Discovery: Portugal. The Man, My Bloody Valentine, Glasvegas

Listen to me carefully: I have never known a period in my musical history like the last year. The lucky thing is that whilst my methods of musical consumption have changed my fervour for new music is higher than ever before and now, via this blog and reviewing on God is in the TV, I have found more new bands that I like and have expanded my musical repitore further in the last 9 months than in years, closely related to 2003 for new bands.



Portugal. The Man
Experimental rock? Dividing musical opinion? Sounding like a best of compilation of various genres? Portual. The Man, apart from playing havoc with the Word grammar check, are one of those bands found whilst browsing message boards and Wikipedia genre lists that via the love of Last.fm and Myspace they perked my intrigue. A couple of downloads later I have decided that they are good. The take influences from the last 500 years of music distilling that impressive and imerssive sound clash and came out with a sound that has made other critics go “This is just piss” and some go “I like the nature of this”. I fall in the latter camp, and really quite like them.
Sounds Like: The Mars Volta being told to make their songs 4 minutes long or they wil be forced to play Girls Aloud songs.
Try: Chicago, from Waiter: “You Vultures!”


My Bloody Valentine
Okay, I am late to the party with this one. I had not even heard to My Bloody Valentine 4 months ago. Well, that might not be true – I am sure I had heard them, but knew who they were? Understood their importance? Not a chance, but after the furore over their live shows in the last months (including 20 minutes of white noise) I have to admit I missed them pretty outrageously. Why? Not sure… but they are fantastic, especially Loveless, their second album. Is there a third album due 18 years after they stopped? I hope so.
Sounds Like: The Smiths being thrown into a box of explosions
Try: I Only Said from “Loveless”

Glasvegas
I might have been late to the party with My Bloody Valentine by I have been on the bleeding edge with Glasvegas, finding them a year ago playing Libertines raw rock now they are the second coming of shoegaze. To many young indie boys I will call shenanigans on the Twilight Sad or Proclaimers shouts – that is just people realising that most Scottish artist sing out of the accent, good or bad. However, following the lead of Roddy Woomble in his later years, the Scottish Accent is going the way of Arab Strap and making a resurgence. And it works on the Glasvegas records. Expect a review of the album soon.
Sounds Like: The Beach boys with a hang over playing at the far end of a room

Review - The Walkmen - You & Me

A long time ago I saw The Walkmen live. In fact, it was so long ago I remember little to nothing of them. Actually, that isn’t so much true, as I saw two other bands that rainy night in Edinburgh; Idlewild were the main act, and blew me away. It was truly the epiphany that live music can be. The Walkmen preceded Idlewild and were dark, brooding, and loud. I remember a couple of their songs from the night but nothing sticks out more than the other bang, the Star Spangles, a terrible punk throwback band, who almost ruined the night for me after their interminable set.

Fast forward almost a hundred years and I have started listening to The Walkmen for the first time properly. And this album, their fifth album of dark melancholic New York rock that sounds every bit part Interpol and Strokes, is absolutely fantastic.

You & Me sounds very much a winter album. The crooning of Hamilton to the dark regress of piano and bass propelled by a thudding battery of drumming, washes over the senses and paints a bleak sparse landscape of New York. I would at this point mention 9/11, but we can probably sidestep past that whole “post-9/11” drivel by pointing out similar artists from a simpler time, such as Joy Division or The Velvet Underground. The reason why The Walkmen remind me of that is the melody hidden under a sheen of dark intonement and expression, so subtle that it takes several listens for the whole album to unravel.

I find this band in mate early 20s and they mean so much and make so much sense to me that I feel that if I had been involved with them any early I might not only became the muso that I am threatening to become, but like Pulp, I wouldn’t have understood the point of The Walkmen. They sit atop a pile of bands that are intellectual without sound pretentious, expand their musical sound without having to resort to high wage producers, and have crafted a level of album consistency only equalled in measurable success by Elbow, and this album, with tracks as dark as the opener “Donde Esta La Playa” and the rolling “Postcards from Tiny Islands”, serve as the perfect introduction to a band who seem to channel the grandeur of an age of music that is long forgotten.

This age of music that made sense, had meaning, was as successful as R&B today, is long gone but never more relevant, and The Walkmen are the best there is, and You & Me is one of the best albums this year.

8/9

6Shuffle - 04/09/08

Stereophonics – Check My Eyelids for Holes
Stereophonics’ debut album stands the test of time as a great debut and a good statement about the way the 1990s were for music. Coming at the tail end of the decade they might have been slightly late they are the band that became Oasis in terms of critical derision, especially from some on their previous albums from some super amazing reviewers. This song is a perfectly good highlight from their early album and is a good place to start if you are wanting to listen to the band for the first time, but knowing people who read this, they will already dipped their toes in that pool and said “Nah, that is too shallow for me.”

The Smiths – There Is A Light That Never Goes Out
Ah, the Smiths, one of my favourite bands ever. This, one of the most mystical tracks from the 80s superstars, is one of my favourite tracks, if only for the lovely flutle like woodwind “dodododo” at the end which is great. Morriessey, signing about death and killing people, never gets old, as Mozzer runs around a jaunty guitar rhythm dotted with strings swaying back and forth over the arrangement.

The Ramones – Blitzkrieg Bop
My attempt to write about these tracks as they play might be hard here as this is a punk track that last no more than 2 minutes of quick rock and roll. This band don’t rank that high on my favour lists but I can admire their zeitgeist that they pioneered and what they stood for. The “Hey Ho Lets Go!” has became a signature of punk rock and –

(The Song Ended)

Lightning Bolt – Assassins
Well, how do you describe this band to someone. I have no idea how to explain this band without it sounding like I am talking rubbish, so I am not going to try. The sound like a war fighting a set of pianos inside a traffic cone aimed directly at a loudhailer. It is intense and very technical… not at all like some of the other stuff I listen to. In fact this is probably as left field as some of my music taste goes. Still, it has some charged energy about it and listening to it makes me very excited and my feet tap fast than a strobelight.

The Verve – Lucky Man
The new verve album will be reviewed here soon as I get my hands on it, but I don’t expect much from their newest single, Love is Noise, which is ruined with the little “DooDooo” sample played through every single second of it. I think it would have been much better without the over use of it and maybe sounding a little less like Richard Ashcroft’s solo stuff. Which is what Lucky Man sounds like. Their album, Urban Hymns, is fantastic, but this song will forever be ruined as the song I first learned to play on the drums, and hearing it strangled by a 13 year old boy with no rhythm in the drumming lesson could destroy the most universally liked track of all time. And no, the boy wasn’t me, as drumming is only musical ability I seem to posses.

Queens of the Stone Age – The Blood is Love
Not really sure of this song… it is from the album that I played to death for months on end but don’t really have an opinion on other than it is all right. I don’t rate the Queens of the Stoneage that highly seeing as it really is just a solo project for Josh Homme. I do have to admit that he has a way with melodic rock, and this album and song do have a nice bit of melody about them… especially Burn the Witch.

Bonus Seventh Spin:
Belle & Sebastian – To Be My Self Completely

Muxtape: A little Different.

I have been diligently updating my Muxtape the last few weeks every so often and this week I decided on a theme. This week’s muxtape is slightly more esoteric, a little more unique as it goes to the extremes of the genres and the songs that I like. In here you will find post rock, noise rock, dance electro, some funk dance and regular epic prog rock. Should be an interesting indicator of what I listen to in my more unique moments.

LISTEN TO IT NOW

The Following is a run down of the bands on the Muxtape.

Lightening Bolt are a recent discovery thanks to the Drowned In Sound weekly album club, it blew me away with the amazing use of noise, guitar work, and the fact that it sounds like nothing else I had heard before.

Muse are one of my older loves Muse have fallen out of favour with me recently since they entered proper epic stadium rock. The track I have chosen, from the Hullabaloo soundtrack, is more interesting, with sprinklings of piano and no lyrics.

Metronomes is Al Paxton’s solo work (he of Stapleton “fame”) and is some very chilled out post rock. He plays every instrument and the albums have a charm like no other record I own. I really love driving down the road, with the windows down listening to his record.


Mogwai are the true Scottish stars of Post Rock, and this track is taken from the recent sound track to the Zidane film of 2006m which is a truly mesmerising watch of a football match perfectly linked to the rather bleak and epic meanderings of guitar drum and distortion.

Aereogramme are a band I found just too late, discovering them in early 2007, months before their split. I missed out seeing them live twice, though I doubt they would have played this, my favourite (and the longest track on the muxtape) track of theirs. The name is a good description of the track, as it wanders on a path through 11 minutes, revealing a warped narrative and mastery of sonic landscapes.

A Sunny Day In Glasgow are an enigma to me, but this track needs to be on this list as it is so different and infectious.

I know Sigur Ros and so do you – they became rather famous due to a little programme called Planet Earth. This, from their newest album, Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust, is a good starter for 10 of their material.

Radiohead’s Kid A was the commercial suicide album that is one of my favourite albums of all time. This, the title track, is a great experiment in vocalization and piano work over an unusual drum beat, which is the formula for most of the albums and even their more recent work. True Marmite music.

St. Germian are funk soul dance music, and that is all I need to say. Have a listen, and I bet you that your foot is tapping.

Remember Jose Gonzalez? Well, this is the original version of his hit Heartbeats, albeit recorded live, this is The Knife. Notice it gets a large cheer… I recently heard someone recount a story that said that he over heard someone ask who had covered Jose Gonzalez… philistines! Consider yourself educated.

Review - Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes

Melodies and harmonies are the order of the day with the eponymous debut from Fleet Foxes, and the rather incredible and sweet vocals that drift lightly through this most summery of summer albums, you are dragged into a world of dandelions and rolling hills via the rather driving guitar work and vocal harmonies.

To say who they sound like it is hard - there is twinges of Dylan, slights of Beach Boys, but mostly I hear a band that are not well known to the record buying public - Cosmic Rough Riders, a band obscure and whilst they have been a long time away, it has be assured that they are not over yet.

But to fill that void, Fleet Foxes do a sterling job. On the opener the harmonies start sounding a little too country, but it pulls away and becomes hymn like with many voices singing softly in melodic gold. The sound is organic, whilst it treads water musically, each track has a top tapping pace that carries it on and into a good territory where the band seem to settling on a certain rhythm. It starts to sound very good, and on Ragged Wood the vocals, strained on the longer notes, have an organic quality, much like Twilight Sad's style.

It is a real summer album, but it lacks legs, burning out after 8 or so tracks. Like all good Indie albums the band have tried to define them selves, and Fleet Foxes have done so especially well. A true treat of 2008 so far.

7/9

Review - The Offspring - Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace

There is such a thing as growing old gracefully and after the release of their Greatest Hits, I would have wrote off an eighth album from the Californian "punk" megastars. I use punk as a loose term as these guys have not been punk probably since the release of 1998's Pretty Fly (for a White Guy). My roots with the Offspring stem this, essentially a novelty record and discovered them backwards.

My exposure during my adolescent teen years was inspirational - Americana is an album that I can return to in a moments notice and so too Ignition and Smash, but recently, I have noticed how recycled the sounds that we used on Conspiracy of One and Splinter. They have basically been singing the same songs on each album ever since.

Don't expect anything new here - there are some good track in this collection - a definite improvement from Splinter, that is for sure, but in the clouds of relapse into the teenage years sountracked by the speedy drumming and basic power chords, I return back into real life and feel disgust coming over me as my post-rock post-hardcore self is repulsed by the insinuation that I can be captured by such basic song structure and mediocre melody.

Then I listen to You're Gonna Go Far Kid or Hammerhead and I smile, remembering that ever young child needs to go through the cathartic punk moment, and this, whilst nothing new, groundbreaking, or really any good, will serve as this generation of teenagers' soundtrack if My Chemical Romance or Foals have no stolen the crowd.

Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace is pretty bad, but I can't get away from the fact that I shouldn't like it, but I do, in a way, in a childish way, and I have to give it to Dexter Hollland - he knows how to sound like a highly strung teenager even into his early forties.

2/9 when I am in control, or 7/9 when I think like I used to. Take your pick really.

Review - The Music - Strength in Numbers

A few years ago, Colin and I were in Glasgow city centre, and were looking at buying a CD or two. I decided to buy The Music’s debut whereas Colin expressed interest in Dove’s album Lost Souls. It is rather interesting that both these bands have been away for a long time, either working out demons or trying to create a new album. In fact, Both released their last albums over 3 years ago, and in the case of The Music, 4 years ago. In that 4 years we have Klaxons, Franz Ferdinand, LCD Soundsystem and Arctic Monkeys. The musical landscape has changed massively and of that era, few British bands have survived – Hundred Reasons are still plugging away on a lowly label, Hell is For Heroes similarly, with the Cooper Temple Clause out for the count.

It comes to 2008, 7 years after I first fell in love with The Music and the danceable break beat rock they produce and I have changed too – I went from school student to University to student to employed office worker, and with that my musical taste has slightly evolved, from NU metal to indie and post-rock champion of sorts. Colin too has changed, becoming more specific in heavier post-hardcore. So, have The Music suitably changed?

The answer is kind of. The guitar work and melodies are intact, with the rousing vocals of Getaway and Breakin’ making it onto this album, and the sound is of a band who took a long time off to find themselves and their feet, and suddenly remembering what made them pick their instruments up in the first place.

The Spike and lead single Strength in Numbers are Music defining – large beats, leading guitar work, and rousing high pitched vocals echoing in the background, slightly lower in the mix than most bands. The production on the LP is slight, a sheen that is very different from previous albums – strings are echoed, the vocals are processed slightly and the synths are prominent.

On the dark and brooding Idle the band experiment slightly with their sound and it is a welcome respite, as it is bookended by some rather impressive tracks. This seems to be the new model The Music, with a slightly subdued sound, unlike their original work.

To be honest, this is a good return. Probably a million times better than some would have expected from them. Some times it seems they are trying to escape the constraints of their previous albums and they do succeed in certain places – the album is a rallying call, a statement that says that they were away but they fancy a second chance in the new landscape of late noughties rock, and with this album, it might not be sterling, but it is very much welcome, and if they survive the next few years (and we don’t have to wait till 2012 for their next album) we could be interesting records indeed.

5/9

Discovery - The Night Marchers

It's been a while since I've posted here so I think it's best that I get back into the flow of things now. I've been listening to a lot of new bands recently, desperately searching for a new band which will influence me as much as my discovery of Rocket From The Crypt several months ago. In my search I thought I'd look into what "Speedo" from Rocket has been doing since his departure from the Crypt. I'm surprised to say that he's been a very busy guy, producing 3 albums with the excellent Hot Snakes (I'll save them for another post) and then going on to form The Night Marchers in 2007. The album See You in Magic sounds very similar to RFTC minus the trumpets and I'm delighted to say is an excellent, excellent punkesque record.

The opening track has a very catchy riff as I have come to expect from Speedo, and his harsh vocals work incredibly well. The second track is one of my favourites, I Snore ZZZZ and it's the wacky lyrics that I love about it most. The rest of the album is medocre, with a few moments of genius coming through on Whose Lady r u and You've Got Nerve. What I love about the album the most is that's its so easy to listen to, with the catchy riffs strumming nicely along in the background.

Overall, an excellent album if you love Rocket / Hot Snakes, it's definately one I'll be listening to a lot in the future and I look forward to hearing more from them soon. A UK tour would be awesome though I feel that they're unlikely to come here anytime soon.

Some tracks for you to try:

Closed For Inventory
In Dead Sleep (I Snore ZZZZ)
Whose Lady R U

Grab the ZIP here.

Review - Feeder - Silent Cry

Feeder are a constant for my musical pallet having been introduced to them during the later years of my high school tuition, they represented a point in my life that a few other bands, namely Travis, Coldplay, Linkin Park and Papa Roach, will occupy for giving me my first own bands, ones that I sought out my self, found my self, and fell in love with (and out of love with) along with many of my friends. In fact, Colin, who I blog with, also rates Feeder quite highly and owns many of their early albums (if not all). I however, only have two in my collection. Yesterday Went too Soon and Polythene, so you should be able to guess from those two records where my opinions lie on their most recent bought of records.

Comfort in Sound is not the album I wanted from Feeder. It was neither loud nor exciting as most of the melancholy arrangements were obviously inspired partly by the suicide of drummer John Lee but it also felt like a left over of the previous couple of albums. Grant and Taka were beginning to run a little on fumes and whilst their spirited rocking out on Godzilla and Come Back Around sounded loud, live they paled to Insomnia, Buck Rodgers and the in-between single Just A Day. With 2005s Pushing the Senses doing nothing to convince me otherwise and the band reaching for the Coldplay/Keane/Snow Patrol heights of late noughties selling out to the epic over produced masses seemed to turn on all the older fans who were there in beginning. The became middle of the road and Grant's skills as a songwriter probably benefited from the rise into success but gave fans a little kick knock down.

So, seeing them live in late 2005 gave me hope. They performed mostly from their older albums, including High, and seemed enthusiastic about louder material, and in 2006, Grant did announce that the next album would be "heavier". I had been burned once before and amazingly Feeder have delivered not an amazing record, but a return to form that I never expected. From the first song you must fear the worst - We Are the People is potentially their worst single, and sets the album up for a fall but from there on in, with Itsumo, Miss You and Tracing Lines following packing punches you wonder where did they pull this from? These are some of the best feeder tracks since Yesterday Went to Soon and indeed seem to pushing to replace it. The lyrics are still a little insipid but as the guitar work and hooks are expertly pushed around you smile for the return of an old friend

The album sound like a sigh of relief. No longer fighting for the commercial success or the fans they needed, Feeder are able to spread their wings and self produce this album (just like YWTS) and it feels like suddenly Grant has realised not only what he enjoyed to write but also what the fans need - good, 4 minute pop rock songs, and while Silent Cry is not exactly the best album of the year, it is a fantastic record to listen to on a summery day and try to forget that whole "Dove Grey Sands" rubbish from the last album. Stick on Polythene, YWTS, Echo Park, Swim, and Silent Cry and they flow together well. Feeder, Mark I, are back.

7/9

Feeder Official Website
Feeder Myspace

Discovery - Drive-By Argument, The Mae Shi, 4 or 5 Magicians, Dananananaykroyd.

Drive-by Argument - I gave this band a rather glowing review on God Is In The TV and still after a couple weeks can't get over how much fun this band actually are. The synth led hooks and choruses are simply put fantastic. While they do nothing special other than grab a good rhythm and melody, bands are slowly beginning to realise that is pretty much all you need to do. Drive-By Argument are technically a manufactured band, being thrown together by their lecturers at college. From this rather un-rock and roll start (compare it to a band that I am beginning to name drop more and more on this blog, Franz Ferdinand, where they were started over a fight for a bottle of Vodka) they have the whole rock and roil thing down to a tee. In fact, they blow the socks off any of the latest crop of Indie bands that are literally pouring out of gig halls and into Record Label books every 5 minutes.

The Mae Shi - Who? you might be asking. What? you will be asking after listening to their second LP, HLLLYH. Procured before my meeting with them a few weeks ago the band blew me away with the rather post-punk synth type of rock that not only looks at time signatures with loathing, but also grabs that lovely thing called "fun" and cuddles up to and squeezes it till it goes blue. While they might sound obtuse at first and even on the third listen you might be wondering how anyone is supposed to sing along to the random tracks that sway from stomping rock riffs and crunching bass to light shouting and singing. Under all the random firing from all corners lies a band having such fun that it can only rub off onto the listener. Like We Are the Physics you will be smiling and taping your foot. You might be asking how do you pronounce the album name HLLLYH - there are two thought on this, either Hallelujah or Hell Yeah! After asking the band I decided Hell Yeah; they seemed to agree with me. Seeing them live is something else - the Mae Sheet is something that when told about you won't believe. Literally, a big sheet is pulled over the crowd. I loved this band.

4 or 5 Magicians - Up and coming small band who are making waves in and around the scenes at the moment are worth having a little listen to. Sounding mature this early in their career is something that should be commended - plus, there are always places in the world of Music for a good strong vocal and chord progression.

Dananananaykroyd - Hailing from Glasgow I am still to catch these guys on tour but listening to them you can see where the buzz is coming from. There will be a bandwagon coming for these guys so jumping on it this soon will gain you indie credibility. I expect fun things from these guys.