit the Frog

He’s looking for a dog

Did you find your bitch in me?

Personality aside, The Family Jewels is an exceptional album. Marina boasts the rambunctious, unorthodox vocal style possessed by my other musical heroines: piano-tinkering songstress, Regina Spektor and of course, Lady Gaga.

The production is pop, but I don’t want to label the whole album this way because I don’t want to degrade it. The Guardian came to the best conclusion by labelling Marina & The Diamonds as “challenging, intelligent pop”.

When my heart just burst like a glass balloon

I let it fly too high and it shattered too soon

I was the wrong damn girl, in the wrong damn room

After hearing snippets of The Family Jewels, I felt as if I really needed the physical release of this album. I wasn’t going to settle for Spotify listens or a quick download from iTunes - Oh No - I wanted the whole shebang. The one thing I was looking forward to the most was: the lyric booklet.

After reading Marina’s inspirational blog posts and taking the time to really listen to the lyrics of Hollywood (“Hollywood infected your brain/ You wanted kissing in the rain/ Living in a movie scene/ Puking American dreams”), I knew the album was going to be good. I knew the lyrics were going to be intriguing and I knew that Marina was going to sing about things that made me think Marina doesn’t sing about Boys and Heartache, she sings about Love and Sadness in the same way literary giants write about Love and Sadness - with impressive originality and insightfulness.

If you are not careful

Your possessions will possess you

TV taught me how to feel

Now real life has no appeal

I’ve been breaking up this post with some of my favourite lyrical moments from The Family Jewels. An artist who writes intelligent and original lyrics that I can relate to will always triumph over the band with the best guitar hooks, in my eyes. Do you feel like this about music, or is your relationship with your favourite artists different?

I am so glad that Marina & The Diamonds have been launched into the media spotlight for the following reasons;

a) Marina’s lyrics are fearless and assertive. ‘I Am a Robot’ is a beautiful ode to that person in all of us who is ashamed to appear weak. Throughout the album she follows her own rules by voicing her own dissatisfactions (“It’s my problem if I have no friends and feel I want to die”). Marina’s songs aren’t about partying and boys and other pop trivialities, they are about what it really feels like to be a woman in modern society.

Perhaps I only feel a connection with this album because I am also a 20-something woman like Marina. However, I do regret that there was never such an inspirational, feminism-pushing role model like Marina Diamandis (with a kick ass album to boot) floating around the mainstream when I was a teenager.

Don’t want cash, don’t want card

Want it fast, want it hard

Don’t need money, don’t need fame

I just want to make a change

The Family Jewels is a fearless, inspirational debut from a woman who I have become overwhelmed with love and respect for. In the current musical climate, there are hundreds of female solo artists vying for attention in the charts and Marina Diamandis has made her music unavoidable by sheer brilliance, personality and a lyrical charm that will hopefully (in my ideal world, anyway) become the favourite album of teenage girls everywhere.

* * *

Marina decided to delete her original blog, and defended her decision in an interview with the NME (Feb 20, 2010): "For some people, especially journalists, it's like a goldmine of stuff to run through to put into press and quote me completely out of context... I thought that it'd be more trouble for myself if I kept it there. I'm still going to blog, but be more careful with what I say."

What do you think of The Family Jewels? Do you love Marina as much as I clearly do?

Link me up to your reviews of the album and blog posts about her!

Vampire Weekend En El Comedor De Mi Casa!

2010-03-07T11:51:00.000-08:00

This video will warm your heart from the inside out.
Basically, some fans met the band after a gig at a bar and persuaded them to come back and play at their houseparty.
It is one of those really special moments in music.

This was first brought to my attention via my new favourite blog, We All Want Someone to Shout For. So thanks maaate.

Albums round-up: Week ending 7/03/10

2010-03-06T01:29:00.000-08:00

I've been going on a lot of HMV binges recently; buying a lot of the CDs I've always wanted, even if they are months old. I've bought some new'uns too, and thought it was time for a little round up.

Ke$ha
Animal
5/10

"With all the Gagas and Marinas ravaging the charts at the moment, Ke$ha’s ‘Animal’ won’t stand a chance." - Full review here.

Having bought into the Lady Gaga concept 18 months ago, bought all the albums, worn the wig and preached her brilliance to anyone who would listen, it would take a torrential storm of female-fronted pop quality for me to be impressed by someone else. Marina & The Diamonds have just about made it, but Ke$ha's album of Avril Lavigne-esque Friday Night songs still need a lot of work.

Hot Chip
One Life Stand
7/10

"The secret to Hot Chip’s success is making records that suit the 5am comedown as much as the dance floor" ....Full review can be found here.

The Big Pink
A Brief History of Love
10/10

I have so much love for The Big Pink right now. Delicate yet industrial, passionate and heart wrenching. Their album needs to be seen live to be truly appreciated; the songs go from simple album tracks to solid experiences of pleasure when you see them live. In the blogosphere aftermath of the NME Awards Tour, there seemed to be a lot of people disregarding them as 'just noise', but I think their heavy, unorthodox sound just takes some getting used to. Everyone recognises the beauty in Velvet now they've heard it a hundred times, and the same applies for the rest of the album.

Band of Skulls
Baby Darling Doll Face Honey
6/10

Trying to review this album, all I wanted to say was: They're super sexy rock n' roll that sound like early White Stripes, with Hendrix riffs and drooling vocals. I've only given them a 6/10 because three out of the 12 tracks are wet-flannel ballads that disinterest and annoy me. If it's not broke, don't fix it, and why take away from the anthemic nature of corkers like 'Death by Diamonds and Pearls', 'I Know What I Am' and 'Light of the Morning' by including dreary, slow songs that you could save for B-Sides or just yourself, in the mirror, when you're on your ecstasy comedown. Because that's what they feel like - comedowns.

Arctic Monkeys

Favourite Worst Nightmare

10/10

"It’s not often that highly-anticipated albums deliver, but Arctic Monkeys didn’t just deliver on this one, they exceeded anything anyone expected of them." - Full review here.

The thing is with the Arctic Monkeys, I never really got the chance to appreciate them properly because everyone else got there first. I saw them waaay back at the NME Awards Tour 2005 (Mystery Jets, We Are Scientists, Maximo Park) and got so beat up in the moshpit by the sort of louts normally found causing trouble at football matches, it put me off them completely. Alex Turner was so apathetic back then as well, acting like he didn't care one inch that the Arctic Monkeys had become the biggest band in the country within a matter of minutes.

I've come around now though, five years later. This XFM interview made me realise what it must be like to write a song as ground-breaking as 'I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor' and then have to play it every night for six years.

I always thought Favourite Worst Nightmare was a good album, but after the initial forore when it came out, I never bought it and therefore haven't listened to it for the last three years. A combination of factors made me reconsider them again recently - mainly the unavoidable brilliance of Cornerstone and getting the opportunity to review FWN - and I can solemnly declare they're one of my favourite bands again.

Passion Pit

Manners

4/10

I do not love. I bought this on recommendation by Beat the Elite Four's Felix who I have since discovered has a dire taste in music 75% of the time (Sorry, but it's true). Passion Pit were the fad band of 2009; Sleepyhead was wonderfully hypnotic, jingy jangly Skins-approved ditty pop, but an entire album of the twiddly fluff leaves you feeling like you've OD'd on candyfloss. Dare I say, one hit wonder?

Albums I'm listening to this week & will review next week:

Marina & The Diamonds 'The Family Jewels', Arctic Monkeys 'Humbug', Dead Weather 'Horehound', Two Door Cinema Club 'Tourist History' and MGMT 'Oracular Spectacular'.

Comments always much appreciated x

A letter to Yannis & Friends

2010-03-04T02:41:00.000-08:00

Oh, Hi Foals!
So everyone is talking about you at the moment, that must be nice.
Your new song, Spanish Sahara has been all over Twitter like a rash. I know that's a cliche phrase, but before I listened to the new song, I regarded you as positively rash-like. This is because you always came across as pretentious wankers in interviews, but also because Antidotes (2008) was a bit shit, wasn't it?
It's all very nice and good acting like you're the best band in the world, but that only works if you have a chance of being the best band in the world. And what with your set of stuttering, loony Math Rock choons (a pseudo-genre that still tickles my gag reflex), you were always going to be an NME-bolstered trend that no one cared about once Kings of Leon released Only By The Night in September and people started listening to real music again.

BUT NOW, YOU'RE BACK.
And I like the new song! I watched it with the video first, which may or may not have influenced my opinion (I'm a hot-blooded female, Yannis Phillipakis is just plain hot), and my immediate reaction was: LOVELY. Taking inspiration from the delicacy of the XX and Bloc Party's tender moments, Spanish Sahara starts beautifully minimalistic then later builds up into waves of majestical noise. It still sounds like someone is going to town on that fucking theramin, but it's okay, we can compromise. Yannis' voice sounds so, so, so much better now that he doesn't sound like he's barking orders along to funky-dunk disco beats.

Ironically, you used to be the fury in my head but now there might be just a little room for you in my heart/iPod. Ok?

From Katie x

OH MY GOD, She looks just like Shakira.

2010-02-23T08:15:00.000-08:00

Read this brilliant blog post from Marina & The Diamonds via my Google Reader, but for whatever reason it is no longer available on her official website.
I really hope she doesn't mind me reproducing it here, because it is such a great explanation of her record and I don't want it getting lost in the black hole of cyberspace.

"Hollywood

-is about being made to feel bad because you do not fit society’s image of success or beauty.
- Is about the multi-billion dollar industry and hoax that is the weight loss industry.
- Is about realising that looking good does not automatically equate to feeling good.
- Is about encouraging insecurity in order to create money.
- Is about getting lost.
-Is about watching sun-bed reality show “Sunset Tan” and being made to feel like a total antithesis of anything relating to an ‘American Dream’. It’s main character is Anya.
- Is about the shift in modern values, where money, looks and possessions are favoured over qualities like being kind to the elderly, respecting your parents and being a good person.
- Is about a generation that favours technological interaction over human interaction.
- Is about believing in wrinkle creams
- Is about wanting to reject celebrity culture.
- Is about putting money where mouth is.
- Is about a non-cynical obsession with American culture.
- Is about exploring the seduction of artifice.
- Is about wanting to change yourself.
- Is about changing yourself.
- Is about feeling bad because you are entering an industry which compromises these goals and values and because you always knew you would.

“To change a system, you must first learn how it operates”

I’d hate it if people did not understand that this song was solely a tirade against myself. I wanted to change and I still want to.
Hollywood is available for pre-order or you can wait til Feb the 1st. It will include the acoustic version!
Marina x "

I love, love, love Marina, mainly because she has something to say, she's not afraid of saying it and also had the guts to wear that grotesque Motel playsuit for her NME shoot (Feb 20). And her music is AMAZING. I am torn between getting her album off iTunes or shelling out for the CD just so I can cherish it a little bit more. x

NME Awards Tour 2010, Brixton Academy, 20/2/10

2010-02-21T15:04:00.000-08:00

NME Awards Show Tour 2010: The Maccabees, Bombay Bicycle Club, Big Pink, The Drums.
Brixton Academy
20/2/2010

One of the saddest, but equally as magical things I've ever seen is a group of indie boys outside the Brixton Academy last night with cardboard signs that read: 'ANY SPARE TICKETS PLEASE. MASSIVE MACCABEES FANS.'

It was heartbreaking - like a musical oxfam appeal. At the same time however, it made me realise how special tonight was going to be; people were willing to BEG to see the bands playing tonight and that's what good music should be about!

Unintentionally, I missed The Drums and almost missed the Big Pink due to a massive organisational fail and getting distracted by an open bag of chips on a park bench.

SORRY.
As soon as I walked in, The Big Pink took my breath away. The sound was all around and the atmosphere was deliciously suffocating even though I was at the back. Have you ever known a band to sound 10x heavier live but still manage to retain all their beauty?

Whenever I try and describe the Big Pink to anyone, I end up contradicting myself. 'The XX but industrial' or 'Fragile, heart-rendering vocals with noisy guitars'. They're so hard to define, so difficult to compare and I think that's why people have trouble warming to them.
The Big Pink are a band who's record definitely does not do them justice. You need to see them live to feel the real deal. It was like a 4D experience for me; blood, sweat and tears. I was completely mesmerised by the intensity of tracks I hadn't even considered heavy before I saw them live.

Velvet was enough to make grown men cry and Dominos - instead of sounding like the poppy singalong it has become - was a riotous shoutfest as lead singer Robbie Furze spat the lyrics. I didn't want their set to end.
After whipping the crowd into a frenzy, Furze finished the set by throwing himself into the crowd, who ripped the shirt from his back in appreciation. It was so carnal, I loved it.

Naturally, Bombay Bicycle Club were going to be a bit of a disappointment after that.
I wasn't a massive fan prior to the gig anyway. They don't make bad music, I just personally think there's nothing special there. I never know how to act at a show where the music is a little more chilled out, with no real opportunity to dance frantically.

I was much more entertained by the lager louts behind me, who apparently knew every word. Really? Do groups of lads really think, 'hey let's go have a beer (or ten, by the sounds of things) and then get rowdy to... Bombay Bicycle Club?' Folk's answer to Interpol with some noisy bits thrown in? I don't know, there were plenty of people around me that were getting right into it, but I wasn't feeling the buzz for Bombay Bicycle Club.

In the break between bands, a girl next to me lolled over the barrier in that pre-vomit vegetative state we've all been at in some point in our lives. A man came up behind her who, I really hope was her boyfriend, gave her an odd Heimlick manouvre-cum-snog and then drags her away. It's always fun to watch this sort of disasterous behaviour while waiting for the next band to come on, but last night I couldn't help think of those poor indie oxfam appeal boys who could've had stupid drunk girl's ticket. Getting wasted is fun, but at gigs - Really? What a waste!Surely you could just go to a pub and get blotto? Oh well.

The Maccabees have an immediate advantage in my judgement tonight and that comes in the form of Orlando Week's face. He croons, I swoon. But tonight he proves, he's not just here for the ladies; although generally quite a twee, cutesy band, the Maccabees do have their riotous moments, more on the second album that on the first. And tonight, the Brighton band are really doing it for the men and the ladies; basically all the bodies in the pit who want to throw themselves around.

Having said that, the Maccabees are truly at their best during their more emotional moments. The opening chords of Precious Time started and I was beginning to wish they'd made the entire second album with Orlando's vocals sounding this desperate and affectionate. The stuttering line, "Let's take our precious time about it" is such a crowd pleaser.

Without letting silence fall between songs, the band went straight into the ultimate Maccabees ballad, 'Toothpaste Kisses'. Oooooh, it was lovely. Like having a big warm hug.
The crowd were like putty in their hands when the band left the stage, pre-encore. It was the last night of the tour so we were hoping for something really, really special.

Orlando came bounding onstage like an excited child; "We're joined by a very special guest this morning, a great songwriter from a great band...Edwyn Collins."

Theoretically, the crowd reaction should have been this: "Wow, THE Edwyn Collins!!?? Oh my god! Here? At Brixton Academy??"

But instead it was mostly this: "Huh?... Who iz dat? Did he say, Edward Cullen?"

NO.

As glorious as it was for ex-Orange Juice frontman to join The Maccabees onstage, the crowd's reaction was similar to that of a balloon deflating.

Orange Juice split up in 1985. I was born in 1988, and I was one of the oldest crowd members, so go figure. Quite frankly, no one had heard of him. Or Orange Juice for that matter.

The Maccabees however, were acting like Christmas was here and Edwyn seemed to have a whale of a time singing the band's only Top 10 single, "Rip it Up" on the very stage he had announced his band's dissolution 25 years ago.

Was it a good idea? Not really. Good for the Maccabees, yes, as it fulfilled one of their lifelong dreams to play with the Scottish indie legend, but 25 years is a little bit too long for OJ to still be relevant. It was an odd moment for the crowd, most of whom were under 20 and expecting a much more contemporary special guest.

This odd, bonerkill of a moment was soon forgotten when Collins disappeared and The Maccabees ended their set with a stonkingly unforgettable version of Love You Better. It was a brilliant curtain call following the band's reminder that they won't be touring for a while after tonight.

As the song finished, there was a nutso stage invasion from all the other bands - The Drums and their funny hair, Akiko Big Pink and her funny leggings - who proceeded to lift Orlando Weeks up on their shoulders and parade him around like the final scene from a cheesy American film, where the high school loser-turned-hero gets the girl and the football scholarship, or some shit. Tonight, the Maccabees have all the hearts of everyone and everyone on that stage is a hero this evening. Swoooooooooooooon...

It was one of those gigs that I couldn't stop talking about afterwards, to everyone, even my Mum.
Phwoar, loved it!

(Thanks to NME Radio for the tickets! x)

Nme Focus Group Meeting, 10/02/10

2010-02-11T03:56:00.000-08:00

Image: Google Maps

So I went to the NME offices yesterday for one of three meetings they held regarding the future of the magazine. I had a great time; there were eight of us in total, we were treated to beer and pizza and got to talk about what we liked and disliked about the magazine, which is possibly one of my favourite things to talk about.

I've been reading the NME since I was 16; it was Valentine's Day 2004 and I was on the hunt for something to cheer me up. Kerrang magazine just wasn't doing it for me anymore. The NME had a free CD on the cover to celebrate the NME Awards 2004 and who could say no to that? That CD introduced me to people like The Rapture, The Strokes, Razorlight, among others, and the magazine introduced me to a style of Gonzo journalism that would have me hooting with laughter for the subsequent six years of my life. I got into the NME at a great time for British music so ultimately, the magazine had oodles of good stuff to work with.

The general consensus of my friends and people I know is that the NME has gone downhill. Some people think they are just a bit of a hype machine, or they have an agenda, a whole variety of things. I think it is just the state of the music scene that has left the NME a little bit alienated with their readers. Six years ago, it wasn't cool to be indie, there was no such thing as festival fashion and bands like The Libertines, Razorlight, the big names of the mid-noughties, were relatively unknown to most people.

Nowadays, it's a different story. The Arctic Monkeys are a household name, Topshop hosts gigs and the line became blurred between the bands that were featured in NME and bands that showed up in the charts.

Around the time I first started buying it in 2004, I considered the NME as an alternative press; offering something different to those anti-mainstream music snobs but at the same time being readily accessible on national newsstands. To me, it was one of Britain's best kept secrets.

To me the turning point was The Arctic Monkeys. Their national success seemed to bring the chavs and the indie kids together; forming some sort of Fred Perry-endorsed majority. The popular kids at my school started listening to indie. In 2004, My friends & I spent a few weeks considering Reading Festival tickets before we leisurely bought them off the internet one evening. Nowadays, festival tickets sell out in a mere few hours, before the line up is even released.

There was a dramatic shift on mainstream focus during the late 00s and it challenged publications like the NME to reconsider their ethics. What does the magazine do now; carry on looking like an 'Indie Smash Hits' and pandering to the needs of mainstream-hugging schoolchildren who don't know any better, or smartening up, becoming more slick in order to win back the hearts of all the music snobs?

I spent the entire evening arguing for the former.

The NME is a weekly music publication and therefore, to an extent, has to be considered ephemeral. I see it as the tabloid of the music world; not on intelligence standards, but it is more laid back, carefree and fun than the other monthly mags like Q and Mojo. The standards aren't set as high for the NME than they are for the monthlies, which allows them more tongue-in-cheek humour (My top favourite thing about the mag!), more passionate reviews, less stylistic restrictions. Whatever they say in the NME will be forgotten about long before the stuff in monthlies.

I think if the NME starts taking a more mature approach then their current writing style just won't fit. They might attract an older, more sophisticated audience but I think they will also end up seeming like they want to be Q or just another glossy, pretentious underground music mags.

I personally, quite enjoy my Indie Smash Hits.

I can't help but drink you up because you're my happy hour.

2010-01-22T06:55:00.000-08:00

Cheryl Cole
3 Words

Irrelevant as ever, I thought it was about time I reviewed the much talked about debut from the Girls Aloud star, regardless of it being released last year.

I decided to give it a listen solely because I can't decide if I like her or not based on her singles. 'Fight for this Love' was a concoction of pop brilliance, whereas '3 Words' - in my opinion - is the guresomest pile of aural shit I've heard in recent times.

I needed something to sway me. I can't live like this any longer; everytime Ah' Cheryl appears on the television, I don't know whether to cheer or cry, vomit with happiness or anger. So here we go:

3 Words.
It never picks up, the lyrics are boringly simplistic and the vocals are really, really irritating. This song is the equivalent of being alone in a dark alleyway... Creepy. Especially the 'I love yoooou' bit. And don't even get me started on M-E-T-O-O. I insist to everyone that will listen that if Cheryl Cole didn't sing this, then it wouldn't even make it onto the shittest radio playlist.
0/10 Good start.

Parachute
Here we go! Some more pop brilliance, I want to kiss you Cheryl. This song is yummy, addictive and the military drum beat is probably the best thing about the entire album. I love it. It's original and suits Cheryl really well I think. Outstanding but not in your face. In your face but not brash. Classy.
10/10 Evened out.

Heaven
The verses of this song seem really 90s, but the chorus seems to sweep back to the present with all the funny noises. This one is boring as well though, the chorus is just, "My heaven's with you, you, YOU". We get it love, heaven is with you, and it is worth fighting for etc. etc. and no doubt there will be another reference to heaven in a min. Borderline blasphemy isn't it?

5/10 And that's me being nice.

Fight for this Love
YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHAAARRRR. WE GOTTA FIGHT! (fight!) FIGHT! (fight!) FIGHT FOR THIS LOVE. I love the verses, I love the bridge, I love the chorus and I love that little dance breakdown near the end. If there was some mathematic equation that led to the perfect pop song, I would refer to it here, showing all my working out, using all the elements of Fight for this Love to make the equation.
9/10 Full marks if I hadn't heard it 1,000+ times already.

Rain on Me
There comes a time in our lives when we all ask ourselves that all important question.. What is the price of thunder!!?? In British Sterling? Eh? Shut up. What a stupid song. Cheryl sounds good though, and I suppose it is sort of catchy, but then again so is Chlamydia.
6/10 Just because it is above 5, doesn't make it good.

Make me Cry
This is the token man-hater song in amidst Cheryl's elysian love songs. It's alright. She actually says the word Shit. On a lot of these album tracks she seems to move away from the classic 'pop' sound and opt for a subtle R'n'B feel, reminiscent of TLC. I think this song is too mean to be a Cheryl Cole song.
6/10

Happy Hour
Cheryl's questions baffle me; 'How can I drive you crazy, when I've got no gas?'. It irritates me that she never gives me adequate answers for these rhetorical questions. This one's a bit different. Bit of a sample, bit of an ethnic feel to it. If parents were unhappy with the momentary profanity in the last song, they really won't be impressed with this one, which basically glamourises alcoholism ("I'm not happy when I'm sober" and "I'm only good when I can have a sip"). In all honesty, this one is growing on me and will probably find its way onto my iPod, but thats just because anything that glamourises alcoholism makes me feel better about my life/pickled liver.
7/10 Feeling generous

Stand Up

It packs a punch but the whole lyrical concept is boring. Because that's important in songs nowadays, ok?

5/10

Don't Talk about This Love
I want this song to be Number 1. Not because it is good but because it definitely sounds as if Cheryl sings, 'It's like I could drown/ in syphilis'. I'm not being rude for the sake of it, I was convinced that's what she sings until I looked it up. Anyway, token ballad.

4/10

Boy Like You

When this song starts, I think HOORAY, This is gritty. And then it sort of peters off a bit. It doesn't suit Coley for a start, but it is a good song. It's a bit over produced and I sort of lose my enthusiasm for it.

7/10

Heartbreaker

Just, no.

1/10

Overall, it's a good album. In an ideal world, I - as musical dictator of the world - would save Fight for This Love, Parachutes, Made Me Cry and Happy Hour, scrap the rest and then send Cheryl back to the drawing board. She's got it in her to make an album jam-packed full of pop hits but the majority of songs miss the mark. Having said that, it's impressive that she has snuck away from the classic pop sound and incorporated influences from smoother RnB and urban music. Featuring Will.I.Am on a lot of her songs has enabled her to create her own sound; an individual contrast of her foxy, feminine vocals and Will.I.Am's unique rap. The best songs on the album are the poppy ones though and considering she's a National Treasure now, she can't really get away with saying Shit.

I really want to meet someone who loves the shit out of Cheryl Cole. Someone who listens to the album daily and just can't get enough. Because I really can't imagine what it must be like to be that person.

It irks me that this album got to Number 1. 3 Words is supposed to be a Number 1 album but it isn't really, is it? The only reason people went out and bought it was not because it was Unmissible or a Monumental Slab of music, People bought it because of Cheryl Cole's reputation and that's it really. I suppose that is what the charts are made of nowadays, people like Cheryl Cole and the X Factor clones who are only catapulted high up the charts for reasons unrelated to the music.

Oh Well.

Average score: 5.4545454545454

Robot music came and killed all the indie boys

2010-01-11T10:57:00.000-08:00

I'm trying really hard to like new music.
La Roux is quite good, isn't she? And after hearing Delphic's Doubt a million times on the radio, I thought about maybe buying the album, but I feel a bit uncomfortable about the whole thing.

Delphic 'rocking out'.

Photo stolen from Felix Morgan :)

I'm craving rock 'n' roll a little bit. I'm craving chords. I miss drum rolls and angry cymbals. I miss that little squeak guitar strings make (surely there's a technical name for it? Whatever. I love it.) I feel like there is a little bit of rough and readiness missing from the majority of bands that are popping up at the moment. Everything is a bit too rehearsed, a bit too pristine. Digitalised.

I imagine this is what it feels like when you quit smoking. You get those sexy little nicotine patches and you slap them on, trying to persuade yourself that in theory, this should do the trick, but deep down, it's not the same. It's not the same as having a cigarette in your hand and taking a long drag, is it? Sythesizers are my nicotine patches.

I don't mind the synthy stuff, but then again, I don't mind that 30h!3 TWIT-TWOO song when I'm drunk and wearing my beer goggles over my ears. It's listenable yes, and some of the singles are catchy and worthy of a sing-along, but it's NOT REAL MUSIC, is it?

It's not like you'll be listening to Ellie Goulding one day and this one little riff will pop out at you and take your breath away.
You're never going to be listening to Egyptian Hip Hop (the band, not the genre) and think, Wow, this is definitely something I want played at my funeral.
How excited can you really get when you go to a gig and everyone on stage is playing with a laptop or twiddling some buttons on a box?

Some genres have the ability to stick around in the hearts of the fans, but some of it is just ephemeral; not deep enough to really affect listeners, emotionally.

So, I'm going to make it my mission this year, to find some new rock 'n' roll bands, really gritty, bare basics, drums & guitars. I will champion them relentlessly, until synthesizers are sent back to wherever they came from...

Was Cheryl Cole right to admit she lost her virginity at 15?

2010-01-09T02:46:00.001-08:00

Being called everything from a national treasure to the nation’s sweetheart must do wonders for Cheryl Cole’s self-esteem. She gives it all back of course, in the form of frank and honest interviews (claiming that she doesn’t trust anyone but her mum and her dogs last October must have been a kick in the teeth for Ashley) but her latest revelation that she lost her virginity at 15 raises the question whether such a celebrated public figure should really be telling all.

When a scandalous piece of information, such as Cheryl’s underage frolics, is released into the public domain we, as a celebrity obsessed culture, lap it up of course, as do the media, who like to take a simple quote hidden in the pages of a Women’s magazine and turn it into a juicy piece of celebrity gossip, worthy of its own news story.

And the fact that the Girls Aloud star and X-Factor judge lost her virginity at 15 is pretty juicy. She goes onto say, in this month’s Glamour Magazine, “I made my boyfriend wait three months, so I am really proud of myself for that”, but even that won’t make the confession any less newsworthy. The crux of the matter is that sex under the age of 16 is illegal and all the tabloids and celebrity news websites will pick up on that.

Many celebrities have confessed to, and even been caught doing, much more serious illegal deeds than copulating underage. Famously all those years ago, East 17’s Brian Harvey told a radio station that he thought ecstasy “was a safe pill and it ain’t doing you no harm”, which prompty resulted in him being sacked from the band. Will Cheryl Cole be sacked from Girls Aloud? Of course she won’t, but that doesn’t make her comments any less damaging.

England currently has the highest teenage pregnancy rate in Europe and the government are throwing millions of pounds at schemes trying to amend that. Recent statistics show that 22 girls aged 15 or under fall pregnant every day. Having the Nation’s Sweetheart confess to losing her virginity before she was legally allowed to do so is not going to help that rate go down.

If Brian Harvey hadn’t been crucified by the media and forced to retract his comments regarding ecstasy how many parents would have locked up their children out of fear that ecstasy would become the new trend, like Pogs or Pokemon cards? Why is Cheryl Cole not being scolded for admitting she had sex underage when so many young girls look up to her? Cheryl did right by adding that her first time was with a boyfriend but she failed to say whether she used a condom, or used any protection for that matter, just as she failed to realise what consequences her admission could have on impressionable 15-year-old girls across the country.

Celebrities like Cheryl Cole, who are smothered with media adulation and have very few critics, need to be aware how influential they are and how important it is that they give out the right message. While Cheryl could be applauded for her honesty, she should think twice before disclosing the sort of personal information that few of us tell our own parents, forget about the British press.
Ends
Words 547

Album review: Vampire Weekend 'Contra'

2010-01-07T14:37:00.000-08:00

Vampire Weekend
Contra
XL Recordings
Release Date: 11/01/2010

It started with the mysterious face of a girl.
And after months of online streaming and polo-shirted women, it ends this Monday with the much anticipated release of Vampire Weekend’s second album, Contra.
Ever since the band’s self-titled debut ravaged the festival season and beyond in 2008, fans have been waiting for another slice of reggae-infused punk pop from the New York 4-piece and MY GOD, What a fat, delicious slice they’re going to get in Contra.

Immediately the album kicks off with this: “In December/ drinking Horchata/ I looked psychotic in a balaclava.” It is a warning to everyone familiar with the ridiculous lyrics and crazy pop beats signature to Vampire Weekend to put their seatbelts on and get ready for another absolute belting rollercoaster of an album.
Here we go in our jingly jangly steel drum world, thrown straight into Horchata, which sounds like a Toys R’ Us Advert orchestrated by stoners.
“Here comes the feeling you thought you’d forgotten,” croons Ezra Koenig. Don’t we know it.
White Sky revisits the high pitched Ooh-Ahs that made all the girls fall for Koenig and just when you thought the sound couldn’t spread anymore happiness, Holiday ultimately channels the emotion felt when the summer School term ends.
I was starting to ponder how successful a pop punk band who sing about balaclavas could be, when Taxi Cab started. The closest you’re going to get to a ballad, Koenig’s vocals take on a heartfelt storytelling tone that makes him sound more Bright Eyes than ADHD. The band drops their preppy, indie upstart image to take on a slower, almost ethereal track.
Run returns to the usual trombone frenzy while first single, Cousins, is a frantically catchy, pop smacker.
Giving up the Gun takes on a more serious side; again wandering into emo waters. The steel drums are back in Diplomat’s Son and while I expected ender, I think ur a Contra, to be a peak of pop punk brilliance, it turned out to be a downward spiralling ballad.

Through Contra, Vampire Weekend has proved that unpredictability in music doesn’t have to mean mess. The album is brilliantly produced and sounds tidy, even though it is a mass of different sounds and noises that can sometimes leave the listener lost, confused and completely at the mercy of the band. It’s a cliché to say the band has matured on their second album, but that doesn’t make it any less true. There are moments where Vampire Weekend are just as rampant and nutso as they were on the debut, but there are also more sombre moments like the band are under a mild sedative. If Vampire Weekend was a high school album, then Contra is College; older, smarter, wiser but still full of youth, passion and wild at heart.

RATM vs X Factor

2009-12-22T01:29:00.000-08:00

Photo: ratm.com

Miraculously, the record-buying public have done it; they managed to make Killing in the Name Christmas Number 1 ahead of another X Factor single.

Although I really, really enjoyed hearing the Rage Against the Machine track played on Radio 1, I've insisted it was a pointless campaign from the start.

1. The fact that people downloaded the RATM track as part of a viral, anti-X Factor campaign and not because they had actually heard of the band and liked the song is going against exactly why the music charts exist in the first place. The song was chosen because of the lyrics, "Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me", but this is the part where I'm confused - Do people think Cowell is telling them to buy the X Factor single every Christmas? It gets to Number One every Christmas because people, I assume, like the song and buy it, and mainly because the whole X Factor shebang is the best publicity engine going.

2. The RATM campaign has raised thousands of pounds for Shelter, which I think is brilliant, but that money is going to charity because of a decision made by the organisers and RATM themselves, not the record buyers. The RATM4xmas Facebook group asked that people donate to Shelter as well as paying out for the single, but undoubtedly there were some people who downloaded the track solely for the purpose of it getting to Number 1, without a single care where the money was going. If Zach de La Rocha turned round and said, 'Hey everyone, can you donate 99p to Shelter please?', it wouldn't have the same effect. Charity was involved thanks to the band, not the record buyers.

3. It makes me sad that people are willing to get riled up about Simon Cowell and X Factor and the Christmas Number 1, but there are other areas of life that are riddled with so much apathy. I'd like to know, out of all the people who bought the Rage track, how many of them make up the epic numbers of people who don't bother to vote in elections, for example?

4. I'm also annoyed at the fickle nature of everyone for bumming out the X Factor for months right up until the point that this campaign kicked off and then everyone turned their back on it and poor little Joe McElderry. Come on guys, if you're going to love something, love the hell out of it and stick to your guns. Don't just get up and run the minute a 'cooler' option comes along.

It's not my place to tell people what they can and cannot become passionate about, but personally I would've preferred to see all the passion displayed by the general public this week to have been injected to a much more worthwhile cause.

And then the tragic news about Brittany Murphy surfaces and we're taught a lesson about perspective all of a sudden. What an odd day.

Florence & The Machine (w/ Temper Trap, Frankie & The Heartstrings supporting) Dec 14th Brixton

2009-12-15T13:01:00.001-08:00

Grand things are expected of tonight considering it is Florence & The Machine’s first time headlining Brixton Academy. Even Florence herself confesses, mid-set, “I used to come to raves here at Brixton so to play here is a dream come true”, or words to that affect.
I’m sure Frankie & The Heartstrings were very good, but unfortunately we didn’t quite make it in time for them.
The Temper Trap however were as good as expected, but nothing more. They kept breaking into little noise instrumentals that were slightly impressive but also quite annoying from a support band. I heard them on Fearne Cotton’s Radio 1 show today and they don’t seem to be too keen on England at the moment, but then again, they are living in Hackney, hardly the best place to get your first impressions of the country.
Sweet Disposition was naturally mesmerising; a brilliant song on record was well and truly brought alive on stage. It’s never too soon to get to the main event. Florence Welch, with or without Machine, is an absolute enigma. She bounds onstage, commanding attention from left, right and centre, dressed like a Greek statue but channelling colossal amounts of energy. She says nothing but goes straight into ‘My Boy builds Coffins’. Before the final chords of ‘My Boy…’ are even finished, she looks straight into the audience and sings: “You hit me once, I hit you back, I gave a kick, you gave a slap” and Kiss With a Fist takes off like a circus. The entire set is like an opera performance; there are moments where I struggle to believe that is really her voice.
She calmed down momentarily for an acoustic version of ‘I’m not calling you a liar’. She made her performance all the more human by stopping halfway through to have a brief coughing fit. She apologised profusely, saying she was sick in that sing-song chatty way she always does when talking to the audience. The crowd applauded her loudly, just to let her know there were no hard feelings. She started the song again.
I was waiting tentatively to hear my favourite song off the album, ‘Cosmic Love’ and when the first notes started it was clear the rest of the crowd were waiting for it too. It is one of the most beautiful album tracks I have ever heard. It was just as beautiful and powerful sung live.
After a lengthy set of the whole album (bar ‘Girl with One Eye) and a few new ones (‘The Hardest Heart’ and ‘Falling’), the audience was ready to be hit with the bigg’uns.
The usually calm and quiet ‘Dog Days are Over’ turned into a raucous clapathon where mid-song Flo started to encourage the crowd to jumpthefuckup. I never expected to be jumpingthefuckup at a Florence & the Machine gig, while the fiery goddess onstage howled, “HERE THEY COME!”.
It was clear at this point that Florence had the entire crowd entranced by adulation for her, like a brain washing enemy from Doctor Who. The whole place was hanging on her every instruction, even the middle-aged goofs at the back, who spend the whole night swaying timelessly with little intention to jump up and down like Flo was telling them to.
It was time for a costume change, naturally. On return, she went straight into this year’s most played cover, ‘You Got the Love’, which is as much Florence’s as it is Candy Staton’s now. It was a glorious performance and I’m sure critics are still scratching their heads over how a cover version has created quite so much adoration.
“Because it’s Christmas,” Florence tells us, “we thought we’d treat you”, and she breaks into Beyonce’s Halo, a cover originally performed on Radio 1’s Live Lounge on the exact day my friends & I were driving to Glastonbury. It brings back wonderful memories of being in the back of the car, driving on unknown roads with a boot full of rucksacks and wellies.
She finished with the almighty Rabbit Heart (Raise it Up), a song that is in no way a curtain call. It may have been the last night of her tour, but Florence Welch has proved herself a true Lion Hearted Girl; one who will undoubtedly be back next year for The Flo Show, Part 2.

Review: Lady Gaga - The Fame Monster

2009-11-23T06:19:00.000-08:00

Upon first listen of the Fame Monster, I couldn't help think, Wow. She's done it again. Lady Gaga manages to be the best sort of pop; classy not cheesy, original but still dancefloor-friendly. I embrace everything about her, especially her weirdness, which everyone else seems to snub her for. Lyrically, I relate to this album so much I feel I could've written it myself. She's been quoted as saying that she wrote this album about eight universal fears (Sex, Death, Love, The Past, Alcohol, Loneliness, Drugs and Darkness apparently), which all of us can relate to in one way or another, or perhaps it's just because I'm female and a year younger than 22-year-old Gaga that I empathise with what she sings about. So many second albums become untouchable to the fans because they are based on the artist's experience of fame and fortune and the majority music buying public aren't going to relate to that are they?

The fierceness of first single, Bad Romance, has already caught the hearts of the pop nation, so do I need to say more?

Alejandro is a latino-tinged love song... Monster is a bit darker; "We french kissed on a subway train, he tore my clothes right off, he ate my heart and then he ate my brain". Perfect.

Speechless is 10/10, a big piano ballad, GaGa-fied Wonder Years theme tune

Dance in the Dark is a brilliant girl power track, "SHE LOOK'S GOOD/BUT HER BOYFRIEND THINKS SHE'S A MESS... Baby, loves to dance in the dark/ Cos when he's lookin she falls apart". You get the gist.

And as if Gaga couldn't get any better, she's joined by Beyonce on Telephone. The track is so true to life that it's comical, but it still retains the glorious credibility of both divas combined! "It's my favourite song they're about to play/ And I cannot text you with a drink in my hand"

So Happy I Could Die sounds like the filler, in my opinion. Perhaps it will grow on me but I'm basing this review on my first listen, and I thought it was a bit average.

Teeth is unlike anything I've ever heard before but still sounds excellent, proving my point about how she manages to be original AND GOOD.

Overall, it's an impeccable album, and no doubt - just like with The Fame - I'll play it to death until I'm starving hungry for new GAGA.
Lady Gaga has the ability to be as big and as infinite as Madonna, perhaps even bigger. She's a brilliant artist and musically, she will be my supersexycool best friend for a very long time.

Till next time, my little monsters.

2009-11-18T04:22:00.000-08:00

My Top 50 of the Noughies Spotify playlist:

http://open.spotify.com/user/kteeea/playlist/2OgqeZXonvymL8FI1HRnqV

KT'S Top 50 albums of the noughties

2009-11-17T05:22:00.001-08:00

A tweetstorm has blown up over the NME's Top 50 albums of the noughties, which has been described as "the definitive word on the greatest albums of the noughties" by NME Editor, Krissi Murison.

Immediate comments;

1. Although not a massive Strokes fan, I could've predicted them being Number 1.
2. I prefer The Libertines' second album to debut, 'Up The Bracket', but I suspect the debut is seen as more of a groundbreaker.
3. Surprisingly, no Kings of Leon or Razorlight, although Up All Night was undeniably brilliant.
4. Silent Alarm should've ranked higher.
5. I'm glad that lesser known bands like The Walkmen & Rapture got recognition on this list
6. I don't think much of Amy Winehouse tbh.

And instead of pissing and moaning about it, I'm going to try my hand at the mammoth task of my own Top 50 of the Noughties.

1. Razorlight - Up All Night
2. The Libertines - Up the Bracket
3. Bloc Party - Silent Alarm
4. Florence + The Machine - Lungs
5 Lady Gaga - The Fame
6. The Libertines - The Libertines
7. The Distillers - Coral Fang
8. Kate Nash - Made of Bricks
9. Kings of Leon - Because of the Times
10. Taking Back Sunday - Tell All Your Friends
11. Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I am, That's What I'm not
12. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Fever to Tell
13. Brand New - Deja Entendu
14. Lily Allen - It's Not Me, It's You
15. Bloc Party - Intimacy
16. Alkaline Trio - From Here to Infirmary
17. Courtney Love - American Sweetheart
18. The Paddingtons - First Comes First
19. The Kooks - Inside In/Inside Out
20. Regina Spektor -Soviet Kitsch
21. White Lies - To Lose My Life...
22. The Enemy - We'll Live & Die in These Towns
23. Spinerette - Spinerette
24. We Are Scientists - With Love & Squalor
25. Razorlight - Razorlight
26. Bloc Party - Weekend in the City
27. Babyshambles - Down in Albion
28. The Wombats - A Guide to Love, Loss & Desperation
29. Brand New - Your Favourite Weapon
30. Finch - What it is To Burn
31. White Stripes - Elephant
32. Feist - The Reminder
33. Arctic Monkeys - Favourite Worst Nightmare
34. Maccabees - Colour It In
35. Snow Patrol - Final Straw
36. Dirty Pretty Things - Waterloo to Anywhere
37. Klaxons - Myths of the Near Future
38. Pigeon Detectives - Wait for Me
39. The Cribs - The Cribs
40. Razorlight - Slipway Fires
41. CSS - Cansei de Ser Sexy
42. Modest Mouse - Good News for People who Love Bad News
43. The Others - The Others
44. PJ Harvey - Uh Huh Her
45. Rapture - Echoes
46. The Rakes - Capture/Release
47. Santogold - Santogold
48. Maximo Park - A Certain Trigger
49. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz!
50. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Show Your Bones

Untouchable

2009-10-08T16:10:00.001-07:00

Brand New - Daisy

2009-09-17T07:56:00.000-07:00

Brand New
Daisy
8/10

First and foremost, Jesse Lacey is one of the most underrated songwriters of our generation. To say he is a lyrical genius is an understatement. He hasn’t just mastered the art of clever rhyme, but each song is brilliantly written and dripping with vivid stories of heartbreak and vitriol; “Don’t apologise/I hope you choke and die” is an easy contender for the decade’s best lyric.
In other words, they have never failed to impress me. Except three years ago, when they released ‘The Devil and God Rages Inside Me’, and their entire fanbase said WTF? in unison, but more on that later.

Brand New’s first two albums – 2003’s ‘Your Favourite Weapon’ and ‘Deja Entendu’ – were borderline pop but the aching, rip-your-heart-out vocals crowned the band the original fathers of emotional music, in my opinion. They opened the door for bands like Fall Out Boy and P!ATD to infect the mainstream with that Americanised brand of ‘I love you so much I want to die, plus I hate you and want you to die’ while Brand New sort of just waited in the wings, barely recognised but adored by everyone that had heard them.

Luckily, I got into them around the age of 15, when everything was wrong with the world and all I needed was a band like Brand New to soundtrack how horrible my life because the boy I liked didn’t like me back. I would listen to ‘Okay, I believe you but my Tommy gun don’t’ (sic) every day, as if it was gospel.

Three years passed, and ‘The Devil and God…’ happened. Considering how long the hungry fans had to wait for a new album, we were waiting for something massive; something bigger and better than the previous two put together. But what were we given? A droning, disappointment of a record – no more witty lyrics, no more raucous, hateful yelling, just an album of dull, depressive songs that seemed muted – as if the band were putting limitations on themselves, in an attempt to seem more mature.

Now fourth album, Daisy, is here and let me assure you, The Kings of Emo are back on form. From opener, ‘Vices’ – which starts with eerie female vocal sample and then cuts into a violent mass of angry vocals and guitars, peppered with gentle chants of “forgive me” (For what? Your last album?) – I’m thinking, oh god, this is going to be good.
Brand New have snapped out of it and they are back to rock your teenage heart again, however old you are.

Songs like ‘You Stole’ and ‘Bed’ involve the familiar, gentle tick-tick of guitar found on the band’s earlier ballads but there are also some new sounds here – tidal guitar hooks and a mesmerising, start-stop pattern on and a funky drum beat on ‘Sink’.

There are moments where they tend to miss the mark, like in ‘Bought a Bride’ where the emotiveness of the whole track emits so much loneliness that you can’t help but despise it. First single, ‘At the Bottom’, is a definite highlight, managing to echo the best moments of ‘Daisy’s three predecessors in three and a half minutes.

Lacey’s best moments are when his vocals are almost too pain-riddled to listen to but it is the combined passion of his voice that makes the music irresistible. In Gasoline, he seems to be singing as if someone has given him the ultimatum: Sing or Die. It’s the sort of album that should carry a warning; do not listen and drive – you’ll get distracted by its chaotic lullabies and heart-wrenching love-hate songs.

The Cribs

2009-09-15T04:00:00.000-07:00

(photo: The Cribs Official Website)

Had a brief listen to Ignore The Ignorant this morning. Musically, Johnny Marr has improved them greatly, his touch has made them sound more complex and therefore, more complete. It seemed so odd when The Cribs announced Johnny Marr had become the 4th member, but now it seems quite natural.

Regardless, I'm still not going to buy the album. Back in the day, certain Cribs tracks used to pull on my heart; I'm a Realist, Men's Needs (although I preferred the Kate Nash cover) and Mirror Kisses included. All those songs grew on me however and I don't think I'm ever going to love another Cribs track.
Ryan's vocals grate on me and he comes across as a tuneless shouter. Only on album title track, 'Ignore the Ignorant' does he sing in a way that will have all the girls swooning. And regardless of how much Ignore the Ignorant sounds better than their past albums (dripping with Smiths-esque chords, in my opinion), I'll never be able to love Jarman's voice. Sorry lads.

Colin McRae Dirt 2 Launch Party (The Rakes, Dinosaur Pile-up, Glamour of the Kill)

2009-09-11T07:53:00.001-07:00

I'm afraid this is going to be a bit of a rubbish review because halfway through the night I was given a VIP pass that allowed me access to the free bar... Need I say more?

Tuesday night, I won tickets to this event (and a copy of the game!) via NME Radio. I'll admit now that I'm not really a video gamer, I'm not even sure how to use an XBox and the one time I did play Call of Duty I kept losing because I didn't want to kill the dogs.

However! I am a big Rakes fan - '22 Grand Job' was a massive hit and always brings back good memories of Reading 2006. Also, their debut album, Capture/Release was a rocktastic, guitar driven orgy of noise about dead end jobs and getting wrecked at the weekends - if you haven't noticed most bands get pretty successful talking about that sort of thing...

So why haven't The Rakes ever conquered the mainstream properly, Monkeys-style?
They've been playing the big festivals for years but never really get higher than mid-afternoon main stage or late nights in the tents. Last night's performance was pretty special, vocalist Alan Donohue is a theatrical production in his own right with those creepy stares and stiff little dance moves. I love, love, love when he lets out his signature high pitched ramble, it really gives The Rakes an original edge. You never know what to expect from bands who perform at events where the audience aren't necessarily there to see them, but The Rakes staged a great performance, very rock and rumbly and they even warranted a drunk tweet from me.

I'm not sure what to make of Dinosaur Pile-up. They're a good band and sound like what Nirvana might have sounded like if Kurt Cobain was as goofy as The Wombats. Hard to imagine I know, but they're definitely a grunge band with a sense of humour. They are constantly compared to the Foo Fighters and the similarities practically slap you in the face with their tickity-tick guitars and Grohl-esque vocals, but I can't help but think there is too much influence there. Some of the songs - My Rock N Roll, in particular - sound so much like the Foos, I'm thinking, "Fair enough, Grohl is off with his Crooked Vultures, but do we need a second Foo Fighters?"
All Around The World, the song that is featured on the game (and the reason the bands were there!), is their best. A real feel-good chooon.

I missed Glamour of the Kill because like all good music journalists, I was at the bar. Whoever put them on after The Rakes, obviously didn't like them because most people had left by then and the audience was very scarce. Sorry guys!

Mercury Music Prize Winner: Speech Debelle

2009-09-08T14:30:00.000-07:00

Super quick review of this year's Mercury Music Prize winner, Speech Debelle, before the whole country swallows her up and spits her out successful...

Grumble, grumble, she's not indie? I don't care. She's british, she's female, she raps and she's different. Her voice is beautiful and she raps over a gentle, feel-good sound. All the sweetness of Lily Allen and all the grittiness of Estelle. "Speech Therapy" is such a deep, personal album, lyrically very clever and at times, humorous. I have no doubt she is going to grow on me.

Congratulations to Speech Debelle.

Florence

2009-09-08T04:32:00.001-07:00

I really do wish that I had a little i-Brain that could play Florence + The Machine's 'Lungs' for me all day everyday.

I've really grown to appreciate the album. It has so many 'epic' moments; where there is a pause and then Bam, orchestra! It sounds like the whole thing should be performed on Broadway, with curtain falls and scenery all thrown in.

"If you could only see, the bitch you made of me"

Wonderful.

Spinnerette and Arctic Monkeys reviews up soon! x

Temper Trap

2009-09-01T08:17:00.000-07:00

It's about time I talk about Temper Trap... considering everyone else is!
I feel like the NME have been shoving them down my throat a bit and I heard them on Radio 1 today with lots of praise from Edith Bowman so it looks like they're set to become the next big thing. Perhaps?

I expected them to sound a bit heavier than they are. I imagine if Bon Iver was happier he would sound like this. Their debut single, 'Sweet Disposition' (which you've probably heard on a film trailer or advert) is a really feel-good tune and laid back at the same time. The chorus is pretty magical and the short, sharp sing-a-long vocals ("A lie, A kiss, a cry, a right, a wrong") are going to really catch your breath.

Another song of theirs - 'Science of Fear' - sounds a little more upbeat. They're quite an individual sounding band, off the top of my head I can't really compare them to anyone except Bon Iver and even that's a rubbish comparison!

You should give them a listen. It seems everyone is going to be talking about them over the next couple of months, so be prepared!

10 reasons why Reading & Leeds Festival will be TERRIBLE this weekend

2009-08-27T04:30:00.000-07:00

The Monday, Reading 2006

1. I'm not there

2. No one is going to know the words to Arctic Monkey's 'Humbug' - It was only released 4 days ago!

3. They've banned fires and gas cannisters. I like to come home with the smell of Reading on my clothes (sweaty bonfire) and that just won't happen this year. Also, you're snot won't be black, bad times!

4. They've banned flags. If you lose your friends, you are now fucked.

5. I just don't understand how anyone would want to see Radiohead on their last night. I'd rather be one of those people passed out at the back.

6. Isn't everyone bored of Kings of Leon by now?

7. Brody Dalle is playing - but Spinnerette will be nowhere near as good as Distillers... surely?

8. You aren't going to have a shower until Monday night.

... I can't think of anymore. Do you know why? Because Reading Festival (and Leeds too probably!) is one of the best places on earth. I first went when I was 16 and I have never felt so at home anywhere else. People were so friendly, everyone wanted to get drunk, talk about music or just generally create a bit of chaos. Over the 4 years I went to Reading I saw so many great things, including cage fighting emos, Trolley wars, gazebo raves... Brilliant. To everyone there, i know you'll have the time of your life. I haven't been since 2007 and every year I regret the decision. Granted - Glastonbury is better, but Reading Festival will always be in my heart!

Mecca

2009-08-20T14:26:00.000-07:00

Instrumental music

2009-08-20T14:06:00.000-07:00

What's the deal with instrumental music?

Explosions in the Sky (www.explosionsinthesky.com)

I was asked recently to review an instrumental album and it got me thinking about the instrumental genre.

Is it possible for instrumental music to achieve any sort of success or recognition? The obvious answer is no, especially when it comes to the charts. How important are lyrics and vocals?

The record that I reviewed was described as an after-party soundtrack by other reviewers, something to do with house music, dubstep, rah rah - I thought it was terrible and nonsensical. It sounded like elevator music. But there are some amazing artists in the genre, including Explosions in the Sky (pictured) and Eluvium.

Explosions in the Sky make really powerful music and the band themselves describe their tracks as 'cathartic mini-symphonies'. There isn't any room for lyrics over the top of EITS tracks. The absence of a vocalist allows the record to be unpredictable, surprising, powerful and unorganised.

I think it is this unpredictable element that really decides the fate of instrumental artists. The music has to boast unlimited precision because there is no distractions in the form of vocals. But even in songs with vocals it is the slight change of a guitar chord that creates a really special moment in a song. And it is these special moments that determine the success of instrumental music.

Here's to special moments!

Er...?

2009-08-07T04:38:00.000-07:00

If Morrissey and Calvin Harris were terrible, they would sound like this.

Opinions?

2009-07-09T08:49:00.000-07:00

08/07/09
Pages & Plectrums - A Night of Literary Inspired Musicians
Tenderpixel Gallery, London.

And what a night it was.
The venue was a box-like room and the stage was a converted window display. Only 50-60 people could squeeze inside the gallery with the other 100 or so who had turned up left outside in the street.

Curator of the night Kieran Leonard performed first, reading passages from some of his favourite books and performing some his own songs that were influenced by literature. He warmed up the crowd well, with his acoustic ballads suiting the intimate venue perfectly.

Next up was talented but somewhat-unknown Babyshambles bassist, Drew McConnell. Upon his arrival, there was little reaction from the queue outside the venue, which is a shame because I believe he was as much the brains (if you can call it that) behind Peter Doherty’s shambolic post-Libs project as the tabloid darling himself.
This becomes apparent as soon as Drew takes the stage tonight. He is an incredibly talented singer, treating the crowd to a wonderfully animated song about the demise of Edgar Allan Poe. His voice is amazing; strong and soulful. He has a passion and maturity about him when he sings that makes me wonder how he ever managed to remain overshadowed in Babyshambles for so long. He deserves so much more recognition that he receives.

After Drew comes Mark Moriss from the Bluetones, who is joined by an accordionist and plays a refreshing, upbeat set for the small crowd.

Finally, the man of the hour arrives. The act most people have come to see because they read about tonight on NME.com. Carl Barat - looking older, wiser and a little bit chubbier than the last time I saw him in the flesh (July 2007) - takes to the stage/window.
He opened with a Leonard Cohen cover, forgot the words halfway through and much to the delight of the fans, declared: “Fuck it, I’ll just play What A Waster.”
Personally I don’t see the attraction to The Libertines’ first single - I wouldn't put it in my personal Top 5 - but it must carry some sentimentality because it makes frequent appearances in Peter's solo sets as well.
And then Carl did the best thing he could've possibly done and finished his set with Time for Heroes. Not just my favourite Libertines song, but my favourite song. I've seen it performed live twice by Peter (Fabric, Oct 06 and Glasto 09) but hearing it sung by Carl was a truly special moment for me and everyone else in the room.

After that, Carl scarpered almost as quickly as he'd arrived. Ironic how he avoids being mobbed by fans while his ex-bandmate seems to be continuously submerged in a sycophantic bubble, smothered by fans who adore him.

Kieran makes a quick apology and says the evening must end there due to complaints from neighbours and police. All in all, it was a very successful and enjoyable night.

Glastonbury Festival 2009

2009-07-01T14:50:00.000-07:00

Can words even express how good this year's Glastonbury Festival was?

It was my first time and by no means my last.

Reading Festival seems amateur now compared to a stint at Worthy Farm.

Bands I saw;

The Rakes 6/10 A band on the brink of being labelled has-beens, the 4-piece had no problem challenging this assumption early Friday. Even the rain couldn't stop Alan Donohue's unmistakable vocals rumbling out from the Other Stage and controlling the dancing feet of his audience. A short, unexpected cover of Lady Gaga's Poker Face was also very much enjoyed.

Regina Spektor 6/10 Although very talented, the success of this cheeky folk singer at a

music festival will always be precarious. Did the punters really want heartfelt piano playing at 2.30pm on the first day? It looked like it, considering she pulled in quite a large crowd over at the Pyramid Stage. Her set consisted of mainly tracks from new album 'Far', mixed with the classics - 'Samson', 'Us' and 'Better'. I was surprised that she ended with 'Fidelity' as I didn't feel it was one of her best songs but her performance of it proved completely enchanting and a perfect end to a magical performance.

The Maccabees 5/10 Horrifyingly, I can hardly remember this set even though 'Colour it In' was definitely one of my favourite albums of last year. Let us take into account that it has been almost a week since I saw their set, so don't let my forgetfulness reflect on their set. I was probably too busy swooning over Orlando to notice how good they were :)

White Lies 9/10 I never expected such a dark and emotional band like WL to bring such cheer to Friday afternoon. The audience were in true rapture, at the feet of hauntingly-attractive lead singer Harry McVeigh. It wasn't just the singles that went down well, but every song performed from their album 'To Lose my Life' seemed to go down as well as a wet wipe shower at Glastonbury. In preparation for the forthcoming arrival of The Boss, the band tore through a unique cover of 'Dancing in the Dark', which posessed all the power of the original but was also infused with the delicious darkness of White Lies themselves. Lovely.

Lily Allen 7/10 Although an indie girl through and through there will always be space in my heart for some addictive, tongue-in-cheek pop from tabloid fodder like Lily Allen. I'll go as far to admit that 'It's Not Me, It's You' is in the running for my favourite album of 2009. When watching Lily live however, I can't help but cringe at how hard she tries. It's not the music but the banter between songs that she needs to abandon. And smoking onstage? An addiction is an addiction but she seemed too busy singing to smoke the damn thing. A la Breakfast at Tiffany's.

Friendly Fires 7/10 Alas, I was dragged away from Lily by my much-cooler friends to watch this disco-infused indie threesome. It was definitely worth it though. 'Jump in the pool' and 'Paris' were played with much enthusiasm and lead singer Ed was not only handsome but passionate. Thumbs up from me.

Lady Gaga 10/10 My most anticipated festival band. No really. I went gaga for, er, GaGa a while ago and have since imitated her look for a fancy dress party and learnt the words to all her songs. I am yet to play the piano with my feet though which is exactly what she did! Among other stunts which left me completely gobsmacked for the entirety of her set. I was expecting her to be dire or perhaps out of tune, but her vocals were as strong as on the records. There were mixed reactions from the crowd concerning her slower, more heartfelt version of Poker Face but it showed she wasn't just about the costumes and the dance moves - she is very talented. She had a number of costume changes and even her tiny, weeny mistake ("Today, the 26th of July...") didn't put me off. Lady Gaga will never disappoint me, her outrageous antics are a perfect ailment for the troubles of today's society.

Bloc Party 10/10 ...absolutely blew me away. You could never call Kele Okereke arrogant, but there's definitely some cheekiness there. I couldn't even tell you my favourite songs from their set because every single one was performed to perfection. I lost my voice on Friday night just from screaming the words to Bloc Party. I was near hysteria when the band finished and they were yet to play Helicopter. The advertisements came on the screens and I thought, God - they've really finished. A strange man nearby looked genuinely concerned at my inaudible squawks.

Luckily, for my health, they reappeared in all their glory. "Where do you think you're going?" quipped Kele. I'm ready to kill him. And then that riff kicks in and I'm filled with joy again. They finish with This Modern Love and I'm in tears. I've seen them twice before but they have never been that good. 'Silent Alarm' was released in 2005; I was 17 and listening to them on the school bus. They stayed with me all the way through University and now here we are - I'm 21 and they still consume a massive part of my musical heart.

Peter Doherty 6/10 An average set infused with heart-warming Libertines covers ('Music when the Lights go Out', 'Don't Look Back into the Sun' and 'Time for Heroes'), other mostly-ignored solo stuff and a cool cover of Talking Heads' 'Psycho Killer' before indie's most notorious hero/junkie forgot the words to the second verse. Impressively however, he freestyled a sort of joke-rhyme about 'forgetting the words to the second verse/ and now reviews will be so much worse', or something.

No doubt reporters were foaming at the mouths waiting for Doherty to fall over/shoot up but even the NME commented on how it was an uneventful, well-behaved set from the ex-Libertine. Regardless, sobriety doesn't make for a good gig, Dockers, and something was definitely missing from this one. In my opinion, Peter has lost his oomph. He doesn't suit being acoustic, he needs to get a proper band together and create some punky, trashy arcadian love songs like what came from The Libertines and early-Babyshambles.

Peter was my hero, in fact I spent all of Saturday with his face on my t-shirt, which made me look all the more foolish when I turned up to his second 'special guest' slot at the Queen's Head only to find out he had cancelled. According to Q Daily, he cancelled on the basis of being a little bit worse for wear. Surprise, surprise. I am putting my Pete Appreciation on hold until he does something spectacular to win me over again.

*I was meant to see so many more bands on Saturday but I ended up being tempted away from some awesome acts, i.e. Maximo Park, Florence & The Machine, Wombats, by the 'Special Guest' slot at The Park Stage which turned out to be notorious turd burglars...*

Klaxons 4/10 'Myths of the Near Future' was undoubtedly a great album; the Klaxons broke mainstream-shaped barriers for 'Nu-rave', or whatever the hell that was and I was impressed with them... HOWEVER, they are so boring live. There is no atmosphere and rarely do their songs deviate from the original recordings. The egos in that band suck the soul out of their performance. Perhaps if they showed a little humility then they would be much more appreciated live but I could've just stayed at home and listened to 2006's (!!) Myths of the Near Future. Or watched Florence & The Machine who were apparently absolutely astounding and this makes me hate the Klaxons just that little bit more.

*I had every intention of seeing Bruce Springsteen but I got distracted again, something that happens so easily at Glastonbury!*

Brand New 7/10 Deliciously emo, I didn't expect Brand New to adapt well to a festival but their performance was incredible and well-suited to their 2.30pm slot. They played all the heart-wrenching classics - 'Okay, I believe you but my Tommy gun don't' being my favourite - and made a very good impression on old and new fans alike. However, they ended with an obscure cover that lead singer Jesse Lacey claimed was written by one of his "favourite songwriters" but failed to tell us which one. Hmm.

Enter Shikari 0/10 ...Just noise.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs 8/10 Karen O is a doll, dressed in native indian dress and shadowed by a giant eyeball. 'Maps' will always be the most perfect song performed live, it wets my eyes every time! The band played a really good mixture of tracks from all of their albums, including mega oldie, 'Art Star' which was a little too heavy and ear-destroying for the innocent/sober 5pm crowd. They ended with Date with a Night; a decision that made me think perhaps the New York three-piece know deep down that Fever to Tell will always triumph above their other albums.

Bat for Lashes 9/10 A pleasant surprise of the weekend, I thought Natasha Khan and her gang were quite bland before their performance on Sunday. The atmosphere was well and truly electric and Khan's haunting vocals only added to the static. Adding to the eerieness, a flock of birds were circling the Other Stage during her performance.

The picture isn't too clear, but you can sort of see, yes?

Bon Iver 7/10 A number of publications have given Bon Iver aka Justin Vernon storming reviews but I didn't see anything special there. His performance was simply OK, in my opinion.

The Wombats 5/10 Usually enjoyed, I was unimpressed by this performance from the minute lead singer Murph arrived onstage wearing sunglasses. A sunny day yes, but their set started at 9.30pm in the John Peel tent. No need, hun. They ran through most of debut album, 'A Guide to Love, Loss and Desperation' but to my surprise, failed to play their most recent single 'My Circuitboard City'. They started their set by saying, "Thank you for coming to see us, we know there are a lot of other bands you are missing for this", but by around half 9 it was quite clear the majority of the crowd had scarpered to get a good spot for Blur. With a weaning crowd, The Wombats seemed to lose the will to perform and I'm pretty sure they ended their set early.

The Prodigy 5/10 Yawn. The sound was appalling quite far back where earlier on in the day the volume had been perfectly acceptable in the same spot. Much like the Klaxons the previous day, I didn't feel as if I was listening to anything different to the album. After they reeled off most of their biggest hits - 'Breathe', 'Omen', 'Warriors Dance' - I decided to abandon my dreams of raving and head over to the Pyramid Stage...

Blur 9/10 My biggest regret will always be missing the beginning of the most-talked about band of the weekend. I watched the last few songs, including 'Song 2' and 'The Universal' - from as far back as the food stalls and the atmosphere was still euphoric back there! Definitely one of the best performances of their career and of the weekend.