Flynndie Reviews - Blog #22: Howler - America Give Up

Written 16th January 2012:

Howler – America Give Up

The Band: Jordan Gatesmith (vocals, guitar), Max Petrek (keyboards), Brent Mayes (drums), Ian Nygaard (guitar).

So for today’s review, regular readers may notice I previously gave a taster of today’s band, Howler, recently when I previously reviewed their debut release the ‘This One’s Different EP’ back in mid-November in Blog #19. As I stated in that piece I very much fell for the band’s garage-rock, surfer-style EP instantly and have regularly been giving the EP a spin since its release last August and in doing so had built myself up high-expectations for the release of their full-debut album and today’s review subject ‘America Give Up’. I won’t cover too much on the band’s background as I previously did this in the Blog #19 for the ‘This One’s Different EP’, so let’s dive right-in and see how ‘America Give Up’ sounds:

Running Order

1. Beach Sluts
2. Back To The Grave
3. This One's Different
4. America
5. Too Much Blood
6. Wailing (Making Out)
7. Pythagorean Fearem
8. Told You Once
9. Back Of Your Neck
10. Free Drunk
11. Black Lagoon

Kicking off with a nice ‘beach-party’ guitar-riff, one that those that have heard ‘This One’s Different’ will be initially surprised that things are off to a slow start here, however, that soon quickly changes 30 seconds into the track, as the fast, frantic garage-rock that appeared on their debut EP crashes in on the album at 100mph, like a 20ft wave on the beaches of California with opening track ‘Beach Sluts’. The track is an early indication of the ‘surfer-type-vibe' that the band creates with their sound throughout the record. ‘Back to the Grave’ slows things down after the frantic opener, but has a very, deep bellowing sound to it courtesy of thunderous drumming from Brent Mayes and Jordan singing in a more deep voice on this track in particular. The track features a nice rocky-riff after each verse and overall complements the opening track very well on the album. Track 3 ‘This One’s Different’ as previously mentioned was the title track of the band’s debut EP, and quite rightly so in my opinion, as it’s one of the standout tracks on the album with its fast, catchy garage-rock sound, one of which I previously compared to sounding like early material by The Strokes but only if they had been up taking illicit substances through the night! This is probably the first most ‘instant’ track on the album for me and certainly a type of sound the band captures so well.

Next up we have ‘America’ and much like 2nd-track ‘Back to the Grave’ the band opt for another more ‘relaxed’ rock track here while still maintaining a very unique sound for it with the type of echo effect used on Jordan’s voice here and the simple, relaxed backing guitar riff used throughout the song to nice effect. ‘Too Much Blood’ casually turns up next on the record, with a slowed down electric guitar hand-holding Jordan’s vocals on this track and haunting-like guitars turning up in the middle of the song too, this is probably the most ‘menacing’ sounding track on album, which is generally fast-paced and upbeat throughout, though it’s reassuring to know that the band has these type of tracks in their locker also.

Things get a lot more upbeat and bouncy with the track ‘Wailing (Making Out)’, which was previously titled the excellent ‘You like White Women I like Cigarettes’ on their debut EP, though I’m guessing the band may have been requested to change this title for the album’s release hence new title ‘Wailing (Making Out)’. With a melody throughout the track that smacks of college students having a blast at a beach-party, this is again another more instant track on the record and really lives up to the surfer-vibe of the record as previously mentioned earlier. I can understand more why the title of the track was changed as lead-singed Jordon belts out towards the end of the track “I’m so tired of making out!” and this is another real standout track on the record for me. Track 7 ‘Pythagorean Fearem’ one of the more unusually titled tracks on the album, alludes more to the darker, menacing sound the band are capable of creating, with early parts of the verse reminding my very much of the sound the band ‘80’s Matchbox B-Line Disaster’ were famed for, which is by no means a bad thing at all.

‘Told You Once’ is the 3rd and final track, that originally appeared on the bands debut EP and is another excellent track, with a more mellow feel to it and a backing acoustic guitar throughout. The band re-creates a sound that is usually found in movies of an easy-going 60’s Diner in my opinion despite somewhat downbeat lyrics “I wish there was something that I could do/Cause I hate myself more than I hate you” suggesting that the song implies a strain on couple’s relationship but this song has anything but a downbeat vibe about it and it is more likely you would just get caught up in the easy-flowing rhythm and sound of the track. Again it features, like many tracks on the album, simple yet catchy lyrics that you will soon find yourself singing along to without realising it (or maybe that is just me!)

‘Back of your Neck’ swoons along into the latter part of the album, with a nice opening guitar riff, and is possibly the most ‘surfer-vibe’ sounding and laidback track on the album overall and although I’ve used that comparison a lot throughout this review, it is more of a complement to the band’s unique sound on this record rather than a criticism. ‘Free Drunk’ starts with the screech of guitar distortion, before jugging away as a guitar track that coasts along and fills the album nicely but is arguably perhaps the ‘weaker’ track of an overall strong album. And so our fast-paced, fun journey through the band’s debut album brings us to closing track ‘Black Lagoon’ and in my opinion it’s a cracker! Another, frantic guitar track played at rip-roaring pace, with a really catchy bridge and a proper 60’s guitar-riff throughout the 2nd verse of the track, it’s a great fun track to close what is overall a fun and enjoyable debut album from these 4 young lads from Minneapolis that should be enjoyed for the light-hearted romp of a record that it is!

So, overall I think this album is a great a debut effort from Howler. I had really high hopes for the record after the obscenely, excessive amount of plays I had previously given their debut EP ‘This One’s Different’. The album overall lives up to my high expectations, although I felt it was a shame that they left off the opening track ‘For All Concern’ from their debut EP, as I always thought it was an amazing opening track. I also personally preferred the vocals used on the EP version of ‘This One’s Different’ however the vocals used here still don’t stop the track itself from being anything other than great and both of these points are minor criticisms. I think this is a great album for the band to introduce themselves to the UK Indie scene and I’m sure fans of bands like The Strokes, The Vaccines and even to an extent The Libertines will really like the record that Howler have brought to the table here and I’m going to award this album a very strong 8 Howls out of 10. Even if you didn’t hear the debut EP I’d still recommend give this album a go and would certainly recommend trying to catch the band play ‘live’ in the UK over the next few months while they are still playing smaller venues as I can only see bigger things coming up for Howler going forward into 2012!

Never Giving Up ‘Flynny’

Track 3 ‘This One’s Different’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7b7SlJfgpnM

Track 8 I Told You Once’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKkcBb4EFQs

Flynndie Reviews - Blog #21: Top 8 Albums of 2011 - Part 2

Written 8th December 2011:

Top 8 Albums of 2011 – Part 2

So following on from my last Blog today sees me countdown my favourite Indie albums of 2011 for the inaugural and undisputed crown of ‘Flynndie Album of the Year!’ If you missed the first part of this Blog containing my album choices from #8 to #5, simply scroll down this page a bit further and you can read about these choices in Part 1. So let’s move on to today’s Top 4 albums, starting with the return of The Chief and his much-anticipated debut solo album:

#4. Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds (Previously Un-reviewed)

So some 18 months after the fall-out of leaving Oasis and keeping a low-profile while Beady-Eye released their debut album, the main song-writer behind Oasis finally got round to releasing his own solo debut effort. Now I mainly previously didn’t review this album as I suspected most people would go out and buy this anyway and I like to try and highlight and promote some lesser known Indie bands on this Blog, but if the truth be told even during the days of Oasis, I secretly much-longed for a Noel solo album and now that it finally arrived, it didn’t disappoint in my opinion and in fact exceeded my high expectations. Even upon first few listens to this record, Noel’s songs have that re-assuring familiar sound about them, as if they were songs that you knew and loved already but refreshingly in my opinion not just sounding like another Oasis album. Take ‘AKA… What a Life’ as a prime example of this, having a much more dance-vibe to it than anything Oasis would have released in recent years.

This for me is another reason why I much prefer this album to recent Oasis releases, as by going solo Noel is allowed to express his songs in a more creative manner as is shown in tracks ‘Everybody’s on the Run’ with its backing violins and (I wanna live a Dream in my) Record Machine featuring a full-choir backing, allowing these tracks to have somewhat more added depth to them. Then there are tracks such as ‘If I had a Gun’ and ‘AKA…Broken Arrow’ which are familiar sounding Noel tracks, but tracks written when he is at his song-writing best and, dare I say it, even on a par with some early Oasis B-sides which is high praise indeed. So if you’ve avoided the album so far due to a somewhat ‘loss of faith’ in recent Oasis albums, then I’d recommend you give this debut-solo effort a listen and see what one of the generations top song-writers is capable of without the responsibility of ‘being Oasis’!

Recommended Songs: ‘Everybody’s on the Run’, ‘If I had a Gun’, ‘AKA…What a Life’
Personal Favourite Track(s): ‘Soldier Boys and Jesus Freaks’ and ‘AKA…Broken Arrow’

#3. Arctic Monkeys – Suck It and See (Reviewed in Flynndie Reviews Blog #13 – 8/10)

Back with their 4th album this year were, arguably one of the most followed bands in the Country right now, Sheffield’s own Arctic Monkey’s with their latest offering ‘Suck It and See’. A bit like the forthcoming 4th album by Kasabian this year, after the Monkey’s 3rd album 'Humbug', I was a little bit unsure what to expect from their latest offering. What we got was another well-written, self-assured record with familiar big sing-a-long tracks and another batch of great Indie-rock tracks the Arctics can add to their ever-expanding hits-list! The band have effortlessly created swooning-Indie tracks such as ‘She’s Thunderstorms’ and ‘The Hellcat Spangled Shalalala’, to catchy guitar-pop on ‘Brick by Brick’ and ‘Don’t sit down cause I’ve moved your chair’, to the old-school, more fast-and-furious Arctic Monkey’s track such as ‘Library Pictures’.

I very much enjoyed this record upon its release and am still very much enjoying it upon regular listens, although I’m still slightly of the opinion that the clearly laid back approach the band took to this album, gets a little bit too laid back for my liking on one or two tracks towards the end of the album, therefore not quite putting it on as high a par as the first two Arctic Monkey’s records. However, this is still certainly another great album by these young Sheffield lads and certainly one I’m still enjoying very much hence it’s high-position on this end of year list, but then I’m guessing most of you already reading this know this.

Recommended Songs: ‘Brick by Brick’, ‘The Hellcat Spangled Shalalala’, ‘Don’t sit down cause I’ve moved your chair’
Personal Favourite Track: ‘Library Pictures’

#2. Bombay Bicycle Club – A Different Kind of Fix (reviewed in Flynndie Reviews Blog #17 – 9/10)

Back with their 3rd album in as many years, Bombay Bicycle Club returned with their latest offering ‘A Different Kind of Fix’. As I’ve previously said with a couple of other albums on this list, I really wasn’t sure what to expect from the band’s latest record, as was such a contrast between their 1st electric-rock Indie album ‘I had the blues and shook them loose’ and their follow-up, the stripped-down, lo-fi acoustic ‘Flaws’ I genuinely was not sure what type of sound the band would come back with next. What we got this year with ‘A Different Kind of Fix’ was a great blend of the sounds on Bombay Bicycle Club’s 1st two albums in my opinion and arguably their best to date! The first we heard from this new record was early single ‘Shuffle’ which, if truth be told, was actually different still to anything the band had done previously on their first 2 albums, featuring, as what I described in my review at the time, a hip-hop based piano loop throughout it and having a very distinct, yet brilliant, sound for the band to it indeed.

Throw into the mix, the rocky and slightly more edgy guitar tracks the band featured more on their debut album on tracks here such as ‘Bad Timing’ and ‘What you Want’, to the simply, brilliant flowing acoustic tracks ‘How can you swallow so much sleep’, ‘Lights Out, Words Gone’ and my personal favourite track, the epic ‘Beggars’, the band on this record really define their own sound here more so than their first two albums in my opinion. As a whole, this is a very well written record, full of rhythm and some brilliantly written tracks, that flow effortlessly and surely now is the time for the band to take a well-earned break?!

Recommended Songs: ‘Bad Timing’, ‘Your Eyes’, ‘Shuffle’, ‘What you want’
Personal Favourite Track: ‘Beggars’

#1. The Strokes – Angles (reviewed in Flynndie Reviews Blog #12 – 9/10)

So here it is, my #1 favourite Indie album of 2011, ‘Angles’, the 4th album from New York’s own The Strokes. If you believe some music reviews about The Strokes, you may be under the impression that they have only released one record, their exceptionally brilliant debut album ‘Is This It?’ but for me their 2nd and 3rd albums ‘Room on Fire’ and ‘First Impressions of Earth’ respectively were both fine guitar records and although I would be the first to admit that it will always be difficult for the band to make a better album than their excellent debut record, this 4th effort ‘Angles’ is the closest they have come so far to anywhere near matching it. One of the criticisms the band so unfairly receive in my opinion is that people want to hear similar tracks on a par with those such as ‘Last Nite’ or ‘New York City Cops’ from ‘Is This It?’ but this is one of my fascinations about The Strokes is that they are prepared to try something a bit different on a guitar record and this album is an excellent example of the band trying to capture ‘new’ guitar sounds.

Possibly their most experimental album to date, I feel the band really try and push the boundaries of what a modern-Indie guitar record can sound like, from the opening and simply brilliant track ‘Machu Picchu’ (possibly my favourite opening track on an album for a few years!), to early single ‘Under Cover of Darkness’, another brilliant track in my opinion, right up to closing track ‘Life is Simple in the Moonlight’ which actually does sound like a typical, old-school Strokes track that some fan’s still crave for. For me though, this album is full of stand-out tracks such as the menacingly, dark ‘You’re so Right’ to the incredibly catchy ’Taken for a Fool’ every track on this album is very distinct but seem to have so much depth to them. Upon my first few listens of this album, I admit I struggled with it a little initially, yet it’s testament to how well written and how much depth this album has, that it continued to grow on me and get better and better with each listen. As I said in the 2nd paragraph of Part 1 of this list, I’ve tried to rate albums on this list based on how much I found myself listening to them throughout the course of the year and for me ‘Angles’ has to be my most listened to album in this case and hence my favourite Indie album of 2011!

Recommended Songs: ‘Under Cover of Darkness’, ‘You’re So Right’, ‘Taken for a Fool’, ‘Life is Simple in the Moonlight’
Personal Favourite Track: ‘Machu Picchu’

So that concludes my Top 8 albums of 2011 list. Other worthy mentions on records that narrowly fell short of this list include The Vaccines ‘What did you expect from The Vaccines?’, Miles Kane ‘Colour of the Trap’, The Rifles ‘Freedom Run’, Chapel Club 'Palace', Roddy Woomble’s ‘The Impossible Song + Other Songs’ and Dutch Uncles 'Cadenza' all albums I would recommend to check out at some point.

Looking forward to 2012 I’m already looking forward to new album releases from some of the following bands, Howler, The Twilight Sad, Maxïmo Park and Muse, keeping my fingers cross to hear some new material from hopefully Bloc Party and Idlewild and of course looking forward to any new up-and-coming bands that 2012 brings with it.

Rocking into 2012
‘Flynny’

Flynndie Reviews - Blog #20: Top 8 Albums of 2011 - Part 1

Written 1st December 2011:

Top 8 Albums of 2011 – Part 1

So today rather than write an album review, I’ve decided to pick and reflect back on my top 8 favourite albums of the year for 2011. I plan to give a bit of an overview of each album (most of which I have previously reviewed on here during the course of the year) so I’ve decided to split this into two parts, first counting down from #8 to #5 in part 1 and then of course #4 to the inaugural #1 ‘Flynndie Album of the Year’!

Now of course these choices are just my personal preferences and I have no special criteria in picking which album I’ve rated higher than another, after all this list is purely for fun and are my own choices, other than which albums I’ve genuinely enjoyed listening to the most, yet it has still taken me some time to decide on my Top 8 albums this year and even more difficult to decide on their order but this 2-part Blog will reveal my overall choices.

However, if you do disagree or feel I’ve missed an album out on this list, I would be more than happy to view and listen to other reader’s favourite albums of the year, so feel free to post any comments or recommendations at the end of this Blog. You may also notice that I’ve rated some albums higher than others, despite me awarding a higher-score on my initial reviews, but this is due to my marks being given in my reviews on my initial first impressions of the album and over the course of the year, I’ve at times found myself listening to a high-rated album more hence it’s higher position on this list.

So let’s get this show on the road then and weighing in at #8 pop-pickers is………

#8. Kaiser Chiefs – The Future is Medieval (Reviewed in Flynndie Reviews Blog #14 – 8/10)

So the Kaiser Chiefs who had been on the quiet side the past couple of years suddenly popped back on the scene again, with a previously unannounced album and an excellent promotion of their new album whereby they let fans compile their own choice of 10-tracks from an available selection of 20 from their website. After this, demand led to a full CD release containing 13-tracks, one previously unheard, and to be fair I thought it was a real return to form for them and back on a par with their decent 1st two albums ‘Employment’ and ‘Yours truly, Angry Mob’. The album very much goes back to the sound of some of their early material with songs such as ‘Little Shocks’, ‘Dead or in Serious Trouble’ and ‘When all is quiet’ but as I said previously in my review I felt their new songs, such as ‘Child of the Jago’ and ‘If you will have me’, now showed a more mature side of the band than some of their earlier material yet still retaining the light-hearted, cheeky, charm the band are known to bring to their music. I think this album as a whole really does contain a good range of songs that collectively sum up what the band’s music to date is all about.

Recommended Songs: ‘Little Shocks’, ‘Child of the Jago’, ‘If you will have me’
Personal Favourite Track: ‘Heard it Break’

#7. Ben Howard – Every Kingdom (Previously un-reviewed)

So a lot of readers first thought’s here maybe “Who’s Ben Howard?” To be honest it was quite by luck that I came across his music having heard early single ‘The Wolves’ used on the amazing short-film ‘Industrial Revolutions’ featuring free-style cyclists Danny Macaskill (which you can view here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShbC5yVqOdI). I instantly fell in love with this track and upon hearing a couple of other tracks from the forthcoming album ‘Every Kingdom’ I started to develop high hopes for this debut album and fortunately it didn’t disappoint. With a very acoustic, rural and folk feel throughout the record, I often feel an album as stripped down as this need to have songs and guitar playing to the highest quality and Ben happily delivers just such in this debut effort. You can really tell how much thought and care has been put into each note on every song on this record and for me this is a fine debut, acoustic effort.

Recommended Songs: ‘Old Pine’, ‘Only Love’, ‘The Fear’, ‘Keep your head up’
Personal Favourite Track: ‘The Wolves’

#6. R.E.M. – Collapse into Now (Reviewed in Flynndie Reviews Blog #10 – 9/10)

In at #6 on the list turned out to be the swansong album from a band that had by now seemed to be around forever (or at least the past 25 years!) Some R.E.M. albums can be a little bit hit and miss for me and personally I find myself mostly more into their earlier material, with their last truly great album being ‘Up’ in my opinion. However, refreshingly for a change I think R.E.M. finally delivered an album that lives up to their great legacy and have made an album where I don’t find myself skipping the odd occasional track. Admittedly, upon listening to this album I found myself comparing tracks similar in sound to previous R.E.M. tracks (for example ‘Oh My Heart’ sounding like a follow-up to ‘Houston’ from the album ‘Accelerate’ and last track ‘Blue’ having a very similar style to ‘E-Bow the Letter’ from ‘New Adventures in Hi-Fi’) but when the tracks sound as good as those it’s hardly a criticism of the album. Whether the band were already conscious that this would be the last R.E.M. album or not, I think they certainly made a worthy record to encompass the band’s legacy and a fitting album for their send off and in my opinion their best for some 10 years!

Recommended Songs: ‘Oh My Heart’, ‘Mine Smells like Honey’, ‘Me, Marlon Brando, Marlon Brando and I’
Personal Favourite Track: ‘ÜBerlin’

#5. Kasabian – Velociraptor! (Reviewed in Flynndie Reviews Blog #18 – 8/10)

Now we’re starting to reach this year’s ‘big-hitters’ and in at #5 for me are Kasabian with their latest effort named after, of all things, a dinosaur ‘Velociraptor!’ I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from the latest offering from Kasabian, however, the band have delivered their 4th successive, solid album while encompassing a fair range of sounds from different genres yet all the time retaining a trademark Kasabian feel about them on this album. The album itself features the band dabbling with retro guitar-fused-jazz with opening track ‘Let’s roll just like we used too’, from the typical guitar anthems we all know and love from Kasabian on tracks such as ‘Days are Forgotten’ and ‘Rewired’ to the more electronic, Indie-club style tracks of ‘I hear Voices’ and ‘Switchblade Smiles’. For me though personally, the standout track on the album is ‘Turkish Acid Bath (Shelter from the Storm)’. It’s actually quite a different track from anything Kasabian have done in the past, featuring verses backed with sounds associated with a Turkish folk-market used on films, but featuring deliciously dark lyrics and snarls throughout, this is certainly a brooding track and my personal favourite. Suffice to say Kasabian have returned again with another album to add proudly to their ever-developing legacy.

Recommended Songs: ‘Let’s roll just like we used to’, ‘Days are Forgotten’, ‘Switchblade Smiles’
Personal Favourite Track: ‘Turkish Acid Bath (Shelter from the Storm)’

So that covers my first four selections in my ‘Top 8 albums of 2011’ list, needless to say in the 2nd part of this Blog, I shall reveal my #4 to 1 albums, mention a few other albums I liked that just fell short of my Top 8 and list a few band’s whose records I’m already looking forward to into 2012!

Still Rocking in 2011 ‘Flynny’

Flynndie Reviews - Blog #19: Howler - This One's Different EP

Written 18th November 2011:

Howler – This One’s Different EP

The Band: Jordan Gatesmith (vocals, guitar), Max Petrek (keyboards), Brent Mayes (drums), Ian Nygaard (guitar).

So today’s review, much like the record in question, is a little bit different as rather than reviewing a full album, I’m going to review a recent EP of an up-and-coming band, Howler, hailing from Minneapolis in the States with their ‘This One’s Different’ EP which was released at the start of August. The band are currently on tour in the UK with ‘Frankie and the Heartstrings’ and ‘The Vaccines’ so now seems an ideal time to take a look back at this early EP from them, as I suspect songs from this will feature on the tour, and I’ve been listening to this record for a good few months now.

Running Order

1. For All Concern
2. I Told You Once
3. This One’s Different
4. You like White Women I like Cigarettes
5. 14 Days

Right so things get away with a buzzing, garage-rock-like riff kicking-in for opening track ‘For All Concern’. This won’t be the last time I say this in this review, but as the track steadily flows along you instantly pick up the ‘Surfer-vibe’ type sound the band intentionally re-create throughout this record. As an opening-track I think this is a great way to start the record with a catchy main guitar-riff throughout and simple but effective lines “I’m easy to love/But easy to hate” and through the chorus as lead singer, Jordan Gatesmith, croons “I can’t be you’re only one/It’s not me that’s on the run” holding the song together nicely and is a great way to start to the EP.

‘I Told You Once’ follows which initially has a much more acoustic vibe than the frantic pace and rhythm of the EP’s opener while still retaining a big-sound for the band. As the track gets into full-swing, the band re-creates the sound of an easy-going, beach-party in my opinion despite lyrics “I wish there was something that I could do/Cause I hate myself more than I hate you” suggesting that the song implies a strain on couple’s relationship but this song has anything but a downbeat vibe about it and it is more likely you would get caught up in the easy-flowing rhythm and sound of the track.

Title-track ‘This One’s Different’ is probably the stand-out track on the EP. Again with a very much garage-rock feel to it, this returns to a fast and furious pace of opening track ‘For All Concern’. Possibly the biggest complement I can pay this track is that it sounds very much like The Strokes if they had been up all-night taking Speed and features some excellently-timed guitar solos that pulse through the veins of this song and ultimately the EP overall!

Next up with have the excellently titled ‘You like White Women I like Cigarettes’ and this track features the biggest ‘Surfer’ feel about it yet on the EP! The song has a real ‘Beach Boys’ feel about it in my opinion and certainly wouldn’t be out of place on ‘The Happy Days’ Jukebox (Ask your parent’s kids!) Flying past quickly at just 2 minutes, the song manages to cram in yet another catchy guitar track, with some backing-keys thrown in for good measure on this one too.

The EP closes with ’14 Days’ and we go back to the garage-roots-rock from earlier, but this time certainly at a more leisurely tempo than ‘For All Concern’ and ‘This One’s Different’. The track literally coasts along nicely and cleverly towards the end of the track, the band slowly start to reverse back through the sound of the first two choruses of the song and most likely reverse back into a garage where it’s clear the band have rehearsed so hard to nail their unique but accomplished sound throughout this EP.

I think fans of the early Strokes records and the recent Vaccines album will take to this EP like a surfboard-to-water (see what I did there?!) The band clearly had a defined sound that they wanted to create for this EP and through all 5 tracks I feel they nail it to a high standard each time! As I said early in this review I’ve had the EP for a few months now but I still find this EP refreshing to listen to with each listen and 20 minutes just fly-by when I put this on in the background. I’m very keen to see how many of these tracks, if they decide to use any, make it on to the band’s first full debut album but bearing in mind how young a band they are too I’m hoping to see them go on to big things in the future and for the EP for the time-being I’m going to award it 8 Howls out of 10! The EP is currently available from ‘Rough Trade’ records on 12” vinyl (nice!) or as a download so feel free to check it out some time (http://store.roughtraderecords.com/Store/HowlerThisOnesDifferent.html), as this is one band I’m keeping a close eye on for the future!

Always the Same ‘Flynny’

Track 1 ‘For All Concern’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dpv8ZrDBWa0

Track 4 ‘You like White Women I like Cigarettes’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hitsueThUk4c

Flynndie Reviews - Blog #18: Kasabian - Velociraptor!

Written 21st September 2011

Kasabian – Velociraptor!

Right today’s album review comes from a band with a now strong, core army of followers, following the release of their past 3 albums, and what with some-what being ‘best-mates’ with Oasis on recent tours, Kasabian are now back with the release of their 4th album this week ‘Velociraptor!’ Now the band came onto the scene around 2003/04 with the release of their self-titled album, and early singles ‘Club Foot’, ‘L.S.F.’, ‘Processed Beats’ and ‘Cutt Off’ were making an immediate early impact on the heart of the UK Indie scene. It was then in 2006 with the release of the first single ‘Empire’, from the forth-coming 2nd album of the same title, that the band really started to gain National recognition and air-play, and along with the accompanying video for the single portraying a march of an army into battle (you can check out the video for ‘Empire’ here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVTEqG9enEY&ob=av2e), it was at this point really that the band started developing an army of devoted followers themselves.

With anticipation high, their 2nd album ‘Empire’ was released and was met with the majority of critical acclaim all-round, establishing the band as one of the fully-fledged ‘big hitters’ now on the Indie scene and the record was also well received by long-time followers of the band. For me this was their best album to-date featuring strong, catchy-guitar tracks such as ‘Shoot the Runner’ and ‘Me Plus One’, to more electronic efforts ‘Seek and Destroy’ and my personal favourite track ‘Stuntman’, lest forgetting epic closing track ‘The Doberman’. 2009 saw the release of the crazily-titled album ‘West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum’, which I’m not going to cover in too much detail here as I previously reviewed the album in full in Blog #3 of Flynndie Reviews in you would prefer to read up on that in more detail, but it was safe to say the band delivered another solid and decent guitar record, but in my opinion it just fell somewhat short of the heights reached with previous album ‘Empire’.

So fast-forward to 2011 and the band are back with their latest effort ‘Velociraptor!’ Things get underway with opener ‘Let’s Roll Just Like we used to’ and what better way to open an album than with the sound of a Gong?! Queue some weird muttering, echo sounds and trumpets before the track gets into full swing with literally a 60’s-sounding, jazz-swing-vibe about it accompanied by ‘buzzing’ guitars. This whole track has a very retro feel about and in all honesty is quite a very different sound we’re used to hearing from Kasabian. However, I really think this is a very decent opening number and great way to start off the record. Next we have recent single ‘Days are Forgotten’, which we got sneak previews of over the summer with this season’s Sky Sports Premier League advert, which featured the band losing to a Sky Sports team in the final of a five-a-side tournament (clearly this advert is inaccurate though, as there is no way guitarist Serge Pizzorno would be on a losing side with skills like these: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kke2usNl4I0&feature=related). Back to the track it-self and this is more in the mould of ‘old-school’ Kasabian with distinctive vocals from Tom Meighan and a big sing-along chorus making this an easily accessible track indeed. I liked this when I first heard it and that is still very much the case now.

Things slow down a bit with 3rd track ‘Goodbye Kiss’, an acoustic ballad which coasts along pleasantly and features another catchy, sing-a-long chorus, it’s another decent track and keeps the album flowing nicely. Things get more psychedelic with ‘La Fée Verte’, or roughly translated, ‘The Green Fairy’, featuring Serge on vocal duties this time around. Another mellower, stripped down affair here, this track certainly wouldn’t be out of place on Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club album and is again very different territory for Kasabian, but again another track the band pull-off with comfortable aplomb. Next follows title-track ‘Velociraptor!’ which speeds along with buzzing guitars and then features a marmite-like (you’ll either love it or hate it!) chorus of Tom reaching a higher-pitch, subjecting features of the song-titles dinosaur of choice. For me this is the first track on the album I’ve struggled to get into, but admittedly I’ve heard a ‘live’ version of the track and it sounded a lot better performed ‘live’ than I think it does on the record in my opinion. ‘Acid Turkish Bath (Shelter from the Storm)’ is another more psychedelic affair (I mean how could it not be with a title like that?!) The track slowly drifts along cleverly creating a Turkish-folk vibe about it with possibly the most distinct percussion heard on the album yet from drummer Ian Matthews, it’s another catchy and in this case cleverly worked track, and another that I liked upon first listen and I am still currently finding new facets that add to the track with each subsequent listen.

Track 7 ‘I Hear Voices’ marks the first real distinctive ‘electronic’ Kasabian track on the album, a somewhat Kasabian trademark sound for some of their earlier material from their first two albums. With a nice 80’s sounding synth-loop preceding it’s verse and through the heart of its chorus this is another likable track albeit a very much mellower side of Kasabian we don’t too often see from them. ‘Re-Wired’ is very much an old-school guitar-sounding track by the band again, with very clear and distinct vocals from Tom and another sing-a-long chorus but again all at a bit more of a laid-back tempo than Kasabian albums of old. Opening with an infections guitar-lick ‘Man of Simple Pleasures’ is another assured, confident effort from the band again featuring some really great sounding backing percussion by Matthews, and with its infectious opening riff featuring throughout as the track casually swaggers nicely in its place on the album. Reverting back to the very electronic sound from ‘I Hear Voices’, penultimate track ‘Switchblade Smiles’ really goes back to an early Kasabian sound steadily building with synths and ‘disturbed’ cries from Serge, before a dirty-guitar riff assaults the verses through the track, this is certainly a track you would expect to hear coming on while being kicked out of a nightclub at 4am! ‘Neon Noon’ is the slowed down ballad that closes the album, with Serge on acoustic-guitar and vocal duties here, before the backing synths kick-in about 2 minutes into the track. It’s again another track that has a bit of a Beatles-vibe about it in my opinion, it’s alright for a closing track, but I think the band will always struggle to top ‘The Doberman’ the closing track from their 2nd album ‘Empire’.

So overall I feel this is possibly the most ‘experimental’ Kasabian album to date and the band certainly flirt with different sounds throughout this album, from a retro-opening Jazz-fused track, to familiar loud sounding Kasabian guitar tracks, to psychedelic, mellower efforts and the two more ‘electronic’ tracks thrown in, there is certainly plenty of different sounds on offer on the plate for the listener to digest! However, I think the record overall holds well together, it’s taken me quite a few good listens to get into the album but with each subsequent listen I finding myself enjoying the songs more and noticing more of the hidden-depths some of the tracks have that are easily overlooked upon first few listens. I commend the band for their efforts to try out new sounds, without pushing away from their distinct sound that has gained them an army of devoted fans in the first place; however, I don’t feel this album quite reaches the heady-heights set by ‘Empire’, but does follow on nicely from where ‘West Pauper Ryder Lunatic Asylum’ left off and I’m going to award this album 8 Extinct Dinosaurs out of 10. It’s quite a tricky album to get into upon your first couple of listens, but persist with it and you’ll find yourself appreciating the tracks more and the efforts the band have gone to with this album! It will be interesting to see what direction the band takes next…….

Track 1 ‘Let’s Roll Just Like we used to’

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWDcfaaZ_H0

Track 2 'Days are Forgotten'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBsQVP-Olmw&ob=av2e

 

Track 10 'Switchblade Smiles'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SQNNLe6WPA&ob=av2e

T-Rex!

Flynny

Flynndie Reviews - Blog #17: Bombay Bicycle Club - A Different Kind of Fix

Written 7th September 2011:

Bombay Bicycle Club – A Different Kind of Fix

So today’s album review comes from young Indie ‘jump-starts’, Bombay Bicycle Club, with the release of their recent 3rd album ‘A Different Kind of Fix’. Before digging into the album itself and breaking it-down track-by-track let’s just have a brief summary of the band because this is already their 3rd album since 2009, and it’s very much a rarity these days to find a band that will release 3 albums worth of material in the short-space of 3 years!

So I first discovered Bombay Bicycle Club from air-plays of early singles ‘Always Like This’ and ‘Dust on the Ground’ on X-FM before deciding to go out and buy their debut album ‘I had the blues but shook them loose’. I found myself quickly en-captured by lead-singer’s Jack Steadman’s distinct voice and this altogether fun, frantic, pogoing Indie record as a whole, enjoying tracks such as ‘Evening/Morning’, ‘Dust on the Ground’ ‘The Hill’ and, in particular, my two favourite tracks from the album ‘Autumn’ and ‘What If’. I gave the album plenty of listens when I first got hold off it and it was to my delight, that while I was still caught up with the record, the band had already been busy writing, recording and releasing their second album ‘Flaws’.

This follow-up album took somewhat of a different direction to their debut record, with a very much stripped-down, laid-back and mellow acoustic approach to it, which may have surprised some and even in some cases, stunned listeners who enjoyed the first album, with such a change of direction for their 2nd record, however, I still thought it was a great album to listen to with some very strong, heart-felt written tracks on it, for those times when you’re in a reflective mood I guess.

So moving onto the band’s 2011 release and their 3rd album in as many years, ‘A Different Kind of Fix’, things get underway with opening track ‘How can you swallow so much sleep?’, which opens with gentle acoustic guitar-picking, that certainly would not have been out of place on the band’s previous album ‘Flaws’, but as bass, from Ed Nash, starts to accompany guitar, this track starts to get into full swing after about a minute or so into it and we see early indications of what I can only describe as ‘groovy’ feel that this record has in spades throughout. ‘Bad Timing’ follows and with its opening electric guitar shows the band means business right away on this track. The track flows along nicely and was one of the more instant tracks on the album for me on first few listens and is still a firm favourite of mine, with the track finishing with the band rocking out on it. This is certainly a track more guitar-heavy than those found previously on ‘Flaws’. Third track ‘Your Eyes’ sets a more serene pace again for the record, after the angular guitars of the last track and features what I would describe as a charming, ‘woodpecker-like’ sound on percussion from drummer Suren de Saram throughout it, while guitarist Jamie MacColl loops a catchy-guitar riff over the track, with the song finishing with dreamy-like vocals from Jack, it’s probably the most poppy track on the album so far.

‘Lights Out, Words Gone’ takes us on another easy-listening stroll, with synths gently pushing the track along and again softly sung lyrics from Jack accompanying it, with the 2nd verse onwards being backed by some jazz-style guitar making this another easily accessible track to the listener. With a click of Suren’s drum sticks ‘Take the right one’ again builds a steady pace for the album, but with this record we’re gently flowing through the gears rather than doing 0-60mph in 4.5 seconds. The track features a rather catchy bass-line pulsing through it and certainly would not be found out of place from a Stones Roses gig from the early 90’s which would be a great complement to it indeed. Next we have the first released single from the record ‘Shuffle’, featuring a cleverly structured, hip-hop-like piano. Yes I did just write that! When I first heard this song, I was taken aback by how different it sounded to anything I had heard before, which is refreshing for a start, but the biggest complement to this track is how much of a grower it becomes on subsequent listens. It’s a very distinctive track and certainly a standout choice for opening single from the album.

‘Beggars’ is probably my most favourite track on the album. Another track that opens with the familiar Bombay Bicycle Club style of gentle guitar-picking, it soon builds into an epic song that just effortless coasts along, while simply making the ‘hairs-on-the-back-of-your-neck-stand‘ with it’s cleverly structured combination of rhythm and percussion throughout being interspersed by the same guitar-picking that opens the song. With some more ‘wooden-style’ clicking-like percussion buzzing through it, track 8 ‘Leave It’ also carefully balances comfortably flowing verses with another big sing-a-long chorus from Jack and backing vocals from Lucy Rose whose charming backing vocal’s also features throughout the record. This is again another instant and likeable track in my opinion, possibly with the catchiest percussion on the album thus far. ‘Fracture’ has the distant feeling acoustic guitar and vocals from Jack which were again a trademark of 2nd album ‘Flaws’. One of the slower tracks on the record it features quite a duet throughout by Jack and Lucy, with again quite ‘baggy’ guitar through it that again reminds me of the type of sound the Stone Roses were famed for. ‘What you want’ opens with a funky bass-line, that reminded me of a style that one of my all-time favourite bands, Idlewild, would tend to use a lot on some of their earlier records. The track builds and has quite an 80’s vibe to it with its jangly-guitar and bass-line pulsing through it, while another distant-type effect is used on Jack’s vocals accompanied with haunting-like synths in the background, this is another great track.

With piano and a military-march percussion, entwined with that ‘woodpecker’ like sound previously heard on ‘Your Eyes’ penultimate track ‘Favourite Day’ gently flows along again as the album is slowly beginning to effortlessly unwind to the listener, before reaching final track ‘Still’. Now I’m of the opinion that the first two Bombay Bicycle Club albums both featured a big acoustic ballad as the closing track for each album and ‘A Different Kind of Fix’ is no different. A very slowly-drawn haunting piano ballad features this time round and is very much of a sound of Radiohead from their ‘Amnesiac’ album. I would defy anybody not to be quite moved on first hearing this particular track and I’m still currently trying to work out if Jack actually holds the note around the one minute mark by his voice alone or whether a studio affect was used?! This is simply put an astounding track, but one you may care to listen to in your own space and time.

As again as you can most likely tell from this review I’m quite enthusiastic of this latest release from Bombay Bicycle Club but how do I feel it holds up after their first two albums, both of which I also enjoyed? Well as I mentioned in my third paragraph of this review, the first album was a fun, frantic Indie record in comparison to its low-fi, stripped down acoustic follow up. This record for me perfectly merges both styles the band have previously shown on those two records and more importantly get’s the balance of the two styles just about right, certainly no-mean feat in itself.

I read in a previous interview with Jack Steadman that the theme, direction and title of this album was particularly about addictions and for me personally I’ve actually found myself very hooked on this record in the first two weeks since its release which is one of the biggest complements I can pay it for the time-being. While I don’t think this record is an album that would quite reach the echelons of ‘All-Time Favourite Lists’ (which let’s face it are made up to provoke opinions anyway), this is certainly for me a strong contender when it comes to album of the year for 2011. There are certainly more than a few good tracks on this record and it they all flow sublimely well collectively, so I’m going to give this 9 ‘Different Fixes’ out of 10. This for me is the best album the band have released yet (and the first two were great anyway), so take that as high praise indeed! My only regret is that I didn’t manage to get hold of a ticket for their gig at Brixton Academy on the 19th October, which I imagine is going to be one hell of a gig before the band take a very well deserved break in my opinion!

Track 3 ‘Your Eyes’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmQW9060_wU

Track 6 'Shuffle'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDuif301F-8

Track 7 'Beggars'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBcXwRODjfw

Always in need of a fix
Flynny

Flynndie Reviews - Blog #16 Classic Album: The Cooper Temple Clause - See This Through and Leave

Written 4th August 2011:

Classic Album: The Cooper Temple Clause – See This Through and Leave
Year of Release: 2002

Right, so as I’m still currently awaiting a few new album releases I’m still continuing my recent journey of classic Indie album reviews for the time being here. Today’s focus turns to the late, great and, one of my all-time personal favourite bands, The Cooper Temple Clause. Originally a six-piece formed in 1998 and hailing from Reading, the band had previously released ‘The Hardware EP’ (featuring one of my favourite-ever hauntingly beautiful, acoustic tracks ‘Sister Soul’, see a link at the bottom of this review to hear it) and ‘The Warfare EP’. Along with these EPs and a handful of singles in 2001, including the tracks ‘Panzer Attack’ and ‘Film-maker’, the band steadily started attracting a small, but core army of followers, with particular interest in the band seemingly coming from ‘word-of-mouth’ between those whom had seen their dynamic live shows or heard their early material . All of this was building to the release of their full debut album and the focus of today’s 'classic album review' ‘See This Through and Leave’. With its eventually release in 2002, what was the record like and what impact did it have at the time? Hopefully this review and it's conclusion will answer those questions!

So the album kicks-off with a twinkling sound of keyboards and synths courtesy of band members Tom Bellamy, Didz (Hammond) and Kieran ‘Mayhem’ Mahon, before vocalist Ben Gauntrey opens with the line that forms the song’s title ‘Did You Miss Me?’ Early indications on this electronically-influenced track is that this is going to be a deliciously, dark and brooding record, and it's not until a good 3 minutes of synths into the song we get the full-on Indie-guitar rock assault that this record smacks off throughout, while Ben’s, Liam Gallagher-esque snarl, tears through lyrics describing a couple’s rocky relationship. After the opening track has done its job of steadily building to such a frantic rock-out, previous single ‘Film-Maker’ picks up the ball and continues running with it. After opening with a fast and furious guitar riff from lead guitarist Dan Fisher, the track speeds and bounces along with heavy basslines from Didz, as Ben portrays lyrics of voyeurism with lines such as “Don’t think that you can’t see me/That I’m not watching you….” It’s a great fun, yet dark, hard-rock track at 100mph. ‘Panzer Attack’ leads with another synth based build up to it, before crashing in again with a violent and frantic bassline this time coming from Dan (the band reguarly used to switch instruments during live shows) battling hard for supremecy on the track against 'Mayhem', Didz and Ben on synths with Tom's beats in the background. With hard-hitting lyrics such as 'Short-sleeve, shit-kicking animals lining me up, it's all over their face!' being torn-through with Ben's now familiar snarl we have another track grabbing the listener by the balls and dragging them along for an exhilarating ride through-out it!

Another Single from the band 'Who Needs Enemies?' starts a bit more of a calming pace for the album, with it's plodding bass and more low-key guitar pacing it along nicely, backed by a military-like drumming throughout provided by Jon (Harper). The track still highlight's Ben's raw-like vocals, and features nice brass-sounding sections throughout it to build a masterful sound that complement's the track nicely indeed. 'Amber' portays the picture of a lonely life of a heavy drinker, and as such starts with a more low-key guitar riff to it and 'spaced-out' synths to create the distant feeling of the song's protagonist. It's another track that builds up to a powerful, angry chorus that lashes out with perfect timing in context of the tale of the overall track. 'Digital Observations' is the first time we see the band really pushing the boundries of their electronic sound fused, with deep-bass and jaggered-guitar, and is certainly one of the more experimental pieces by the band here while very much defining their own unique sound. With another electronic sound opening it followed by a steady build of guitar melody 'Let's Kill Music' does anything but kill music and is actually one of the more poppy guitar Indie tracks on the record with Ben taunting with the catchy line "We're dare you to mean a single word you say!" throughout it's verses.

'555-4823' is a complex instrumental about halfway through the album. It would be difficult from written text alone to fully describe the scale of different sounds in this most electronic piece of the album yet, but you can certainly listen out for samples of church bells, news narrations and Big Ben for just a few of some of the experimental sounds fused together here. After possibly the most complex track of the album (one that I imagine Kieran had a field-day in the studio recording!) we get back to more familiar, dirty, guitar rock that set some of the early pace of the album with 'Been Training Dogs'. Dan pulls off a masterfully catchy guitar riff here complemented perfectly by Didz's bouncing bass-line to set the fun rock-rhythm for the song. The video for this track featured the band 'trapped' in a cage adorned by Indie kids rocking out on the outside of it, and that image also brillantly captures the spirit of the track to Ben's menacing vocals here.

Things slow down again for penultimate track 'The Lake' again creating another distant-like feeling of isolation for the listener before a heavy chorus featuring the protagonists cry's for help against an impending, drowning feeling hence the track title 'The Lake'. However, if you think that chorus was heavy and dramatic in the last track, you have not heard anything yet before the truly epic closing track 'Murder Song'. Weighing in at a good 8 minutes long, this track encompasses the entire feel throughout the album as it slowly builds, and burns away at the listener before the full-on chorus literally 'murders' anything that has come before it on the record. I can't think of many more closing songs bigger than this track, and it was always something special to see the band play this live with full-on-strope effects accompanying the blistering chorus.

So after what is a long but fucking epic journey through this record how do I still rate it? Well at the time this album was released, the Indie scene was slowly starting to build a bit of a revival after the fall-out period from the BritPop era of the mid-90's featuring the likes of Blur and Oasis. We'd had The Strokes and Interpol previously re-invigorate guitar sounds in 2001 (see blog #15 for more on that) but what a lot of Indie fans where still hoping for was a killer follow-up album from Oasis after the somewhat disappointing efforts of 'Be Here Now. For me personally this was the record Oasis, could only dream of writing at the time! With it's frenetic guitar and bass riffs pulsing at it's heart, interspersed with manic electronics and synth sounds, thunderous and accomplished drumming throughout, and vicious, snarling, intelligent vocals this record for me personally came out of nowhere and filled the void for the first time since 'Definitely Maybe' a record which even Dan Fisher thanked in this album's sleeve notes! This album really became a soundtrack for me thoughout 2002 and even now I would still give this 9 'Film-Makers' out of 10! I personally feel the couple of experimental tracks in the middle of the album just take a bit too much of a side-track in comparison to the rest of the record otherwise this would be scoring a perfect 10/10. However, the band went on to make two subsequent albums after this 'Kick up the fire and let the flames break loose' and 'Make this your own' another two great records but for me personally this debut effort encapsulates everything the band and their unqiue sound were about, before they sadly split in 2007, and I'd highly recommend it for anyone's abum collection out there!

Track 2 'Film-maker'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISH1G6ps0-w

Track 5 'Who Needs Enemies?'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfjiZm_eozE&ob=av2e

Track 9 'Been Training Dogs'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TXXZ3wLtbw&ob=av2e

Bonus Track 'Sister Soul' taken from 'The Hardware EP'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JAC5Q3Mkyo

Seen This Through and Staying
Flynny