albums |
articles | contact |
events | gig reviews |
interviews | links |
mp3s |
singles
| albums - december 2007 | ||
|
|
||
|
|
||
Last American Buffalo - "Marquis for the Debutante" (independent)The
vocals on this album from Last American Buffalo swoop from Pete Yorn to
Fallout Boy and back to Counting Crows while the guitars echo Coldplay's X&Y
period and, on the marvellous 'Ordinary Girl', Franz Ferdinand. Chris McCague |
||
|
|
||
Psapp - Tiger, My Friend (Domino)Back to the future my friends as Domino re-release Psapp's 2004 debut album Tiger, My Friend. On the cynical side you could say they are cashing in now that Psapp have had tracks played on Nip/Tuck and The OC but on the other hand I'd certainly never heard it before. Oh, and there's also the small matter that it is rather good. Galia Durant and Carim Clasmann have created a record which switches effortlessly between chocolate box cuteness and quite sullen, atmospheric introspection. Prime example of this is 'Calm Down' where a Trumpton-esque musical box type melody is gradually subsumed by a gently welling melancholy. Add to this Durant's breathy vocals and it emerges almost like a Portishead track. Percussion is again on anything that comes to hand, even a beer can makes an appearance on 'Tiger, My Friend' and there's a forest of clicks, blips and bleeps to accompany them. But again Durant's molten voice is the oil in these very mechanical sounding cogs which keeps the Psapp sound operating smoothly as a fine tuned engine. There's further evidence that Durant may have shared a singing lesson or
two with Beth Gibbons in the achingly lonely 'The Counter'. If you enjoyed
their previous album 'The Only Thing I Ever Wanted' then you will certainly
love this. And if you didn't hear that album then what better place Than
'Tiger, My Friend' to be introduced to genius that is Psapp? SB |
||
|
|
||
The Hit and Mrs - "Buried In The Backyard of My Heart" (CTL Records)1000
points for the band name. Another 1000 for the album title. Chris McCague |
||
|
|
||
Christian Silva- Onward! (Something in Construction)Onward!, the latest release from London’s melodic songster Christian Silva, presents a record warmed with indie’s finest and glam-rock’s dirtiest elements. The mystery of this undiscovered pop makes Silva’s debut even more charming. Wearing the influence of Radiohead, the sound of Super Furry Animals and on touching moments the un-camped glitter of Patrick Wolf Onward! leads the lo-fi frontier against the nu-rave army. Starting with the quietly epic title track Onward, the effect of second track Great To Begin glides into favouritism smoking with catchy rhythms and oddly ‘cheesy’ loops. Other highlights come from good-feel-folk How To Be A Man, Not To Be Noticed and pacey Break From The Past. Recently supporting Stockholm outfit Peter, Bjorn and
John, Christian Silva’s musical endeavours look brighter on the face of the
calming pop stirred by naturally flowing debut Onward! Erin Kubicki |
||
|
|
||
 |
Various - Brew Records Volume One [Compilation] – (Brew)Sixteen tracks of the best of Brew, all kinds of acts, labelled broadly
as "Alternative and Punk." It's unlikely everything will be your cup of tea,
but there'll certainly be something up your alleyway. For the alt/indie
fans, "Oblige" by "I Concur," is a demon of a track. Gently bobbing along
and emitting a truly feel-good vibe. For the predictable American thrash
punk fan inside you, "Life's Debt" by "Plight" might just be your cup of
tea. And then off we go on a twisting journey through industrial metal,
experimental progression, the haunting electronic tones of "Mucky Sailor,"
and the enchanting chilled ambient sounds of "Glissando." But it's all
certainly an interesting record. Never before have such varying artists been
compiled on the same disk, (not including the CDs you make to play in the
car on long journeys.) A beautiful mix, and as previously stated, virtually
impossible to find something that doesn't float your boat. It seems Brew
Records have quite a selection of weapons ready to tear apart the world of
music. Thom Curtis |
|
|
|
||
The Durango Riot - Telemission (Fuzzoramarecords)A quick burst of static and The Riot go straight for the jugular with rampant opener ‘Dirty Needs’. It’s fast, it’s fun, and it’s a real signal of intent from a band bristling with energy and enthusiasm. From here they prove it wasn’t a flash in the pan with the excellent mid-paced ‘I Don’t Know You, Stranger’. Trading on a simple groove the band develop the song confidently incorporating an inventive guitar solo and slowed down, stripped back sections which serve to underline the main riff as it resumes centre stage. It really is an impressive start, and I was fully expecting the quality to drop off – but it doesn’t. There is something totally infectious about the manner in which this band go about their business. The songs are vibrant and polished. The lead guitar work is constantly exciting and inventive without becoming self-indulgent. The vocals are strong yet quirky, and the rhythm section is tight and effective. This band is not going to change the world, but they are extremely effective at what they do. And it’s not just pulsating rockers either, as The Riot prove when they slow things down on the moody ‘Drivers’. The song starts with echoey guitars, a perfectly pitched harmonica and a haunting vocal which showcases a totally different side to the band. However, after a couple of minutes the band can contain their exuberance no longer as the singer shouts “Go!”, the drums kick in and from nowhere we are treated to a wailing saxophone solo. Just when it seems as though the band have lost focus they effortlessly pull the song back to the original mood and tempo, but leave the harmonica and saxophone to effloresce and meander in the background. Thoroughly engaging stuff. The album continues apace with the breezy romp ‘We’ve Planted A Bomb In Your Radiostation’ which somehow manages not to sound hyperbolic in their hands. The band then slow down (slightly) for the hilariously named ‘(Rama Lama) Midnight Haze’ followed by the equally adroit ‘Don’t Follow’. The tempo is then cranked up for the feisty ‘Future 2036’ which breaks off half way through to incorporate a funky bassline and Spanish guitar solo. The album ends on the frenetic title-track and with a pleasing circularity we are returned to the static. To conclude, this is a mighty impressive debut album
from a talented band with huge potential. The Durango Riot aren’t going to
win the Mercury Prize, but they will definitely curl smiles and turn heads
with this debut effort. The fact that they experiment with so many different
styles, tempos, moods and instruments is admirable. The fact that they
deliver this with skill and verve while not losing their idiosyncratic
essence is the real achievement here. Richard Ash |
||
|
|
||
50Hz - Here Goes Everything (Blue Tide Records)I first listened to this album in the background while doing other things and I quite liked the sound of it. I couldn’t identify particular aspects of it that I liked though, and it all merged into one in my mind. For this reason I gave it another listen in the car where I gave it my full attention. The problem is I felt exactly the same after this listen with one important difference – I didn’t like it any more. It’s just so bland. I’m flicking through the tracks now trying to find something to remark on, and failing. The songs seem to hang in a vacuum without a purpose or direction, and this gets quite depressing as the album progresses. It’s not that the playing is particularly bad, and the vocals are pretty good in places, but even they are consistently let down by the lyrics. Here’s just a sample taken at random: 'Love love love, talk about love to me” - “I’m trapped in a crystal ball trying to swim upstream” - “She’s only sleeping, why do they put a face on the moon?” - “One hand on the shoulder of time, the other in mine, the blind are leading the blind” - “It’s so hard to find yourself when you’re feet are on the ground” Sheer platitudinous drivel, and when it isn’t it makes no sense at all. I mean really, what are they on about? How do you go about swimming upstream when you’re trapped in a crystal ball? What’s so hard about finding yourself when your feet are on the ground? Surely that would make it easier if anything. I know lyrics are not always literal, but sheesh! I think I would be a little less harsh on the band if it were not for their promo material which claims that their oeuvre includes “out-and-out snarling, guitar fuelled assaults”. There is certainly no such thing on this album, which makes the statement either pointless or deliberately misleading. Worse, there is a quote which describes the band as “Part Muse, part Mansun”. Now I don’t know a lot about Mansun, but the comparison with Muse is so wide of the mark it’s hilarious. Even if the part of Muse this reviewer is referring to is Matt Bellamy’s little finger, it would accord a level of sophistication and inventiveness to 50 Hertz that they simply do not warrant. Not on the basis of this album, anyway. You will have guessed by now that I am not a big fan of
this band. It’s not my intention to dismiss them out of hand, but 50 Hertz
have had five years to arrive at this album. With that in mind you would
really expect more substance than is on offer here. The promo material
states this is the album “they know has the chance to break them”. Perhaps
it’s time to fish that crystal ball out of the stream and have another look.
Richard Ash |
||
|
|
||
Lionshare - From the Ground (Palimpsest Recordings)It’s been a number of years since we put Lionshare on in Leeds. But since that point I’d been a great admirer of what they were doing and the music they were putting out. Their previous EP’s and singles have all been of a really high calibre… so it’s not surprising I had pretty high hopes for this album. On previous releases the band have concerned themselves with soundscapes and creating very pastoral music. While they never became indulgent (as these things can often become) they deviated enough from ‘traditional’ song structures and experimented enough to remain interesting and not fall into the trap of becoming another in a long list of rather dull folk influenced outfits. In fairness, they pretty much stand head and shoulders above most other ‘folk’ bands around. Upon first listen I wasn’t entirely convinced that the leap from a string of singles and EP’s to a full length album had been a successful one. Much more concentrated and more traditionally structured than their previous work; I was concerned that they had fallen foul of the traps that they had been so adept at avoiding in the past. Turns out I was wrong. After initial misgivings, and following many more repeated listens I’m happy to report that they had delivered an interesting, dense, beautiful and rewarding piece of work, which would make a welcome addition to the record collection of anyone with a passing interest in the more experimental end of the folk spectrum. There are elements of the sound that
are very much English (there are echoes of Nick Drake, possibly in the voice
of Simon Loynes more than the actual music, which, is much more akin to the
‘psych-folk’ scene) and comparisons can be drawn from a wealth of great
English folk acts, but Lionshare’s sound clearly has roots that stretch far
beyond their native soil (as is evident on tracks like ‘The Bark’), and far
beyond the confines of ‘folk’. The album was recorded live on vintage
recording equipment, so it’s no surprise that the album has a timeless
quality to it. It’s a record that frankly could have been released in 1967,
just as much as it could have been released in 2007, but that’s not to say
it’s any less vital and relevant. All in all it’s a great addition to an
already stunning body of work, from a band that deserves much more
recognition than they receive.
Drew Millward |
||
|
|
||
James Hara - Take Us the Foxes (Electric Pig)Ah, the world of the folky singer songwriter, where gentle chaps and ladies softly strum their acoustic guitars and unload the thoughts on their minds to us. James Hara seems to fit snugly into this niche and demonstrates some fine finger picked guitar. His voice is homely rather than memorable and after a couple of songs this leaves you with a warm feeling inside. Lovely. So what's the catch? Well unless you are really listening hard and have a masters degree in musicology, I defy you to tell the difference between the melodies in the first 6 tracks. It's just sooo samey. Track 7, 'Into the Nets', does finally buck the trend with an interesting minor chord variation and slightly different timing, more akin to Will Oldham and the like but will you still be paying attention by then? This is a perfectly technically accomplished album but really fails to
push any boundaries. With so many singer songwriters hawking their tunes
around at the moment it's hard to see how this can be more than another drop
in the ocean. There's the ones who really stand out like David Thomas
Broughton, Benjamin Wetherill, Napoleon IIIrd, Mr Fogg and what do they all
have in common? They are willing to try something a little bit different and
leave this comfortable singer-songwriter land where perfectly nice people
stick to playing perfectly nice songs. As Alexei Sayle said, 'nice' is
something you say about biscuits. SB |
||
|
|
||
Ben Arthur – MouthFeelBen Arthur has one of those low, slightly nasal American voices that generally make women weak at these knees when they here it. And whilst that might be enough for some, the more discerning music consumers amongst of us know that a good voice does not a good album make. Rather like a page 3 girl, Ben Arthur showcases his ‘asset’ at every opportunity, so the result is an album with lots of sentimental ballads with minimal instrumentation and lots of crooning. There are flashes of something slightly more interesting though, and ‘Last Goodbye’ is a far more exciting upbeat college rock number that is much better suited to Arthur’s voice. Definitely the rose amongst the thorns. Occasionally Arthur hits the ballad nail on the head, and ‘On A Sunday’ is haunting and Buckley-esque, with the touches of piano making it a lot more special than his other attempts. It seems Arthur needs to select his
songs a little more carefully for his albums, and maybe an EP would have
been better, because when he’s good, he’s very good.
Catriona Boyle |
||
|
|
||
Cymbient – Out On The Waves (Surk Recordings)Apparently Cardiff is having a musical resurgence, and is now the capital of cool new music. You could’ve fooled me. Cymbient aren’t particularly new. They’re semi-cool though. Their pseudo-psychedelic rock is pleasant enough to listen to, and is certainly a welcome change from all the spiky guitars and computer game noises we’ve been hearing of late. By about track four tie-dying will start to seem like a good idea again, and you’ll be wondering why you’ve never tried surfing before. Either that or you’ll just be very relaxed, man. As for those Welsh accents… well they’re no-where to be seen, although it’s no wonder as half the band aren’t even from Wales. Instead we have rather strong American accents. Odd, but quite frankly better suited. Track seven is a departure from the rest of the laid back swirly melodies, and swaggers along nicely. After this brief intermission though its back to acoustic guitars and wispy vocals. A bit Zero 7, a bit dinner party-ish,
Out On The Waves is nice enough, but nice doesn’t really cut it for a whole
album.
Catriona Boyle |
||
|
|
||
Various Artists - Organized Crime Sampler (Organized Crime)This
album is an eclectic mix containing tracks from the artists who are signed
to the ‘Organized Crime’ record label. It is jam packed full of wall to wall
anger, hate, loss and pure thrash, which was enough to make my head ache,
jar my teeth, confuse and surprisingly, amuse. |
||
|
|
||
Get Back Up - Weathering the Storm'Get Back Up' are a band which formed
in Buffalo, N.Y. They played their first show in 2005 have been gigging ever
since, sharing the stage with bands such as 'Terror', 'Death Before
Dishonour' and 'Outbreak' to name but a few. |
||
|
|
||
SAL - InfatuationSAL is a four piece rock/punk outfit who formed in 2001,
with female vocalist Cat at the helm. Since then, SAL have worked with Greg
Haver (Manic Street Preachers, Catatonia, INME) who produced their debut
album ‘Dysfunctional’ that has been released through Copro records. |
||
|
|
||
New Project - Ultraviolent Light‘New Project’ released their first E.P ‘
Primal.Logic.Slave’ during 2006 and were chosen as one of the UK’s top 6
hottest unsigned acts by Metal Hammer magazine. The band have performed on
stage at Mean Fiddler and shared the stage with ‘Rose Tattoo’, ‘Skindred’
and ‘3 Inches of Blood’. |
||
|
|
||
Farming Incident – Nine Degrees of Torture (Wrath)Farming Incident seem to specialise in the simple. Take writing a song about the true story of the man who deliberately ingested a tapeworm and let it grow it to eight feet long, before passing it through his anal tract and calling up the Daily Star et al. to document the aftermath: The correct Farming Incident approach to adopt when dealing with this sensitive subject is simple. Think of a song name / chorus such as ‘Parasite Worm of Death’ – yep that’ll do – and repeat. Oh yeah, add the lyric ‘every morsel you take increases the size of the snake’ to vary it about a bit and the band, erm, generally thrash your instruments in a disjointed fashion without ever playing too quickly, don’t want to us sound like a metal band. Next… Not that the approach doesn’t work. Almost everything sounds okay on Nine Degrees of Torture; the songs are raw, underproduced and gritty, making the album sound a lot like a demo, or a live recording. Their musical style is quite easy to draw similarities with. Take something like a milk crate: something that hasn’t really evolved, was never fashionable, is not complex, is not groundbreaking, but is not intrinsically bad. In fact, what a milk crate does, holding milk, keeping it upright, it does well. So it’s hard to criticise the milk crate. But unless you really needed one, you wouldn’t buy one and you could never love the milk crate, or emotionally connect with it unless you were well weird. Similarly, it’s impossible to really love or connect
emotionally to the simplistic drumming and fuzzy guitars, the childish
lyrics, slack timing and the moronic delivery. It’s tough to listen to the
whole thing through without wanting something with more of a point to make
or a better way of making it. Ian Anderson |
||
|
|
||
The Bobby McGee’s – S’amuser Com des Fous (Cherryade Music)On the cover
of this release there are 2 cartoon bears who have been trying and slightly
succeeding in knocking the stuffing out of each other. There is blood on
each bear, kids, and anguished facial expressions. Inside the CD, arranged
as 1s and 0s, however, is none of this commotion. Just simple little songs
of love and longing on banjo, guitar, bass, tin whistle and so on, with
Scots’ bloke vox and fragile Southern English girl vox mixing in nicely.
Fey, foppish, wimpy and poppy could possibly be the adjectives aimed at this
act in an attempt to slag them off, and yes they are all those things, but
the songs are lovely and if you fail to be moved by them, then you are
Satan. Dave Procter |
||
|
|
||
At the Soundawn – Red Square: We Come In Waves (UKDIVISION)Feral-roaring that could make your hair fall out from a hundred yards, unintelligible harmonies and then a horn-section interlude laid over some Isis-style brooding!? I wouldn’t mind but this is the first song from Italian hardcore boys At The Soundawn, and I just wasn’t prepared!! Don’t get me wrong, first track “Slight Variations” is not badly-recorded or even poorly-executed, and there will be folks out there who love this kind of thing, but At The Soundawn continue to not know really what they are, throughout the ensuing six tracks. “Submerged” is equally as lost, with
tinges of Euro-rock, sludgey riffs and yet more barking, and “One Day
Before” again has the ingredients of being worth the listen, but these
ingredients (chunky riffs, delicate vocals) are mashed in with more
ear-splitting bellowing and fractured song-structuring, and therefore don’t
come out with a palatable end product. “Phone Will” has a beautiful
mid-section, but stodgy outer crust, and I hate to say it, but the 1:50
“Sundown in Rome” is the best thing here, not because of its brevity but
because it actually decides what it wants to be from the outset and sticks
to it – like the first outfit tried on by the wife when you are late leaving
the house, it doesn’t have time to change. There was no redemption for this
reviewer from final tracks “Rain Falls” and “Frames of You” either, offering
up more of the same. Stuart Bowen |
||
|
|
||
The Elephants – “The Elephants”How does one stumble over a herd of elephants? Well, when they’re a five-piece indie band from Denmark that tries to add you as a Myspace friend, it’s not quite as unlikely as you’d think. Intrigued by their name, I checked out their profile and fell for a couple of the tracks they had playing there – “Shivers” and “Caroline Knows”. Both were fab slices of surf-guitar pop, the voices of Martine and Bjarke harmonising and intertwining to glorious effect, that suggested a group influenced by the greats (Wilson, Reed, Coyne). More importantly, they made me want to hear more so when I discovered that an album was imminent I requested a copy directly, and they very kindly sent me one. Now, the difficulty for any half-decent band to live up to that early promise cannot be underestimated, so it’s not a huge surprise that this is the case here although it is disappointing. I want to love this album but the fact of the matter is there aren’t any tracks as good as those songs that first caught my attention (both included, I’m glad to report). Also, their delivery seems a little cold on occasion, like on “The Cruise” which would be heartbreaking if Bjarke didn’t sound somewhat distant and disinterested. In truth, they remind me a lot of Shout Out Louds, only drier. That’s not to say that it should be considered a failure; The Elephants know their onions too well when it comes to crafting good melodies, their arrangements are impeccable and, save for the misguided attempt at doing ‘epic’ on “Good Times” (a rather aimless turn that doesn’t catch fire until the band rocks out at the end, and which goes to show that these particular pachyderms work best within the 3 minute framework), there isn’t a bad song here. In fact, most of them would put their contemporaries to shame, and “Autumn Hearts” deserves a special mention a) for being lovely and b) for being the sole effort on which Martine takes the lead vocal slot. It would have been nice to hear her do so more often. Perhaps The Elephants have simply
set the bar too high and need a little more time and experience to catch up
with themselves. If that’s the case, we’ll consider this a promising debut
that hints at greatness and look forward to the day those seeds reach
fruition.
Will Columbine |
||
|
|
||
The Heart Strings – “Try Fly Blue Sky”Another example of a band I fell in love with a while back, but who haven’t quite pulled off the coup of making their debut album “all killer, no filler”. Reviewing The Heart Strings demo almost two years ago was the highlight of 2005; their songs were things of passionate yearning, star-gazing wonder and imagination but with a muscular undercurrent that prevented them ever sounding cloying or twee. “Try Fly Blue Sky” has its moments and you can hear how much thought and attention to detail that has gone into it, yet the newer material sounds rather fragile in comparison to the triumphs of yore. With its thudding groove, “Cannonball Stan” still sounds like the best thing The Folk Implosion never wrote, while “Pedalo” and “He Wanted to Fly and He Flew” capture the imagination with tales of human endurance within the context of fantastical situations. The tale of a man attempting to cross the ocean on a fairground ride isn’t your usual type of subject matter. In contrast, singing about lusting after the waitress in your local greasy spoon (“Mariana”) doesn’t measure up, especially when the song itself sounds as though it might blow away in a slight breeze. Meanwhile, there’s something a bit rigid about tracks like “Her New Disaster” and “Nina and her Very Long Hair”, pretty as they are. Indeed, this is an album that often sounds as though it’s holding its breath, afraid to exhale in case the walls of the fairytale castle come tumbling down. Like their heroes Crowded House, The
Heart Strings are likely to attract devotion and derision in equal measure.
There’s no questioning their talent, skill and pop credentials, but one can
only take so many harps, xylophones and tinkling pianos before the urge to
hear some crushingly loud, distorted guitars takes over. At least, that has
been my experience. Others will love their poise, delicacy and reclamation
of the song as a vehicle for storytelling rather than simply whining about
girlfriend troubles. If they could take a leaf out of The Flaming Lips book
and inject a little more backbone into their music, I would definitely have
both feet in the latter camp instead of only one. 3 out of 5. Will Columbine |
||
|
|
||
Truckfighters – Phi (Fuzzarama)Please welcome Paco, Dango, Ozo and Fredo. No, not a collection of bathroom cleaners, or even the Scandinavian Teletubbies. They are none other than Sweden’s foremost purveyors of sludge and fuzz - I give you Truckfighters. If you are a fan of stoner rock then read on, if not you might as well stop here. Because stoner rock is what Truckfighters do, and lots of it. From the opening three tracks ‘Atomic’, ‘Fortyeight’ and ‘Kickdown’ the tone is set. The viscous, meaty riffs give the feel of a band jamming, but the playing remains tight and effective. The songs are developed well but never really take off. The fourth song ‘Chameleon’, clocking in at just over ten minutes, is the centrepiece of the album. Although I applaud the band for their ambition, it doesn’t really work for me. It sounds like a collection of good ideas but doesn’t hang together as a coherent whole. The last minute or so is acoustic with a cello introduced in the background, but this has more in common with the next song than the song it is supposed to be a part of. This next song is the excellent and virtually unpronouncable ‘Dysthmia’. Here the band contrast a clean, pretty riff with their trademark fuzzy sludge and combine the two skilfully to conclude. It is easily the best song on the album and reminiscent of Kyuss at their best. The last five songs see a return to the dense, distorted vibe of the opening three with no real variation in quality or substance. The playing remains proficient, the riffs are well crafted, but nothing really grabs you. Truckfighters are a decent band, and will carve out a
comfortable niche for themselves with this album. If you’re well into stoner
rock then ‘Phi’ will not disappoint, but neither will it convert anyone to
the cause. It is refreshing to hear a band that know what they do well and
stick to it, but ‘Dysthmia’ persuades me that they are capable of a little
more creativity and invention than is evidenced in the majority of this
album. Richard Ash |
||
|
|
||
Mark Edwards - BalanceWith a turn for the better, once music critic (like me!) Mark Edwards has
conjured up a work that he quite possibly believes will top a lot of music
he'd been sent to review in recent years. Jamie Milton |
||
|
|
||
Cowtown - Pine Cone ExpressA tip for all budding musicians: never describe your music as "Spaz rock,
fused with electric lemon". It's the equivalent of calling your album
'Tripe: Come and Get Me'. I wasn't impressed by the press release, therefore
when I put Cowtown's debut album in my CD player; they had a lot to do to up
my opinion of them. |
||
|
|
||
The Colt .45s - Let’s Have An Accident (Filthy Little Angels)For an album that seems to be named after something Delia Smith might shout while pissed out of her box on the Christmas liqueurs, this is one of the more intriguing offerings coming down the chimney this month. Four completely snotty young punk-asses from Durham, the Colt .45s like their art-noise, their slight instrumentation and their shouty slogan filled choruses. I’d usually dismiss it as kids making their usual noise, and consequently tune it out because I was trying to watch Top Gear. But they demand attention. They’re so immersed in post-punk that I can’t describe them as anything but a giant slab of concrete brilliance covered in chocolate. They look and sound great, have a fantastic attitude and as long as they keep treading the same path while holding their middle fingers aloft then they won’t have anything to worry about when it comes to shifting units. ‘Rocket Fuel’ is the perfect opener. Vocalist
Anne-Marie Atkinson has a voice that’s infinitely more preferable and full
of character than blandthon Leona Lewis and sounds so much like Siouxsie
Sioux it’s incredible. Comparisons have been drawn between these and Help,
She Can’t Swim but in my opinion these are better. The album has great
variety, presence and poise, and if The Colt .45s move to a major they’ll
have all the character sawn off with great industrial sanders, so check this
out while you can. Chris Stanley |
||
|
|
||
Axisgallery - Digital OrgasmIf there was ever a reason why England shouldn't get more integrated into
the European union then this experimental collection of Euro trash is it.
Boy Cum Over offers false hopes of CSS style electronical dirty guitar
infused dance, but just wait until track two: 'Party Animal' kicks in and
see how long you last without spewing up over this tasteless
rubbish. Cringing lyrics such as "tasting like a peach, baby you're the one"
could make a toddler call taste control. Eleven tracks where two minutes
into each one 80's stadium rock guitar solos and the continuous creepy
sexual concept kick in. Misguided samples are mixed into badly arranged,
nonsensical compositions. Their PR state Axisgallery formed 'during the
bleak musical wasteland of 2004' and that they incorporate, well, everything
it seems. A list so ridiculously long with world music forms that it sounds
pants before you even turn it on. If you need any more reasons to save your
money from Digital Orgasm then just read the plain stupid end track title:
'Unbearable Lightness Of Filo Pastry.' Vomit inducing. Nick Burman |
||
|
|
||
The Argonauts – “Sixes and Sevens”A friend recently asked me how many big bands of today contain multiple singer songwriters and, I must confess, I was stumped for an answer. Teenage Fanclub, while great, were never huge. See, it can’t be an easy trick to pull off; invariably one talent will shine out above the rest…and then there’s the squabbling, musical differences and inflated egos rubbing up against each other. How will The Argonauts, three plucky young scamps from Norf Landarn, fare? United by a shared love of Supergrass, they don’t follow their heroes down the power trio route, having instead mastered the art of the song that bobs along nicely. They deviate from this template but rarely, meaning rockier tracks like “What Happened to You?” stand out even more than they might otherwise. This is summery feel-good pop with brass and organ that will get your toes a-tapping but never raise the hairs on the back of your neck. Drummer Terry Swain provides the more robust tunes and is the only one to possess a distinctive voice, though he may run into difficulties when David Bowie asks for it back. Meanwhile, Dan Fell and James Eaton vocally fall somewhere in the midst of Ray Davies, Gaz Coombes and Ride, only without the hurricane guitars to back them up. It would definitely not be a bad thing if all three harmonised more often or even sang entire songs together. Hey, it worked for Crosby, Stills & Nash. It’s their love of good melodies
that are their main selling point and each song has its own charm, with
“Dark Little Corners” worth mentioning in particular for its satisfying
chord progression and world weary vibe that contrasts with pretty much
everything else on the LP. They’ve also kept the production as minimal as
possible, a commendable attitude in today’s culture of multi-track excess,
and the record has nice “live” vibe to it. Overall, it’s a decent start but
hopefully by album number two they will have learnt to function more as a
unit rather than three songwriters taking turns in the spotlight. 3/5 Will Columbine |
||
|
|
||
The Warlocks – Heave Deavy Skull Lover (Tee Pee)All I knew about the Warlocks is that there used to be over 10 people in the band, they love the drugs and Buddyhead thinks they’re great (especially the older albums). This album has a great name and some ace song titles and even though, on reading ‘Valley of Death’, ‘Death I Hear You Walking’ and ‘Interlude in Reverse’ I was expecting something heavier, they are still useful markers as to what you’re going to get. They aren’t afraid to embrace druggy sounds - most songs sound like the soundtrack to drug hazes and dreams, which can be no bad thing. Songs repeat and move in cycles, getting inside your head, almost to aid you as you stare into space. Listened to straight it can get a little repetitive, but only a little. I bet it really is a super stoner album. The aid of drugs aside though, the songs are actually pretty good, their length (only 2 songs under 5 minutes) can sometimes be a challenge considering that the songs don’t really go anywhere, emitting coiling loops of gentle distortion and almost spoken, breathy singing. Not so much an album to put on in the background, more an album to have on and let wash over you. As far as stand out tracks go, ‘Zombie like Lovers’ is ace, urgent, spins without hurting. ‘Death I Hear You Walking’ sounds like falling and rising without stopping. The bonus track shouldn’t have been a bonus track. It’s the best song on the album. ‘Heavy Deavy…’is a perfect way to not harsh your mellow
and some of the songs are actually beautiful, which I think would equal a
mission accomplished for The Warlocks. Oh, I couldn’t get away with not saying that they sound like MBV. Christopher Carney |
||
|
|
||
