So what in the holy hell is going on... #2

Evening chaps, so now things are underway again, I thought it would be a good idea to take a look at the scene and see where we all stand.

Firstly, what the hell is going on with the people of Britain at the present time. Really, Glasvegas, why should anyone bother. Anyone can play a gig wearing black in total darkness with some coloured smoked out lighting and make it look good. The tipping of the iceberg for me, is the drummer, who looks like my mother and stands when she drums, what the hell is that???

Now moving onto some better news, Oasis are firmly back in the business, and they've just announced their biggest shows to date next summer, and these surely will be the Gigs of the 00s. Oasis, Wembley Stadium, supported by Kasabian and The Enemy. I said the day after Glastonbury, next year Oasis to headline, supported by Kasabian and The Enemy, now that may not be happening on the Pyramid, but at the helm of everything English, Wembley Stadium, this is the motherload! Possibly the most exciting gig that I've ever looked forward to.

Moving onto more of an electronic feel, which I'm going to make more prominent in this blog. I know I'm kind of late on the bandwagon for Fidget House and the scene is kinda moving on now, with Switch and Crookers going to a bit deeper, especially with the pioneering of Club-step in the past few months. However, after I've played some of the stuff last uni year and this year, it's only been in the last few months that the masses have really started to take to it. Crookers remix of Day 'n' Night has clearly helped with it's popularity in Malia etc. It's like 2006 when Bodyrox took the mainstream by storm and hammered home the commercial electro house beats that were mainly underground prior. Then of course Justice took it one step further and incorprated Dance-punk with Electro and Indie on 4/4 beats to produce one the most iconic albums this decade. I feel the electro scene at the moment, and particularly the tech-house movement over the pond that's steadiy producing waves in Europe makes the industry the strongest it's been since the dawn of Daft Punk and The Chemical Brothers, The Crystal Method and Prodigy took Norman Cook's conventions and produced some of the greatest Big-beat music ever.

There's a huge market at the moment for the remix artist, but slowly but surely the producer's are coming back to town. Deadmau5 is helping with that, with transforming the Progressive circuit practically overnight, his #11 placing on the chart for me is the only true reflection of the progression of music in the past year. Trance will probably carry on to 'reign supreme' for a few more years to come (In the words of Mike Fucking Skinner: "oh yay, oh yay"), but let it be known that Joel will have his day, and when he does, I will be there to fucking see it!

That's pretty much all I have to say for now, apart from check out a rather tasty young fellow in Surkin, if you haven't already. His 'Next of Kin' EP is by the power of ra, HOT!

Mr. Lee... out!

So what in the holy hell is going on...

Hi there.

So.

In January I started a blog here, with the intention of posting on it regularly, and it started to become quite a little hobby of mine, until the summer set in, I got into the party mood, then University began again, and Mr. Lee, didn't do no blogs no more...

Well, I'd just like to say that I'm am now back, but with a whole new zesting passion to write and a several new mediums to promote the blog, but first, for all you people that are new to this blog, lets just re-fresh and re-introduce.


I'm Lee, 19, and a Journalism Student at UCA in Farnham. I'm in my second year, specialising in Radio & TV Journalism. I co-host a podcast that I produce in the radio studio at my university, with a course mate that we started at the end of last year and are starting up again early November (EarsToTheSkies). The podcast has had some attention from a Radio DJ working at Life 103.6 FM that airs over Central/North London and the Web, who wants us to roll together a 5-minute segment each week to feature on his 4-5pm Sunday Showcase Session. I'm quite proud about that :D.
Then on the side I run a night and DJ at my university's union once a month-ish called Liquid Lives, I'm going to start asking guest DJs to play sets from the start of next year, which will hopefully make the night bigger and better! I write for a website called SonicDice, writing album/single reviews, going along to gigs and reviewing them aswell, so that takes up a wee bit of time.

Then along with all that, I have to fit in my university work, assignments, reading and research, so you can tell I'm pretty busy at the moment. However, I'm now going to endevour and try to post on this blog three times a week: Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and by the start of January, work towards going completely independant from Blogger, with monies paying for my own site. That is the plan anyway.

I'm always interested in the idea of guest writers and contributers, whatever your idea, pitch it to me, anyone with an idea is creative!

Right, well this is going to be the first post, then on Wednesday I'll have another of these sorts of posts letting you know what's been going on, but on the music industry side etc, then on Friday I'm going to talk about Award ceremonies, reflecting on last month's Mercury, the upcoming DJ 100, and outline my shortlists for albums of the year, dance and rock. Then starting next month, will be the launch of the blog once again, so get ready, I am coming!

Album Review - Bloc Party

Bloc Party
Intimacy

Coming off of the back of the most successful year of the bands career that ended with the release of one of the year’s biggest indie dance tracks and the bands biggest UK tour to date, Bloc Party entered into 2008 as one of the biggest rising bands in the world – their Last.FM stats tell the true story; you don’t achieve over 36 million plays just by a stroke of luck.If this album does not surpass the feats of the previous two and scale to the top spot in the charts, then I will give up my attempts to become an established music journalist here and now.

‘Intimacy’ is a hugely experimental third release for the London based foursome who produced the performances of their lives at Reading and Leeds, minus Gordon.Prior to this performance, the album was released unto the world via their official website as a download for the mere price of £5, and £10 if you wished to pre order the physical release CD scheduled for October 24th, on top of the download. You’d think that it be a coincidence the album was released prior to their Reading and Leeds performances, and for that you may now accept the award for ‘The Most Gullible Individual in World History’.

Also described by Kele as ‘The Break-Up Album’ of their releases so far, he said that he wrote many of the songs about a bad break-up he had at the end of last year. Some of the best indie music has been written about break-ups in recent years – Arctics’ 505, Killers Mr. Brightside, Hard-Fi Better Do Better, I could go on – but the point is, Kele’s trying to move the band in a seriously positive direction. Yes, music has been moving towards a more dance driven state for a few years now, but the fact that Kele also supplied vocals for The Chemical Brothers Believe would explain he’d have to have some passion for dance music even before he’d begun to write ‘A Weekend in the City’, or maybe that’s just a coincidence as well.

“Now let’s get this party started”, is what should have been the first words ushered by Kele on the opening track Ares, however they were in fact “War, war, war ,war”, exactly the same words being subconsciously screamed by the new hate fad surrounding the band post-Mercury. However, what is certain about this new experimental sound, is that it’s truly explosive, endlessly dynamic and ultimately, fucking brilliant.
Next up is new single Mercury whose characteristic looping introduction is what all the fuss is about. Kele has said that this new release isn’t meant to be listened to sitting down and immersed in, but to be danced to. So with that spirit in mind, I’ve cracked a few glow sticks and am sitting in the dark with my 150mW green laser pumping sonic juice around my bedroom; now things are starting to really make sense. Yes ok, Nu Rave is deader than most of Michael Barrymore’s guests but if I’m to really experience this first hand, then it has to be done.

Moving deeper into the LP, there is a thunderous drive in the bass-line and riffs of Halo, that’s easily the most experimental track on the release, there’s a sister track to Song for Clay within Biko and attempts as recreating the grimy rock of ‘Silent Alarm’ with One Month Off. However, the real power of this album is locked inside eighth track Zephyrus; as the Greek god of the west wind you expect it to be a mellow track, however it doesn’t live up to the idea of being gentle, on the contrary it mimics the god’s greed and lust. “So let's take this from the start, you'll be me and I'll be you”, think of The Prayer being turned up to the max, but spliced with the passion and core of Like Eating Glass and you’re about a 1/3 of the way there. I went through a break up last year as well so I can sympathise with how Kele felt when he wrote this song. Along with Positive Tension from the debut, I can tell this track will become one of my favourite Bloc Party songs.

The only thing that is starting to worry me is that even after the third album release, they still haven’t been able to compose a band defining, set closing monster track that will cement them as one of the best live bands in the country. The Arctics’ managed this at the first (A Certain Romance) and second (If You Were There, Beware) attempts. Many would suggest the soulful entity of This Modern Love would suffice, yet songs of that nature are wrote and engineered as set intervals, that break up the performance.

Bloc Party have truly jumped into the big league and are ready to become the band they always promised to be. Come 2010 and album number four should be a decade defining masterpiece, touching the Amazon rain forest of course though.

8/10

Album Review: Hawnay Troof

Hawnay Troof
Islands of Ayle

I’m sure all of you understanding people out there will appreciate how I feel right now. Waking up from a heavy night of drinking in London, with the biggest hangover of my life with an imminent 4pm-2am shift at work starting in a few hours, to find that my first promos through the post from SonicDice includes this artist. Hawney Troof – the hitchhiker’s definition of flamboyant Electro-Pop. The hairs on my skin stood up in what felt like the most intense braingasm ever experienced by a human being, I do think not matron.I’d once heard of the artist through the acclaimed EP Community released in between his first two LPs that the internet had a bit of a generation-wank to. I wasn’t much impressed back then, however, time is a healer.

Islands of Ayle is the third LP released by the solo project of 24 year-old California based producer Vice Cooler, a multi talented musician, photographer and writer who outside of his music commitments has written books and makes regular contributions to magazines such as Rolling Stone and The Wire. His other past and recent commitments include punk band XBXRX, who in 10 years have knocked out 6 full albums and 13 singles & EPs; and this is whilst keeping up with Hawney Troof, his writing and a host of other artists that he makes contributions for. Quite a busy man most of you will agree.

The album opens to the screeching sound of Suspension and Conclusion, it’s not clear whether Vice is trying to imitate MIA or convulse in a daring attempt at making a psychedelic mockery of Muse.Then what greets you is possibly the strangest track that I have ever heard in my life, Front My Hope which should be re-titled Can You Cope, it sounds a lot like what The Magic Roundabout would exist as in a shroom infested entity of Amy Winehouse; all accompanied with a complimentary bunny rabbit choir; tasty.Although things really begin to kick off with the next track Underneath the Ocean that fortunately does speak truly of MIA and Santogold’s work.

The only thing about this album starting to puzzle me is that clearly the only people that could ever possibly dance to it are members of the Ministry of Silly Walks or naked Playboy Bunnies covered in oil. It’s a pulsating electro rollercoaster, laden with more than a necessary quantity of synthesizers, some of the deepest bass on earth and a lyrical structure that begs for appreciation; Hawney Troof is definitely one of the most underrated artists that I’ve been fortunate enough to listen to this year. “Little dude little dude, won’t you see the floor, it will not change the rules of school” If ninth track Oblivions is anything to go by, then his live performances are guaranteed to raise a few eyebrows when he inevitably embarks on another world tour – that last time round saw him playing in such obscure places as China and Egypt, which after he wrote a book about the 20-month long tour entitled Dollar and Deed Tour that sold out over the internet within an hour.

Vice Cooler is re-defining how to be a solo artist, his passion for everything new and inventive is one of the reasons that caught Retard Disco’s eye five years ago, and he’s a massive underground inspiration for many of America’s aspiring electro/pop acts. Order a copy of this and you won’t be disappointed, unless of course you prefer to live a life consumed within your mainstream electro of Justice and Daft Punk; now there’s nothing is wrong with that really and no one else will be that bothered, but you’ll always know you were a lazy faggot when it came to musick.

This review is also posted over at SonicDice

7/10

Album Review: CSS

CSS
Donkey

Going boldly where no band has gone before, CSS showed in 2006 that you can sing songs about ’Hot Hot Sex’ and still come out the other end smelling of roses. However in 2007 it seemed the media and the fans had got caught up amidst the sparkly cat suits and on stage naughtiness and the then six-piece were becoming somewhat of an industry joke. What seemed like the only standard procedure for Brazilian-born Cansei De Ser Sexy, was to prove that the impending hangover was not one of a stroppy spotted, virginity vacant teen, but a Timpson polished, Trevor Sorbie groomed, Tommy Hilfiger styled, full power 11-track record that proves their roots run deeper than the pockets of Mr. Abramovich; who recently hired out the band to play at his daughter’s 16th birthday. Spoilt little shit.

The LP opens to the ‘dramatic’ Jager Joga, which acts as a kind of bridge between the insane lyrics of their self titled debut and the prudent, distinguished ‘Donkey’.“We didn’t come into the world, to walk around/we came here, to take you out”.I see this track also as one of those ones where a band inevitably stops playing instruments and enacts an everlasting wall of clapping noise from the audience, and despite the now 60 years of modern music on this earth, people are still falling for its simple effectiveness. What happened to the good old “DAAAAYYYEEEOOOOOOO”, maybe someone should resurrect Freddie.

Moving onwards through the album it’s hard to decipher whether the band are drawing upon the old 80s New Wave influences of their past work or are trying to spunk on minimal electro with heavy symbols and one chord guitar solos.However, I do feel that with the departure of bass player Iracema Trevisan, the freeing up of Adriano on Bass has allowed the band to become a lot more masculine. The bridges are deeper and the vocals are clearer cut, but the lairy boldness is there to stay with third track ‘Reggae All Night’, sounding like Groove Armada had a fight with Erol Alkon over the BPM speeds and The Ghost Frequency spat blood on the lead pads. Lovefoxxx as ever taking the lead and riding like the nocturnal vixen she always has been.
The programming and Synths that I’ve heard from this album are at best the basics of a Minimoog or a £25 Toys ‘R’ Us X-Mas sales bargain, but it works and that’s what is important.The lyrical structure has somewhat changed, and there isn’t so much of a place for Adriano to lay his Drug Dealer features on backing, he just kind of mumbles it out, concentrating too hard on his bass.I kind of lost my way with ‘Give Up’, half way through the first, second and third listen I just skipped the second part of the track completely and went straight to the album’s signature single ‘Left Behind’, which last month was made available for FREE DOWNLOAD by the band via their website.What surprised me about this track was that it was written by Adriano, but maybe that’s justice. Lovefoxxx sounds very comfortably singing it, but it doesn’t have the sound or feel of typical CSS, it’s much more edgy, and it sparks fuller intent to make their new points heard.

Moving into the middle of the album, ‘Beautiful Song’ doesn’t really sound that different from the fourth track and the fifth, the drumming is the same, the leads are the same, and the vocals may carry a different message, but it comes over very flat and unoriginal. Sung by Jim Carey on behalf of Germany on Eurovision, it might get 12 points from Austria, but that’s about as far as it goes I’m Afraid.
‘How I Became Afraid’ is much better, the opening sounds like a cross between the Nightrider and Miami Vice themes, you can just sense from the first beat it’s going to make you smile, even if you have no idea why. It’s probably the poppiest song of the record, and the most fun. However, I’ve got to the seventh song of this record now, and nothing jumping out and shouting at me like ‘Patins’ or ‘Alala’ off of the debut.At this moment I’m starting to think that Adriano should have stayed on drums; the rhythm of the album is all over the place and it bears no conventions of a journey through 11 tracks, almost as if they’ve been chucked together, carefully but utterly pointlessly.If you’ve ever tried to play Operation with RSI then you’ll understand where I’m coming from: IT JUST DOESN’T WORK! On the other hand, I have to give them Kudos for naming an album Donkey, it doesn’t sound fetching at the best of times, but I bet it’s something funny to tell people when you’re drunk. “Yeah I wrote an album called Donkey... Eeeoreee”Despite this sudden barrage of criticism, ‘Move’ is one that is growing on me, Late of the Pier could easily fuck with this song and turn it into a dancefloor destroyer, but it’s much better left alone with is summery kicks and cheesy lyrics.“You better get your move on/all the good boys, will have gone”Lovefoxxx is clearly already missing the mishaps and filth of their previous work. Art Bitch will always be one of 2006’s disgusting examples of innocent pop, but I wouldn’t have had it either way.

I think the sheer disappointment can always be summarised in an album, when the last two tracks make you smile more than the first, giving you a false impression that the whole piece was brilliant.The penultimate song believe achieve is priceless, full of minimal electronica goodness and catchy bass lines is an improvement, but prominent fakery and the horniness of Lovefoxxx will always be welcome in this world.Closing off the album is surprisingly a very tasty evening supplement with ‘Air Painter’, maybe it’s an insight into the band’s direction for the third outing, if it gets here. Lovefoxxx still appears to be as full of life as ever, and although she’s produced a much more cautious record the second time round. However, with all the difficulties with the departure of Iracema and the bands manager, you can’t help but think this could be the last. I really hope not, as I’m a huge fan of their work and their live shows are possibly the closest thing to viewing porn in public for a small fee I’ve come across in this country. What... it’s true.

The band are embarking on a small UK Tour in October to play out the album in smaller venues than previously, although it won’t be soon before they return to the heights of Wembley Arena they managed last time around.

5/10

Glastonbury 2008: Review #2

Glastonbury 2008
Thursday 26th June

Awaking at a friends' house in Charlton Adam, a very small village just south of the Festival me and a mate Corin set off for the gate at 8am, eager to avoid the second rush of people to the festival.
Luckily I already knew some people who were working for Oxfam over the week so they'd saved us a space on Kidney Mead field, which is literally less than a 5 minute walk from the Pyramid, what a touch! Also more luckily we was at the top of a hill, so any rain that falls would run down the hill and not into my fucking tent!
After we'd pitched our tent by around 9 and made the second journey back to the car for beer and food we set off to explore the site at 10am. After around 20 miuntes or so, I really began to understand why this fesitval was so popular and why it has such a heritage and reputation. Being able to freely walk around the stages with my own beer is something that the Gatecrasher Weekender really lacks. Glastonbury is much more about the music and not digging deeper and deeper into your pocket!
We spent much of the day literally just walking around, soaking up as much of the festival fever as we could, I knew that I'd regret not doing things afterwards if I didn't.
We walked in and out of a few of the smaller stages that have music on for Thursday, but there wern't many bands that I've even heard of that were playing that day, the only thing i was waiting for was seeing The Rascals in leftfield at half 6.
I saw the band for the first time on the MTV Spanking New Music Tour supporting The Pigeon Detectives, and was blown away by their raw sound. Admitedly yes, everyone says they sound like the Monkeys and yes they do, but what would everyone have thought about them, had the Monkeys never existed. The bassist is amazing, his ability to turn a performance around with a few fine strums of his deep lobster pinching sound really gets the crowd going.
I watched many of the crowd warm to the band, but it wasn't until they launched into new single 'Freakbeat Phantom' did the party really start going and by the time they finished off with 'Is It Too Late?' the crowd were yearning for more. The real shame about that song, is its their best piece to date, yet it wasn't included in their album, and would have proved the perfect closer.

Sitting around the fire with the group of 6 we had in our little tent circle, sipping bear and burning anything we could find, I started to really feel the Glastonbury spirit come alive. The one thing that I noticed as I walked around on thursday was although people were in agony walking their bags to their tent site, and pitching their tent, once it was all done, not a single soul could do anything other than smile their arses off at about what waited them on Friday.

Glastonbury 2008: Review #1

Glastonbury 2008

Bang for Buck or Dead as the Dodo

Rain, Wellingtons and Ponchos are just some of the words that are usually thrown around when talking about Glastonbury. However, I think Great-Fucking-Music should be the phrase on the tip of everyone's tongue, especially when talking about this years' festival.
Now I can't speak from experience from previous years as I've never been to Glasto; although I can tell you now that the biggest festival in the world has now been cemented without question as the greatest festival the world has ever seen.

After a storming 2007 that although was graced with a debut headline performance from the one and only Arctic Monkeys, it was undboutedly over-shadowed by the terrible weather conditions and simply uncanny supply on mud on show. I think there were more bands on show than blades of grass by the end of it and people had to resort to paying tractors to tow their cars out of the mud; hardly fair is it.


I feel Michael and Emily Eavis have put last years' problems behind them and started a-fresh, which includes a 25% increase on the site size, now covering an area of just over 50 acres. I'm not even sure a Russian launched ICBM could have disrupted the organisation and dedication for this years' party that I witnessed during the five days I was there.
Eavis Snr has threw the cat amongst the pigeons and took Glastonbury back to its grass roots principals when he booked Jay-Z. Ok, Hip-Hop has never appeared in such a prominent way before, but the principal of Glastonbury has always been to offer the most diverse display of musical talent possible to the public. He could have played the safe bet that Reading and Leeds did this year by throwing huge American rock bands Rage Against The Machine, The Killers and Metallica into the limelight to secure a sell out crowd.

Glastonbury however, despite all the criticism and hype, managed to finally sell out every single ticket by Friday afternoon, I can safely say thats a big f-u to the haters.Enough is enough, throwing the hype and gossip aside that includes the whole 'Jay-Z' saga down the drain, I'll just say one thing before tomorrow's first proper review post kicks things off. It really was just 'a little bit' special.
Let the most controversial Glastonbury Festival of Contempory Arts, begin...

Up & Coming Artists #10: Letters From London

Letters From London
Jokes, Jeans & Tunes

Now first things first, this may come over as a bit of a biased post, because the lead singer of the band I used to go to school with. So you could targer me for a bit of selfless plugging, but that is far, far beyond the point.

Letters From London are a 4-piece indie band from Gravesend in Kent, that hail their influences from bands like The Libertines, Bob Dylan and everything and anything to do with Peter Doherty. However, don't let that turn your nan in her grave at the mere thought of another indie-pop skinny jean wearing scenesters.

Recently they appeared on Hew Stephens BBC Introducing show on Radio 1 as part of this years' Kent themed Radio 1 Big Weekend and the local band scene within the Garden of England. Their debut single 'Little Vagabond' was played on the show, and they've been shapped up to play on the Suburban Nights stage at this years' debut Zoo Thousand Festival, also happening in Kent.
And also NME featured Little Vagabond in their mag last years stating their 'Like The Metros, but miles, miles better."

The song itself is a urban parody of a certain so and so, that find himself surrounded by problems and anxioties, peer pressure and everything zany in the world, yet can't be drawn away from the mischiveous natures of teenage life.
"I never played football at school, I guess I wasn't cool", emancipating the indie scene of yesteryear at every chord change its hard to see past the Libertine cape, but when you do, other songs 'Sir Walters Sunday Lemons' and 'End of the World', hit you literally like the middle of a Lemon Sherbet.

If you're looking for a band with a refreshing look on the scene but with a quality and presense of some of today's bigger bands then look no further than these lot. With a few festival appearances during the summer for the lads and a support slot with Pete & The Pirates in August, the end of the year and early next year. If the popularity reins in strong then I could see a re-release of Little Vagabond.

Letters From London - Little Vagabond
Letters From London - Sir Walters Sunday Lemons

Album Review #6: The Fratellis

Something very important has happened as a result of my blogs here, I am now writing along with SiD and Mike over at SonicDice, and this is my first post on the site that appeared there last monday, so check it out HERE!

The Fratellis
Here We Stand

You’ve just risen to fame in an instant by becoming one of the biggest bands in the country (after selling one and a half million copies of your debut album worldwide) and you’ve just convinced almost everyone in your native country that Franz Ferdinand were just a phase (because suddenly your band is the best thing Scotland has to offer the world). What do you do?

You generally decide to follow it up with another joyous ride of catchy tracks less than two years later that will have people wrestling to scrape the last copy off the shelves, and then dig deep into their pockets to come and see you live and go broke buying your merchandise. It seems The Fratellis can do just that with a click of their fingers. At the turn of the year, there was nothing so much as a whistle in the wind from the Glasgow-based 3-piece, yet a few months on, and they’ve released a new single and, this week, a second album to follow up their double platinum debut. ‘Here We Stand’ is bursting with life and colour in every corner, yet even after the third listen it’s not charging at me like an angry bull at a Texas rodeo.

When the band released ‘Chelsea Dagger’ back in August 2006, following the release of the Arctic Monkeys’ debut, something incredible happened - British rock-n-roll was truly back with a bang. Not since the days of Oasis, The Verve and Blur have songs been cheered from the terraces of football grounds up and down the country. Britain was bursting from the seams with indie bands and it felt amazing to see those bands gracing the top of the charts once more.

However, what Jon Fratelli and Co. have learnt as a band in the last 20 or so months can only be explained by listening to new single ‘Mistress Mabel’ and album opener ‘My Friend John’. Certainly, they are unmistakably “Fratellis” but is there really anything new about them that we’ve not heard already? What was exciting about the Arctics’ second outing was that Turner had found something new and different to say; about the world and society and everything about the evolving music scene at the end of 2006. Changes were occurring, with bands like Klaxons, New Young Pony Club and CSS updating those 80s new wave/punk sounds with house/electronica beats (that was unfortunately labelled “nu-Rave” - oh, how we can sit back now and thank Klaxons’ manager and the press for that one).

What is impressive about this album, however, is how this band has dropped the cheeky pre-Wombat lyrics and got stuck in with some proper guitar music. ‘Jesus Stole My Baby’ is an epic western tragedy; the sort of song you might hear in the background as aliens from Mars invade 18th Century America - for some strange reason in my mind, it works.

Other treats include down-and-dirty ‘Tell Me A Lie’ which shows what the band may have learned about the world of music - “He’s a liar, he’s a liar, and a good one at that“. It’s the closest thing that this album comes to their it-was-never-a-single-track, ‘Creeping Up The Backstairs’. ‘Acid Jazz Singer’ passes by without much notice, but the real gem of this album is locked inside sub-six-minute track ‘Lupe Brown’ with its Clash-esque riffs and Doherty vocals. However, with the penultimate song, ‘Milk And Money’, I can’t help but think the journey has finished before it’s even begun as it tamely closes things off.

As a self-confessed indie maniac (2003-2007) I feel really let down by this record - it’s probably the first record out of my favourite British bands’ follow-ups recently that I’m genuinely disappointed with. I do have to give them credit however for trying out a variety of new sounds, but if you’re going to do that then the lyrical style should follow suit or you’re just shooting yourself in the foot. On the other hand, despite how much I’ve knocked this album, there is no question that it will sell like burgers and stars & stripes on Independence Day.

6/10

Up & Coming Artists #9: Laura Marling

Laura Marling
Pop Starlet

At the age of just 18 - bloody 7 months younger than me, which is actually fookin' scary - Laura Marling has been turning heads and warming the hearts of the nation for the past year. She regularly collaborates with indie/folk-rock band Noah and the Whale and frontman to the band Charlie Fink produced her debut album 'Alas, I Cannot Swim', which was released back in February this year as she turned 18 and it peaked in the UK charts at #45; she also appeared in Later With Jools Holland around that time too.
Her debut release EP 'London Town' was released back in April 2007 to critical acclaim, which was followed up by a number of small festival shows including a slot at the Underage Festival and the O2 Wireless Festival.
She then released the 'Manic & I' EP late last year, which was followed up by the release of her first standard single 'Ghosts' to accomodate the release of her debut album.
I find her musick really really uplifting, not in the same way as Kate Nash, her lyrics are more direct, more brash, whereas Laura prefers to delight her listeners with sweet melodies and the lightest fingers to a guitar I've heard for some time.
I saw her live last year, but when she collaborated with Noah & The Whale, so I've yet to experience her live aurora; even so I was so suprised at the range of her voice, that seemed to come out of such a young face. Laura has the potential to go really far in life. She reminds me of a female version of Paul Weller at the moment, it's almost as if shes lived a huge life already before shes embarked on this journey, and that's something you can never take away from her.

I urge you to give her at least one listen, and if it should be any song then it should be 'New Romantic' which appeared on her 'My Manic & I' EP but not on her album. You can find the song here or on her MySpace.

Late last year she was once refused entry to one of her own performances because she was underage, this was at the Soho Revue Bar; so she decided to play her set out in the street instead, to a massive crowd. She has an amazing confidence for a solo artist at the age she is and if her EPs are anything to go by, I'll be taking a swipe into HMV today to buy her album!

Up & Coming Artists #8: Lillica Libertine

Lillica Libertine
Dancefloor Destroyer

19 year-old Nottingham born Lillica Libertine aka Laurence Matthew Blake may not be the most conventional of filthy house artists out at the moment, but having just left school, he's quite rightly one of the hottest new electro acts in the country right now. His ability to resurrect fossilised dinosaurs buried several hundered miles beneath the earths surface with his pounding bass licks and cheeky synth bliss is only one of the reasons why he's been tearing up clubs up and down the country with his balls out electro/house anthems. A confessed UK and French House scene extrodinare, we may have just found the Daft Punk/Justice UK equivalent, and the best part is that he is only 19.
Libertine was recommended to me by fellow blogger SiD aka the Music Liberation genius and recently turned Radio One star.
Since then his tunes have been on constant repeat on my computer and recently I graced my student union during a DJ set of my own with his simply insane demo BritneySpears. Quite rightly SiD pointed out that it really doesn't sound anything like Miss Spears "unless you listen to it whilst pummelling her face in."
I'm assuming in a sexual kind of way, but that's just me.
He also seems to be quite an approchable character, and I can easily see a bigger indie label snapping him up from Place Blanche's grasp within the next year. However what's most important for Libertine at the moment is to try and score some late summer festival slots, he recently played at Brighton's Great Escape, but he's not on the bill for any of the major summer festivals. Although he is embarking on a short Australian Tour early-middle september that will hopefully branch out his listeners rather than fragment them too far. Most importantly he's got a live session with Radio One sorted that will surely finally give him the exposure he truely deserves!

What was exciting about Justice when they started out, was their exposure remained rather underground, until D.A.N.C.E ripped through the mainstream like David Cameron through red lights.
I'm hopefully going to be scoring a ticket for his support slot with Partyshank at the Camden Barfly in a couple of weeks, but for now really do check out his tunes!

SiD has posted up a few tunes (Drug Control, Diamonds and his recent first single Manhunt) that you should be able to download until this weekend so head over there.
Also head over to his MySpace; it's so well set out that the first time I visited the site, I felt a wet patch in my pants!

Here's his best work to date: BritneySpears

Storming The Charts #7: The Ting Tings

The Ting Tings
That's Not My Name

May 2007 brought about the first single release of little known Manchester duo The Ting Tings, Who with the help of Radio 1 and NME have just re-released the single after signing a major record deal with Sony BMG, which is sure to be a hot contender for the No. 1 spot this sunday.

With perhaps exceptions of The Enemy, not since late 2005 - when the Arctic Monkeys released 'I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor' - have I been this excited about a song I know being released into the UK charts. With the first release (a 500-copy limited release) now fetching prices of over £100 on eBay, The Ting Tings are quite literally one of the hottest new talents in the country at the moment.

They're music is not something that I usually warm to, but after I discovered their persona this time last year and after I started writing this blog back in January, I wrote a post about them because I was convinced they could be something massive. Admitedly, I wrote the post due to the face they were one of NME's big 10 this year, but I did not think that they could be a serious contender for a No. 1 single. Maybe top 5, but battling with the wrath of Rhianna after last years complete domination of the top spot is surely beyond them.

The song itself 'That's Not My Name' is a social critique about a young girl that band frontwoman Katie White used to go to school with called Stacey Pike. All the other girls in Katie's class used to call her Stacey Pike, simple because their names are similar and Katie would say: "but, that's not my name", hench the title of the song.

Tom Clarke once said that music reviewers constantly try to discover the meaning of lyrics are wasting their time. "I mean if you wake up really hungry and then decide you're gonna write a song that minute, chances are its gonna involve bacon... Rory Walker philosophy... say what you see, he had it right all those years ago."

Therefore it's just a catchy song, a fucking good catchy song to note, but just a catchy indie-pop song with no more intellect or energy behind it than a dosey poem for valentines day.

If the song reaches No. 1, it'll be a triumphant day for British music, in that people have gone out and bought a genuinely good song but a new and upcoming artist that wasn't written in a luxary 5 million pound recording studio by someone hired to write it, it was written by the artist themself, in probably Katie's bedroom. It's a well known fact that Richard Archer wrote Living For The Weekend in his bedroom he was brought up in, in his family home in Staines.

Five Songs You Must Hear... #9

I thought seeing as I'm about to attend the Gatecrasher Weekender Festival this coming weekend, I'd grace you with some dance tracks from artists featuring at the festival that simply cannot be ignored!

#1: The Prodigy - Voodoo People
The Saturday headliners are literally the kings of the Big-Beat genre worldwide will certainly be one of the main highlights of the weekend for many people. 'Voodoo People' is a track simply dripping with orgasm infused nuclear bombs, that is one of the bands most prominent songs.

#2: Chemical Brothers - Star Guitar

The highlight of this festival for me for sure. The Chemical Brothers in the wake of the 5th consecutive No.1 album have gripped me since a young age of 7 when they first dropped 'Setting Sun' unto the world. However, this is their finest piece; the continuity of this track is epic.


#3: Paul Van Dyk - Crush

At 36 years old his prime may have already passed, but that won't stop the thousands of people flocking to the Gatecrasher Arena to witness his dynamite fingers conjure up musical magic. I've got my whistle, horn and glow sticks packed already and I don't leave until saturday morning!

#4: Paul Oakenfold (Planet Perfecto) - Bullet In The Gun


Possibly one of the biggest techno anthems of the past 20 years, I can't wait to be blitzed out of my skull at around 1AM surrounded by a crowd flying as high as Concorde. If their isn't "a fire in your heart" you simply don't belong at the Gatecrasher Festival



#5: Armand Van Helden - U Don't Know Me


Finishing on a slightly cheesy note, Mr. Van Helden has been spicing up clubs worldwide for years, and although I've not chosen his more known single 'My My My' this track which features vocals from Duane Harden reached No.1 in the UK back in 1999.

Up & Coming Artists #6: David E. Sugar

David E. Sugar
The 8-bit Gameboy Master

It seems that with all this 8-bit music that's been spreading over the past few years that's been living in the shadow of electro until this year has been rather mis-lead by the media to consumers, and the pioneers of the genre - in modern terms being Crystal Castles - were not strickly the first ones to start experimenting with this prehistoric technology.
A Little known man to most of you in the UK, David E. Sugar is a very familiar face on the European electronic scene whose bit-boy sequencers with overlayed instruments has been turning heads this year, after a hugely successful tour with chart topper Calvin Harris in 2007.
The master-of-pacman-ceremonies was also kindly invited on a Kitsune! Tour of Europe and supported Hadouken! at their NME Awards Tour show 2008 @ Koko, where I first heard his graceful bit-pop madness.

In an interview with the BBC, David commented on how he coined his unique style of electro-pop to his own tastes. Recently he's been driven away from the whole 8-bit raw sounds and prefers to filter sounds when playing live to make them sounds as distant from the 80s as possible. He may not have the prowess of Hearts Revolution or the worldwide scope of Crystal Castles, or even the tunage of electro masters Justice, but his solo efforts are a refreshing change from all these sprouting duos around at the moment; and he even sounds better live than the flat Hot Chip.

If he's not around Europe laying his beats, then he can usually be found in and around London, playing smaller gigs to enravage the stop-out youth of today. Be sure to check out his best work to date, Chelsea Girls on his myspace.

Storming The Charts #6: Cardiff City FC

Cardiff City FC & James Fox
Blue Birds Flying High

Now as far as Football anthems go, and as a piece of music this is pretty shit to say the least, and hiring out James Fox (ex Brit entry for Eurovision) to sing it, then your pretty much asking to be laughed at by the whole of England.

However it seems that this cheesy piano leading track might just land the singer his second top 20 single of his 'career'. The song 'Bluebirds Flying High' is a poppy footie song that plays heavily on the glory days of 1927, when Cardiff City last won the FA Cup and as I found out to much discust, Arsenal, the love of my life, were the team responsible for the only time that the FA Cup has left the boundaries of England. hmmmm.... so you can see this post is already shaping up to be an epic fail, emotionally and professionally.

However, with the bookies halving the odds to 5/2 for this track to be crowned No.1 on Sunday, It's pretty damn amazing that the biggest team in Wales may have done something that even Coldplay have yet to manage. God Have Mercy Upon The City of Cardiff.... should it happen!

Five Songs You Must Hear... #8

This week I'm going with a bit of Drum & Bass/Garage feel with some new and old tunes that simply cannot be left untouched by your iPod!

#1: DJ Pied Piper - Do You Really Like It


Simply one of the best examples of the underground scene in the early 2000s exploding onto the mainstream. This track was simply massive when it was released in the summer of 2001, starting out in London clubs and then topping the charts selling almost 150,000 copies in a week.




#2: Shy-FX & T Power - Shake Your Body


Possibly one of the most important releases of the UK Garage movement. After the So Solid Crew invasion of the charts and the impending arrests of some of the members, this song proved an important point that the scene was also about making great tunes.




#3: Dillinja & MC Skibadee - Twist Em' Out


Moving into 2003, a new wave of Hip-Hop and RnB began to shoot from over the pond and this track made only a small quake on the charts but its influence upon artists like Noisia and Roni Size is still very much prevalent in the current scene.





#4: TC - Pornstar

Although hailed as the mans 'worst song to date' there is no question about how filthy sounding this track is. From the moment the nuclear powered gyrating bassline kicks in, you are helpless and are forced to begin dancing like a hamster on LSD and Meth.




#5: Burial - Endorphin


This track hails from the mystery Dub-Step producer's second studio album, and it may not strike a bullet through your heart, but in a nutshell its a timeless urban classic that at under three minutes makes you hit replay in about 0.000001 seconds.

Album Review #6: Pendulum

Pendulum
In Silico

Without a doubt one of the hottest DnB producers in the world of the moment, Pendulum are re-defining a genre and totally transforming its global importance from its underground roots to their newly top 10 chart single 'Propane Nightmares'.
When the six-piece declared last year that they would be reinventing themselves after only their first album, with a view to playing with live guitars on stage, it wasn't unexpected they would receive some criticism from DnB's biggest fans. However, what's even more surprising is how far and wide their scope as a band is becoming. If their 2005 head busting single 'Slam' was anything to go by then last year's standalone single 'Blood Sugar' was a pure cementing of intent from the Aussie born UK based superstars.
As one of this year's most anticipated new releases, second album 'In Silico' has been receiving some negative criticism for it's electronica based synths on DnB beats and live drums, but I tell you what; its fucking fantastic.

Signaling intent from the absolute outset frontman Rob Swire unleashes a tornado of big beat synths laid to 170bpm DnB beats that screams with all the malicious bloody intent that the cold war very almost lived up to. "Well it's been such a long time coming/I thought you'd understand". followed by a few minutes of pleasure and pain to my ears comes the burning apifany "here we go again...". Pendulum are back with a bang, they're the sound track to your weekend interracial-orgy house party and they couldn't give a fuck.
It's when flowing through second track Different that you really notice a different in sound, presense and message.

The members of the band once used to be in metal bands in their early youths but changed their roots when earning $150 for a gig became the shitty norm and they decided to branch out into Australia's small but exclusive DnB scene.
Formulating a sound that they found to be enjoyable as well as profitable, they sold a quarter of a million copies of debut record Hold Your Colour, and relocated to the DnB heartland of the UK.
However, I can't help but think other influences such as The Prodigy, Chemical Brothers, Fat Boy Slim and Klaxons have moulded the bands new electric ridden sound. Not since the heyday The Prodigy and the outrageously delicious get-off-your-tits Music for the Jilted Generation.

New single Propane Nightmares could well be Pendulum's Firestarter, its brash, its bold, and it fucking rocks. An entire generation of indie kids, has been spawned into existance by the Arctics moulded by Klaxons, beefed up by Muse and then totally transformed into the 2000s wasted youth by Pendulum. "I just wonder what we've gotten our selves into."

Filtering out into the next phase of the album, comes heavier bass driven thunderbolts of electronica and electro, mostly instrumental, but instantly approachable. Almost acting like a chilled sanctuary of ear bashing noise between the epic beats of Rancid and soul destroying Jerk.
However, dipping further into this album there are certainly moments of pure experimentation with the 7 minute Midnight Runner and DnB Regge infused The Other Side; the other of what you may ask, my arse or Jacobs technicoloured rainbow-coat?
The closest thing that some of these is probably LA electronica duo Crystal Method, whos break/big-big club anthems and bassline ridden tracks Bound Too Long, Starting Over, True Grit and Weapons of Mass Distortion from 2004s third record Legion of Boom are still making ripples through the American rave scene now.

Moving to the close of the album, 2007 Single Granite although being the ninth track on the album, carries the most clout and its message couldn't be clearer than Peter North's penis through a telescope! "I know you really try to understand/but this is a new way!"
Like an erupting volcano of spitting molten lava and mushroom ash clouds, Pendulum's rumbling bassline is cutting through the mainstream as quickly as The Sex Pistols ferocious eruption from the mainstream back in 1976.
The album does end on a real sweet note, and your left yearning for more like the Tellytubbies after a day at the seaside!

Far from the day of their DnB roots and signatures tracks Voyager and Toxic Shock, however they are branching out into a whole new kind of dance/rock that will surely place a big influence on many new bands emerging at the moment such as The Cool Kids.
I wouldn't say this album is better than the original, for saying that would mean that I would understate one of the best DnB releases ever! and for that I feel my life would be in danger!

7/10

Up & Coming Artists #5: White Lies

White Lies

The New Editors or Radiohead Evolved

White Lies are already one of this years hottest tipped underground bands, despite only sporting two of their tracks on their MySpace page. The three-piece including session keyboardist from London only made their Live debut late last year, but were quickly snapped up by NME to play on their New Noise Tour 08' over the beginning of May and they're playing at the Astoria 2 on Wednesday that I'm fortunate enough to have tickets to, so expect a gig review on Saturday. This is also the perfect opportunity for me to explore their influences, style, rhythm, tone and all the other things that music reviewers usually do before they go to see a band live. I think. Okay granted NME have grasped them into their sphere of hype for this coming year, but the same was true for the Arctics and look where they are now!

There is something darkly exciting about this band, they're don't fuck around with music, and they aren't out to change your lives, shit around with your head , bust your pocked or for a matter of fact, put out a political statement. White Lies sing songs about the way things are, and the thing is, they don't care how thing are in the world, they've accepted it, gotten on with it and created some of the most original music this year in debut single 'Unfinished Business'. I think their personalities shine through in their music, and maybe that's the reason they've only posted two songs on the net. They feel they just want you to hear a snippet of the band, so that it draws you to go and see them and ultimately won't destroy the originality in their live performances. They also don't want you to learn the song word for word and scream them back at you, they just want you to shut the fuck up, open your ears and listen to some music for a change.
Although White Lies wouldn't like you to just stand still like a lemon while listening to it, they're upbeat new wave will still make you want to dance in a crowd of sweatiness, once you know the words of course; glowsticks not allowed. Their other song 'Death' was played out on 'Later With Jools Holland' recently to a well received crowd, and the appearance has done them the world of good. They're also on the bill for a host of festivals including: T in the Park, Oxegen, Latitude, Lovebox, Figi Rock and Field Day before embarking on a UK Tour that culminates in a very intimate show at the London ICA, that sadly has already sold out!
Ebay it will have to be for me then!

Storming The Charts #5: Pendulum

Pendulum
Propane Nightmares

The second phase of DnB/Rock band Pendulum is about to be launched into our lives. The first album release since their catastrophic explosion onto the world scene in 2005 is their second studio album 'In Silico' which translates to 'performed on or via computer simulation'. Not exactly an exotic title, but seeing how Dance music has invaded our lives over the past 18 months, it seems quite fitting.

The second single of this second album is titled 'Propane Nightmares', which is quite possibly the most powerful display of electronica technophobia, psychadelic riffs and neurotoxin drums conveyed by sound ever concieved by man. If the Greek god Zeus, was ever to participate in WWE this would be his soundtrack.

Darker than 'Blood Sugar', fresher and louder than 'Slam'; Propane Nightmares is quite literally an atomic bomb to your ears. The first time I heard that pulsating, yet harmonic chorus beat, I whacked my speakers up to full power and I had the porters lodge man at university come up and tell me to turn it down because 10 people who had assignment hand-ins the next day had complained about the noise.

It recieved countless radio play from Zane Lowe on Radio 1 and the music video on YouTube is fast approaching 250,000 views. It was released on April 21st and quickly rose up the charts. However, it wasn't until recently (June 2nd) that the song entered the Top 10 and claimed a whole new listenership and scope for the Perth originated band. The song may not have the dyanamic unique sound that 'Slam' has, but its surely one of this years biggest releases, and I can't wait to see the band at the upcoming Gatecrasher Weekender.

Five Songs You Must Hear... #7

This week I've been digging deep into my dads old LPs and CDs, and his old disco/soul/reggae classics and I've targeted five tracks that for the love of god cannot be ignored. These tracks define the genre they are placed in, and left an enormous influence on artists post-release for years.


#1: Bob Marley - No Woman, No Cry


Surely everyone knows this track anyway, however it's definitely the masters' best known song, and one of the most purely written songs of all time. It can brighten up the darkest of days, and it may well be one of Will Smith's favourite songs, unless that's just because it was a film.


#2: Madness - Baggy Trousers

If you're just about to start university and you want to DJ or your already do DJ at you're student union, lets say the nights a bit flat and no body seems to want to dance, just shove this song on. It really is mod madness, and it'll have those filthy freshers week stopouts dancing like crazy gypsies on meth!


#3: Wham! - Club Tropicana


Released way back in 1983, it's still to this day one of the most popular songs produced by the duo. Of course theres something very camp about this song, which may have something to do with it's high chart position in Norway. Now that I've just pissed off an entire nation, lets move on!


#4: Tom Jones - She's A Lady


This post has bordered insanity, cheese and just down right wrong, but this track could not fail to pick u up off your feet. The only problem is, its the perfect track these days for some kind of tampon or thrush advert for women. Its not nice to watch and it just ruins a classic.


#5: Billy Paul - Me & Mrs. Jones


Possibly one of the greatest songs of all time. Released in 1972 it topped the US Billboards for 3 weeks and since then it's been covered by a number of artists, including when Freddie Jackson released it again in 1992. A powerful balled about primarily an affair, so seedy but yet so epic.

Album Review #5: Hadouken!

Hadouken!
Music For An Accelerated Culture

It is widely accepted these days that if you’ve never heard of Hadouken!, then you really need to get a life! Exploding onto the music scene in late 2006 the bands unique sound completely revolutionised the indie/grime scene.
The original, four, but now five piece set-up from Leeds and London are most famous for their debut 7” ‘That Boy That Girl’ that was released early last year and limited to just 500 copies on the band’s own label Surface Noise. The track was coined an Internet Phenomenon, with the band gaining a huge nationwide fan-base as a result of ‘The MySpace Generation’. It was soon followed up by Top 40 hit ‘Liquid Lives’.
They toured the UK over the summer and autumn of 2007 and released their first EP ‘Not Here To Please You’ in November of last year, which was the first extended play or album in history to be released as a USB.
After the digital-only release of track ‘Leap of Faith’ at the same time as the EP, the band struggled to continue with their identity. With album opener ‘Get Smashed Gate Crash’ they have gone back to producing tracks like ‘That Boy That Girl’, where the band feel the rawness in their sound was what made them exciting in the first place.
Their debut studio album ‘Music For An Accelerated Culture, to be released in a few weeks (May 5th).

Review

Track #1: Get Smashed Gate Crash
Building up a tense and explosive opening James Smith explodes into an exchanted chasm of heart rendering electronic nuclear bombs. "Lets get this party started" exclaims the limey indie grimster. At this point, my palms begin to get sweaty and my pulse races to this contageous infection of electronica.
Get Smashed Gate Crash was released as a 10" vinyl last month and saw Hadouken! fly back to their roots after an experimental EP in 'Leap of Faith' last november.

Track #2: That Boy That Girl
Epic and classic Hadouken! the post Klaxon 2007 hit maybe a little old in new music terms, but to leave this track out of their debut album would be a crime against humanity to say the least.
The hoxton-heros and indie-cindy's of the UK might be filtering out into new spectrums of weirdness this year, but this is still one quality tune.

Track #3: Gameover
The first new track from the band that I've heard as a result of this album, and its clearly not as good as Liquid Lives, but think Bounce with the swagger of Superstar.
The beat is old skool big-beat and the vocals catchy, it rounds off a deafening opening... I might need to turn it down a tad as my flatmates are starting to moan though!

Track #4: Declaration of War
The new single sees the first release of a slow H! song, well slow to some respect. The verses are faster than the chorus which is odd, but works well. On some parts of the song, the keyboard riffs have been nicked from Bounce and cut on the speed a bit, but they really add depth to the sound. The bass is shattering on this track, I think it's James & Co's first attempt at a real pop song, and the media have really picked up on the poppyness, which is a shame, because I think its a great song.

Track #5: Mr Misfortune
Possibly the closest song on the album to 'That Boy That Girl' B Side 'Tuning In'. "Don't Be Down in the Dumps" James opens to the darkness of H!, fusing a bit of grime and garage with break-beat goodness. The lyrics are class and it placing on the album splits up the old skool H! with the new songs they've recorded over the past few months.

Track #6: Crank It Up
Just when you think they might be letting up on the tunage, they drop a H!-Bomb!
Crank It Up is this albums answer to the current state of the music industry. Its cheesy lyrics are really remeniscent of yet again, Bounce, but with an insane beat that pumps up the album bigger than a pornstars 'special' lips!

Track #7: What She Did
H!'s attempt at some Dub-Step and some Acid-House beats. This album really is getting better and better with every listen. I can't understand how NME have slated the album and given it a 6/10, its far greater than that!
What She Did is brain churning electronica, and you can really see the influences of Kernkraft, Prodigy and Crystal Method coming through into certain parts of this track. There is no mercy for anyone listening to this album, it's not possible for anyone to arise from the ashes of Music For An Accelerated Culture the same person prior to it.

Track #8: Driving Nowhere
Possibly an opening gig track, Driving Nowhere is the experimental song of the collection. The sort of song you write, frustrated and stressed with song writing, as evident with the Biffy Clyro esc beats on 2:37 onwards. I think this track suggests the spectrum of sound that the band can cover, this track is short and to the point. H! want to let people know the time spent since their first single release early last year wasnt spent didding about clubbing and getting pissed, they are on a mission that they want to finish, and finish well.

Track #9: Liquid Lives
Drink! Smoke! Fuck! Fight! Ok, maybe some of the time was spent getting rather a bit too pissed, but it's what the band are all about, not standing around at gigs 'apreciating music' as the old-folk like to call it, but getting off your tits and making some darn loud noise!
Always will be my favourite track from H! the message is timeless and it will stand the test of the time as one of the lyrics of this decade, if there is anythng to remember this weird decade by?

Track #10: Spend Your Life
A social mockery song, finally something to do with a wee bit of politics. I'd thought James wasn't capable of writing such a song until I interviewed him with my podcast (http://www.earstotheskies.com) just a couple of weeks ago. That's when I found out for myself that he isn't just a rock star, hes actually a pretty intelligent so n so, who knows exactly what is going on in the world, and don't flamin' like it.

Track #11: What For You
This song almost acts like the morning after pill, or some nurofen after a night on the town. It seems to clense all the nastiness and filth from a night out at a H! gig. The album closes on a downer, but you can't really notice it after the previous 10 track rape of your entire body

Verdict

If there are any problems that I've got with the album, then I would tell you; but I don't. It's not perfect in a sense that, it's going to leave you feeling as if you will never hear a better constructed and written album EVER; but to be honest for me, there's nothing wrong with it. It's got all the ingredients of Hadouken! and with the band exploring a more electronica sound rather than sticking to the 'nu-rave' tag they seemed to have developed out of choice of other critics.
There's a lot of indie/electroness out there at the moment, Does It Offend You, Yeah?/Justice/The Whip/Kissy Sell Out/Simian/Late of the Pier, however, for me Hadouken! are the band that started it all. Obviously not started it all, we'll leave that down to the good old Minimoog and Yamaha YX-7, but they seem to have inspired a lot of top new bands that were born around the same time post-Klaxons to explore a more electronica based sound, reminiscent of the 90s LA Scene and everything that goes with Prodigy and Crystal Method. If Hadouken! could produce a second album anything near to the par in a conventional-band sense of 'Music for the Jilted Generated' or 'Vegas', then fuckin' bring it on!

9/10

Up & Coming Artists #4: Health

Health
Opposites Attract = Epic Win

Four piece experimental noise rock band Health are from Los Angeles, home of the 'rich and famous' and also all things gloriously fake in this world. The destination of promise and prosperity, where anyone can become famous for 30 seconds.
However, it seems this falic reality has not rubbed off on these guys.
Health are most known for their collaboration with Crystal Castles, where the two bands remixed Health's track 'Crimewave' for CC's debut album, which debuted at #9 on the UK indie singles chart.
The band have already released their self titled debut album back in September 2007, that received an 8/10 from NME and Drowned in Sound.
Looking at the band collectively, they look like an odd bunch. Grown up math/emo rockers with a dance kick to their inspiration and a hunger to really fuck people up with their experimental goodness. I suppose you could sum up Noise Rock as just American bands who try to be Pendulum, but without the whole DnB take on things. Except I don't think Health really are Noise Rock, they're something completely new; well obviously there have to be some bands out there that sound a bit like them, but I've never heard a band for a while with such a diverse sound. Like an indie version of Reuben, but with a bit more swagger.

The opening track to their album 'Heaven' is 2:37 of pure instrumental goodness, that only actually starts at around 0:17. At first I thought there was something wrong with my speakers, so I decided it would be a good idea to turn them up full blast and click in the middle of the song, at which point my dad yelled up the stairs: "Turn that fucking shit OFF!". Nice to know my father can talk to me civily sometimes.
The real gem in their sound can be found in 'Triceratops', it sound like Muse gone goth, only that Matt Belamy have developed a speech impediment. I can sense influences of The Strokes, Foo Fighters and Gun 'n' Roses in their music, but also less well known synthony rockers Earth, that specialise in songs that last for decades.
I really think that at the end of listening to their album, I've aged about 10 years, but also remarkably I'm now 50 years wiser!
Health is a band that laughs in the face of stereotypes, they break all the rules of conventional dance/punk and re-write the rulebook in track 'Courtship', only to blow it up with a heatseeking RPG from 100 miles away on track 'Tabloid Sores'.
They literally are the experimental rock version of Crystal Castles. They make you feel nauceous and overpowered, like staring at a strobe light for more than a minute. Although, they also astound you and blow you away with every strum and every bang. Tracks to look out for on their album are 'Triceratops', 'Glitter Pills' and 'Perfect Skin'.
They are quite simply, An Epic Win!

Storming The Charts #4: Wiley

Wiley
Wearing My Rolex

Undoubtedly one of the hardest working rappers in the UK Grime scene over the past four years, Wiley has established himself as one of the most important Urban acts in the country; however, don't tell Dizzee that.
Born in 1979, the Trinidadian originated Londoner was born into a poor family in the East-end of the Capital. Despite this he has become one of the biggest UK Garage producer's and MC's with his solo work, and with his work in UK act Roll Deep. He's also been album nominated for a MOBO Award.
With two albums on the way this year alone and two clothing ranges selling strongly on the high street, Wiley is setting the bar higher and higher each year for fellow Grime producers.
Although his last outing on the charts 'Pies' only reached #45, his most recent hit 'Wearing My Rolex' is a thunderous bassline energised dancefloor vapouriser.
From the very first beat, you can tell just how massive this tune is; it comprises conventions of both the Grime scene and the 06/07 European House Scene that came about in the mainstream via releases from Bodyrox and David Guetta.
The single is due to be Released on Monday on CD and 12", yet via it's downloads on iTunes, it's already flying in the top 5 thanks to it's constant airplay on Radio One via Zane Lowe and Annie Mac, and from various DJs on fellow BBC Station 1Xtra.
I'm really looking forward to his upcoming album Grime Wave that features collaborations with MC's Frisco, Flo Dan and Brazen.
Although it's been debated in the press that the album will be released as a Mixtape only, similar to 2006's 'Da 2nd Phaze' and that the other album that's scheduled to be released in September this year titled 'The Race Against Time' will be Wiley's next official studio album.
Whatever the hype and whatever the real rumours are, its surely going to be the biggest year yet for the East London man, and I wish him all the best.

Five Songs You Must Hear... #6

Time to take a look at a juicy feast of new tracks from the ever emering new indie/disco/electro scene in the UK this year; featuring tracks from some of the biggest new breaking acts in the country that have still yet to be really recognised by the industry for their efforts.

#1: Partyshank - Penis Vs. Vagina

Massive new tune that's even been included in a set by Justice, yet the Grime/Indie duo from London have still be to snapped up by any record label to date. This track comprises of dark bass and powerful vocals, yet a cheeky foreground that's instantly danceable whilst still being accessible.



#2 The Glamour Manifesto - Digital Behaviour

Big, Powerful percussion, guitars and high pitch filthy synths all with a similar voice of fall out boy in this track. Although, the lack of tunage on their myspace is clearly going to have an effect on building their fanbase.

#3: Glamour For Better - Shape

The four-piece indie/electro band from Reading have already also signed upto Ear Candy. This tune is sharp and full of electronica influences, yet they shape things up with near screamo vocals, that at times beings their sound down.


#4: Tapedeck - Destiny


This track reminds me of early Basement Jaxx, an 80s beat and sweet rhythm is cheesy and ever similar to Room 5's cover of Make Luv, but it works well. They class themselves as Screamo on MySpace, but I've yet to be enlightended on this claim. It sounds more like Jamiroquai gone indie. Something that will either explode with juiceness or produce an epic fail!


#5: Queens of Noize - Kiss With A Fit

Similarities in voice of this duo already spring up Robots in Disguise, and at first I thought it might be a side project of the duo. They are about to appear on BBC 6music with Partyshank and they're going to appear in the June issue of Vogue, at this stage any exposure is usually welcome.