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Arcade Fire Make A Fool Out Of Themselves On Jonathan Ross July 4, 2007

Posted by blanathema in Arcade Fire, Bands, Music, Videos, Youtube.
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If I’m not going out, I often sit down and watch Friday Night with Jonathan Ross on…a Friday evening, no less. Last week, after coming in towards the end of the program, I stuck around to watch the end, having heard that the evening’s music would be provided by Arcade Fire. I thoroughly enjoyed their recent album, Neon Bible and am still listening to it fairly often; it’s one of the most flowing and atmospheric albums I’ve bought for a very long time.

As I expected they would, the band played Keep The Car Running but what I didn’t expect was for Win Butler, the band’s lead singer, to storm off the set, only after smashing a camera in front of the stage with his mandolin. Now, I don’t know whether this was planned or not, though I would suspect it was a spur-of-the-moment thing, but it really did ruin the whole performance for me. I actually had a stupid idea that Arcade Fire were a talented and respectable band, far above any obvious publicity stunts that some other band members may feel obliged to take part in just to boost their ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll status’. Sadly, Win Butler proved me wrong last Friday and I think it was a real shame.

So, here’s the video below, if you didn’t catch it. I strongly recommend you watch the whole video as it is a stunning live performance, only to be thrown out the window by his little stunt at the end. I’d love to know if there was any reasoning behind it or whether Jonathan Ross had genuinely said/done something offensive, as he is prone to do on his Friday night show. If not, I’m unlikely to look at the man in the same way again.

B.

 

Another Crack Of The Whip July 4, 2007

Posted by blanathema in Bands, Manchester, Music, Singles.
2 comments

You may remember that I mentioned the Whip a couple of times in the past few months and they’re fast becoming one of my favourite local bands (not that I’m really familiar with all that many). The first track I came across from them was Trash, a thundering (much like the current weather, actually) track that built up into a bass-led combination of synths and a more indie-sound with a snarling single vocal line of “I wanna be trash!“. Sounds a bit odd, I agree, but it was a much played track on my iPod for quite some time. Then, shortly after, I found Frustration, a track that is slightly slower and ironically not quite as ‘frustrated‘ as the other single.

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Of course, with all this excitement about two amazing singles, I eagerly went out to buy the band’s third single, Muzzle No.1. Now, this track has since become my definite favourite by the band and I’m doubtful as to whether they’ll ever to be able to beat such an incredible track. Still, I was desperate to see what they came up with next. The 12″ single of Muzzle No.1 did come with an awesome remix by the Black Ghosts - another band I’ve been loving a lot recently and spoke about in a previous post - but this was hardly enough to keep my appetite going for much longer. Thankfully, the Whip, Manchester’s finest electro-poppy-rocky-dancey-thingy band has come up with the goods and delivered single number 4, Divebomb, via super-cool French label, Kitsune.

True, it’s a little bit different from the previous singles and a bit more synth-heavy than before but I still love it. There are also no vocals present but this doesn’t make it at all dull and those 5 and a half minutes don’t seem half as long as some of the more dull moments of the Chemical Brothers’ new album. After all, those screaming, high-pitched keyboards might as well be vocals with such a prominent place in the song. They could just as easily be distorted, barely-recognizable lyrics, as is the case with Battles’ recent single, Atlas (a band whose album I’ve been meaning to get).

The Kitsune 12″ single also comes with a Crystal Castles Remix of Divebomb and although it’s not quite as good as the Black Ghosts remix of Muzzle No.1, it’s certainly nothing boring and is very deserving of its position on the single. I now seem to have built up a little bank of singles and remixes by the band and am really hoping that they get round to releasing a full-length album sometime soon.

So, if you’ve not already, make sure you take a listen to the Whip’s new single, Divebomb, as well as all three of their previous singles, on the band’s myspace page (link at bottom of page). I’ll no doubt keep you posted on any more little gems coming out of this band’s studio and will be praying for that album some time this year. In the mean time, I’ve got some more Manchester-based music coming at you tomorrow (hopefully) with a full review of a brilliant new discovery of mine.

Link - The Whip - Myspace Page

While we’re at it, here’s the great new video for Divebomb:

B.

The Chemical Brothers Never Stop….And No One’s Stopping July 3, 2007

Posted by blanathema in Bands, Music, New Releases.
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It is a sad thing seeing a band you love fall to pieces; whether they’re breaking up or just starting to release poor quality albums it’s not a pleasant experience. Sadly, it seems as though the Chemical Brothers are moving in that direction, albeit not as quick as some other artists have done in recent years. Their sixth studio album, ‘We Are The Night’ was released yesterday and I was, unfortunately, expecting good things from it. My expectations, though, were not met yesterday when I got home to listen to the album in its entirety.

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You may, from that first paragraph, get the wrong impression, though. The Chemical Brothers have certainly not crashed and burned, with an album that cleverly manages to span the entire breadth of their career, it still has its fair share of highlights. Title-track, We Are The Night opens the album promisingly with a psychedelic groove that’s been missing from some of their more recent tracks. Sadly, it falls victim to repetitiveness on a few too many occasions and would be ten times better if cut a couple of minutes shorter. Overstretching, it seems, is a common curse on this album; whereas most bands go for a 20-30 second introduction, if at all, No Path To Follow is over a minute long and slightly tiring in itself before the album has even begun.

The Chemical Brothers have also enlisted the help of a variety of artists to try and spice up the album. In fact, it is these very collaborations where the album becomes positively average. All Rights Reversed, though, is an exception to this. The input of Klaxons is probably what makes it great, with some of those backing vocals that could have been taken straight from Golden Skans. For me, I think that along with A Modern Midnight Conversation, this is the album’s peak and it’s just a shame there aren’t a few more like it. The latter being another one of the album’s most psychedelic points, reaching back to the early days of the Chemical Brothers before they began this slow descent.

That, it would seem, is a major killing point for this album and the Chemical Brothers as a whole; they’ve previously reached such great heights that it makes revisiting the glory days of circa Dig Your Own Hole is all the more difficult. Compared to the early releases, ‘We Are The Night’ fails to spark off the same energy and excitement. It has its moments, including that of lead single Do It Again (which has a rubbish video, by the way), but other songs just crawl along, never really reaching that climax as with such classics as Block Rockin’ Beats and Hey Boy Hey Girl. To be honest, I don’t know what the guys were thinking when they came up with The Salmon Dance (Feat. Fatlip). It’s funny the first couple of times then you suddenly think, “Oh my God, they’ve actually put this on the album. It’s not a joke!”

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Overall, the Chemical Brothers have not quite pushed themselves right off the cliff with a disastrous album but ‘We Are The Night’ lacks that special quality to make it a classic. On the other hand, it is probably better than both ‘Push The Button’ and ‘Come With Us’, this one having more of a sentiment for the older stuff. Despite a few rogue elements (see: The Salmon Dance) ‘We Are The Night’ proves that the Chemical Brothers haven’t quite given up just yet.

B.

Audio Sample: A Modern Midnight Conversation - The Chemical Brothers

Album Rating: 6.5/10

Irrational Dosage Of Furious Static Erasing What You Are June 28, 2007

Posted by blanathema in Bands, Music, New Releases.
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I am indeed very sorry about going all ‘weekly’ on you here but there isn’t even a decent excuse for it; I’ve just been busy wasting my time in other ways, enjoying a bit of time off working, really. Exams are all over and there’ll be no hard work now until at least September.

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So, on to another one of those albums I mentioned. This one is the new album from Queens of the Stone Age, ‘Era Vulgaris’, one that has been widely praised all over the place and I can safely say that I’m hardly going to go and change that. Of course, it’s very good, don’t get me wrong, but this is not really a massive leap into the unknown for Queens of the Stone Age. ‘Era Vulgaris’ is another album filled with squelchy, screaming guitars and massive riffs that are enough to blow your roof off. And guess what? It’s just what we wanted.

The album begins with Turnin’ On The Screw, at track with an opening that suggests the next 5 minutes 17 seconds are going to be very long ones. It soon proves you wrong, though; did you expect any less? The main guitar riff is there in all its glory but is obscured by layer after layer of other ‘noise’, making that whole song a slightly disturbing yet enjoyable affair. After that track, though, comes first single from the album, Sick, Sick, Sick. One wonders how such a dull, monotonous tune could sound so amazing but I promise that after one or two listens you’ll understand that the best thing about it is you CAN’T understand what’s going on. The hammering, one-chord guitar continues throughout, only relenting to a couple of time throughout to make room for a slightly varying tone. All this fury hides behind it some barely audible lyrics from both Josh Homme and Strokes front man, Julian Casablancas.

Even though most tracks feature the music played much louder than the lyrics, they’re not just there as another kind of ‘instrument’. Listen carefully or get out that CD insert and you’ll hear some genuinely great lyrics. Sharp, witty and very often dirty they’re packed full of one-liners that you just wish you could think of yourself.

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Other album high points are Make It Wit Chu, 3’s & 7’s (a sure-fire single to follow Sick, Sick, Sick) and Battery Acid. I swear the amount of energy on that last track, Battery Acid, is enough to knock down skyscrapers. There’s something about it, not unlike some of the other tracks on ‘Era Vulgaris’, that makes me want to scream as loud as I can and destroy stuff! It’s simply amazing the way that slow, warped, broken-tape-esque intro suddenly bursts into the albums most powerful track.

It’s not all hammering riffs built for the purpose of demolishing buildings, though, as ‘Era Vulgaris’ has its slower sides. When I say that, there is much emphasis on the -er part of the word. Whilst the funky Make It Wit Chu is a brilliant track and album highlight, the album closer, Running Joke gets a little tiring. Despite having some of my favourite lyrics and that lovely “Just look at you now” section, the rest of the song is pretty dull and would have been much better left off in place of the UK bonus track, Era Vulgaris, featuring Trent Reznor. As well as that, River In The Road and Run, Pig, Run start to feel as if you’re approaching the end of the album. It’s never a good sign when you can feel the end coming; the best albums surprise you by finishing in their peak and leaving you wanting more. By the end of Run, Pig, Run, though, you feel like listening to something gentler.

Perhaps that’s the whole thing with ‘Era Vulgaris’, even Queens of the Stone Age in general; they spend the duration of the album ripping your ear drums to pieces and showing you a good time but by the end of the listen you’re feeling a little dry. The most part of the album, though, is brilliant, showing very few weak spots and some of the most energetic songs of the year so far. I’ve listened to it a fair few times now and although I worried it might be a formula with a fairly short shelf-life I’m still listening. In fact, I’ve got 3’s & 7’s blasting out as I write this.

By the way, it’s got an awesome cover, if that’s not enough alone.

B.

Album Rating: 8/10

I Ain’t No Abacus But You Can Count On Me June 25, 2007

Posted by blanathema in Music, New Releases.
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Ok, so I’m getting very behind on the old album reviews but I’m sure I’ll eventually catch up. This is another album that I bought fairly recently, even though it was released back at the beginning of the year. I considered scrapping a post about this because it has got very late now but I decided to go ahead with it in the end, just because it really is such a fantastic album. The whole ‘rating’ system I’ve been employing recently on this site has indeed become pretty meaningless as I am so low on cash that I make sure an album is going to be enjoyable before I go out and buy it. Still, I’ll crack on with it regardless and will possibly find a really bad album that I can at least put into perspective compared to the rest of the albums I’ve mentioned since the year’s first album review, ‘The Good, The Bad and The Queen’.

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Jamie T, the London-born singer-songwriter whose debut album, ‘Panic Prevention’ landed with us back at the end of January this year, has put out a brilliantly creative and influenced record. By that, I mean it would be very hard to place where a lot of his tunes ‘come from’. There are elements of your average indie band, joined by heavy dollops of reggae, rap and many other musical styles. I have to admit that it’s a little different to some other stuff so did take a little getting used to; I originally hated the single, Calm Down Dearest when I heard it on the radio but have now grown to love it. Brand New Bass Guitar, the opening track, is a raw, scraping demonstration of his style whereas Salvador, the following track, is a much softer piece. In addition to this, I’m under the impression that he’d be very good live; I watched bits of Glastonbury festival this weekend on TV and saw Jamie T playing a fantastic, much more energetic version of Brand New Bass Guitar.

He’s got through a fair few singles since he first popped up on people’s radar last year, with the fantastic Sheila just recently being re-released in the UK. These singles are very good, each and every one of them as strong as the last, but there’s much more to the album than this. My personal favourite track is Operation. It has several different stages to it, constantly changing and keeping you hooked all the way through. Despite pushing on six minutes in length, the track passes by in a flash and I’ve often found myself with it on repeat for long periods of time.

I suppose the end of the album is not quite as strong as the beginning, with the big exception of If You Got the Money, the album’s penultimate track. It’s an absolute storming track and really goes well with that reggae-influenced beat carrying the song through. Alicia Quays, on the other hand, does seem to drag a bit and is not the most fitting ending to such a superb album. Even in this song, though, Jamie’s lyrics are spot on and even just being read from a page they hold a certain special quality, often being very clever and interesting. On songs like Back in the Game, as well, it’s the lyrics alone that keep you listening. This one specific track has very little in the way of music and yet you still find yourself listening intently from start to finish.

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That, it seems, is what makes this album such a fascinating listen time after time. It stays fresh as the day you bought it for many weeks afterwards and there’s nothing to get tired of. Some of the most superb, witty and clever lyrics I’ve heard for a while are hidden away on this album in all their raw, stripped-down glory. Jamie T’s free-for-all approach to his depiction of British youth lifestyles bring the album to life; from the plane, story-telling brilliance of Sheila to the fun, reggae beats of If You Got The Money, this album really is exciting. If you’ve managed to be even slower than me, make sure you buy it.

B.

Album Rating: 8.5/10

My Glastonbury Envy June 20, 2007

Posted by blanathema in Live Music, Music.
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After that enormous review I did on Monday, I thought I’d have a little break from writing quite so much. I still have a whole stack of new albums that I want to talk to and as soon as I get chance to mention one, there’s already another new one to add to the list. I got the new White Stripes album yesterday and also the Queens of the Stone Age album, ‘Era Vulgaris’, sometime last week. Add to that a whole stack of other albums released this year that I’ve recently bought and it becomes a bit of daunting task. I’m not going to force myself to sit here and write reams every evening; after all, it’s not a job, I’m doing this for enjoyment. Instead, I thought I’d save that for another day.

Of course, if I’d been a little more successful in my attempts to buy a Glastonbury ticket the other month, I would be missing several days of posting to make room for a incredibly fun experience. Unfortunately, I didn’t manage to get a ticket so I was forced to watch my friends heading off in the car this morning, on their way down to Glastonbury without me. They’ve also insisted in spending the past few weeks taunting me about the bands I’m going to miss, amongst so many other things. Instead, I will have the next few days sitting through very boring lessons, thinking about what I’ve missed.

It’s not the end of the world, though, as I’ll make damn sure that next year I get to go to my first festival and make sure it’s a good one, too. In my absence, I booked tickets to see Bloc Party at the recently renamed GMEX in Manchester. Sadly, they’re being supported by the Cribs, a band that I really, really, REALLY can’t stand and one that I shall try my best to miss. Unlucky for me, then, that it’s general admission so we need to get their band on time to have a chance at a decent place to stand.

As I said, I’ll get round to some of those album reviews in the near future but until then, I may interrupt them with some shorter, slightly easier posts. I do have a lot on at the moment, after all.

B.

Muse: Wembley Stadium, 16/06/07 - It Really WAS The Best Concert I’ll Ever See June 18, 2007

Posted by blanathema in Bands, Live Music, Muse, Music.
16 comments

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You may have noticed that the last three posts on my blog have been about Muse and I apologize to any one who’s not a fan but to be honest, they deserve it. After looking forward to Saturday evening for so long, it seems as if it whizzed by in a blur but, I must add, it was an incredible blur of brilliant music. There was not one part of the performance that I found to be disappointing and given that this was the first time I’d seen Muse live, they had an enormous reputation to live up to. Thankfully, they more than lived up to their reputation as one of the Planet’s best live bands and I only wish I could have been there for the second night to watch it all over again.

The whole idea of a ‘review’ would be to pick out the good and bad parts of a show and say what it was that made it special (or not). With Saturday’s concert, though, that is going to prove a very difficult thing to do. As I said, everything there was perfect. The songs were performed fantastically and sounded a million times better than the album versions do. I’ll do my best, though, to explain why it was truly one of the most exciting things I have ever witnessed.

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Never ones for playing things down, Muse decided to make a grand entrance via the centre of the stadium. In a burst of confetti, the three appeared from what appeared to be a lighting tent in the middle of the pitch. Standing back to back, the let the confetti clear to reveal themselves and then headed down the runway up towards a stage, piled high with various space-themed props, complete with six glass satellites pointing out of the roof and several, giant, inflated balls in the empty seating area behind the stage. We all had a good idea what was going to be played first and this was proved to be right, with the band launching right into Knights of Cydonia to much enthusiasm from the crowd. To see why, just watch the video below of the crowd’s reaction to their epic, 70s-style rock anthem. The lyrics to the “No one is going to take me alive!” section were flashed, word-by-word, onto the screen behind them before the song arrived at its ultimate finale. The stadium seemed to lift off the ground as that riff exploded forth from the stage.

I’ll not go through each and every song they played, that would take me days and you could always look at the setlist I included in the last post. Instead, I’ll just run through some of the highlights, even though every damn song was a highlight.

After Knights of Cydonia, Muse tore their way through some of the more well-known singles such as Hysteria and Supermassive Black Hole. It was nice to see, though, that because of the length of the set, they were not restricted to just cramming in the big hits. Some of those big, epic tracks from ‘Origin of Symmetry’ made their way into the show, too, with Citizen Erased and Micro Cuts both making a rare appearance. The only thing that could have topped this off would have been Darkshines, possibly my favourite ever Muse song. Still, we can’t have everything, can we?

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The screens behind the band on stage were used well, sometimes being used to show distorted images of the group playing and at other times being used to display animation sequences. For example, Feeling Good was played to the backdrops of a beautiful countryside landscape whilst Supermassive Black Hole had a procession of dancing robots. All this was very good but the fun started at the end of the main set, with New Born being the final song. The previously mentioned glass satellites positioned across the stage suddenly burst into life, moving to project searchlight beams out of the stadium roof before slowly moving downwards to scan their way through the audience. It had a brilliant effect and worked amazingly with New Born.

After coming back on for the first of two encores, the band stepped the pace down a bit and played some of their slower, more relaxed songs. Soldier’s Poem, the song that has an unmistakable similarity to Everybody Hurts by R.E.M. was followed by Unintended and Blackout. The former was absolutely beautiful, especially when played to a crowd of 90 000 holding their lit-up mobile phones aloft. It was at some point during these two songs that the much-talked-about acrobats emerged from alongside the stage, suspended on wires from two of the large inflated balls that rested behind the set up to this point; once again, it worked brilliantly with the chosen songs. After a quick tour round the stadium, though, the acrobats headed back to where they came from before a load of giant balloons, each filled with confetti, was released from the stage to mark the final song of this first encore, Plug In Baby.

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By this point, we had unfortunately reached the final three songs of the concert. Whilst I was privately hoping the second encore to open with Bliss or Muscle Museum we got something much, much better; Micro Cuts. I never expected to hear this spectacular song played live and thank God I did. It really was amazing and probably one of the best bits of the evening. Micro Cuts was followed by Stockholm Syndrome and, as I’d been told would be last, Take A Bow. Despite the predictability, it really is a fantastic finale to such an amazing concert. Finally, after Matt taking a bow himself and flames erupting from the front of the stage, Muse left the stage for the final time that evening.

All in all, the concert was incredible and I doubt anything other than another Muse performance could live up to its brilliance. Still, if you’d not worked out my opinion on it after reading this far, you must be stupid. There’s nothing I could say to criticize this performance, it being the best I’ve ever seen. My passion for Muse has now shot to a whole new level and I really have listened to nothing else since coming home early Sunday morning. All I’ve got to do now is wait for the DVD later this year to relive the night. I just hope they don’t do another ‘Absolution Tour DVD’ on us and cut out half the songs.

B.

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By the way, there are another few pictures on yesterday’s post about the concert, as well as a setlist of all songs played

Muse: Wembley Stadium 16/06/07 - Part 1 June 17, 2007

Posted by blanathema in Bands, Live Music, Muse, Music.
9 comments

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Last night, Muse played the best concert I’ve ever seen. A set of over 2 hours, including such songs as Micro Cuts and Citizen Erased was accompanied by an incredible live show; during the evening we saw spinning satellites, flying acrobats and explosions of confetti. More on that in the next few days, though. For now, take a look at the awesome setlist and some photos I’ve gathered from the internet (my own were taken on a mobile phone and not very good quality).

Setlist - Wembley Stadium, 16th June

Knights of Cydonia

Hysteria

Supermassive Black Hole

Map of the Problematique

City Of Delusion

Butterflies & Hurricanes

Citizen Erased

Hoodoo

Feeling Good

Sunburn

Invincible

Starlight

Man of Mystery

Time is Running Out

New Born

First Encore: Soldier’s Poem

Unintended

Blackout

Plug In Baby

Second Encore: Micro Cuts

Stockholm Syndrome

Take a Bow

An explosive entrance:

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Some of the more explosive stage effects:

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Dancing robots during ‘Supermassive Black Hole’:

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Acrobatics in the sky during ‘Unintended’/'Blackout’:

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Satellites scan the audience during ‘New Born’:

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A wave of giant balloons hit the audience during ‘Plug In Baby’:

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MUSE: Wembley Stadium 2007 - It’s Just Over The Horizon Now… June 15, 2007

Posted by blanathema in Bands, Live Music, Music.
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After buying my tickets to see Muse at Wembley Stadium last December, I thought it was going to seem like forever before the day finally came and, in some ways, I was correct. It seems so long ago now that I bought the tickets but the benefit of it was that I (almost) forgot about it in the few months in between, effectively making the wait seem a lot shorter. The last few weeks, though, I’ve been thinking daily about how awesome this concert is going to be. The initial post about the upcoming Wembley Stadium gigs has become the most visited post on my blog and has received 275 comments so far; it has basically become a bit of a forum discussing the concert and months have been spent speculating possible support acts.

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Support acts, indeed. Now, that’s a bit of a sore subject for my friend and I who are traveling down by coach tomorrow morning. Before I say any more, take a look at the support line ups below:

Sat 16th June - Rodrigo Y Gabriela

Dirty Pretty Things

The Streets

MUSE

Sun 17th June - Shy Child

Biffy Clyro

My Chemical Romance

MUSE

To be honest, it all looks a little bit unfair in my eyes. I would practically kill to see Muse and My Chemical Romance playing Wembley on the same day and I came ever so close to seeing that happen, just by a mere 24 hours. Still, there’s nothing I can do about it and I’ll have to sit there and be happy with what I’ve got. When I bought my ticket, bang on 9 o’clock the morning of the pre-sale, I had no idea that a second date was going to be announced. Thankfully, we’ve got seated tickets so there’s no reason to rush into the stadium to get to the front. My only dilemma being that I wouldn’t mind seeing Rodrigo Y Gabriela or Dirty Pretty Things, both of whom come on stage before the Streets. This means that if I want to watch them, I’m going to have to suffer through the Streets too. I’ll work around it, anyway.

As a final note, you can rest assured that I’ll be posting what will most likely be a very long and excited review of tomorrow’s mega-concert as soon as I’ve got back and had enough time to recover my sleep and get one put together. I shall not be posting tomorrow, obviously, and if one happens to turn up on Sunday, don’t expect it until much later on. I intend to sleep most of Sunday after getting back at about 5 o’clock in the morning, completely worn out.

Also, for anyone who reads this and is heading off for tomorrow’s concert, I hope you enjoy it as much as I’m sure I will. The same goes for any of you Sunday people. I just hold a lot more jealousy towards you and I hope you appreciate My Chemical Romance in place of the Streets.

P.S. All pray for Citizen Erased when you go to bed tonight. It might just work!

B.

 

Rip Out Your Heart And Give It To Me! June 14, 2007

Posted by blanathema in Bands, Music, New Releases.
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So, here’s the first album from that stream of new releases that I bought during my break. It wasn’t the first one that I bought but it’s one that I’m currently listening to one hell of a lot. It’s one of those albums that’ll entwine itself around your brain until you find yourself singing it from start to finish in your sleep. Oh yeah, I really do like it that much!

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The debut album from Switches, ‘Heart Tuned To D.E.A.D.’, was released back on the 23rd of April so I’m hardly going to be the first off the block here; but what do I care? The first track from the album that I came across was, rather predictably, Lay Down The Law. I heard it on the radio several times but it only took one listen for me to completely fall in love with it. Like most other tracks on this colourful and energetic album, it’s hardly musically groundbreaking but Switches do what they do with an incredible style and finish. I can officially declare that Lay Down The Law is the catchiest song I have heard all year and probably will still hold that position come December 31st. Every single second of it is as addictive as the next and I just can’t listen to it enough.

‘Heart Tuned…’ possesses a very strong glam-rock feel to it, mixed finely with the finest points of indie and pop music. Give Up The Ghost has a very T-rex sounding guitar riff blasting away behind lead singer, Matt Bishop’s vocals. These crisp, clear and generally great vocals help to add gallons of enthusiasm to some songs which might, otherwise, border on the overstretched and uninteresting. A prime example of this is Testify, the album’s final track. Personally, I find this a little too long and could perhaps have been better at the 3 minute mark. That final 1 minute pushes a song not all that substantially just a tad too far. By this point you’re willing the record to flick back over to the start so you can hear Drama Queen again, a classic example of Switches’ ability to have you singing and tapping along without even noticing.

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That, it seems, is the key to why I’ve loved this album so much. It has no desires to change people’s lives or make a bold leap into uncharted musical territory. There’s no shame in making an album that takes all the fun aspects of pop and indie music, mixing it together and making something a bit more….’stomping‘. Oh, I don’t know. All I’m trying to say is that’s a great fun album that I promise you that you won’t be able to take it out your CD player for a long time. It has enough variety to keep you going from start to finish without skipping a track, with some of the highlights including Message from Yuz and Killer Karma. Both of which have some of those ‘chant-along’ hooks that you’d expect from the likes of Kaiser Chiefs.

As I said, ‘Heart Tuned To D.E.A.D.’ is nothing that’s going to change your life but you don’t want that all the time, do you? Sometimes, all you need is an album of non-stop fun-filled tracks that’ll cheer you up on any day.

B.

Audio Sample: Killer Karma - Switches

Album Rating: 8/10