Underwurld Music

Thea Gilmore - Angels In The Abattoir (January 2012)

2012-01-31T19:45:00.000Z

A great start to 2012! Thea Gilmore has given all her lovely Angels a fantastic new song, exclusive to all subscribers and no one else! Hold Still is a deep and meaningful piano ballad with huge deep echoing vocals and plenty of atmosphere. Here's what Thea says about the song:

"This is a title that I've had for a while and I could never quite write the right song for it. I'm still not sure that the song quite lives up to its idea, so you may hear another song with the same title somewhere down the line (some of you may be interested to know that I wrote 3 Red White And Black's before finally settling on the right one!)"

A song worthy of a new Thea Gilmore album.

2012 Music Chart - January

2012-01-31T19:32:00.000Z

A busy month with some great new albums (thanks Spotify Premium!). Tough Love by Pulled Apart By Horses leads the way followed by the wonderful Ani Difranco with ¿Which Side Are You On? Also this month: America Give Up by Howler, Given To The Wild by The Maccabees and Black Light by Diagrams. All contribute to a great start to the year and the first Underwurld Music chart of 2012!

1. Tough Love by Pulled Apart by Horses
2. Given To The Wild by The Maccabees
3. ¿Which Side Are You On? by Ani Difranco
4. America Give Up by Howler
5. Black Light by Diagrams

Pulled Apart By Horses - Tough Love (Album Review 2012)

2012-01-28T17:24:00.000Z

There is a growing consensus that guitar music is in crisis. If there is any truth in this, Leeds post-hardcore garage quartet Pulled Apart By Horses sound like a band on the verge of pioneering the resurgence. After the release of their rough-round-the-edges eponymous debut in 2010, the band hit the festivals and were asked to tour with Muse, and growing as musicians, the follow-up Tough Love is a much more solid record, building on the might of early single I Punched A Lion In The Throat – a furious combination of lead singer Tom Hudson’s terrifyingly straining vocals and the swirling guitar work of James Brown. Having a unique and interesting sound is one thing and only gets you so far, so does Tough Love have the songs to back it up?

Tough Love starts in blistering form. Big single V.E.N.O.M. is like being dropped into a thundering vortex, with its sudden jolting start and fierce ‘spelling bee’ chorus – Hudson’s vocals screaming the letters as a prelude to stomping guitars. While this is not the best songwriting, the whole execution packs a mighty punch even into the third minute ‘80s metal’ instrumental – a slow deliberate dirge metamorphosing into a frantic burst of thrash. Brilliant.

Elsewhere, no song matches this incredible start but a few come close. Bromance Ain’t Dead is glorious pop-metal and Hudson’s best vocal performance: mesmerisingly combining insane laughter with an effective tuneful delivery. A neat late guitar solo divides the action. Some Mothers is short but excellent, packing in as many ideas as possible in fewer than two minutes. And Epic Myth, with sedate harmonising vocals matching sedate guitars then exploding into life due to a spectacular vocal performance from Hudson and more furious guitars, is also excellent. We continue to fear for the long-term health of his voice.

Late on, Give Me A Reason sounds like another single; a good structured arrangement and a terrific guitar solo is a winning combination. In spite of these high points, Tough Love falls off the rails in the middle. The start/stop vocal/guitar arrangement of Night Of The Living (I’m Scared Of People) with its horrible uninspired chorus fails on all levels. And Wildfire, Smoke & Doom is a great twenty-three seconds of rampant guitars with two minutes of average build-up.

The rest is more hit and some miss. On Wolf Hand, Hudson sings, “When I was a kid, I was a dick. But nothing changes”. A surprisingly melodious chorus and epic guitars save the song. The drumming on Shake Off The Curse is a constant driving force in an otherwise unspectacular effort. A shame as the writing is adventurous: “You won’t send me back to the dark place”, Hudson spits. Into the third minute, a great gliding guitar solo is cut short. Degeneration Game revisits old ground musically while Hudson provides another stupendous performance.

Tough Love closes with Everything Dipped In Gold, the album’s longest song at four minutes. Although the band sound in control, the wealth of ideas get away from them, falling apart slightly around a decent pop chorus and into an elegant instrumental finale. Another two minutes with a thrash-metal crescendo and it’s a great song – but maybe there is more to Pulled Apart By Horses than this predictable formula.

On the strength of Tough Love, Pulled Apart By Horses should be the most exciting new band since Nirvana. One is reminded of the raw power of Bleach before the magnificence of Nevermind yet to come. This is a much improved second effort from a band who know they have more to give – and touring has made them better musicians: a template for any new band. Fully aware of their own ambitions Pulled Apart By Horses have made an album as challenging as it is fascinating, taken a few risks and confirmed their place in an exciting music community. Guitar music is dying? No way.

-- CS

New Lostprophets Album 'Weapons', new single Better Off Dead and UK tour announced

2012-01-23T21:10:00.001Z

The brilliant Lostprophets have announced the release of their new album, entitled Weapons, on April 2nd this year. This is followed by a UK tour.

Listen to the new single Better Off Dead on the band's official Facebook page here.

Ani Difranco - ¿Which Side Are You On? Album Review (2012)

2012-01-21T16:55:00.001Z

Musical careers are filled with ups and downs, good songs and not so good songs, commercial success and obscurity. The professional life of Ani DiFranco has seen all of these, from her charming auspicious début in 1990 to the wonder years of the 1990s, through the desolation of the start of the last decade into the revival of the end; DiFranco has tasted the highs and the lows of being a musician. Now, aged 41, married and enjoying motherhood, her seventeenth album ¿Which Side Are You On? is a heady mix of the politically charged (the name of the album and title track is taken from the Florence Reece protest song made popular by Pete Seeger – who also features on the song) and the deeply intimate and autobiographical. This is much more edgy than her previous album Red Letter Year – the resounding result of five years of toil and battling out of the wilderness than began with 2001’s monstrous and directionless Revelling/Reckoning – and continues a run of good (return to) form.

¿Which Side Are You On? immediately hits the right mark. Perfectly pitched in the centre ground between delicate empty acoustic folk and mid to fast tempo alt-rock, DiFranco blends some her best song-writing in a decade with a wonderful collection of arrangements to give the songs character and identity. At times ¿Which Side Are You On? feels like a ‘best of’ collection but falls short (thankfully) of repetition – everything sounds new and fresh but easily placed at different points in her back catalogue; like the album is a deliberate anthology.

Opener Life Boat is a great start – the spiky staccato guitar, fuzzy bass and Difranco’s delicious voice – part smoke, part fire – to bring it all together. The song attempts to sum up the ‘story so far’ from her engaging personality to life as an ‘exposed’ musician and icon. Unworry takes the same approach but is two songs wound together – DiFranco interrupts her own flow several times like a rambling, yet charming, schizophrenic.

The title track, underpinning the whole album, is way ahead of everything else in its directness and no-nonsense execution. The only criticism is the lack of subtlety makes it sound more like a parody than an open, honest appeal to the powers that be. The non-universal nature of the song is its only downfall. This is one of the reasons most of the world dislikes Bruce Springsteen, especially when his music is used in the wrong context. This aside, this is solid reinvention of an old established idea that has some startling moments.

Splinter, with its pseudo-calypso feel, couldn’t be more different. A pro-feminist song sugar-coated, it delivers some of the best lines: “Watch out for that TV; it’s full of splinters. And remember you can always go outside…Really, really, really far outside…” and “Who put all this stuff in my apartment? Who put all this ice in my drink? Who put the poison in the atmosphere? Who put the poison in the way I think?”. Musically there are some great touches. Unfortunately ¿Which Side Are You On? falters slightly with the odd Promiscuity. This time, the start/stop arrangement distracts from the positive message.

¿Which Side Are You On? comes back kicking with the beautiful Albacore – the most obvious love song on the album. A perfect bleak arrangement with DiFranco as the central instrument is accompanied by exquisite piano. J is an intriguing exploration into culture and purpose, again filled with keen observation and social commentary, but it fails to translate into a structure – the song ambles and loops through its five minutes. In contrast, the short punchy and industrial If Yr Not is a moment of brilliance. Continuing the diversity, Hearse is a truly beautiful vocal performance set to a balanced piano-led backing – odd euphemism aside – this manages to be both kooky and meaningful in equal measure.

Into the final trilogy, Mariachi is another elegantly performed love song of unravelling stories and experiences. More great guitar work and piano take it from page to performance as the tales unfold. Another sidestep takes the album to the menacing equal-rights anthem of Amendment, fusing light and darkness, positive with negative, and highlighting more issues in six and half minutes than the rest of the album put together. Again, a direct unsubtle delivery is made credible with a sincere honest vocal.

¿Which Side Are You On? closes with the downbeat and world-weary Zoo, bringing the album to a very dour end. It is a shame that this feels like DiFranco giving up instead of fighting on and an odd choice for closer. That said, the final hard-hitting lyrics are: “Pour your love into your children…until there’s nothing left to say”. Twice.

Ani DiFranco has gathered together an interesting group of musicians for this album. As well as Pete Seeger, she is joined by Ivan and Cyril Neville, Adam Levy and saxophonist Skerik. And musically ¿Which Side Are You On? is more coherent and stable than it could have been, with plenty of flourishes. Long gone are DiFranco’s angst-fuelled days of the brilliant brutal and bare Dilate, and this is certainly far removed from the sparse hopelessness of Revelling/Reckoning and chaotic Puddle Dive. Music often echoes the musician’s own life and this certainly does – Ani DiFranco is now older, wiser, calmer and settled, but her music is continuously thought-provoking, compelling and it still packs a punch.

-- CS

BBC Sound of 2012 - a very uninspiring Top 5

2012-01-07T14:47:00.000Z

The BBC 'Sound of...' is generally a good indication of talent to listen out for in the coming year. The shortlists have introduced us to the likes of Florence and The Machine, The Ting Tings, Mumford and Sons, Adele, Vampire Weekend, Dizzee Rascal and Lady Gaga as well as less mainstream artists trying to make it big.

This year the top 5 is...

1. Michael Kiwanuka
2. Frank Ocean
3. Azealia Banks
4. Skrillex
5. Niki and The Dove

Starting with Niki and The Dove, the Swedish electro-pop duo sound a bit like Florence and The Machine (with a bit of Bjork) as remixed by Underworld. No bad thing as in these days of 80s retrospectives, these guys bring something unique and interesting.

Skrillex (Sonny Moore from Los Angeles) is trying to take electronic music to another level, combining dubstep, hardcore and more conventional dance music elements. It doesn't sound too radical but definitely has an edge.

New York rapper Azealia Banks is best known for 212 (featuring Lazy Jay), a torrent of sexually explicit lyrics wrapped up in half-decent rap-pop, but there needs to be more to Azealia Banks than headlines. Her cover of Interpol's Slow Hands is genuinely interesting but the rest of her material is definitely not radio-friendly. She has talent and with the right direction she can use it.

US singer Frank Ocean seems like nothing new after a few listens but he does bring something fresh to a tired genre. A good voice, if over-produced, and strong, hard-hitting subject matter (see Novacane) is one thing but he sounds in danger of getting lost amongst everyone else.

BBC Sound of 2012 winner Michael Kiwanuka is the only Brit in the top 5 and the obvious choice for first place. A soul/folk combination is not original but his voice is a breath of fresh air. Single Home is a delight.

It's a shame that there appear to be no indie 'guitar' bands on the horizon and I can't say that I'm going to rush out and start buying any of this. Uninspiring top 5.

Those that didn;t make the top 5 are:

A$AP Rocky
Dot Rotten
Dry The River
Flux Pavilion
Friends
Jamie N Commons
Lianne La Havas
Ren Harvieu
Spector
Stooshe

I would have gone for Jamie N Commons, Dry The River and the wonderful Friends in the top 5.

2011 Music Chart - December

2011-12-31T14:05:00.001Z

So another year comes to an end and here is the final 2011 Music Chart. A very quiet month with a couple of albums hitting the turntables: Pearl Jam Twenty and the new deluxe edition of U2's Achtung Baby (and Q magazine's version of covers - both not added to the chart). Fleet Foxes hold the number one spot and is still the Underwurld Music album of the year.

Helplessness Blues by Fleet Foxes
A Creature I Don't Know by Laura Marling
Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will by Mogwai
Slave Ambient by The War On Drugs
Ashes Fire by Ryan Adams
Last Night On Earth by Noah And The Whale
Codes and Keys by Death Cab For Cutie
Collapse Into Now by R.E.M.
Belong by The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart
50 Words For Snow by Kate Bush
Ceremonials by Florence & The Machine
Passenger by Lisa Hannigan
Twenty by Pearl Jam
Sky Full Of Holes by Fountains Of Wayne
Virtue by Emmy The Great
The Big Roar by The Joy Formidable
Blood Pressures by The Kills
Velociraptor! by Kasabian
Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds by Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds
Diamond Mine by King Creosote and Jon Hopkins
Destroyed by Moby
John Wesley Harding by Thea Gilmore
Build A Rocket Boys! by Elbow
Gracious Tide Take Me Home by Lanterns On The Lake
Close-Up: Volume 3, States Of Being by Suzanne Vega
Bruiser by The Duke Spirit
The King Of Limbs by Radiohead
Silesia by Jeniferever
Ritual by White Lies
Paradise by Slow Club
Fishin' For Woos by Bowling For Soup
The Fool by Warpaint
Buffalo by The Phoenix Foundation
Metals by Feist
Young Pilgrim by Charlie Simpson
Wasting Light by Foo Fighters

Thea Gilmore - Angels In The Abattoir (December 2011)

2011-12-31T12:01:00.000Z

The final song from Thea this year for all her lovely Angels is another double: the rather pleasant But Me and a brief take of Auld Lang Syne.

But Me is full of haunting, echoing, spacious vocals set to a simple guitar backing. No write-up or explanation from Thea this time but the message is positive and upbeat in spite of a sedate and measured delivery. A gorgeous love song emerges in the last minute.

Thea's take on Auld Lang Syne is equally beautiful and as expected. A cappella and only one verse but a rare and special performance.

Gathering Stories (Video) by Jónsi

2011-12-26T15:23:00.000Z

The Sigur Rós front man Jónsi has provided music for We Bought A Zoo. The animated video for the wonderful Gathering Stories, co-written with director Cameron Crowe, is here...

The xx - Open Eyes (demo)

2011-12-26T15:12:00.000Z

A new song (demo) from The xx. Dark spacious minimalism at its best...

2011 Music Chart - November

2011-11-30T19:05:00.001Z

New albums this month from Kate Bush: the wonderful 50 Words For Snow, and the equally beguiling Florence And The Machine's Ceremonials.

Helplessness Blues by Fleet Foxes
A Creature I Don't Know by Laura Marling
Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will by Mogwai
Slave Ambient by The War On Drugs
Ashes & Fire by Ryan Adams
Last Night On Earth by Noah And The Whale
Codes and Keys by Death Cab For Cutie
Collapse Into Now by R.E.M.
Belong by The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart
50 Words For Snow by Kate Bush
Ceremonials by Florence & The Machine
Passenger by Lisa Hannigan
Sky Full Of Holes by Fountains Of Wayne
Virtue by Emmy The Great
The Big Roar by The Joy Formidable
Blood Pressures by The Kills
Velociraptor! by Kasabian
Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds by Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds
Diamond Mine by King Creosote and Jon Hopkins
Destroyed by Moby
John Wesley Harding by Thea Gilmore
Build A Rocket Boys! by Elbow
Gracious Tide Take Me Home by Lanterns On The Lake
Close-Up: Volume 3, States Of Being by Suzanne Vega
Bruiser by The Duke Spirit
The King Of Limbs by Radiohead
Silesia by Jeniferever
Ritual by White Lies
Paradise by Slow Club
Fishin' For Woos by Bowling For Soup
The Fool by Warpaint
Buffalo by The Phoenix Foundation
Metals by Feist
Young Pilgrim by Charlie Simpson
Wasting Light by Foo Fighters

Thea Gilmore - Angels In The Abattoir (November 2011)

2011-11-30T18:59:00.000Z

This month's feast of sound from Thea Gilmore to all her lovely Angels In The Abattoir is a cover of Mark Knopfler's Piper To The End. Thea original had a new song ready but 'technical issues' got in the way so we will have to wait for that. Anyway... this appears on the documentary Victor that was broadcast by the BBC earlier this month.

Thea says "It just so happens that Mark is a very good friend of the guy who wrote the novel 'Victor'.. a lovely man called Rick Stroud.. so imagine the sweat on Nigels brow when he realised that his guitar solo would be under the scrutiny of the Knopfler himself! Luckily, word came back that he loved our version.. and he was also pretty busy playing support to.. err, Bob someone at the time so all was fine!"

It's a great version that is true to the original and Nigel is superb.

Also Thea appeared on The Andrew Marr show... very brief but see it here...

Kate Bush - 50 Words For Snow (Album Review 2011)

2011-11-26T14:42:00.000Z

There has been much talk recently about the death of the album. Kate Bush herself has spoken about this and like many musicians seems willing to accept the changing face of music. But on the evidence of 50 Words For Snow she is not giving up on the format that has shaped the musical world for generations. And six years is an unusually short amount of time to wait for new material. Ignoring the recent Director’s Cut, an album that failed more than it succeeded but Bush deemed necessary to move forward, 2005’s Ariel is still a fascinating and relevant work. It put the blessed songstress back into our hearts.

As you might expect, 50 Words For Snow is a concept album that should, ideally, be listened to in its entirety while allowing individual songs to stand on their own. This is not a continuous narrative set to music. This is not an opera. This is not Mars Volta or Coheed & Cambria. In spite of a theme to bring it all together, this is not bound by it. Kate Bush lets the album breath; to take on a life of its own.

Opener Snowflake is magnificent and easily the best thing Kate Bush has done for decades. A duet with her son Albert, the song explores the concept of coming into a complex world as unique and beautiful object. A subtle and well-judged production provides a gentle touch so that the drama is never overstated. Everything that Kate Bush does has a complexity that isn’t obvious, especially after a first listen. The music surrounding Lake Tahoe is a great example of this. A gorgeous arrangement. To complete a start worthy of any Kate Bush album, Misty is another masterpiece and a modern adult take on The Snowman. Kate’s love affair with the snow is overtly described in lines such as “he is melting in my hand” and “the sheets are soaking”. Bush’s voice moves from naïve innocent to present day earthy rasp over the thirteen-minute duration, right up to the dramatic finale.

Bringing back the concept of the album, Wild Man sounds odd and disjointed as a single but is perfectly placed on the album as the central piece. Snowed In At Wheeler Street brings in Elton John in what is a deliberately showy and over-the-top performance, from both singers. We would expect (and indeed want) nothing else from either performer and the wonderful dramatic piano and crashing cymbals amplify and augment perfectly right to the end. This is pure theatre and a wonderful love song filled with emotion.

The title track, featuring the sublime tones of Stephen Fry, is very reminiscent of Lemon Jelly’s Return To Patagonia. The approach of fusing music and spoken word is not a new idea but Bush has enlisted the very best. And it works, up to a point – with Bush spurning Fry onward through the words; absurd and intriguing, the only criticism being the over-complication. Just Fry reading to a simpler backing may have worked better but everyone is allowed their moments of self-indulgence. And Kate Bush never misses the opportunity.

50 Words For Snow closes with the delicate Among Angels – a straightforward, shapeless and short (at a mere six and half minutes…) lament that is arguably the best vocal and piano on the album. Bush is deliberately sparse, controlled and evocative: “I can see angels, standing around you…They shimmer, like mirrors…”. Simply beautiful.

50 Words For Snow is proof that the album is alive and well. Taking a concept and weaving it through over an hour of music to retain a central theme and message is a fine art. The feel of the album is exquisitely judged, with deep resonant piano and voice taking centre stage and forming the body of many of the songs. This is another reinvention to compliment a changing voice and personality. Ariel may have returned Kate Bush to our hearts but 50 Words For Snow will keep her there. For a very long time.

-- CS

Cassettes Won’t Listen’s ‘Stuck’ - Kinect iPhone Video

2011-11-15T20:53:00.000Z

Very cool new video for the single Stuck by Cassettes Won't Listen...

Filmed on an iPhone and created using an XBox Kinect.

Little Boots - new single Shake

2011-11-12T13:33:00.000Z

Here is the new song by Little Boots...

Little Boots - SHAKE by LittleBoots

It's very Goldfrapp/Kylie but cool and stylish.

2011 Music Chart - October

2011-10-30T11:19:00.002Z

Great new albums this month from Ryan Adams, Lisa Hannigan, Feist, Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds and a late addition: the third Close-Up album from Suzanne Vega. This takes us to over thirty albums this year at Underwurld Music. Fleet Foxes still hold the top spot from Laura Marling and Mogwai.

Helplessness Blues by Fleet Foxes
A Creature I Don't Know by Laura Marling
Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will by Mogwai
Slave Ambient by The War On Drugs
Ashes & Fire by Ryan Adams
Last Night On Earth by Noah And The Whale
Codes and Keys by Death Cab For Cutie
Collapse Into Now by R.E.M.
Belong by The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart
Passenger by Lisa Hannigan
Sky Full Of Holes by Fountains Of Wayne
Virtue by Emmy The Great
The Big Roar by The Joy Formidable
Velociraptor! by Kasabian
Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds by Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds
Blood Pressures by The Kills
Diamond Mine by King Creosote and Jon Hopkins
Destroyed by Moby
John Wesley Harding by Thea Gilmore
Build A Rocket Boys! by Elbow
Gracious Tide Take Me Home by Lanterns On The Lake
Close-Up: Volume 3, States Of Being by Suzanne Vega
Bruiser by The Duke Spirit
The King Of Limbs by Radiohead
Silesia by Jeniferever
Ritual by White Lies
Paradise by Slow Club
Fishin' For Woos by Bowling For Soup
The Fool by Warpaint
Buffalo by The Phoenix Foundation
Metals by Feist
Young Pilgrim by Charlie Simpson
Wasting Light by Foo Fighters

Ryan Adams - Ashes & Fire (Album Review 2011)

2011-10-30T11:11:00.000Z

For Ryan Adams, his thirteenth album Ashes & Fire may have never happened. After a short and turbulent initial solo career, in which Adams made the brilliant Gold and Love Is Hell, he joined The Cardinals and continued making great music at a ferocious pace – releasing Cold Roses, Jacksonville City Nights and 29 in the same year. From there, Adams struggled both personally and musically; fighting substance abuse and coming to terms with Ménière's disease, a hearing disorder that can affect balance. He also had several spats with the media and audiences and became a poet and a writer. So on the face of it, Ashes & Fire is the rehabilitation and recovery album, obviously inspired by the legend of the phoenix. But this is only half the story as Adams describes the songs as ‘trying to paint this picture of somebody not destroyed by change’.

Opener Dirty Rain is the perfect start, deceptively simple and beautifully arranged blues. Adams’ voice, softly spoken, weathered yet youthful, delivers understated power: ‘Last time I was here you were waiting, you ain’t waiting any more…’ begins and ends the second story, taking on new meaning on the second turn. The song builds for the chorus, the glorious piano and keyboards blending with the guitars to take the arrangement from straight blues to jazz and back again. The title track is a grittier blend of vocals and guitars. Adams plays the world-weary singer, his vocals rasping against the pseudo-country arrangement. A short electric solo is the only heavy-handed moment, to be replaced with a more sedate controlled second half. ‘With cool and silvery eyes; and a heart, it was fit for desire…’ is a great line as the chorus builds again.

From this direct opening, Come Home is the big ballad and a thing of utter beauty. Adams’ wife Mandy Moore and son of Stephen, Chris Stills provide sublime backing vocals. ‘Nobody has to cry…to make it seem real. Nobody has to hide the way that they feel’ is simply gorgeous song writing. This is all about the vocals, the stripped back instrumentation never overpowering the central message. This is one of the best songs Adams’ has written and slides neatly into Rocks, a string-laden three minutes of serenity with a delicate falsetto chorus. To complete the first half, Do I Wait is another wonderful song, building to a fantastic guitar solo that leads into the last minute and a choral section.

Chains Of Love is the song on Ashes & Fire that could be five minutes longer. A great pop tune and melody, Adams races through the two and bit minutes, fuelled by acoustic guitars and strings. ‘Everything you are to me is bigger than that spaces…’, sings Adams – this could be about almost anything but sums up where he is and what he wants from music and life, right at the centre of the album. The most interesting and intriguing song here is the wonderfully titled Invisible Riverside. Adams starts with the line ‘Guess I’ll show my hand. Either way I’m losing… I used to have the goods, back when I couldn’t use them’. His lyrics come straight from the heart, even if they have to take a detour via his head. The song drifts towards another great, short and respectful guitar solo before Adams signs off this spiritual love song.

Save Me is probably the weakest moment on Ashes & Fire, simply because it begins by going over old-ground musically and sounding like too obvious a redemption song. That said, it is superbly elegant and fragile. ‘What Am I doing here?’ is the final question. This leads into Kindness, another beautiful arrangement, with perfect backing vocals, piano from Norah Jones and guitar work from ex-Cardinal Neal Casal. The only single from the album Lucky Now is the late highlight – borrowing just a bit from Bright Eyes. The chorus is another gem, as is the guitar work. Adams again ends in reflective mode: ‘I feel like somebody I don’t know. Are we really who we used to be? Am I really who I was?’ – this is enough to keep deep-thinking philosophers occupied for a while.

Ashes & Fire closes with I Love You But I Don’t Know What To Say, with Adams’ vocals and Jones’ piano combining perfectly. More great song writing: ‘I tried to find the balance…but got caught up in the cost’. This is a solid, if slightly predictable, final piece that drifts away rather than goes out with a bang. Piano replaces guitar for the final solo.

From the outset, Ashes & Fire is the calmer, warmer (pun intended) and reflective Ryan Adams – leaving New York for Los Angeles, now happily married and personal life stable, his creativity is as plentiful as ever. A great contribution from Norah Jones has to be noted – brilliantly delivering backing vocals and her trademark piano. The sign of a great performer is to surround themselves with solid dependable musicians, while retaining all their own individuality. This is the key to these songs and their immediate accessibility and is the most commercial Ryan Adams record since Demolition. And while Ashes & Fire is a very personal album, Adams keeps his deepest feelings to himself and the listener is drawn in, only to be kept at arms length. Such is the beguiling charm and constant wonder of Ryan Adams.

-- CS

Q Magazine U2 Achtung Baby covers album

2011-10-20T19:00:00.000+01:00

To celebrate 25 years of Q, top artists have collaborated to remake the classic U2 album Achtung Baby which is 20 years old this year. Great to see Nine Inch Nails, Damien Rice, Patti Smith and Jack White heading the talent. Having heard a few of the covers, this sounds like a fantastic version of a great album.

The track listing is:

Nine Inch Nails - Zoo Station
U2 (Jacques Lu Cont Mix) - Even Better Than The Real Thing
Damien Rice - One
Patti Smith - Until The End Of The World
Garbage - Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses
Depeche Mode - So Cruel
Snow Patrol - Mysterious Ways
The Fray - Trying To Throw Your Arms Around The World
Gavin Friday - The Fly
The Killers - Ultraviolet (Light My Way)
Glasvegas - Acrobat
Jack White - Love Is Blindness

The Stone Roses 'Reform'

2011-10-20T18:42:00.001+01:00

The Stone Roses have announced this week that are reforming with the original line-up of Ian Brown, John Squire, Mani and Reni. The band announced the reformation at a press conference in London on 18th October and that they would be performing two live shows on June 29-30 2012 at Heaton Park. Tickets are £55. A new record is also a possibility.

As a huge Roses fan, I have mixed feelings about this. As an impressionable teenager I was obsessed (and I don't use this term lightly) with the band and the début album. I even spent most of a family holiday transcribing (the best I could) the lyrics to all the songs. I bought every single and 12 inch (remember them?) and still have a complete collection of everything they ever released on vinyl and later CD. When Second Coming came along I must admit it did not have the same impact but still I was ever a fan and heartbroken when they stopped making music.

So why reform? The money? The chemistry? The fans? Ok so there is much in the mix but more often that not a fan remembers a band for what they were and not what they have become. If The Stone Roses cannot do now what they did half as well back when they ruled the world then what is the point? Plenty of cynics would say money of course but I genuinely believe that what was said at the press conference was a sincere view of events. Something magical happens when the four musicians are in a room together, making music and enjoying life. So says Mani who has quit Primal Scream to 'follow his dream'. I really hope it is a dream. For the fans sake.

Suzanne Vega - Close-Up, Volume 3: States of Being (Album Review 2011)

2011-10-12T10:29:00.000+01:00

Close-Up, Volume 3: States of Being is the third in Suzanne Vega’s latest project, to rerecord, reinterpret and revisit her entire back catalogue in four new records, each with different themes. We have already been treated to Love Songs and People & Places so now Vega is tackling her most difficult subject: mental health. Looking through the track list, it is not the most recognisable collection of songs. From her original albums the songs from her eponymous début are Cracking, Straight Lines and Undertow, the title track from Solitude Standing, 50-50 Chance (originally Fifty-Fifty Chance) from the much-ignored Days Of Open Hand; from 99.9F Degrees there is Blood Makes Noise and When Heroes Go Down. My Favourite Plum and Tombstone come from Nine Objects Of Desire, from Songs In Red and Gray there are Penitent, Last Year’s Troubles and Solitaire, Pornographer’s Dream from Beauty & Crime and a new song titled Instant Of The Hour After from the play Carson McCullers Talks About Love which came out this year.

The most radical reworking of any song, not just on this volume but so far across the three albums, is the mighty Blood Makes Noise. This is such an incredible song on the 99.9F Degrees album as it sounds unlike anything Vega had done before (going hand-in-hand with the title track from the same album). But here, the industrial percussion, the fuzzy electronica and Vega’s thick multi-track vocals are all gone – replaced by a simple electric guitar, light drum backing and a more prominent single voice. The song is over thirty seconds longer due to a weird protracted chaotic guitar-driven outro. If there is an obvious criticism it is that all the tension and drama-inducing timing is gone. This is much more forward compared to the withdrawn nature of the original – and the lack of bass takes away much of the twisted energy.

When Heroes Go Down, from the same album, is again devoid of driving percussion and keyboards. Vega’s vocal is also under-produced, solitary and a subtly different arrangement. This is an example of a song that is performed in a completely different way while retaining all of its original tone and feel. Last Year’s Troubles is another example of this. And unlike Blood Makes Noise, Solitaire is largely untouched and what is added, enhances rather than distracts. This volume makes great use of small tweaks to lift ‘ordinary’ and less-known songs. This is a tactic that only fails on Pornographer’s Dream in which, originally, the drama in the second half comes from the music and not the vocal.

Sometimes even a great musician knows to never mess with perfection. This is why the beautiful Penitent is treated with care, removing the percussion and adding a soft string arrangement. One constant trait on Close-Up, Volume 3 is the stark naked vocals, like Vega is no longer hiding behind the songs. Her voice is always the most prominent instrument. Sometimes messing with a good song is exactly what is needed. Solitude Standing always felt like a great song, poorly arranged and badly mixed. But here it is a cold, hard-edged, dark highlight. Vega is superb here and this is a much improved version.

The three earliest songs, from Vegas solo album, have been given a much more modern arrangement, again with the vocals taking centre stage. Undertow has been stripped of the big 80’s stadium drums. Much of Vega’s young charm and wide-eyed passion is now replaced with ageing reflection and control. In contrast to this, Cracking is superb and an instant reminder of how good the début album is, Vega combining singing and narration with deft precision. Straight Lines is the weaker of the three songs when stripped back – the 1985 version is much more eclectic and ethereal.

New song Instant Of The Hour After is difficult to judge. It seems like it is glued to the end of the album as an added extra that does little to impress given all that has come before.

Close-Up, Volume 3: States of Being is another wonderful collection of songs, brought together not so much as therapeutic catharsis but as a musical celebration. It is not as dour and as dark as it could have been. Like previous volumes, some new arrangements are hard to accept. Blood Makes Noise is a brave attempt to do something completely different with a song that is near perfect – any subtle changes and the exercise is pointless. But mostly songs from the fringes have been subjected to modern production that is more obvious the earlier you go back through Vega’s work. Given the compelling nature and quality of these albums, Close-Up: Volume 4 is destined to complete the project and a great quartet.

-- CS

The War On Drugs - Slave Ambient (Album Review 2011)

2011-10-10T20:12:00.000+01:00

The War On Drugs is a quartet from the US, formed in 2003 by founding duo Adam Granduciel and Kurt Vile. Several EPs and an impressive debut record later and the band were on the verge of greatness. But by the end of 2008 Kurt Vile had left to become a prolific solo artist. The band now has as many former members as current ones, which makes second album Slave Ambient all the more impressive; that a group of musicians can undergo such upheaval and still make amazing music. Slave Ambient is the result of turning this physical turbulence into musical stability.

Not many bands can embrace traditional guitar-driven Americana and make it sound so fresh and inspiring. Great musicians beg, borrow and steal from their influences and Granduciel has done just that; his voice is part Dylan, part Petty, part Springsteen and musically the band fuses stunning sonic soundscapes (thanks JC for that one!) with melody and orchestral majesty. This is the past launched headlong into the future – smart wide-eyed lyrics meet soaring instrumentation and classic arrangements that suck you into a vortex of melting euphoria.

Slave Ambient begins with Best Night, a perfect tone-setting opener, taking its time to get going as the guitars make way for Granduciel’s prosaic yet lucid vocals. “I believe that I’ve been cursed; been drowned and reimbursed…”, he sings, delivering one of the best lines of the album. A fantastic guitar solo bridges the first two verses that form the first three minutes, only to be followed by more great guitar-work to see the song out its five and a half minute duration. Second song Brothers brings in jangling vibrant guitars from the outset and Granduciel as a curious mix of Dylan and Lloyd Cole (circa 1984’s Perfect Skin). Even at four and half minutes it feels like a fragment of something much bigger. Then, I Was There slows thing down, blending harmonica into the guitar landscape. More great lyrics: “…I thought I had him by the hand; I only had him by the glove…” adorn the song with Granduciel almost slurring the words evocatively.

At the centre of Slave Ambient is a magnificent six-piece epic that combines to create a single solid body of work, starting, in wonderful style, with the energy-fuelled Your Love Is Calling My Name. Driven forward by the pounding drums and more excellent guitars, Granduciel sounds much more focused and determined. This is broken momentarily by a brief psychedelic interlude at three minutes that slowly builds the bass again into more sonic drums. This is the highlight of this core opus as more swirling guitars are added to the outro. A glorious song that leads straight into the instrumental The Animator without drawing breath. This is a beautiful well-judged change of pace and mood; a chance to reflect on what has come before. Then begins another immediate highlight: Come To The City, the best song on Slave Ambient. This builds like U2’s Bad and is just as magnificent. “I’ve been drinking up all the sweet tea… It was made just for me” is another great line. Granduciel is Bono at his very best with bassist Dave Hartley as The Edge and Adam Clayton combined. This builds to a mighty vocal/guitar stadium-filled climax.

The short Come For It fades in to bring another brilliant song: It’s Your Destiny. A wonderful keyboard loop emerges slowly to underpin the song. Here Granduciel is another delicious instrument, his voice floating across the shimmering soup of bass and drums. He lets the music speak in the final minute as the guitars come in. Another fade and City Reprise #12, another stirring instrumental, provides a much needs surface for air. Then the stupendous Baby Missiles completes the show, another fast-paced rock ‘n’ roll master class – throwing everything into the mix with style and substance. A blast of shrill harmonica announces the final outstanding minute complete with whooping vocals and more sublime guitars.

To finish, Original Slave is another great instrumental – all drums and harmonica like a mighty stream train heading into the dark night, fires burning white and spitting coal. Slave Ambient should have probably stopped here, as final song Black Water Falls is a weak swansong given all that has come before. This is somewhat laboured and withdrawn and would have worked better earlier in the album. That said, the guitar-work in the last minute is amongst the best.

Slave Ambient is very nearly a masterpiece; an album that combines structured thoughtful song writing with expertly judged experimentation. Just the right amount of heartfelt lyricism, huge guitars and textured instrumentation create the perfect sound. Echoes of great American voices speak as one through Adam Granduciel who channels the old and the new in equal measure. Comparisons with Dylan and Springsteen aside, he is a unique and talented vocalist with a keen eye for a great lyric. And because of this The War On Drugs sound like a band that have been making great music for decades, and doing it well. A truly brilliant album.

-- CS

RIP Bert Jansch

2011-10-05T18:03:00.011+01:00

Sad to hear that Bert Jansch has died. A real folk legend and truly influential musician.

2011 Music Chart - September

2011-09-30T15:14:00.030+01:00

A very busy month with great new albums from Laura Marling, Kasabian, The War On Drugs and The Duke Spirit. Also new material from Slow Club and the wonderful Lanterns On The Lake. Fleet Foxes still hold the number one spot, but only just as an impressive top ten for the year is taking shape.

Helplessness Blues by Fleet Foxes
A Creature I Don't Know by Laura Marling
Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will by Mogwai
Last Night On Earth by Noah And The Whale
Codes and Keys by Death Cab For Cutie
Collapse Into Now by R.E.M.
Belong by The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart
Slave Ambient by The War On Drugs
Sky Full Of Holes by Fountains Of Wayne
Virtue by Emmy The Great
The Big Roar by The Joy Formidable
Blood Pressures by The Kills
Velociraptor! by Kasabian
Diamond Mine by King Creosote and Jon Hopkins
Destroyed by Moby
John Wesley Harding by Thea Gilmore
Build A Rocket Boys! by Elbow
Gracious Tide Take Me Home by Lanterns On The Lake
Bruiser by The Duke Spirit
The King Of Limbs by Radiohead
Silesia by Jeniferever
Ritual by White Lies
Paradise by Slow Club
Fishin' For Woos by Bowling For Soup
The Fool by Warpaint
Buffalo by The Phoenix Foundation
Young Pilgrim by Charlie Simpson
Wasting Light by Foo Fighters

Thea Gilmore - Angels In The Abattoir (September 2011)

2011-09-30T13:13:00.008+01:00

This month Thea has provided her lovely Angels with five (yes five!) demos from her 2000 album The Lipstick Conspiracies. This is not my favourite Thea Gilmore record; her début Burning Dorothy and follow-up Rules For Jokers are both excellent in comparison. Anyway, the five demos are:

Lidocaine Baby
Exit Route
Forgotten
Generation Y
Night Driving

Thea says about the demos: "These come with a proviso though.... the next time I see you all, you must must promise not to laugh in my face about the silly Minnie Mouse American accent I'm using on them. I was young, foolish, listening to far too much Joni. Aaaargh.. maybe I've been too hasty! Enjoy the giggle!"

As you might expect these songs are very stripped-down complete with scratchy guitar and raw vocals. In spite of Thea's critical assessment, she sounds fantastic. Young and filled with energy and angst. Forgotten (probably the best song) is complete with a cheesy drum machine. The frantic Generation Y needs a lot of work and it shows greatly the benefits of these early takes to see how the finished articles evolved. Night Driving is not far from the final version.

Some new songs next month please!

Muppet Show theme (rare extended version) - for Jim Henson

2011-09-24T18:17:00.000+01:00

New Noel Gallagher single - AKA What A Life.

2011-09-24T15:55:00.000+01:00

Excellent new song from Noel Gallagher (and his High Flying Birds).

R.E.M. 1980-2011

2011-09-24T14:12:00.002+01:00

Back in March I wrote a preview article about the new R.E.M. album Collapse Into Now. Enthused after a first listen of new material that is both vibrant and energetic, two important ingredients missing in recent years, I recalled the days when I first discovered the band. The lead track Discoverer is all too aptly named. Compelled and indeed obligated, the article, and subsequent full album review, is filled with optimism for the future and regained love of the past.

I did not grow up with R.E.M. I wish I had. It would have helped me through my formative years and got me interested in those things that fascinate me now as a man on the brink of his fifth decade: literature, art, politics – all frequent subjects of the band’s music, ethos and direction. But what was great about getting into a band ‘in the middle’ was going back as well as forward. Discovering a back catalogue is as wonderful as the anticipation of new albums. Fitting, now and then, that the first R.E.M. album I bought was Out Of Time.

I did not know it then but I was writing about the last R.E.M. album. This week the band announced on their website that they are no more and feel it is time to ‘call it a day’. So was Collapse Into Now, a title that now seems very appropriate and slightly ironic, just a last great hurrah? Michael Stipe spoke earlier in the year about the album making process and said that each record takes everything out of him, every time, to the point of truly not knowing if he (and the band) can ever do it again.

But they have, time after time, through the IRS years; finding form on Life’s Rich Pageant, then Document, into major label success (musically) with Green and (commercially) on Out Of Time and Automatic For The People. Since then it has been a lesson in limits and limitlessness. Monster was just that and saw the band disintegrate, the departure of Bill Berry (‘the heart of the band’) and the music falter. Moments of brilliance on New Adventures In Hi-Fi and Up lead to huge disappointments on Reveal and Around The Sun – the ups and downs of a band ‘learning to run on three legs’.

But there have always been reasons to be an R.E.M. fan. Every album, every song, every note – has something special. A good friend of mine once said, ‘Even a crap R.E.M. album is a good album’. Crass, yes, but you can’t say that about many bands. There are always smart lyrics, neat musical touches and affecting arrangements. Making music this good consistently for fifteen albums takes a life-force to which mere mortals can never aspire.

So R.E.M. is no more. Once the inevitable ‘greatest hits’ box set is released and Buck, Mills and Stipe have had time to sit back and reflect on their achievements and work, what will happen then? A solo career for Michael looks the most likely. Or a career in politics maybe? Likewise Mike and Peter could be the ones to form new bands. I hope they continue to make music in some form, either together or apart. A comeback World Tour in ten years to trawl back through the archives sounds, on the face of it, a ghastly prospect. On the other hand I don’t want them to just ‘fade away’. I have only seen R.E.M. live twice, once at Glastonbury and again at Live 8. I would love to seem them perform again.

Before this article veers into the realms of elevating a band to God-like status and portrays the author as some pathetic doting fan-boy, I will conclude by putting things into perspective. I love music. I love writing about music (even though most of the time I’m not very good at it). And I admire and revere bands that make music that affects me. If I had to pick one band that has had the most impact, and has been such a big part of my life for over two decades, it is R.E.M.

R.E.M. Break Up and "Call It A Day"

2011-09-21T19:48:00.000+01:00

From R.E.M.HQ...

"To our Fans and Friends: As R.E.M., and as lifelong friends and co-conspirators, we have decided to call it a day as a band. We walk away with a great sense of gratitude, of finality, and of astonishment at all we have accomplished. To anyone who ever felt touched by our music, our deepest thanks for listening." R.E.M.

In their own words: The guys share their thoughts on why now.

MIKE

"During our last tour, and while making Collapse Into Now and putting together this greatest hits retrospective, we started asking ourselves, 'what next'? Working through our music and memories from over three decades was a hell of a journey. We realized that these songs seemed to draw a natural line under the last 31 years of our working together.

"We have always been a band in the truest sense of the word. Brothers who truly love, and respect, each other. We feel kind of like pioneers in this--there's no disharmony here, no falling-outs, no lawyers squaring-off. We've made this decision together, amicably and with each other's best interests at heart. The time just feels right."

MICHAEL

"A wise man once said--'the skill in attending a party is knowing when it's time to leave.' We built something extraordinary together. We did this thing. And now we're going to walk away from it.

"I hope our fans realize this wasn't an easy decision; but all things must end, and we wanted to do it right, to do it our way.

"We have to thank all the people who helped us be R.E.M. for these 31 years; our deepest gratitude to those who allowed us to do this. It's been amazing."

PETER

"One of the things that was always so great about being in R.E.M. was the fact that the records and the songs we wrote meant as much to our fans as they did to us. It was, and still is, important to us to do right by you. Being a part of your lives has been an unbelievable gift. Thank you.

"Mike, Michael, Bill, Bertis, and I walk away as great friends. I know I will be seeing them in the future, just as I know I will be seeing everyone who has followed us and supported us through the years. Even if it's only in the vinyl aisle of your local record store, or standing at the back of the club: watching a group of 19 year olds trying to change the world."

Kasabian - Velociraptor! (Album Review 2011)

2011-09-21T19:34:00.000+01:00

Back in June 2009 I wrote a review of Kasabian’s last album, West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum. It wasn’t kind. Since then I have listened to the album a few more times and the times have not been kind. It is still a massive disappointing mess in spite of winning best album at the Q and NME awards. In conclusion, I asked for Kasabian to stop going through the motions and do something different, while at the same time, to not stop being Kasabian. Bring back the attitude, the energy, and the (deep breath – and I quote) what-the-hell-are-you-looking-at bravado with a jaunty smile. After a great debut, the band I thought had huge promise and would inevitably fill the gaping hole left by Oasis and The Verve, came off the rails; the songs were non-existent and the dream fell flat. I felt it was an honest and open review written about a band that I truly wanted to be the best in the world but, in fact, were not.

Through all this, I kept the faith. Kasabian were still a great live band and make the best of the songs they have. Tom Meighan is a great frontman, brimming with swagger and self-belief, the eponymous debut is still good, Empire is an excellent follow-up and the band continues to talk and walk the talk and the walk. So with fourth album Velociraptor! the potential for another mess is looming. Thankfully faith is restored and Kasabian return with an album that is not only varied and interesting but packed with equal measures of attitude and, above all, great tunes.

An early highlight is single Days Are Forgotten with its glorious guitar-twang, drum stomp and mad-eyed falsetto choral chanting. Bring in Meighan’s vocals and the blend is complete. An injection of melody arrives with the chorus, adding a smooth sheen over the sharp confrontation of the verses. Lyrically this is nothing more than you would expect (rhyming silhouette with forget is neat) but the whole package works and the energy drives it forward right into the maw of madness and garbled vocals. Excellent.

Acid Turkish Bath (Shelter From The Storm) is a magnificent six minutes of Eastern rhythms, bass that would be well at home on the new Tool album and deliciously evocative vocals. All this after the frantic title track belts through its three minutes. “There’s nothing to it. There’s nothing to it…man”, is the message. The pace is relentless and exhausting. Man Of Simple Pleasures is another high point, with unashamed Gallagher/Ashcroft/Turner lad-rock taking centre stage. This is followed by the electro madness of Switchblade Smiles, a tornado of start-stop swirling vocals, stuttering drums and grinding guitars.

Kasabian are just as effective when the band embrace their own sense of absurdity. Not that they are absurd but a keen ironic eye watches from the safe shadows and often ventures out into the fray to see what is going on. A great example of this is La Fee Verte (The Green Fairy), a Beatles-esque psychedelic trip through a weird life. I Hear Voices has the most elegant 70s synth backdrop as Meighan declares “My soul? You can have it coz it don’t mean shit” before “I’d sell it to the devil for another hit…I wish that you were here”. A simple idea, well executed with just enough retro-kitsch.

Velociraptor! has plenty of surprises. Goodbye Kiss is a pleasant Artic Monkeys ballad filled with intimate observations and heart-warming honesty. This is not what you would expect from Kasabian but it works. Opener Let’s Roll Just Like We Used To adds a bit much into the mix but manages to pull it off. And Neon Noon is a perfectly good closer, gliding through five minutes in ambient controlled style. The only weak spot on Velociraptor! is the woeful Re-wired that fails on many levels. It is one of the only moments of style over substance with all the right ingredients making a huge mess due to under-cooking.

Velociraptor! is not a masterpiece. It is not the best album this year. Nor is it the best Kasabian album. It is (as Meighan puts it) a wonderful jukebox of ideas. In spite of the variation, what makes Velociraptor! work is the consistent focus and control, proof that Kasabian are diverse and eager to challenge themselves from song to song. Great production and a solid mix bring together the ideas. This is, at last, a full-blooded approach that pays off. Melody and stomp happen in equal measure, sound is strong and dense, and what was once one-dimensional now spirals out in many directions. This is an often brilliant and interesting ride.

-- CS

Laura Marling - A Creature I Don't Know (Album Review 2011)

2011-09-18T11:05:00.000+01:00

Laura Marling, once of Noah and The Whale and one time Mystery Jets guest, is riding high on a brace of recent awards: Best British Female at the Brits and Best Solo Artist from The NME. Deservedly so, as last year’s I Speak Because I Can is an outstanding and mesmerising follow-up to Marling’s promising, yet one-dimensional, début. The two years between the first two albums have lifted Marling as a songwriter and a musician, strengthened the relationship with producer Ethan Johns, and helped find that perfect sound. Writing during her tour, Marling rejected many early songs, and delayed the release of third album A Creature I Don’t Know in favour of new and reworked material. The album compliments the previous release wonderfully, with similar themes, ideas and passion.

A Creature I Don’t Know starts with The Muse, a song that proves Marling is not scared of a challenge. This brings together funk guitar and jazz piano to startling effect, with smart vibrant lyrics; at its centre is the line: “Keep those thoughts from sight; follow me into the night; and you can call on me when you need… the light”. It’s not just the words, but what Marling does with her voice, to form a new unique instrument. I Was Just A Card continues the same style, in spite of quiet moments and an auspicious start. More great vocals with Marling showing her range. Don’t Ask Me builds beautifully as the prelude to the mighty Salinas, the latter inspired by the work of John Steinbeck and immediately conjuring vivid images: “My mother was a saviour; of six foot of bad behaviour...”. Like the prelude, this builds slowly to a magnificent vocal climax before starting again in more determined mood, like a completely different song, and concluding with an angelic choir.

The Beast (a recurring character/theme/mood through the album) is one of the best songs Marling has made. Again build-up is the key to this mesmerising fusion of Marling’s vocals and distorted Mogwai-esque electric guitar with a demonic character all of its own, devouring everything else. This is captivating stuff that just keeps building and driving forward to a sudden indeterminate, somewhat unresolved, end. Night After Night blends classical guitar with delicate vocals into a heart-breaking love song about relationship, decay and infidelity. It takes skill and control to sustain this level of focus and engagement over the five minutes duration. The line: “He screams in the night, I scream in the day. We weep in the evening and lie naked and pray” is brilliantly direct.

The first half of My Friends is probably the weakest point on the album but the second comes alive with Mumford-style guitars and energised strings. Rest In The Bed borrows the vocal melody from Hope In The Air before taking a shape of its own. The coldness in both music and voice is astonishing. A late highlight is the excellent Sophia – another example of control and poise. This quickly becomes about eight songs in one, Marling not settling on any one thought or idea. The gorgeous choral arrangement at the core is just exquisite before a massive transformation into rampant country-rock complete with multi-layered guitars and a liberated vocal delivery. The closer, All My Rage is a great song around a single simple idea to finish the album in great mood and spirit.

A Creature I Don’t Know is the sound of Laura Marling challenging herself, her identity and womanhood. These themes: love, sexuality, religion, strength and anger are represented in every note, every line and every song. She weaves stories and characters around such wonderful musical arrangements and the vocals impishly jump from sultry and reflective to dark and menacing. This is an artist right in the moment, understanding her own talent and skill, making the some of the best music of her life. Marling has taken the essence of Alas I Cannot Swim – the poetry, the intricacy and the intimacy, and fused it with the power, the darkness and the beauty of I Speak Because I Can. This is another work of art.

P J Harvey wins Mercury Prize for the second time

2011-09-11T13:42:00.000+01:00

Congratulations to Polly Jean Harvey for winning the Mercury Prize for the second time, the only artist to do so. Harvey won for her album Let England Shake, a wonderfully conceived and elegantly controlled tribute to a nation and its armed forces. 10 years after her first win and deeply affected by the aftermath of the World Trade Center attacks in 2001, Harvey has created a deeply involved album that burns slowly but lacks cohesive and direct execution. It dances around delicately, almost lacklustre in its approach and delivery, with hard-hitting graphic lyrics intertwined with softened distanced vocals and music. But in creating a channel for silenced voices and lost lives, you can't argue with the sentiment.

2011 Music Chart - August

2011-08-31T20:24:00.001+01:00

Two new albums this month from the ever-brilliant Fountains Of Wayne and Charlie 'Busted then Fightstar' Simpson. Sky Full Of Holes is a joy on each and every listen but sadly Young Pilgrim loses its immediate charm over time.

Helplessness Blues by Fleet Foxes
Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will by Mogwai
Last Night On Earth by Noah And The Whale
Codes and Keys by Death Cab For Cutie
Collapse Into Now by R.E.M.
Belong by The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart
Sky Full Of Holes by Fountains Of Wayne
The Big Roar by The Joy Formidable
Blood Pressures by The Kills
Diamond Mine by King Creosote and Jon Hopkins
Destroyed by Moby
John Wesley Harding by Thea Gilmore
Build A Rocket Boys! by Elbow
Virtue by Emmy The Great
The King Of Limbs by Radiohead
Silesia by Jeniferever
Ritual by White Lies
Fishin' For Woos by Bowling For Soup
The Fool by Warpaint
Buffalo by The Phoenix Foundation
Young Pilgrim by Charlie Simpson
Wasting Light by Foo Fighters

Thea Gilmore - Angels In The Abattoir (August 2011)

2011-08-29T14:11:00.000+01:00

It's been a busy time for Thea Gilmore. So much so that we didn't get a July song at all. She has a good excuse though...a new baby son born a couple of weeks early and requiring some much deserved rest and recuperation. Now at the end of August, Thea wanted to make it up to her devoted Angels by providing two songs but a call to provide for a new Amnesty International collection of Dylan (who else?!) tracks. A studio version of I'll Remember You (previously performed live) will be her contribution.

This month's song is the delicate but striking This Road The King. A simple acoustic backing adorns Thea's piercing vocals. She introduces it as "well, the parenthood thing is looming large in my life right now, as you may expect. One guy about to head to school for the first time and one just born.. It got me thinking about what lies ahead for my kids". This both celebrates and berates the highs and lows of growing up and making your way in the world. And the observations, as always, unfold beautifully.

Charlie Simpson - Young Pilgrim Album Review (2011)

2011-08-23T20:30:00.000+01:00

The world has changed a lot since the days of Busted. Remember them? They were the band that brought emo to the UK and paved the way for such wonderful acts as McFly. In the band’s thankfully short career, they were incredibly successful but in 2003, frontman Charlie Simpson grew weary of the trite bouncy commercial pop and formed the band Fightstar, a completely different foray into post-hardcore heavy rock. Four albums later and Fightstar continue to embrace the deeper, more complex sound of a ‘proper’ band while retaining much of the melody-washed song writing that made Busted so engaging. After a brief hiatus Simpson is back with a solo album, and yet another style. He is like the one-man Noah And The Whale. Young Pilgrim, made with Coldplay and Doves producer Danton Supple, is a luscious, if obvious, blend of indie-pop and acoustic rock.

On opener Down Down Down, Simpson plays the ‘jaded former-frontman’ very well and his voice belies his young years. It is hard to tell if the line “We’ve sent people into space without really knowing if they’re ever gonna come back down” is naïve teenage musing or a clever double-meaning. Sadly the wheels come off as a change of pace and transformation into a limp protest song removes all credibility. Not a great start. Parachutes, in spite of being an obvious Coldplay homage (and not just in name), is a better approach. The first signs of Simpson’s talent as a lyricist brings us “So sorry for the pain, sorry for the aches, sorry for the moods I’m swinging” and a great chorus. The jolly country rock and jilted shifting arrangement of All At Once is a much more natural vocal performance complete with falsetto chorus.

Young Pilgrim finds its feet with the wonderful Thorns with more solid vocals, simple drums and a guitar melody. Another good line is “Don’t take this broken heart of mine, it’s the only beat that I have left pulsating through this empty chest”. A great highlight. Cemetery brings together the curious mix of xylophone, double-bass and another cracking chorus while Hold On completes the trilogy, a dreamy harmony-filled pop ballad, in what shapes up to be a strong centrepiece. The same approach continues on I Need A Friend Tonight but is too light and airy, building to a rousing finale that never happens.

In the second half Suburbs drifts by and drifts away to make way for Sundown, a Tom Baxter-esque masterpiece filled with a great arrangement and passionate energy. In the album’s final trilogy, Farmer & His Gun is more great writing: a metaphor for making it on your own and avoiding predators, delivered as gentle country-rock. The sentiment is almost lost in some kooky instrumentation but “It’s best to lose yourself before you ever lose your pride” is the best line on the album. There are great vocals, guitars and well-used harmonica. In an inconsistent turn, If I Lose It crawls through the first two minutes before finally failing to be a huge stadium anthem thanks to flat production. But Riverbanks is a strong (if repetitive) finish with real depth and striking vocals, into a soaring final instrumental.

Even with the pitfalls it is hard to dislike Young Pilgrim. The album has an instant charm and more often than not it draws you in, but the problem is it constantly dazzles you in its headlights. As a song writer Simpson has much to learn and shows great strength but Supple resorts to softening the vocals when a raw production would have more of an impact and there are too many tricks: wordless backing vocals, strings and pounding drums might work for other bands but here there are too many empty spaces. The glue is just as important as the material and things often crack and fall apart. So even though it is far from a triumph this is the most ambitious and unique Charlie Simpson has ever sounded. And that alone should be applauded.

SIGUR RÓS - INNI

2011-08-17T20:57:00.000+01:00

Sigur Rós have announced the release of a live album/film INNI, out in November 2011.
More information here.

Fountains Of Wayne - Sky Full Of Holes (Album Review 2011)

2011-08-06T14:45:00.001+01:00

New York quartet Fountains Of Wayne continue to tread a fine line between penning the perfect pop tune and taking an ironic sideways look at life. In a similar way to their Texan compatriots Bowling For Soup, observation and humour is an intrinsic part of their music, and as many bands have proved this can be a frayed tightrope in a hurricane. But thankfully Fountains Of Wayne find the right balance of fun, real-life melancholy and melodrama. Fifth studio album Sky Full of Holes is no exception.

Sky Full Of Holes is packed with brilliant songs. Chris Collingwood is an ever-present vocal genius but the song-writing pairing of Collingwood and Adam Schlesinger is now as strong as ever. Action Hero is the core song that pulls together all elements beautifully, recalling the tale of a family man who dreams of heroic pursuit but is always dragged back by the people around him and the trials and tribulations of real life. This is followed by the sun-kissed pop of A Dip In The Ocean, another cracking pop tune. Vibrant guitars and Collingwood’s ferocious vocals move the song forward at pace.

A wonderful piece of ironic observation is the brilliant A Road Song, which pokes fun at the concept of ‘writing on tour’. Collingwood delivers one of the album’s best lines: “It’s a cliché, but hey… It doesn’t make it so wrong. And in between the stops at the Cracker Barrel and forty movies with Will Ferrell… I need something to occupy my time…”. This is simply gorgeous writing, instrumentation and arrangement. Radio Bar is an obvious ‘big hit’ packed with drums and brass telling the tale of a group of friends on a night out with a wonderful twist ending. This is also a great demonstration of how to use wordless vocals effectively.

Elsewhere the songs are effortlessly varied. The band recall the tale of two hopeless and hapless entrepreneurs Richie and Ruben and then add their own ‘National Express’ (The Divine Comedy) with Acela, a tribute to the Amtrack express train that runs through New York, in the style of Oasis. The whole thing works brilliantly. In complete contrast, the big ballad Hate To See You Like This is a sympathetic yet light-hearted take on depression and closer Cemetery Guns also shows the more serious side of the band. It is a sad lament and tribute of our times.

Fountains Of Wayne have always been able to crank out a pop song but it is the less commercial songs that best show the band’s talents. Their biggest hit, 2003’s Stacy’s Mom from Welcome Interstate Managers, is a perfect example of when it all comes together but there is more to the band than a couple of hit singles. Sky Full Of Holes may not have these (Radio Bar could be the obvious exception) but it is the most consistent and solid album since the brilliant Utopia Parkway in 1999 and considerably better than the charming yet forgettable Traffic And Weather four years ago. This is an excellent return.

-- CS

Dedicated to the memory of A.M.S. RIP.

2011 Music Chart - July

2011-07-30T18:20:00.002+01:00

Only two new albums this month: Silesia by Jeniferever and the Mercury Prize nominated Diamond Mine by King Creosote and Jon Hopkins. Number one is still the glorious Helplessness Blues by Fleet Foxes, narrowing beating Mogwai and Noah and The Whale. And a late entry from The Kills.

Helplessness Blues by Fleet Foxes
Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will by Mogwai
Last Night On Earth by Noah And The Whale
Codes and Keys by Death Cab For Cutie
Collapse Into Now by R.E.M.
Belong by The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart
The Big Roar by The Joy Formidable
Diamond Mine by King Creosote and Jon Hopkins
Destroyed by Moby
John Wesley Harding by Thea Gilmore
Build A Rocket Boys! by Elbow
Blood Pressures by The Kills
Virtue by Emmy The Great
Silesia by Jeniferever
Ritual by White Lies
Fishin' For Woos by Bowling For Soup
The Fool by Warpaint
Buffalo by The Phoenix Foundation
Wasting Light by Foo Fighters
The King Of Limbs by Radiohead

Pearl Jam Twenty Trailer

2011-07-27T09:57:00.000+01:00

New song from Laura Marling - Sophia

2011-07-26T17:31:00.000+01:00

405 New Music: Laura Marling - Sophia by download405

Thanks to The 405.

New song from The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - Tomorrow Dies Today

2011-07-26T17:28:00.001+01:00

The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - Tomorrow Dies Today by PIAS Entertainment

Thanks to The 405.

Mercury Prize 2011

2011-07-20T18:11:00.001+01:00

It is time for the Mercury Prize 2011. The shortlist is...

Adele – 21
Anna Calvi – Anna Calvi
Elbow – Build a Rocket Boys!
Everything Everything – Man Alive
Ghostpoet – Peanut Butter Blues and Melancholy Jam
Gwilym Simcock – Good Days at Schloss Elmau
James Blake – James Blake
Katy B – On a Mission
King Creosote and Jon Hopkins – Diamond Mine
Metronomy – The English Riviera
PJ Harvey – Let England Shake
Tinie Tempah – Disc-Overy

A very uninspiring list for a number of reasons. The commercial favourite Adele is nominated for 21 - half a good album. The songs that are good are very good and the rest is bland and more style over substance. Two great bands: Elbow and Radiohead are on the shortlist with albums that are not as good as their previous releases. Elbow will have to do a lot to beat The Seldom Seen Kid and In Rainbows didn't win for Radiohead so King Of Limbs certainly won't.

The big surprise is PJ Harvey. I was so disappointed with the shapeless lacklustre and downright dull Let England Shake. One thing I would say at this point is that I am willing to give the album another listen and I am equally willing to eat my words if I feel any different but even on repeat listens since its release, I have failed to grasp the concept and the energy.

This might be a good year for a non-pop act to win but the field is weak in that area too. Probably not Gwilym Simcock's Good Days At Schloss Elmau - even if jazz is your thing. The less said about Tine Tempah the better and Ghostpoet is just a bit random and 'out there' even for hardcore hip-hop fans.

The alternate to these is James Blake and Katy B - both solid albums but nothing special. Likewise Anna Calvi and Everything Everything are not quite there yet. If this year stays with the mainstream then this may very well be the year for Metronomy - The English Riviera is an unusual delight, if not for everyone.

My favourite on the list is definitely King Creosote and Jon Hopkins. Diamond Mine is delicate and beautiful. These albums tend not to win but we can hope.

2011 Music Chart - June

2011-06-30T22:05:00.021+01:00

New albums for June from Moby and Emmy The Great. Moby is back with yet another extraordinary record, Destroyed, filled with eclectic electro-goth/pop and soaring instrumentals. Rising star Emmy The Great released her second album this month, Virtue, to build on a promising début.

Helplessness Blues by Fleet Foxes
Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will by Mogwai
Last Night On Earth by Noah And The Whale
Codes and Keys by Death Cab For Cutie
Collapse Into Now by R.E.M.
Belong by The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart
The Big Roar by The Joy Formidable
Destroyed by Moby
John Wesley Harding by Thea Gilmore
Build A Rocket Boys! by Elbow
Virtue by Emmy The Great
Ritual by White Lies
Fishin' For Woos by Bowling For Soup
The Fool by Warpaint
Buffalo by The Phoenix Foundation
Wasting Light by Foo Fighters
The King Of Limbs by Radiohead

Thea Gilmore - Angels In The Abattoir (June 2011)

2011-06-30T18:14:00.000+01:00

A really interesting song this month, recorded by Thea while on her way to Glastonbury...

I will let Thea introduce the song:

"We're travelling to Glastonbury festival to play John Wesley Harding on the acoustic stage.. I have very deliberately avoided all TV footage of the festival so far because its been raining solidly for three days and I don't want to know the quagmire that we're about to drive into.

I am at this point, 35 weeks pregnant and the size of a house, literally, a good sized, 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom family home.. it is hot and humid and grey and my fuzzy brain is trying to process everything that I need to think about for the performance that night. We've left all motorways and major roads behind and we're winding our way through English, pastoral, summer greenness.

And then two things happen, the more mundane of them being that I realize I desperately need to use the bathroom.. and the sun comes out..

So here's what we do, we stop.. in a tiny lane. I make myself more.. ahem... comfortable.. and then, just for fun, we get the guitar out and record..."

The song is 'Give Me A Place To Stand', a sad, melancholy ballad that doesn't quite sum up the glorious English summer festival mood but instead adds a sense of perspective on the world.

Glastonbury 2001 - U2 and Coldplay: The Rights and The Wrongs

2011-06-26T10:34:00.000+01:00

The big headliners at this year’s Glastonbury festival U2 and Coldplay have now performed and as predicted they have both satisfied and divided audiences. But it was U2 that came out on top in the battle of bands no one likes admitting they like.

Glastonbury is all about the right approach. A Glastonbury set is a greatest hits showcase, the best of the back catalogue and the cream of your musical achievement. This immediately put U2 ahead as they have more to draw upon. So why, in their Friday night headline set, did they pad the end with weak recent-era single like Vertigo, Elevation and worse Get On Your Boots? A festival set has to have momentum and this slowed things to a crawl.

It all started so well with five of the best from Achtung Baby then Where The Streets Have No Name (always good to throw in an obvious ‘encore’ song early on) and I Will Follow. Bono threw in some odd cover snippets which aren’t worth mentioning and finished the main set with Sunday Bloody Sunday, Bad (a personal favourite) and Pride. But the encore was a wasted opportunity just as the set was building momentum again. Blues legend and one-time U2 collaborator B.B. King was at the festival this year and the stage was set for When Love Comes To Town. Alas it never happened. And the encore was a rousing With Or Without You followed by the very dull Moment Of Surrender (another recent song) and a spirited Out of Control from debut album Boy.

So a hits-packed set from U2 with nothing new and only two from the new album. Complete with a live feed from the International Space Station, this was a solid set (in spite of falling flat) from a band trying to hold on to their prime. And just about succeeding). Bono is still an enigmatic showman and The Edge is a supreme guitarist.

Pretenders to the U2 throne, Coldplay, have much more to prove (and judging by the Saturday night set, a lot to learn). Five new songs from Chris Martin and the boys – not new as in from the latest album, but new as in not yet released. He even apologised to the masses as if they had some obligation to plug their new album. “One Day they’ll be your favourites”, Martin declared optimistically. And they opened with a brand new song. Yes most of the crowd had probably heard it before but still, it all comes back to momentum. This was followed by the mighty Yellow and probably the smartest move of the night (again, get your obvious encore song in early – and it doesn’t get much bigger that this). As In My Place started, it looked as if everything was back on track after the opening stumble but the set ambled along littered with new songs, the disjointed early single Shiver and the best from Viva La Vida up against the brilliance of A Rush Of Blood To The Head. X&Y was haplessly neglected; the album is filled with songs that are just made for big crowds so when only include Fix You, for the encore. They had to.

But the final nail in the Coldplay coffin was during Us Against The World – the best of the new songs – Martin messed up. Instead of bimbling on and getting through it (no one would have noticed) he stopped the song and started again. Genuine blunder or misjudged publicity stunt? He then made a joke about the set being an open rehearsal and “let’s forget this is a festival and we’re supposed to be professional headliners”. What happened to respect and taking this seriously? If you can’t get through new songs live then don’t attempt them, especially if you’re top billing on Saturday at Glastonbury. It was embarrassing and disrespectful. Then they closed with new single Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall that is still a terrible song.

This was a night to forget from Coldplay and a fitting Glastonbury swansong for U2.

Radiohead - new track: Staircase

2011-06-21T19:58:00.002+01:00

Clarence Clemons RIP

2011-06-19T08:46:00.000+01:00

The legendary saxophonist and E Street Band stalwart Clarence Clemons has died, aged 69.

Bruce Springsteen posted on the band's website:

"His loss is immeasurable and we are honored and thankful to have known him and had the opportunity to stand beside him for nearly 40 years. He was my great friend, my partner, and with Clarence at my side, my band and I were able to tell a story far deeper than those simply contained in our music. His life, his memory, and his love will live on in that story and in our band."

RIP.

New Subways song - It's A Party

2011-06-18T17:31:00.000+01:00

Get the new song from The Subways here:

Fountains of Wayne - new album and Rolling Stone interview

2011-06-18T17:16:00.001+01:00

Fountains of Wayne talk about the new album Sky Full Of Holes to Rolling Stone.

Read it here.

The National video contest

2011-06-18T17:09:00.000+01:00

The National and video games company Valve have launched a new competition: to make a video for Exile Vilify, the song The National provided for the game Portal 2.

You can hear Exile Vilify here:

R.E.M. ÜBerlin video

2011-06-16T19:42:00.000+01:00

The new video for ÜBerlin by R.E.M.

Directed by Sam Taylor-Wood and featuring Aaron Johnson.

Thea Gilmore - John Wesley Harding (Album Review 2011)

2011-06-06T20:09:00.000+01:00

Not every musician has the audacity to cover Bob Dylan songs but Thea Gilmore has gone a step further by covering a whole album. And that album is the much-praised John Wesley Harding. The record that brought the world the wonderful All Along The Watchtower (a year after its release this would be covered by Jimi Hendrix in what remains one of the best cover versions of all time) was the start of Dylan’s journey into country from his early folk roots. This crossover of musical styles and influences is perfect material for Gilmore.

Dylan said of John Wesley Harding that he actually wanted to record it with a full band. The reality was that it was almost a solo recording. Much of the original is just Dylan, who provides harmonica, piano and guitar as well as vocals, and a simple drum/bass accompaniment. So the final result was much more stripped down than he wanted. In response to this Gilmore has mostly shied away from the quiet intimate arrangement and approaches the whole project full-blooded and head-on. In addition to Gilmore’s crisp and direct vocals, the guitar-work from Robbie McIntosh is excellent. The effect is an astonishing tribute through reinvention.

I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine is the song that started this all; Thea having recorded it before as part of her Songs From The Gutter covers album. Apparently Bruce Springsteen described it was one of the great Dylan covers. That aside, it doesn’t disappoint. Likewise the magnificent All Along The Watchtower captures the twisted darkness perfectly with Gilmore’s delicate vocals riding the turbulent production. To complete the best trio on the album, The Ballad Of Frankie Lee And Judas Priest is brilliant poetry from start to finish.

Elsewhere the reinvention is more obvious. The simple piano-led Dear Landlord is given a slight jazz treatment within the blues melody. Drifter’s Escape is a great modern ‘soft-rock’ take, all fuzzy guitars and pounding drums. As is the equally frantic harmonica stomp of The Wicked Messenger, also faster and more direct than the original, and As I Went Out One Morning has all of the same vocal arrangement with added guitar injection. But where required, Gilmore is closer to Dylan’s material. I Pity The Poor Immigrant still packs a political punch and Gilmore delivers the message as it was intended. Closer I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight is a lighter note to finish.

With her version of John Wesley Harding Thea Gilmore has managed to achieve two things: retain the spirit of Bob Dylan’s original and smooth out all the rough edges. The strength of the original is the terrifyingly acute song writing and Gilmore goes to great lengths to preserve the essence of the narrative – each song is a story and each story delivers vibrant characters from a long lost age. Naturally there would be many who will say that this is the easy option for Gilmore and that attempting to cover a seminal work is both foolish and divisive, but this was always a double-edged sword. Hopefully people will take this for what it is: to coincide with Bob Dylan’s 70th birthday, a celebration of the life of one of the greatest songwriters this world has ever produced.

Kaiser Chiefs 'DIY' new Album

2011-06-05T13:38:00.000+01:00

Kaiser Chiefs have come up with an interesting new concept for their latest album: fans can pick 10 songs from 20, design their own artwork and then download the album. The twist is that you can get £1 for each copy of your album that you sell. Ok so this is taking album marketing in a new direction but there is one flaw to this. Fans of the band are going to want all the songs so they will create two albums of 10 songs and download them both. So why would anyone want a 'random' selection of 10 songs, especially in this age of the 'shuffle' mp3 player? The only way this could work is if fans buy an album from another fan and then make their own from the 10 songs that they don't have, and so on. That could work, and the band gives a pound for each one 'passed-on'. Great idea, not sure it will catch on.

The website is really well put together. And if you're a fan, it's worth checking out.

Mark Kermode Midnight Cowboy harmonica session

2011-06-04T08:12:00.000+01:00

Great 'behind the scenes' video of Mark practising for his show-piece with the London Philharmonic: the harmonica part of theme from the movie Midnight Cowboy.

2011 Music Chart - May

2011-05-31T19:25:00.000+01:00

Three amazing albums this month in what is shaping up to be a great first half of the year. Thea Gilmore's version of Bob Dylan's John Wesley Harding is a complete joy. Any year that brings a new album (Codes and Keys) from Death Cab For Cutie is cause for celebration and Fleet Foxes return with a magnificent follow-up to their début, Helplessness Blues. Also this month is Hot Sauce Committee Part Two, the new album from Beastie Boys. Not their best but great to hear them still going strong.

Helplessness Blues by Fleet Foxes
Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will by Mogwai
Last Night On Earth by Noah And The Whale
Codes and Keys by Death Cab For Cutie
Collapse Into Now by R.E.M.
Belong by The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart
The Big Roar by The Joy Formidable
John Wesley Harding by Thea Gilmore
Build A Rocket Boys! by Elbow
Ritual by White Lies
Fishin' For Woos by Bowling For Soup
The Fool by Warpaint
Wasting Light by Foo Fighters
The King Of Limbs by Radiohead
Buffalo by The Phoenix Foundation

Thea Gilmore - Angels In The Abattoir (May 2011)

2011-05-31T18:42:00.000+01:00

This month's song from Thea Gilmore to all her lovely Angels is just a bit special. A live recording of I'll Remember You taken from the Bob Dylan birthday show at Union Chapel on May 24th. This coincides with the release of her new album: Dylan's John Wesley Harding.

Here's what Thea said about the show...

"The Dylan show worked a treat at Union Chapel... it was a really atmospheric night.. appropriate churchy-ness and gothic lighting. A great band and a fabulous crowd.. so for all those of you who were there, thankyou for making it so special."

Thea dedicates the song to a dear departed Angel; a lovely gesture.

Death Cab For Cutie on VH1 Storytellers

2011-05-28T13:48:00.000+01:00

VH1 TV Shows | Music Videos | Celebrity Photos | News & Gossip

Ace Of Spades Acoustic version

2011-05-26T19:12:00.000+01:00

Great new version of Ace Of Spades by Motorhead.

Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues (Album Review 2011)

2011-05-22T17:05:00.000+01:00

This is the 500th post for the current incarnation of my music blog. Fitting that it is a review of a great new album. Enjoy...

Originally from Seattle but now based in Portland, American six-piece Fleet Foxes have risen to prominence since 2008. The band is unique among their contemporaries in promoting vocals as much as music as part of their multi-layered intricate folk sound. The band’s eponymous début shows this to its full potential but now the follow-up, Helplessness Blues, moves the band and their music up a notch – the songcraft, the depth of production and the vocals all feel so much more powerful. And it is a joy from start to finish.

The immediate highlights of Helplessness Blues are the albums three longest songs. The Plains/Bitter Dancer has a slow-burning choral build-up before adding guitars, the dark brooding atmosphere enhanced by a flute arrangement. The combination of vocals and instrumentation is amongst the best on the album. This is followed by the title track with another great vocal melody fuelled by powerful guitar-work. A song, at the centre of the running theme, sums up the feelings of being overwhelmed by the world and wanting to fit in, while understanding it and almost being comfortable about the situation. With two minutes to go it transforms, adding rare electric guitars to lament about a more simple life and gorgeous song writing. The third of these songs is the eight-minute odyssey The Shrine/An Argument. The opening lyrics: “I went down among the dust and pollen; to the old stone fountain in the morning after dawn” immediately set the scene in what is a vocal tour-de-force for front man Robin Pecknold. The line “Sunlight over me no matter what I do…” is sung with such power and control – a feat not heard anywhere else on the album. Again, as the double-named title suggests, a transformation brings in crashing drums, guitars and more stunning vocals. Halfway and the song quietens into ambience and more talk of orchards and apples before a beautiful interlude is replaced by a manic squealing horn-section. An odd yet beguiling progression through a wonderful story.

Elsewhere, Helplessness Blues is filled with more quality. Sim Sala Bim is more vivid imagery and superb vocals followed by astonishing guitar-work to end. Battery Kinzie is a great pop single with echoes of Simon & Garfunkel recalling a strange dream. Likewise Lorelai is a jolly upbeat guitar-led love song brimming with lyrical brilliance: “I was old news to you then…” and “I still see your face when I try to sleep”. Only the scientifically incorrect whimsical musings of Blue Spotted Tail is a low point but even this has an engaging naïve charm. And closer Grown Ocean combines Phil Spector production with Sigur Ros ‘vocals as instruments’ perfection to create a final masterpiece. The last forty seconds of a cappella is a fitting end to a wonderful album.

Fleet Foxes consistently pull the listener further into their own unique world that, while on the surface sounds alien and grounded in folklore, is more than relevant and modern. In this ever-changing technological world, Helplessness Blues manages to remain organic and real. As a progression from the band’s début, this second album manages to take all the elements of their original, captivating sound and inject a new creative edge. And the effect is an astonishing leap forward thanks to a greater depth of song writing, engaging storytelling and superbly crafted composition. By no means flawless, this is an album of beguiling charm and intimacy that reaches near-perfection.

Ivor Novello Awards 2011

2011-05-19T20:54:00.000+01:00

The 2011 Ivor Novello Awards winners have been announced. For the first time in years I don't agree with any of the winners. I would put so many more great musicians and many more great songs ahead of Plan B, Tinie Tempah, Paul Rodgers and Muse this year. Even Becoming A Jackal by Villagers, winner of Best Song, Musically and Lyrically, lacks coherent melody and structure.

The full list of winners is:

PRS for Music Most Performed Work
Song: She Said
Written by: Eric Appapoulay/Richard Cassell/Benjamin Drew/Tom Wright-Goss
Performed by: Plan B
Published in the UK by: Sony/ATV Music Publishing/Universal Music Publishing

Best Original Video Game Score
Game: Napoleon: Total War
Composed by: Richard Beddow/Richard Birdsall/Ian Livingstone
Developer: The Creative Assembly
Published in the UK by: SEGA

Best Contemporary Song
Song: Pass Out
Written by: Timothy McKenzie/Patrick Okogwu/Marc Williams
Performed by: Tinie Tempah
Published in the UK by: EMI Music Publishing/Stellar Songs Ltd

Best Television Soundtrack
Broadcast: Any Human Heart
Composed by: Dan Jones
Published in the UK by: Faber Music Ltd/Universal Music Publishing

The Ivors Inspiration Award
Dizzee Rascal

The Ivors Classical Music Award
Michael Nyman

Album Award
Album: The Defamation of Strickland Banks
Written by: Benjamin Drew
Performed by: Plan B
Published in the UK by: Universal Music Publishing

Best Original Film Score
Film: How To Train Your Dragon
Composed by: John Powell
Published in the UK by: BMG Chrysalis

PRS for Music Outstanding Contribution to British Music
Paul Rodgers

Best Song Musically & Lyrically
Song: Becoming a Jackal
Written by: Conor O'Brien
Performed by: Villagers
Published in the UK by: Domino Publishing Company

International Achievement
Matthew Bellamy, Dominic Howard & Christopher Wolstenholme aka Muse

Outstanding Song Collection
Steve Winwood

Songwriter of the Year
Benjamin Drew aka Plan B

PRS for Music Special International Award
Stephen Sondheim

The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - Belong (Album Review 2011)

2011-05-16T19:14:00.000+01:00

Every so often you buy an album based on the strength of one song and quickly discover there is more to the band than you first thought. It happens a lot if you take risks with music. Belong by New York’s The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart is that album and Belong is that song. With a sound very reminiscent of early Smashing Pumpkins on the title track, the diverse album as a whole is more aligned with California surf-pop than Chicago alt-rock and East Coast punk. Driven by the light breezy vocals and Kip Berman and Peggy Wang, Belong is the album that opens the door for The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart.

Belong kicks off with the title track, a vibrant combination of delicious guitars, and Berman’s androgynous vocals. A soaring chorus highlights the hardships of achieving success: ‘…we struggle on…’. In what is a great opening trilogy, Heaven’s Gonna Happen Now is made in the same mould but with a lighter arrangement and a hook/chorus combination that brings the whole thing to life. Mesmerising guitar-work. One of the highlights of Belong is the gorgeous love-song Heart In Your Heartbreak, filled with wonderful lines like ‘she was the promise that you never swore…’. The central music break is a sublime interlude before Berman is back with more of the same. Wang’s keyboards shine and add depth in the second half right to the close.

The Body opens with more 80’s electronica in a reworking of Ian Curtis guesting at an Erasure gig. Anne With An E sounds like a horrible drug reference and recalls a romance, the slow arrangement echoing the intoxicated subject matter. Just when the album is in danger of stagnating, the brilliant Even In Dreams gets things back on track. Another excellent pop-song, perfectly crafted and delivering the best chorus on the album. “You’re not the only one…you’re just my only one” is elegant in its simplicity. In a song that could have ended at just over three minutes, the band come back for a final minute – showing that a bit of self-indulgence doesn’t do any harm.

Continuing the standard, the drug metaphors (‘What did you take? Coz that’s what I take…and I can’t take it without you’) and more wonderful guitars, My Terrible Friend is another immediate high point. Filled with energy and brimming with exuberance, it takes Belong to a whole new level. Contrary to this, the Jesus And Mary Chain inspired Girl Of 1,000 Dreams, easily the weakest song on the album, sounds very flat and tired. Borrowing just a bit of Radiohead for the melody, Too Tough is another slower delicate track that builds into a respectable shoe-gazer – all control and poise with Berman’s vocals washed to the point of saturation. And the up-lifting closer Strange continues this theme: ‘Our dreams are coming true…’ sings Berman in what becomes one huge shimmering guitar and drum finale into a massive fade of keyboards.

Belong is a wonderfully likeable and immediate album – in no small part to the involvement of Flood and Alan Moulder. They have guided the band’s evolving sound from an intrepid yet convoluted début (in spite of comparisons to The Jesus And Mary Chain and Joy Division) to a complete package, lifting the guitars and keyboards to add depth to what could have been a very flat production. And when you add much improved song writing to the mix, you have The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart and a band with everything to offer and a promising future ahead of them.

Moby - Destroyed full album stream and 'world' website

2011-05-10T20:15:00.000+01:00

You can listen to the album and browse the notes/photos from around the world here.

Radiohead - King Of Limbs Live From The Basement

2011-05-03T19:34:00.002+01:00

R.E.M. Discoverer - Micheal and Lynda Stipe use AutoCAD for video

2011-05-03T19:29:00.000+01:00

Michael Stipe and His Sister Lynda On Their Cinematic Collaboration For Collapse Into Now

R.E.M.: Discoverer
on Nowness.com.

Bowling For Soup - Fishin' For Woos (Album Review 2011)

2011-04-30T16:09:00.001+01:00

Eleven albums on and Bowling For Soup are still riding the pop-punk wave that has engulfed so many others and, like their musical contemporaries Green Day, are sticking to what they do best. The last few Bowling For Soup albums, after the career defining Drunk Enough To Dance and A Hangover You Don’t Deserve, have been a bit patchy but there have always been signs that musically the band still has the power to move and amuse in equal measure. But recently the subject matter has shifted from obvious observations about girls and booze and ‘being back in school’ to more thought-provoking tales of lost relationships and friendships. Granted singer Jaret Reddick seems unable to grow-up and continues to deliver songs that conjure up a world that is perpetually stuck in ‘college party week’ – it is what defines the band after all – but as the years go by, he is more reflective when writing about the past. It is this juxtaposition of the shallow and the deep that forms the basis of Fishin’ For Woos.

The highlights of Fishin’ For Woos come after a somewhat shaky start. Let’s Pretend We’re Not In Love is an okay opener with short punchy verses and a soaring chorus but Girls In America sounds dull and out-dated, even with an ironic slant. S-S-S-Saturday is a much better three-minute pop song and starts a trio of great songs. A supreme arrangement frames a catchy chorus. What About Us is the first of three heartfelt torch songs and a perfect example of what Bowling For Soup does very well. Putting the humour aside, they lay down a middle-of-the-road rock ballad as brilliant as ever.

In musical contrast, but just as good, is Here’s Your Freakin’ Song. Making no pretence as to his state of sobriety for the performance, Reddick is superb as he produces a story within a story – girlfriend asking you to write a song for her and it turning out to be a ‘hate’ song. What could easily be nasty and venomous is instead a new take on an old idea, which ends in a shambolic monologue. And the guitar work from Erik Chandler and Chris Burney, as always, is wonderful. The flip-side of this is when Bowling For Soup sound like they are going through the motions. This Ain’t My Day and Smiley Face (It’s All Good) are the songs the band could make in their sleep. Only a handful of funny lines (in the latter Reddick recalling all the places they have ‘got naked’ is inspired) and some neat melodies provide a lift.

Turbulence, another heart-on-sleeve love song, is the high point of the album and one of the best songs Bowling For Soup have written. The clean acoustic feel, blending piano and harmonies, works very well and the production never takes over. As before this is followed by another classic funny moment – the provocative I’ve Never Done Anything Like This, featuring the vocals of Kay Hanley – formerly of Letters To Cleo. After a one-night-stand hook-up that starts with a shower and ‘dirty’ cell-phone pictures, Reddick posts his date’s bail when she takes her clothes off at a bar only to discover that the car they drive away in is stolen. The song ends on that cliffhanger.

After the obvious Friends Chicks Guitars, Guard My Heart, the song the band has performed live many times but never recorded, starts a very sober finale. Another fantastic chorus and excellent guitar-work at its core, this is another sign that Bowling For Soup can mix it up and deliver ‘real’ songs. But it is closer Graduation Trip that is the real surprise. Lacking any melody whatsoever with Reddick sounding deliberately flat, and driving forward through the painful nostalgia of a holiday romance, this just about works.

By no means a brilliant Bowling For Soup album, Fishin’ For Woos continues and maintains the manic, vibrant and colourful world the band inhabit. The album progresses from a typical inane start to end with two very serious, and seriously delivered, songs. This shows that behind all the laughs and drunken parties, there is a mature side to the band, choosing to express this as credible (if slightly ironic) soft rock. You spend the first few songs waiting for brilliance and that is exactly what you get – those two or three tracks that lift an album, and a real sense of a furious work ethic combined with natural musical talent. And that ever-present unique sense of fun.

2011 Music Chart - April

2011-04-29T19:17:00.000+01:00

Another busy month and some great new albums. First up is Last Night On Earth by Noah And The Whale, a contender for album of the year. The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart are in danger of being of new favourite band: their album Belong is another amazing record. Also this month is Fishin' For Woos from the mighty Bowling For Soup which does exactly what you expect. And another powerful album from Dave Grohl's Foo Fighters: Wasting Light.

Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will by Mogwai
Last Night On Earth by Noah And The Whale
Collapse Into Now by R.E.M.
Belong by The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart
The Big Roar by The Joy Formidable
Build A Rocket Boys! by Elbow
Ritual by White Lies
Fishin' For Woos by Bowling For Soup
The Fool by Warpaint
Wasting Light by Foo Fighters
The King Of Limbs by Radiohead
Buffalo by The Phoenix Foundation

Thea Gilmore - Angels In The Abattoir (April 2011)

2011-04-29T19:10:00.000+01:00

For April, Thea has provided her Angels with a new song: Money Shot. Here's how she describes it:

"So here is a track that popped into me a few weeks ago.. about living life in the public eye, about damage and loss.. probably about someone in particular, but I'll leave that up to you to decide."

Not the best song Thea has written musically and somewhat tired and well-trodden subject-matter. Plus a really odd whistling ending that doesn't really work. But the lyrics are spot-on and worthy of much better arrangement. They can't all be gems.

Noah And The Whale - Last Night On Earth (Album Review 2011)

2011-04-29T19:00:00.000+01:00

When Noah And The Whale rereleased their debut single Five Years Time in 2008, the world was properly introduced to the music of Charlie Fink. After the well-publicised personal and professional break-up (Laura Marling) and the departure of brother Doug, Noah And The Whale is now a different beast. The follow-up to Peaceful, The World Lays Me Down may have been the ‘difficult’ second album but The First Days Of Spring serves as a noticeable progression for Fink and the band. The media can no longer label them ‘twee’ (or worse ‘anti-folk’) as third album Last Night On Earth completes this progression; the band emerging with a surprising collection of upbeat optimistic pop.

Last Night On Earth is packed with highlights from the opening song: Life Is Life pulsates with electronica, drum machine and buzzing synths, the first line setting the tone for the entire album: ‘You used to be somebody, and now you’re someone else…’; Fink starting the tale of disillusionment and wanting a fresh new start. The piano is stunning throughout, right up to the choral ending. This is followed by the vibrant pop of Tonight’s The Kind Of Night, a curious mix of Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet and Deacon Blue’s Dignity. Again the theme is of leaving, starting again and taking control. Fink delivers another great line: ‘He can see that his debt is to experience only... and not to those who plan out his life’. To complete the opening trio, L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N. (not too far from Love Of The Common People by Paul Young) combines excellent guitars with booming drums and an instantly catching chorus.

Wild Thing slows the album down and is more Velvet Underground than Bachman-Turner Overdrive. This is more small-town alienation and of feeling trapped with Fink recalling the story of a young woman who discovers she is a werewolf. Brilliant song writing with dense guitars and shimmering keyboards. Give It All Back is a new take on an old theme – school friends forming a band and dreaming of ‘making it big’ – and the nostalgia is clear through a brilliant delivery. Likewise Just Me Before We Met reflects on the past using a wonderful string arrangement and, in stark contrast, more keyboards. The calm reflection is transformed into energy and Fink delivers more great lyrics: ‘It’s better to live…than to hide’.

After the brief instrumental Paradise Stars, Waiting For My Chance To Come brings back the Americana (and owes much to Tom Petty’s Won’t Back Down) has more fantastic strings and guitars before what is quite a downbeat finale. The Line is a past relationship played out as a script – a neat idea that only suffers from a laboured outro with Fink declaring ‘I live my life like a diamond… bright and hard’ – one of the album’s only weak moments. The delicate choral piano ballad Old Joy is right from the Jay Spaceman back catalogue and could be twice as long. The arrangement is simple yet stunning and the closing words say it all: ‘Don’t dream of yesterday…’

Last Night On Earth is the third in an impressive trilogy of albums from Noah And The Whale. Fink draws upon (whether intentionally or not) a curious mix of Americana and Lou Reed introspection, transforming him and the band into something bold and interesting; adding a new reinvention of old tunes and melodies. Occasionally dragging up the past lyrically, he has moved forward musically – choosing to go somewhere else instead of descending into a pseudo-folk quagmire that is in danger of drying up entirely. If the next five years are anything like the last for Noah And The Whale then we should expect three more superb records of well-crafted pop songs and emotional twists and turns.

Beastie Boys - Fight For Your Right (Revisited) star-studded new video.

2011-04-27T20:18:00.002+01:00

Brilliant new video from The Beastie Boys. Contains strong language.

New Death Cab For Cutie song/video - You Are A Tourist

2011-04-06T19:05:00.000+01:00

The brilliant new video for You Are A Tourist from Death Cab For Cutie (from the forthcoming album Codes And Keys, out next month).

New Kate Bush album - Director's Cut

2011-04-04T19:05:00.000+01:00

Kate Bush is set to release a new album, her first for six years. Sadly it's not new material but instead a reworking of some of the best of her back catalogue. Only eleven tracks and none of the commercially successful work such as The Hounds Of Love, Cloudbusting and Running Up That Hill.

First single is Deeper Understanding, out on the 5th April.

Read about it on Pitchfork.

The tracklisting for Director's Cut:

01 Flower of the Mountain (new version of "The Sensual World")
02 Song of Solomon
03 Deeper Understanding
04 Lily
05 Red Shoes
06 This Woman's Work
07 Moments of Pleasure
08 Never Be Mine
09 Top of the City
10 And So Is Love
11 Rubberband Girl

2011 Music Chart - March

2011-03-31T18:43:00.014+01:00

Two fantastic albums this month from R.E.M. and Elbow. Collapse Into Now is the best R.E.M. have sounded in a decade: energised, vibrant, youthful, loving music and above all, soulful. Elbow return with Build A Rocket Boys!, an autobiographical recount of the band's childhood. Again, music flows through their veins and even though this is not as consistent as previous album The Seldom Seen Kid, these are songs worthy of the Elbow name.

Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will by Mogwai
Collapse Into Now by R.E.M.
The Big Roar by The Joy Formidable
Build A Rocket Boys! by Elbow
Ritual by White Lies
The Fool by Warpaint
The King Of Limbs by Radiohead
Buffalo by The Phoenix Foundation

Thea Gilmore - Angels In The Abattoir (March 2011)

2011-03-28T19:29:00.000+01:00

Nearly the end of another month and the exclusive track for all us Angels Of The Abattoir is a song that was left off probably my favourite Thea Gilmore album, Avalanche. First off it doesn't sound like anything else on Avalanche, which is why it was rejected. Maybe the mix was/is all wrong: here is what Thea says about the song:

"One of the nice things about clearing out your house is that you find all manner of curiosities, and I found a disc with monitor mixes for Avalanche (for those of you who don't know the jargon, a monitor mix is a very rough reference mix of what's been recorded before the real mixing begins) and It had on it a song that never made it onto the album.. so I thought I'd send it to you because I always liked it and regretted not finishing it".

One thing I love about Avalanche is how 'space-aged' it sounds and I can't imagine this song with that sort of production. It is a solid, tuneful, stripped-down acoustic piece but one wonders what it would have sounded like given a bit more time and different arrangement. Guess we will never know. Oh it also features Robbie McIntosh (from Paul McCartneys band, Pretenders et al) and backing vocals by Dave Hull-Denholm who used to be in Lindisfarne.

New song from Thurston Moore - Benediction stream from NPR

2011-03-22T18:37:00.001Z

Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore is releasing a new solo album entitled Demolished Thoughts. It is out in May 2011.

Produced by Beck, a preview track Benediction is available as a stream from NPR. A slow-building guitar ballad with a wonderfully random solo. Great stuff.

Check it out here.

Eddie Vedder releases solo album and concert DVD: Ukulele Songs!

2011-03-21T19:07:00.000Z

Pearl Jam front man Eddie Vedder is releasing a solo album of 16 ukulele songs, a mix of covers and original material. Also released will be a live concert DVD entitled Water On The Road.

This sounds like an interesting project from a musician who has been making great music for well over twenty years.

Ukulele Songs:

01. Can’t Keep
02. Sleeping by Myself
03. Without You
04. More Than You Know
05. Goodbye
06. Broken Heart
07. Satellite
08. Longing to Belong
09. Hey Fahkah
10. You’re True
11. Light Today
12. Sleepless Nights (feat. Glen Hansard)
13. Once in Awhile
14. Waving Palms
15. Tonight You Belong to Me (feat. Cat Power)
16. Dream a Little Dream

Water On The Road:

01. The Canyon
02. Sometimes
03. Trouble
04. Around the Bend
05. Girl From the North Country
06. Guaranteed
07. Setting Forth
08. Far Behind
09. No Ceiling
10. Rise
11. Golden State
12. Society
13. Forever Young
14. Ed Piano (Instrumental)
15. I’m Open
16. Man of the Hour
17. Driftin’
18. No More
19. You’re True
20. Ukulele Interlude (Instrumental)
21. Unthought Known
22. Arc
23. Hard Sun
24. The Canyon (reprise)

Elbow - Build A Rocket Boys! (Album Review 2011)

2011-03-16T22:00:00.000Z

After winning the Mercury Music Prize it was inevitable that Elbow would fade into obscurity never to be heard from again. Or not. But the aforementioned music award has always been viewed as something of a poisoned chalice: remember Gomez? M People? Ms Dynamite? It has also been responsible for stifling the musical creativity of acts such as Pulp, Franz Ferdinand and PJ Harvey. Not so for Bury’s Elbow. It has taken the band, led by singer and now BBC 6music presenter Guy Garvey, four great albums to get the recognition they deserve after début release Asleep In The Back; still one of the best of its generation. In 2008 The Seldom Seen Kid gave Elbow the exposure they needed boasting mighty singles such as Grounds For Divorce, The Bones Of You and One Day Like This (of which the album version should have been released as a single instead of the horrible ‘cut-down’ radio-friendly version). It has taken three years for the follow-up Build A Rocket Boys! to emerge, and like its predecessor it is a record of rare beauty, careful crafting and elegant execution.

From the rattling beginnings of huge opener The Birds, with its distinctive Garvey-led vocal melody and persistent guitars (reminiscent of R.E.M’s Leave – turned down a notch), to the earnest heartfelt lyrics and swirling instrumentation of closer Dear Friends, Build A Rocket Boys! is a plethora of intricate arrangements, vocal harmonies (credit goes to the Halle Youth Choir) and unique composition. The former transforms at three and half minutes through spiky electronica to bring in to chorus: “what are we going to do with you? Same tale every time… Looking back is for the birds…”. At minute six, the explosion of sounds brings in the last act and a layered vocal outro before an odd last thirty seconds. Following this the early highlight, and core track, Lippy Kids is a joyous celebration of disillusioned youth, of hanging around on street corners, smoking and drinking. Lyrically superb, this is possibly the best song writing from Garvey since the band’s glorious début: “I never perfected that simian stroll” is genius. Precise and controlled.

The heartstrings are pulled with the poetic ballad Jesus Is A Rochdale Girl with Garvey’s raw vulnerable vocal delivering a lament to his ‘first love’. The odd bontempi-esque organ provides the contrast against the simple guitars and more great lyrics: “…a single switch to flick…but a thousand boxes yet to tick…’. Wonderful. Likewise, and with all the melody of grinding machinery, High Ideals provides the best piano on the album and yet more fascinating lyrics (tales of family history and military antiques). Hard edges and ambitious arrangements prove that Elbow never take the easy option – with spectacular results.

Build A Rocket Boys! rarely falters. The short interlude The River is nothing more than a respite before the overtly stadium-bound Open Arms – a well-intentioned song of longing for someone dear to return that loses itself within the production. The obvious chorus just about gets away with it and the guitars in the second half lift the song from Coldplay-like banality. And With Love is a constant vocal stretch; a neat idea and wonderful simple chorus gliding from distracting to hypnotic. Minor misgivings from a band that can deliver the hardness of Neat Little Rows and the stirring balladry of The Night Will Always Win in the space of ten minutes.

Build A Rocket Boys! is at times a wonderfully subtle album, taking all the composure and quiet revelations of Asleep In The Back and combining the anthemic qualities of The Seldom Seen Kid. Appeasing long-term fans and new admirers alike, Garvey et al hit the middle ground running, fuelled by nostalgia, memories and the tried and tested ‘writing on the road’. This is the perfect follow-up to the huge success afforded three years ago and Garvey remains one of the best songwriters making music today. There are no obvious radio singles with most of the best music weighing in around five minutes, proving that Elbow do not have to pander to commerciality to make an impact. Not this time. Further reassurance that sometimes there is life after Mercury.

R.E.M. - Collapse Into Now (Album Review 2011)

2011-03-10T21:29:00.001Z

There was a time when the names Berry, Buck, Mills and Stipe rang out through hallowed halls and sacred spaces as legendary musical bastions with god-like gifts for composition and song writing. But the last decade has not been kind to R.E.M. It would be too easy to say that the so-called demise of the band coincided with the departure of Bill Berry. This led Michael Stipe to utter his most infamous phrase: ‘A three-legged dog is still a dog. It just has to learn to run differently’. Much of this depressive response (rightfully so) came from the band, then to be fuelled by the venomous press. The conclusion is that Berry is to blame. Not to underestimate his contributions, which were substantial, of course, he is not. In 1995 the band had its most difficult year both commercially and personally. Monster, released a year earlier is an ill-fated attempt to inject energy into a band coming down from the euphoria of their most successful period musically. The result is the worst R.E.M. album in a long and lustrous career. In comparison, the follow-up New Adventures In Hi-Fi is a triumph – dark, moody, textured and tuneful. Everything since has failed to keep up. The signs have been there with gems littering Reveal, Around The Sun and then Accelerate and you could easily create one great record from the three. But the consistency, the focus and the energy have not combined successfully for what seems like a very long time. Thankfully, album number fifteen Collapse Into Now is the studio album R.E.M. have been building up to for a decade.

At the centre of Collapse Into Now are the best seven consecutive songs on any R.E.M. album. Only Green gets close to this (the eight-song odyssey Pop Song 89 to Turn You Inside-Out). After an unassuming start, Überlin starts this run. Stipe begins with the tale of 9-5 drudgery as Buck’s gorgeous guitar work provides the melody. Quickly into the chorus of hope and optimistic yearnings, and as the song takes shape, Mills adds excellent backing vocals. A quick mid-section, devoid of a guitar solo, and more of the same brings the song to a close. ‘The kids have a new take. A new take on faith’, Stipe croons in the opening of Oh My Heart, the best song R.E.M. have written in their last five albums. Overtly political folk and referencing recent catastrophic US events: ‘I came home to a city half erased… I came home to face what we faced…’ – this is a hard-hitting and wonderful three-minutes, the powerful vocal-driven chorus at its core. This is the best Stipe has sounded in a decade, coupled with Peter Buck who was born to play the mandolin; a perfect balance of earnest dark memories and uplifting spiritualism.

Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder provides backing vocals on the magnificent It Happened Today. ‘This is not a parable, this is a terrible’ is not Stipe’s finest hour lyrically but musically it echoes one of R.E.M’s forgotten masterpieces, Try Not To Breathe. Taking a minute and a half for the wordlessness to begin as a soaring choir of voices, guitars, trumpet and sousaphone. Vedder has the final non-word in a stirring finale. R.E.M. owes much to Eels for the melody and vocal production of the beautiful Every Day Is Yours To Win. ‘I cannot tell a lie, it’s not all cherry-pie… but it’s all there waiting for you’ following up with cynical ‘If you buy that… I’ve got a bridge for you’. Superb song writing and more great vocals from Mills. Then an echo of early exuberance with the brilliant punk-pop of Mine Smell Like Honey which could easily be an out-take from Life’s Rich Pageant. Stipe again delivers a driving chorus. Another change of pace brings in the piano-led Walk It Back and another arrangement to take your breath away. Stipe is (again) magnificent. And completing the impressive septet is the absurdly catchy and inane Alligator_Aviator_Autopilot_Antimatter, another torrent of guitars and guest vocalist Peaches injecting her unique character.

The delicious centre aside, Collapse Into Now has its ‘moments’, opening strongly with the rambling, shambolic, anthemic Discoverer only to reverse the momentum with the stretched All The Best. That Someone Is You is the only obvious weak point – the band deliver a very bad impression of Fountains Of Wayne for, thankfully, just under two minutes. Me, Marlon Brando, Marlon Brando and I is a pleasant wistful ballad before the astonishingly ‘prog’ Blue, fusing the guitars of Country Feedback with the vocals of Belong (and Stipe providing some of his best lyrics in a very long time) to again merge with the wonderful Patti Smith before going full-circle back into an alternative opening of Discoverer. Ambitious to the extreme but like Coldplay’s Life In Technicolor becoming the monstrous vocalised ‘single’, the outro is a step too far.

Collapse Into Now was never going to be that new perfect R.E.M. album. And even though it would be naïve to elevate the album to the echelons of the early 1990s, when the band seemed untouchable, you cannot ignore and dismiss this on the basis of misty-eyed overreaction. It’s been a while since R.E.M. sounded this energised, this youthful, this interesting, this relevant, and this good. With Collapse Into Now, they have pulled together past experience, the iconic sounds that filled Green, Out Of Time and Automatic For The People, and the spirit of adventure and exuberance that got them into a fourth decade. At last it looks as if R.E.M. has learned to run differently.

Phil Collins retires from the music business

2011-03-09T18:50:00.000Z

Firstly this is not the usual typical piss-take 'ah about time' dig at Phil Collins. I am genuinely sorry to hear that he has retired from music. The reasons (to spend time with his family and kids) is entirely justified but he leaves behind a musically legacy that is never given the justice it deserves. In The Air Tonight is one of my favourite songs. As is 'I Can't Dance'.

As a key member of Genesis and an accomplished solo artist, Phil Collins has written some great songs and his voice is one of those voices that becomes an instrument in its own right - it has tone, melody and an engaging quality that many can never achieve.

R.E.M. Collapse Into Now album preview

2011-03-08T20:18:00.000Z

I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing when I fell in love with R.E.M. It is one of those moments that I can genuinely look back on and thank someone else for introducing me to a whole new world of music. Pearl Jam, R.E.M and The Tragically Hip. The big three. I was in a bar in a bowling alley in Bournemouth and a friend found Out Of Time on the jukebox. He didn’t put on Losing My Religion. He didn’t choose Shiny Happy People. He had one song. He played Country Feedback. My world changed. Forever.

A week later I spent ten pounds on the album (tape, Our Price Music, circa 1991). It was a fortune for me at the time as a struggling grant-less student but I listened to it until it fell to pieces. I still have it. A year later and a different friend loaned me a copy of Automatic For The People. He recorded it from the original CD but for some reason it was on random shuffle. By the end of the year I knew the opening bars of the next songs before the current ones had finished – all in the wrong order. For years later, now owning the album (vinyl of course), when Everybody Hurts came to a close I would already be on to Find The River. I still can’t get through Man On The Moon without starting on Drive. You get the idea.

From these humble beginnings I went back to rediscover the band, first to Green (still one of my favourite albums of all time – it captures a great band on the verge of even more greatness), then to the charming Life’s Rich Pageant. Then I picked up a second hand copy of Murmur, Fables Of The Reconstruction and then Reckoning. With the band’s chronology gaining a new shape all of its own, I completed the first eight records with Document. It is important to note that in 1991, with R.E.M. in their commercial prime, I sidestepped their ‘best of’ collection in favour of the earlier Eponymous and b-sides release Dead Letter Office. I even found a copy of Chronic Town, the band’s first EP, which I still adore.

So now in 2011, 20 years on and now a three-piece (albeit with plenty of help from Scott McCaughey, Bill Rieflin and Jacknife Lee, amongst others including Eddie Vedder, Peaches and Patti Smith), R.E.M. release their fifteenth studio album Collapse Into Now. Since the brilliant New Adventures In Hi-Fi, which followed up the disastrous Monster so well, musically R.E.M. had lost their way. Great songs have been few and far between in the last decade with only glimpses of consistency appearing with previous album Accelerate that is, to pardon the pun, rushed. On first listen Collapse Into Now is mesmerising, packed with energy and enthusiasm and sounds very much like a band now enjoying making music again.

New Bowling For Soup album Fishing For Woos.

2011-03-04T18:58:00.000Z

Bowling For Soup release Fishing For Woos on April 26!!!

The tracklist is:

01 Let's Pretend We're Not In Love
02 Girls In America
03 S-S-S-Saturday
04 What About Us
05 Here's Your Freakin' Song
06 This Ain't My Day
07 Smiley Face (It's All Good)
08 Turbulence
09 I've Never Done Anything Like This
10 Friends Chicks Guitars
11 Guard My Heart (2010)
12 Graduation Trip

Arctic Monkeys - New song Brick by Brick

2011-03-04T18:51:00.000Z

Thea Gilmore - Angels In The Abattoir (February 2011)

2011-03-01T19:22:00.000Z

The end of February brings another Angels' offering from Thea Gilmore. This month is a heartfelt, emotional, and slightly wistful ballad The Learning Curve.

Thea says, of the song: "It's a bit of a musing on growing up really, the ideas and dreams you have as a child that don't quite bloom in the way you think they will. But they are replaced by a quieter kind of magic. And we all know that quiet magic is the good stuff. So here it is.. My learning curve.. I hope you like it."

This is another cracking vocal from one of the best British singers in the business and I'm glad to be part of its 'magic'. Yes this lacks the polish and production of anything on an album but it is this intimacy and connection that can only occur between an artist and her fans. Excellence yet again.

2011 Music Chart - February

2011-02-28T20:03:00.002Z

New albums this month from Radiohead (The King of Limbs), The Joy Formidable (The Big Roar) and the mighty Mogwai (Hardhore Will Never Die, But You Will). No contest as to who is at number one this month.

Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will by Mogwai
The Big Roar by The Joy Formidable
The Fool by Warpaint
The King Of Limbs by Radiohead
Buffalo by The Phoenix Foundation
Ritual by White Lies

Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross win Oscar!

2011-02-28T18:49:00.000Z

Nine Inch Nails front man and all round music genius Trent Reznor has reached yet another pinnacle of artistic achievement: he, alongside cohort and stalwart Atticus Ross, have won Best Original Score at the 2011 Academy Awards for The Social Network soundtrack. This is brilliant news. The pair won a Golden Globe earlier this year.

NME Awards 2011 - The Winners

2011-02-24T19:21:00.000Z

Congratulations again to Laura Marling who won best solo artist at this year's NME Awards! Best album went Arcade Fire's The Suburbs (they just can't stop winning awards) but the band lost out to My Chemical Romance who won Best International Band and Best Video. And Dave Grohl picked up the Godlike Genius.

The winners are:

Godlike Genius: Dave Grohl

Philip Hall Radar Award: The Naked And Famous

Teenage Cancer Trust Outstanding Contribution To Music: PJ Harvey

John Peel Award for Innovation: Crystal Castles

Best British Band (supported by Shockwaves)
Winners: Muse
Nominated: Arctic Monkeys, Biffy Clyro, Foals, Kasabian

Best International Band (supported by T4)
Winners: My Chemical Romance
Nominated: Arcade Fire, Kings Of Leon, The Drums, Vampire Weekend

Best Solo Artist
Winner: Laura Marling
Nominated: Florence Welch, Frank Turner, Kanye West, Paul Weller

Best New Band (supported by Boxfresh)
Winners: Hurts
Nominated: Beady Eye, Everything Everything, The Drums, Two Door Cinema Club

Best Live Band
Winners: Biffy Clyro
Nominated: Arcade Fire, Foals, Kasabian, Muse

Best Album
Winner: Arcade Fire – 'The Suburbs'
Nominated: Crystal Castles – 'Crystal Castles II', Foals – 'Total Life Forever', My Chemical Romance – 'Danger Days: The True Lives Of The Fabulous Killjoys', Two Door Cinema Club – 'Tourist History'

Best Track (supported by NME Radio)
Winner: Foals – 'Spanish Sahara'
Nominated: Cee Lo Green – 'Fuck You', Gorillaz – 'Stylo', Janelle Monae (featuring Big Boi) – 'Tightrope', Mark Ronson & The Business Intl. – 'Bang Bang Bang'

Best Video (supported by NME TV)
Winners: My Chemical Romance – 'Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na)'
Nominated: Arcade Fire – 'We Used To Wait', Brandon Flowers – 'Crossfire', Chase & Status – 'Let You Go', Gorillaz – 'Stylo'

Best Festival
Winners: Glastonbury
Nominated: Download, Reading And Leeds Festivals, T In The Park, V Festival

Best Dancefloor Filler
Winners: Professor Green – 'Jungle'
Nominated: Crystal Castles – 'Baptism', Kele – 'Tenderoni', Plan B – 'Stay Too Long', Tinie Tempah – 'Pass Out'

Worst Album
Winners: Justin Bieber – 'My World'
Nominated: Cheryl Cole – 'Messy Little Raindrops', Katy Perry – 'Teenage Dream', Kings Of Leon – 'Come Around Sundown', My Chemical Romance – 'Danger Days: The True Lives Of The Fabulous Killjoys'

Worst Band
Winners: Jonas Brothers
Nominated: 30 Seconds To Mars, JLS, Kings Of Leon, Tokio Hotel

Best Band Blog or Twitter
Winner: Hayley Williams
Nominated: Frank Turner, Kanye West, Lily Allen, Theo Hutchcraft

Best Small Festival (50,000 capacity or lower)
Winners: RockNess
Nominated: Bestival, Kendal Calling, Latitude, Underage Festival

Best Album Artwork
Winner: Klaxons – 'Surfing The Void'
Nominated: Foals – 'Total Life Forever', Gorillaz – 'Plastic Beach', MGMT – 'Congratulations', My Chemical Romance – 'Danger Days: The True Lives Of The Fabulous Killjoys'

Radiohead - The King Of Limbs (Album Review 2011)

2011-02-19T17:16:00.000Z

It’s time to face the facts. Radiohead are not the band they used to be. In the nineties the band followed up a solid début with two incredible albums: The Bends and OK Computer, bringing awards (including a Grammy for the latter) and worldwide fame. But after this success the following decade provided only self-doubt and anxiety, both musically and personally for the band. Thom Yorke stated in Q Magazine that Radiohead came very close to breaking up and that he was suffering from depression, and it took three years for the band to return with a new sound: Kid A. After what had come before, to say the album is a challenging listen is an understatement. Bands and musicians reinvent themselves all the time but by anyone’s standards the transformation from OK Computer to Kid A is huge. This move into more fragmented, experimental and tense music is explained by the mind-set of the band at the time, especially Yorke. Kid A and follow-up Amnesiac were as difficult records to make they were for fans and critics to accept. So began the new Radiohead.

At the time it was not obvious but Radiohead had become the band they didn’t want to be. Music history is filled with tragic stories of the price of fame and the pressures it brings but with no demands from a record label and the media fallout of their change behind them, the band settled into their new life. Fans, mainly those aggrieved by the lack of an OK Computer 2 and the complete disintegration of the band they loved, were understandably divided. And they remain divided, five albums on from this musical schism. After the disappointing Hail To The Thief, In Rainbows was released for ‘a price of your choosing’ on Radiohead’s website. This radical and somewhat commercially absurd move gave the band a huge amount of publicity and got the industry thinking – oddly when the album was released ‘properly’ it topped the charts in the UK and the US (it would be great to think that those who got the album for free then went on to buy it). Album number five is The King Of Limbs, a fusion of the reborn Radiohead of Kid A and the focused comfortable Radiohead of In Rainbows.

Much of The King Of Limbs is centred on the cold, clinical electronic sound that has shaped the new albums. Drum machines, clicks and whirs, echoing vocals and short keyboard loops now replace long gliding guitars hooks, conventional bass, and standard verse-verse-chorus-verse rinse-and-repeat fare. A great example of this is Lotus Flower, the song at the heart of the album. A loose but discernible structure mixed with space-aged bleeps and a solid delicious bass line help to direct Yorke’s vocals. The main theme of his lyrics drags up the past and expose his new mentality: “We will shrink and be quite as mice. While the cat’s away we do what we want…” is trying to suggest that the band are now ‘out of sight and out of mind’ to old ‘fans’. And in ten years, Thom Yorke’s vocal has never sounded better than this.

An early highlight is Morning Mr Magpie, a clear euphemism for trying to regain past glory: “And now you stole it, all the magic; took my memories” sings Yorke with more than just a hint of bitterness. Musically the song races along, powered by stabbing guitars and drums, right up to a very downbeat ending. ‘Memories’ is replaced by ‘melody’ to complete the picture. Little By Little continues this theme. Better guitar-work and the rattling percussion are excellent. Yorke is more determined with this catharsis: “Obligation, complication, routines and schedules. Drug and kill you…” and “Never get noticed, never get judged. I’m no idiot, I should look” is straight, no nonsense and brilliant song writing.

One of the only problems with The King Of Limbs is an over-complication of songs that should be simple. Opener Bloom has a disjointed, stuttering, pots and pans backing track that gets even more scrambled at the halfway point. Yorke’s vocals vanish in favour of more chaos in the middle. Feral is the album’s worst moment, letting seemingly random ideas run riot without any control. Even the wonderful bass-heavy last minute or so cannot save it.

It is at the mid-point that the album settles down into stark minimalism for a much better second half. The dark piano-driven Codex, with its haunting effects and equally haunting vocal from Yorke, is a thing of beauty. Give Up On The Ghost’s dual vocal becomes three then four in a choir of wordless loops framed with acoustic guitar, bass drum and snake-tongue percussion. Closer Separator is wonderful and a sure sign that Radiohead is regaining some of their song craft that got them where they are today. Yorke’s vocal arrangement glides neatly atop mainly drums and bass. He ends with “Like I’m falling out of bed from a long and weary dream. Finally I’m free of all the weight I’ve been carrying. When I ask you again, wake me up”.

Radiohead’s past will always haunt them and the success of The Bends and OK Computer is now as much a curse as it is a blessing. Even though the album often feels like therapy, The King Of Limbs is the sound of a contented band but not a contended sound. It is as if they know what they want to do but bridging the gap between the past and the present has not yet happened. The King Of Limbs sounds like an attempt to make a better Kid A – to recreate musically all the newly found inspiration but without the tension and angst that tortured them personally – the songs from the first three albums with the sound of the last three. Radiohead are not there yet. And with eight songs and a thirty-seven minute running time, The King Of Limbs is unnervingly short. Free download single These Are My Twisted Words does not feature and would have made a good addition.

Ultimately there is more to life than music. The fact that Radiohead are still around and still making music is a very good thing. The alternative could have been much, much worse. And the way in which they are now doing this has much to be admired. Music should be challenging and engaging – pulling you in one minute and pushing you away the next. And the fact they are making the sort of music they want to make is part of the process. Finding the balance between self-satisfaction and giving the people what they want is hard, and if you are not comfortable in your own skin only you have the power to change that. So that is what Radiohead have done, to stay together, to survive as a band, and to keep making music. For good and for bad.

Mogwai - Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will (Album Review 2011)

2011-02-17T20:32:00.000Z

It is not every generation that a band can make albums with such regular and consistent quality, and sheer musicality, that it can bring you to tears. In 2003 post-rock quintet Mogwai began this quest for perfection with Happy Songs For Happy People, full of delicious melodies and swirling guitars – a distinct progression from their third album Rock Action some two years earlier. It took three more years for Mr Beast to arrive – a much harder, darker venture into the Mogwai psyche and the best album the band had made, until the follow-up The Hawk Is Howling went one better as a supreme blend of textured sounds and arrangements. The album remains a perfect example of how to make music.

So it is expected that Mogwai’s seventh full-length album Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will has to live up to such high standards. It is expected that by now the band understand what to do and deliver it perfectly. And it is expected that they make The Hawk Is Howling sound like the last McFly album. Ok not quite. What Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will does is reaffirm the concept that after making such a great trilogy of albums, shifting sideways is always a better option than slumping backwards. And importantly, remembering where it all began is just as crucial as smart self-awareness.

For the first fifteen minutes, Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will delivers three five minute pieces that immediately satisfy. From the shimmering fuzzy guitars and jolly keyboards of White Noise through the robotic super-highway of Mexican Grand Prix to the grinding pulsating spectacular of Rano Pano, it is clear that this is Mogwai’s lighter side emerging from the moody seriousness of the last two albums. But things really take off with Death Rays, easily matching the beauty of Friend Of The Night and Kids Will Be Skeletons – in six minutes the song rises from quiet beginnings into an explosion of buzzing guitars, sky-reaching keyboards and crashing drums. This leads neatly into the positively poppy San Pedro, the closest thing Mogwai have to a three-minute radio-friendly masterpiece. Superb.

Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will delivers a gorgeous piano-led ballad with Letters To The Metro recalling the delicately poised Kings Meadow. The guitar work, especially in the second half, is wonderfully controlled. George Square Thatcher Death Party, making the band’s political views very clear (or simply a well-crafted observation), takes things up a level fusing 80s Poll Tax angst synths and big-hair guitars with thumping drums and robotic vocals. The whole things sounds like Moby collaborating with Jean Michel Jarre on a Ben Elton biopic. But the album’s second highlight is the magnificent How To Be A Werewolf – blending delicate guitar-work with a sublime arrangement. At the halfway point, the music lifts and deepens but never gets too heavy or too complex. A second guitar layer is added to augment the sound, ending in a whirling squealing solo amid the relentless bass-driven percussion.

After a somewhat sedate and upbeat start, Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will ends with two huge grinding guitar-led tracks. Too Raging To Cheers (possibly the most obscure Mogwai song title) is the first of two songs of two halves, all fragile keys, cymbals and exquisite strings in the first and then, after a brilliant mid-point, a lumbering behemoth of an ending. This is a great prelude to closer You’re Lionel Richie (another intriguing title) which again starts as an elegant ambient guitar piece and the best guitars on the album for the first four minutes. A second half pounds and grinds like industrial machinery fighting to be heard over stampeding buffalo in a chainsaw testing factory. A satisfying finale to one of the most varied Mogwai albums. For the chosen few, Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will closes with probably the most ambitious single piece of music Mogwai have made. Music For A Forgotten Future is a twenty-three minute soundtrack for Scottish artist Douglas Gordon, the band’s second after Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait in 2006, and a great addition to the album.

Mogwai continue to do what they do so well and with such consistent superiority not by keeping it simple, that would be belittling the complexity and intricacy of their music, but by having a plan and sticking to it. They know exactly what they want from an album and how to convert thoughts and ideas into great art. Composition is a delicate balance of conception, realisation and execution. The band is getting better with age; more focus, more careful consideration of when to explode and when to settle, and more life to draw upon. Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will is full of floating liberation and freedom one minute and delicious twisted constraint and restriction the next. It is not a complete triumph or a crushing disappointment but instead completes a circle started ten years ago, pulling in all the knowledge and experience and lessons learned from a glorious decade of music.

Brits 2011 - The Winners!

2011-02-16T18:41:00.000Z

An amazing thing happened last night at the Brit awards. Some talented musicians actually won!

First up is the wonderful Laura Marling who won Best British Female against pop-princess Cheryl Cole and radio-favourite Paloma Faith and very much an anti-establishment outsider. An excellent second album I Speak Because I Can is worthy of an award that normally goes to the likes of Amy Winehouse, Dido and Annie Lennox.

Just as surprising is British Album Of The Year which went to Mumford & Sons for Sigh No More (yes, it came out in 2009 but only fifteen months ago so it was still counted). A brilliant album from a wonderful band.

International Group and Album went, unsurprisingly, to Arcade Fire who simply cannot stop winning awards. The Suburbs is still an engaging listen and continues to delight.

Lastly Take That bagged British Group, an award that would have gone to Coldplay or Radiohead if they had been around. Only Mumford & Sons provided any meaningful competition but Robbie and the boys need the publicity.

Those winners in full:

British Male Solo Artist

Mark Ronson
Paul Weller
Plan B
Robert Plant
Tinie Tempah

British Female Solo Artist

Cheryl Cole
Ellie Goulding
Laura Marling
Paloma Faith
Rumer

British Breakthrough Act

Ellie Goulding
Mumford and Sons
Rumer Warner
Tinie Tempah
The XX

British Group

Biffy Clyro
Gorillaz
Mumford and Sons
Take That
The XX

British Single

Alexandra Burke featuring Pitbull - All Night Long
Cheryl Cole - Parachute
Florence and the Machine - You've Got the Love
Matt Cardle - When We Collide
Olly Murs - Please Don't Let Me Go
Plan B - She Said
Scouting for Girls - This Ain't A Love Song
Taio Cruz - Dynamite
Tinie Tempah - Pass Out
The Wanted - All Time Low

British Album of the Year

Mumford and Sons - Sigh No More
Plan B - The Defamation of Strickland Banks
Take That - Progress
Tinie Tempah - Disc-Overy
The XX - XX

International Male Solo Artist

Bruce Springsteen
Cee Lo Green
David Guetta
Eminem
Kanye West

International Female Solo Artist

Alicia Keys
Katy Perry
Kylie Minogue
Rihanna
Robyn

International Breakthrough Act

Bruno Mars
Glee Cast
Justin Bieber
The National
The Temper Trap

International Group

Arcade Fire
Black Eyed Peas
Kings of Leon
The Script
Vampire Weekend

International Album

Arcade Fire - The Suburbs
Cee Lo Green - The Lady Killer
Eminem - Recovery
Katy Perry - Teenage Dream
Kings of Leon - Come Around Sundown

British Producer

Ethan Johns
John Leckie
Markus Dravs
Mike Pela
Stuart Price

Moby - new album and book Destroyed

2011-02-15T20:42:00.000Z

Moby has announced a new album out this year (May 17th) with a book of photographs. The project is called Destroyed. Read about it on Altsounds.

Death Cab For Cutie - Codes and Keys announced

2011-02-15T19:22:00.000Z

Death Cab For Cutie will release new album Codes and Keys this year on May 31st. The album is produced by Alan Moulder (Nine Inch Nails, The Jesus And Mary Chain, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs etc) and Ben Gibbard has described Codes and Keys as 'a much less guitar-centric album'. Hopefully this will live up to the magnificence of Plans after the hit-and-miss Narrow Stairs.

Can't wait.

BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards

2011-02-13T13:09:00.000Z

Congratulations to Eliza Carthy, Norma Waterson, Chris Wood and Bellowhead who all won at the recent BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. Veteran Donovan was also given the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award. The daughter and mother pair of Carthy and Waterson won best album for Gift and traditional song Poor Wayfaring Stranger. Chris Wood won for song Hollow Point from the brilliant Handmade Life, and he is also Folk Singer Of The Year.

Bellowhead were best group and best live act, surprisingly beating the wonderful Unthanks. Bizarrely two of the best folk singers making music today, Kate Rusby and Laura Marling have been woefully overlooked. Why Rusby's Make The Light wasn't even nominated I will never know. Likewise, while not rooted in the same folk traditions, Marling was nominated for Rambling Man but not her exceptional second album I Speak Because I Can. Proof that those on the edges of tradition are still not traditional enough.

All the details are here.

The Joy Formidable - The Big Roar Album Review (2011)

2011-02-08T21:47:00.000Z

A debut album from an exciting new British band is always cause for celebration and the Welsh trio of The Joy Formidable certainly are no exception. With just one EP and a handful of singles behind them, at last they release The Big Roar, a ‘proper’ album that is brimming with creativity, energy and ideas. Taking the best of the band’s early singles and the foundations of their first EP: A Balloon Called Moaning, The Big Roar is the perfect follow-up.

From the outset it is clear that nothing is ever predictable with The Joy Formidable. The Big Roar opens, as you would expect, with a perfect closer. Maybe the band did not want to kick off with the same song that opens their former EP, the next obvious choice for first song. So The Everchanging Spectrum of A Lie begins with a curious collection of bangs as balloons are puffed and then popped, before the swirling guitars of the intro come shimmering and gliding into life. Then the gorgeous tones of lead vocalist Ritzy Bryan bring the whole sound to life. At the three-minute point, the rambling chorus brings in an almighty crash of drums into a sedate multi-layered vocal mid-section before the final three minutes of churning guitars and percussion. Seven minutes and forty-five seconds of thrilling pulsating brilliance.

At their best The Joy Formidable echo the raw pop of early Feeder, combining unrestrained power with uplifting melody. The Magnifying Glass is a perfect example of this: punchy, direct, guitar-driven and relentless from start to finish. I Don’t Want To See You Like This opens up into more expansive territory, still with the driving guitar-work and thundering drums but with Bryan showing just about every style of vocal: sultry one minute, then operatic, and powerfully gritty the next. And early single Austere, with odd vocal backing and buzzing guitar riffs holds the same presence. The last minute is a breath-taking concoction of sound.

A Heavy Abacus is a delicious combination of Bjork and fellow Welsh giants Lostprophets at their melodic best. Easily the highlight in the first half, this soars and glides with enthralling exuberance into another early single Whirring. The twin songs are perfectly aligned, the former an ideal introduction to the latter. A great musical interlude at the mid-point is a calming minute before a twisted darkness descends and a new world of prog-grunge is born. Guitars frame the machine-gun drums into a riotous finish. As fallout of this, the slower dreamy start-stop psychedelic Buoy forms a wonderful trio in the middle of the album. Superb.

Maruyama is the short trippy gothic intro to brilliant pop single Cradle, another rampant slice of noise-pop, before Llaw=Wall. The only song fronted by bassist Rhydian Dafydd shows more versatility at ever opportunity. The final three songs on The Big Roar could be a compilation of three different bands with different sounds but the same ideals as Chapter 2 is post-grunge punk meets early Brit-pop. Closer The Greatest Light Is The Greatest Shade, the album’s third ‘epic’, from buzzing guitar intro to circling vocal outro, is an astonishing five minutes of textured layered noise around a beautiful vocal centre.

If you are a fan of The Joy Formidable from the ‘early days’ then you may, after a first listen, feel cheated by The Big Roar. The album contains three out of four previous singles (only Popinjay is omitted) and the best songs from A Balloon Called Moaning. So even though fewer than half the songs have been released before, much of The Big Roar sounds very familiar. That said, at just shy of fifty minutes, there is plenty of new material and the ‘old’ blends perfectly with the new to create something fresh, vibrant and interesting. The Joy Formidable is a breath of fresh air in a stagnant world. It is rare these days to find a new band sounding so full of musical expression and knowing exactly how to express it.

Gary Moore RIP

2011-02-06T19:06:00.000Z

Just heard Gary Moore has died, aged 58. Although I wasn't a huge fan, he was an expressive and engaging guitarist. Here is a youtube video of my favourite Moore moments. RIP.

The White Stripes 1997-2011

2011-02-02T20:14:00.000Z

The White Stripes, aka Jack White and Meg White have announced they are no more. Six albums and two side-project bands for Jack White (The Raconteurs and The Dead Weather) see an end to a musical legacy that breathed a breath of fresh air into raw guitar-rock. The band denied any musical differences and health issues and quoted "a myriad of reasons ... mostly to preserve what is beautiful and special about the band".

Thea Gilmore - Angels In The Abattoir (January 2011)

2011-02-01T17:28:00.000Z

A new song for the new year from Thea Gilmore to all her lovely Angels In The Abattoir. This month is the American Presidential Election inspired Inch By Inch. Written on the eve of Obama's historic win and seeing Thea on an honest political stance - something she does perfectly but sadly not too often in recent years. The vocals, particularly in the second half show amazing range and depth. Great writing as always.

Like much of the music provided by Thea at part of the Angels In The Abattoir, the songs feel like they would benefit from just a few more hours work, a bit more production and a better mix. The songs, for the most part, are great but lack a certain album-quality polish. That said, the raw nature of the vocals and stark unmanaged piano and guitar accompaniment is brilliant and effective when required. And this is one of those times.

2011 Music Chart - January

2011-01-31T17:51:00.000Z

A new chart for a new year and a new month. January has been a slow start but three good albums to kick off. On opposite sides of the emotion fence, the second album from London's White Lies and a the more sunny disposition of New Zealand's The Phoenix Foundation. Also right at the start of the year, and technically an album from 2010, Warpaint's The Fool heads the trio.

The Fool by Warpaint
Buffalo by The Phoenix Foundation
Ritual by White Lies

Looking forward to the next few months.

John Barry RIP

2011-01-31T17:35:00.000Z

John Barry RIP 1933-2011

John Barry, the multi-award winning film composer, has died aged 77. Best know for his Bond soundtracks including Diamonds Are Forever, You Only Live Twice and Goldfinger, he also write the scores for Born Free, Midnight Cowboy and Out of Africa. Barry won 5 Oscars for his music and a Bafta Fellowship in 2005. A true genius.

The BBC website obituary.

The Phoenix Foundation - Buffalo Album Review (2011)

2011-01-29T15:23:00.000Z

The Phoenix Foundation, a six-piece from New Zealand, makes the kind of music that is perfect for a lazy summer afternoon. So it is strange that they chose a January date for a UK release; when the sun is shining the band’s hometown of Wellington, the grim gloomy cold winter grinds on in the UK. Fronted by Samuel Scott and Luke Buda, The Phoenix Foundation’s fourth album (not counting the two soundtrack albums credited to them) Buffalo, for the most part, builds perfectly upon 2007’s Happy Ending.

From the outset, Buffalo is a pleasing luxurious ride through a consciousness of stories and ideas. There are few obvious themes, people or direct references and the album is blended together into a continuous holiday, cruising the waves, stopping off to walk on white sands and pick fruit from exotic trees, and it does this through textures and sublime emotive song writing. Opener Eventually sets things off perfectly and immediately conjures images of sun-kissed waters in a sleepy harbour: “ships are yawning in their moorings…’. And on the title track, we dive into the warm waters to swim amongst the wildlife: “I’m on the sea floor…Through the ocean I do roam’. The pace builds in the second half, whirling guitars and more frantic earnest vocals right to the end.

But Flock of Hearts and Pot are easily the highlights of the first half. The former blends slick guitar-work with tinkling xylophonic keys and crooning vocals. It is one of many times the album shows signs of late Blur, when Albarn had one eye, and ear, on his future project Gorrilaz. Again the song writing is superb. Lines such as “falling asleep at the wheel of fortune’ sit effortlessly with the buzzing guitar-break. In come the handclaps for the mumbling, often wordless, vocals of Pot (a recent UK single release) that moves slowly into a swirling mass of instrumentation and electronics for the close.

In the second half, Bailey’s Beach is a sleek stylish Richard Hawley style ballad complete with stylophone-esque keyboards and delicious vocal harmonies. Wonton is more brilliance with a rolling electronic piano melody and a hedonistic theme: “It’s what you want on top of everything else you’ve got…Until your heart stops…”. And it is the closer Golden Ships, the slow dreamy arrangement and more harmonies leading into a superb outro, that steals the show. The phrase: “… fill our veins with syrup of the stars” summing things up perfectly and exquisitely completing the trip (pun intended).

If there is a downside to Buffalo it is that the things that make the rest of the album great, the music that simply glides from the record, are replaced by a misplaced trilogy at the centre. Bitte Bitte is a poor Anglo-German pun with odd hard-edged vocals and an annoying chorus. Skeleton is the album’s weakest song and completely devoid of the lyrics that are such a tour-de-force elsewhere (coupling burning with yeaning for instance). And Orange & Mango lays on the kooky charm a little too much but recovers in the second half, in spite of “…I ate the walrus… I ate ancient Grecian chorus” dropping into the mix, to deliver a wonderful looping instrumental finale. But these are minor discretions as even at their most weird The Phoenix Foundation come up with the goods.

So Buffalo is not a complete triumph but it is the sound of a band – in spite of replacing a band member during recording – making music as a coherent cohesive unit, all pulling in the same direction. The album is often evocative and stirring and the slightly loose mid-point aside, The Phoenix Foundation prove yet again that indie-pop can be liberated, exert freedom and remain accessible. And backing up the album’s release with a European tour, The Phoenix Foundation is bringing a thick slice of Kiwi sun to an otherwise gloomy world.

White Lies - Ritual Album Review (2011)

2011-01-26T20:52:00.000Z

There is nothing worse than a band being pigeon-holed. But every time you read an article, feature or review about London’s White Lies, the name Joy Division is never far away. Thankfully they have shrugged off these shackles with a new, more dynamic sound; and the same label is often added to bands that embrace the darker side of life. The trio quickly followed-up success in the BBC Sound of 2009 with a tremendous début album: To Lose My Life, backed up by solid singles, the ‘best new band’ at the Q Awards and fine festival appearances. Two years later a second album: Ritual is the result of building on this work.

As you would expect, Ritual continues the band’s obsession with the macabre and the twisted. Front man Harry McVeigh still has the perfect voice for this and his vocal has definitely matured on the second coming. If anything, the themes have become darker mainly thanks to the ambiguous references and metaphors littered throughout the songs; it is less obvious, adding to the intrigue – and in between the gloom and doom is real hope, or at least a hope of hope. But it is musically that White Lies have really improved, and combined with producer Alan Moulder, a fuller, deeper and more intricate sound helps the compositions rise above normality. In come electronic arrangements, 80s bass loops and layered synths transforming Ritual into early New Order or Depeche Mode, rather than the morbid depression of Ian Curtis.

With the exception of opener Is Love – from ominous start building into a vibrant combination of distinctive vocals, electro-dance, 70s wakka-wakka guitars and big beats – Ritual is built from shaky foundations. Strangers takes an age to get to a chorus that fails to pack a punch and only the last minute provides a lift. Likewise Bigger Than Us is a bizarre dual-paced verse-chorus-verse format that quickly gets repetitive. And the laboured Streetlights is one of few songs to suffer from trite lyrics: “Where I’m going I couldn’t care. I’m bored, I’m afraid, I’m falling like rain for you”. White Lies can do much better than this.

Thankfully it’s not all bad news. The brilliant Peace & Quiet is the first real sign that White Lies have moved on in a good way. A slow build-up leads into a gorgeous vocal blend complete with layered harmonies then a slick slice of pulsing bass. McVeigh croons: “I lay like a carcass, your lips never letting the blood dry”. The second half is swathed in strings before slow echo, an explosive outro and finally descending into post-radiation fizz. Holy Ghost is another wonderful swirl of rampant ideas, hard and dark as prostitution meets religion head on. The last minute is mesmerising.

Ritual moves into top gear in the second half with the impressive Turn The Bells, a bleak apocalyptic war zone of textures: “…Protectors unveiled for the first time in months…” and “You find best friends and we’ll hold each other” is excellent storytelling. The Power & The Glory continues the brilliant instrumentation, building vocally around a central theme formed within a simple idea. Moving past the out-dated and clunky lyrics of Bad Love, closer Come Down is the big emotional ballad – what it lacks in melody it makes up for with thoughtful emotion.

So ultimately Ritual is a fine effort packed with ideas and variation – all within a strict formula. Production, as you would expect from Moulder, is perfectly balanced with the strengths exploited and weaknesses (mostly) hidden; nothing is over-used or under-played. That said, the quality of the songs is a big weakness. Sometimes Ritual sounds huge but really isn’t; never style over substance or thinly veiled, and the weak parts are unashamedly on display – a problem as the band and the album has so many positives. McVeigh, Cave and Brown weave characters and stories together into a spellbinding concoction that compliments the real world of oppressive, gloomy post-new year winter recession.

The Kills new album - Blood Pressures

2011-01-23T11:17:00.000Z

Alison Mosshart and Jamie Hince, aka the Kills release new album Blood Pressures on 4th April 2011. The track listing for the album is:

'Future Starts Slow'
'Satellite'
'Heart Is A Beating Drum'
'Nail In My Coffin'
'Wild Charms'
'DNA'
'Baby Says'
'Last Goodbye'
'Damned If She Do'
'You Don't Own The Road'
'Pots And Pans'

Bruce Springsteen - Darkness On The Edge Of Town and The Promise

2011-01-19T22:19:00.000Z

I have never been a huge Bruce Springsteen fan. That said, there is always one musician or band that makes one brilliant album. For me this album is Darkness On The Edge Of Town. Made in 1978, Springsteen’s fourth studio album is a masterpiece and, as a body of work, one he has never bettered. Yes, he has written great songs since, but only the more recent Devils & Dust has captured the same brilliance on a single coherent consistent collection. The two albums share a common theme. Springsteen, in spite of his commercial success and world-wide fame, all his record sales, huge stadium gigs and god-like status, has always held a metaphorical torch for the ‘common’ man. It would be easy to say that he has never lost touch of his working class roots but this is a theme that is revisited time after time in his music. And a perfect example of this is Darkness On The Edge of Town.

Recently Springsteen has now released a new box-set and companion album: The Promise and, along with a documentary describing the way in which the album was conceived, nurtured, worked, reworked, argued and finally realised, we now get a fascinating insight into the years surrounding the making of the album, the tracks that never made it and the people involved. At the time Springsteen was in a legal battle with producer Mike Appel but his appetite for song writing and music did not waver. He continued to write song after song and The Promise shows the problem that he and The E Street Band faced. Only ten songs made it onto the final album and The Promise is over twenty, including some that became famous hits for other musicians.

During the making of this music, Springsteen described everyone who played key parts as producers. Even though Jon Landau is named as the sole producer on the album, with E Street Band member Steve Van Zandt as assistant, production is more than just sitting in the studio and saying what is working and what is not. It is taking part. It is decision-making, arguments, debates, late-night jam sessions, ideas, commitment and involvement. Maybe it is just American culture, most prevalent in television, that there should be six cast-members and eight hundred producers. However you read it, this is a great compliment to all involved. Credit is also due to Chuck Plotkin, at the time a recording engineer who was drafted in to mix Darkness On The Edge Of Town. He did an incredible job and the sound is balanced and controlled.

The reason I like Darkness On The Edge Of Town is because it is different from Springsteen’s other albums. This may sound odd but it often happens. Blood On The Tracks, for example, is the only Dylan album I really like. It captures exactly what Dylan was trying to achieve in music. On one album. Early in Springsteen’s career, and most notably on one of his best-known albums Born To Run, he strived for the ‘big’ sound. At the time of its release, Springsteen was already being mentioned in the same breath as Dylan. He is reported to have described his approach for the album as wanting to sound like Roy Orbison singing Dylan as produced by Phil Spector. He certainly achieved this in terms of sound and personnel involved. But for me, even though there are moments of brilliance (Thunder Road, Jungleland and Born To Run – the latter is an example of how to make a perfect four minute pop song), there is too much packed into the eight songs. Not that his spirit was missing; the message is just not clear. To sum it up, I like The Ghost Of Tom Joad more than The Rising – even though they are both perfectly fine albums. I’ll take the intimate close poetry of the aforementioned Devils & Dust over the anthemic rock of Born In The USA every time. On Darkness On The Edge Of Town, even the mighty Streets Of Fire is made to sound like a delicate piano and guitar ballad.

In the years that followed this initial success, Springsteen was becoming a proficient songwriter. When it came to put Darkness On The Edge Of Town together, there were plenty of arguments, not just about the songs that were on the album, but deciding what was left out. This, for me, is the album’s brilliance. There was a clear vision, and that was to ask more questions than give answers. As the documentary explains, and as knowledge and familiarity with the album shows, this is the sound of a man questioning the world around him and his very existence. And people have said there is a noticeable absence of love songs. Badlands, Racing In the Street, The Promised Land, Factory and Prove It All Night are all great love songs – as they show, love takes many forms. But they all question the fabric of life: Society, Friendship, Work, God and Obsession. Recurring themes fill the songs – night and dark, driving and racing, working and dreaming – this is small-town American life on the big stage. And even though Springsteen sings each in the first person he often pulls in abstract nameless enemies as the hero’s antagonists.

So what makes Darkness On The Edge Of Town amazing is further revealed on the companion album The Promise. In other words, what is not on the album. Famously the two big omissions are Because The Night and Fire (this is possibly where the ‘no love songs’ line came from, as these are two obvious tracks that fit the tag). The album’s name is taken from ‘the best Springsteen song never released’ which would have fitted in fine among the other songs – remember this was the days of vinyl and limited recording space. But the first thing you notice The Promise is that much of it is trying too hard to sound like Born To Run. The songs that do not made it onto Springsteen’s next album The River. This shows the breadth and depth of the music and creativity at the time.