Flynndie Reviews: #35 - Top 10 Albums of 2012 - Part 2

Written 7th December 2012:

Top 10 Albums of 2012 – Part 2

Ok, so following on from my last Blog here is the second part of my favourite 10 albums from 2012.  If you missed Part 1, fear not dear reader as you can still find the Blog here or by simply scrolling down the page to after this post.  However, if you did read Part 1, well firstly many thanks for the support and secondly I hope you enjoy reading Part 2 which, with air-guitars still at the ready, we shall jump straight into with a great up-and-coming young band hailing from The US-of-A, Minneapolis.

#5. Howler – America Give Up (Reviewed in Flynndie Reviews Blog #22 – 8/10)

Arriving on the scene in early January this year, young up-starts Howler released their debut album ‘America Give Up’.  Now long time readers may know I’m quite a fan of this bright, young band’s slasher, surfer-rock Indie style and this debut album certainly didn’t disappoint when it arrived.  With a collection of fast, catchy garage-rock tracks the band very much remind me of a lite version of The Strokes from the beach-party styled opener ‘Beach Sluts’ to ‘This One’s Different’ reminding me very much of the juke box from the old TV series ‘Happy Days’ (ask your parents kids!).  ‘Told You Once’ continues the classic 60’s Diner theme, while uniquely titled ‘Pythagorean Fearem’ reminds me a lot of the dark, sinister sound the band ‘80’s Matchbox B-Line Disaster’ were famed for.  Throw in more fast, paced garage-rock with incredibly catchy tracks ‘Wailing (Making Out) and excellent closer ‘Black Lagoon’ and what we have here are a fun, exciting young band, which if you’re a fan on band’s like The Strokes, The Vaccines and to an extend The Libertines and missed this early album from 2012, then I would highly recommend it!

Recommended Tracks: ‘Beach Sluts’, ‘Wailing (Making Out)’, ‘Told You Once, ‘Black Lagoon’

Personal Favourite Track: ‘This One’s Different’ - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bWBdBMffoU

Howler brought their Surfer, Garage-Rock sound to The Garage back in January

 

#4. Maximo Park – The National Health (Reviewed in Flynndie Reviews Blog #26 – 9/10)

Our next stop on this journey through 2012 see’s us arrive in the North-East; Newcastle to be exact with the long-awaited return of Maximo Park and their 4th studio album ‘The National Health’.  And in my opinion it was well worth the wait as ‘The National Health’ saw the band on real top-form this year, really pushing at the boundaries of the fast, paced guitar sound the band are famed for.  From opening piano ballad ‘When I was Wild’, a surprising start to the record but sets it up nicely, we then had the more ‘traditional’ Maximo Park guitar sound on title-track ‘The National Health’ and the sound continued to be found on tracks ‘Until the Earth would Open’ and ‘Wolf Among Men’, which I always find I can’t help but dance to every time I hear it.  Also featuring more, ‘darker’ electro-pop on previous single ‘Hips and Lips’ and ‘Banlieue’; we also then had the sweeter, more romantic side of Maximo Park on tracks ‘The Undercurrents’, ‘Reluctant Love’ and ‘Unfamiliar Places’.  It’s fair to say the band really challenged themselves and packed quite an impressive range of tracks into a 40-minute record and again this has been another record I’ve found myself listening to a lot this year.

Recommended Tracks: ‘Hips and Lips’, ‘The Undercurrents’, ‘Reluctant Love’, ‘Wolf Among Men’

Personal Favourite Track: ‘The National Health’ - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiVxX3r5GhI

#3. The Twilight Sad – No One Can Ever Know (Reviewed in Flynndie Reviews Blog #24 – 9/10)

We next head further North still to Kilsyth, Scotland as The Twilight Sad released their 3rd album in February this year with ‘No One Can Ever Know’, the follow-up to their fantastic second album ‘Forget the Night Ahead’.  The distinctly Scottish band returned with another collection of dark, intense and cryptic songs with a generous dose of synths, electronics and even accordions applied to tracks throughout the record.  Each track acts very much as a ‘chapter’ through the record, ranging from opener ‘Alphabet’ setting the more synth-based direction of this album, to the more traditional guitar tracks by the band in the momentum building and fast paced guitar track ‘Dead City’ and then the excellently told tale by third track ‘Sick’.  More synth-heavy tracks appear on the album in the form of ‘Don’t Move’ and ‘Don’t Look at Me’, while we have two excellent Indie-dance tracks closing the album with Joy Division-esque track ‘Another Bed’ and the excellent, building closing track ‘Kill It in the Morning’.  The Twilight Sad seem to remain another very underground Indie band but their style of dark, cryptic and intense guitar and synth-based tracks have a real charm about them and ‘No One Can Ever Know’ is yet another brillant album by a band I would highly recommend to check out and especially go see live.

Recommended Tracks: ‘Alphabet’, ‘Sick’, ‘Don’t Move’, ‘Don’t Look at Me’

Personal Favourite Track(s):
‘Dead City’ - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wi5iyxGsIQ
‘Kill It in the Morning’ - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nn8jcPXYc1g (Live)

The Twilight Sad stormed through an intense set at The Borderline earlier this year

#2. Two Door Cinema Club - Beacon (Reviewed in Flynndie Reviews Blog #30 – 9/10)

From Kilsyth, Scotland, we next travel to Bangor, Northern Ireland as September saw Two Door Cinema Club release their much anticipated second album ‘Beacon’ the follow-up to their successful debut album ‘Tourist History’.  ‘Beacon’ was released the same week as The Vaccines album ‘Come of Age’ and while the latter may have won that particular chart battle that week, I’ve found myself listening to this album slightly more of the two over the course of the year.  A record laced with the band’s now more familiar fast-paced, guitar and synth pop tracks this album really builds on the band’s debut record for me.  Each track tends to unfold a tale through lead singer Alex Tremble’s falsetto voice and lyrics; this is particularly evident on tracks such as opener ‘Next Year’ and previous single ‘He Sleeps Alone’.  Some of the tracks on the album are just brilliantly put together and build slowly then explode lavishly bold in their style of music and vocals see ‘Sun’, ‘Settle’ and particularly ‘The World is watching (with Valentina)’ for examples of this and overall this has been a highly enjoyable album.

Recommended Songs: ‘Sun’, ‘Sleep Alone’, The World is watching (with Valentina)

Personal Favourite Track(s):
‘Someday’ - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y08Y15ik5pg (Live at Reading Festival 2012)
‘Settle’ - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seQX4m2gYNE (Live at Brixton Academy)

#1. Bloc Party - Four (Reviewed in Flynndie Reviews Blog #29 – 8/10)

So the final date on our tour of 2012 sees us arrive in London as Bloc Party returned with their cunningly named fourth album ‘Four’ also ironically released four years after their previous album ‘Intimacy’.  There was a lot of speculation as to what direction the band would take with this album, after their very rocky, Indie-based debut ‘Silent Alarm, to the more ‘chilled-out’ ‘A Weekend in the City’ and the previously mentioned ‘Initmacy’ which showed more of a nod to the Indie Dance scene.  I think what we got with ‘Four’ from Bloc Party was actually a blend of all three of their previous albums to date, making for a unique, eclectic range of tracks from intense, guitar-heavy Indie rock on tracks ‘3x3’, recent single ‘Kettling’ and ‘V.A.L.I.S.’, to the more serene, softer tracks such as the banjo-featuring ‘Real Talk’ and the beautifully sublime ‘Day Four’, to the post-punk sound found on closing track ‘We’re Not Good People’.  Throw in some dance-vibes on comeback single ‘Octopus’ and the excellent and urgent ‘Team A’, plus a couple of old-school sounding Bloc Party bonus tracks in ‘Mean’ and ‘Leaf Skeleton’ on the deluxe version of the album and basically this album formed a great return from the band.  I said at the time I reviewed this, the album felt like ‘a grower’ and this has certainly proved to be the case for me during 2012.

Recommended Tracks: ‘Octopus’, ‘Day Four’, ‘Real Talk’, ‘We’re Not Good People’

Personal Favourite Track(s):
‘Kettling’ - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rk-J1zT7TfQ   
‘Team-A’’ - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tRK1iAIMT8 (Live at Koko)

So that concludes my Top 10 albums of 2012, I hope you’ve enjoyed my selections and if you have any good recommendations of albums I may have missed this year and are not on my list, feel free to send me some recommendations across on Twitter or leave them in the comments section below.  Many thanks for taking the time to read the Blog and here’s looking forward to some great Indie and alternative music in 2013!
 
Rocking into 2013

‘Flynny’

Flynndie Reviews: Blog #30 - Two Door Cinema Club - Beacon

Written 14th September 2012:

Two Door Cinema Club – Beacon

The Band: Alex Tremble (lead vocals/guitar/synths/percussion), Kevin Baird (bass/synths/vocals), Sam Halliday (guitar/synths/vocals)

So recently saw the return of Bangor’s very own Two Door Cinema Club with the release of their 2nd album ‘Beacon’, the follow-up to their highly impressive debut album ‘Tourist History’ (which I previously reviewed here in Blog #11). At the time I awarded that record “8 family-sized bags of popcorn out of 10” and suggested that “these lads are a good one to watch out for in the long-term future as well”. So fast-forward 18 months since that review and the band have released their follow-up album but does this new record live-up to the high standards set by their first album and fulfil the early potential shown by the band? Well hopefully, we can cover that question in today’s review and find out what their latest offering brings.

Now Showing

1. Next Year
2. Handshake
3. Wake Up
4. Sun
5. Someday
6. Sleep Alone
7. The World is Watching (with Valentina)
8. Settle
9. Spring
10. Pyramid
11. Beacon

‘Next Year’ gets us underway with trademark synths that the band are well known for before being accompanied by an upbeat percussion rhythm and then both suddenly pausing as Alex’s distinct voice opens “I don’t know where I/Am going to rest my head tonight” before being re-accompanied by the opening synths, percussion and now an excellent, catchy guitar riff during the verses of the track. The track ebbs and flows nicely for the listener and even features a Muse-esque guitar riff midway through and overall gets the record of to a steady start. Next up we have ‘Handshake’ which opens with very much an 80’s style synth melody before the track gathers pace with guitars after 30 seconds. The synths continue to pulse throughout the heart of the track as guitars gently flow in the background before an incredibly catchy, sing-a-long chorus “She said the devil will want you back/And you’ll never find love in another man/Shut your eyes, so you’ll see young girl/And know you always have this if it’s needed back”. It’s quite an instant track, and the verses cleverly build to the big crescendo chorus.

‘Wake Up’ follows next and has a modest bass and drum rhythm initially pushing the track along, before trademark duelling guitars bridge midway through the track. The track is constantly building with guitars steadily duelling throughout before big vocals come in from Alex on the second half of the track “You got lost, lost through the night/It’s no loss, you’ll be alright”, at this point giving the track a big, epic feel to it. ‘Sun’ opens with delicate piano and Alex’s distinct vocals with the line “Ocean Blue/What have I done to you?” and features a gentle backing ‘electronic’ guitar riff throughout. It’s a very well-polished track with a backing brass section in its latter stages and is actually a nice ballad for the album. ‘Someday’ starts off with an excellent rollercoaster of a guitar riff from Sam, while Alex belts out lines “Is it a race or a chase/It’s a difficult one/Are you running faster and further away/Or just trying to keep up”. This is one of my favourite tracks on the album; it’s instantly catchy and again helps to create a big sound for the band. I could easily see this being a future single for the band. Speaking of which previous single from the album ‘Sleep Alone’ shows up next and features a fast drum rhythm against gentle guitar riffs before the band again up the tempo, with a fast and urgent rhythm as Alex’s lyrics possible portray an individual’s battle with Insomnia “He Sleeps Alone\He needs no army where he’s heading\Cause he knows they’re just ghosts\And they can’t hurt him”, this is again a big-sounding, instant track and fitting return single for the band. ‘The World is Watching (with Valentina)’ follows next and is a gloriously, beautiful track! Opening with a chilled out, calypso guitar rhythm this time we find Alex’s vocal are backed throughout the track by beautiful female vocals, possibly the Valentina of the track title itself, and although that description may sound cheesy in this review, on the record itself, this track is brilliantly put together and surprisingly works very well on the album.

Just when you starting thinking what else can these three Northern Irish lads have up their sleeves next on this record, they then turn with possibly the standout track on the album for me ‘Settle’. Unwinding with a soft, looping guitar riff the track steadily builds into a big crescendo of guitars, drums and bass and I could easily see a track like this have an entire crowd captivated by every guitar note though it’s epic journey, this is simply a brilliantly, beautiful track and the highlight of the album for me. We come back down with ‘Spring’ but with a subtly infectious picking guitar riff this is cleverly done, and again we find another track that starts slow but gathers momentum throughout while never leaving the listener behind such is the brilliance of the melody of the track. Another instant type of track, you can’t help but get caught up in the flow of the pacey guitar melodies here.

Penultimate track ‘Pyramid’ opens with one of the more understated guitar riffs on the album, a little quirky but a sound that helps to portray that associated with the mystery of the song title’s architecture, before the band pulling off their seemingly effortless trick of throwing in yet another incredibly catchy chorus and guitar riff right in the middle of the track, this is another great track on the record. Title-track ‘Beacon’ closes the album and features piano backed against a steady guitar rhythm and drum percussion, while an echo is used against Alex’s voice to great effect in its building verse before, yes you’ve guessed it, another effortlessly catchy chorus, it helps rounds off the record nicely.

So I must admit I had quite high hopes for this record leading up to its release. I’d always enjoyed the band’s debut album ‘Tourist History’ and I was hoping this album might steadily build on it but if I’m being honest I think this record not only matches their debut album but actually take the band and their music on to another much-higher level here, with no disrespect intended to their also brilliant debut. What we have here is a genuine ‘Album of the Year’ contender for me, with excellently crafted tracks, layered with brilliantly catchy synths and some outrageously good guitars riffs and rhythms throughout the record. There is no question for me that the tracks written on this album are designed for headlining the big summer festivals and arena tours and this may actually be fitting as I can genuinely see the band moving up to this level within the next few months as I think this is a record that will gain a genuinely big following via word of mouth and the potentially excellent singles this album could deliver in the future. I can genuinely only see big things for this band in the future, they’re just too good for anything else in my book, so get on board ‘Beacon’ now then as I’m going to award this album a precedent 9 Summer Blockbusters out of 10!

Cinema Goer
‘Flynny’

Track 5 ‘Some Day’ (Live at Belsonic)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPLUBTgNxlo

Track 6 ‘Sleep Alone’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNXybY2DtwM

Track 8 ‘Settle’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmvSkf2lweM

Flynndie Reviews - Blog #11: Two Door Cinema Club - Tourist History

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’