Flynndie Reviews

Flynndie Reviews #55: Circa Waves - Young Chasers

2015-03-29T12:25:00.001+01:00

Written 28th March 2015

Circa Waves – Young Chasers

The Band: Kieran Shudall (lead vocals/guitar), Joe Falconer (lead guitar), Sam Rouke (bass), Sian Plummer (drums)

This week sees the release of the keenly anticipated debut album from Liverpool 4-piece Circa Waves with ‘Young Chasers’. Becoming an increasingly popular up-and-coming young band, Circa Waves have previously been tipped for big things with some high-profile support slots including supporting Interpol on last year’s NME Tour (alongside Royal Blood and Temples no less) and supporting The Libertines at their series of gigs at Alexandra Palace. With a number of singles garnering some much deserved air-play under their belts, the band are about to embark on their very own headline UK tour and with the album’s release this week, let’s find out what these young Scouse upstarts are all about with their debut record.

Young Chasers

1. Get Away

2. T-shirt Weather

3. Fossils

4. Lost It

5. My Love

6. Deserve This

7. Young Chasers

8. Good For Me

9. Stuck In My Teeth

10. Best Years

11. The Luck Has Gone

12. So Long

13. Talking Out Loud

Launching with energetic guitars and percussion the album opens with ‘Get Away’, previously launched as a debut single from the band, and sets the early tone and vibe of the frantic 3-minute Indie-pop these young lads are all about featuring a big sing-a-long chorus “And I can’t get away if I wanted to/My hands are tied/Tied to you/And I don’t mind, nooooo”. Recent single ‘T-shirt Weather’ follows which opens with a bit more chilled out rhythm to it while still carrying a confident swagger; it’s light-hearted and easy-listening “And I remember T-shirt weather/I remember some days/We were singing our lungs out/In the backseat together”. And while we’ve had two solid openers from the band it’s third track ‘Fossils’ which really starts to show the full potential of this band, with some incredibly tight, free-flowing guitar-pop akin to early sounding Strokes with an infectious melody and another big chorus “The one day I want/Something I just can’t get/I’m a long way from home/I’m a long way from home”. If you’ve never previously heard much material from Circa Waves before then this previous single is a recommended starting point.

Circa Waves played the opening slot on last year's NME Tour

‘Lost It’ features the first track on the album that has previously been unheard before its release and opens with a more chilled guitar-riff and mellow tempo throughout it that gentle coasts along nicely, again in the vein of style of The Strokes from their second album ‘Room on Fire’. ‘My Love’ sees the band pick up the tempo again with an urgent riff gently hammering away through it alongside backing bass and soft tender vocals here from Kieran “I know it’s not enough to be with you/I’m clinging to the walls that you can see through…And I’m giving up/My love/My love seems somewhere else”. ‘Deserve This’ is the most stripped down track on the album so far with gentle teasing guitars and more tender vocals here from Kieran questioning “Oh and why do I deserve this?/I was never good on purpose/Oh why?/Oh whyyyyy?” It finds the band here creating a sound similar to that of Arctic Monkeys midway through their fourth album ‘Suck It and See’.

Meanwhile midway through the record we have title-track ‘Young Chasers’ featuring an instant and urgent guitar-riff at its heart and clocking in just over 2-minutes long “Make your mind up/And I’ll chase you through the seats/The chase will wind up/I got blood on the soles of my feet” while the frantic pace of the record continues with another excellent single ‘Good For Me’ again built on effortlessly coasting Indie-pop, the track is a fun romp with real charm about it “You’ll see/Yeah you’ll see/You’re just no good for me/Good for me/Good for me”. The big singles keep coming here with another sweet, charmer of a track ‘Stuck In My Teeth’ again featuring a cool, flowing rhythm with racing vocals and building guitars and the urgently repeated line “I’m a little too young without enough time/I’m a little too young without enough time”. It’s again Indie-pop at its finest.

Previous singles 'Stuck In My Teeth' and 'Young Chasers'

‘Best Years’ opens initially with a bit more of a dirty rock sound to it before gathering full momentum and coasting along with guitars from Kieran and Joe duelling it out with some nice riffs while Sam’s bass and Sian’s drums providing a fitting setting. ‘The Luck Has Gone’ is arguably the most poignant track on the album featuring tender lines “Did I leave this too long now?/Did I tie my tie too late?/I’m a million miles away/From the things I’d like to say” with an intricate guitar riff through it and backing percussion and this is a really nice track on the record. ‘So Long’ opens more up-tempo before featuring gentle guitar strums from Joe to accompany Kieran on vocals here before diving into a 100mph chorus “The night’s still young/But the day is so long/And you wish you stayed at home/And you wished you never come” before closing track ‘Talking Out Loud’ slows the pace down with a chilled out number rounding off the album nicely.

Overall this is a cracking debut record from Circa Waves full with bursts of lively, pure 3-minute Indie-pop tracks that The Strokes themselves would be proud off. This is free-flowing, easy-listening yet essentially, incredibly catchy guitar-pop much in the mould of early sounding The Maccabees and to a lesser extent Arctic Monkeys but crucially these four-youngster from Liverpool have honed their sound to near-perfection and I can see this catchy record remaining on repeat for a while yet and should still be a lot of good fun to listen to a few months down the line. Tracks like ‘T-shirt Weather’, ‘Fossils’ and ‘Stuck In My Teeth’ are text-book mainstream Indie-pop and will see the band quickly develop a big following while tracks like ‘Deserve This’ and ‘The Luck Has Gone’ shows there is a mature charm about this 4-piece that could see them still go on to bigger things. Without question this is a solid debut album from Circa Waves full of some great enjoyable numbers and I’m going to give this one a highly recommended 9 ‘Fossils’ out of 10 as this is a welcome record from these four Young Chasers.

So Long

Flynny

Track 2 – ‘T-shirt Weather’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9z_cyIgE9s

Track 3 – ‘Fossils’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBp8QwT4_R0

Track 8 – ‘Good For Me’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cI9ZEa1U16g

Band website:

http://www.circawaves.com

Flynndie Reviews #54: Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds - Chasing Yesterday

2015-02-24T17:24:00.003+00:00

Written 24th February 2015

Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds – Chasing Yesterday

The Band: Noel Gallagher (lead vocals/guitar), Tim Smith (guitar), Russell Pritchard (bass), Mike Rowe (keyboards), Jeremy Stacey (drums)

Early March sees the return of the Chief, Noel Gallagher, with his band Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds and their second album ‘Chasing Yesterday’ with this week seeing the new album being streamed on iTunes via his website:

http://www.noelgallagher.com

The band’s self-titled debut album was well received seeing Noel on good form and releasing a number of singles that again became popular sing-a-long anthems for fans ranging from the cheeky, brass band-stand sounding ‘Death of You and Me’ to the soft and tender but epic sounding opener ‘Everybody’s on the Run’ and a fine Noel acoustic number with ‘If I Had a Gun’. The middle of the album featured a nice run of tracks, the heavenly divine ‘(I wanna live a dream in my) record machine’ before being followed by brilliant single ‘Aka… What a Life’ an upbeat number with a cool dance vibe about it and a progressive move away from the guitar-rock sound of Oasis. ‘Soldier Boys and Jesus Freaks’ showed Noel doff his cap to The Kinks with a very ‘60’s guitar riff running through it while ‘Aka... Broken Arrow’ saw a semi-acoustic Noel at his finest. I was lucky enough to get an early preview of a few new tracks when I managed to catch the band play a tiny warm-up gig at The Dome, Tufnell Park earlier this month and the early signs of the new material were promising. So with the success of the debut album how does ‘Chasing Yesterday’ shape up for Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds?

Chasing Yesterday

1. Riverman

2. In the Heat of the Moment

3. The Girl with X-Ray Eyes

4. Lock all the Doors

5. The Dying of the Light

6. The Right Stuff

7. While the song remains the same

8. The Mexican

9. You know we can’t go back

10. Ballad of the Mighty I

With a short excerpt of Noel in the studio (a theme to be found throughout the record) ‘Chasing Yesterday’ opens with the soft, acoustic ‘Riverman’ a calm, gentle opener for the album, stripped-down with soft guitar from Noel and gentle backing bass and keys from Russell and Mike respectively. Halfway through the track we have a nice guitar solo being accompanied by, in possibly a first for a Noel Gallagher record, a saxophone and this opener reminds me of the type of sound of Paul Weller’s ‘Wild Wood’. ‘In the Heat of the Moment’ was the first single and the first preview we got of the new album and is a solid Noel solo track with a nice groove throughout it featuring a big chorus “The more that you want it/The more that you need it/I know that you’ll be by my side/In the heat of the moment/When the thunder and lightning come/I know that you’ll be by my side” backed with a series of “Nah-nah-nah-nah’s”. You will no doubt have heard this track by now and know what we’re all about here. After another short excerpt from the studio ‘The Girl with X-Ray Eyes’ opens with a reassuringly, familiar acoustic rhythm from Noel and lyrics “Tried to hang on to myself/Don’t believe in no one else/Now I’m shaking like a leaf/As I fall into the street/But the girl with x-ray eyes/She can see through my disguise” and as the track progresses Tim offers some more slightly psychedelic backing guitars to Noel’s acoustic guitar which at times remind me in sound a little of Oasis b-side ‘The Masterplan’.

‘Lock all the Doors’ sees a very raw and full-on Noel rock track. “She wore a star-shaped tambourine/Prettiest girl I’d ever seen/Standing lost and lonely on the shore/I tried to catch her every night/Dancing on the road in her candlelight/But I can’t seem to reach her anymore”. This is great number with a really infectious melody to it, to an extent like ‘Up in the Sky’ but more in the vein of Oasis’ ‘Morning Glory’ and it’s good to see a Noel write a rocking number like this that shows more than a nod to the ‘Definitely Maybe’ days and this will certainly become a live favourite. Midway through the album ‘The Dying of the Light’ sets a more sedate tone, a lovely, soulful ballad with soft vocals from Noel complimented by Mike Rowe’s gentle keys, an acoustic partnership that has worked well over the years, and we find Noel in reflective mood here “And I was told/The streets were paved with gold/And there’d be no time for getting old when we were young/It’s alright/If you dance with me tonight/We’ll fight the dying of the light and catch the sun.” Continuing with an acoustic vibe ‘The Right Stuff’ initially sees the band gently jamming away at its opening, a very trippy yet chilled track, with the saxophone making its second appearance on the album here and openly flirting with light jazz, while the latter of the track features a trademark Gallagher guitar solo intertwined with some more jazz saxophone; a psychedelic number midway through the record. Moving to a much more upbeat tempo and rhythm ‘While the song remains the same’ is a jolly number with pulsing synths and bass and teasing slide-guitar notes throughout “Found me a place/Where the sun shines through the rain/And there is pleasure in the pain/And the song remains the same/And it goes on and on and on”.

With a heavy guitar-riff and wooden percussion forming the basis for it ‘The Mexican’ sees some driving no-nonsense rock perfectly formed for accompanying a road-trip “Thought I was talking about a new religion/Raining on the outside, lost in the fog/I was only dreaming of a revolution/Waiting for the right time, watching the clock”, while penultimate track ‘You know we can’t go back’ swaggers along confidently with an upbeat rhythm and groove and a rocky edge about it with Noel powering over the chorus “It’s alriiii-ght/But you know that we can’t go back”. The track blends into the other previous single of the album ‘Ballad of the Mighty I’, which has a real heart and a catchy dance groove to it and lyrics, where I believe, Noel continues to question his path with God “Followed you down to the end of the road/To wait outside your window/In the heat of the rain I would call your name/But you just past me by” a similar theme which can be found on Oasis b-side ‘Listen Up’ and 'Falling Down' from Oasis' last album ‘Dig Out Your Soul’, showing there’s a deepness to Noel’s lyrics more than first meets the eye, and for me this closing track has a similar vibe about it as ‘Aka… What a Life’ from the debut album.

‘Chasing Yesterday’ is another fine record from Noel, with a comforting, recognised feel about it. Let’s make no bones about it, as a songwriter Noel has his style that we’re all familiar with and this has of course worked successfully well over the years and rightly sees him as a songwriter of a generation. I feel there a number of tracks here showing Noel’s song writing at a matured, mellowed age with ‘Riverman’, an excellent opener, and ‘The Dying of the Light’ being two examples of the quality of this here. ‘Lock all the doors’ and ‘The Mexican’ have a real full-on rock edge about them and are good songs in their own right, and I’m pleased that Noel has shown some more of his earlier roots with these two rocking numbers. Overall this is a mellow, chilled album perfect for early morning easy-listening or backing for a long car drive and I’m going to give this one 8 Riverman’s out of 10 as this is a nice follow-on from the debut album which shows some progression while maintaining a comforting air of familiarity about it and a record that I think Noel fans will really get a lot out of and enjoy.

Lock all the Doors

Flynny

Track 2 – ‘In the Heat of the Moment’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4thCOmIMuVM

Track 10 – ‘Ballad of the Mighty I’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzQYtpjMjSo

Band website:

http://www.noelgallagher.com/

Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds - setlist from The Dome 2nd Feb 2015

Flynndie Reviews #53: The Subways - The Subways

2015-02-13T16:50:00.001+00:00

Written 13th February 2015

The Subways – The Subways

The Band: Billy Lunn (vocals/guitar), Charlotte Cooper (vocals/bass), Josh Morgan (drums)

This week saw the return of the high-spirited, enthusiastic and energetic three-piece The Subways with the release of their self-titled fourth album ‘The Subways’. The band arrived on the scene around 2005 with their excellent debut album ‘Young for Eternity’ which captured their dynamic and energetic live shows with great Indie-rock tracks like ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Queen’ and ‘Oh Yeah’, while still showing a tender side to the band with some lighter, poppy tracks (‘Mary’, ‘Young for Eternity’) and some gentle acoustic numbers with ‘No Goodbyes’ being a fine example.

This was followed by 2008’s ‘All or Nothing’ which saw the band offering some harder, intense rock particularly the excellent opener ‘Girls and Boys’ and other tracks building from their debut record with ‘Shake! Shake!’ showcasing the complimentary vocals between Billy and Charlotte and how well this vocal partnership works for the band. ‘Strawberry Blonde’ was another fine moment from this record again highlighting the beautiful, tender side The Subways can also offer.

Much like their third album ‘Money and Celebrity’, the band started a new Pledge Music campaign to help support the release of their latest album and have provided fans with regular updates and exclusives through the Pledge Music website so if you previously missed the campaign feel free to check out their project page here: http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/thesubways.

So in true Billy fashion let’s stage-dive right into the latest record and check out how the latest offering from The Subways sounds.

The Subways

1. My Heart Is Pumping to a Brand New Beat

2. I’m In Love and it’s burning in My Soul

3. Taking all the Blame

4. Dirty Muddy Paws

5. Good Times

6. Because of You (Negative Love)

7. Just Like Jude

8. We Get Around

9. Pet Boy

10. Black Letter

11. Twisted Game

12. Is That Enough

With an up-tempo guitar riff ‘My Heart Is Pumping to a Brand New Beat’ was previously previewed early by the band as part of their Pledge Music campaign and is familiar territory for them, with a fun, energetic groove at the heart of the track and sees Billy on vocals for its verses while Charlotte takes over vocal duties for the chorus “When you’re with me on the dancefloor/My heart is pumping to a brand new beat/Everything I ever cared for/Everything I always wanted to be”. ‘I’m In Love and it’s Burning My Soul’ follows on with short, sharp power chords and building percussion from Josh while also featuring some short, sharp one-liners from Billy “You know I want it/Cause it’s mine/I got something/Something on my mind” before Charlotte takes over again for the chorus “I’m in love yeah/I’m in love yeah/And it’s burning at my soul”. It’s another fun, full-on rock track. ‘Taking All the Blame’ is a lovely semi-acoustic, rock number and as Billy previously revealed in a Pledge update for the album, is a very honest and personal track as Billy and Charlotte share their views with each other on their previous relationship together “What can I do/Do you want me on my knees/What shall I give/One hundred more apologies”, showing the true strength of their friendship and honesty with each other here.

‘Dirty Muddy Paws’ is another full-on, lively rock number with a really nice sonic riff from Billy speeding right through the heart of it while ‘Good Times’ features short, sharp, angst guitar riffs pulsing away at it and featuring some very personal lyrics from Billy here “I wanna live and never die/I’m never giving up the fight/I wanna sing I wanna breath” and a strong chorus “And when I wake up in the morning/Yeah when the sun shines bright/The sun shines bright/I wanna feel the day is calling/I wanna see the good times/The good times”. Midway through the record we have an incredibly beautiful acoustic ballad ‘Because of You (Negative Love)’. Featuring soft acoustic guitars and gentle backing piano this track sees Billy on top-form with his vocals and lyrics “What once I was/No longer/Because of you/I’m stronger/I’ll never break/This promise/Because of you/I’m honest”. This is a truly lovely track. Charlotte picks up vocal duties again on ‘Just like Jude’ a fun, light-hearted romp of a track with high-spirited punk at its heart and clocking in quickly at just under 2 minutes before ‘We Get Around’ brings more heavy-rock riffs and Billy delivering lines like there’s no tomorrow and I particularly like the line “You’re a saviour of rock ‘n’ roll” before Charlotte chips in with a nicely delivered “Come on!” ‘Pet Boy’ sees all three members of the band on fine-form with some more power-rock, Billy’s guitar and Charlotte’s bass duelling throughout while Josh’s thunderous drumming provides the battleground for both.

With what I would possible describe as quite an eclectic blend of hip-hop and guitar-rock ‘Black Letter’ opens with Billy and Charlotte both chanting “Pack up with your broken bones/Pack up with your broken bones/Pack up with your broken box” before Billy deliciously snarls the track-title over the chorus “You wrote me a blaaaaack letteeeeer!” and this track very much reminds me of the sound of The Pixies. Another highly-energetic, up-tempo number ‘Twisted Game’ sees the band delivering some more power-rock with Billy delivering lyrics like there is no tomorrow “Wake up it’s a goddamn beautiful day” before Charlotte’s backing vocal “So pretty/So beautiful” returning to Billy’s “Wake up it’s a goddamn twisted game” over the chorus. Closing track ‘Is that Enough?’ sees the album close with an assured, confident rock track back with Charlotte on lead-vocals here, with softer verses before a more brutal chorus “You beat my brains in/It’s all I need/We broke the borders/And watched the whole world bleed” before the track and album closes with a solid guitar solo to finish off.

As you will likely have no doubt gathered from this review, this self-titled fourth album from The Subways is packed with some serious full-on, power-rock a style which this three-piece have really honed to an incredibly tight sound over the years, with many tracks on this album leaving you breathless and clocking in under 3 minutes each. However don’t just be fooled by this image, this album certainly has plenty of depth to it. With some great and very personal lyrics to be found here from both Billy and Charlotte, it goes without saying that the duel sharing of vocal duties is a real trademark of the band and one that has stood them well over the test of time to create a real identity for the band now over four fine records. I think this latest offering ‘The Subways’ really sees the band on fine form and I have a lot of admiration for how much work all three put into getting this album out there, particularly as Billy recorded and mixed the album himself, and I am happily going to give this one 8 Good Times out of 10, as this is without question an enthusiastic, fun, rock record but also laced with some sublime, tender moments, in particular ‘Because of You (Negative Love)’, which in my opinion is one of the most beautiful, endearing tracks this fun and loveable three-piece have recorded.

Dirty Muddy Paws

Flynny

Track 1 – ‘My Heart Is Burning to a Brand New Beat’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CQDI3vjG_E

Track 3 – ‘Taking all the Blame’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zD0YZsvFin0

Band website:

http://www.thesubways.net

Flynndie Reviews #52: Top 10 albums of 2014

2014-12-06T09:16:00.001+00:00

Written 6th December 2014

Top 10 Albums of 2014

So as the jingle of Christmas Bells is nigh on the horizon the start of December also signals the close of 2014 and that time of the year where I try and put together some sort of list of my favourite albums from the past 12 months. It has to be said 2014 really has been a ‘Cracker’ for fans of Indie and Alternative music and I’ve found myself really enjoying a lot of new records this year from both old and new bands and this has probably been the most difficult in the four years I’ve been doing these reviews to rank this year’s albums, so needless to say any records in this year’s top ten I would highly recommend if you previously missed them.

So put on your dancing shoes and pack your air guitars as we head out on tour and check out 10 of the top albums from 2014.

#10. Reverend and the Makers – ThirtyTwo (Released 24th February)

February saw the release of the fourth album from Sheffield’s own Reverend and the Makers with their latest record ‘ThirtyTwo’. The album picks-up well from their previous album ‘@Reverend_Makers’ with a more upbeat feel and vibe from the lively, suggestive innuendo opener ‘Detonator’, to some more chilled-out Dance (‘I-Spy’) while ‘The Devil’s Radio’ and ‘Different Trains’ are laced with witty lyrics from The Reverend himself, Jon McLure, before the album closes with solid single ‘The Only One’ followed by a hard, banging dance tune ‘Your Girl’.

Recommended Tracks: ‘Detonator’, ‘I Spy, ‘The Only One’

Personal Favourite Track: ‘Your Girl’ - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgJcilSxXbo

#9. Maxïmo Park – Too Much Information (Released 3rd February)

February also saw the return of Newcastle’s energetic, Indie pop-pickers Maxïmo Park with their fifth record ‘Too Much Information’. Possibly the band’s most diverse album to-date ‘Too Much Information’ saw the band return with their familiar, frantic guitar tracks (‘Give, Get, Take’, ‘Her Name was Audrey’), to subtle, lo-fi electronica (‘Brain Cells’), the jangly 'Lydia, the ink will never dry', a gentle sprinkling of soft, tender moments (‘Leave this Island’, ‘My Bloody Mind’) also thrown in with some playful, groovy numbers (‘Drinking Martinis’, ‘Midnight on the Hill’) which in all saw another fine album added to Maxïmo Park’s back-catalogue.

Recommended Tracks: ‘Give, Get, Take’, ‘Brain Cells’, ‘My Bloody Mind’

Personal Favourite Track: ‘Lydia, the ink will never dry’ - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8P3SWta0-xw

#8. Nick Mulvey – First Mind (Released 12th May)

If you’re a fan of laid-back, stripped-down acoustic tracks then ‘First Mind’ the debut record from Nick Mulvey is recommended listening. A beautifully crafted album, laced with charm ‘First Mind’ demonstrates Nick’s vast range of styles while armed with an acoustic guitar featuring charming, gentle pop ballads (‘Fever to the Form’ and the wonderful ‘Meet Me There’), to the tropically sounding ‘Juramidam’ and intricately picked guitar rhythms on ‘Curcurucu’ and ‘Venus’, this is truly a beautiful debut album from a genuinely talented guitarist.

Recommended Tracks: ‘Juramidam’, ‘Fever to the Form’, ‘Curcurucu’

Personal Favourite Track: ‘Meet Me There’ - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHqsz81L_jI

#7. Royal Blood – Royal Blood (Released 25th August)

Back in March I was lucky enough to go and see this year’s NME Tour and second on the bill that night was this Brighton duo Royal Blood. I didn’t know what to expect from this two-piece at the time but after watching them that night, they reminded me a little of another famous two-piece the ‘White Stripes’ but more so I was also impressed with their intense, heavy-rock sound also reminding me somewhat of early sounding Muse and Led Zeppelin. The band’s eponymous debut album didn’t disappoint either and despite its short running-time of 33 minutes, its more than enough for the band’s large sounding, heavy-bluesy rock to deliver a short-sharp, ferocious kick to the balls and still leave you wanting more, with headline tours for the band now selling out within a matter of minutes.

Recommended Songs: ‘Out of the Black’, ‘Come On Over’, ‘Blood Hands’

Personal Favourite Track: ‘Little Monster’ - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ere2Mstl8ww

#6. Nine Black Alps – Candy for the Clowns (Released 21st April)

If it’s hard, industrialist rock you are looking for then ‘Candy for the Clowns’ by Manchester’s Nine Black Alps might just be the album for you. Opening with full-on, no-nonsense rock ‘Novokaine’ to the coasting guitar sounds of ‘Blackout’ and the edgy cool, swaggering ‘Supermarket Clothes’ before industrialist live favourite ‘Patti’. While midway through the record is the standout track for me featuring some bitter sweet rock on ‘Morning After’. The band dabble with American college-rock on ‘Take Me Underground’ while the deluxe version of the album closes with a couple of raw acoustic numbers ‘You Don’t Need Me’ and ‘Power Failure'. ‘Candy for the Clowns’ sees Nine Black Alps deliver another solid, underground guitar album with well-written tracks.

Recommended Tracks: ‘Novokaine’, ‘Supermarket Clothes’, ‘Patti’

Personal Favourite Track: ‘Morning After’ - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMbC1DgSzrw

#5. The Rifles – None the Wiser (Released 27th January)

For ‘None the Wiser’ to only be in 5th-place in this list shows some of the quality albums it has been up against this year, as for me this album saw The Rifles really back on top-form. Returning with some brillantly, fun and catchy mod-rock tracks with openers ‘Minute Mile’ and ‘Heebie Jeebies’, it was perhaps an early indication the band were returning more to their sound of debut album ‘No Love Lost’. However ‘None the Wiser’ also showcased the band’s sound maturing with the dreamy, acoustic sounds of ‘You Win Some’ and the assured number ‘The Hardest Place to Find Me’ before finishing with epic closer ‘Under and Over’ and this album set the bar high immediately from the start of 2014.

Recommended Songs: ‘Minute Mile’, ‘Heebie Jeebies’, ‘You Win Some’

Personal Favourite Track: ‘Go Lucky’ - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZTkWuBOzNU

#4. Interpol – El Pintor (Released 8th September)

September saw the return of one of New York’s finest Interpol with their 5th studio album ‘El Pintor’, Spanish for ‘The Painter’ but also doubling as an anagram of the band’s name. Released 4-years after their eponymous fourth album, for me ‘El Pintor’ saw Interpol back on top form. Building with a tender guitar-riff and Paul Bank’s distinct vocals ‘All the Rage Back Home’ is a great opener which slowly builds into a full crescendo of a solid guitar track. The band are noted for their post-punk, brooding guitar sound with intricate guitar riffs found here on ‘Same Town, New Story’ and there are further fine examples here with ‘My Desire’ and standout number ‘My Blue Supreme’. ‘Anywhere’ and ‘Ancient Ways’ finds the band hitting back with some great full-on guitar rock, and brooding album closer ‘Twice As Hard’ is one of my favourite closing Interpol tracks since ‘Leif Erikson’ from debut album ‘Turn on the Bright Lights’.

Recommended Tracks: ‘All the Rage Back Home’, ‘Anywhere’, ‘My Blue Supreme’

Personal Favourite Track: ‘Same Town, New Story’ - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZf6OU28e8A

#3. Howler – World of Joy (Released 24th March)

Early Spring saw the return of young Minneapolis upstarts Howler with their second album ‘World of Joy’. Lead-singer Jordan Gatesmith described this album’s sound as “supposed to be almost like a jukebox at some sloppy bar in Minneapolis” and that really hits the nail on the head with this record. From the Thin Lizzy sounding opener ‘Al’s Corral’ making a great start to the album, we hear the band sounding like The Ramones on ‘Drip’ and capturing a raw, garage-rock sound with a number of tracks such as ‘Yacht Boys’ and the fun guitar-rock of ‘Louise’. For me it’s the jangly guitar sounds of ‘Don’t Wanna’ and ‘The itch that creeps through my skull’ that are the standout tracks of this record surely influenced by The Smiths and this second album really saw Howler mature and show a diverse range of tracks they can create on this brilliant record which I’ve had on constant repeat throughout 2014.

Recommended Tracks: ‘Al’s Corral’, ‘Don’t Wanna’, ‘Louise’

Personal Favourite Track: ‘The itch that creeps through my skull’ (live) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQIdb70SelA

#2. Catfish and the Bottlemen – The Balcony (Released 15th September)

With their full-on explosive, rock ‘n’ roll sound ‘The Balcony’ was the excellent debut album from Catfish and the Bottlemen. Four young, cocky but fun lads originally hailing from Llandudno, Wales these boys have spent a good number of years dedicated to live touring and honing their explosive rock sound. With thoughtful opener ‘Homesick’ setting the pace, this quickly gets build on with the excellent track ‘Kathleen’ which I previously described in my review of this album as “Indie-Rock tracks go this is nigh-on fucking perfection”. ‘Cocoon’ and ‘Pacifer’ further demonstrate the fun, cool, loud rock sounds of this band with infectious guitar riffs and rhythms and lead-singer Van McCann’s distinct, crisp vocals throughout. The hits continue with further incredibly tight rock tracks ‘Business’ and the up-tempo ‘26’ before closing with the brilliantly cool live favourites ‘Sidewinder’ and ‘Tyrants’. The Balcony features 11 easy-listening but incredibly well-written and exciting rock tracks that will surely see Catfish and the Bottlemen go onto much bigger things.

Recommended Songs: ‘Homesick’, ‘Cocoon’, ‘Pacifier’, ‘Sidewinder’

Personal Favourite Track: ‘Kathleen’ - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrrcVxnjJO8

#1. The Twilight Sad – Nobody Wants To Be Here and Nobody Wants To Leave (Released 27th October)

Returning with their fourth album this year were the distinctly Scottish band The Twilight Sad with the incredibly, beautifully crafted ‘Nobody Wants To Be Here and Nobody Wants To Leave’ and finds itself in the #1 spot on my albums of the year list. Returning with ‘There’s a girl in the corner’ this saw the band retain their brooding, edgy guitar sound while ‘Last January’ featured a more upbeat yet haunting guitar rhythm with the beautifully crafted tales lead-singer James Graham masterly paints on this album. A dark, thoughtful yet tender and gentle record throughout laced with charming, hauntingly sounding fairy-tales (‘Pills I Swallow’) we also have an agonisingly beautiful standout track with ‘It Never Was the Same’. This is yet another finely crafted, edgy, haunting record by The Twilight Sad and is one of the standout albums of 2014 for me.

Recommended Tracks: ‘There’s A Girl in the Corner’, ‘Last January’, ‘Pills I Swallow’

Personal Favourite Track: ‘It Never was the Same’ - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEMA2DYe2zk

So that covers some of my favourite albums of 2014. Many thanks for taking the time to read and if you have any recommendations of records for me to check out as well, feel free to leave suggestions in the comments section below or send them across on Twitter.

Here’s to more Alternative, Indie and Rock music in 2015!

Flynny

Flynndie Reviews #51: The Twilight Sad - Nobody Wants To Be Here and Nobody Wants To Leave

2014-10-28T16:53:00.003+00:00

Written 28th October 2014:

The Twilight Sad – Nobody Wants to be here and Nobody Wants to Leave

The Band: James Graham (vocals), Andy MacFarlane (guitars) Mark Devine (Drums), Johnny Doherty (bass)

This week sees the return of Scottish alternative-rockers The Twilight Sad with this their fourth album ‘Nobody Wants to be here and Nobody Wants to Leave’. Originally hailing from Kilsyth, Scotland the band have built a loyal and dedicated following with three well-received albums under their belts from their full-debut record ‘Fourteen Autumns and Fifteen Winters’ receiving critical-acclaim back in 2007, followed by 2009’s excellent, brooding and guitar-distortion heavy second-album ‘Forget the Night Ahead’. 2012 saw the band’s third album ‘No One Can Ever Know’ still capturing the band’s intense and cavernous live sound while the record was more laced with synths and electronics throughout, now leading us up to this week’s latest album release.

Nobody Wants to be here and Nobody Wants to Leave

1. There’s A Girl In The Corner

2. Last January

3. I Could Give You All That You Don’t Want

4. It Never Was The Same

5. Drown So I Can Watch

6. In Nowheres

7. Nobody Wants to Be Here and Nobody Wants to Leave

8. Pills I Swallow

9. Leave The House

10. Sometime I Wish I Could Fall Asleep

With a nicely picked electric-guitar riff and an arena-filling drum-rhythm ‘There’s a Girl in the Corner’ opens the record with distinct backing-synths helping to set the dark, haunting tone for this album alongside James’ distinctly Scottish vocals “You’re not coming back/She’s not coming back for more…There’s a girl in the corner/and she’s crying for you”. It’s a slow-burner and deliberately crafted track that sets the early dark tone for ‘Nobody Wants to be Here’. Second-track ‘Last January’, previously previewed by the band online and in recent live performances, has a more up-tempo rhythm and percussion to it with spooky synths and a nice bridge “And they say you can’t be won/And it’s your eyes…touching my eyes”. ‘I Could Give You All That You Don’t Want’ continues with another upbeat tempo and particularly a driving bass-line at its heart from Johnny intertwined with electric-guitar strums from Andy before we have a stand-out track on the record ‘It Never Was The Same’. Initially another slowed-down, synth-driven song it has real endearing and touching vocals midway through the track from James “So we danced to save them all/We asked to save them all/We tried to save them all/You didn’t have to kill them all”. This track is a strong highlight early on in the record.

The Twilight Sad previously stormed through a headline set at The Boston Rooms, Camden

‘Drown So I Can Watch’ despite being a brutally bleak track-title sees guitars and bass pulse this track along, while James’ vocals portray a rocky relationship between a couple “I put you through hell/But you carried it all so well/You carried it all so well”. This is a heartfelt, honest track yet with a captivating, alluring charm about it. Midway through the record ‘In Nowheres’ is the loudest track on the album so far, featuring heavy guitar-riffs from Andy and James’ vocals coming across with a distant effect here creating a broad and large sounding rock-track, before title-track ‘Nobody Wants to Be Here and Nobody Wants to Leave’ sees guitars, bass, synths and percussion all chug-away together in union as one with the real-focus on James’ cryptic story-telling here “Can you stay tomorrow?/You won’t leave tomorrow/I don’t know where we went wrong?” This an atmospheric, brooding track, a featured trademark sound of The Twilight Sad.

‘Pills I Swallow’ is another bleak track-title but also another charmer of a track, again with a haunting sound about it featuring a sweet, twinkling gentle synth-melody hand-holding the track along nicely “It’s you/It’s always you/Telling me what to do”. It’s like the soundtrack to an eerie, unrequited fairy-tale. Lovely stuff. Penultimate track ‘Leave the House’ is another, stripped-down, slower affair with organ-like synths and gentle percussion featuring alongside James’ dulcet tones gently repeating lines “And I see you/I see you/It’s lonely in the dark/Lonely in the dark” and more intensely further into the song “I’ve been put to bed/I’ve been put bed/I’ve been put to bed/I don’t know what you know” with a more rocky guitar-riff midway through the track, before we have album closer ‘Sometimes I Wish I Could Fall Asleep’. Again another stripped-down haunting track with gentle piano notes being featured here it’s very much a closing ballad for the record with soft percussion coursing throughout it and crisp, tender vocals here again from James “You don’t love me anymore/You don’t need me anymore/And we’ve been left behind” and is possibly the most moving track on the album.

‘Nobody Wants to be here and Nobody Wants to Leave’ doesn’t pull any punches with its content; it’s a dark, bleak and brutally honest record yet at the same time an amazingly haunting and beautiful piece of work all the same which flourishes with repeated listens. If you’re familiar with the band’s previous albums you will have expected nothing less here but let’s be clear here that The Twilight Sad are a band that masterfully hone and carefully craft the songs that they write and this album arguably sees the band at the height of their song-writing. As I say I found this to be a tender and sublime record, that has a tendency to reveal further charms with repeated listens and I’m going to give this one 9/10 as it’s refreshing to see a band, pushing and challenging themselves to create a sound that’s really true to them. I highly recommend to watch the acoustic session below to see the amazingly beautiful sound the band create on this latest record.

It Never Was the Same

‘Flynny’

Track 1 ‘There’s a Girl in the Corner’

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8H38U4nZag

Track 2 ‘Last January’

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4YrixHiLpw

The Twilight Sad - Acoustic Session for Tenement TV

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enl6TJiTeLY

Band Website:
www.thetwilightsad.com

Flynndie Reviews #50: Catfish and the Bottlemen - The Balcony

2014-09-14T15:53:00.003+01:00

Written 14th September 2014

Catfish and the Bottlemen – The Balcony

The Band: Van McCann (vocals/guitar), Billy Blakeway (guitar/vocals), Benji Bibby (bass/vocals) Rob Hall aka Dr. Bob (Drums)

This week see the release of Catfish and the Bottlemen’s much anticipated debut album ‘The Balcony’. Originally hailing from Llandudno, Wales these four young upstarts are hell-bent on making a big impact on the Indie-Rock scene and have been garnering some serious attention and airplay from the likes of X-FM, Zane Lowe and Steve Lamacq, thus gaining the band a lively and intense fan-base. I’ve been closely keep an eye on these lads for about three-years now upon hearing early single ‘Broken Army’ (previously reviewed in Flynndie Reviews #25) and listening to their debut EP ‘The Beautiful Decay EP’ a ridiculously obscene amount of times upon its release. Having been lucky enough to catch the band live on a number of occasions I can confirm that Catfish and the Bottlemen seriously deliver a full-on rock ‘n’ roll assault live and on a number of times I have walked out of their gigs overhearing people saying “Wow that band were just fucking amazing!” So with a lot of anticipation and building hype how does ‘The Balcony’ shape up then?

The Balcony:

1. Homesick
2. Kathleen
3. Cocoon
4. Fallout
5. Pacifier
6. Hourglass
7. Business
8. 26
9. Rango
10. Sidewider
11. Tyrants

Opening track and previous single ‘Homesick’ starts with a stripped-down guitar riff from front-man Van and lines “I got mislead, mistook, discard/Anything that I said/See I’m not the type to call you up drunk/But I got some lies to tell” and an almost calypso drum-rhythm from Dr. Bob before it gets into full-swing after with a great chorus “I said “I’m only looking out for you”/She said “it’s obvious that’s a lie”/I only ever put out for you/You know it’s obvious you don’t try” which gets the record off to a great start. However, if ‘Homesick’ is a great opener then it’s second track and previous single ‘Kathleen’ that starts showing the full potential of Catfish and the Bottlemen “You’re Simpatico/And of all the lifts home/And all the mixed feelings/You’re cuts above/And you don’t own worries/Or a chest full of heartache” as the band continue their tight sound with some nice guitar licks from Billy and perfectly timed bass from Benji giving this track a delightful rhythm and groove to it while featuring an infectious chorus as Van belts out “I gotta give it to you/You give me problems!/When you’re not in the mood”. As Indie-Rock tracks go this is nigh-on fucking perfection. ‘Cocoon’ continues the smooth groove on the album so far building with rocky drumming and bass, before effortlessly coasting along with crisp, clear vocals again from Van “I remember when we swapped names/And I thought maybe/You’d stay and try and outdrink me/Your friends all hated it” followed by “Fuck it if they talk/Fuck it if they try and get to us”. This is a smooth track, with particularly great guitars, drums and bass over the bridge before the chorus.

Fourth track ‘Fallout’ features sharp guitar strums and accompanying bass notes and percussion, the band still continue a nice smooth sound here with an edgy chorus “And we just always seem to just fallout/When I’m most in need of it/You just seem to call out/When I’m up for leaving it” you can tell the band really believe what they’re into here and enjoying themselves on this track. Much like second track ‘Kathleen’, ‘Pacifier’ captures the core-sound of Catfish and the Bottlemen here with another excellent Indie-Pop Rock track “Oh but babe/You know I tried and failed/But you just don’t know how it feels/To lose something/You never have and never will” before the track rocks out in its final third with Van repeating the track-title “I’m her pacifier/I’m her pacifier”. It’s another very instant and incredibly catchy tune yet sounds pulled off with effortless ease here by the band. ‘Hourglass’ showcases a lesser seen side of the band as Van picks up acoustic guitar here, with a driving, backing bass rhythm here from Benji, it’s a sweet and tender track midway through the record and builds up steady layers with gentle backing vocals, light-drums and even charming piano notes, a surprising ballad to be found here on the album.

Catfish and the Bottlemen previously stormed through a set at London's the 100 Club back in 2013

Getting back much more up-tempo, ‘Business’ goes back to Catfish’s full-on, ballsy rock. Another strong track pulsing along with driving bass and percussion “I wanna make you my business/I wanna tolerate drunk you honey/I wanna make you my problem” another very instant track featuring some nice guitar work here and a nice guitar solo midway through, meanwhile ‘26’ was previously an opening live favourite and one which I always thought was a great track that the band opened with and the final recording here further confirms that with a fast accelerating guitar rhythm driving away at it “I’ll come/Based on/Facts like/She’ll be there/Making self-control”. This is a fast-paced and no-nonsense track. Previously another early single ‘Rango’ remains upbeat and tight guitar-rock with smooth vocals here from Van a particular highlight “You see Abby she’s got to wait/Until she gets you on your own/She’ll make you make mistakes/And you can offer to take her home” and this track features a really nice guitar solo from Billy in its latter stages and is generally another very likeable track.

So far ‘The Balcony’ has been some ride and then track 10 ‘Sidewinder’ hits you! This is full-on, ballsy rock with an amazing opening guitar-riff. This track previously featured on the band’s ‘Beautiful Decay EP’ but is such a strong track in its own right that it just had to feature on this debut record with some of my favourite lines on the album “Give me some/Assumptions I/Can make of you/Cause you’re getting lazy/You used to frustrate me” and “Whoever/You’re mixing/Your drinks with/Is dying to/Go to town on you”. This is another seriously solid track before the album closes with another live favourite and another track from their previous debut EP which has been re-recorded here, ‘Tyrants’, which has a raw industrialist hard-rocking vibe about it and a particularly nice closing guitar and rhythm featuring some great closing lines “Tyrants helped build us/Then they won’t/Mind throwing it away”. It’s another great track to close this debut album with the fiercely rocky instrumental ‘Trippin’’ tagged on to the end of the album nicely much like the band’s live shows.

The Bottlemen tear through another dynamic and energetic set at The Borderline

As I said at the start of this review I’ve been closely keeping an eye out for Catfish and the Bottlemen as one to watch and have always been patiently looking forward to this debut album ‘The Balcony’ over the past three years. As time went on I was a little apprehensive as to the final sound of this album what with high hopes for this band but I have to say these four young lads have delivered a debut album they should be very proud of. There are many strong tracks on this record with for me personally ‘Cocoon’, ‘Pacifier’ and particularly ‘Sidewinder’ and ‘Kathleen’ being amazing highlights from this bright, young band and I’m going to give ‘The Balcony’ an unprecedented 10 Pacifiers out of 10 as this is a quality debut record. Every 5 years or so a band comes along which just changes the game and for me Catfish and the Bottlemen are the real fucking deal. Their music is no-nonsense ballsy rock about being young and in complicated relationships something everyone can relate to but they back them with amazing guitar riffs and rhythms and ‘The Balcony’ doesn’t disappoint. The band look and sound great and are amazing live probably due to their sheer dedicated commitment to live touring over the past 7 years, so try and catch them in small venues while you can as I can only see this band going all the way on to much bigger things.

Simpatico

‘Flynny’

Track 1 ‘Homesick’

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhfXl1OefI8

Track 2 ‘Kathleen’

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgW67efQduY

Track 5 ‘Pacifier’

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iX1sJClsQxE

Track 10 ‘Sidewinder’

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWvN42M8JWQ

Band website:
www.catfishandthebottlemen.com

Flynndie Reviews #49: Interpol - 'El Pintor'

2014-08-28T18:18:00.003+01:00

Written 28th August 2014:

Interpol – El Pintor

The Band: Paul Banks (lead vocals/guitar), Dan Kessler (lead guitar/vocals), Sam Fogarino (drums)

Well early September sees the long-awaited return of New York City descendants and sharp suit-wearing Interpol with their fifth studio album ‘El Pintor’ a suspicious-looking album title which translates from Spanish as ‘The Painter’. The album is released on the 8th September but the band are currently streaming the album early via the NPR Music website below, so go check it out:

http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=341629732&m=341705409

The band have built a core, dedicated following with their edgy, atmospheric and distinctive post-punk sound over the past ten years building up from their incredible debut album ‘Turn on the Bright Lights’ (see Flynndie Reviews #15 for more on that, the only record that has previously been given a perfect 10 on this blog) to their latest release, 2010’s eponymously titled ‘Interpol’. Sandwiched in-between was their very solid second album ‘Antics’ released in 2004 with well-known hits ‘Evil’ and ‘Slow Hands’, followed by 2007’s ‘Our Love To Admire’. So with four fine records under the belts from the band from The Big Apple, the big question is then how does ‘El Pintor’ shape up?

El Pintor

1. All the Rage Back Home

2. My Desire
3. Anywhere
4. Same Town, New Story
5. My Blue Supreme
6. Everything Is Wrong
7. Breaker 1
8. Ancient Ways
9. Tidal Wave
10. Twice as Hard

Recently previewed on live tours earlier this year ‘All the Rage Back Home’ gets ‘El Pintor’ up and running with tingling slide-guitar notes from Dan Kessler teasing away while backed with Paul’s softly-sung vocals, before the track kicks into full-flow after about 45-seconds “She said you don’t need time/Be tame you won’t need your mate inside/My faith won’t lie” and the track continues to build before reaching it’s full-stride before the track-title’s chorus “I keep falling maybe half the time/And it’s all the rage back home/All the rage back home”. It’s a track that coasts and flows effortlessly and gets the record off to a fine start. Launching with trademark, angular guitars ‘My Desire’ is more of a steady burner of a track, featuring duelling, shimmering guitars between Paul and Dan accompanied by a steady drum-rhythm from Sam with angst lyrics to be found here “In my desire, I’m a frustrated man/Some of us ask for peace, do what we can”. This is a more familiar haunting, atmospheric type of track that the band are also well known for.

‘Anywhere’ is a good example of Interpol on fine-form. With an incredibly catching guitar-riff from Dan pumping at its heart, further driven by thumping bass and percussion through its veins before reaching a large crescendo of a chorus “The ocean…I could go anywhere/I could go anywhere/So free/It’s my nature to want/I could go anywhere.” ‘Same Town, New Story’ eases the pace of the album again, with another trademark Kessler melancholic guitar-riff laying the foundations for this eerie, haunting track, a style of sound not too dissimilar to that found on some of the tracks on their eponymous fourth album ‘Interpol’. With opening and subtle backing synths ‘My Blue Supreme’ is another soft, gentle and thoughtful Interpol track which continues its progression with synths being entwined by nice gentle guitar riffs, while midway through the record ‘Everything Is Wrong’ is an initially bass-driven track, perhaps harking back more to Interpol’s earlier sound from their first two albums, slowly building with soft vocals from Paul and his American accent coming through particularly stronger here on a catchy chorus featuring the track-title repeated.

Interpol headlined the NME Tour back in March

‘Breaker 1’ features a very jaggered-sounding guitar at it’s opening, with an echo effect used on Paul’s voice initially “Come back/Come back without warning/Come back/Come back Breaker 1” with this effect interspersed between the main verses of the track which see the band in a comfortable groove here and still on good form. Previously given early previews online (see the link at the bottom of this review) ‘Ancient Ways’ is a no-nonsense rocky track, high-tempo with snarling guitars and fierce percussion and a strong chorus “The city feeds us all like babes/And we’ve taken a bow” before Paul emphasizes “At the station!” It’s a very instant track, with a strong dance-vibe behind it, for the album. ‘Tidal Wave’ is initially driven by synths and percussion before backing guitars and sees Paul using a high-pitched voice on vocals here, it’s another deeply flowing and floating track before we have album closer ‘Twice As Hard’ with Dan creating a real shimmering sound as the main melody of the track here and near spoken vocals from Paul, and this track has a somewhat familiar feel as an album closer to the track ‘Leif Erikson’ also the closing track from the band’s debut album ‘Turn on the Bright Lights’ while Paul sings repeatedly over the chorus “Your twice as hard/Twice as hard”.

So overall ‘El Pintor’ in my opinion sees Interpol maintain their fine, edgy, raw and moody post-punk sound with another album packed with songs that each have charm, character and a story behind them. There are certainly some Interpol tracks here that really show what the band are all about with their core-sound, in particular early tracks ‘All the Rage Back Home’ and ‘Anywhere’ are two examples of instantly catchy Interpol tracks. Throw in some more subtle, slow-burning yet real thought-provoking tracks such as ‘My Desire’, ‘Breaker 1’ and ‘Tidal Wave’ and a couple of highlights midway through the album with 'Same Town, New Story' and the epic 'My Blue Supreme' and this record really covers the full experience of what you would hope to expect from an Interpol record and one that perhaps finds the band rediscovering their sound and roots from earlier Interpol albums yet not neglecting the charm of their two more recent albums. I was lucky enough to catch the band on the NME Tour earlier this year and felt at the time that the new material showed real potential and I feel that ‘El Pintor’ doesn’t disappoint and delivers another solid album from the New York three-piece so I’m going to give this record a strong 8 out of 10 and would also suggest if you’re not too familiar with Interpol’s sound, this album would actually be a good starting point to get into them with.

Oh and hopefully by now you will have noticed that the suspicious-looking album title ‘El Pintor’ also doubles as an anagram of a certain New York band…

All the Rage Back Home

Flynny

Track 1 – ‘All the Rage Back Home’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-u6DvRyyKGU

Track 9 - ‘Ancient Ways’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ni9bLpflDCY

Band website:

http://www.interpolnyc.com

Flynndie Reviews: #48 Kasabian - 48:13

2014-06-05T13:43:00.001+01:00

Written 5th June 2014:

Kasabian – 48:13

The Band: Tom Meighan (lead vocals), Serge Pizzorno (lead guitar/vocals), Chris Edwards (bass), Ian Matthews (drums)

After a 3-year break this week sees the return of perhaps Leicester’s second most famous son’s (after Gary Lineker of course!) with the return of Indie electro-rockers Kasabian and this their 5th studio album, cunningly named after its running time, ’48:13’. The latest record is the band’s follow-up to their successful 4th album ‘Velociraptor!’ which I previously reviewed in Flynndie Reviews #18 and very much enjoyed at the time describing it as a much more ‘experimental’ album by the band and displaying a great range of different styles for them including some nice stripped-down acoustic tracks (‘Goodbye Kiss’), some, raw and dirty electro-tracks (‘I Hear Voices’, ‘Switchblade Smiles’) to the more familiar ‘lad-rock’ (‘Days are Forgotten’ ‘Let’s Roll Just Like We Used To’) that Kasabian are well known for. We’ve had an early preview of new Kasabian material with recent upbeat single ‘Eez-Eh’ which has proved a bit of a ‘marmite-track’ with some fans loving it, while others were not too keen on it but let’s give the new album 48:13 a full chance and see how it shapes up.

48:13

1. (shiva) (1:07)

2. bumblebeee (4:01)
3. stevie (4:45)
4. (mortis) (0:47)
5. doomsdate (3:40)
6. treat (6:53)
7. glass (4:48)
8. explodes (4:18)
9. (levitation) (1:19)
10. clouds (4:45)
11. eez-eh (3:00)
12. bow (4:27)
13. s.p.s (4:22)

So the album opens with ‘(shiva)’ (yes all the track-titles are listed in lower-case and played havoc with the spell-checker here) a short and subtle, lo-fi synth based instrumental track teasing the opening of this record, while the album fully picks up with second track ‘bumblebeee’ and sees Tom’s vocals opening with the urgently repeated ‘Yeah, Yeah, Yeah’ backed to rocking guitars. The verses here are again subtle and serene, backed with gentle keys before the main direct and to-the-point bridge “Life is so simple when you’re with me/Because when you’re with me/I’m in ecstasy/I’m in ecstasy”. This is a direct and more familiar type of Kasabian guitar-track early on the record. Initially slowly building-up with synth-sounds and percussion third track ‘stevie’ is a confident and assured, swaggering Kasabian track with an uplifting chorus “All the kids they say/Live to fight another day/Live to fight again”.

‘mortis’ is another unusual track-title and the second really subtle instrumental on the record, with very light-acoustic strumming and somewhat disturbing background noises, a trick commonly used on third album ‘West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum’, before we pick up again with ‘doomsdate’ a fast, urgent guitar track featuring a quirky, squealing guitar riff over the main chorus “What you see is what you get with me/What you see is what you get with me”; it’s another fun track again with a dance-vibe at its heart. ‘treat’ is very much more electro-driven, Indie-pop, almost like a lite-version of ‘Switchblade Smiles’ from previous album ‘Velociraptor!’ but doesn’t quite reach the heights of that excellent and deliciously dark track from their 4th album yet there is no doubt that this track is a very much a direct and recognisable trademark Kasabian sound and becomes very much an instrumental in its second-half. ‘glass’ is much more stripped down, featuring Serge on vocal duties here for what is quite a trippy, psychedelic number midway through the record with spoken-word vocals towards the end of the track “A wise man told me that we are born with wings/But never taught to fly/Doesn’t that make you wonder why/Is it to prevent us from falling out of the sky”, while ‘explodes’ is a slow-burning electronic track again with Serge on vocals, as it chugs away at the listener “On and on it goes/Until my head explodes/On and on it goes/Until my head explodes” before ‘(levitation)’ is the final instrumental on the album (and you may have figured out by now that the three tracks in brackets on the track-listing are indeed this record’s instrumentals), and again here very much stripped down and psychedelic.

We continue with ‘clouds’ which opens with a shoe-gazing, day-dreaming vibe about it and a distant-effect used on Tom’s vocals before the track picks up more in pace after about a minute or so and sees Serge sharing vocal duties here with a funky guitar-riff picking away throughout. Previous come-back single ‘eez-eh’ continues the dance-vibe here picking-up the pace some more with a buzzing, trippy percussion-based rhythm to it, almost hip-hop influenced, with Tom spinning the track’s title throughout “Eez-eh/I’ll make you mad/Least I ain’t sleazy/I’m just trying to put the world to right”. The track reminds me a bit in style of Reverend and the Makers and also ‘Hey Boy, Hey Girl’ by The Chemical Brothers but just overall felt a little bit more clumsy and awkward to me upon my first few listens but as I said earlier many others like this track and it’s not by any means terrible in my opinion.

Next we have ‘bow’ another much softer track on the record, showing somewhat of a subtle nod to a Noel Gallagher solo type of track “Take a bow and say goodbye/And let the hours passing by/That you get to feel so high/And it’s over, it’s all over now”. It’s a nice serene track and certainly the ballad of the album. Finally we have closer ‘s.p.s’, an acoustic Beatles-eque stripped-down and dreamy number which I could picture going down well at the summer festivals with the sun slowing drawing to a close, it’s a calm, peaceful melody to close the record with.

So for me then much like when I first heard ‘eez-eh’, ’48:13’ is somewhat of a mixed-bag as an album. There are certainly some strong tracks here ‘bumblebeee’ and ‘doomsdate’ being two standout moments on the record and are certainly single material, which are complimented by some of the more lo-fi electronic-driven beats found here such as ‘stevie’ and ‘treat’. The instrumentals throughout the album don’t offer too much for me but perhaps round the album off as a full psychedelic experience and overall I personally think that if you really enjoyed the two most recent Kasabian records you will still find plenty here to like and enjoy but for me while this album flows well it doesn’t quite reach the heights of earlier Kasabian albums the self-titled ‘Kasabian’ or ‘Empire’ and I’m going to give this one 7 out of 10; it’s a direct and familiar Kasabian sound for me, not really any more or any less but it’s good to have them back and I’m looking forward to their headline set at Glastonbury this summer.

eez-eh

flynny

Track 2 ‘bumblebee’ – Live on Later… with Jools Holland

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMAd4bYF0kU

Track 11 ‘eez-eh’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ST6nEvIEY4s

Band Website:

www.kasabian.co.uk - Note you can stream the new album early this week from the band’s website

Flynndie Reviews: #47 Oasis - Definitely Maybe (Re-mastered)

2014-05-20T11:44:00.001+01:00

Written 20th May 2014

Oasis – Definitely Maybe (Re-mastered)

The Band: Liam Gallagher (lead vocals), Noel Gallagher (lead guitar/backing vocals), Paul 'Bonehead' Authurs (rhythm guitar), Paul McGuigan (bass), Tony McCarroll (drums)

“It’s about getting a bottle of cider with your mates, sticking on a Beatles album, talking shite, puking up, meeting strange girls and maybe having sex. It’s about escaping.” – Noel Gallagher, 1994

This week saw the release of a re-mastered, deluxe edition of the seminal Oasis record ‘Definitely Maybe’ to mark the 20th anniversary of the Manchester band’s debut album. The deluxe edition features a rather smart, hard-bound booklet with some great early images of the band in their prime younger days and features the 3-disc collection:

Disc 1 – Definitely Maybe (re-mastered)

Disc 2 – Definitely Maybe singles b-sides
Disc 3 – Live tracks and demos

Definitely Maybe

1. Rock ‘n’ Roll Star

2. Shakermaker
3. Live Forever
4. Up in the Sky
5. Columbia
6. Supersonic
7. Bring It On Down
8. Cigarettes & Alcohol
9. Digsy’s Dinner
10. Slide Away
11. Married with Children

As soon as the opening guitar solo of ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Star’ hits, you instantly realise that this album still remains a timeless classic and sounds as great now as it did back in ’94. Liam in the past has suggested that this opening track is “the most arrogant song ever; to be playing that in-front of two people in The Boardwalk, those were the days” and he makes no bones about it as he sneers “Toniiiiight, I’m a Rock ‘n’ Roll Star”. ‘Shakermaker’ was a much more stripped-down, psychedelic number for early Oasis laced with trippy lines “Mr Sifter sells me songs when I was just sixteen/Now he stops at traffic lights but only when they're green”.

However it’s third track and third single ‘Live Forever’ which made people sit up and take notice that there was something special about this cocky, swaggering 5-piece from Manchester as despite being so early in his musical career Noel penned a modern masterpiece with one of Liam’s best early vocals and without question this track remains a timeless classic. With an upbeat, buzzing riff ‘Up in the Sky’ sees Oasis at their effortless-cool here, calling the shots as they see it while sticking two-fingers up to the authority figures of the establishment “You need assistance with the things that you have never ever seen/It’s just a case of never breathing out before you breath it in” before ‘Columbia’ takes us on Noel’s over-indulgent, acid-trip through guitar-heavy psychedelia and sees Liam remaining on snarling, nasal over-drive with this no-nonsense raw track.

It’s perhaps midway through the album when Oasis unearthed their jewel in the crown, with a firm live and fan-favourite ‘Supersonic’ still riding high on the crest of a wave of alcohol and drugs and the opening one line that immediately summed up what the band were all about “I need to be myself/I can’t be no-one else!” Simple but never more directly to the point. ‘Bring It On Down’ saw the band at their most raw expansive sound on the record with thunderous drumming and driven, duelling guitars from Noel and Bonehead like there was no tomorrow, before we had the cool, free-for-all that was ‘Cigarettes and Alcohol’ which smartly “borrowed” the main guitar-riff from T-Rex’s ‘Get It On’ and became another famous anthem for the band with many imitating Liam’s infamous “You could wait for a lifetime/To spend your days in the sunshiiiiiine” vocals.

‘Digsy’s Dinner’ was another jolly, upbeat number featuring some of Noel’s more funny and light-hearted lyrics “What a life it would be/If you could come to mine for tea/I’ll pick you up at half-past three/We’ll have lasaaaange”, before we had the brilliant and tender rare early Oasis ballad in the form of ‘Slide Away’ another triumphant moment on the record: “Slide Away/And give it all you’ve got/You’re mine today/Fell in from the top/I dream of you and all the things you say/But I wonder where you are now?” Beautiful. ‘Married with Children’ closed the album and was initially considered to be a throw-away tongue-in-cheek track but there is still no question that this is actually a good song and showed the stripped-down more charming-side of Oasis buried under their fierce rock ‘n’ roll armoury.

Disc 2 of this package featuring the b-sides of the Definitely Maybe singles is where this collection unearths some real Oasis gems. Early demo’s such as ‘I Will Believe’ and ‘Alive’ show the band at their early effortless raw live sound, while acoustic numbers ‘Sad Song’, ‘D’Yer Wanna Be a Spaceman?’ and ‘Half the World Away’ showed subtle hints of what were bigger things to come from Noel while armed with an acoustic guitar. Throw in tracks such as the baggy ‘Cloudburst’ to the more instant rock ‘n’ roll ‘Fade Away’ and ‘(It’s Good) To Be Free’, then the simply brilliant ‘Listen Up’ and it’s staggering to think Noel was simply pissing-out these tracks with such ease yet only deeming them good enough as b-sides at the time! Finally throw in a third disc featuring some early rare, no-nonsense live performances when Oasis were truly hungry for it to fully round of this collection and this all adds to a great little nostalgic package of the sound of ‘94 and which in my opinion is still an essential collection for any discerning, die-hard Oasis fan of today.

Feeling Supersonic

Flynny

Track 1 ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Star’ live from Southend Pavilion 17/04/1995

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G667xH7euIY

Track 6 ‘Supersonic’ – Oasis TV debut live for The Word 18/03/1994

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81Z-WRuQe2w

Bonus Track ‘Sad Song’ live from Southend Pavilion 17/04/1995

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFTpc57DrCE

Band website:

http://www.oasisinet.com

Flynndie Reviews: #46 Nine Black Alps - Candy for the Clowns

2014-04-24T20:40:00.000+01:00

Written 24th April 2014

Nine Black Alps – Candy for the Clowns

The Band: Sam Forrest (lead vocals/guitar), David Jones (lead guitar), Karl Astbury (bass), James Galley (drums)

Saturday the 14th December 2013. A notable date for Manchester’s very own Nine Black Alps as they played a triumphant home-coming set at Manchester’s Gorilla to celebrate 10-years of the sounds, the tours, the blood, sweat and tears that were all part and parcel of being in Northern Hemisphere rockers Nine Black Alps. But alas the gig at Gorilla was only the start of such jubilations as the 4-piece band returns with this their fifth album ‘Candy for the Clowns’, released this week on Hatch Records, and the follow-up to 2012’s fourth album ‘Sirens’ (previously reviewed in Flynndie Reviews #32 here). Does their latest record continue their 10-year anniversary celebrations and offer further loud and fun sweet-tasting treats or do we end up with a nasty-tasting sour-sucker?

Candy for the Clowns

1. Novokaine

2. Blackout
3. Supermarket Clothes
4. Patti
5. Something Else
6. Morning After
7. Come Back Around
8. Not in my Name
9. Destroy Me
10. Take Me Underground
11. Clown

Opening with a building high-pitched guitar riff before ripping into an industrialist rhythm ‘Novokaine’, which was previously previewed online before the album’s release, is a fun and loud opening track and shows the core sound of no-nonsense carefree rock that Nine Black Alps are all about while Sam snarls delivering its chorus “Hear me now/Call my name/Novok-aaaaine”. ‘Blackout’ follows with menacing guitars and rhythms before building to a big sounding chorus, another staple of the Alps’ trademark sound “Here comes the Blackout baby/Here comes the Blackout baby/Here it comes!” Another track previewed early online ‘Supermarket Clothes’ features a fast, frenetic toe-tapping melody and duelling guitars between Sam and Dave with some nice lines through its verses “There’s a place where I can make the scene/In the pages of your magazine/Pretty faces filled with snow white teeth” it’s a fast, upbeat track that flows smoothly.

‘Patti’ has been a recent live favourite on tour for the band and is driven by a fierce bass line by Karl and brutal percussion from James, making it the perfect formula for hot and sweaty mosh-pits. It’s another hard and fast track that pulls no punches while its lyrics paint a psychedelic, trippy ride “Spin like a top/Let your tired arms drop by your side/Take off your clothes/You can float/You’re as high as a kite”. ‘Something Else’ opens with a bass line solo before speeding along with guitars racing along faster than Sonic the Hedgehog in a Formula 1 car with the “So shine a light on me/So shine a light on me” chorus backed with a nice guitar solo giving the track a form of brief rest-bite between its high-octane verses.

Midway through the album we have ‘Morning After’ and this is possibly the standout track on the album for me personally. This is delightful, jangly Indie-pop while retaining a rocky edge and a nice, calming isolated rhythm to it. A real change of pace for the album so far, it’s a song that in my opinion highlights the often hidden charm that lays tucked away under Nine Black Alps armoury of heavy, industrialist, guitar rock sounds, while laced with poignant and tender lyrics “Lying in your bed with a broken wing and staring at a dying light/Everytime you speak the room would spin and everything is one big lie.” Next we have ‘Comeback Around’ which returns back to the band’s more familiar foot-stomping rock and overall this is a much more traditional Nine Black Alps track with them sounding much more like their material from their second album ‘Love\Hate’ here. With a punchy, head-banging rhythm ‘Not in my Name’ is vicious, no-nonsense scuzzy guitar-rock “Do what you want you can take it from me/I’ll be around do whatever you need” before the repeated track-title’s chorus sees Sam sneering “Not in my name/Not in my naaaaa-me!”

Nine Black Alps rocking London’s The Borderline harder than a pissed-up rockin’ horse

The album calms down again with ‘Destroy Me’, another edgy-rock track that buzzes away hard like a bee overdosed on the amber nectar while ‘Take Me Underground’ is the most chilled track on the album, with a forlorn, shoe-gazer melody at its heart on a lazy summer’s day “So take me underground/I need no invitation/So take me underground/And win me over”. It sees the band dabble at US-style college-rock. Featuring some power-rock, closing track ‘Clown’ has quite an up-and-down rhythm about it, another track that burns and works away at the listener “And you always let me down/Yeah you always let me down/Make me feel like such a clown” it’s another busy, urgent track and sums up the overall mood and sound of the record.

10-years on and five albums in not many band’s nail shoe-gazing, fuzzy guitar-rock with the edge and verve of Nine Black Alps; their sound may not appeal to all tastes but they still remain a tight, full-on and no-nonsense, underground Indie-rock band laced with some subtle underlying melodies to their sound for good measure. ‘Candy for the Clowns’ is a tight little package and almost like a time-capsule of Nine Black Alps sounds over the past ten years, perhaps a personal note back to their fans? It doesn’t quite reach the heights of their excellent debut album ‘Everything Is’ for me but is still on a par with their more recent material and a nice follow-up album to fourth album ‘Sirens’ in my opinion and I will give this one 7 Novokaine’s out of 10 but would suggest if you’re all for a bit of carefree, heavy guitar-rock then you may find much more here to fulfil your sweet-tooth, candy appetite and would suggest to add an extra mark to this review score. 10-years on and Nine Black Alps are still celebrating and rocking hard and I didn’t mention the word 'grunge’ once in this review! Oh…

Standing in Supermarket Clothes
Flynny

Track 1 ‘Novokaine’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SaGVP29bEA

Track 3 ‘Supermarket Clothes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Q7McsqmMoo

Manchester Gorilla 10th Anniversary gig setlist:

http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/nine-black-alps/2013/gorilla-manchester-england-13c471e9.html

Band website:

http://www.nineblackalps.com/

Flynndie Reviews: #45 Howler - World of Joy

2014-03-26T15:58:00.001+00:00

Written 26th March 2014:

Howler – World of Joy

The Band: Jordan Gatesmith (vocals, guitar), Ian Nygaard (guitar), Max Petrek (bass, keyboards), Rory MacMurdo (drums)

So today’s review sees the long-awaited return of US Minneapolis-based 4-piece Howler who are finally making their return after seemingly falling off the face of the planet since releasing their enjoyable, surfer and slasher-based style of garage-rock with 2012 debut album ‘America Give Up’ (previously reviewed in Flynndie Reviews #22). Now suddenly seemingly out of nowhere the band are returning on the Rough Trade label, with this ‘World of Joy’ out this week but has the long break done the young-upstarts a ‘world of good’ or created a ‘world of pain’ with this their second full album?

World of Joy

1. Al’s Corral

2. Drip
3. Don’t Wanna
4. Yacht Boys
5. In the Red
6. World of Joy
7. Louise
8. Here’s The Itch That Creeps Through My Skull
9. Indictment
10. Aphorismic Wasteland Blues

Opening with the fuzzy, upbeat and rocky guitar rhythm of ‘Al’s Corral’ this track sees Howler return to their light-hearted but distinct garage-rock style which was a major feature of their debut album while Jordan teases with lines “I won’t say yes but I might say maaaay-be/If I drink and I ask around/It’s the only place for me”. It’s a fun, energetic opener with a nice hint of Thin Lizzy underlying the track and gets the record of to a fine start. ‘Drip’ is another full-on garage-rock number, featuring plenty of layers of guitar distortion used throughout, with a staple guitar-rhythm that ‘Up the Bracket’ by The Libertines was built on and a raucous Ramones-esque repeated chorus “Drip/Drip/Put him on a drip”.

Meanwhile third-track ‘Don’t Wanna’ is a real standout and somewhat calms the pace of the album with some dreamy but still upbeat, semi-acoustic guitar-pop featuring some of my favourite lines on the album “You don’t have to be anyone if you don’t want to…You don’t have to listen to The Smiths if you don’t want to”, which ironically, or perhaps more so intentionally, is followed with a delightful, jangly Smiths-like guitar solo. For the record I would actually highly recommend going back and listening to the full The Smiths back-catalogue and certainly feel that actually this third track is the band’s nod of approval to the legendary Manchester band. ‘Yacht Boys’ opens with a haunting, western guitar-solo backed by an 100mph guitar-riff and even faster drums from new band member Rory. Another no-nonsense, raucous garage-rock track with an underlying menace to it, this is what The Strokes would sound like on acid, and also reminds me of forgotten psychedelic rockers 80’s Matchbox B-Line Disaster.

‘In the Red’ follows next and is another rocky, upbeat affair and smacks of rhythms of The Clash and The Ramones with a dreamy chorus “No I won’t do you no wrong/No I won’t do you any harm”, it’s another good fun, surfer-rock track and really shows how tight the band are playing here. Title-track ‘World of Joy’ is a much more, slower and menacing affair, as guitars and a groovy bass-line chug away at the track like a runaway train, while Jordan’s voice has an effect used on it on this track making it his voice much softer and understated and despite being the title-track, this is a much more different sound from the band than previously and perhaps the darkest track on the album so far. ‘Louise’ is another much more upbeat and incredibly catchy tune; again with Libertines\Strokes sounding guitars racing through its veins while Jordan croons about the song’s protagonist “Louise/Oh Please/I wanna tell you I love you/But I know it’s not enough!” It’s an urgent and very instant track. Not only is ‘Here’s the Itch that Creeps Through My Skull’ a barmy but brilliant track-title, but for me it’s another stand-out track on the record, with a dreamy, jangly guitar-riff at the heart of it. Another track that’s sound again shows more than a subtle nod to The Smiths and again shows more great range on display on this album from these four young shit-kickin’ upstarts from Minnapolis.

Initially percussion-driven with some hollering and wooo’s thrown-in ‘Indictment’ has a true US-college vibe about it, the perfect companion soundtrack for burning away and heading out on a long road-trip, with guitars and bass duelling right away before mid-way through the track, the song’s drops down a few gears “Well help me Jesus, right here on my search/I know I swear to you, I never burned down no church”, it’s another fun track with its tongue firmly placed in cheek. Closing track ‘Aphorismic Wasteland Blues’ has a very retro, somewhat Beach Boys sounding vibe about it, bluesy, jolly and carefree it effortlessly closes the album all the time while showing off the cheeky-charm and talent of what Howler are all about.

So after seemingly disappearing of the face of the planet, Howler have actually gone away, honed their sound even more and delivered in my opinion a quality second album. I always thought these young lads showed a lot of potential back in late 2011 with their ‘This One’s Different EP’ (also reviewed in Flynndie Reviews #19) and their early 2012 debut album ‘Amercia Give Up’ but I have to say I’ve listened to ‘World of Joy’ a few times now and am started to think this album is really starting to show these youngsters live up to their full potential. You can see many rock ‘n’ roll influences with this record, ranging from the obvious Ramones, The Smiths and The Strokes, particularly with Jordan’s “don’t give a fuck, drawling vocals” drawing a similar comparison to early Julian Casablancas, but also to the more subtle Thin Lizzy and The Stooges. I read a quote from lead-singer Jordan that the band’s aim with this record was “supposed to be almost like a jukebox at some sloppy bar in Minneapolis” and I think they really nail that sound with this record while giving the band quite a range of songs and a fun, tight, rocky record which I’ve overall been really impressed with and am going to award this one 8 “Itch’s Though My Skull” out of 10. If you like stuff like The Libertines and The Strokes I would seriously recommend checking out this fantastic record.

In the Red
‘Flynny’

Track 3 ‘Don’t Wanna’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50QFJJQGTrs

Track 9 ‘Indictment’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCGMoyF-a8M

Flynndie Reviews: #44 Reverend and the Makers - Thirty Two

2014-02-24T14:51:00.001+00:00

Written 24th February 2014

Reverend and the Makers – Thirty Two

The Band: Jon McClure (lead vocals/guitar), Ed Cosens (guitars/bass/backing vocals), Joe Carnall (bass) Jimmy Welsh (drums), Laura McClure (vocals/keyboards)

This week sees the release of Sheffield’s own Reverend and the Makers fourth album ‘Thirty Two’, their follow-up to 2012’s '@Reverend_Makers' (reviewed in Flynndie Reviews #28), which was a triumphant success for the band despite little mainstream radio airplay or television appearances and in my opinion a great-sounding, dance and Indie-pop record in itself. While that third record’s title showed an obvious nod to social media site Twitter, their latest album title ‘Thirty Two’ is perhaps a hint at The Reverend; Jon McClure’s coming of age.

However, before we dive straight into the review of this album, I think it’s well worth a mention of how the band have gone about repaying fans that have invested in the new record via Pledge Music, with Jon and Ed actually taking the time out to tour round the country in a camper van and play intimate acoustic gigs in fan’s homes. Yes this band actually come round to your house and play in your front-room! I think this was a brilliant personal touch and a great gesture to repay the band’s die-hard fans known as the RevArmy and you can check out some video links of the small, fun and rowdy performances (one of which even included a marriage proposal! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7L7EJwL5AFM) at the end of this review.

Thirty Two

1. Detonator

2. I Spy
3. The Devil’s Radio
4. Nostalgia
5. Happy Song
6. Different Trains
7. Time
8. Old Enough (To Know Better)
9. Play Me
10. The Only One
11. Your Girl

‘Detonator’ launches the Reverend’s latest offering and with its sparkling synths and bass-heavy rhythm it makes no secret of the very much dance-vibe this album smacks of throughout while Jon is in full-flow with sexual innuendos “You’re no agitator/More a spectator/I’ll take ya somewhere/We can hit your detonator”. With more industrial synths pumping away at it, ‘I Spy’ continues the early up-tempo melody of the LP with a chilled Ibiza Club rhythm coursing through its veins and some great verses “Tell me what are we doing here?/You control all my strings like a puppeteer/I’m a ship lost at sea but I’m yours to steer”. This is a track that will sound great in the summer sun. ‘The Devil’s Radio’ has a much more familiar Reverend and the Makers sound about it, fast and fun with a delightfully underlying Ska rhythm to it that sees the band much more at the roots of their sound from debut album ‘The State of Things’ and is a very much an instant track on the album, it’s lyrics suggesting that gossip is indeed ‘The Devil’s Radio’.

With brass-sounding synths, trumpets and steel-drums ‘Nostalgia’ has very much a jolly Reggae and Caribbean flavor about it and features a great, reflective opening line “We all love a little nostalgia/It isn’t what it used to be/Tamagochi, Trolls and Crocodile Dundee”. Yes Crocodile Dundee himself gets name checked on the latest Makers record! It’s a light-hearted track that bounces and flows and is likely to be a live favourite with its sing-a-long “La, la-la-la-la's” throughout. ‘Happy Song’ is the slower, ballad track of the record and reminded me of ‘Sex with the Ex’ again from the band’s debut record, with a similar sound and pacing as that track and after the fast tempo of the opening four tracks this track sits well at this stage of the record. ‘Different Trains’ picks up the pace again, another large-sounding upbeat track and sees vocal duties here shared between bassist Joe and Jon with each line through the verses “I invented penicillin while I found a plaster/I’ve got 50 caps, I’ve just got the one” before it’s chorus “And now the hare and the tortoise roll into town/There’s no need to worry, you don’t have to hurry/We’re two different trains”. ‘Time’ has very electronic buzz about it and is another synth-driven track with a strong catchy bridge midway through it “Don’t ya wanna go outside/In the sunshine sometimes” and is another confidently assured Reverend and the Makers style track.

With another fast and urgent rhythm ‘Old Enough (To Know Better)’ is another solid track on the record with guitars and keyboards jamming along frantically as one while Jon belt’s out the track-title over the chorus “She says I‘mmmmm/Old enough to know better”, while ‘Play Me’ sees a sudden halt in pace on the record, featuring a piano ballad backed with lovely Beatles-esque string-sections and generally being an all-round charmer of a track. ‘The Only One’ was previously the first single lifted off the album and is large sounding pure guitar-driven Indie-pop with a polished chorus “I want you to make me feel like I’m the only one/The only one” being perfect for radio airplay so get it out there! Closing track ‘Your Girl’ was the first preview we got of the new Makers album, initially being made available as a download for those that pre-ordered the album from the Pledge Music site and what a closing track we have here. With an industrialist, scuzzy, dirty rhythm and melody to it that smacks of the Prodigy from their ‘Fat of the Land’ days, this is a strong, buzzing closing track that doesn’t pull any punches “Your girl’s got you wrapped around her finger/And your girl is the reason that you don’t ring us…We’ve turned to calling you the pilot light/Because you won’t be going out tonight” and in my opinion this track sees the album finish on a real high.

So overall ‘Thirty Two’ seems like a fluid, natural progression from Reverend and the Makers’ previous album '@Reverend_Makers' and much like its predecessor has a positive banging dance-vibe at its core. For me in particular ‘Detonator’, ‘The Devil’s Radio’, ‘Different Trains’ and ‘The Only One’ are all solid tracks and closer ‘Your Girl’ is a “proper banger!” In particular, and as has always been the case with Reverend and the Makers’ records, Jon’s lyrics are intelligent and diverse almost somewhat poetic and again finds him on good form here. For me the album doesn’t quite reach the heights of their debut record ‘The State of Things’ but this is still a good record and certainly a strong follow-up to '@Reverend_Makers' while tracks like ‘The Devil’s Radio’ and ‘The Only One’ would sound great with some radio airplay so get behind them. Throw in some nice, gentle tracks (‘Happy Song’, ‘Play Me’), some underlying Ska (‘The Devil’s Radio’) and a Caribbean-Reggae influenced sound (‘Nostalgia’) and the record starts to show more range with a few more listens and I’m going award this one a solid 7 Detonators out of 10 and would recommend to go and check this album out!

Thirty Three

Flynny

Track 10 ‘The Only One’

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAj5Plq4r9o

Track 11 ‘Your Girl’

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

Reverend and the Makers Newcastle house-gig #1 of #32HouseGigs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wh1ropH_VLY

Reverend and the Makers Whitehaven house-gig #5 of #32HouseGigs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7uqZKezdes

‘Miss Brown’ acoustic private house-gig

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEC3CPO5_D8

Band Website:

http://www.reverendandthemakers.com

Flynndie Reviews: #43 Maxïmo Park - Too Much Information

2014-01-30T16:59:00.000+00:00

Written 30th January 2014

Maxïmo Park – Too Much Information

The Band: Paul Smith (lead vocals), Duncan Lloyd (guitars/backing vocals), Archis Tiku (bass), Lukas Wooller (keys/synths/backing vocals) Tom English (drums)

What initially started out as a trip to the studio to record a new EP turned out to be much more successful than first planned and has seen Newcastle descendants and Indie and Electro pop-pickers Maxïmo Park instead return with this ‘Too Much Information’, their full-blown fifth studio album. The follow-up to the band’s successful fourth record ‘The National Health’ (previously reviewed in Flynndie Reviews #26 here with an in-depth profile of the band), an album which in itself saw Maxïmo Park pushing their musical boundaries; furthering their sound as just simply as rocky guitar band and packing in a great range of tracks, from piano ballads and fuzzy, electro-rock (‘Hips and Lips’), to some tender acoustic ballads (‘The Undercurrents’, and ‘Unfamiliar Places’) and of course the more traditional up-tempo, guitar-rock tracks the band are noted for from their earlier albums ‘A Certain Trigger’ and ‘Our Earthly Pleasures’. So with a diverse and interesting range of back-catalogue tracks and albums already in their locker, how does fifth record ‘Too Much Information’ shape up for t’Park?

Too Much Information

1. Give, Get, Take

2. Brain Cells
3. Leave This Island
4. Lydia, The Ink Will Never Dry
5. My Bloody Mind
6. Is It True?
7. Drinking Martinis
8. I Recognise The Light
9. Midnight On The Hill
10. Her Name Was Audre
11. Where We’re going

With twinkling synthesizers ‘Give, Get, Take’ gets us up and running before being fully backed by up-tempo percussion and further synth-sounding guitars, the chorus ringing through “You give a little…You get a little…You take a little more”. It’s a bright up-beat track and hints at the electronic, synth-based direction the band take more with this record. Second track ‘Brain Cells’ was previously the first comeback track released from the album and for me was a completely different and unexpected sound from the band, again very electronic with a synth-driven beat chipping away at it but much more slower and deliberate than that of the previous opening track; it’s quite lo-fi and understated and has a dark, mysterious chorus “Didn’t learn anything today/If I didn’t know my brain cells wear away”. This is a much more different track than anything the band has done previously yet is still strange, fascinating and compelling none the less, with an isolated dance-vibe about it. ‘Leave this Island’ is the first full single to be lifted from the album and continues the keyboard and synth-driven direction of the record so far with another shy but sparkling, synth rhythm running through its veins with light backing guitars. It’s another deep, thought-provoking track full of mystery “Let me know when you want to leave this island/I’ll stand up for you”.

With a delightful track-title ‘Lydia, the Ink Will Never Dry’ sees the first real guitar-driven track of the record so far, riding along with a very jangly, Smiths-like guitar at its heart while also reminding me of the band’s excellent past single ‘Books from Boxes’. This is a much more familiar Maxïmo track and perhaps the most instant song on the album so far. Up next ‘My Bloody Mind’ is the heaviest guitar track so far on the record, still backed with flirting synthesizers and a gritty, western like guitar rhythm and bass melody at its core, before a slight pause and some random spoken-vocals from Paul “A random phrase/Is as good any”. It’s quite a charmer of a track and another more instant track on the record at this point. An oriental sounding gong marks near the midway point through ‘Too Much Information’ and opens sixth-track ‘Is It True?’, initially a bass-driven track by Archis, while Duncan teases with shimmering guitar effects and Lukas’ keyboards give the track an extra dimension and a much fuller-feel; its a soft, seductive track, think along the lines of 80’s classic ‘Tainted Love’ by Soft Cell but perhaps more poignant and with a slightly, darker underlying melody to it and you get an idea of the sound here. ‘Drinking Martinis’ leans towards another guitar and percussion-driven track but this time soft and soulful “You were drinking Martinis in-front of me/But now that you’re gone/Do you feel anything?” This is somewhat a playful, gentle ballad thrown into the mix midway through the record. ‘I Recognise the Light’ starts off with quirky, upbeat and urgent duelling drums and guitars which form the basis for the track; it’s a catchy, swaggering track which defines its own rules and moves to its own beat of its drum “I never been to Mexico City but I recognise the lights/I’ve never been to Santiago but it keeps me up at night”.

With driving drums and a playful guitar riff ‘Midnight on the Hill’, is another confident, assured number from the band, with a steady and calm rhythm to it and is a track that seems to effortlessly chug along nicely at this stage of the album. Meanwhile ‘Her Name Was Audre’ opens with a drum-solo and quickly becomes more of a familiar, fast and upbeat Maxïmo Park guitar track with its chorus finding Paul fascinated with the track-title’s protagonist “Her name was Audre and she had a lot to say/She didn’t bore me with her consummate display” while the second-half of the track sees a playful bass riff and some quite quirky keyboard and synth sounds before closing with a twist: slowly unwinding and then closing with an almost circus-like drum-roll from Tom, quite a different sound to the rest of the song. Closing track ‘Where we’re Going’ is another guitar based track but with a much more mellow melody to it featuring some more cryptic lines from Paul “What’s appropriate in the circumstance? It’s in the sub-text/What’s appropriate in the circumstance? It’s in the sub-text.”

So overall ‘Too Much Information’ had been a somewhat of a rollercoaster ride with plenty of thrills, spills and surprises along the way. For me this is possibly the most challenging Maxïmo Park album to-date; more heavily influenced by their electronic, synth side than any of their previous albums yet still a highly enjoyable record with plenty of tracks you will find yourself humming along and dancing to (or perhaps that was just me!) Paul’s lyrics are often witty, cryptic and entertaining as always and again proves the case on ‘Too Much Information’, while Duncan and Archis remain on top of their game creating some memorable guitar riffs and bass melodies but perhaps Lukas has the last hurrah with many synth and keyboard driven tracks seemingly being the main focus of this album.

‘Too Much Information’ certainly has plenty of ‘information’ going on within each track on this record and the album as a whole feels that plenty of time should be given to listen to it and to carefully nurture its tracks to fully appreciate them. This LP is packed full of charm and delights with a few surprises along the way and a grower with repeated listens and I’m finding myself awarding this one 8 Brain Cells out of 10 for Maxïmo Park. Also check out the Deluxe edition of the album to find a bonus CD with 5 additional tracks, covers by the band of some of their influences that have more than likely helped defined the direction of ‘Too Much Information’.

Drinking Martinis

Flynny

Track 2 ‘Brain Cells’

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfQbpunQ2WI

Track 3 ‘Leave This Island’

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJK82x8wkxA

Track 4 ‘Lydia, the Ink Will Never Dry’

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8P3SWta0-xw

Band website:
http://maximopark.com/

Flynndie Reviews: #42 The Rifles - None the Wiser

2014-01-25T14:30:00.001+00:00

Written 25th January 2014

The Rifles – None the Wiser

The Band: Joel Stoker (lead vocals\guitar), Luke Crowther (guitar\vocals), Rob Pyne (bass), Grant Marsh (drums)

Today’s review sees the return of Chingford’s finest, The Rifles, with this their 4th album ‘None the Wiser’. Arriving on the scene back in 2005 the band released their excellent debut album ‘No Love Lost’ in 2006 to critical reception, a classic album packed full of massive Indie Mod-rock anthems which still sound great today. This was later followed by 2009’s ‘The Great Escape’ another fantastic record by the band, again packed with more great and instant power-pop guitar tracks and perhaps showed even more mature song-writing than their debut album. 2011 saw the band release their 3rd album ‘Freedom Run’, another solid album to add to the band’s ever-growing back catalogue, albeit without original rhythm section Rob on bass and Grant on drums. However, the band have now come full-circle as these two members return forming The Rifles original line up, alongside Joel and Luke of course, on this their latest offering.

None the Wiser

1.Minute Mile

2. Heebie Jeebies
3. Go Lucky
4. All I Need
5. You Win Some
6. Catch Her In The Rye
7. The Hardest Place To Find Me
8. Shoot From The Lip
9. Eclectic Eccentric
10. Under And Over

Opening with up-tempo percussion and a catchy guitar-riff at its heart, ‘Minute Mile’, a track the band has previously given early previews with on Twitter, sees them in instantly familiar territory with percussion and guitars driving the track verses along before a large sing-a-along chorus “But it’s hard to find the words to say/And it’s hard to know if you’re feeling the way that I feel/The little things you don’t realise/Are the things that let me know you could only be mine”. The track has a confident swagger about itself and lays down a good foundation for the rest of the record. Meanwhile ‘Heebie Jeebies’, the first song the band released from the album, is pure power-pop and a jolly romp of a track. A more rocky and catchy affair, the lyrics are easily accessible and portray the feeling of the morning after a heavy night out “I got the Heebie Jeebies early in the morning/I got the shaky knees, the fear’s come a-calling/When I feel the blood running through my veins/Right down from my toes to my belly and brain”. This second track is a familiar Rifles-type anthem, very much in the style of their songs from their debut album ‘No Love Lost’ and a great track to get ready to for going out at the weekend!

‘Go Lucky’ follows and sees the band initially open with a punk-rock drum-riff before featuring a very nice guitar solo. The whole rhythm and melody to this track are very bright and up-beat, with a retro style and this is a real up-lifting, feel-good track the like of which the band have an effortless knack for writing. Continuing with the up-lifting vibe ‘All I Need’ again is very up-beat and chirpy, featuring a nice rhythm and guitar-hook at its core accompanied by a charming harmonica throughout, the track has somewhat of a bluesy feel to it and will certainly help brighten up these cold winter days. Fifth track ‘You Win Some’ is a more chilled and mellow sound, with a distinctly picked guitar-riff backed with organ keys and shimmering percussion flowing through it, featuring a nice poignant chorus midway through it “Yesterday is over and it won’t be back again/But there’s beauty in tomorrow if it means that I can change”. Overall it’s a calm, relaxing track. ‘Catch her in the Rye’ has a funky Mod guitar-riff at its heart, with steady verses before a nice bridge “Cause there’s a million things you missed at school/There’s a million and one like you” before another big chorus “So catch her she’s in the rye/And I don’t care what you do like” it’s a charming track much in the vein of ‘She’s Electric’ by Oasis with a dreamy closing to it.

The Rifles stormed through a set at The Forum, London back in November

‘The Hardest Place to Find Me’ is a stripped-down acoustic track, with a hazy, summery vibe backed with tambourines while featuring a nice chorus “I took the pages of my life and then I tore that book apart/And on every single line I see the hardest place to find is in my heart”. The acoustic, folk-like sound continues for the first-half of the track, before picking up with upbeat electric guitars and percussion during its second-half giving the song a much fuller feel. With initially more slow-tempo verses ‘Shoot from the Lip’ is playfully nudged along with a one-two rhythm and percussion pulsing this track along with backing guitar strums and beautiful string sections in its second-half. The verses really flirt with the listener “But nothing quite says it like a four lettered word/So we shoot from the lip with a loaded tongue”.

With more bluesy-rock ‘Eclectic Eccentric’, a tongue-twister of a track title in itself, continues the jolly, upbeat vibe of this record and sees the harmonica make its second appearance on the album and is another foot-stomping, romper of a track with a feel-good vibe. Album closer ‘Under and Over’ sees a picked acoustic riff and some clapped percussion, before a full-throttle chorus “Water keeps on rolling/Under and Over/Around we keeping on trying/Any which way that we can make a living”. This a large-sounding, epic track at around 7-minutes and finishes an already strong album on a real high.

In my opinion ‘None the Wiser’ sees a band that have consistently written good albums and some great anthems with their singles, really at the top of their game! Every track on this record is strong easy-listening, with some great melodies, tight rhythms and percussion and featuring some thought-provoking, well-written lyrics throughout. For a band that has somewhat unfairly been labelled a ‘cult-band’ in the past, I would recommend to give this record a listen as this may finally be the time The Rifles get some well-deserved recognition and sees big things for them. ‘None the Wiser’ is a fantastic record and I can see me having this on repeat for some time in the near future so therefore I’m going to award it 9 Heebie Jeebies out of 10 and say that The Rifles have already set the bar high for 2014!

Go Lucky

Flynny

Track 1 ‘Minute Mile’

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWKZPR4980U

Track 2 ‘Heebie Jeebies’

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a25k8d59rsM

Track 5 ‘You Win Some’

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPb44fBpAgQ

Band website:

http://www.therifles.net

Flynndie Reviews: #41 - Top 10 Albums of 2013

2013-12-04T12:29:00.001+00:00

Written 4th December 2013:

So as another year draws to a close, I’ve decided to compile my personal favourite Indie and Alternative albums from the past 12 months and list my selections here, highlighting the albums I found myself listening to the most over the course of the year. For me 2013 has generally been a steady year for fans of Indie music, which in particular has seen many ‘big hitters’ return with either their 3rd, 4th or 5th album furthering their sounds but also in a few cases there have been some great new bands arrive on the scene with some debut albums to look out for in case you may have missed them earlier this year.

So put on your dancing shoes and pack your air guitars as we head out on tour and check out 10 of the top albums from 2013!

#10. Parlour Flames – Parlour Flames (Released 20th May - Reviewed in Flynndie Reviews #38 – 7/10)

May saw the release of Parlour Flames debut album of the same name, featuring former-Oasis guitarist Bonehead teaming up with singer, song-writer, poet, Vinny Peculiar. As I previously said when I reviewed this record, those expecting guitar-rock in the style of Oasis because of the Bonehead-connection would be way off the mark. What we had here, was a jolly, charming record with light-hearted, chilled melodies laced with witty, tongue-in-cheek lyrics from Vinny (‘Sunday Afternoon’, ‘Pop Music, Football and Girls’) to more guitar-scuzzy tracks (‘Get in the Van’) brilliantly swaggering Indie-pop (‘Manchester Rain’) and a couple of psychedelic numbers (‘Jump the Brook Ruth’, ‘Broken Hearted Existentialist’) in all making this a nice, chilled and witty debut record from the Manchester duo.

Recommended Tracks: ‘Manchester Rain’, ‘Get in the Van’, ‘Jump the Brook Ruth’

Personal Favourite Track: ‘Pop Music, Football and Girls’ - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdEkXqIsS3c

#9. Editors – The Weight of Your Love (Released 1st July – Reviewed in Flynndie Reviews #39 – 7/10)

2013 saw Editors return with their much-anticipated 4th studio album ‘The Weight of Your Love’. Returning with excellent comeback single ‘A Ton of Love’, this track was pure guitar-pop and hinted at the band’s return to a large guitar-based sound as opposed to the more electronic sound of their 3rd record ‘In This Light and On This Evening’. And while the new album did feature some more traditional Editors guitar-based tracks (‘The Weight’, ‘Formaldehyde’) the album featured much more thoughtful, deeper ballads by the band backed with string sections (‘Honesty’, ‘What is this thing called love?’) to piano-driven tracks (‘Two Hearted Spider’) with passionate and high-pitched vocals from lead-singer Tom Smith being a feature throughout the record. This is probably the most soft, caring and tender album by Editors to-date.

Recommended Tracks: ‘The Weight’, ‘Honesty’, ‘Formaldehyde’

Personal Favourite Track: ‘A Ton of Love’ - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQQ2gTkV-GM

#8. Nick Mulvey – Fever to the Form EP (Released 17th June)

Over the summer I managed to catch an X-FM Xposure night at the Camden Barfly. 3rd act on the bill that night was a guy called Nick Mulvey and what followed over the next 20-25 minutes was one of the most amazing acoustics sets I've seen! With well-written and beautifully structured acoustic melodies influenced by Latin finger-picking and African rhythms, Nick has quite a unique, chilled, flowing sound that I’ve not heard too often and this EP really captures his style and sound well. In particular if you like Ben Howard, I would certainly recommend to check out some of Nick’s material and really think this guy could become quite a success over the next 12 months; I can’t recommend the opportunity to try and catch him live enough though!

Recommended Tracks: ‘Juramidam’

Personal Favourite Track: ‘Fever to the Form’ - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ds0jtuyslbI

#7. Miles Kane – Don’t Forget Who You Are (Released 31st May)

The end of May saw Miles Kane release his 2nd-solo album ‘Don’t Forget Who You Are’. Featuring a great collection of tight Indie-rock tracks, with big sing-along choruses (‘Taking Over’, Better Than That’, ‘Give Up’), to some retro Indie-pop (‘Don’t Forget Who You Are’) to dreamy, acoustic tracks (‘Fire in my Heart’) this is another fine effort from the young Scouse Mod. A more full-on and rocky album than Miles debut effort ‘Colour of the Trap’, for me this record builds a lot on his song-writing style and in my opinion tops his fine debut album as well, with a catchy, up-beat Indie record. If you can I’d recommend picking up the special edition version of the album as it features 3 excellent bonus tracks ‘Start of Something Big’, ‘Caught in the Act’ and ‘First of my Kind’ which help build on an already fine record.

Recommended Songs: ‘Don’t Forget Who You Are’, ‘Better Than That’, ‘Give Up’

Personal Favourite Track: ‘Taking Over’ - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saPSlDlVmnk

#6. Red Kite – Songs for Crow (Released 5th November)

A great new band I came across in 2013 was London-based 6-piece Red Kite, fronted by former-Cooper Temple Clause guitarist Dan Fisher and also being notable for featuring two-drummers in the band. ‘Songs for Crow’ was originally released back in May for those that pre-ordered the album via Pledge Music while November saw a general release for the album, which was a fine blend of Alt-Rock. Featuring some great alternative guitar-pop with fantastic guitar-hooks (‘The Gathering Storm’, ‘Montreal’) to dark, brooding, Indie-rock (‘Red Blooded Males’) to the more stripped-down, poignant acoustic numbers (‘Songs for Crow’, ‘No Painter of Note’) this a dark, thoughtful record with a lot of heart and care poured into it, particularly in the lyrics, creating a unique Alt-Rock sound for the band Red Kite and a band I’m looking forward to hearing more from in the future.

Recommended Tracks: ‘The Gathering Storm’, ‘Poltergeist’, ‘Red Blooded Males’

Personal Favourite Track: ‘Montreal’ - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24x5KzmZeiQ

#5. Johnny Marr – The Messenger (Released 22nd February)

2013 was also the year that former-Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr surprised many by releasing his debut solo-album ‘The Messenger’ after previously playing guitar full-time with many other bands including The Cribs and Modest Mouse. And in my opinion the long wait for a solo album from Mr Marr was well worth it as ‘The Messenger’ was a fine guitar record. With a fine blend of cool, swaggering Indie (‘The Right Thing Right’, ‘Upstarts’) catchy, upbeat and urgent tracks (‘I Want the Heartbeat, ‘Generate! Generate!)’, to the baggy album title-track (‘The Messenger’) and the excellent, jangly and very Smiths-esque (‘New Town Velocity’) overall made this a very cool, understated and enjoyable record from the Manchester guitar legend.

Recommended Songs: ‘Upstarts’, ‘The Messenger’, ‘Generate! Generate!’

Personal Favourite Track: ‘New Town Velocity’ - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXEc9WZ1bkY

#4. Franz Ferdinand – Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action (Released 26th August)

Late summer saw the return of Scottish art-popsters Franz Ferdinand with their 4th album ‘Right Thoughts’. Returning with the jazzy, upbeat and incredibly catchy comeback single ‘Love Illumination’, it was an early indication that Franz were set to release an upbeat, pop record and in my opinion this album was a fine return to form for them. Packed with some funky and danceable tracks (‘Love Illumination’, ‘Stand on the Horizon’), to some pure Indie-pop (‘Right Action’, ’Fresh Strawberries’), some more familiar, fast and urgent Franz Ferdinand (‘Bullet’), while recent “spooky” single ‘Evil Eye’ was the perfect sound-track for Halloween parties everywhere, ‘Right Thoughts’ was one of 2013’s most pleasant surprises for me.

Recommended Tracks: ‘Right Action’, ‘Love Illumination’, ‘Evil Eye’

Personal Favourite Track: ‘Stand on the Horizon’ - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45zwH8uwvRU

#3. The Strokes – Comedown Machine (Released 25th March - Reviewed in Flynndie Reviews #36 – 7/10)

March saw the return of one of New York’s finest, The Strokes, with their 5th studio album ‘Comedown Machine’. The last couple of Strokes albums had been a bit more experimental with their sound and so was the case with ‘Comedown Machine’. Packing in a range of different styles from opening track ‘Tap Out’ flirting with retro guitar-sounds, to dabbling with 70’s disco (‘Welcome to Japan’), to guitars sounding like synths backed with falsetto vocals (‘One Way Trigger’), garage-rock (‘50/50’) to more familiar sounding Indie-pop Strokes tracks (‘All the Time’, ‘Partners in Crime’), and finally closing with ‘Call It Fate, Call It Karma’, probably the most bizarre Strokes track to-date yet strangely compelling at the same time; overall this lead to a great sounding and interesting record in my opinion which has certainly been a grower for me more with each listen over the past 12 months.

Recommended Tracks: ‘All the Time’, ‘One Way Trigger’, ‘Welcome to Japan’

Personal Favourite Track: ‘Partners in Crime’ - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajqKSzihNJw

#2. Arctic Monkeys – AM (Released 9th September – Reviewed in Flynndie Reviews #40 – 8/10)

Possibly the most anticipated album of 2013 was Arctic Monkey’s 5th album ‘AM’ and in fairness the Arctic’s delivered another solid record to build on their ever-expanding hits-list. We had already had an early preview of ‘AM’ with the excellent riff-heavy single ‘R U Mine’ and this was followed by ‘Do I Wanna Know’ driven by another ballsy guitar-riff at the heart of it. ‘AM’ also featured some 70’s glam-rock (‘I Want It All’), stripped-down, dreamy ballads (‘No 1 Party Anthem’, ‘Mad Sounds’) to the semi-acoustic (‘Fireside’) and even a couple of hip-hop and prog-rock influenced tracks (‘Arabella’, ‘Why’d You Only Call Me When You’re High?’). Finishing the year with an Arena tour, 2013 was yet another successful year for the boys from the Steel City.

Recommended Tracks: ‘Do I Wanna Know?’, ‘Arabella’, ‘Fireside, ‘Snap Out of It’

Personal Favourite Track: ‘R U Mine’ - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQH8ZTgna3Q

Arctic Monkeys played a triumphant set at Earls Court back in October

#1. Primal Scream – More Light (Released 13th May)

So maybe a little bit of a surprise at the #1 spot but for me ‘More Light’ by Primal Scream has to be my most listened to record of the year. I was lucky enough to catch the band at this year’s iTunes Festival and before the gig I decided to check out their latest record and I’m sure glad I did. Featuring a great collection, of 13 distinct and differing tracks, there is a real variety of sounds on this album in particular but crucially what we have here are some brilliantly-written tracks throughout. From psychedelic and trippy (‘River of Pain’, ‘Hello Johnny’), to some deliciously dirty and vicious guitar-rock (‘Hit Void’, ‘Sideman’) to the understated and beautifully-calm (‘Tenement Kid’) and also thrown in are some big sounding, distinctly Primal Scream-style singles (‘2013’, ‘Invisible City’, It’s Alright, It’s Ok’) and overall this all adds up to a great, alternative-rock album and for me this is Primal Scream’s best record since 2000’s classic ‘XTRMNTR’ and well worth checking out.

Recommended Songs: ‘Hit Void’, ‘Tenement Kid’, ‘Sideman’, ‘It’s Alright, It’s OK’

Personal Favourite Track: ‘Invisible City’ - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1-EhPniUAM

Bobbie Gillespie 'rocks' a pink-suit as Primal Scream played the iTunes Festival at The Roundhouse in September

So that covers my favourite albums of 2013, many thanks for taking the time to read and if you have any recommendations of records for me to check out as well, feel free to leave suggestions in the comments section below or send them across on Twitter.

Here’s to more Alternative, Indie and Rock music in 2014!

‘Flynny’

Flynndie Reviews: #40 Arctic Monkeys - AM

2013-09-05T14:35:00.001+01:00

Written 5th September 2013:

Arctic Monkeys - AM

The Band: Alex Turner (lead vocals\guitar), Jamie Cook (lead guitar), Nick O’Malley (bass), Matt Helders (drums)

Next Monday sees the return of Arctic Monkeys with their much-anticipated 5th studio album ‘AM’, however the band have decided to stream the album early this week with iTunes (which you can find here http://po.st/iTunesAM) giving fans a chance to hear an early preview of the new record. Arriving back on the scene in 2005 with a self-titled EP, it wasn’t long before the Arctic’s reached critical acclaim with their excellent and successful debut album ‘Whatever People Say I Am, That is What I’m Not’ featuring fast-paced guitar anthems laced with Alex Turner’s intelligent, witty lyrics that many found they could relate to, before the band returned in 2007 with 2nd album ‘Favourite Worst Nightmare’ quickly establishing them as one of the hottest bands in the country. 2009’s ‘Humbug’ was a bit more of a trippy, darker affair, while the band’s 4th album ‘Suck It and See’ (previously reviewed here) saw a fine blend of Indie rock and somewhat more mellow pop tunes which again seemed to go down well with fans. So how does the band’s latest album ‘AM’ hold up then?

1. Do I Wanna Know?

2.     R U Mine?
3.     One for the Road
4.     Arabella
5.     I Want It All
6.     No. 1 Party Anthem
7.     Mad Sounds
8.     Fireside
9.     Why’d You Only Call Me When You’re High?
10. Snap Out Of It
11. Knee Socks
12. I Wanna Be Yours

Opening with come-back single ‘Do I Wanna Know?’ we’re instantly in familiar Arctic Monkey’s territory here, with a slow-tempo yet ballsy, catchy guitar riff being the main sticking point to the track. It’s a very instant and catchy track and saw a fine return for the band working as an excellent come-back single. ‘R U Mine’ was previously a stand-alone single but again proving popular with fans has seen its inclusion on the new record as well. More up-tempo than ‘Do I Wanna Know?’ the track has a scuzzy feel to it with guitar’s from Alex and Jamie battling along and thunderous drumming from Matt with the track’s featured lyric at its chorus “but what I really wanna know…is R U Mine?” ‘One for the Road’ opens with the track-title repeated twice and features a more downbeat, spooky guitar rhythm to it, much more subtle in its approach, with a low-fi guitar riff picking away throughout. It has quite a feel as the type of style of track the band used more on their third album ‘Humbug’ with a haunting feel to it.

‘Arabella’ is at first another soft and subtle track initially driven by percussion before a more rocky bridge “My days end best when the sunset gets behind itself/That little lady sitting on the passenger side” and has a prog-rock guitar riff midway through, while fifth track ‘I Want It All’ is pure glam-rock! Featuring a guitar riff lifted directly from the 70’s that T-Rex themselves would be proud of at its heart; it’s a fun, foot-stomping romp of a track that fits nicely midway through the album and all the better for it. On the contrast, despite the track-title ‘No. 1 Party Anthem’ is surprisingly a soft guitar/piano ballad making me think the track-title itself is somewhat tongue-in-cheek and part of the twisted humour the band have been known for in the past. ‘Mad Sounds’ meanwhile is the most stripped down track on the record so far, whimsical and dreamy it captures the vibes of sailing down a river carefree on a sunny afternoon. It’s very similar in style, to the mellower, stripped-down tracks found on the second half of ‘Suck It and See’. Next we have ‘Fireside’ and this is an excellent semi-acoustic track, with a smoothly-flowing melody painted with poignant lyrics depicting thoughts on a relationship “I can’t explain but I wanna try/There’s this image of you/and it goes dancing by/In the morning and the night time”. It’s a lovely track and one of the highlights of the album for me.

Recent single ‘Why’d You Only Call Me When You’re High?’, as the track-title suggests is a bit more of a psychedelic, trippy affair from the Monkeys. It’s a much darker track with the track’s protagonist clearly pining for somebody else “Now it’s three in the morning and I’m trying to change your mind/Left you multiple missed calls and to my message you reply/Why’d You Only Call Me When You’re High?”, it’s another slow, subtle but effective track. ‘Snap Out of It’ lifts the mood more, with a more upbeat swing melody, it’s a cool, calm, understated track and works well here. Penultimate track ‘Knee Socks’ is another slower, darker number also graduating from the school of third album ‘Humbug’ while album closer ‘I Wanna Be Yours’ sees the band putting music to the poem written by punk-poet John Cooper Clarke. Another slower ballad type of track it has subtle hints of ‘505’ from ‘Favourite Worst Nightmare’ in its style of music and is a really effective album closer making nice use of the lyrics used in Clarke’s poetry.

So in summary then I feel this record picks up nicely from ‘Suck It and See’ with a good blend and mixture from typical Arctic Monkey Indie rock tracks, particularly in the style found on ‘Humbug’ but also with some more serene and chilled out tracks midway through the album. For me it’s the more rocky tracks such as ‘Do I Wanna Know?’, ‘R U Mine?’, ‘I Want It All’ and in particular ‘Fireside’ that are the highlights on the record for me but in my opinion they still just don’t quite match some of the heights of the first two Arctic’s records in particular which will always be a tough act for the band to top! None-the-less there are still great tracks here all the same further cementing Arctic Monkey’s as one of the great bands of the past decade for sure and Alex Turner is certainly becoming a song-writer of a generation in my opinion. Therefore I’m going to award this one a solid 8 Mad Sounds out of 10 as it’s another well written record by the band with a good range of tracks and seems to be a grower more with each listen.

One for the Road

Flynny

Track 1 ‘Do I Wanna Know’

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpOSxM0rNPM

Track 9 ‘Why’d You Only Call Me When You’re High?’

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6366dxFf-Os

Band website:

http://www.arcticmonkeys.com

Flynndie Reviews: #39 Editors - The Weight of your Love

2013-07-04T17:16:00.000+01:00

Written 4th July 2013:

Editors – The Weight of Your Love

The Band: Thom Smith (lead vocals\guitar), Justin Lockey (lead guitar), Elliott Williams (guitar), Russell Leetch (bass), Edward Lay (drums)

So today’s review sees the long-awaited return of Editors (@editorsofficial if you wish to follow them on Twitter) with this their much-anticipated 4th album ‘The Weight of Your Love’. The band arrived on the scene with their excellent brooding, yet fast-flowing guitar-based debut album ‘The Back Room’ back in 2005, with strong singles ‘Bullets’, ‘Munich’, ‘Blood’ and ‘All Sparks’ quickly helping the band gain national airplay, recognition and an army of fans. This was followed up by 2007’s effort ‘An End has a Start’ another strong follow-up for the band with more heavy-hitting singles further cementing the band’s reputation for no-nonsense, dark downbeat yet catchy guitar-rock. 2009’s ‘In This Light and On This Evening’ saw the band further themselves with a more synth-driven direction ambitiously blending their already familiar guitar sound which was met by a mixed-response but general consensus was another successful album for the band especially with standout single ‘Papillion’, which leads us on nicely to this week’s release.

The Weight of Your Love

1. The Weight

2.     Sugar
3.     A Ton of Love
4.     What is this thing called Love
5.     Honesty
6.     Nothing
7.     Formaldehyde
8.     Hyena
9.     Two Hearted Spider

10. The Phone Book

11. Bird of Prey

Launching with swirling guitars and piano notes before a marching percussion ‘The Weight’ gets the album under way featuring Tom’s trademark isolated vocals “For a moment/I felt the weight of your love/It was lightening/It was lightening”; it’s a moody, atmospheric, deliberate track with its continued percussion being layered with sharp, angular guitar riffs and piano notes throughout and sets the overall tone for the record early on. ‘Sugar’ is again initially driven by distinct percussion with a tingling guitar riff at the heart of the track; it’s another very atmospheric track with a bittersweet vibe about it. ‘A Ton of Love’ was the first we had previously heard from this record as it was the band’s comeback single. It’s a distinctly big Editors guitar anthem fast-paced and up-beat with Tom belting out the repeated “De-sire” midway through the track with great passion and urgency and sounding great.

‘What is this thing called Love’ as the track title suggests is a soft-ballad, as Tom’s vocals, backed with gentle piano notes and later in the track violins, are pitched much higher on this track than previously heard so far on the album. It’s a soft, sweet track and clearly emotional “What is this thing called love that you speak?/We’re out of it/We’re out of it”. Fifth track ‘Honesty’ continues the gentle slow pace of the album at this point, with a steady rhythm of guitar and percussion and gentle touches of soothing synths adding layers to it while featuring another big chorus “Does the honesty deceive?/Trying to find a way to leave this party/Take it out on me/Cause all the honesty/Shut this place down”. ‘Nothing’ is another ballad, this time much more minimal simply featuring Tom’s vocals with backing synths and string sections it’s another deeply emotional track and continues to build as the track progresses.

‘Formaldehyde’ picks up the pace again midway through the record, using the toxic gas chemical as an analogy to a relationship, backed with catchy tingling guitar riffs and a one-two chorus between Tom’s lead and backing vocals “Formaldehyde/Never let you go/Formaldehyde/’til the end of time”. Meanwhile ‘Hyena’ features a nice opening guitar riff at its heart progressing the track along nicely, very much capturing the unmistakably familiar sound that Editors are well known for and overall it’s quite an instant type of track. ‘Two Hearted Spider’ slows the pace of the record once more, nudged along with a gentle bass-line and guitar riff with real focus on Tom’s vocals “Every move you make/Breaks me/Breaks me/Every smile you fake/Breaks Me/Breaks Me”, it’s another deep, thought-provoking track, a common theme found throughout this record.

Featuring a driving acoustic rhythm, penultimate track ‘The Phone Book’ again shows a much more stripped-down side of Editors with some focus on slide-guitar and has a bit of a Western feeling at the heart of it with the main rhythm of the track, while closing track ‘Bird of Prey’ is a bit more up-tempo again being driven by percussion throughout and another picked guitar riff and featuring backing synths and violins; it’s another soft, gentle track with a focus on the atmosphere it creates rather than being a hard-hitting guitar anthem.

So overall this has been an interesting record to review from Editors. This album has a steady blend of more familiar, fast-paced guitar tracks that we have come to expect from the band in the past particularly on the tracks ‘A Ton of Love’ and ‘Hyena’ but with this record there seems to be much more of a focus on the soft, emotional thought-provoking tracks the band have also sometimes hinted on with previous records; see ‘What is this thing called Love’, ‘Honesty’ and ‘Two Hearted Spider’ for examples of this. Therefore, when it comes to listening to ‘The Weight of Your Love’ I think fans of Editors who are already quite familiar with their darker, deep sound may take to this album quite quickly, while to the more casual listener may find it may take a few more listens to fully appreciate it as it’s not as instant as earlier albums ‘The Back Room’ or ‘An End has a Start’. So therefore I’m going to give this one 7 Two Hearted Spiders out of 10, as overall this record is somewhat of a mixed bag and for me personally it doesn’t quite reach the highs of ‘The Back Room’ or ‘An End has a Start’ but if you do prefer the emotional, softer-side of Editors then you may find quite a lot to like with this record.

Editor

Flynny

Track 1 ‘The Weight’

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBaGm4e2oao

Track 3 ‘A Ton of Love’

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQQ2gTkV-GM

Band website:

http://www.editorsofficial.com

Flynndie Reviews: #38 Parlour Flames - Parlour Flames

2013-05-21T12:10:00.001+01:00

Written 21st May 2013:

Parlour Flames – Parlour Flames

The Band: Paul ‘Bonehead’ Arthurs (guitars, keyboards, organs, e-bow, backing vocals), Alan ‘Vinny Peculiar’ Wilkes (lead & backing vocals, guitars, piano), Ollie Collins (bass), Che Beresford (drums)

So today’s review sees the release of the eponymous debut album from the Manchester-based 2-piece Parlour Flames (@ParlourFlames if you wish to follow the band on Twitter). Formed primarily of Paul ‘Bonehead’ Arthurs (Yes him who used to play guitar in Oasis!) and singer, song-writer, poet Alan Wilkes, who performs under the alias Vinny Peculiar, the band this week release their 10-track debut on Cherry Red records. So let’s cut to the chase and find out what the band and record are all about.

Parlour Flames

1.     Manchester Rain
2.     Sunday Afternoon
3.     Get in the Van
4.     Never Heard of You
5.     I’m in a Band
6.     Lonely Girls & Horses
7.     Jump the Brook Ruth
8.     Pop Music, Football & Girls
9.     Broken Hearted Existentialist
10. Too Soon the Darkness

‘Manchester Rain’ opens the record and sets the album’s tone well with a distinctly psychedelic guitar solo, which runs through the heart of the track before we first hear Vinny’s gentle, softly-sung vocals on the album, with poetic-style lyrics which are a main feature throughout the record, the chorus featuring the line “All the fields are brown/And the buildings are grey/In the North of England/On a winters days”. The track coasts along nicely and features spoken-word vocals from Bonehead towards the second half it. ‘Sunday Afternoon’ follows and is a gentle, charming laid-back song for the listener, with acoustic guitars cleverly interspersed with soothing brass sections. The track is quite subtle overall, with a steady blend of instruments throughout including a nice piece on the flute, to add to the calm, carefree nature of the track that Vinny’s tongue-in-cheek lyrics depict.

Third track ‘Get in the Van’ initially sees a percussion-driven track backed with swirling acoustic and electric guitars. This is again quite another psychedelic track with a subtle baggy Manchester feel to it, before Vinny’s repeated, trippy lines of “Get in the Van/Get in the Van” midway through it. ‘Never Heard of You’ is a slow, downbeat piano ballad the main focus of which are the lyrics depicting the song’s individual’s tale of reflecting on former glories of once being in a successful band “Hey did I tell you I was on Top of the Pops/I met Ruby Flipper and Sam Fox” being just one of a few poignant, cheeky lines featured in a slow yet captivating track, melodically closing with backing e-bow. ‘I’m in a Band’ continues the piano lead tracks on the album at this point and is almost a ‘part-two’ to the previous track, opening initially with slow individual piano notes played between Vinny’s lyrics, before the track gathers a little more momentum, with a gentle acoustic folk melody helping to build up the track accompanied with gentle electric guitar solos and flute, it’s a very serene track.

‘Lonely Girls & Horses’ is a bit more of an uplifting track and much like earlier track ‘Sunday Afternoon’ shares a cheeky jolly melody again backed with brass trumpets which really adds depth to it, while playfully closing with tinkering piano notes. ‘Jump the Brook Ruth’ has much more of a scuzzy guitar edge to it. It’s another track on the record with quite a baggy feel about it, with Vinny occasionally backing with the track’s title “Jump the Brook Ruth” before the repeated psychedelic line midway through the song “What an evil little boy”. Also listen out very carefully for rare vocals from Bonehead on this track! Next up we have ‘Pop Music, Football and Girls’, which was actually the first track I heard by the band. What we have here is quite literally a delightful Indie-pop track, again with gentle flowing guitars, understated piano notes and whimsical lines “Pop music, football and girls/Nothing else matters in this world/Decent tunes and the beautiful game/A night on the town with Jenny and Jane”. It’s another track on the record that captures this cheeky yet charming side of what the band are about.

Penultimate track ‘Broken Hearted Existentialist’ (try saying that after a few beers!), opens with a low-key, gentle electric guitar riff. The track has a real spaced-out, distant vibe to it and is arguably the most trippy track on the record with even the surreal line “Existentialist, what does that mean?” subtly thrown in there; this track reminds me very much of the sound of The Beatles on Revolver. The album closes with ‘Too Soon the Darkness’ another calm, tranquil, understated track, lyrically poignant and quite bleak, it appears a very personal track and comes across as such and is somewhat of a ballad to close the album with.

So in closing, this is a very nice debut album from Parlour Flames. If you are expecting a rocky, early-Oasis sounding album because of the connection with Bonehead, you will be way off the mark! What we have here are a collection, of gentle, understated melodies with some nice Indie-pop tracks throughout capturing a gentlemanly Englishness to the record as a whole, especially with the cheeky tongue-in-cheek lyrics featured throughout. This is clearly an album with a lot of thought and care poured into it and as such takes a few listens to fully appreciate. I’m going to award this one 7 Sunday Afternoon’s out of 10, for what is essentially an easy-listening, chilled-out record from the Manchester duo.

Pop Music, Football and Reviews

Flynny

Track 1 ‘Manchester Rain’

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FE-z00w-v7M

Track 8 ‘Pop Music, Football and Girls’

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdEkXqIsS3c

Band website:

http://www.parlourflames.com/

Flynndie Reviews: #37 The Bedroom Hour - X Marks the Spot

2013-04-15T10:36:00.003+01:00

Written 15th April 2013:

The Bedroom Hour – X Marks the Spot

The Band: Stu Drummond (lead vocals), Rob Payne (guitar), Dan Rider (bass), Mark Dudley (keyboards), Lewis Cosham (drums)

Right ok, so today’s review comes from an up-and-coming London-based band I’ve been following on Twitter for some time now @thebedroomhour and with the band soon to release their debut EP, I’ve decided now would be a good time to review some of the tracks made available on their website (www.thebedroomhour.com), as the band captures a nice, haunting, guitar sound of which I’m sure regular readers may well enjoy. So today’s review covers ‘X Marks the Spot’ and a few other tracks from the website of The Bedroom Hour.

X Marks the Spot

1.     X Marks the Spot
2.     Nocturnal
3.     Submarine
4.     Shadow Boxer

Opening with a nice, gentle guitar riff and up-beat percussion ‘X Marks the Spot’ see the band open with the haunting guitar sound hinted at earlier, before we first catch lead-singer Stu Drummonds softly-sung but immediately distinct vocals for the first time. The track is clearly loving crafted as it gently burns into the soul of the listener with an ever-building guitar melody and a strong chorus “Cross my heart and hope to die/I promise to love you more than my life/If X marks the spot/Then let’s cross the heart”, as Stu shows a real depth to his vocal range throughout the track. It’s a nice debut track, featuring a nice rocky guitar solo midway through the track and overall this reminds me a bit in sound of U2 from their ‘Joshua Tree’ era and to a lesser extent the sound captured by The Editors on their debut album ‘The Back Room’.

Up next we have ‘Nocturnal’, which also features a gentle yet distinct guitar-riff from Rob playfully accompanied by keys from Mark, forming the main basis of the rhythm for the track. Again backed with up-beat percussion and Stu’s softly sung vocals, the track features a nice chorus “See the satellites/Lie awake at night/Now I’ve become nocturnal/Sleep through the day/Just to get away/From the thought of you with someone” and despite what seems a downbeat chorus, the track overall has much more of an upbeat tempo and melody to it as a whole and as such is quite an uplifting track. ‘Submarine’ is a beautifully, slow ballad by the band. With heart-felt, haunting keyboards at the heart of the track, it really creates a deep, captivated melancholy atmosphere of its own and really reminded me of the type of classic sound captured from early Coldplay album ‘Parachutes’. It’s a beautiful track and really caught my attention upon first listen.

Closing track ‘Shadow Boxer’ opens with modest percussion and a moody, tingling guitar rhythm as the first part of the track is virtually an instrumental with the guitar rhythm building as a whole. As the track picks up full pace we hear Stu’s powerful vocals again with the repeated line midway through “Tell me what you see/Tell me what you see/Tell me what you see when you look at yourself and see the enemy”. It’s another track by the band that slowly builds and creates an atmosphere before building to a powerful crescendo, there is plenty here to like.

So in closing, I’ve been impressed with these four tracks made available on the band’s website. At present I think early, fair comparisons to the sound of The Bedroom Hour could be made to early-era Coldplay and Elbow in particular but there is no mistake the band have their own, very defined unique sound, Stu’s voice needs to be heard to be believed, he has a very powerful range. The band have a got a few upcoming gigs at 229 The Venue in London soon, the next of which is 17th May to support their forthcoming debut EP, so feel free to get along and check them out as I think this band have a lot of potential and have them marked down as one to watch out for in the future!

Shadow Boxer

Flynny

X Marks the Spot

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mf2D5JC-GmE

Band website:

http://www.thebedroomhour.com

Flynndie Reviews: #36 The Strokes - Comedown Machine

2013-03-21T17:19:00.001+00:00

Written 21st March 2013:

The Strokes – Comedown Machine

The Band: Julian Casablancas (lead vocals), Albert Hammond Jr. (guitar), Nikolai Fraiture (bass), Fabrizio Moretti (drums), Nick Valensi (guitar)

So today’s review sees the return of The Strokes and following a 5-year break between their third and fourth albums, ‘First Impressions of Earth’ and ‘Angles’ respectively, this month sees the band release their latest album ‘Comedown Machine’ just a mere two years after ‘Angles’ release (previously reviewed here including a more in-depth profile of the band). So much like the band’s latest quick and efficient return, let’s dive straight into this review of the new record from one of New York City’s finest.

Comedown Machine

1. Tap Out

2.     All the Time
3.     One Way Trigger
4.     Welcome to Japan
5.     80’s Comedown Machine
6.     50/50
7.     Slow Animals
8.     Partners in Crime
9.     Chances
10.   Happy Endings
11.   Call It Fate, Call It Karma

So officially released next Monday, I recently discovered the band had made ‘Comedown Machine’ available to listen early via stream on Pitch Forks website this week http://pitchfork.com/advance/48-comedown-machine/ and have now given it a few listens myself, so feel free to check it out online before the album’s release next week.

Launching with an initially rocky-squeal of guitar, before settling into a more calm but funky rhythm opening track ‘Tap Out’ gets the album underway. As like with many tracks by The Strokes, the guitars on the track have quite a light synth-feel to them, very much with an 80’s vibe here, while Julian’s vocals find him more high-pitched and falsetto-like as opposed to his raw and gravelly-style vocals found on the earlier Strokes records. The track features a funky, maverick guitar solo two-thirds of the way through it and overall it’s a fair opening track for the album and I think the rhythm of the track holds it together quite well.

Next up we have the first official Single of the album ‘All the Time’ and this is much more traditional Strokes territory, with Julian’s familiar crooning vocals in full swing, backed by electric-guitar strums before an altogether more rocky, fast-paced chorus “You’re livin’ it up, you’re livin’ it up, you’re livin’ too fast, you gotta pray for the best” that sees the band build to their full-on Indie-rock sound. I can basically see why the band chose to return with this as their first Single as it’s easy-listening and familiar to the fans. However, it was third track ‘One Way Trigger’ that was previously the first glimpse fans got of ‘Comedown Machine’ as the track was previously made available to download online from the band’s website before the Single ‘All the Time’. At the time this was made available I initially really liked the up-tempo, carefree, jangly rhythm the track carries while Julian’s vocals were also initially a bit of a shock to the system, again disguising his voice here in a high-pitched falsetto particularly for the lines over the chorus “Find a job, Find a friend; Find a Home, Find a dog”. The track features a really nice guitar-solo from Nick midway through it and a lovely bridge, “You asked me to stay”, before returning back to its own unique jangly rhythm and Julian’s vocals. While I noticed this track seemed to divide fans opinion of it (particularly as this was the first track we had heard from the record), I personally really liked it and still think it stands up well on the record at this point.

Next we have ‘Welcome to Japan’, a bit more of a slowed-down affair for the record so far but with another funky melody at the heart of it, re-creating all the glam of an 80’s disco. Yes! Julian’s vocals are back in much more familiar territory here and this track sees somewhat of a duel of guitars between Albert and Nick throughout. It’s a carefully structured, well-built track with another really nice guitar solo midway through it and the catchy chorus “Come on and go get with me, I wanna see you Wednesday, Come on, come on, come over, Take it off your shoulder”, while Albert’s guitar really picks away and adds layers to the track through the verses. It’s a good catchy, disco track and one I’d imagine that sounds even better while on roller-skates! ‘80’s Comedown Machine’, almost the title-track of the album, is a surprising ballad for the band here. Initially opening with slow percussion from Fab and featuring a guitar effect almost sounding like an accordion running through it, it’s a slow burner of a track, featuring really softly-spoken vocals this time around. A very surreal type of track, it’s almost like listening to an old-school Strokes track in slow-motion, particularly midway through it. Again this is another type of modern Strokes track that I think will really polarise opinion among listeners.

‘50/50’ sees the band back in proper ‘let’s hit the road at 100mph’ mode, with dirty, jaggered guitar-riffs demanding the listeners attention, with Julian really snarling through an echo effect and Nick and Albert’s earlier guitar duel taken on to another level here. The track is a short, sharp burst of guitar angst and really all the better for it in my opinion, with a great punk-rock drum solo from Fab in closing. ‘Slow Animals’ is up next and is another track that uses the cunning trick of slowly-building itself up using a damn funky rhythm and bass-line from Nikolai, with understated guitars cleverly backing and layering the track before another full-on rocking chorus. The track pauses slightly in its second-half, with synths used to create a spaced-out feeling on the track, as if we’re being invaded by UFOs, before we resume our earlier funky rhythm but the kicker is how the track as whole builds throughout that really makes it.

‘Partners in Crime’ is another, up-lifting, upbeat track, this time with guitars working hand-in-hand to create a quirky yet charming and delightful rhythm, as each guitar riff ends with the note being held, and bent, before possibly the most instant and catchy chorus of the album so far, again featuring a fantastic rhythm diced with quirky guitar notes. This is a very instant type of track and immediately put a smile on my face the first time I heard it. I really hope this ends up as a potential future single from the band! Up next we have ‘Chances’ and this is probably the most ‘stripped-down’ track on the record so far, with shimmering guitars, understated synths, distant vocals and chip-tune percussion. This is a very experimental track by The Strokes and creates a sound that I would probably expect from a closing-track on a Muse album in my opinion, a comparison I never thought I would ever make to be honest!

Penultimate track ‘Happy Endings’ is another track on the album, with a very retro-sounding guitar feel to, it’s another instant, catchy type of track as Julian croons “Baby, show me where to go, Somethings I don’t want to know, Baby, tell me if you’re sure, Out all the time” through the tracks chorus. Closing track ‘Call It Fate, Call It Karma’ is the most subtle track on the album, with a gentle guitar riff and piano playfully nudging it along, and those now familiar, softly-sung, dulcet tones from Julian on this record, this is probably the most surprising track on the album overall but there just seemed to be something underlying in the track itself that kept my attention to it throughout, I certainly never heard the band record such a track like this but it’s a hauntingly, beautiful way to close the album, almost a ‘Comedown’ as such.

So overall I’ve enjoyed what I’ve heard from ‘Comedown Machine’ so far. I won’t pull no punches in this conclusion of the review; if you were hoping for a record by The Strokes that really recaptures their edgy, raw, rock sound from early albums, the brilliant ‘Is This It’ or ‘Room on Fire’, then I feel you may come away a little disappointed here, as while there are patches of that traditional Strokes sound on here, as a whole I feel this record goes much down the same path as ‘Angles’, another record that sees the band experimenting much more with different guitar sounds and rhythms than that of earlier Strokes records. I would probably have to say this is arguably the most experimental Strokes album to-date and the band will always risk splitting opinions with this approach but as I have said in the past that has always been a fascination about the band for me; I really like the fact that the record challenges and dares the listener into more listens before some of the tracks actually ‘click’ and fall into place on repeated listens. The album as whole doesn’t blow me away but I certainly have enjoyed listening to it so therefore I’m going award the album 7 ‘One Way Triggers’ out of 10, as there is plenty going on with this album for the listener to get into and definitely feels like more of ‘a grower’ than the previously more instant ‘Is This It’. I’m just now keeping my fingers crossed that the band will hopefully do a much long-awaited UK headline tour, as it’s been a long time coming!

On a Comedown

Flynny

Track 2 ‘All the Time’

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJC8zeu3MHk

Track 3 ‘One Way Trigger’

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itY62ToB5SE

Band website:

http://www.thestrokes.com/

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

2012-12-06T17:11:00.003+00:00

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 #34: Top 10 Albums of 2012 - Part 1

2012-12-04T09:57:00.000+00:00

Written 4th December 2012:

Top 10 Albums of 2012 – Part 1

So following on from last year, I’ve decided to compile my favourite Indie/alternative albums from the past 12 months and list my personal favourite selections here again. I personally think 2012 has been quite a good year in general for fans of Indie and alternative music, with the main theme seemingly to be all about ‘the comeback album’ with quite a few bands returning with either their eagerly anticipated follow-up to a decent debut record but also in some cases the long-awaited return from popular, fan-favourite bands with the big question being: “Have they still got it?”

I’ve again decided to split this Blog into two parts with 5 albums each and of course these choices are just my personal preferences. I have no special criteria in picking which album I’ve rated higher than another, after all this list is purely for fun, other than which albums I’ve genuinely enjoyed listening to the most through the year. Yet even putting this list together it has really taken me quite some considerable time to pick an order for the ‘top ten’ so basically if an album appears on this list then at the end of the day it’s an album I would recommend checking out. You may also notice that I’ve rated some albums I previously reviewed with a lower mark higher than others but this is purely because of what mark I gave the albums when I reviewed them at their time of release while this list focuses more on what I’ve eventually found myself listening to more during the course of 2012.

Anyway, that’s enough of the introductory waffle for now, let’s pack our air guitars and head out on tour, starting in Llandudno, Wales…

#10. Catfish and the Bottlemen – Beautiful Decay EP (Reviewed in Flynndie Reviews Blog #25 – 8/10)

Right, so I’m ‘breaking the rules’ slightly on the list straight away by sneakily sneaking in an EP at #10 here but having listened to this band a lot in 2012 I felt it would be a shame for them to not feature in an end of year review. So the EP in question is the ‘Beautiful Decay EP’ from Llandudno’s very own Catfish and the Bottlemen. What we have here is an excellent, tight, Indie-Rock 6-track EP, kicking off with two excellent tracks ‘Sidewinder’ and ‘Bodies’ both of which would make great debut singles for most bands. The EP is packed full of the band’s distinctly, incredibly catchy guitar melodies and solos, not too far off capturing the type of sound of some of the early Arctic Monkey’s material in my opinion, while lead-singer Van’s crisp, clear vocals depict tales of the fast-paced, hustle and bustle of life and every day relationships, a tried and tested formula but one that everyone can relate to and really done to great effect here on the record. The most impressive thing about this EP for me though, is how tight and spot on the band are with their timing but this is surely down to the fact that these lads tour relentlessly! Honestly, I don’t think I’ve seen many other bands put in a commitment to a live schedule in 2012 as much as these lads and I genuinely believe they are one to watch for 2013 which will hopefully see the release of a full debut album by them.

Recommended Tracks: ‘Sidewinder’, ‘Harlot’, ‘Tyrants’
Personal Favourite Track: ‘Bodies’ - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVi-oaZ6Xm0

Catfish and the Bottlemen played Queen of Hoxton earlier this year

#9. The Vaccines – Come of Age (Previously un-reviewed)

Early September saw the return of garage-rock favourites The Vaccines with the follow-up to their 2011 debut ‘What did you expect from The Vaccines?’ with this year’s release ‘Come of Age’. And for me this is an appropriately fitting album title for the band, with this year’s follow-up really seeing the band progress and mature musically from their previously successful debut record. ‘Come of Age’ saw the band cleverly put together a record featuring tracks of nicely written Indie-Guitar-Pop on tracks like opener ‘No Hope’ and ‘Teenage Icon’ to the desperate, urgency on ‘Bad Mood’ to charming tracks ‘Aftershave Ocean’ and ‘I Wish I was a Girl, while yet, and here’s the clever bit, blending them with very much 60’s Blues sounding tracks such as ‘I Always Knew’, ‘All in Vain’ and ‘Weirdo’ and while the mention of Blues may set off alarm bells ringing for some, I genuinely think the band capture the style very well here on this record, giving them a much more distinct identity and really see the band ‘Come of Age’. (Boooooo, terrible pun!)

Recommended Tracks: ‘No Hope’, ‘Aftershave Ocean’, ‘Bad Mood’
Personal Favourite Track: ‘Teenage Icon’ - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFUKrsDDChE

#8. Muse – The Second Law (Previously un-reviewed)

Moving swiftly on, 2012 saw the long-awaited return of Muse with their 6th studio album ‘The Second Law’. Arguably one of the biggest band’s in the World these days, there is always extremely high-anticipation when a new Muse album is released and I think that while not quite on par with their first four albums, ‘The Second Law’ mostly delivers another great Muse record to the fans with a few ‘marmite’ tracks on it that you’ll either like instantly or take time to get into. Packed with some great tracks throughout from the very James Bond-esque opener ‘Supremacy’, to the epic building ‘Follow Me’ and then the low-fi piano and bass driven, old-school sounding Muse on ‘Animals’ there are a great range of tracks throughout the record as well as debut lead vocals from bassist Chris Wolstenholme on tracks ‘Save Me’ and ‘Liquid State’. While I initially struggled with previous singles ‘Madness’ and ‘Survival’ they have grown on me with more listens and overall I felt this was another great, ambitious album in Muse’s repertoire, with a hint of Queen thrown in throughout the album as well.

Recommended Tracks: ‘Supremacy’, ‘Madness’, ‘Follow Me’
Personal Favourite Track: ‘Animals’ - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDmCC0X25QE

#7. Reverend and the Makers – @Reverend_Makers (Reviewed in Flynndie Reviews Blog #28 – 8/10)

Our next album on the list sees us arrive in Sheffield with the return of ‘Reverend and the Makers’. After their excellent debut album ‘The State of Things’ and it’s follow-up ‘A French Kiss in the Chaos’, 2012 finally saw the band return after a long hiatus with their latest effort '@Reverend_Makers'. Going back much more to their roots of the first album, this latest record from the band sees them effortlessly blend a great range of Indie tracks with very much a dance vibe at the heart of them, with tracks like ‘Bassline’ and ‘Depth Charge’ restoring memories of the Hedonistic sounds of the Ibiza Clubbing scene back at the end of the 90’s. However, the real credit to the album has been its success despite very little mainstream airplay and this is because the tracks on the album really stand out on its own and has built a good following via word of mouth. Throw in a bonus CD with remixes and a further few extra tracks and this year’s return from Reverend and the Makers was certainly worth the long wait and a real return to form.

Recommended Songs: ‘Bassline’, ‘Warts ‘n’ All’, ‘The Wrestler’
Personal Favourite Track: ‘Out of the Shadows’ - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qjq2kiuSikw

#6. Nine Black Alps – Sirens (Reviewed in Flynndie Reviews Blog #32 – 7/10)

From Sheffield we next head to Manchester and the return of Indie, grunge rockers Nine Black Alps with this their latest fourth album ‘Sirens’. This album goes much more back to the band’s roots of the grunge rock which featured heavily on their debut album ‘Everything Is’. Featuring, instant, catchy rock tracks throughout from opening tracks ‘Be My Girl’, ‘Don’t’ Forget to Breath’ and ‘My One and Only’ the album has a real feel of a personal note from the band back to the fans with tracks having a traditional Nine Black Alps feel to them. The album also features cleverly layered Indie tracks that build throughout, for example on the brilliantly titled ‘Phospherence’ and ‘What You Wanted’, but for me one of the stand-out tracks on the album is the brilliant acoustic ballad ‘Waiting Room’, showing the real-depths of song writing the band are capable off. Nine Black Alps still remain quite an underground Indie-Rock band but this album sums up the sound of the band very well and is a good starting-point if you have not heard any material from them before.

Nine Black Alps rocking the Borderline back in October

Recommended Tracks: ‘Be My Girl’, ‘Don’t forget to Breath’, ‘Phospherence’, ‘Penny Cinderella’
Personal Favourite Track(s):
‘My One and Only’ - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAJUdh47tcQ
‘Waiting Room’ - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFxIzdgZ55Y

So that covers my first five selections in my ‘Top 10 albums of 2012’ list. Needless to say in the 2nd part of this Blog, which I plan to post up within the next week, I shall reveal my top 5 albums of the year!

Still Rocking in 2012
‘Flynny’

Flynndie Reviews: #33 The Birthday Suit - A Conversation Well Rehearsed

2012-11-11T11:17:00.001+00:00

Written 10th November 2012:

The Birthday Suit – A Conversation Well Rehearsed

The Band: Rod Jones (vocals/guitar), Jacqueline Irvine (keys/vocals), Steve Morrison (Drums), David Jack (bass), Sean McLaughin (guitar), Catrin Pryce Jones (Violin)

So today’s review comes from a Scottish Indie band I’ve been getting into a lot recently, The Birthday Suit. Hailing from Edinburgh the band are fronted by Rod Jones (also known well as the lead guitarist of Scottish Indie Rock band Idlewild) and are returning with this their follow-up to their 2011 debut album, ‘The Eleventh Hour’ and today’s review subject ‘A Conversation Well Rehearsed’. So let’s get straight into this review and see what type of sound the band captures on this record here.

Track-listing

1. Uh-Huh Uh-Huh
2. You Hear the Drums
3. Out of this World
4. You Deserve so Much Better
5. A Can of Worms
6. Wait for the River
7. Less Worthless Years
8. Ten Years Past
9. Bad Dreams
10. My Gang
11. Talk to Yourself

Starting with a series of Holy-sounding ‘Ahhh-Ahhh’s’, opening track, the unusual but delightfully titled ‘Uh-Huh, Uh-Huh’ sets of an early, rocky pace for the record with a fast, menacing guitar riff backed with urgent bass and drums. The rollercoaster nature of the main riff is interspersed with the boldly stated line “I Don’t Think So”, before a quick silent pause then followed by the chorus still maintaining the fast early pace set by the song with the ‘Uh-Huh, Uh-Huh’ of the track’s title thrown in its middle. Overall the track sets up the album nicely. ‘You Hear the Drums’ still has a brisk pace about but here we have a much more serene, melodic track by the band with backing keyboards and violin in full effect accompanying the track throughout. It’s also the first time on the album we hear Jacqueline’s backing vocals complement Rod’s voice and lyrics, which in my opinion creates a sound that really helps create a nice distinct identity for the band. It’s certainly a charming track, after the raucous paced opener. The charm continues with ‘Out of this World’, another delightful guitar track, again laced with the beautiful fiddle of Catrin’s violin throughout, while the chorus builds-up in tempo slightly more as Rod’s poginient lyrics suggest of moving on from a troubled relationship “All that you wasted on stating the obvious/Left us with everything we ever wanted/And all that time you spent on calling the same names/Gave us directions to find our way out of this World”.

‘You Deserve so Much Better’ initially opens as the most low-fi track on the album so far, with a nice, gentle repeated guitar riff steadily steering the track before we see the energy and tempo of the band explode in unison with the cryptic, fast paced chorus “You Deserve so much better/But you’re not the only one/You always want what you can’t have/You’re a Twentieth Century son”, the track is drawn to a lone piano peacefully closing it. ‘A Can of Worms’ is anything but peaceful; with another deliciously dark, menacing guitar riff at the heart of the track while Jack’s bass and Steve’s percussion provide the up-tempo pulse to it. Featuring another rocky chorus “You’ve opened up a can of worms/It’s no longer on your terms”, a guitar solo and even a violin solo, this an urgent but cleverly built, complex track and all the better for it in my view. ‘Wait for the River’ is a piano-driven ballad mid-way through the record, soft and delicate it again highlights the charm the band seem to have a great knack for capturing on this record. It’s certainly a beautiful track and one that feels right as the long winter nights draw in at this time of the year.

• The Birthday Suit live at The Camden Barfly this past October

Previously available as a download ‘Less Worthless Year’s’ is one of the more jolly, upbeat tracks on the album. A fast paced romp of a track, the verses see vocals from both Rod and Jacqueline sung at quick pace before a series of “Der-Dum-Dum’s” through the track, it’s a catchy track and you can judge for yourself from the YouTube link below. ‘Ten Years Past’ is another more up-tempo guitar track, steadily building initially before a short guitar solo, the track then finds full gear after this with its “Leaving me calling\Leaving me calling\Just leave me alone” providing an urgency while guitars from Rod and Sean duel it out in style here. It’s another decent track and although while I’ve been trying to avoid any comparisons in this review, this track really does have a feel of the style of an Idlewild track from their more recent albums, which is always a good thing in my opinion. Backed with a somewhat military percussion rhythm ‘Bad Dreams’ follows and is a short, sharp, punchy song with a repeated high-pitched riff layered through it “I don’t need your eyes looking down on me\The bad dreams satisfied of a memory” before the second half of the track features a nice keyboard solo with backing guitar, it’s another instant track but with an underlying intensity to it.

Penultimate track ‘My Gang’ lightens the sound of the record with another instant catchy guitar hook and melody as the lyrics through the track unfold a tale of an individual being caught up in ‘gang’s’ as such initially portraying an antagonists feeling down on their luck, while reflecting during the chorus “My gang is better than your gang/An argument of your design”, while the second half on the track unfolds the individual comes to the conclusion that they are better off with their own company “My gang is better than your gang/An argument of my design”. Closing track ‘Talk to Yourself’ opens initially with low-fi jangly guitar and an opening lyric featuring the album title “Talk to yourself/It’s a conversation well-rehearsed/A better way for you to say”, before the track finds it’s full backing from the band and then returning back to the initial jangly guitar, while the second half of the track sees gentle violin and keys backing. It’s another charming, pleasant song to close the album with and these last two tracks on the album for me have a little touch of The Smiths in their style and sound which is high praise indeed.

I’ve been very much enjoying this record in the recent few weeks I’ve been listening to it. It has a good blend of some fun, fast-paced Indie rock tracks ‘Uh-Huh Uh-Huh’ and ‘Can of Worms’, to the more serene, melodic ‘You Hear the Drums’, ‘Out of this World’ and ‘Wait for the River’, but also with some Indie Pop in ‘Less Worthless Years’. The album captures a great range of tracks all in under 35 minutes which is a fair reflection on the talented musicians that form the band. I found that while listening to this record that a lot of the tracks were easily accessible and very instant while Rod’s poignant lyrics really give them some much added depth; for me there is a little more going on than first meets the eye with this record. It’s been on repeat plenty for me recently and I’m going to give the record 8 Cans of Worms out of 10 as it’s an album I can still see me listening to plenty still in the future. The album receives a general release on the 3rd December (see the band’s website below for details) and I would personally recommend to check The Birthday Suit out sometime as they craft some excellent, catchy yet thoughtful Indie tracks.

Still Rehearsing Conversations
Flynny

Track 7 ‘Less Worthless Years’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioNpq0OG_7o

Band website:
http://www.thebirthdaysuit.co.uk/main/

Flynndie Reviews: #32 - Nine Black Alps - Sirens

2012-10-08T12:14:00.001+01:00

Written 8th October 2012:

Nine Black Alps - Sirens

The Band: Sam Forrest (lead vocals/guitar), David Jones (lead guitar/bass), Karl Astbury (bass), James Galley (drums)

Disclaimer: Please note this review contains the word ‘rock’ a lot for which I make no apologies!

So October (or as it’s better known Rock-tober) sees the return of Manchester’s very own, no-nonsense Indie rock, ‘grunge’ band Nine Black Alps with this their fourth album ‘Sirens’. The band first arrived on the scene with their debut album ‘Everything Is’ back in 2005 and let me say the album ‘Is Everything’ you would want to see in a debut record: a great range of catchy-rock songs, with fast, frenetic rock-heavy riffs, to full-on grunge tracks and then a couple of brilliant acoustic ballads, it’s a gem of an album and one I’d happily recommend the effort in tracking-down. This was subsequently followed up by the somewhat more poppy but still guitar-heavy Indie effort ‘Love/Hate’ in 2007, before the band went back a bit more to their roots with the again heavily Indie-rock-influenced, maybe a little bit more psychedelic ‘Locked Out from the Inside’ in 2009. So after a 3-year break what form of Rock can we expect from the band’s latest record ‘Sirens’?

Sirens

1. Be My Girl

2.                Don’t Forget to Breath
3.                My One and Only
4.                Phosphorescence
5.                Living in a Dream
6.                Waiting Room
7.                Hand Me Down
8.                Penny Cinderella
9.                Away From Me
10.             Find It My Own Way
11.             What You Wanted
12.             Another World

Crashing in with a jolly, rocking, foot-stomping guitar riff, opening track ‘Be My Girl’ immediately has a typical Nine Black Alps feel about it, as it bounces along with a catchy rhythm. It has a nice fast tempo about it with a catchy bridge in the middle “If you could save me……You must be crazy!” It gets the album off to a fun, rocking start and sets the overall tone for the record. With a much more industrialist, heavier grungy sound to it ‘Don’t Forget to Breath’ quickly follows and shows the band in full-flow of capturing their live sound on record, with the heavy grunge sound pulsing along right through the track. Previously made available to download online, it’s another rock-heavy track with an instantly likeable chorus. ‘My One and Only’ see guitars quickly accelerating and duelling with each other throughout it as Sam opens with the catchy lyric “Tell me doctor/What’s the worse/Am I blessed/Or am I cursed?”, it’s the fastest paced track on the album so far and nicely features a guitar solo of the main rhythm of the song in the second half of the track from David which works very well.

‘Phosphorescence’ is not only a word that I had to look up (“a process in which energy absorbed by a substance is released relatively slowly in the form of light”) but also finally gives the listener a bit of chance to catch their breath after the hard-hitting opening three tracks. With a slowly picked electric-riff for the first 30 seconds before more heavy backing guitars and bass start chugging along and help build the full sound and flow for the track overall. The track has a nice tempo and rhythm to it and it’s on the whole quite a serene track, while yet still retaining a rock edge to it. ‘Living in a Dream’ picks up the pace again, and features a fast punchy, grungy sound to it, which would easily see Wayne and Garth from ‘Wayne’s World’ happily head-banging along on cue. “I don’t want it/I don’t need it/I don’t have to see the feeling”, the track smacks of a punk-angst feel to it all while “Living in a Dream/Dream/Dream!” With steady, delightful guitar picking ‘Waiting Room’ is the acoustic ballad of ‘Sirens’. Despite, the Alps being most renowned for a guitar-heavy sound, when these lads pick up acoustic guitars not too many do it better in my opinion. This is a delightfully, charming track albeit tinged with a feeling of sadness and sorrow “I’m so sorry to hear/That you got so near/Fell down way to soon”, the song hints an individual’s pursuit to move onto bigger things but is dealing with reality of things not quite working out. It’s a beautiful written track and features some excellent guitar picking throughout and a nicely picked solo in its second half. ‘Hand Me Down’ instantly raises the tempo of the record, with jaggered guitars assaulting the listener’s ears at full-pace while a distinct and brutal bass line, from recent new band member Karl, really helps to accompany the fast-paced rhythm here and complete the full-on, fast sound of the track. Expect to see this track backing a Formula-1 compilations clip near you soon!

Swaggering its way confidently onto the album is track 8 ‘Penny Cinderella’, with another punchy 1-2 guitar melody to it, you can really hear the guitars being slowly worn away by the band here through its verses and I love the bridge in vocals mid-way through the track “So many times I tried to break out/There’s no excuse, there is no way out”, it’s really effective and then is followed by excellent, effective guitar solo. ‘Away From Me’, has a bit of an American college-feel to it for me as it confidently and care-free swaggers into the record with its flowing guitars and bass and punchy percussion from James, it’s another quite instant, likeable track, while ‘Find It My Own Way’ raises the tempo of the album again, initially with ‘distant’ guitars before the track fully-finds its own groove, of a little bit more heavier, faster guitar melody, rocking away happily like a drunken grandparent at a wedding after discovering the Sherry!

‘What You Wanted’ initially opens a bit more understated, again with an initially picked riff, its interspersed by a nice, typical Alps guitar melody as it features the song-title’s hook throughout “If that’s not what you wanted so far”, before a more slowed-down melody in the middle and another solo from David in its second half, it’s a cleverly structured track and probably the most complex on the album featuring small collections of guitar riffs neatly packaged together, it works very well and is another highlight on the album. Closing track ‘In another World’, initially features gentle, delicate guitar as the track slowly dictates its own pace as Sam’s lyrics depict a journey over land and water as metaphor “Sail down/Sail down/A dirty river” before the much more rocky chorus with the snarling line of the title-track “In another World/In another World/You heard what everyone says/Your gonna do it your way” which also helps to close the track and ultimately the record.

So in closing, Nine Black Alps have returned with yet another, standard fare of solid no-nonsense Indie rock with this ‘Sirens’ their fourth album. I think with this record the band have gone back into the studio after a good 3-year break and have decided to further their own familiar sound to their fans, while at the end of the day capturing their dynamic live sound both of which they successfully achieve here, but here’s the trick, while these style of tracks are of a rock/grunge nature may lack originality to some, the Alps always seem to capture this style brilliantly effortless and are one the better bands that are capable of this in my opinion. I’m going to award ‘Sirens’ 7 blue flashing lights out of 10 as I genuinely really like the album, for the fun, tight rock record that it basically is and, I’ve listened to the album plenty already and can see me still listening to this plenty in the future, however, if you like have fun listening to rock music and, if like me, are still the proud owner of an air guitar, add another mark on to this review as I’m sure you will enjoy this album for the pure and simple rock album that it is as much as I currently am!

Phosphorescence

Flynny

Track 2 ‘Don’t Forget to Breath’

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4FkEKg3p6c

Track 5 ‘Living in a Dream’

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKXc9swgmsk

Nine Black Alps track-by-track guide to ‘Sirens’ – Part 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qILRoX2i3l4

Nine Black Alps track-by-track guide to ‘Sirens’ – Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSAPltG_VPM

Band website:

http://www.nineblackalps.com

Flynndie Reviews: Blog #31 - The Rialto Burns - Learning to Fight

2012-09-28T18:06:00.000+01:00

Written 28th September 2012

The Rialto Burns – Learning to Fight

The Band: Adam (vocals), Pottsy (bass), Alex and Cogsy (guitars), Shaun (drums)

So today’s album review comes from a band that someone kindly recommended on Twitter after which I decided to go out and look up a few of their tracks, and after hearing their most recent single (at the time) on the band’s website, ‘While you Sleep’, I immediately thought that the track sounded great and showed some potential. I then found some more tracks on YouTube ‘Radiate’ and ‘For the Asking’ and I quickly found myself hooked on this band’s instant style and sound. “So who is this band?” I hear you ask (knowing full well you already know from the review title!) and the answer of course is Liverpool’s own ‘The Rialto Burns’ and today’s review covers the band’s debut album ‘Learning to Fight’ where I hope to expose more of the instant style and sound of the band that I hinted on earlier.

Round 1…..FIGHT!!!

1. Release
2. While you Sleep
3. For the Asking
4. Show me your Colours
5. Back to Life
6. Cold Hands
7. Learning to Fight
8. Radiate
9. Fingers and Thumbs
10. Slow/Fade
11. While you Sleep (Part II)

Initially opening, with buzzing, razor-sharp guitars things get underway with opening track ‘Release’ and we get our first taste of Adam’s deep, dark vocals which immediately creates somewhat more of a unique sound and style for the band. The track steadily ebbs and flows, between its gentle bass riff back to the buzzing guitars from its initial opening and keeps constantly flirting between the two. With gentle synths before an incredibly catchy, high-pitched guitar riff that accelerates the track along, ‘While you Sleep’ is a very instant Indie track, with lyrics “It takes a touch of innocence/To gain perspective on your sins”. The track constantly builds throughout but it’s the main opening riff that for me gives this track potential future ‘Goal of the Month’ backing music on Match of the Day, which is a high accolade for any band to achieve in my book! ‘For the Asking’ features high-pitched guitars blending with deep, flowing bass creating quite a chiselled sound on the track while lyrics flow “Put it on the ground/Just for the asking/I got the blues/You got the blues”, while solo guitar riffs continue to build constantly throughout the track.

Opening with a very electronic synth feel to it and a very much 80’s influenced guitar sound ‘Show me your Colours’ really does have quite a retro feel to it, with its melody and rhythm giving it much of an 80’s U2 feel about it in my opinion but with a modern take with the style of vocals and synths used throughout. The track coasts along blending its retro mix of guitar, bass and synths with a confident, carefree swagger all about it, before the track signs off with high-pitched, building synths, something you don’t see much on modern Indie albums these days but done to great effect here. Deep, heavy bass sets the early tone for fifth track ‘Back to Life’ and these continue while short, sharp guitar riffs dig and interject their way into the track nicely. “I walk these streets tonight\With a little romance in my life” vocals, being interspersed by still constant deep bass and guitars that are now slowly taking more control of the track as it goes along, it’s another track that still retains a bit of a retro feel for me and builds constantly, as quite a few tracks on this album do, finishing with repeated “I’m a sucker for love/I’m a sucker for love and it’s killing me”. ‘Cold Hands’ follows next and enters with a fast, sharp guitars riff pulling the track along, before we reach a brilliant crescendo of a chorus “I want you falling at my feet/Falling on me now/Falling from the sky” it works really well in context of the track and you soon find yourself humming along to it intentionally or not, as this track has a sense of a forlorn urgency about it throughout. Title-track ‘Learning to Fight’ is a particular percussion-driven track, with a repeated quick drum rhythm at the very heart of the track throughout, we again have softly-sung, deliberately slow vocals here really creating a brooding atmosphere for the song overall. The track features a nice guitar solo coupled with synths midway through to nice effect but overall despite the upbeat percussion this is quite a slow-burner of a track but very much deliberately so, building in its impact and atmosphere that it creates.

“Radiate my soul/In this world so cold” are the distinct opening vocals from ‘Radiate’, as guitars are again steadily, constantly building to another fast and urgent chorus. This was another very instant type of Indie track for me when I first heard it and a track I’m still enjoying on repeated listens; it’s pretty much a well-written, easily accessible Indie-pop song and is all the better for it in my opinion. Gentle, twinkling synths against cutting guitars build the basis of the melody for ‘Fingers and Thumbs’, another slower, more deliberate track here by the band before one of my favourite tracks on the album ‘Slow/Fade’. With an excellent synth slide guitar effect backed by a brilliant guitar riff, the track then eases as vocals from Adam depict an individual’s fiery characteristics, before being re-joined by the excellent synth and guitar, it’s a very pleasant, easy-listening track for the listener and one I liked instantly. The album closes with ‘While you Sleep (Part II) and this really is the ‘darker’ side of the earlier track on the album, with really brooding guitar and synth effects and no-nonsense percussion throughout, it really puts the band’s closing statement on the album and captures the complete style of the band as a whole.

So, overall what we have here is decent debut album with a band really defining their own unique sound, really capturing dark, edgy, brooding tracks with an emphasis on short catchy guitar riffs duelling with synth effects. If I could make a comparison to their sound it would be somewhat of a cross between The White Lies and ‘forgotten’ Indie band The Bravery, with certainly a hint of 80’s era U2 thrown in there as well in my opinion, it’s a very distinct sound the band produce here! I’ve been listening to the album for some time now and it’s certainly a grower with each listen and I’m going to give ‘Learning to Fight’ 8 punch-bags out of 10 here. I think it will be interesting to see how the band follow up this album and it actually shouldn’t be too long to wait now with the band already releasing the video to their next single ‘Hibernation’ which you can also see below, with a follow-up album due out soon, I currently have The Rialto Burns as “one to watch” in my book right now!

Knocked Out
Flynny

Track 2 ‘While you Sleep’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFXnBqyrlm0

Track 3 ‘For the Asking’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1DEhnoLimQ

Track 8 ‘Radiate’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZR6csuB5NA

New single ‘Hibernation’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzUWo-_GsCY

Band website:
http://therialtoburns.com/