Charlie Simpson - Young Pilgrim Album Review (2011)

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

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)

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

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.

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

Pearl Jam Twenty Trailer

New song from Laura Marling - Sophia

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

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

Thanks to The 405.

Mercury Prize 2011

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

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.

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

Thea Gilmore - Angels In The Abattoir (June 2011)

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

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

Clarence Clemons RIP

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

Get the new song from The Subways here:

Fountains of Wayne - new album and Rolling Stone interview

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

Read it here.

The National video contest

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

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)

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

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

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.