Monday 25 February 2008

"Could someone tell me what SHITGAZE is?"

I'm sooooooooooooooo pissed off with the current state of my blog at the moment! For some reason, the side elements are now at the bottom of the blog, and no matter what I try I can't seem to reverse this!

If anyone has any suggestions please leave a comment on this blog!

This blog is going to be a lot sharper and shorter after the last one, because if I ever write that much again, I’m likely to have a panic attack. I was slightly behind on keeping my blogs up to date on Monday mornings and I don't want to slip into a funny old routine, so this has only been posted a few days after the last one. Also as it's coming to the end of the month, I need to start focus on getting my February playlist sorted, which should be up on either Wednesday or Thursday of this week.
Next month I'm going to really challenge myself with blogs, and instead of bombarding your minds with new music all the time, I’m going to give you some old music as well. As a mid-week supplement I'll suggest five songs for you to go away and listen to, that I think require some particular attention. Some of these songs you may already know, but not necessarily remember the artist or the name of the song. I hate it when that happens you hear a song you haven't heard in ages, yet don't know the name of it!
Each song, I will have grown up listening to at some point, and some I may just find randomly during the week, that I didn't know before, but do quite enjoy. Now on with the whole problem with this new emerging genre!

Times New Vikings/Psychedelic Horseshit
Music for Deaf People!


A few weeks ago, the NME featured a new emerging genre coming out of the mid-western United States, and for some reason went for it as a great addition to their Radar section.
I'm not going to disagree with any of the comments given by the reviewer of the scene, just simply give my opinion on the music.


First up is Times New Vikings. A three piece 'lo-fi indie rock band' whatever that means, consisting of two boys on Drums and Guitar, and one girl on Keyboards and the Drummer and Keyboardist on vocals. Already they've got things wrong; I mean how a photographer can get decent pictures of a band whose vocalists are hidden behind mahoosive drum kits and keyboards. Typical Americans! The music is so hard to connect to its unbelievable; just imagine three people on stage smacking their instruments with sticks, with some added echo and amplifying and you pretty much have them down to a tee. I never thought I would find the courage to disgrace a complete scene of music, but shitgaze really is abysmal.
Another of these silhouettes of shite is 'Psychedelic Horseshit', I mean seriously which member of the band was drunk when that name was conjured up.
'New Wave Hippies' sounds like a toddler playing with something that has thousands of buttons. The guitars are scratchy, and deliberately out of tune. It's almost as if this band has gone out of its way to completely undermine every musical convention every proposed. This band is either a load of idiots on speed who suddenly thought they could play music while tripping, and sounds like a very massive pile of utter drunken shit, or it's just some very clever chimpanzee's who've evolved and suddenly realise they 'might' be able to play some music. In one song, 'Bad Vibrations' the vocalist literally says over and over again 'ahhoooowaaaooo oooo oooo oooooooo'.
I've actually given up on summing up this utterly pointless way of life. I would rather shave all of the hair off on my body and commit myself to a life of celibacy and become a neo-Nazi.
My flat mate has put this review out of its misery and very kindly summed up this entire music scene in two words, 'utter bollocks'.

Track of the Week
REM - Supernatural Superserious


After that utter mindfuck of songs, my brain needs some nurturing and appreciation for finely tuned, well-balanced balls out anthem!
The brand new single from the upcoming REM album 'Accelerate' that was released this Monday, and I think it's one of their best works for a long time. It echoes with perfection and mirrors their all time greatest song 'Everybody Hurts', only this song has more of a kick to it, because remember it's 'Superserious'. No really in all seriousnesslessnessness, this is a great track, worthy of a top #5 spot in my opinion. If you're looking for a song where you can lay back, put your feet up, close your eyes and feel every beat and every note pulsating through your skull, then this is for you!
Bloody hell, that sounded like some kind of chocolate bar advert!


Video of the Week
Late of the Pier - The Bears are Coming




I saw Late of the Pier live once last year, when they supported Hadouken! on their UK Tour at the Astoria. I got cramp in both legs about 400 times; spent 3 hours solid, jumping around like a tit face; eating glow sticks and having 15 year old ratty school kids asking me for pills and if they could give me head just to get one!
Fast forward 4 months and they've created the weirdest video known to man and aliens alike. I would get down on my knees and kiss the filthy shoes of the designer of those saucy robes any day of the week!
If you're looking to be psychologically traumatised whilst fighting the urge to masturbate in public then this is the song for you!

Thursday 21 February 2008

"Our Liquid Lives... This is How We All Survive"

This is a blog I've been wanting to write for a long time, but i wanted to wait for the right moment! I've left this blog a couple of days longer than I wanted to, simply because I could not of wrote it during the weekend.
On Monday (Feb 18th) I went to see Hadouken! at the Camden Koko, London, as part of the NME Awards Tour shows. A night of bruised ribs, one crushed toe nail, a very good night on the town, a random trip to Enfield, a long train journey back home to university and two full days of recovery later, I've decided to now sit down at 5:25am on Thursday (Feb 21st), to write about it!

First and foremost I will do a short gig review and just about the crazy, surreal night that ensued after the gig, then I will do a review of the band as a whole, that doesn't include my physical pleasure and pain, but more my emotional and psychological exctacy for one band that has been running for almost a year now.

I left the jolly town of Farnham after a short trip to Sainsbury's with my course mate Mike (whose blog is in my cool blogs, I urge you to check it out, his music taste is very different from mine, but his content is just as exciting, and his take on bands explores a much larger range of musical tastes, beliefs and religion. I urge you to give him a read!), to stock up on chocolate and sweets to acompany my Magners for the train journey up to Camden. The journey itself was not anything too special, I shared a train to woking with some other course mates and compared funny stories in the papers, but from then on, it was me mainly listening to my iPod and munching on Sainsbury's double chocolate cookies and downing cider. However, upon the train pulling up into Clapham Junction (supposedly Britain's Busiest Railway Station! MY ARSE! If anyone has ever been a part of a Waterloo Station Rushhour, then you know what I'm talking about) the most wonderful sight bestowed my eyes. The most perfect example of the visual spectrum of light was projected onto dusk sky, looking out to the east of London, there was the most beautiful glowing red sky that made me take my earphones out just to apriciate it anymore. If anyone was at Clapham Junction at around 5:50pm on Monday 18th February, or walking across Vauxhall Bridge at the time, you will know what I am talking about. Anyway back to the story.
I got the tube as usual, Northern Line to Mornington Crescent, took a piss in the pub across the road, and made my way to the line for the gig, got inside and got a bit bored at the girl I was due to meet (a friend from Primary school I had not seen for almost 8 years had only just left Epsom) was not there yet, so I made my way to the front of the crowd to see the only act I bothered to see besides Hadouken! David E Sugar is a slightly funny man, with a taste for weirdly long fringes that have no point whatsoever, I think i got his set list, but I couldn't get any of the names of his songs from the groaning he put on thru the mic. Also before I go any further has one else noticed that in the last few months, roadies have resulted to groaning into mics for soundchecking. Finally, they've realised after 50 odd years that appearing as if you can't count past the number 3 in front of a large crowd makes you look like a complete dick!
Anyway to skipping that, Sugar played a varied set of electro goodness that was good enough to get my feet tapping, when I was interrupted by someone saying, yeh look thats Lee...

To my right stood a rather much taller boy with much longer hair than I remember called Chris. A boy whose probably in the upper sixth form at the moment as he was in the year below me at Primary school. I used to knock about with him and play football with him almost every day during the spring and summer months, I had a short chat with him, but lost him when I went to the bog so I need to search for him on Facebook, not that I can remember how to spell his surname!
That's just the first of the weird things that happened that night. Finally the girl I was due to meet showed up, and I used her coat to snag one of the NME posters of The Enemy to add to my collection of their stuff (that she seems to think shes now going to keep. cheeky cow!) We had a good chat had one of those awkward, but good yeah-ive-not-seen-you-for-8-years-fuck-me-your-hot-now sort of hugs, but we ended up getting separated after she managed to snag some back stage passes, again, cheeky cow!

I went outside to the Sainsburys local just a few buildings down to snag some Stella, as it is £3.80 for a single pint in the Koko, this is the one and only reason I hate London, other than that its the greatest place to live on Earth!
Then was about to go back inside, when I noticed more people from school, except who are still at secondary school, now in the lower sixth, yet more weirder!
They invited me back in to do some 'raving'; now this sounds all yeh come on 'lets rave, im pissed' but when your over 18 and you end up with a group of 16-17 year olds who have more glow sticks than the whole of Ibiza put together and you combine that with the most pathetic excuse for an indie-'rock' band i've ever heard, you tend to get bored. So I went back to the bar in hope of finding my old school mate, when I saw yet another blast from the past, yet not so long ago, a girl I'd met at one other Hadouken! gig I'd been to previously, who'd I'd planned to meet up with before, but never really got round to. She was quite a lot more fun and demanded we get more alcohol, which of course you agree on after the 8 pints you've already had! So making our way to the stage 5 minutes before Hadouken! are due on stage, and as you do, you push through scores of people to get pushed more, and get more sweaty.
James Smith comes out onto the stage and yells to the crowd something I can't remember as there was one great oaf in front of me, and another to the side with his elbow in my ear trying to see what was going on, typical!

As the band launched into the thumping song 'Bounce' I could not contain my excitement as I punched, kicked and elbowed as many annoying people I'd made a note of doing so earlier in my head, and jumped around and "Bounced My Balls" just as James had told me to. When a band like Hadouken! plays two of their best songs one after the other, many people get very excited, and one man launched himself upon the crowd, without his top on. This was of course very stupid, as he was quite a chubby so and so. So there he was having the time of his fucking life, crowd surfing to 'Liquid Lives' when around one hundred drunken teenagers are slapping his belly as hard as they can, me included, just to tell you how much of an arsehole you are for taking your top off.

As the songs were pumped into my system with a pnumatic drill, my heart thumping, every limb aching beyond all logical thought, and now just two rows of people from the front, I saw Sophie (my old school mate) out of the corner of my eye with her friend watching the gig from the side of the bloody stage, the lucky swines.
As Hadouken! came to the end of their set, I could tell that it was going to be very hard to get anything physical to savour from the midst of this ensuing mine field of bodies, sweat, blood and tears. However, all of the pain in the world, was lost amid the news that the set was coming to an end, and the thunderbolt of bass being syringed into my skeleton rang true to my brain and James yelled the most famous of his lyrics, "That Boy's a Hoxton Hero... That Girl's an Indie Cindy". This was the fifth time I had seen the band live, but never in that time have i been thrown in so many directions, actually never before in my entire life, have I been injured in so many places on my body in the space of a few seconds.


a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4RwZj4PXrU76Kh6X6RjmcYZd0kjnn6gABhqmKPliIEhkOcrReNO7VbVaH-n3Y9ruSZkWH9F7rTH6xF8fjrynn3sKCpVaJqCD3MBhBS3kygZtckTM2qZ1EVf1O16LWt7L8yfI1VO0cGbo/s1600-h/Hadouken+Crowd.jpg">



During the 3 and a half minutes of madness that ensues during this song, I could mentally count around 1million times I was punched and elbowed in the face by people around me. The best thing about this song was being right in the middle of the crowd, one row of people from the front, with my hands in the air out to the side, and yelling every single lyric as if it were the last words I would ever say in my life! You can pretty much tell, that after 10 pints and a Hadouken! gig later, I am possibly one of the happiest people alive!
I stood on the barrier for at least 20 minutes trying to get various bits of Hadouken glory as I hadnt at any gigs before, When a very nice roadie threw me the last set list on offer, and to him I am enternally great full.
The night was only beginning here however, as upon me getting outside of the gig to try and get my set list signed, two girls confronted me who wished to know how I had managed to get a set list, after doing this, these two girls got quite friendly with the Keyboardist of the band Alice, and I ended up being invited to The Lock Tavern with the band and a few other, to meet up with Barney, Murphy and the Legendary Doren of The Ghost Frequency! One of the band I have reviewed just a few weeks ago on this blog. Alice introduced me to Doren, and I immediately started to quiz him on the possibility of getting the band to play at my university's Student Union, which to a great success they would be thrilled to do, and all hoping that the meeting with my Vice President later today goes smoothly, they should be confirmed to play here after easter :D! I mean talk about all the luck in the world and multiply it by 50trillion and you are still not there on this one!

The two girls (whose flat in Enfield I was now crashing at, due to me completely forgetting about the last train from Waterloo), I was with had also just spotted another famous face, Jason from the legendary 5ive, was also in the same pub, and after many jokes and shouting lyrics in his face later, he repeatedly denied that these acts had ever occured in his past, and blamed it at the acute Amnesia he had just developed just 5 minutes prior to meeting us.
After making our way out of the pub after it had closed, we said goodbye to the bands and made our way to the N279 night bus stop on route to enfield. I'll skip most things as it's not really important, but we spent most of the night up chatting about shit and one of the girls drew me a map on how to get to the station. After no sleep and one of the most random nights of my life I left their university flat at the University of Middlesex, to get a morning 8am train from Southbury station back to Farnham, which cost £16.90. I did all of this travelling, a whole 2 and a half hours, just to attend my 11am Radio Journalism lecture, arn't I just a model student!
Possibly one of the most random blog 'beginnings' in world history but still worth a read, I think anyway!

Hadouken! - The Youth of Britain Finds It's Voice




Hadouken! were according to Wikipedia formed in September 2006, however, I'm pretty sure it was before this, as I'm pretty sure the band performed at the Reading Festival in 2006 unless im wrong, but anyway. Their a 5-piece setup, which is composed of James Smith on lead vocals, Dan Rice (Pilau) on Guitar, Chris I believe plays Bass and Nick plays Drums, but I could have them the wrong way round, I'm not really sure. Then the stunning blonde bombshell, who I found out on monday night is one of the nicest people you could ever meet, plays Keyboard and Synths.
They're one of the bands who've been thrust into the whole 'new rave' scene and branded as scene and all that jazz.
They're musick is a mixture of genres that stems from their love of Rock, Dance, Grime, UK Garage, Hip-Hop, RnB, House and other Urban/Dance genres. Personally I would create a new genre called 'Fucking-Ace', but thats not going to happen. So I guess we're stuck with calling them Grindie, as Wikipedia puts it.
With a string of releases to date, and the first band ever to be release an EP/Album on USB Memory Stick, Hadouken! are finally getting to critical acclaim that they deserve outside the relms of NME.
The composition that they comprise, with combining dance beats with James' Hip-Hop and Grime lyrics, makes them the most unique band I have ever listened to. There is no chance you could listen to a Hadouken! track, and mistake it for the work of any other band.
They have stated many times, they just like to be completely different and ahead of their time. Now wanting to be different from 'every other band' is an easy thing to say, and it's said by almost everyone these days. However, Hadouken! everything they do and say is different. It's as though they are reinventing the rule book about how music is listened to, released and generally accepted by people.
Their MySpace has some 4million plays worldwide, If every single time someone played a Hadouken! track in 2007 was scrobbled by LastFm we'd be looking at a 9 digit figure.
Hadouken!'s debut release 'That Boy That Girl' was hailed as an Internet Phenomenon in by the NME and cemented them as one of the defining acts of 2007; without a shadow of a doubt.
Just before they played 'That Boy That Girl' as the last song of the gig I attended on Monday, James exclaimed to the crowd, that this is the last time the band would be touring in their current state, and that their set would be completely transformed in the future to accomodate with the Spring 2008 album release.
One new track on the album is 'Get Smashed Gate Crash', which was just uploaded to the band MySpace recently. Its a gloopy, gigawatt of disco venom all packaged up and delivered to your nervous system like a herorin injection. A lyrical description of a house party you attended when you were 13, when you "got laid on the parents bed" and "get sick on the landing carpet". Their tracks are like a disease, and with no known cure to this mayhem, you are forced to hit the replay button over and over again, just to savour every last echoing rip of thaose contageous beats.
Something that I think could be possible is Hadouken! claiming a No.1 with this album. It would be tight, but seeing The Enemy being able to pull it off last summer, it could happen. Most fans are people under the age of 20, who mostly download music, so if enough people 'legally' download the album, I definately will be, then we could see something that would shut up the 'nu rave' haters right up. An act that on the gracing release of 'That Boy That Girl' showed the UK just how ahead of their time they were.
I've set up a Facebook group to try and get Hadouken! to No. 1, join the group and buy this album. Hadouken! off on the road on a European tour next month are going to just keep getting bigger and bigger this year. I will add that If before now you've not even heard of this MUSIC INSTITUTION, then fucking get on it!
http://www.myspace.com/hadoukenuk

Track of the Week
The Rascals - Suspicious Wit

My '"oh so holy" song of god this week comes from the northern showpiece known simple as The Rascals. Even though singer Miles Kane happens to be a mutual friend of Christ himself Alex Turner, they are not where they are now, simply because of their connections. Two full days with the Monkeys at their Old Trafford Cricket Ground gigs back last summer and a December 2007 UK Tour that included venues such as Alexandra Palace and the Men Arena, has not managed to mount the band a firm enough grasp to release many singles.
This week however, they launched their suposed finest piece of work 'Suspicious Wit' unto the masses of the United Kingdom and obviously I like it, or it would not be gracing this mammoth of earthly wonders 'weekly information superhighway slot'.
You can really see the similarities between Miles' and Alex's voice, the harmonious high notes and the clever lyrics acompanied by a poinent bass really kick off this song to a high note. It's a little on the short side, and personally for me it's also not the best song they've made. Listen to this song by all means, but if you really want to get a gist of The Rascals, check out 'Shades of Embarissment' and 'Is It Too Late'; the riffs on these piledrivers are so unique, even Mark Ronson would find it hard to cover them.
There is no video available for this song, so I suggest heading over to their MySpace.

http://www.myspace.com/rascalmusic


Video of the Week
Panic At The Disco - Nine in the Afternoon



Slightly off cue from my usual plugs. Something slightly interesting happened recently, Panic! At The Disco, have dropped the '!' from their name. Therefore they are now called Panic At The Disco. How very quaint. They've apparently grown up in musical terms, and after a listen to this recent song, the first single off of their new album 'Pretty. Odd', I agree. They've experimented with many new instruments that all apart from just a few they played themselves, and the album was recorded in Abbey Road, so expect wonderful things. It's also obvious from the video that, they still have their old wacky bahaviour and nack for weird videos, however for purely walking about in the middle of the street with a massive band at 'Nine in the Afternoon', and playing in their pajamas, it'll get their female fan base out in drobes, purely hoping they'll wear the same on stage. Let's hope not, and this new direction may just work.

Monday 11 February 2008

This is Life...

GOOD MORNING VIETNAMMMM!
Ok so you’re not really reading this from Vietnam so I apologise, but if you are, then good morning you, you find old oriental chap you! Have a beer and relax, because you’re about to read one of the most exciting new things to of hit the web this year, and if you don’t like it, then the door is situated in the top right hand corner of the screen, and it’s highlighted in a sparkly red colour!
No, I have not gone completely mad, but my life has hit exciting new heights and lows all at the same time. This means that words, phrases, and the “usual quirky anecdotes” are not to be found here. WOW! I just quoted my first lyrics from a song in context with my blog, yay to me. Kudos to you if you know which song it is and you can feel special like me; the hint to this conundrum being, the band were featured in my last blog, but not necessarily with same song.
The first of the highs is that, I’ve been getting comments from the legendary ‘SiD’, who writes the blog ‘A Space for Music Liberation’ and was voted in the top 100 music blogs at the BT Digital Music awards last year. Having someone who has such an established and popular blog, makes my head do summersaults to Blur and weep to the Juno soundtrack. So I guess you’re reading this now SiD I think, as you read and posted a comment on the last few. So Dankesehen SiD, I now feel special!
Other highs include the fact that I have now finished my article on One Night Only for the Student Paper, which is due to be sent off to be printed on 22nd Feb, which will be posted up in full on a future blog sometime in March.
However, the lows include longer hours at work, because two managers have now quit, leaving no fully signed off managers and the possibility that Pizza Hut, Aldershot, may be shut down. I really hope not, but I shall keep you posted on my plans for suicide should my wages for University Alcohol be somewhat obliterated.


The Clik Clik – Fulham’s Funky Foursome


The Clik Clik are a swanky new four piece Indie/Electro set up from Fulham in London town. Formally a two piece, but I think due to limits of how they could produce music they recruited in two new members to play Drums and Bass.

They’re not really brand spanking new to the London scene, with a host of shows all over the capital in the fall of 07’ and they managed to get some Radio One airplay with their first single ‘My Dunks’ released. A chirpy screech of noise that is perfectly graced with the lyrical and vocal genius of Stefan Abingdon and Maya Yianni and then garnished with a thumping bass that rips through your exoskeleton like Jenna Jameson with whip and chains. This track to me is like Kate Nash meets Robots in Disguise, a glamorous cockney tongue joining forces with the princess’ of electro punk.

The only problem I have with this setup is that their music will always be received like artists such as Robots in Disguise. The music producing and lyrical writing talent is brilliant, there is no question, but commercially I don’t think they will ever be very successful. I just don’t think anyone really gets The Clik Clik, and if no one gets you, then your music isn’t going to be bought. I could be wrong, I mean I for one can’t understand Dido, but she sells shitloads of records.
They done well with many shows last year however haven’t followed them up very well. Supporting the likes of Lethal Bizzle on his nationwide headline tour is a great start, but then playing on the ‘MySpace Schools Tour is maybe getting a bit desperate.

The most fundamental rule about my blog is that I try not to be a critic, therefore I won’t for the life of me listen to a song 400 times and try and compare the 2minute 45 second bridge to that of a band’s previous five singles or the most prominent of some of their favourite bands, because they sound exactly the same. Therefore, if there are aspects of a band that I don’t like I try not to go on about them, because I’m not trying to put people off music, I want people to discover new forms of music and judge it for themselves. Think of me as a voice inside your head, but not strictly a conscience.
Other tracks by the band that so far I have listened to include great sing-a-long dancefloor filler ‘Can’t Take You Anywhere’. A social moan about one’s partner being too much to handle after a few shots too many, that’s accompanied with lightning sharp programming and vocals from Stefan and backing vocals from Maya, who definitely has one of the sexiest voices I’ve heard in my University room lately. That’s not some kind of a sick joke, I just happen to have very crisp speakers in my room :D.


At the moment there are four songs on their MySpace, however, they appear to have deleted my favourite track of theirs; luckily I got hold of a copy for my iPod before the swine’s eradicated it. The track I’m talking about is called ‘This is Life’ a modern carnation of Frank’s classic ‘That’s Life’. These are the opening lines “This is life and I don’t really know if it’s true what they say/you’re flying high in April you’ll get shot down in May/This is life/And when your hopelessly lost, you’ll find the cost and pay the price” Personally I think that is pure genius, It doesn’t matter that is was conjured up by a post-grad music student from Fulham, its fresh, and I know that it speaks the bright flaming truth. Word for bloody word.

So my tip for this week is definitely one to take strong notice of, they maybe ‘just another band’, but their a very important band for lost of interesting and important musical reasons, that I’m sure a 90 year old music Journalist with more experience than me will be able to you before his heart fails on him. However, you could just go along to one of their numerous London shows during March, April or May and ask one of the many indie cindy wannabe’s why she’s taking pills and getting overly pissed for their music at 1:50am. Their MySpace should be able to divulge more information to your brain, feet and finger tips than me.
http://www.myspace.com/theclikclik


Video of the Week

Now you may think I have gone mad, but I assure you, I am totally and completely fine with a capital TH-ine. I have decided to place the ‘Video of the Week’ because of how the ‘Track of the Week’ section ends, because I feel that the last paragraph is most important piece of writing I have published on this blog to date.
OMG GAY BLOG MOMENT: MOVE ON.

This week’s top video in question is one of the best ‘stop-motion’ music videos I’ve ever seen, possibly rivalling the greatness of Hadouken!’s ‘That Boy That Girl’. ‘The Terradactyls – Devices’ is just pure class. The verses are depicted by two pairs of coloured scissors, and the chorus forced me to get down on my knees and worship. The inter-chorus sections (SOLO!’s) are outstanding. Whistling is pictured by duck whistles chasing each other around a table, then being chased by a swarm of beads that I think are supposed to be bees. Wow original, beads for bees, I really need to stop stating the obvious.
The guest vocals come from Kimya Dawson who was featured on the Juno soundtrack recently. Strongly recommend using up two and a half minutes of your life to watch this video. I only wish it were longer.





Track of the Week

This week’s track of the week is undoubtedly biased, but it also gives you more of an insight into my musical tastes. I’m really not sure if I said before, I think I did but anyway, My favourite band is Hard-Fi. They may not have that quirky edge or keyboard rhythm of most bands this side of 2006, but for me, THEY ARE GOD!
They should be placing up the video for their new single ‘I Shall Overcome’ sometime in the next couple of weeks.

This is the third single from their second No. 1 album ‘Once Upon a Time in the West’, and it’s one that when the album was released had a particular personal impact upon me. A MASSIVE change of lifestyle and emotions occurred during the week starting 3rd September 2007.
In just a single week, I went to their midnight album launch and signing session at Virgin Megastore, Oxford Street (Sept 2nd), which was the first time I had ever seen them live, I split up with my long-term (2 and half year) girlfriend on the Wednesday (Sept 5th) as well as said goodbye to many family members, one of the worst days of my life; saw Hard-Fi live again, this time at a proper gig at the London Hippodrome, Leicester Square, London, one of the best nights of my life; then moved to University the morning after (6th Sept), one of the biggest changes in my life and spent that night getting very pissed and making scores of new friends; then to top it off waking up late afternoon (Sept 7th) with a biggest hangover of my life.
I mean talk about a headfuck! This song for me, completely opitimises everything about what happened that week, and how I have been dealing with it since then, and still now; obviously I am enjoying University, but it was a complete life change. This song for me, summarises why music is so important to people, and why it can make or break people, at the smash of a snare, the touch of some keys, the strum of a guitar or the yell of ‘those three words’.





To anyone who has had to overcome any period of grief, life changing experience, or any period of hardship, this song is absolutely PERFECT in every sense of the word, and as sad as it may sound in a chirpy music blog of an 18-year old Journalism Student, this song is what music is all about.

Tuesday 5 February 2008

Monthly Playlist - January 2008

Entering into the New Year, I was full of optimism for the 'new noise 08' frenzy being stirred up in NME, as well as the continued new direction being pile driven into the minds of young Britain by Mr. Zany Lowe. His voice may be annoying and his pace of delivery on Radio One harder to keep up with than Marion Jones on drugs, it really is starting to show that he knows exactly what he's talking about. Especially with allowing Hadouken! to rake havoc on air with tenacious dub-step and grime beats on worldwide broadcast for two hours solid.
After a slow start to the month, the emerging artists of the year to come have become much clearer to those people who actually buy music (if i can be botherd, myself included). I think I'll slip in a little boast to myself for tipping One Night Only to hit the big time, as they showed this week in the charts as the second highest new entry and among a top 10 of gloring veterans. Their album is released on Monday 11th Feb so I urge you to consider checking it out and we'll see come Sunday 17th February, if they really can hold out against the heavyweights of Morrissey and Mr. Jackson, both gracing us with old releases in a 'funky' new format. If One Night Only could pull a debut No.1 out the bag against the 25th Anniversary release of the world’s biggest selling album of all time 'Thriller', then I really will be impressed.

This is a different kind of blog, much shorter and to the point, here are my top 10 songs of January. Basically this list is OBVIOUSLY biased, so don't all get your nickers in a twist and fume at the fact that 'your precious band' is not gracing my chart, just swallow it and move on in life; or you could vent your fury and cream my pants with arsenic in the comments section at the bottom. Your choice.



THE BEST MONTHLY MUSIC CHART IN WORLD HISTORY: January 2008



#10: Lightspeed Champion - Tell Me What It's Worth
The fourth single from the former Test Icicles dude who was voted #49 in last year's NME cool list. This quirky upbeat indie anthem depicts the racial hatred that Devonte received from Black people on the streets of Dalston and Brixton. The irony being that he him is black.


#9: Bullet for My Valentine - Scream Aim Fire
The first single from the hugely anticipated critically acclaimed, thunder of a third album, in which they truly come to life. The Welsh foursome hit top form in the US Billboard 100 this month, making #4, a great achievement these days for a British outlet. This balls out mammoth incest of metal rock will have you "over the top" till the early hours.

#8: Lupe Fiasco - Superstar
First release of the 'self titled' album 'Lupe Fiasco's The Cool' (nice name!) from the American rapper, who gained a top #5 entry in the UK Charts. This is one of my favourite urban licks right now. I'm fed up of Rhianna, Timberland, and Beyonce polluting my ears with the same old lyrics and the same old beats played a different pitch levels. This is a great catchy tune, however it's just another example of a dying urban scene.

#7: Hot Chip - Ready to the Floor
Pipping One Night Only in the charts this week, but just missing out on a top 5 spot, the virgin loners from London are setting the Indie club scene alive at the moment with their feet tapping, ear crunching dance filler. Expect big things from them this year on the road.



#6: N.E.R.D - Everyone Nose
Grace the lord! Pharrell, Chad and 'friend' have returned after a three year absence, sporting a new direction, and more new friends as they've now been confirmed as support to Kaiser Chiefs at this year's Isle of Wight festival; as well as throwing one off gig at the Brixton Academy in June.


#5: The Wombats - Moving To New York
Suprisingly the highest entering song into the UK charts by The Wombats to date. This upbeat indie firebreather will brighten up the most boring or depressing of your days; I just wish they had released this as their first single, and this was celebrating a top 5 entry for 'Kill the Director'.




#4: One Night Only - Just For Tonight
I had the pleasure of interviewing the band last week for my Student paper, they came across as really genuine lads, who really are in it for the music. I think for that reason alone, they deserve to achieve big things this year, a 2009 Breakthrough Brit nomination isn't out of the question.



#3: The Ting Tings - Great DJ
I'm more of a radio person, so rarely can I sit down at watch music videos, this is a great exception. Thumping beats, catchy lyrics, and with the hottest girl to front a band since Debbie Harry they've got a lot going for them. The Ting Tings are only pipped as my song of the month, by some true musical greats.



#2: Biffy Clyro - Who's Got a Match?
Upon the release of Biffy's most critically acclaimed album, I remember playing this song over and over, the perfect example of a thunderous rock ballad. This week it was, and it will surely cement Biffy as one of the most important UK acts around at the moment. This will also be the last single release of their most successful album 'Puzzle'.


#1: Radiohead - Jigsaw Falling into Place
Radiohead have surely with the revolutionary download release of their most recent album 'In Rainbows'. Mature and nurture their unquestionable talent over time and not even Oasis, as good as they were, was ever able to accomplish. find more than one thing to say about the world. This is most exciting Radiohead release since 'No Surprises'.

Monday 4 February 2008

"I've got some moves up my sleeve..."

Hey people, sorry this blog is now hmmmm 4 days late! Also I've not posted my bests of January songs, but that WILL be up tomorrow, I promise you on that one, I’m trying out a new format, and I've got some inspiration from other people's blogs to create my own format, so I hope you like it! Sorry I’m all over the place, next time it happens I will post a temporary blog to let you know the jazz. THE EXCUSE: I’ve had some big things going on, that relate to my university course, work, private life (no I haven't had a pet die on me, it's a lady friend, weeeeyyyyy!) and other various distractions, like the fact the internet connection here is appalling, but enough of that! TO THE IMPORTANT NONSENSE!

This has definitely been the most exciting week of 2008 for me in all aspects. My second semester of university began, shortly after finding out that I have a secret wizardry knack for Radio Journalism that was founded within my 74% a grade in my first semester assessment. As of Wednesday, I am now a writer on the university Student Paper known as CANVAS, whose second issue will be available in early march. I'm currently in the process of writing out my story for this issue for the music section, about the band I talked about in my first blog. They were hotly tipped to do well for the year, and as of yesterday, Sunday 3rd February 2008, have charted at #9 with their second single 'Just For Tonight'. I got in contact with their manager and he set interview for me with the band on Friday, to talk about their single and their upcoming album 'Started a Fire' which is to be released on 11th February. So in a month's time I will be able to include a picture of my story in the paper. My first ever story to be printed as a Journalist, how friggin' cool is that! :D
This week's blog is about a very different kind of band to the ones I have mentioned previously, but that does not necessarily mean they won’t be as exciting. Far from it!


The Ghost Frequency

Crazy, Insane, and Mental, are all words that come to my head when talking about The Ghost Frequency; they are definitely one of the most exciting bands from London to see live around at the moment, and for good reason. Currently working on their debut album that is scheduled for release in late spring, and already two singles strong, the band have been hotly tipped for greatness in 2008. A booking at Glastonbury and Reading are certs’ for the five piece who formed in 2005, who wrote songs and gigged for a year in and around London, when they were finally snapped up by the label City Rockers.

With the energy of Linkin Park & Aerosmith combined, band front man Doren Edwards throws himself around the stage, jumping off the lighting scaffolding like a desperate psychopath on LSD. Synths specialists Barney on his trusty Apple and Ross on Keyboards and Synths Guitar light the roof on fire, while lead guitarist Murphy shreds his fingers to dust, and born 'n' bred drummer Ben rips the roof clean off. The band comprises clean sharp boyish rock, with the tenacity and power of break-beat dance. They will leave your ears ringing and eyes burning.
With the release of their first single 'Nightmare' on limited red vinyl in August 2007, the band went from strength to strength as they recorded a video for the song to coincide with their nationwide headline tour and supporting tour with Hadouken! Where I saw them play at Southampton University. The venue was so small you could barely fit Rick Waller within its walls; it was full of annoying ratty teen scenos, who found it enlightening to cover every inch of their bodies in the fluorescent death of Satan that resides within those godly glow sticks.
I cannot for the life of me understand the principles behind why 'nu rave' was coined by Klaxons' manager, it follows none of the codes and conventions of the conventional rave of the late 80s and early 90s. However, I really don't give a monkies, because whatever it is nu rave or not, it’s bloody brilliant. I once read an article a couple of weeks ago, it was talking about all the nu rave nonsense back in the summer of last year, by someone who went to a Klaxons gig, and they could not for the life of them, understand why it is fun for 14 year old to shout "Rave" and throw glow sticks at each other. I left him a nice tasty comment, but for the benefit of this blog, I’m just going to utter a tasty British favourite: "FUCK OFF!"
Seriously, who cares! If they are having it large, then that’s all that matters!
I am hoping to try and organise a night at my University's Student Union and to have Ghost Frequency as the headline band, whether our union has enough money to do this however, is beyond me.


Anyway back to the band. In December 2007 the band released their second single, quite a tongue twister but here goes, 'Never Before Have I Seen A Man Alive Who Looks So Exactly Like A Skeleton'. That's what I thought the first time I heard the name. However once you get past the name then listen to the track. It's very different from the last single, this is where you find the energy of Linkin Park really take off, the beats blow your ears to the size of peanuts, it’s like something from a 80s horror film. Actually I think everything about Ghost Frequency is like it’s from a 80s horror film. They are genre defining and genre shattering on release, over time they may fade out and piddle into nothing like most bands these days, but their significance and importance on the London indie scene at the moment is unquestionable, they won't be forgotten in a hurry, especially by me.

Track of the Week

My track of the week this week comes from the ever growing, ever monotonous, but ever so important United States of America. N.E.R.D has awoken from their supposed death. After the release of the second album 'Fly or Die' back in 2004, Pharell Williams told BBC Radio 1 that the band had lost its direction with label Virgin, and it appeared that it would be their last release together. However, a few weeks ago a new single had emerged. 'Everyone Nose' is a striking track that is oh so very different from their last ventures; although I do sense a slice of 'She Wants To Move' amongst the fluid lyrical structure and sophisticated T-Rex style bass beats of terror. It's not their best work by far, but you can bet that when the upcoming album is released it'll contain come pleasant surprises, so jump on the band wagon while it's still here!



Video of the Week

My video of the week, comes from one of my previously featured bands, it seems The Ting Tings are finally getting some well deserved air play, and they've made a spankingly good video, with possibly the weirdest dance routine I’ve ever seen. Someone I can't see the NME Awards Tour crowd standing in line to imitate it! This is a great video for track 'Great DJ' though, the contrasting blue and pink colours are predictable, but its fun, energetic and it put a smile on my face after a shit clean up at work! The single is out 3rd March on BMG