Written 15th March 2011:
Two Door Cinema Club – Tourist History
Today’s album review comes from a band that I was lucky enough to catch the highlights of their set for their performance at last summer’s Reading Festival on the NME/Radio 1 stage (my personal favourite stage as it’s the best place to discover these types of great up and coming smaller bands!) I managed to catch their performance late on BBC3 (yes I know, I should still be actually going to these type of Festivals, but I’m gonna use the lame excuse of I’m getting too old for it now!), but at the same time watching their performance on the box helped me to take in, in full a great performance by a band I didn’t really know much about at the time. Needless to say after being very impressed by their set, I thought I must track down the album immediately! So it is now, some 6 months later, I have finally got round to buying it and this here be the review of their debut album ‘Tourist History’.
Right, so let’s take a quick look at the band first. They are a 3-piece group hailing from Bangor, Northern Ireland and are made up from Alex Trimble (Lead Vocals, Guitar & Synth), Sam Halliday (Guitar & Vocals) and Kevin Baird (Bass & Vocals). They formed in 2007 and released their first EP in January 2009 called ‘Four Words to Stand On’, before their full debut album, this here ‘Tourist History’, was released in March 2010.
So onto the album then and things get started with opening track ‘Cigarettes in the Theatre’, which also previously appeared as a track on the ‘Four Words to Stand On’ EP. The track opens with some tingling guitar before the first taste of synthesisers crash in for the first time on the album (but certainly not the last!) and the track goes into full on ‘Indie-Synth-Pop’ as I will describe it. We also get our first taste of Alex Trimble’s softly spoken, yet powerful voice that accompanies the well written lyrics by this band. Instantly from this track you can tell this album is already likely to bit a lot of fun. ‘Come Back Home’ follows on next and continues the excellent work done by the first track to encapsulate the listener in this fast-paced Indie pop record. Although the track starts off with slow synth effects, it’s not very long before guitar and bass kick in with a very bouncy rhythm throughout the verses before the song hits with its great sing-along “Now you’re on your own/Won’t you come back home/See you not that kind/To find the strength to find another way”! Trust me it’s a very catchy chorus!
Track 3 ‘Do you want it all?’ slows down the frenetic pace slightly from the opening two tracks but still continues with nice melodic Indie-Pop. The track literally repeats the line “Do you want it all?” throughout, but the melody and Alex’s voice really carry the song and it still sounds good, despite me struggling to explain just quite how in this paragraph! The track finishes with another ace frenetic electro-rock-out. ‘This is the life’ opens with what sounds like a guitar-riff played backwards, before a high-pitched but yet another easy listening riff leads into the chant-along like chorus of “If this is the life/Is the life/Who’d argue?” The track features an excellent but cleverly-worked duelled guitar ‘fight-off’ between Alex and Sam, and is a nice way to sign-off the track.
Next with its acoustic like picking at the start ‘Something good can work’ nonchalantly makes its way into the album, with an understated riff flowing gently behind hit, and this is simply a track you will find yourself nodding along to without even realising it, such it’s subtle catchiness. The same understated-ness cannot be said about previous single “I Can Talk”, with its robotic-like chant at the start followed by a 150mph guitar-riff, and then heading into an old-school disco vibe throughout before ending on the chants again, it’s a very direct track for the listener!
This is followed by track 7 and another single ‘Undercover Martyn’, which although doesn’t quite have the same musical impact as the previous track, it still hurtles along at an average speed of 75mph on the Indie-Disco Highway! I’d also just like to point out it’s also not about me being ‘undercover’ in anyway, as note the incorrect spelling of Martin in the song-title! ;o)
‘What you know’ kicks in with another high-flying guitar solo and its calypso drum rhythm making me wish I could return to my youth of being 18 and at Indie-Club with my hands freely in the air while busting some moves!
‘Eat that up, It’s good for you’ I can only describe as pure Indie-pop perfection! This whole track is incredibly catchy, and I would defy anyone to not have a wry smile appear on their face the first time they listen to this. Starting off with a church organ to open the track, it then drifts into a catchy happy-clappy rhythm, with a playful, high-pitched guitar backing it while Alex sings about being “Sky-high” and “Fighting off the space-ships”. This track clearly has a charm of its own and even ends in a crescendo of orchestration sounds, which still don’t sound out of place on it! Closing track ‘You are not stubborn’ is actually a track that is also anything but stubborn, with its jolly-romp of a beat pulsing through it, and it’s a nice little track to close of an altogether fun album throughout!
So, these three young lads from County Down, Northern Ireland, have created a fantastic fun-sounding debut album, which considering some of the sounds and effects on this album is a superb achievement from a 3-piece band. As you can probably tell I really like this album, and having already given it plenty of listens since getting hold off it I’m going to award this album 8 bags of popcorn out of 10 and make that the family-sized bags as well, as this is a really good fun album to listen too! If I’m being honest I haven’t been this impressed with a debut album by a 3-piece band since a band you may have heard off called ‘Muse’ turned up on the scene back in 1999, so I’m hoping these lads are a good one to watch out for in the long-term future as well.
History Tourist ‘Flynny’
Tuesday, 15 March 2011
Friday, 11 March 2011
Flynndie Reviews - Blog #10: R.E.M. - Collapse into Now
Written 11th March 2011:
R.E.M. – Collapse into Now
Well, well, well, I haven’t written one of these album reviews for a while, but lately I’ve really been getting back into my Indie bands with a burning passion recently (not that my passion for Indie music ever dies of course!) but even by my standards I’ve been listening to a hell of a lot new alternative but kick-ass guitar-inspired sounds! Ranging from core Indie-rock, to acoustic-sessions, to electro-funk, to even weirdo Radiohead stuff and all topped off with a pinch of Folk-Rock! All of that has added up to the ingredients of one hell of a tasty Indie-Recipe, Yum-Yum!!
Anyway, today’s review is of a band that seems to have stood on the shoulders of the alternative, Indie guitar-God forever, and probably at some point during there long career covered each of the Indie-Ingredient Genres above from one of their many albums. Yes that’s right this week marked the return of ‘Rapid Eye Movement’, or more commonly known as R.E.M with their 15th studio album (yes 15th!) ‘Collapse into Now’. Usually, I cover a bit of history of the band I’m reviewing, but in the case of R.E.M. that would take up most of this blog itself so in short, they formed in 1980, consist of Michael Stipe (Vocals), Peter Buck (Guitar), Mike Mills (Bass) and formerly Bill Berry (Drums). Probably their most well-known song was ‘Losing My Religion’ from the 1991 ‘Out of Time’, and my personal favourite album by them was 1998’s release ‘Up’. That is all for now!
Ok, so onto 2011 and ‘Collapse into Now’. This is the band’s first album since 2008’s ‘Accelerate’, that I personally thought was a great return to form by them and took them back to their early ‘alternative, guitar-rock’ roots, which I think suits the band at their best alongside their low-fi acoustic/country offerings. So the album opener ‘Discoverer’ kicks things off with some jagged guitar from Messer Buck before the familiar ‘Hey-Hey’ vocals from Stipe come in. It’s a reasonable opener for the album and sets a nice precedent of the direction of Georgia’s finest latest offerings.
Next up ‘All the Best’ follows, which maintains the band at ‘coasting-rock’ as a like to call it, and by that I mean the track has a fast up-beat rhythm to it as in it ‘coasts’ along nicely, which swings into a chorus and so forth. Track 3 ‘UBerlin’ was a ‘love at first sight, errrm, first listen’ track for me. This is R.E.M going slightly back to their ‘Country and Western’ style sound from circa 1991-96, a particular style I always liked and thought suits them and particular Stipe’s voice. I love this track and the lyrics which seem to paint a picture of how Stipe views how modern life evolves possibly all too quickly these days. Well, that’s how I interpret his lyrics in this particular track, but that has always been a fascination with this band for me, attempting to decrypt Stipe’s purposefully cryptic lyrics.
We then move onto ‘Oh My Heart’ which I know from a previous interview with Stipe that this song was written about the City New Orleans. This is another track I liked upon first listen and deliberately has a ‘French’ feel to it as oft-associated with New Orleans with its opening brass-horn and accordion throughout. A very pleasant track, and in some ways, possibly a follow-up track to ‘Houston’ from ‘Accelerate’. ‘It Happened Today’ is another upbeat acoustic affair, nothing too special in my opinion but a nice track all the same. ‘Every Day Is Yours to Win’ follows and is slowed down R.E.M number which reminded me off their sound from their ‘New Adventures in Hi-Fi’ days, but again a very nice, listenable track which I enjoyed.
Earlier single ‘Mine Smell Like Honey’, starts off sounding like the opening of 80’s TV show Magnum P.I. (well that was my first thought anyway), but is again another fast paced rock track with a sing-along chorus with nice backing vocals from Mike Mills. ‘Walk It Back’ is a beautiful slow piano-driven ballad and another real highlight of the album. ‘Alligator_Aviator_Autopilot_Antimatter’ for a start is an awesome song title, and is quick paced guitar-riff driven song, with a marching drum-beat throughout and Stipe sharing vocals with Canadian-electronic artist ‘Peaches’ through the verses and chorus while Buck nails an epic solo later in the track. ‘That Someone Is You’ keeps up the pace of the album with another fast track and the classic Stipe-Mills punchy one-two vocals in the chorus.
With yet another great song title ‘Me, Marlon Brando, Marlon Brando and I’ is I’d imagine the band’s acoustic offering as tribute to the late actor, and is a very touching melodic piece as such, with Buck in fine form, possibly on mandolin, as he has been known to play on R.E.M albums in the past. I actually adore this track and as a strong, emotional song, this is possibly my favourite track on the album. Final track ‘Blue’, really reminds me initially of the track ‘Country Feedback’ from ‘Out of Time’ merged with the amazing track ‘E-Bow the Letter’ also from ‘New Adventures in Hi-Fi’, in terms of its slow-deliberate pacing and the echo-type effect used on Stipe’s voice for the track but particularly as it finally sees Stipe re-united with Patti Smith in a vocal duet on a R.E.M album for the first time since the aforementioned 1996 album.
So as you can probably gather from this review, I personally really rate this album by R.E.M. and not purely just as a fan of the band. During this review I’ve made a lot of comparisons to tracks having a familiar feel to R.E.M. songs of yesteryear, and while this may cause alarm bells that the band could just simply being re-hashing older material, I still feel that the band have actually written some rather strong, touching and moving songs more with subtle nods to tracks of their past legacy, rather than simply re-hashing older tracks. For me this really is a sublime R.E.M album and features some really strong, thought provoking tracks on it.
Sometimes I tend to feel some past R.E.M albums can be ‘marmite’ albums as such with some tracks you simply love and others that don’t tend to have the same type of impact on you, but I feel this particular album really keeps the listeners’ attention throughout and for this reason I’m going to give it 9 Collapses out of 10! This is a really strong R.E.M. album and I’d even go to say that this is their best release for over a decade, and even a full 21 years after forming the band still have plenty to offer and that is something I can only admire about these great, great musicians whom master their craft year-upon-year!
Think I’m Going to Collapse Now ‘Flynny’
R.E.M. – Collapse into Now
Well, well, well, I haven’t written one of these album reviews for a while, but lately I’ve really been getting back into my Indie bands with a burning passion recently (not that my passion for Indie music ever dies of course!) but even by my standards I’ve been listening to a hell of a lot new alternative but kick-ass guitar-inspired sounds! Ranging from core Indie-rock, to acoustic-sessions, to electro-funk, to even weirdo Radiohead stuff and all topped off with a pinch of Folk-Rock! All of that has added up to the ingredients of one hell of a tasty Indie-Recipe, Yum-Yum!!
Anyway, today’s review is of a band that seems to have stood on the shoulders of the alternative, Indie guitar-God forever, and probably at some point during there long career covered each of the Indie-Ingredient Genres above from one of their many albums. Yes that’s right this week marked the return of ‘Rapid Eye Movement’, or more commonly known as R.E.M with their 15th studio album (yes 15th!) ‘Collapse into Now’. Usually, I cover a bit of history of the band I’m reviewing, but in the case of R.E.M. that would take up most of this blog itself so in short, they formed in 1980, consist of Michael Stipe (Vocals), Peter Buck (Guitar), Mike Mills (Bass) and formerly Bill Berry (Drums). Probably their most well-known song was ‘Losing My Religion’ from the 1991 ‘Out of Time’, and my personal favourite album by them was 1998’s release ‘Up’. That is all for now!
Ok, so onto 2011 and ‘Collapse into Now’. This is the band’s first album since 2008’s ‘Accelerate’, that I personally thought was a great return to form by them and took them back to their early ‘alternative, guitar-rock’ roots, which I think suits the band at their best alongside their low-fi acoustic/country offerings. So the album opener ‘Discoverer’ kicks things off with some jagged guitar from Messer Buck before the familiar ‘Hey-Hey’ vocals from Stipe come in. It’s a reasonable opener for the album and sets a nice precedent of the direction of Georgia’s finest latest offerings.
Next up ‘All the Best’ follows, which maintains the band at ‘coasting-rock’ as a like to call it, and by that I mean the track has a fast up-beat rhythm to it as in it ‘coasts’ along nicely, which swings into a chorus and so forth. Track 3 ‘UBerlin’ was a ‘love at first sight, errrm, first listen’ track for me. This is R.E.M going slightly back to their ‘Country and Western’ style sound from circa 1991-96, a particular style I always liked and thought suits them and particular Stipe’s voice. I love this track and the lyrics which seem to paint a picture of how Stipe views how modern life evolves possibly all too quickly these days. Well, that’s how I interpret his lyrics in this particular track, but that has always been a fascination with this band for me, attempting to decrypt Stipe’s purposefully cryptic lyrics.
We then move onto ‘Oh My Heart’ which I know from a previous interview with Stipe that this song was written about the City New Orleans. This is another track I liked upon first listen and deliberately has a ‘French’ feel to it as oft-associated with New Orleans with its opening brass-horn and accordion throughout. A very pleasant track, and in some ways, possibly a follow-up track to ‘Houston’ from ‘Accelerate’. ‘It Happened Today’ is another upbeat acoustic affair, nothing too special in my opinion but a nice track all the same. ‘Every Day Is Yours to Win’ follows and is slowed down R.E.M number which reminded me off their sound from their ‘New Adventures in Hi-Fi’ days, but again a very nice, listenable track which I enjoyed.
Earlier single ‘Mine Smell Like Honey’, starts off sounding like the opening of 80’s TV show Magnum P.I. (well that was my first thought anyway), but is again another fast paced rock track with a sing-along chorus with nice backing vocals from Mike Mills. ‘Walk It Back’ is a beautiful slow piano-driven ballad and another real highlight of the album. ‘Alligator_Aviator_Autopilot_Antimatter’ for a start is an awesome song title, and is quick paced guitar-riff driven song, with a marching drum-beat throughout and Stipe sharing vocals with Canadian-electronic artist ‘Peaches’ through the verses and chorus while Buck nails an epic solo later in the track. ‘That Someone Is You’ keeps up the pace of the album with another fast track and the classic Stipe-Mills punchy one-two vocals in the chorus.
With yet another great song title ‘Me, Marlon Brando, Marlon Brando and I’ is I’d imagine the band’s acoustic offering as tribute to the late actor, and is a very touching melodic piece as such, with Buck in fine form, possibly on mandolin, as he has been known to play on R.E.M albums in the past. I actually adore this track and as a strong, emotional song, this is possibly my favourite track on the album. Final track ‘Blue’, really reminds me initially of the track ‘Country Feedback’ from ‘Out of Time’ merged with the amazing track ‘E-Bow the Letter’ also from ‘New Adventures in Hi-Fi’, in terms of its slow-deliberate pacing and the echo-type effect used on Stipe’s voice for the track but particularly as it finally sees Stipe re-united with Patti Smith in a vocal duet on a R.E.M album for the first time since the aforementioned 1996 album.
So as you can probably gather from this review, I personally really rate this album by R.E.M. and not purely just as a fan of the band. During this review I’ve made a lot of comparisons to tracks having a familiar feel to R.E.M. songs of yesteryear, and while this may cause alarm bells that the band could just simply being re-hashing older material, I still feel that the band have actually written some rather strong, touching and moving songs more with subtle nods to tracks of their past legacy, rather than simply re-hashing older tracks. For me this really is a sublime R.E.M album and features some really strong, thought provoking tracks on it.
Sometimes I tend to feel some past R.E.M albums can be ‘marmite’ albums as such with some tracks you simply love and others that don’t tend to have the same type of impact on you, but I feel this particular album really keeps the listeners’ attention throughout and for this reason I’m going to give it 9 Collapses out of 10! This is a really strong R.E.M. album and I’d even go to say that this is their best release for over a decade, and even a full 21 years after forming the band still have plenty to offer and that is something I can only admire about these great, great musicians whom master their craft year-upon-year!
Think I’m Going to Collapse Now ‘Flynny’
Monday, 14 December 2009
Flynndie Reviews - Blog #9: Stapleton - Rest and Be Thankful
Written 14th December 2009:
Stapleton – Rest and Be Thankful
“Stapleton? Never heard of them!” you’re probably thinking. “Are they new?” Well, to be honest I don’t know a great a deal about them myself but I will give you an overview of what I do know about them before reviewing the album. Ok so I first heard of Stapleton when they were the opening support band when for Idlewild at The Kentish Town Forum waaaaaaay back in March 2000, so that answers the question of how long they have been around for to start with. I was quite impressed with them live, with their punchy start/stop/start/stop Indie rock and catchy riffs and choruses, and even after hearing a few tracks on the radio, but for one reason or another I never did go out and buy their debut album ‘Rebuild the Pier’, so ended up not really knowing about what happened to them.
Fast forward 9 years and after a great conversation with a friend about do you remember ‘such and such’ band supporting ‘such and such’ band over the years I decided to find out whatever happened to this Scottish 4-piece. Well turns out they are still going strong despite even finding info about them on the internet a bit of a task in itself, but anyway I managed to get hold off their most recent album ‘Rest and Be Thankful’ (their 5th album I believe!) and this here blog be my thoughts.
Right, so ‘From Wood to Ridge’ opens and sets the tone for the rest of the album with its melodic rhythm trundling along patched with soft rock riffs interspersed throughout. It’s a nice opening track to the album but nothing that is gonna set the world alight, but with the anonymity of this band I don’t think they are concerned with that in the slightest. ‘Versus the Underground’ continues with the soft rock action and its steady drumming throughout with the nice catchy hook ‘and its goodbye to company’ coming in just before the chorus.
‘Tonight We Will Carry Him Home’ is not only a kick-ass great song title but also the first track I really get into when I listen to this album. Not quite sure why, I guess I just like the simple riff that repeats through the opening verse and the chorus is quite strong on this track as well. We then move on to ‘Absent Friends’, a much more slowed down track with another gentle guitar picking through it. Not a personal favourite of mine, but an inoffensive track all the less.
However, ‘Passing Places’ is one of my more favourite tracks on the album. With the most up-tempo rock opening to any track on the album this song coasts along nicely and features some nice lyrics probably about a relationship with another person as tends be the heart of great song lyrics, “Tell me when you are leaving/I’ll pretend that it’s ok/I can count the words without the use of fingers!”, good stuff. ‘Dear Dusk’, keeps up the newly lifted pace of the album and is another track I particularly like on the record, with another riff that loops through it but paces the song along nicely.
Track 7 ‘Borovets’, whatever that means, goes back to a slowed down affair before possibly my highlight of the album, a bit of a rock out towards the end of the track “I wish I had told you all that I wanted too, I wish I had told you all that I wanted too….” class stuff!! ‘Chez Chef’, was part of a former EP I think, but opens with a great little drum riff followed by a jangly guitar, before slowing for the chorus. It’s another great little track that helps the album along nicely and the verses and chorus will hook you whether you want them to or not.
‘Asking For You’ is, wooooooah, an instrumental! Haven’t heard one of them on an album for a while!! It’s alright though, but just goes on a bit too long in my opinion. Next we have ‘Birds in Formation’, this is a classic slowed down rock track before going into an up building verse, and this is another highlight of the album and a really great song. Last track ‘End and End Well’, in my opinion doesn’t end the album too well. It alright, a fun romp of a track but pales in comparison to its predecessor.
So was this journey of reminiscing about an obscure support band from 9 years ago worth it then?? Well in my opinion I really do like this album, it can be a little hit and miss and if you like your Indie heavier I would suggest to look elsewhere, but if you want a bit of a chilled out, melodic album to stick on as some background noise for doing some work, then this is recommended stuff, in fact I will give this 7 Rests and Thanks out of 10, so worth a look. I’m still hoping to obtain that debut album ‘Rebuild the Pier’ some nearly 10 years later as well, but have a feeling it may have been deleted, so if anyone can point me in the right direction of that one it would be most appreciated.
Thankfully Resting ‘Flynny’
Stapleton – Rest and Be Thankful
“Stapleton? Never heard of them!” you’re probably thinking. “Are they new?” Well, to be honest I don’t know a great a deal about them myself but I will give you an overview of what I do know about them before reviewing the album. Ok so I first heard of Stapleton when they were the opening support band when for Idlewild at The Kentish Town Forum waaaaaaay back in March 2000, so that answers the question of how long they have been around for to start with. I was quite impressed with them live, with their punchy start/stop/start/stop Indie rock and catchy riffs and choruses, and even after hearing a few tracks on the radio, but for one reason or another I never did go out and buy their debut album ‘Rebuild the Pier’, so ended up not really knowing about what happened to them.
Fast forward 9 years and after a great conversation with a friend about do you remember ‘such and such’ band supporting ‘such and such’ band over the years I decided to find out whatever happened to this Scottish 4-piece. Well turns out they are still going strong despite even finding info about them on the internet a bit of a task in itself, but anyway I managed to get hold off their most recent album ‘Rest and Be Thankful’ (their 5th album I believe!) and this here blog be my thoughts.
Right, so ‘From Wood to Ridge’ opens and sets the tone for the rest of the album with its melodic rhythm trundling along patched with soft rock riffs interspersed throughout. It’s a nice opening track to the album but nothing that is gonna set the world alight, but with the anonymity of this band I don’t think they are concerned with that in the slightest. ‘Versus the Underground’ continues with the soft rock action and its steady drumming throughout with the nice catchy hook ‘and its goodbye to company’ coming in just before the chorus.
‘Tonight We Will Carry Him Home’ is not only a kick-ass great song title but also the first track I really get into when I listen to this album. Not quite sure why, I guess I just like the simple riff that repeats through the opening verse and the chorus is quite strong on this track as well. We then move on to ‘Absent Friends’, a much more slowed down track with another gentle guitar picking through it. Not a personal favourite of mine, but an inoffensive track all the less.
However, ‘Passing Places’ is one of my more favourite tracks on the album. With the most up-tempo rock opening to any track on the album this song coasts along nicely and features some nice lyrics probably about a relationship with another person as tends be the heart of great song lyrics, “Tell me when you are leaving/I’ll pretend that it’s ok/I can count the words without the use of fingers!”, good stuff. ‘Dear Dusk’, keeps up the newly lifted pace of the album and is another track I particularly like on the record, with another riff that loops through it but paces the song along nicely.
Track 7 ‘Borovets’, whatever that means, goes back to a slowed down affair before possibly my highlight of the album, a bit of a rock out towards the end of the track “I wish I had told you all that I wanted too, I wish I had told you all that I wanted too….” class stuff!! ‘Chez Chef’, was part of a former EP I think, but opens with a great little drum riff followed by a jangly guitar, before slowing for the chorus. It’s another great little track that helps the album along nicely and the verses and chorus will hook you whether you want them to or not.
‘Asking For You’ is, wooooooah, an instrumental! Haven’t heard one of them on an album for a while!! It’s alright though, but just goes on a bit too long in my opinion. Next we have ‘Birds in Formation’, this is a classic slowed down rock track before going into an up building verse, and this is another highlight of the album and a really great song. Last track ‘End and End Well’, in my opinion doesn’t end the album too well. It alright, a fun romp of a track but pales in comparison to its predecessor.
So was this journey of reminiscing about an obscure support band from 9 years ago worth it then?? Well in my opinion I really do like this album, it can be a little hit and miss and if you like your Indie heavier I would suggest to look elsewhere, but if you want a bit of a chilled out, melodic album to stick on as some background noise for doing some work, then this is recommended stuff, in fact I will give this 7 Rests and Thanks out of 10, so worth a look. I’m still hoping to obtain that debut album ‘Rebuild the Pier’ some nearly 10 years later as well, but have a feeling it may have been deleted, so if anyone can point me in the right direction of that one it would be most appreciated.
Thankfully Resting ‘Flynny’
Wednesday, 28 October 2009
Flynndie Reviews - Blog #8: Muse - The Resistance
Written 28th October 2009:
Muse – The Resistance
Muse, without question the greatest live band, ever, ever, ever! (In my humble opinion of course, this is the internet after all!)
Ok, so is there anyone out there who actually doesn’t like Muse? Really? If so you’re probably not really a fan of great Indie music bands so I’m wondering why you have ended up on my Blog dedicated to ‘cool for 15 minute Indie Bands? Anyway rant over lets a have brief history lesson of Muse.
So Muse came on the scene circa 1998, and, if my maths is any good, have actually been going for just over a good decade now. I remember one of their early singles being ‘Uno’, before I was lucky enough to see them record an ‘X-Fm’ session on the day their debut album ‘Showbiz’ came out. Obviously at the time I didn’t really know much of their material at this point but came away thinking, “frigging hell these guys make a lot of noise and create a good sound for a three piece!!”
Much anticipated 2nd album ‘Origin of Symmetry’ followed this and was really when they started to get a bit more recognised and recognition with hit singles ‘Plug In Baby’, ‘New Born’ ‘Bliss’ and ‘Feeling Good’, before the band hit the big time with the arrival of 3rd album ‘Absolution’. After another string of successful hits and rave live reviews Muse had hit the big time, erm, big time!! 4th album ‘Black Holes and Revelations’, was massively anticipated, and being the cool as fudge band that they are, not only did they pull out another great album from the bag, but some argued that it was their best to date.
So with a band now reaching a following of epic proportions in not only the world of Indie music, but music in general how does their 5th album The Resistance stand up, eh?? Short answer not bad, but let’s do this properly and go through it track-by-track.
The album kicks off with ‘Uprising’, a very electronic sort of track, with a rhythmic bass line beating through it, and sound bites ‘nicked’ from Doctor Who in the background (well I’m pretty sure it’s Doctor Who!). This is a really decent opening track and gets the album off to a good start. Next up title track ‘Resistance’ follows and this is classic Muse territory with Matt Bellamy’s obsession with space coming through very strongly in this track. The lyrics “Could Be Wrong, Could Be Wrong” are the first time on the album where I think this record sounds a bit Queen-esque, but certainly not the last!!
‘Undisclosed Desires’ is an amazing song. The band have openly admitted in the past they would be keen to record a future bond theme (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8257767.stm), but I would say a track like this would make the perfect bond theme, with its synth based opening and rhythm throughout, it’s string-laden chorus and it’s whispered backing vocals from Dom over the 2nd verse. This is an amazing, amazing song!!
First single from the album ‘United States of Eurasia’ follows, and is the 2nd track on the album that makes me thinks of ‘Queen’ again, although it still has a distinctly Muse feel to it. It starts with a slow piano melody and softly sung lyrics before it goes into a more epic sounding-prog rock track, with the occasional vocal pieces that reminds me of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ like vocals. I guessing the ‘+ Collateral Damage’ part of this song is the little peaceful like piano at the end of the track, with the fighter jet engines appearing in the background. No really this does happen!! ‘Guiding Light’ opens with massive ‘stadium rock’ like drumming. More of a slowed down rock track with a SUPER MASSIVE guitar solo thrown into the middle of it. Not my personal favourite track on the album in all honesty.
However, I do like ‘Unnatural Selection’, a 7 minute epic of a rock track, starting with a church like organ, before speeding up into an accelerating guitar riff. This track, like, totally, rocks dude!! ‘Mk Ultra’ continues the speeded up, space age rock, with another mental guitar riff opening it. We are still like, totally, rocking here to the max dude!! Now things get interesting with ‘I Belong to You’, a jazz, funk fusion of a track, with Matt Bellamy even pulling off some lyrics in French!! Muse being overly-extravagant? Never!! This is what I would call a ‘marmite’ track, you’ll either love it or hate it, I actually favour the former off the two.
And then we get to the final three tracks off the album, the much talked about ‘Exogenesis’, which is supposed to be a symphony consisting of 3 parts, ‘Overture’, ‘Cross-Pollination’ and ‘Redemption’. Each track seems to have its own purpose in building to an epic finale for an album that overall does nothing to hide its roots of the question of “Are we really alone or is there something really out there?” I’m not too sure about this three part symphony in all honesty, but I must confess I do like 'Part 1: Overture' musically. I guess the purpose of the symphony is to complete the 'story' of this album.
So, overall then I like this album generally, but in comparison to the earlier Muse albums and the bigger picture of all things (see what I did there!?), it’s not as mind-blowing but still a great record to listen to for some serious escapism. I think I shall mark this one 7 Resistors out of 10, so another solid album by Muse, but they have done better material in the past in my opinion for sure. Also, if you do get hold of it and like it for being the experimental album that it is, then I would highly recommend that you get hold off the 1998 album 'Six' by Mansun, an album even more ambitious and barmier than this Muse effort.
The Resistance ‘Flynny‘
Muse – The Resistance
Muse, without question the greatest live band, ever, ever, ever! (In my humble opinion of course, this is the internet after all!)
Ok, so is there anyone out there who actually doesn’t like Muse? Really? If so you’re probably not really a fan of great Indie music bands so I’m wondering why you have ended up on my Blog dedicated to ‘cool for 15 minute Indie Bands? Anyway rant over lets a have brief history lesson of Muse.
So Muse came on the scene circa 1998, and, if my maths is any good, have actually been going for just over a good decade now. I remember one of their early singles being ‘Uno’, before I was lucky enough to see them record an ‘X-Fm’ session on the day their debut album ‘Showbiz’ came out. Obviously at the time I didn’t really know much of their material at this point but came away thinking, “frigging hell these guys make a lot of noise and create a good sound for a three piece!!”
Much anticipated 2nd album ‘Origin of Symmetry’ followed this and was really when they started to get a bit more recognised and recognition with hit singles ‘Plug In Baby’, ‘New Born’ ‘Bliss’ and ‘Feeling Good’, before the band hit the big time with the arrival of 3rd album ‘Absolution’. After another string of successful hits and rave live reviews Muse had hit the big time, erm, big time!! 4th album ‘Black Holes and Revelations’, was massively anticipated, and being the cool as fudge band that they are, not only did they pull out another great album from the bag, but some argued that it was their best to date.
So with a band now reaching a following of epic proportions in not only the world of Indie music, but music in general how does their 5th album The Resistance stand up, eh?? Short answer not bad, but let’s do this properly and go through it track-by-track.
The album kicks off with ‘Uprising’, a very electronic sort of track, with a rhythmic bass line beating through it, and sound bites ‘nicked’ from Doctor Who in the background (well I’m pretty sure it’s Doctor Who!). This is a really decent opening track and gets the album off to a good start. Next up title track ‘Resistance’ follows and this is classic Muse territory with Matt Bellamy’s obsession with space coming through very strongly in this track. The lyrics “Could Be Wrong, Could Be Wrong” are the first time on the album where I think this record sounds a bit Queen-esque, but certainly not the last!!
‘Undisclosed Desires’ is an amazing song. The band have openly admitted in the past they would be keen to record a future bond theme (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8257767.stm), but I would say a track like this would make the perfect bond theme, with its synth based opening and rhythm throughout, it’s string-laden chorus and it’s whispered backing vocals from Dom over the 2nd verse. This is an amazing, amazing song!!
First single from the album ‘United States of Eurasia’ follows, and is the 2nd track on the album that makes me thinks of ‘Queen’ again, although it still has a distinctly Muse feel to it. It starts with a slow piano melody and softly sung lyrics before it goes into a more epic sounding-prog rock track, with the occasional vocal pieces that reminds me of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ like vocals. I guessing the ‘+ Collateral Damage’ part of this song is the little peaceful like piano at the end of the track, with the fighter jet engines appearing in the background. No really this does happen!! ‘Guiding Light’ opens with massive ‘stadium rock’ like drumming. More of a slowed down rock track with a SUPER MASSIVE guitar solo thrown into the middle of it. Not my personal favourite track on the album in all honesty.
However, I do like ‘Unnatural Selection’, a 7 minute epic of a rock track, starting with a church like organ, before speeding up into an accelerating guitar riff. This track, like, totally, rocks dude!! ‘Mk Ultra’ continues the speeded up, space age rock, with another mental guitar riff opening it. We are still like, totally, rocking here to the max dude!! Now things get interesting with ‘I Belong to You’, a jazz, funk fusion of a track, with Matt Bellamy even pulling off some lyrics in French!! Muse being overly-extravagant? Never!! This is what I would call a ‘marmite’ track, you’ll either love it or hate it, I actually favour the former off the two.
And then we get to the final three tracks off the album, the much talked about ‘Exogenesis’, which is supposed to be a symphony consisting of 3 parts, ‘Overture’, ‘Cross-Pollination’ and ‘Redemption’. Each track seems to have its own purpose in building to an epic finale for an album that overall does nothing to hide its roots of the question of “Are we really alone or is there something really out there?” I’m not too sure about this three part symphony in all honesty, but I must confess I do like 'Part 1: Overture' musically. I guess the purpose of the symphony is to complete the 'story' of this album.
So, overall then I like this album generally, but in comparison to the earlier Muse albums and the bigger picture of all things (see what I did there!?), it’s not as mind-blowing but still a great record to listen to for some serious escapism. I think I shall mark this one 7 Resistors out of 10, so another solid album by Muse, but they have done better material in the past in my opinion for sure. Also, if you do get hold of it and like it for being the experimental album that it is, then I would highly recommend that you get hold off the 1998 album 'Six' by Mansun, an album even more ambitious and barmier than this Muse effort.
The Resistance ‘Flynny‘
Tuesday, 20 October 2009
Flynndie Reviews - Blog #7: Arctic Monkeys - Humbug
Written 20th October 2009:
Arctic Monkeys – Humbug
Who the fuck are Arctic Monkeys?
Well, to be honest at first I really wasn’t too sure about the Arctic Monkeys. Alright ‘I Bet You Look Good on the Dance Floor’ was a decent track, but as Alex says at the start of the video “Don’t Believe the Hype”. That is exactly what I thought upon hearing their 1st album ‘Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not’ and following singles ‘When the Sun Goes Down’ and ‘View from the Afternoon’ which subsequently featured on the ‘Who the Fuck Are Arctic Monkeys?’ EP.
After this ‘Fluorescent Adolescence’ was released, the 1st single from they’re forthcoming 2nd album ‘Favourite Worst Nightmare’ which radio stations across the UK were all over quicker than a fly to shit! I fucking hated it and to be honest it’s still not a particular favourite track off mine by them, and I used to curse it every time it came on the radio.
What changed all this however was the off chance that I caught their Saturday night highlight slot at Glastonbury 2007 as by this point, due to my stubbornness, I still had not heard much off their new material from the 2nd album at this time! After watching this performance by them though, it finally dawned on me that these boys can really fucking play well and do actually have some awesome tunes in their locker.
After this I went out and brought the 2nd album (which I gave a brief review in Blog #1 of Flynndie Reviews, fact fans!!), and became hooked, even then going out and buying the 1st album!! So by the time the imminent release of the 3rd album came round I was like, ‘right I ain’t gonna fucking miss being on the band wagon this time, especially with Josh Homme’s involvement’, but after this previous hate/love relationship with the Monkeys how do I feel having had a few listens to their 3rd offering, ‘Humbug’? Read on to find out……
Ok, so the album opens with a short, sharp quick drum solo, before going into menacing guitar heavy riffs which straightaway you can tell Mr. Homme has had his fingers in at some point. I actually quite like this opening track and feel it is a good indication quite early off the major change in-direction this album takes from the 1st two offerings from the Monkeys. Even from as early as this track, 'My Propellor', you may already notice Alex’s voice sounds a bit different on this record in comparison to the previous two LPs, more dark and mature sounding in my opinion.
Next up is 1st single from the album ‘Crying Lightning’, again a pretty solid rock track with a deep, heavy bass line coursing through its veins. I wasn’t too sure about it when I first heard it but it seems to get better with each listen. This is then followed by ‘Dangerous Animals’, another track that seems to get better with each listen with a definite nod towards the sounds of ‘Queens of the Stone Age’ particularly with its spellings off the words of the song title throughout and over the chorus.
‘Secret Door’ starts with a loose, slow guitar riff before going into the 1st melancholic rock track on the album, this one doesn’t blow me away by any means but again I found I quite liked it the other day. ‘Potion Approaching’ is a ‘live’ favourite of the band I believe, it starts with jagged guitars and a bass line that coasts through its chorus, before in the 2nd half of the track it goes on into a full on trippy riff?!?! I’m wondering what ‘Potions’ the Arctic’s were on when they wrote this track?
The middle of the album is the weakest part of the album for me. First, ‘Fire and the Thud’, is possibly the weakest track on the album another chilled out, acoustic type track, before next single ‘Cornerstone’. Again, this track doesn’t really do anything much for me, it coasts along steadily with jangly guitars, but doesn’t have too much about it. I guess it’s appropriate for radio play! ‘Dance Little Liar’ is another slowed down affair with some droning guitar sounds in the background.
Thankfully, ‘Pretty Visitors’ really picks things up again, easily my favourite track on the album, it starts with a haunting organ piece before going into a fast catchy bursts of chorus before the big sing-a-long chorus and then the immortal line ‘What came first? The chicken or the dickhead?’ What a classic line!!! Last track ‘The Jeweller’s Hand’ is another quiet, slow track, and hasn’t again caught my attention too much on previous listens.
So, a bit of a mixed bag of a review on this one then, I think I shall award it 6 Bah, Humbugs!! out of 10, but this album does tend to be a bit of a grower. I just think in comparison to the 1st two albums, this is an album that I won’t listen to as much in the future as I have done with the other two in the past. I appreciate that they have tried something a bit different with this record and let’s face it you can’t blame them for wanting to go out to the desert to work with Josh Homme, but I still think this is their weakest album to date and ‘Favourite Worst Nightmare’ is still my, erm, favourite!!
Bah, Humbug!! Flynny
Arctic Monkeys – Humbug
Who the fuck are Arctic Monkeys?
Well, to be honest at first I really wasn’t too sure about the Arctic Monkeys. Alright ‘I Bet You Look Good on the Dance Floor’ was a decent track, but as Alex says at the start of the video “Don’t Believe the Hype”. That is exactly what I thought upon hearing their 1st album ‘Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not’ and following singles ‘When the Sun Goes Down’ and ‘View from the Afternoon’ which subsequently featured on the ‘Who the Fuck Are Arctic Monkeys?’ EP.
After this ‘Fluorescent Adolescence’ was released, the 1st single from they’re forthcoming 2nd album ‘Favourite Worst Nightmare’ which radio stations across the UK were all over quicker than a fly to shit! I fucking hated it and to be honest it’s still not a particular favourite track off mine by them, and I used to curse it every time it came on the radio.
What changed all this however was the off chance that I caught their Saturday night highlight slot at Glastonbury 2007 as by this point, due to my stubbornness, I still had not heard much off their new material from the 2nd album at this time! After watching this performance by them though, it finally dawned on me that these boys can really fucking play well and do actually have some awesome tunes in their locker.
After this I went out and brought the 2nd album (which I gave a brief review in Blog #1 of Flynndie Reviews, fact fans!!), and became hooked, even then going out and buying the 1st album!! So by the time the imminent release of the 3rd album came round I was like, ‘right I ain’t gonna fucking miss being on the band wagon this time, especially with Josh Homme’s involvement’, but after this previous hate/love relationship with the Monkeys how do I feel having had a few listens to their 3rd offering, ‘Humbug’? Read on to find out……
Ok, so the album opens with a short, sharp quick drum solo, before going into menacing guitar heavy riffs which straightaway you can tell Mr. Homme has had his fingers in at some point. I actually quite like this opening track and feel it is a good indication quite early off the major change in-direction this album takes from the 1st two offerings from the Monkeys. Even from as early as this track, 'My Propellor', you may already notice Alex’s voice sounds a bit different on this record in comparison to the previous two LPs, more dark and mature sounding in my opinion.
Next up is 1st single from the album ‘Crying Lightning’, again a pretty solid rock track with a deep, heavy bass line coursing through its veins. I wasn’t too sure about it when I first heard it but it seems to get better with each listen. This is then followed by ‘Dangerous Animals’, another track that seems to get better with each listen with a definite nod towards the sounds of ‘Queens of the Stone Age’ particularly with its spellings off the words of the song title throughout and over the chorus.
‘Secret Door’ starts with a loose, slow guitar riff before going into the 1st melancholic rock track on the album, this one doesn’t blow me away by any means but again I found I quite liked it the other day. ‘Potion Approaching’ is a ‘live’ favourite of the band I believe, it starts with jagged guitars and a bass line that coasts through its chorus, before in the 2nd half of the track it goes on into a full on trippy riff?!?! I’m wondering what ‘Potions’ the Arctic’s were on when they wrote this track?
The middle of the album is the weakest part of the album for me. First, ‘Fire and the Thud’, is possibly the weakest track on the album another chilled out, acoustic type track, before next single ‘Cornerstone’. Again, this track doesn’t really do anything much for me, it coasts along steadily with jangly guitars, but doesn’t have too much about it. I guess it’s appropriate for radio play! ‘Dance Little Liar’ is another slowed down affair with some droning guitar sounds in the background.
Thankfully, ‘Pretty Visitors’ really picks things up again, easily my favourite track on the album, it starts with a haunting organ piece before going into a fast catchy bursts of chorus before the big sing-a-long chorus and then the immortal line ‘What came first? The chicken or the dickhead?’ What a classic line!!! Last track ‘The Jeweller’s Hand’ is another quiet, slow track, and hasn’t again caught my attention too much on previous listens.
So, a bit of a mixed bag of a review on this one then, I think I shall award it 6 Bah, Humbugs!! out of 10, but this album does tend to be a bit of a grower. I just think in comparison to the 1st two albums, this is an album that I won’t listen to as much in the future as I have done with the other two in the past. I appreciate that they have tried something a bit different with this record and let’s face it you can’t blame them for wanting to go out to the desert to work with Josh Homme, but I still think this is their weakest album to date and ‘Favourite Worst Nightmare’ is still my, erm, favourite!!
Bah, Humbug!! Flynny
Wednesday, 14 October 2009
Flynndie Reviews - Blog #6: Nine Black Alps - Locked Out from the Inside
Written 14th October 2009:
Nine Black Alps – Locked Out from the Inside
Erm, what’s up doc??
Okey-dokey, after a vote by ‘the people’, I’ve come to write Blog #6 of Flynndie Reviews and today’s blog will be a review of an album by what I would call a ‘proper’ band Nine Black Alps. Seriously, I like these guys, no flashy gimmicks, no whoring themselves to the media, just four honest Manchester lads who you can tell are passionate about what they do, and what’s that you may ask? They write fucking great Indie rock songs, which if you’re reading this blog will hopefully appeal to you too!! Ok, so let’s get on with this.
Right as always I like to give a bit of an overview of the band’s previous material, so in this case let me just say their debut ‘Everything Is’, Is Everything you would want from a debut album, cracking tunes from start to finish, I listened to it a lot when I got hold of it and listened to it again the other week, which was a major kick up the arse reminder of how good it is.
‘Love/Hate’ followed this and I personally quite liked it, but felt it was a little bit more poppy and maybe a bit more commercial than the debut, although still rocky in places but you could still tell it was an album by a band who are creating their own style. I would suggest maybe listening to or downloading a few tracks before you try and get hold of ‘Love/Hate’ and see what you think. Track #4 ‘Pet Hate’ is a definite recommendation from me though.
So, onto ‘Locked Out from the Inside’. The album opens with ‘Vampire in the Sun’, a clear indication that this album goes back to the roots of ‘Everything Is’, with its brooding guitars and bass line’s before the sing-a-along chorus crashes in, it’s a nice opening to the album. ‘Salt Water’ follows and keeps up the frenetic pace set by the opening track, with its punchy slow bit/fast bit chorus rocking along nicely.
‘Every Photograph Steals Your Soul’, and we’re still in major grungy territory here, especially with the 90’s classic sounding ‘YEAH’s’ reminding me a certain 90’s band beginning with ‘N’, that we don’t like to make comparisons too. ‘YEAH!’
‘Cold Star’ features sharp, fast guitar riffs before hitting the perfectly fitting chorus “You’re My Cold Star…….” before we can finally catch our breath for the 1st time with ‘Bay of Angels’, a more melodic tune with a really strong chorus in it, I actually quite like this tune and it fits well in place of the album.
‘Porcupine’ is another good, fun rock assault on the ears, followed by ‘Full Moon Summer’, that all I’ve got to say about is a fucking IMMENSE tune!! Seriously top, top song!! ‘Silence Kills’ is a bit of different sound to the rest of the album, if anything this sounds a bit Pink Floyd in my opinion, but fair play for trying something a bit different.
Download only single ‘Buy Nothing’ is a typical Black Alps affair, and by that I mean a kick ass rock track, ‘Along for the Ride’ follows with guitar heavy riffs, that you can perfectly nod your head to.
Then we have the final track on the album, and actually my favourite track, ‘Ghost in the City’. A completely different track to the fast paced, grungy guitar driven sound off most of the rest of the album, this is a slow, melodic track with a killer guitar hook looping through it. I guess despite being a fan of kick ass Indie rock, I’m still a sucker to this type of slowed down numbers.
So, as you will no doubt tell from the review, I’m quite enthusiastic about this new album from the Alps, and personally I think it’s a good return to form from the lads. I’m gonna award this album 8 Ghosts in the City out of 10, and a very strong 8 at that so recommended stuff, but also make sure you pick up their debut album as well, because it should be in every Indie rock fans music collection!!!
Ghost in the City ‘Flynny’
Nine Black Alps – Locked Out from the Inside
Erm, what’s up doc??
Okey-dokey, after a vote by ‘the people’, I’ve come to write Blog #6 of Flynndie Reviews and today’s blog will be a review of an album by what I would call a ‘proper’ band Nine Black Alps. Seriously, I like these guys, no flashy gimmicks, no whoring themselves to the media, just four honest Manchester lads who you can tell are passionate about what they do, and what’s that you may ask? They write fucking great Indie rock songs, which if you’re reading this blog will hopefully appeal to you too!! Ok, so let’s get on with this.
Right as always I like to give a bit of an overview of the band’s previous material, so in this case let me just say their debut ‘Everything Is’, Is Everything you would want from a debut album, cracking tunes from start to finish, I listened to it a lot when I got hold of it and listened to it again the other week, which was a major kick up the arse reminder of how good it is.
‘Love/Hate’ followed this and I personally quite liked it, but felt it was a little bit more poppy and maybe a bit more commercial than the debut, although still rocky in places but you could still tell it was an album by a band who are creating their own style. I would suggest maybe listening to or downloading a few tracks before you try and get hold of ‘Love/Hate’ and see what you think. Track #4 ‘Pet Hate’ is a definite recommendation from me though.
So, onto ‘Locked Out from the Inside’. The album opens with ‘Vampire in the Sun’, a clear indication that this album goes back to the roots of ‘Everything Is’, with its brooding guitars and bass line’s before the sing-a-along chorus crashes in, it’s a nice opening to the album. ‘Salt Water’ follows and keeps up the frenetic pace set by the opening track, with its punchy slow bit/fast bit chorus rocking along nicely.
‘Every Photograph Steals Your Soul’, and we’re still in major grungy territory here, especially with the 90’s classic sounding ‘YEAH’s’ reminding me a certain 90’s band beginning with ‘N’, that we don’t like to make comparisons too. ‘YEAH!’
‘Cold Star’ features sharp, fast guitar riffs before hitting the perfectly fitting chorus “You’re My Cold Star…….” before we can finally catch our breath for the 1st time with ‘Bay of Angels’, a more melodic tune with a really strong chorus in it, I actually quite like this tune and it fits well in place of the album.
‘Porcupine’ is another good, fun rock assault on the ears, followed by ‘Full Moon Summer’, that all I’ve got to say about is a fucking IMMENSE tune!! Seriously top, top song!! ‘Silence Kills’ is a bit of different sound to the rest of the album, if anything this sounds a bit Pink Floyd in my opinion, but fair play for trying something a bit different.
Download only single ‘Buy Nothing’ is a typical Black Alps affair, and by that I mean a kick ass rock track, ‘Along for the Ride’ follows with guitar heavy riffs, that you can perfectly nod your head to.
Then we have the final track on the album, and actually my favourite track, ‘Ghost in the City’. A completely different track to the fast paced, grungy guitar driven sound off most of the rest of the album, this is a slow, melodic track with a killer guitar hook looping through it. I guess despite being a fan of kick ass Indie rock, I’m still a sucker to this type of slowed down numbers.
So, as you will no doubt tell from the review, I’m quite enthusiastic about this new album from the Alps, and personally I think it’s a good return to form from the lads. I’m gonna award this album 8 Ghosts in the City out of 10, and a very strong 8 at that so recommended stuff, but also make sure you pick up their debut album as well, because it should be in every Indie rock fans music collection!!!
Ghost in the City ‘Flynny’
Tuesday, 13 October 2009
Flynndie Reviews - Blog #5: Reverend and the Makers - A French Kiss in the Chaos
Written September 2009:
Ahoy there pop pickers!!
Right it's been a while but welcome to Blog #5 of Flynndie Reviews. Possibly the reason for the delay is that I try and review albums that I think you may not already have or already heard, so while 'big hitters' like ‘Arctic Monkeys’ and ‘Muse’ have returned with new offerings recently, which your likely to have already heard, I've decided to review the 2nd offering from 'Big' Jon McClure aka ‘The Reverend’ aka ‘Reverend and The Makers’ and their 2nd album 'A French Kiss in the Chaos'!!
Reverend and the Makers - A French Kiss in the Chaos
Ok, so let me begin by saying now that if you haven't already got the 1st Reverend album 'The State of Things', buy it, burrow it, nick it, download it, whatever, just get hold of a copy of it, cause it's a great, fun, fucking sing-along of an album, one of those sort that you put on, on a Friday night before having it large all weekend!!! Bit of a soundtrack for me and my mate Bomber already this summer at the Oasis Wembley gig (sob-sob I'm still gutted about the split, well not that much)!!
So onto the new material, and a bit of a heads up as well, if you never really followed Jon McClure before, believe me he is well political!! Ok, so the album opener 'Silence Is Talking’ was a recent single, I believe, and great way to kick things off. It starts with a proper Indie guitar riff, before fusing into a ‘Happy Mondays’ dance vibe, needless to say I fucking like this tune!!
We then move onto 2nd track 'Hidden Persuaders' and if you hadn't already picked up on political vibes already, you'll realise that ‘The Rev’ isn't shy at taking a pop at how commercialism tends to dictate modern day English society, controversial I guess, but he says it all whilst writing such fucking good tunes to back them with at the same time, another decent track in my book.
'No Wood Just Trees', is alright as well and then we move on to a personal favourite of mine 'Professor Pickles', another catchy tune with a mesmerising drum loop beating all the way through the heart of it. The album has a couple of slower, acoustic offerings in the middle of it, before we get to real stand out track 7 called 'Manifesto/People Shapers'.
As you will no doubt guess The Rev is really on his soapbox by now, but fuck me can he put a tune to his rants?! As the title suggests this is actually two tunes merged into one, 'Manifesto' is good stuff, but when he starts going into 'People Shapers' words cannot describe the fucking genius of this guy!! Seriously, I love this track and it comes highly recommended, too political for a single I would say, but try and get hold of it.
'Mermaids' is another rocky, catchy indie driven track, before 'The End' follows, and finally the album closes with its 10th track 'Hard Time for Dreamers'. Probably one of the few tracks I don't really like on the album, mainly because the content of the lyrics are too depressing, even for me so I don't tend to listen to this one!
So in summary, as you can tell I quite like this album, but when you stand it up against the debut album it not quite as good, and not quite as fun with it's political under (or should that be over?) tones, but overall I gonna give it 8 French Kisses out of 10, so recommended, but get the debut album first!!
Not sure what's up next, let me know if there is anything you would like me to review that you may be considering in the future.
Professor ‘Flynny’ Pickles!
Ahoy there pop pickers!!
Right it's been a while but welcome to Blog #5 of Flynndie Reviews. Possibly the reason for the delay is that I try and review albums that I think you may not already have or already heard, so while 'big hitters' like ‘Arctic Monkeys’ and ‘Muse’ have returned with new offerings recently, which your likely to have already heard, I've decided to review the 2nd offering from 'Big' Jon McClure aka ‘The Reverend’ aka ‘Reverend and The Makers’ and their 2nd album 'A French Kiss in the Chaos'!!
Reverend and the Makers - A French Kiss in the Chaos
Ok, so let me begin by saying now that if you haven't already got the 1st Reverend album 'The State of Things', buy it, burrow it, nick it, download it, whatever, just get hold of a copy of it, cause it's a great, fun, fucking sing-along of an album, one of those sort that you put on, on a Friday night before having it large all weekend!!! Bit of a soundtrack for me and my mate Bomber already this summer at the Oasis Wembley gig (sob-sob I'm still gutted about the split, well not that much)!!
So onto the new material, and a bit of a heads up as well, if you never really followed Jon McClure before, believe me he is well political!! Ok, so the album opener 'Silence Is Talking’ was a recent single, I believe, and great way to kick things off. It starts with a proper Indie guitar riff, before fusing into a ‘Happy Mondays’ dance vibe, needless to say I fucking like this tune!!
We then move onto 2nd track 'Hidden Persuaders' and if you hadn't already picked up on political vibes already, you'll realise that ‘The Rev’ isn't shy at taking a pop at how commercialism tends to dictate modern day English society, controversial I guess, but he says it all whilst writing such fucking good tunes to back them with at the same time, another decent track in my book.
'No Wood Just Trees', is alright as well and then we move on to a personal favourite of mine 'Professor Pickles', another catchy tune with a mesmerising drum loop beating all the way through the heart of it. The album has a couple of slower, acoustic offerings in the middle of it, before we get to real stand out track 7 called 'Manifesto/People Shapers'.
As you will no doubt guess The Rev is really on his soapbox by now, but fuck me can he put a tune to his rants?! As the title suggests this is actually two tunes merged into one, 'Manifesto' is good stuff, but when he starts going into 'People Shapers' words cannot describe the fucking genius of this guy!! Seriously, I love this track and it comes highly recommended, too political for a single I would say, but try and get hold of it.
'Mermaids' is another rocky, catchy indie driven track, before 'The End' follows, and finally the album closes with its 10th track 'Hard Time for Dreamers'. Probably one of the few tracks I don't really like on the album, mainly because the content of the lyrics are too depressing, even for me so I don't tend to listen to this one!
So in summary, as you can tell I quite like this album, but when you stand it up against the debut album it not quite as good, and not quite as fun with it's political under (or should that be over?) tones, but overall I gonna give it 8 French Kisses out of 10, so recommended, but get the debut album first!!
Not sure what's up next, let me know if there is anything you would like me to review that you may be considering in the future.
Professor ‘Flynny’ Pickles!
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