Viva Stereo – Roar Lion Roar

Much Better Records

12 Tracks – 50 minutes 19 seconds

Intro – Unfortunately we’ve not picked up on Viva Stereo previously and these is there final album in a trilogy commenced in 2004. According to Viva Stereo themselves ‘Roar Lion Roar’ is the tales and soundtrack to Saturday night excesses, Sunday morning soul searching and the weeks daily drudge all rolled into one. The Music – Roar Lion Roar starts off nice and dark and broody, decent beat throughout ‘Another night out’ and an epic burst into life at the three-minute mark. It’s a really special, bleak and uplifting with just the right amount of electronica without been dance, great lift off track. Then ‘Glass’ has a very different vibe, more alt country and traditional laid back guitar and vocal sound. That is really how the album could have easily fallen down, there are so many influences and style chances but the album does actually flow really well and sounds like Viva Stereo rather than a compilation tape! ‘This is Not an exit’ has quite a dreamy feel and some lush guitars and vocals courtesy of Candythief, almost shoegaze in fact! ‘Knee high boats’ is a splendid indie pop romp with distant vocals, proper old skool. Whereas due to the vocals of My Latest Novel’s Chris Deveney ‘Last living hope’ has the air of something akin to Nick Cave and the bad seeds, it’s a bloody big epic tune too. The beats are back for ‘Parish state’ with it’s Portishead intro before branching off into more New Order / Joy Division territory.  ‘Night Owl’ shares the New Order influence but cranks up the pace somewhat, the tale of nightlife excess, its only downside that it only last three minutes odd, shame! ‘The Seaward’ features the talents of Malcolm Middleton and splendid squeaky acoustic guitars; it possesses a beautiful melody and a splendid relaxed vibe, a great comedown tune. Whereas ‘War Paint’ cracks up the noise, beats and tempo, sounds like The Whip which ain’t no bad thing at all.  King Creosote guests on ‘Teenage dreams’ which brings Viva Stereo and friends back into traditional epic territory, brilliant twangy guitars give it a big, big sound and that traditional edge, splendid dual vocals mean this is one hell of a song. On the flip side ‘Everything goes round’ is one hell of come down song, low key beats blend with charming vocals. It all ends with ‘Suffocation’ with its new order style title, beats and vibe. It cranks up to the big ending, which is fitting for such a big album. Highlights and Lowlights – With albums like ‘Roar Lion Roar’ it’s difficult to pick out highlights as it’s such a good consistent album and there isn’t a single track that gets you heading for the exit. Verdict – One of the best albums of 2008, it manages to blend plenty of styles but always sounds like the work of one band which is a bloody difficult trick to pull off especially as well as ‘Roar Lion Roar’ does. The aim of the album to reflect and soundtrack all aspects of modern life from the downbeat 9 to 5, big nights and heavy come downs is a tall order but it does all this and more, it’s a mixed up album of emotions and feelings. Quite frankly it is one hell of a success and indeed one hell of an album, simply great music to soundtrack everyday 21^st century lives. File Under essential modern listening.

Oasis – Dig out your soul

Big Brother / Sony

11 Tracks – 45 minutes 56 seconds

Intro – So here it is a brand new spanking Oasis album, No 1 in the UK and top 5 in the states, looking good sales wise then. Critics have given it a mixed response but fans views seem pretty positive. So rather than our normal format we’re doing a track by track guide. Let’s go..

 Track 1 – Bag it up (writer Noel Gallagher) Big, big start this and sets up the whole album, always good to get off the ground running and they do it in some good Oasis style. Verdict - Winner

Track 2 – The Turning (writer Noel Gallagher) Slightly less hectic intro to this one and Liam’s vocals actually sound more gentle for the first minute before going off. Some great keys in the background and bring out some ace guitars too, bit of an epic then! Verdict - Winner

Track 3 – Waiting for the Rapture (writer Noel Gallagher) What a big bass sound this has, thumping to put it mildly. First on the album to use Noel’s vocal talent and another huge tune. Not Noel’s usual delicate tunes this has loads going off in it and actually could have used Liam to no ill effect on it. Verdict – Winner

Track 4 – The Shock of the lightening (writer Noel Gallagher) Another huge intro, everyone should know this tune as it’s been everywhere and so it should be. This is pure Oasis at their best; it has Noel’s trademark off beat lyrics and some monster guitars & drums. It has the tempo and Liam’s vox are at their very best. It has the lot, 100% percent Oasis, Stunning.  Verdict – Winner

Track 5 - I’m out of time (Writer Liam Gallagher) This is a beautiful tune, laid back with some lovely Liam vocals. Has more than an echo of Lennon and it’s the one that has John’s sample from his final interview. Show’s that it’s not only Noel of the brothers that is able to write and perform something special. Verdict – Winner

Track 6 – (Get off your) High Horse Lady (writer Noel Gallagher) Fairly simple tune with distorted vocals that gets beefed up about two minutes in. Promises more than it delivers, pretty foot tapping but lacks any real direction. Verdict – So so.

Track 7 – Falling Down (writer Noel Gallager) The most successful of the Noel sung tracks, the vocals has the feel of ‘Setting sun’ by The Chemical Brothers but fortunately even though musically it has a bit of an edge to it never goes down the dance route. Gotta be a single and judging by the sticker on the front of the album, probably will be. Verdict – Winner

Track 8 – To be where there’s life (writer Gem) Probably the darkest song on the album musically does sound a little different with some serious bass action. Quite a heavy sound but Liam’s vocals always sound well in touch with it don’t think you’d want to have the full album like it but doesn’t sound out of place. Verdict – Contender

Track 9 – Ain’t got nothing (writer Liam Gallagher) Doesn’t really go anywhere this one, no clear sound with the drums muddling things up, not one of Liam’s better moments but still it is pretty short! Verdict - disappointing

Track 10 – The nature of reality (writer Andy Bell) Can kinda guess this one is Andy’s, the guitars have his name all over them! Liam does sit nicely on top of the mix but it’s not really as exciting as the first half of the album. Verdict – So so.

Track 11 – Soldier on (writer Liam Gallagher) Cracking intro, some more big bass sounds but to start with the weird vocals don’t really cut the mustard. Bit of slow burner and not the ‘big ending’ that was possibly expected. That said it ain’t half bad and shows that Liam to write more than Lennon inspired numbers.

Verdict – Contender. Verdict – Don’t think we were the only ones to be underwhelmed by their last outing but this is a lot, lot better. It has a better flow to it and sounds more coherent. Good things starting to come from the pen of Liam which bodes well for the future and Noel writes another batch of quality stuff. It isn’t Definitely Maybe or what’s the story but those days are long gone, this to all intents and purposes is virtually a different band. When you employ people who can play and write for themselves their input is bound to come through not only in the tracks they write but also their influence on others. The first half of the album is the star but there’s enough quality to make this a damn fine listen, Oasis are back then. File Under return to form.

Nephu huzzband – Live in London

Deep Recordings

7 Tracks – 22 minutes 53 seconds

Intro – Now this is a bit weird on a number of fronts; firstly why release a live album as your first? Secondly it’s hardly a full length album seeing as it weighs in at just seven tracks and lastly why would a Nottingham band decide to record it in London rather than a ‘home town’ show which would surely provide more atmosphere at this stage of the nephu huzzband career. The Music – Live nephu huzzband sound pretty scuzzy, hard core lo fi indie but what does suffer slightly is the vocals. It hasn’t been issue for the recorded output so far but even on the opener ‘Lions, Tigers and Bears’ they can appear a little ‘soupy’ and lack real definition but that said the song itself sounds pretty neat. Highlights and Lowlights – Fortunately the recording (taken at Dublin Castle for the record) sounds pretty much on the money and doesn’t sound like it’s been done on some fans mobile phone! Sounding a bit more vocally together with great pace ‘…And we became Picasso pieces’ does the business with some class guitars. ‘Nurse! Nurse!’ is short and snappy, has real shout along capability and lets the music do most of the talking, love the guitars and the drums to go along with the ‘nurse, nurse’ is a bit of a winner. Closer ‘Papers’ continues the ride with buzzing guitars, which suits the vocal style and all together sounds very palatable. Verdict – Not a runaway success but there’s another proof on offer her that nephu huzzband can make their mark in the murky world of indie guitars and there is plenty of their energy captures by the recording too. File Under decent makeweight but hopefully the full-length studio album will be better!

David Holmes – The Holy Pictures

Mercury / Universal

10 Tracks – 42 minutes 41 seconds

Intro – It isn’t very often we take great note of any sticker on the front of an album and their comments trying you to purchase the product. However, the quote ‘An electronic shoegaze rock n roll adventure that hasn’t left my head in weeks!’ Rob Da Bank, BBC Radio 1. To be fair we best know David Holmes as a DJ so wasn’t really expecting any of that! Time we think to check it out. The Music – Anyone who mixes electronica with atmospheric soundscapes has to be confident of pulling the job off and to be fair David Holmes has the ability to back up the confidence. Take ‘Love Reign over me’ it mixes beats, lo fi vocals to bring up a stunning 21^st century dreampop anthem. Bizarrely title track ‘Holy Pictures’ sounds more conventional shoegaze / indie with proper guitars and vocals still sounds pretty damn fine. For the whole album glides along and sounds like a whole record rather than 10 songs thrown together, an album to curl up on the sofa and dream away to. Highlights and Lowlights – Second track in ‘The story of the ink’ is a work of beauty, really simple, an understated but effectively infectious instrumental. ‘Love reign over me’ is a lovely dreampop tune. ‘Melanie’ is blinding, haunting vocals (that sound like Paris Angels) with a beat that speeds up to a great anti climax! It has to be said that the inner sleeve art by Andy Votel is a reason on it’s own to pick it up on CD rather than to download. To finish off the album comes ‘The Ballad of Sarah and Jack’ which in it’s low key manner is the perfect way to end on, it sounds like it could easily have come off the soundtrack to Blade Runner! Verdict – David Holmes’ take on shoegaze / dreampop isn’t going to pop your eardrums with a frenzy of feedback like say a My Bloody Valentine but instead like a growing number of artists Holmes takes elctronica to create velvety sound textures. Haunting is a great description as is infectious but overall ‘The Holy Pictures’ has a elegant, relaxed aura of a record that is the sum of it’s beautiful parts. File Under electronic dreampop by a man called Dave.

Kingskin– Rhyme for smalltime

Zebra 3 Records

11Tracks

Intro – Kingskin hail from the south coast and claim to be inspired by grunge music. To those without any sense of musical history is the rock scene that was spawned out of Seattle, America in the early 1990’s and completely revitalised rock music that seemed stuck in the middle of a big bad perm! The Music – It don’t take any longer than a couple of minutes of ‘Bottom Dollar’ to realise that there’s more than just a grunge inspiration at work here, this is a full-blown grunge rock adventure! Chris Lamb’s vocals have a good grunt and growl about them and sound more Eddie Vedder than Kurt Cobain. ‘In the way’ shows the growl to good effect and is a bit of a rock beast with echoes of Soundgarden at their early best. ‘Suck me sideways’ has more than a passing sound of ‘Psychokiller’ but still offers something definitely Kingskin. ‘Peeping Tom’ is another big rock out, with that fast slow fast tempo, a bit Chilli Peppers met Soundgarden. Whereas finale ‘Stay a little longer’ actually features an acoustic guitar and has the classic rock ballad vibe! Highlights and Lowlights – It ain’t no work of perfection but they do stay the right side of the Pearl Jam / Spin Doctors divide more often than not! ‘Nothing left to burn’ is a great song, just enough bite but still shows some vulnerability and with some excellent guitar work too, shows a band with real potential and style. For the other side of the coin, the rock truck drives in at full force on the very next track; ‘In the way’ belts out big time. One thing that does irritate a tad is the overtly Americanised lyrics, can’t think too many kids in Dover have dads with guns! Also ‘Too many chiefs’ does sound a little dated but that’s really all the negatives to one side and there are heavily outnumbered by the positives. Verdict – Not for everyone but those who like their rock without a poodle perm and with a bit of grunge attitude could do far worse than checking out ‘Rhyme for small-time’.  File Under the grunge revival starts here.

The Verve – Forth

Parlaphone

10 Tracks – 64 minutes 24 seconds

Intro –Do bands like The Verve need an intro? Well if so here goes: The Verve are one of Britain’s most important bands of the last two decades. Nobody and I do mean nobody does the deep hearted, spaced out guitar frenzied melancholy that The Verve create, nobody. So intense are The Verve that they have imploded and split twice already, with a string of critically acclaimed comeback gigs and festivals behind them ‘Forth’ is the album to show they aren’t ready to sit of the rather regal laurels just yet. The Music – ‘Sit and wonder’ just shows the intent, The Verve are back in business like the world had stopped since ‘Urban Hymens’ catapulted them into the musical premier league. Then up springs the ‘comeback’ single ‘Love is Noise’. Much has been made of the ‘teletubbies’ backing vocals but they just fit and with or without them this is truly a great song, easily as good as ‘Urban Hymens’ singles but really accessible, what a comeback single! ‘Rather me’ has a real familiar sound to it, laid back and just trademark Verve. That’s a pretty spellbinding way to start any ‘comeback’ album. It could be argued that ‘Judas’ would be as at home on one of Ashcroft’s solo offerings, again laid back with twinkling guitars and sweet Ashcroft’s vocals. ‘Numbness’ sees The Verve back in darker territory, not much on the tempo front but plenty of bass in the mix and some epic guitars. ‘I see houses’ is another track that has a familiar ring to it (you can guess!) and another that would easily sit head and shoulders with Ashcroft’s best solo work. ‘Noise epic’ is a fair title, it has a bit of a garage feel to it with dark throbbing guitars and the vocals way down in the mix, sounds like a vicious road trip encased within eight minutes of music with a blow out ending (like all the best riotous road trip movies have!). ‘Valium skies’ is the downer song, after ‘Noise epic’ anyway, the name suggests. The wonderful vocal wouldn’t go amiss on ‘A Northern Soul’ and there’s no better compliment than that. It takes a while before ‘Columbo’ gets up and running but it’s worth the wait, more great deep bass and guitar work provides a throwback feel with great vocals and at over seven minutes there’s plenty of it to enjoy. They have to end proceedings in epic fashion and ‘Appalachian Springs’ does just that in spades, as with classic Verve it’s dark and full of melancholy but uplifting none the less.  Highlights and Lowlights – It’s hard to top the opening trio, what a stunning statement of intent. The dark rumblings and monster ending of ‘Noise epic’ mean it’s up there. There isn’t a duff track and what’s better the album just sounds right as a whole. Verdict – This is a stormer of an album, it’s doubtful it’ll sell as many copies of ‘Urban Hymns’ (not much does these days) but dismiss it at your peril. Let’s face it Verve don’t do average albums and they haven’t decided to start now. ‘Forth’ proves when these four blokes get together in a room with instruments magic is created, it’s just a shame they explode and implode with equal regularity. The Verve are class and have just added another classic to their name, just pure and simply spellbinding. File Under behold the comeback kids!

The Automatic – This is a fix

B Unique / Polydor

12 Tracks – 43 minutes 49 seconds

Intro – It’s unusual for bands to face this much pressure on just their second album, it’s more usual for their third to be heaped up to the hilt in pressure and expectation. But with the departure of Pennie who gave The Automatic a lot of their character and charm the pressure is on and in a big way. Pennie has and hasn’t been replaced, gone are his trademark vocals to be replaced by a more straightforward approach. The Music – Well ‘This is a fix’ starts brightly enough, their stab at the nanny state gone mad ‘Responsible citizen’ shows that they haven’t lost of their big pop ethos. Second up is the stunning comeback single ‘Steve McQueen’, it’s the bastard son of ‘Monster’, one hellfire romp which has the catchiest chorus of the year. So far so good and no mention of Pennie, oops! The tempo is held up pretty well with a rant through ‘Magazines’ and a single in the waiting, radio friendly ‘This ship’. The band have publicly said that this album is their take on American music only with a British slant and ‘In the mountains’ is fair testament to that especially with the female backing vox and greater accent on the guitars. Title track ‘This is a fix’ definitely has a heavier grungier, American sound but still retains The Automatics pop sensibility at its heart. The tempo of the album doesn’t really drop, keeping it on the up is ‘Secret Police’ which has more than a passing resemblance of Feeder at their finest. When the speed drops, it’s not for long ‘Make the mistakes’ starts of slowly but doesn’t take long to skip into action! It finishes in fine fettle too, ‘Light entertainment’ is another trademark power pop guitar stomp. Highlights and Lowlights – ‘Steve McQueen’ is the obvious highlight but the overall result and sound of the album is the other high point, it would have been far too easy to replace Pennie with something of the same but they’ve taken a bit gamble and it’s paid off. Verdict – Everyone was expecting the worst for ‘This is a fix’ especially after their warm up tour was given luke warm reviews but this blows the expectations out of the water. A fine second album and a damn fine listen.File Under Pop, pop and more pop!

Unknown Component – In Direct Communication

Available via www.unknowncomponent.com

10 Tracks – 38 minutes 05 seconds

Intro – Unknown Component hail from Iowa, which to those unaware of world geography is in America! It’s the project of one man, Keith Lynch who has written and recorded ‘In Direct Communication’ and even designed the artwork (although that looks like a losing attempt at the London 2012 logo!). The Music – Well it’s fair to say its pretty lo-fi, in fact the production is such that Keith sounds like he is at times singing underwater! But give it a few listens to get used to the production woes and then you’ll be able to switch this off and be able to concentrate on the music. Keith cites the likes of Radiohead, Bob Dylan, Bright Eyes, Coldplay and Elliott Smith as influences so you can expect slow introspective indie with genuine hints of melancholy.  Highlights and Lowlights – ‘Between guilt and relief’ and ‘On your mind’ have good melodies and sounds ‘nice’. Flip the coin and you have to watch Keith’s vocals as they can sound a bit tuneless and flat at times. The stand out track here is ‘Identifying interpretation’ which with a post production going over and making the vocal clearer could be a real winner. Verdict – Not an album that instantly grabs nor is it going to win any prices for innovation. Also as mentioned previously the production ain’t sparkling neither. That said it is pretty endearing and once you get a handle on Keith Lynch’s vocal style it’s a pretty listenable album. File Under Nice try!

Scars on Broadway –

Velvet Hammer / Interscope

15 Tracks – 45 minutes 05 seconds

Intro – Two members of System of a down follow five platinum albums with their new project, Scars on Broadway.The Music – Not recommended for the faint hearted, in fact not recommended that highly at all! ‘Funny’ and ‘Insane’ aren’t too bad as they actually possess a tune and even melodies! A lot of the album is just noise for the hell of it, ‘Exploding / reloading’ has the speed but none of the melody and something like ‘Stoner hate’ is just dreadful. Lyrically at times it’s just awful, ‘Stoner hate’ is just a joke and ‘Chemicals’ is just plain vile, trying to shock for the sake of it so they can put the parent advisory sticker on the case. ‘Cute machines’ tries it’s best but it descends into all guitars and shouting which is a bit of a shame. Highlights and Lowlights – The Likes of ‘Kill each other / live forever’ and ‘Funny’ are tolerable and on their own they are listenable. ‘Chemicals’ on the other hand is just a crime against music! 15 tracks is just far too many tracks, there’s a distinct lack of quality control which affects the flow of the album. Scars on Broadway never sound any good as a shock rock combo and never really convincing as they try to be more ‘serious’. Caught between pretty poor stools. Verdict – If you were a fan of System of a Down then I’m sure this will appeal to you however there are far greater, cleverer and more interesting rock albums out there than this. File Under rock at it’s most average and unoriginal!

Pete Brame – My Secret Suicide

Impact Music

10 Tracks – 45 minutes 36 seconds

Intro – Should we know who Pete Brame is? His press release gives the impression that we should but his name really doesn’t ring any bells at all but still anyone who claims to be unable to live without his record collection and includes the likes of The Beatles, The Verve and Ryan Adams in his favourite bands makes our ears prick up. (additional info: turns out he was in fame academy and used to date fern Cotton!) The Music – It’s fair to say that this isn’t hardcore metal! ‘Lost for good’ takes heavily from the Ashcroft influence but it’s more akin to Richards solo work than that of uber group The Verve. In fact those who love the earth that Ashcroft walks should seek out Brame cause it’ll be right up their street. It’s laid back, heavily acoustic guitar based melodic anthemic indie rock. Do we see that as a bad thing? No, Pete does have the Ashcroft vocal style at times but his vocals are usually pretty warm and moving. Highlights and Lowlights – It’s solid stuff, which really means there aren’t any peaks and troughs to speak off. ‘Long Time blues’ is pretty good whilst the layered vocals of ‘Things’ works darn well. Title track ‘My secret suicide’ closes proceedings in real style, understated glory with piano adding another level of atmosphere. Verdict – Those of a semi acoustic melody driven indie pop disposition should seek out Pete Brame and ‘My Secret Suicide’ and add them to their collection poste haste. Pete knows the value of a melody and how to write touching songs that will stay with you. Should we know who Pete Brame is? On the evidence of ‘My Secret Suicide’ hell yes. File Under melodies to burn.

Look See Proof – Between Here and There

Weekender Records

12 Tracks – Length 34 minutes 07 Seconds

Intro –‘The band are creating the sort of angular, choppy, vocally layered, danceable music that people are fast finding hard to ignore’ quote their press release… discuss! The Music – Yep, they have quite frankly nailed that one! Most of the time press releases aren’t exactly accurate with their descriptions but that is really on the money. It’s choppy, in yer face, guitar frenzied indie of the first order, no song is longer than 3 minutes 27 seconds so they follow the three minute wonder pop blueprint right to the wire. If you need reference points take a pitch of The Futureheads, add a tad of Foals then stir in a chunk of Boy Kill Boy and you have a fair musical soup to hit the taste buds. Highlights and Lowlights – It’s difficult to pick out any fillers on ‘Between here and there’ which is testament to what a fine debut album it is. The tracks never stay around long enough to get offensive but suffice to say the angular guitars of ‘Keeping mistakes’ grabs the attention and ‘Casualty’ fits in snugly early doors. ‘High Horse’ aims to have a more epic sound whereas stuff like ‘Do you think it’s right’ goes for and succeeds with a more accessible ‘simple’ indie sound.  Verdict – Look see proof is apt as ‘Between here and there’ is the proof that this band has the magical indie touch, first rate.  File Under - Indie new kids on the block do good.

Gavin Rossdale – Wanderlust

Interscope

14 Tracks – 61 minutes

Intro – Now widely known as Mr Gwen Stefani which is a tad unfair to say that his former band, Bush were a mega stadium act on the other side of the pond and sold shed loads of albums. Even after selling mega units they never had the critical acclaim of Nirvana or even Pearl Jam. And their brand of blatant sub Americana grunge rock didn’t really strike any chords with his fellow brits hence his tag as Mr former No doubter come fashion solo artist.The Music – Well if you’d have asked what this album was going to sound like before it entered the CD player the response would have been, ‘bland, average, unexciting, middle of the road bland rock’ and hey guess what after a couple of listens that’s right!  Highlights and Lowlights – There is no highs or lows on ‘Wanderlust’ as it never gets out of second gear and there’s no danger of it ever hitting overdrive. Verdict – Apparently ‘Wanderlust’ was recorded in Rossdale’s home studio in Maui and you can tell, it’s just too comfy, there’s just no edge to it at all. Unfortunately Rossdale ain’t gonna step out of the Stefani shadows with this, he’s managed to put out an average album of background music which some might say kinda sums up his life. File Under obvious and uninspiring.

Coldplay – Viva La Vida or Death and all his friends

Parlaphone / EMI

10 Tracks – 45 minutes 53 seconds

Intro – If you don’t know who Chris Martin & Co are then what the hell have you been doing for the last decade! Coldplay have redefined moody indie guitar music and turned it into a stadium artform. Without Coldplay it wouldn’t be acceptable to do the following: have a band outfit (Muse tried it and looked like Muppets), be a southerner (Radiohead and Keane still come across as mardy, southern bedwetters), have a celebrity film star wife (and not look like media hungry whores) and even name your kids stupid names (Apple looks okay while Lennon looks a bit daft!). The Music – ‘Viva La Vida’ (it’s true title is just too damn long for this review) isn’t as straightforward an album as it’s predecessors but saying that it’s not a bad album. It’s just not as immediate and would be truer to class as more of a ‘grower’. Probably the first signs of the familiar ‘big’ Coldplay sound is ‘Lost’ with it’s organ vying with Martin’s vocals for maximum impact, it’s a bit of a belter. Then they follow it up with ‘42’, Martin’s rich vocals are all over a low-key intro before it blows into life. ‘Lovers in Japan / reign of love’ has gained much critical claim leading up to ‘Viva La Vida’s release but just don’t be put off by it’s plinky plinky beginnings, it matures into a fantastic song with quite a pace to it and lyrically it conjures up some great imagery. ‘Yes’ is one of those understated, growers but piano and Martin go together like strawberries and cream, he has such a great voice. ‘Yes’ is no shrinking violet, it has influences of George Harrison and sounds different yet blatantly Coldplay (if that makes any sense). Then out of the blue comes Coldplay in My Bloody Valentine shocker, that layered showgaze guitar sound with Martin way down in the mix playing second fiddle to those blinding guitars, mighty and suprising in equal messages! And the winner is… the single ‘Viva la Vida’ is that stand out track, bizarre mid section but those strings and Martins lyrics are spot on. As sure as eggs is eggs a number one single at both sides of the Atlantic, deserved too, still not as obvious and accessible as singles off previous albums but perhaps that makes it a greater feat. We all know about ‘Violet Hill’ a great free marketing tool of a song, not as good as ‘Viva la vida’ but with a big, big chorus. ‘Strawberry swing’ brings the tempo down while ‘Death to all his friends’ brings down the curtain with some style. Highlights and Lowlights – ‘Lovers in Japan / reign of love’ is a great, great song with champion lyrics and musically Coldplay the band in top form.  The single ‘Viva la vida’ has all the credentials to be that first number one single. That surprising My Bloody Valentine moment is up there too! Verdict – ‘Viva la Vida’ isn’t a four single plus six album tracks kinda record, it’s more an album that tries to flow and not have the big ups and some downs. It’s definitely an album to love from day one but the more you listen the more you can get out of it. ‘Viva la Vida’ is a multi dimension piece of work that in years to come with be held in greater reverence than it is now and that’s the sign of a great album. File Under classic in five years time

The Futureheads – This is Not The World

Nul Records

12 Tracks – 39 minutes 35 seconds

Intro – Sunderland’s finest or overhyped? Well over the last few years probably a bit of both, but there hasn’t really been much competition! That said this is their third long playing offering so it’s time to put up or shut up, oh no it’s the difficult third album! The Music – Blatantly indie, shed loads of guitars and energy This is Not The World is an album that once and for all puts the nails into the overhyped coffin. It delivers, and in some style too. The opener and first single dropped ‘The beginning of the twist’ is a blinder, it’s immense, everything you want out of a song which is why it went top 20 and graced the likes of radio 1 and mtv. ‘Walking backwards’ don’t hang around neither, like a blueprint for the album and ‘Think tonight’ has that blueprint, adds a punk ethos and power and goes into overdrive. The pace never seems to give up, title track ‘This is not the world’ has a great riff flowing through it and then they just drop in killer rhythm and drums onto of it, genius. ‘Broke up in time’ has the whole punk power pop genre done in less than three minutes. If you ever listened to The Clash, The Buzzcocks or even The Jam and thought yeah like it then This is Not The World should be number one on your shopping list.  Highlights and Lowlights – Opener ‘The beginning of the twist’ is such a gem it’s gonna be hard to top it in their career let alone in the other 11 tracks! Verdict – The Futureheads answer all the questions ever levelled at them and in some style too. They never lose sight of their past or influences but just really raise the indie guitar bar higher and higher.  File Under – essential indie.

The Whip – X Marks Destination

Southern Fried Records

10 Tracks

Intro – So lets get this right, The Whip have gained a mighty reputation as being THE best live band from Manchester and that is some accolade judging from past greats from the city that never stops buzzing. We’ve witnessed them at first hand and they lived up to the hype too, so no pressure with there debut album then.The Music – Wow, X Marks Destinations opens in some style, ‘Trash’ is a fully fledged corker! It pushes all the right buttons from the intro, the buzzing beat and classic vocals. It truly blows you aware. ‘Frustration’ comes up all New Order in the dark atmospheric best. ‘Fire’ lays some serious grooves, a blinding tune, which really kicks on. ‘Sirens’ is more straightforward tune, coming out of the New Order stable but brilliantly listenable. Whereas ‘Divebomb’ is an out and out dance tune with disco beats, one for the hands in the air! ‘Blackout’ follows adding a little more structure and some vocals but still has those Electro beats banging around to great effect. ‘Sister Siam’ has all the bleeps and beats and a neat and tidy vocal too, nice Electro juncture mid song before building back up to the big finish. Unfortunately ‘Dubsex’ doesn’t quite fit the big finish bill which is a minor quibble, perhaps it would have been more appropriate to spin ‘Sister Siam’ and ‘Dubsex’ round which may have given the album the finish it deserves.Highlights and Lowlights – Lowlights, what are talking about? ‘Trash’ is a showstopper but there really isn’t a duff track on X Marks Destination. If you love indie, Electro dance fusion you’ll blooming well love this.Verdict – This is a barn stormer of an album, it includes all the beats, the grooves and then some. Another killer offering from the Country’s premier musical city. The Whip are another stella name to add the ever-growing list of manc stars. As debut albums go this is up there with the best, pushing all the right buttons (quite literally!) and getting the feet onto the floors and hands in the air. A stunner. File Under Buzzing

The Charlatans – You cross my path

Cooking Vinyl (or free download via XFM)

10 Tracks - 36 minutes 47 seconds

Intro – Some people think the internet is a good thing and some people think it’s a bad thing, the same goes for giving downloads away for nothing. Fortunately for a band of the stature of The Charlatans they can do it with little adverse effect for their earning potential especially if there is a nice sponsorship tie in too. For those who like their music a little bit more physical there’s a couple of Cd editions and even an old skool vinyl release by the revitalised Cooking Vinyl boys. The Music – ‘Oh Vanity’ is an absolute stonker, the hammond is in full effect (bits do sound like they have been nicked straight out of the swinging sixties but we ain’t bothered about that) with top notch drums and Tim’s vocals sounding the real deal. This is some opener and The Charlatans in full flow, what a start. But then it’s a bit weird Tim’s vocals go a bit Bernard Sumner and on the whole the keyboards start to have more of a New Order tinge to them too. ‘Bad Days’ is more about the bass and drums but there’s still a hint of their north west contemporaries. ‘The Misbegotton’ sounds like the result of a New Order and The Charlatans cross pollination experiment, Tim’s vocals landing on ‘Get ready’ era keys and bass combo, great if you are a fan of the whole Manchester experience! One thing that can be said that this is one of the most accessible albums to date, there isn’t too many dark and brooding moments to be found on this album. The hammond returns for ‘A day for letting go’ and Tim’s vocals are on the money for title track ‘You cross my path’ which flys along at a fair old pace as does a mega ‘Missing beats (of a generation)’. ‘My name is despair’ is perhaps the darkest track on the album but it fails to get going and hit the high notes and swirls around in a haze of keyboards and Burgess vocals. ‘Bird’ is a mix of New Order and strangely My Bloody Valentine (listen to the guitars) and is the least Charlatan track on the album. The hammond dominates the finale ‘The is the end’ which is a neat way to end proceedings, Tim sounds great.Highlights and Lowlights – ‘You cross my path’ and especially ‘Oh vanity’are both top notch Charlatans and stand up against their vast back catalogue, this is high praise indeed. ‘Missing beats (of a generation)’ is a blinder too and even gets a bit of an electro wig out. There are times when they do go too far into New Order territory which is a bit of a shame (‘Bird’ been the main culprit) and ‘My name is despair’ doesn’t really get off the ground. It ends if fine fashion and ‘This is the end’ means it leaves on a high. Verdict – This sounds strange but this isn’t the most Charlatans sounding of albums but even though it should contain enough to impress old hands and the pop edge should bring in some new followers too especially if they are getting it for nowt! And anyhow something as good as ‘Oh Vanity’ deserves a place in any music collection whether it been stuck on a hard drive or on a neat little shiny disc.File Under a new order for The Charlatans.

I Forward Russia – Life Processes

Cooking Vinyl

11 Tracks – 52 minutes 38 seconds

Intro – Second album from Leeds lads and lasses who constantly seem to be unsure to be Forward, Russia or I Forward, Russia! The Music – Musically this seems I Forward, Russia have kicked up through the gears. They have a ‘bigger’ sound, harder edge but still manage to mix this with a softer, brittle side too, which kinda, mixes things up a bit. They are able to pump the gas too, ‘Spring is a condition’ has a real pace about it as does ‘Don’t reinvent what you don’t understand’. The bug bare that holds Life Processes back is Tom Woodhead’s vocals, when pressed the range just isn’t there and he sounded ill at ease and too often cringe worthy. This starts right from ‘Welcome to the moment’ and really ruins vast chunks of the long player. It’s a bit of a shame really as musically at time Life Processes is on the money and when Woodhead puts his mind to it he actually sounds quite charming on the eerie ‘Fosbury in discontent’. Then it’s back in troubled waters on the rock out ‘A shadow is a shadow is a shadow’. It just makes the album patchy at best and in parts pretty unbearable. Highlights and Lowlights – The lowlights seem to concentrate on the limitations of Woodhead’s vocals, that said when they are kept within check they can come out on top. ‘Spring is a condition’ is the way forward (Russia!). Whereas ‘Gravity & Heat’ the vocal distracts from a great rock guitar blitz, shame. The finale ‘Spanish triangles’ is another where Woodhead is held with the music and both benefit for it, a half decent way to end things. Verdict – Disappointing vocal ruins what could have really pushed them on in a way that Biffy Cylro have achieved. Bit of a missed opportunity then. File Under Leeds lad requires tutor for singing lessons!

Big Linda – I Loved You

Ursa Major Records

11 Tracks – 49 minutes 11 seconds

Intro – Rock’s dead then? Well according to Big Linda it isn’t! The Music – Let’s not beat around the bush, this is old-fashioned rock fayre. It’s opens with ’Suddenly attacked’ which starts off pretty softly before the Chris Cornell (Soundgarden & Audioslave) style vocals kick in and the whole thing perks up. Single ‘Golden Girl’ is more straight forward rock and roll but plenty of tune and melody are allowed to come to the fore, but there is a bit of a scream at the end just for the hell of it. Influence wise it’s the usual suspects; Led Zep, Guns’ n Roses, Aerosmith, Motley Crew, Soundgarden, Deep Purple etc etc. ‘Idelu’ is a heads down rock fest and ‘Windpower’ pins their Cornell influence firmly to the mast and says so what as it ends in real rock opulence! But as ever bands like Big Linda are best when they have the wind in their sails and going for it, ‘Jenny Don’t’ is as good as it gets. As ever though rock bands feel the need to show their softer side and ‘Gone’ is Big Linda’s take on that. Normal service is resumed for the bullish ’15 seconds’ but the finish with venerable Big Linda, the free bird spreading it’s wings in ‘Just passing’. Highlights and Lowlights – So there’s plenty of self indulgence on ‘I Loved You’ but that the point of rock bands, excess and indulgence, let’s face it this ain’t ever be a ‘Ok Computer’! ‘Golden Girl’ is a fantastic single and a fine rock moment to boot and ‘Jenny don’t’ is an immediate rush of a song. Lowlights are the times where they slip towards to the wrong side of the over indulgent line which they do on a few occasions, take the guitar solo in ‘Get it while you can’! Verdict – Who ever said rock was dead was a fool. Big Linda and co aren’t exactly pushing back the musical boundaries but whoever said every band needs to feel the need to be experimental! Fortunately Big Linda doesn’t ever get drawn into the hardcore trap and as rock goes Big Linda do indeed rock. If you want it, Big Linda have got in and in spades too.File Under Big Linda, big noise!

Morrissey – Greatest Hits

Decca

15 Tracks – Length 51 minutes 11 seconds

Intro – First of all the album cover shot says just about everything you need to know about Morrissey; the awkward beauty, the pose which begs the question ‘what is going through your mind’ but most of all you don’t even know who it’s by (that’s true – see the inner sleeve credits). Ah the mystery of it all. Anyway if you need a proper intro to a best of album by somebody like Morrissey you have literally had your head stuck in the sand for the last twenty odd years. Morrissey is about as close to living legend as you get.The Music – Morrissey is one of those rare breeds, jumping ship from one of the best and most important bands of all time and been able to say ‘my solo work is as good as that’ because to be fair to the man, it bloody is! He can do the beautiful and intense and that on the other hand he can give the rockabily and roll a real run for it’s money. ‘Greatest Hits’ has a good mix of the two. Of the beautiful, 2004’s ‘Let me kiss you’ has all the hallmarks of Morrissey at this poignant best, his voice simply lovely. To the beasts, the stunning Morrissey backing band (Boz Boorer is a gem) give opener ‘First of the gang’ real bite and the intro and guitars in ‘Irish Blood, English heart’ hold there own against those lyrics! That’s another thing lyrically all Morrissey’s favourite topics are covered from love, hatred, death, politics (state of England is his pet subject!) and even petty violence.Highlights and Lowlights – Putting two new tracks on a hits album also seems a bit low but when one is as good as ‘All you need is me’ then fair play. As ever most won’t be able to stop themselves searching for those ‘old hits’ and the trio of ‘Everyday is like Sunday’, ‘Suedehead’ and ‘The last of the famous international playboys’ is sure to statify the most hungry of musical appetites. Obviously every fan will complain of personal favourites missing, surely ‘November spawned a monster’ is worthy of a berth plus a bit more ‘Your Arsenal’ would be nice but that’s the pitfall of compilations. The sleeve is a bit of a disappointment, no lyrics or explanations just chart positions and dates but perhaps that Morrissey all over isn’t it? What you do get is a picture of an arse, allegedly Moz’s own none the less (if you believe that).  Anyway musically it’s still a tour de force and to fans (who should own all bar two tracks here) and converts it’s a worthy addition to anyone’s collection.Verdict – Morrissey released ‘I have forgiven Jesus’ as his Christmas single isn’t that just the greatest verdict on Morrissey, bigger than God? No he thinks he is God and they’re plenty of his fans who’d whole heartily agree too.File Under Legends!

The Eels – Meet the Eels (Essential Eels Vol.1 1996-2006)

Geffen / Universal

24 Tracks – 1 hour 19 minutes 48 seconds

Intro – It’s a big hands up and sorry for the Eels round shadders way as we only really knew The Eels for two things, ‘Novocaine for the soul’ and the fact that E looked like one big nerd! What we were excited to find out that The Eels are one hell of a prolific bunch and that E with a big beard and bigger glasses looks less like a nerd and more like a mad bomber!The Music – You don’t get much more ‘alternative left field’ at the other side of the Atlantic than the Eels and that’s not just the music but lyrically. To be fair you don’t get much better than The Eels on this showing neither, when it’s says essential it damn well means it. On the lyrical front you don’t get too many singing about naked youths in bodybags, but that’s exactly what you get on ‘Susan’s House’ but strangely it never seems out of place! Then on ‘I like birds’ the main lyrics are indeed how they erm like birds! On a more ‘normal’ note there’s plenty of blinding tunes, even within the first five tracks there’s three absolute corkers, your guess at which ones we mean but you get the general idea and bare in mind there’s over twenty tracks on here. The Eels are also a bit of a contradiction; one of their most beautiful songs is actually called ‘It’s a motherfucker’ and incorporates plenty of colourful languauge. Highlights and Lowlights – On the flipside to the Morrissey best of The Eels album has some fantastic sleeve notes. It has a decent biog, honest notes on each and every track and is worth a look for the awesome pic of E in the Pentagon, class! The picture on the inside of the sleeve however does confirm the shadders viewpoint of he is a geek! Musically you could mention a shed load of highpoints so we go for a few ‘essential listens’! ‘Flyswatter’ has a strange haunting vibe, ‘Your lucky day in hell’ is one hell of a tune and ‘Mr E’s beautiful Blues’ has a steaming beckesque groove to it whereas ‘Souljacker part 1’ has a real kick to it (and sounds as dirty as Nick Cave at his bad seeds best). Despite the brilliance of ‘Saturday Morning’ and the laid back cool of ‘Love of the loveless’ still in our eyes the best moment has to be ‘Novacaine for the soul’ it just sums up what stunning records The Eels can produce. If we had our arms forced round our back we’d probably say the lowpoint is ‘I like birds’ just a bit too far on the wrong side of weird! Verdict – Like we mentioned earlier they have not undersold this album but saying it’s essential, anyone who claims to have a passing interest or more in the ‘indie music’ genre should have this album as part of their collection. It’s still edgy enough but still contains some proper tunes, can’t wait for volume 2! File Under Fucking A or should that be fucking E, man!

Rivers Cuomo – The Home recordings of River Cuomo

Geffen

18 Tracks – 45 minutes 51 seconds

Intro – Rivers Cuomo is the front piece of Weezer, American geek rock combo and this is an album of his home recordings or as we like to refer to them… demo’s. A great opportunity to show Weezer’s fanbase how their favourite tracks came to life. The Music – It starts off all very low key ‘Ooh’ just seems to amble around without any real intent. It’s followed by the lowest of lo-fi ‘The world we love so much’ which is frankly dreadful, the out of kilter vocals are heavily overpowered by twee jangerly guitars, just plain awful. Then what on earth is going on in ‘Lemonade’ did Rivers himself okay this track to be included? Chimps could have recorded something better! The one everyone knows ‘Buddy Holly’ is a pale imitation of it’s produced cousin but at least you can hear a tune in there. ‘Longtime sunshine’ ain’t so bad; a simple low key song that seems best suited to this type of affair. It’s unfortunately followed by ‘Blast off!’ which is just dire, bad vocal effects which again mask off Cuomo’s off key singing.  It’s what you’d expect musically from Weezer’s frontman and there ain’t no surprise dance or rockabiliy spin offs! Highlights and Lowlights – Plenty of lowlights, ‘The world we love so much’ and it’s out of tune vocals is pretty damn low for a start. The big hit ‘buddy holly’ shows the problem with the album, it’s probably the best song here but it just sounds poor in comparison to the finished version. It’s weird but there are too many times when the question has to be asked can River Cuomo actually sing, too often the vocals are just painful, why would you allow such recordings to be released? Of the high points ‘Superfriend’ is more like it, but that may be as it sounds more like a ‘finished’ song.  Unfortunately there ain’t are real highs just a series of disappointing lows. Verdict – Why? Is the sentiment left after listening to this, I’m sure die-hards will find it of some interest and I sure that Rivers himself enjoyed listening back to the songs but why bother releasing them on an album? We’re damn sure each and every finished track sounds better than the versions found on this home recordings album so just buy the finished, polished end product.  File Under over indulgence and lack of judgement from Geffen.

Amy Macdonald – This is the life (Melodramatic Records / Mercury) Intro – So where do we start with Amy? Well she’s pretty young and err pretty and comes out of Scotland armed with an acoustic guitar and eleven beautifully sang songs to melt our stone hearts. The Music – Shall we dispense with the phrase folk at the off, we prefer to avoid that phrase as it still conjures up visions of bearded forty year blokes in bad jumpers singing even worse songs and Amy Macdonald is a damn sight better than all that. Amy is particularly good at either belting out a decent peppy tune or getting down and dirty with a slow burner that with her lovely distinctive vocals can easily gets the hairs on the back of the neck standing on end. Title track ‘This is the life’ has a bit of an alt country edge with the vocals sounding like they lived more live than Amy’s years, it’s one of those that will have your foot tapping before you even know it. ‘Let’s start a band’ is a glorious strum and picks up to showcase the accent in Amy’s vocals. Single ‘LA’ is more conventional and uptempo, it’s quite a nippy little song and well suited to a nod along to on the wireless. ‘A wish for something more’ is up there too, a bit KT Tunstall but a bit of a stomper all the same. ‘Footballer’s wife’ may have a rubbish title but the song really showcases Amy’s vocals, it’s stripped down and a neat slow pace with the vocal the star of the show. Then ‘The Road to home’ is simply beautiful, it’s understated and Amy’s gentle vocals are just lovely, a great way to end an album (I’ll forget the hidden track as it’s a bit like an song for the scottish tourist board!). Verdict – For a debut album this is quite the gem. It’s peppered with some fine songs all underpinned by the vocal talent of one the finds of the year. File under from Scotland with love!

Soulwax- Remixes (Parlaphone / EMI Records) Intro – We’ll leave this up to Soulwax themselves. “Most of the remixes we’ve made for other people over the years except for the one for Einsturzende Neubauten because we lost it and a few we didn’t think sounded good enough or just didn’t fit in length wise, but including some that are hard to find because either people forgot about them or simply because they haven’t been released yet, a few we really love, one we think is just ok some we did for free, some we did for money, some for ourselves without permission and some for friends as swaps but never on time and always at our studio in Ghent”. So that’s that then! Well no not really we’re really dubious about remixes, surely it’s best to listen to a track how the artist intended and we’ve really viewed them in the past as a means of filling some space as b side fodder. Can Soulwax and their 14 mixes prove otherwise? The Music – The first track up is their take on the legendary Gossip track ‘Standing in the way of control’. Now lets be right this is a killer tune and it has to be one fucking good remix to improve on that, but by golly I think they just about pulled it off. They have kept the finest, strongest Ditto vocals and blasted in some beats that The Chemical Brothers would love to call their own, spot on. The Klaxons ‘Gravity Remix’ is quite refreshing too, the vox are left pretty much alone but the music is brighter. On the flip side to the pro’s come some major con’s, their take on Kylie’s ‘Can’t get you out of my head’ is dreadful with reving heavy music that drowns out Kylie’s vocals, this proves the mixes can ruin a bloody good song argument. Soulwax don’t really add much to Gorillaz ‘Dare’ neither, the original couldn’t get a lot better and this rather plain bleepy mix confirms it. So it’s a bit of a mixed bag, pardon the pun and it finishes off in rather surreal style, Sugababes ‘Round Round’ followed by Muse ‘Muscle Museum’ now you don’t get that very often! To be perfectly honest the single mix of ‘Round Round’ is a million times better than this, they have stripped the song of all the energy, it’s now just a bit dull. Muse fair slightly better as it has a better pace about it but still it ain’t nothing spectacular. The Verdict – I’m sure if you like a beat or two you might find this the perfect album and no doubt you love the 16 track mix disc too. That’s another thing why bother, surely tracks have a start, middle and end? Why on earth would you want to feed Gossip seemlessly into LCD Soundsystem or have you so little spare time in your life you cannot a few second gap between songs! So really it’s alright but still I’d rather find the original Gossip track rather bother putting this on. File under remixing hasn’t killed the radio star.  

Babyshambles – Shooters nation (Parlaphone / EMI)  Intro – Let’s see the headline, ‘smackhead spends enough time out of court to record new album’. Is that fair! Is he trying to be funny naming the album ‘Shooters nation’? And that artwork is that supposed to be cool? In any other walk of life this bloke would be seen as a fucking dirty good for nothing smack head and would actually spend most of his life at her majesties pleasure but for some reason he’s held up as a genius, well come on genius show us what you got! The Music – It don’t take long before the shocking realisation dawns, Pete Doherty can’t actually sing! It happens in the first track ‘Carry on up the morning’ and carries on throughout the whole album. Probably his premier vocal performance is on ‘Delivery’ which actually is an excellent song, it has some excellent retro guitars, mean keys and the aforementioned Doherty in singing in tune shocker. ‘You talk’ however has dreadful cringe worthy vocals, the delivery of ‘You talk’ will have you hiding behind the sofa and the rest of the song is really nothing more than a watered down Libertines b side at any rate. ‘UnBiloTitled’ is a good comedown song (and no doubt he’s had plenty of those moments) but ‘Side of the road’ is a bit of a drab punk by numbers run through with shot to fuck vocals and piss poor guitars. ‘Crumb Begging Baghead’ has a cracking retro guitar intro; in fact it has a rather neat backbeat running through it, a bit Doors, which is never a bad thing. ‘Unstookie Titled’ is another low key track but it is best suited to Doherty’s vocals, even when he ups the ante half way through he just about manages to keep it together, some more good guitar work too. On the other hand ‘French Dog Blues’ is pretty rubbish and the rockabily fused ‘There she goes’ quite plainly doesn’t work. Doherty’s vocal jinx hits again during ‘ Deft left hand’ but it fits in well, as it’s a messy unforgettable song anyway. Doherty tries to get acoustic on ‘Lost art of murder’ but his voice just can’t cut the mustard with just a guitar for company. The Verdict – This ain’t no work of genius, we admit there’s a few decent tunes on here but some truly stink and Doherty’s vocals at times are nothing short of dreadful. Thanks to the tabloid fascination with Doherty’s love life and the music press arse licking this will no doubt shift massive units but if it had anyone else’s name on the cover it would get a luke warm reception and deservedly so. File under everyone says it’s good so I’ll have to buy it but it’s clearly over hyped and a bit average!

My American Heart – Hiding inside the horrible weather (Bodog music) Intro – My American Heart are from San Diego, like rock and have spent time on the Vans Warped tour, now do we need to say more? The Music – What are you expecting? It’s American indie rock of the pop punk variety that said it’s actually quite good! It has a refreshing air and the vocals although a tad obvious are very palatable. Opener ‘Boy! Grab your guns’ sets the stall out with its up guitars but behind it all is quite a serious story. It’s quickly followed by another slice of likeable American pie, ‘Speak low if you speak love’ is another that fits the formula of say a Fall Out Boy but it’s too well done to be bothered by easy comparisons. That’s the thing with ‘Hiding inside the horrible weather’ there is a bit of déjà vu but it’s so likeable it’s forgiven and you move onto the next track almost knowing what it’ll be like but also knowing you’re going to like it too. Indeed title track ‘Hiding inside the horrible weather’ a glorious guitar fuelled, energy driven pop rock classic. ‘There are more frightening things’ sees them head into more rock infused territory but that’s counteracted by ‘Dangerous’ that sees them via down the soft and sensitive cul de sac. Normal service is resumed in the shape of ‘Moving on’ which know what pace is needed and gives it some. Finale ‘All my friends’ ends on a bit of a downer but does show that My American Heart aren’t one dimensional and also know what an acoustic guitar sounds like! Verdict – These aren’t going to win any prices for originality but it’ll win plenty of plaudits for it’s no nonsense approach and selection of damn fine songs. Again like so many bands of their ilk listen to the lyrics, as they are as daft as this genre is portrayed. All told then a pretty good listen. File under obviously American but with plenty of heart!

Stephen Fretwell – man on the roof (Fiction / Polydor) Intro – Fretwell’s debut long player ‘Magpie’ showed that the Scunny lad cum born again Manc showed that he had the ability to pen a bloody good song. At his best with an acoustic guitar his err rather distinctive vocal style meant he avoided the Blunt comparisons. ‘Man on the roof’ is his follow up and we’ll be looking for some more of the same please. The Music – It starts off badly, no I mean really badly. We’re not sure where Fretters is coming from with ‘Coney’ it sounds like pissed off (or indeed pissed up) Chas n’ Dave singing steptoe and son…. next! Fortunately there’s a skip button on the remote and ‘Darlin’ don’t’ is back right down to business. There’s the formula of voice, melody and guitar done to a tee. And then there’s ‘She’ which is magic, echoes of solo Lennon both in vocal delivery and music, the great man would no doubt approve. Lyrically the album is on the money too except for maybe titling a track ‘William Shatner’s dog’! There’s also a couple of cringe worthy lines scattered around the place, most notably in ‘Dead’ the worse ‘Thirteen red roses that soon will be dead, should I box them up for you darling, perhaps make a hat for your head’ bit cheesy that! On the flip side the story in ‘Funny Hat’ is incredibly well written and makes an excellent song. As you get further into the fourteen tracks it actually gets better and better. ‘Scar’ ups the pace and with its mixture of alt country, folk and rock is a blinder. But it’s downbeat that he scores best with and ‘Now’ then ‘ Sleep’ both truly are great examples at what Fretwell is all about. ‘The ground beneath your feet’ continues the quality with acoustic strumming to accompany Stephen’s voice. The second mistake on the album although not as spectacular as ‘Coney’ is ‘Saturday’ with intentionally gruff vocals it just doesn’t really work. What does work is ‘San Francisco blues’ which is a belter, it’s got the full band and a melody to die for. The Verdict – It’s an album that gets better the more you listen to it. Fair enough there isn’t much wheel re-inventing but Stephen Fretwell can’t half write a cracking tune and his unique vocals are pretty compelling. Just a shame about that bloody first track then! File Under acoustic bliss par excellence.

The Arctic Monkeys – Favourite Worst Nightmare (Domino) Intro – It’s more than well documented the cosmic rise from South Yorkshire teenagers to world music leaders so we won’t bother retreading old ground. Suffice to say their second long player falls squarely into the ‘eagerly awaited category’ so does it live up to that debut? The Music – ‘Brainstorm’ is one hell of a signal of intent, it’s obvious really early doors that The Arctic Monkeys haven’t dropped the baton, it’s clear it’s business as usual. ‘Teddy Picker’ has some real dubious lyrics but it’s one hell of a tune, quite rightly it’s a favourite of fans already. So anyway where have the Monkeys gone to? Well not a great distance from the debut but they have upped the ante, sounding more mature, a bit harder, brasher even with distorted vocals entering the fray too. ‘Flouresent Adolescent’ does hark back to the stunning debut, pretty accessible and an obvious choice for a single too. The thing that perhaps impresses most is the maturity issue, Alex Turner has shown ability beyond his years. A lot of people can write a decent enough tune but Turner’s lyrics and compositions are simply stunning. That debut showed Alex Turner to be no ordinary lyricist and this follow up continues the trend of simple yet splendidly effective lyrics, ‘Do me a favour’ and especially finale ‘505’ are excellent examples of the art. ‘This house is a circus’ is another success, with a beast of an ending and feeds nicely into the bastardised guitar intro of ‘If you were there, beware’. For great bass and guitar combo check out ‘Old yellow bricks’ with again ace lyrics and vocals. A true gem ‘505’ is simple, has stunning lyrics and just sounds like a band truly on top of their game. Highlights and lowlights – There ain’t no lowlights, no dodgy filler tracks, it’s a real power house of an album. No longer does Alex sound so regional (not that was ever a problem for us local lads) what they do sound is just so damn cool, calculated and blindingly effective. As with all great albums and remember this is a great album it’s difficult to pick stand out tracks but it’s hard to go far with ‘Brainstorm’. ‘Teddy Picker’ is a bit off the wall but in a good way but saying that ‘505’ will take some beating; the lyrics breathtaking, infectious as hell even though it starts at a low tempo before blowing the lid off, just awesome. Verdict – Try beat this! File under perfection with guitars. 

Damien Dempsey – To Hell or Barbados (IRL) Intro – Irish singer songwriter blah blah brought up singing blah blah. No wait take a proper look at this man, he looks like he’s hard as nails and the album title actually relates to little known forced Irish slavery where Cromwell and his troops sent up to 50,000 from the Emerald Isle to the Caribbean as slaves. Worth a further look then? Well yes, as it happens as this is actually Dempsey’s fourth studio album (there is a live lp too to be completists!) and he is one of Irelands most successful singers whose fans include Sinead O’Connor, Shane McGowen and none other that that charming man Morrissey. The Music – Having said all this we fear the worst as the intro to the opener ‘Maasai’ sounds like it’s going to be an overblown folk ‘epic’ but fears are dispelled as it turns into a fine tune. ‘Kilburn Stroll’ shows the vocal talent of Dempsey, powerful but not overblown with that strong (but not over powering) Irish lilt. The song has a folky edge but cannot be described merely as a folk song if that makes any sense! ‘How Strange’ has the sensitive music of really early Cranberries which suites the sensitive side of Dempsey’s vocals but he is able to up the ante and power at any point which shows great versatility. ‘Chase the light’ does drift into folk territory, perhaps the kind of inhabited by The Levellers mixed up with Irish soul. It shouldn’t surprise that Dempsey has traditional Irish musical roots and they do re-appear on ‘Your Pretty face’ but it is a nice ditty and a pleasant enough tune. Actually if you check out musicians that appear on the album it provides evidence that traditional influences are brought up to date as whistle, flutes, pipes, mandolins, accordions, fiddles feature along side moog and Hammond keyboards. This conflict is no more evident that in the real highlight of the album ‘Serious’. Not a track you’d expect to be magical as it is a drug song, smack in fact. It’s as much a story as a song but musically it all comes together in fantastic fashion as the lyrics tell of a man fighting the temptation of the drug. Strangely after this intense highlight comes the albums lowlight, ‘Teachers’ is great in theory showing Dempsey’s Bob Marley and world influences but it just sounds dreadfully out of place. ‘Summers in my heart’ sounds more like it, lovely lyrics show the beauty that lies in Dempsey’s vocal. The albums namesake ‘To Hell or Barbados’ is a real powerhouse of a song, the lyrics hard hitting but actually painfully subtle, personal and sensitive. Like any good song it not only sounds good but it drags you into the meaning of the lyrics, the shadders team listened to this album shortly after returning from South West Ireland where much is made of it’s emigration to the USA. But we felt a lot of it was insincere as it looked like it was put on purely for the American market ‘searching for their heritage’ this song does more to bring alive Irish suffering and history than anything we saw or heard. ‘The City’ finishes off the album on another tact, it has a more up tempo feel and uses modern technology to pretty neat effect and is a homage to the city in which Dempsey was raised, Dublin. Strangely should you not understand what the hell Damien Dempsey is singing there is a full glossary on the album sleeve, including the story of Cromwells Irish slaves and what a Eejit is, that’s an idiot! Verdict – Not 100% perfect but ‘Serious’ alone is worth seeking this album out. Demspey may be a huge figure in his native land and with albums like ‘To Hell or Barbados’ he’s bound to hit the big time across the Irish Sea too.

Neon Nights Mixtape (DMC) Intro – This is a new idea from those clever boffins behind the ‘Back to mine’ and ‘Under the influence’ compilations, the ‘Neon nights’ mix it is claimed is an ode to the best of the current crop of the dance rock underground. It features sixteen tracks including the likes of New Young Pony Club, Tigerforce, Shitdisco, Datarock, Kate Nash and chart stars Gossip. The Music – It’s at times sublime and conversely at times pretty forgetful. The first show of the better end of the dance market meeting the rockier element is the mix of Kate Nash’s surreal dance electro pop ‘Caroline’s the victim’ with it’s unnerving sampled vocal mixed straight into the Joy Divisionesque dark ‘Infatuation’ by Blah Blah Blasse. The Bleeps ‘Dull thud’ nearly hits the spot but those sub Streets meets Phil Daniel’s vocals just aren’t quite on the money. Shitdisco live up to their name but Datarock’s ‘Fa Fa Fa’ has what can only be described as a groovy beat! Sounding like an explosion in a space invaders factory Crystal Castles ‘Alice Practice’ is musically and vocally (just shouting distorted) pretty dreadful! Other more bandy sounding stuff which hits the spot is obviously Gossip and also Shut your eyes and you’ll burst into flames. But to end it gets a bit seriously dancey, the excellent ‘Descend’ by New Young Pony Club fits onto this mix with consummate ease with a great beat and stylish vocals followed by Tigerforce with ‘Syntax error’, the vocals mix proper singing with some old fashion shouting! Ali Love finishes off but it’s a bit hard for our tastes. Highlights and Lowlights – Gossip steals the show with some ease but that could the fact it has been everywhere recently or it could be the fact that ‘Standing in the way of control’ is an absolute beauty of a song. On the other side of the coin, Shitdisco on the substance of ‘Reactor Hype’ are indeed hype over musical ability cause this is pretty damn poor. Flipping back again Datarock’s ‘Fa Fa Fa’ is a crackling slice of dance pop. There are a few tracks that sound too much like kids pissing around in their bedrooms; everyone has to start somewhere but stuff like Tigerforce sounds just too amateurish. Another criticism is a few tracks fall in to ‘corr aren’t the streets cool’, he might well be but there isn’t any excuse for ripping his vocals off over a dance beat, Hadouken being the main culprit of this. For a cracking dance beat it would be hard to beat New Young Pony Club; ‘Descend’ is second only to Gossip in taking the honours here. Verdict – As with most compilations it’s a mixed bag and to the truly serious they should own the vast majority of what’s on offer here. But to those new to the game it shows the best and worst of the dance rock underground, oh and the actual mixing between songs is actually quite amusing and at times far from seamless! File Under mixtape and mixed results!

Young Love – Too young to fight it (Mercury) Intro – Young Love are the alter ego of Dan Keyes an American hailing from Austin,Texas cheesed off with bumming around in bands he decided to ditch them, move to the big apple and do it himself, that was one hell of a good decision. He’s a pretty lad with lovely hair and good taste in clothes so can the music live up to the Young Love image. The music – The image is neat and tidy and that goes for the music too. This is indie pop of the first order and to be fair if this lad was English we’d be raving about him a long time ago, the music actually has an anglo edge and doesn’t have that brutal side of much American bands. Early Killers would be a good starting point then add some sweet, sweet vocals some electro backing and guitars and you’re about half way there. Highlights and Lowlights – This is a bloody good album with very few lowlights at all. It starts with a killer tune in ‘Discotech’ with one hell of a hook, a bit of an indie disco feel, one for the dance floor indeed. ‘Nameless one’ drips indie guitar pop glory, Young Love is pretty close to writing a true pop gem. ‘Find a new way’ is an awesome tune, breezy with a beast of a beat and contains the line ‘if you get the chance you must dance, dance, dance’, no truer lyric will you ever hear. ‘Take it or leave it’ finds Young Love more in the territory of the poppy Fall Out Boy yankee style, not that this is a bad thing as the beat goes on and on. ‘Underneath the night sky’ is more Killers but the vocals are actually better, another great tune for Young Love to boast about. Verdict – At under forty minutes ‘Too Young to fight it’ has the perfect length for a album boasting eleven heavenly poppy tracks. Shamelessly under rated ‘Too young to fight’ is one of the albums of the year and this lad should be massive. Fantastic! File Under See Americans can write pop tunes and how!

Chris Cornell – The Roads we choose - A Retrospective (Suretone / Interscope Records) Intro – Chris Cornell is a real heavyweight in the rock world having featured and provided vocals in some of the biggest and most influential rock bands of the past couple of decades. ‘The Roads we choose’ which is teaser to promote his forthcoming solo album recorded since disbanding Audioslave available to journalists only and featuring tracks from not only his last vehicle, Audioslave but from giants Soundgarden and grunge pioneers Temple of the Dog too. To go back to when Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains and other Seattle stars ruled the rock world friends would pass one tape around of ‘this seminal album’ by a grunge super group which predated Pearl Jam and Soundgarden (and featured most of them!), this album was by Temple of The Dog. The Music – A frightening mix of past of present, seventeen tracks in all in fact. Four tracks are culled from Chris’ forthcoming debut album ‘Carry on’ and ‘No such thing’ commences proceedings, it shows that Chris has lost none of his rock edge nor gusto, a cracking track which bodes well for not only this compilation but the aforementioned solo offering. Arguably his most recognisable moment follows, ‘Black Hole Sun’ really propelled Soundgarden to the rock big time and it’s still a fantastic song now, not heavy nor fast but quality. In fact it’s figures twice on ‘The Roads we choose’ as a rare acoustic version is included too, it loses none of its power and gains a brittle edge. Of the other Soundgarden tracks the pick are the power chord driven ‘Outshined’ which points to Soundgarden’s true rock heartbeat whilst ‘Spoonman’ is a bit of a stomper too. The Temple of the dog tracks stand up pretty well too, they may sound a little naïve along side more polished offering by Audioslave but ‘Say hello 2 heaven’ proves why the Seattle scene really took off and provides the musical blueprint that Pearl Jam and Soundgarden built upon to great effect. Coming further up to date four tracks from Audioslave feature, ‘Show me how to live’ carries the rock timeline from the Soundgarden era big time whilst there’s another rare acoustic outing, this time for ‘Original Fire’. To end the album a further couple of solo tracks feature ‘You know my name’ possibly the pick and shows that Cornell’s vocals have lost none of their epic power. Highlights and lowlights – Like all good compilations there are plenty of highlights, nice to see Temple of the Dog featuring and Soundgarden are spot on. Unlikely as it sound there are no real lowlights, Audioslave stand up really well along side Soundgarden and the four solo tracks point to a bright future in the solo limelight. Verdict – Quality and should pave the way at some point to a full commercial release of a Chris Cornell. File Under Not available in the shops, check out ebay instead, I’m sure some hacks will be putting their copies online in due course, not us mind, pride of place filed under rock! 

Bright Eyes – Cassadaga (Polydor) Intro –The working title of one Conor Oberst from across the pond Bright Eyes have been receiving the plaudits and hype from the music press for the last couple of years. Cassadaga is Bright Eyes latest offering and Shaddersonline first introduction to the band. The Music – It’s lo fi alt country, folk and rock all rolled into one. Conor Oberst vocals aren’t the sweetest we’ve ever heard but do fit more often than not with what Bright Eyes are trying to do musically. Highlights and lowlights – It starts pretty badly to be fair, ‘Clairaudients (kill or be killed) has a two minute ramble as an intro which is dull but as the song finally sparks into life it’s a bit Badly Drawn Boy. Trouble is if you’re listening to the album for the third or forth time you finger could quite easily hit the skip button before he even sings a note. This is followed by a song which seems to share it’s influences with early nineties fraggle (bang that in google and see if it kicks up The levellers!) or even country, could easily be skipping past ‘Four Winds’ as well then.  ‘Hot Knives’ ain’t bad, good backing vocals and musically sound. ‘Soul singer in a session band’ is quite a decent tune but lyrically it’s cringe worthy. ‘Middleman’ is one of the picks off the album, good instrumental intro followed by a neat tune, which suits Oberst’s vocals to a tee. There are quite a few songs that just don’t convince or kick on past dull, melodramatic yes but heartstring tugging, no. Verdict – Not the album we were expecting, we were not overly impressed by Bright Eyes. This genre of music has really kicked on recently and there are far better albums to listen to than ‘Cassadaga’. We just get the feeling that Conor thinks he’s a lot cleverer than perhaps he is and has been able to suck the press in believing that too. Either that or we’ve missed the point big time as this is a patchy offering that’s okay in parts and pretty average in others, a bit of a letdown. File Under buy the Lonely, Dear album instead!

The Cooper Temple Clause – Make this your own (Morning / Sanctuary) Intro – It’s been a weird time without the Coopers, one of shaddersonline fav bands ever. Music seems again to have moved on along with founding member Didz to join Libertines tribute band Dirty Pretty Things. Third albums are notoriously difficult and have up ended many a band without the added trials of losing a member. That aside they have re-grouped and gone back to the studio and taken their time to come up with that ‘difficult’ third album. Did they leave it too long? Will the third album jinx strike? Time to load up ‘Make this your own’ and find out the truth track by track. 1,Damage – First up the ‘comeback’ single which when when we first heard it sounded a little disjointed but a few plays later and it really grows. Great chorus, choppy guitars and brilliant Ben vocals. Quite a poppy little number and a great opener. 8/10. 2,Homo Sapiens – Christ what a tune; harder, stronger and faster than anything that the Coopers have done before this eclipses everything from Kill Music through Panzer Attack and Blind Pilots. Ben’s vocals snarl and rasp whilst guitars and drums are given a bloody good hammering and lyrically it’s sound as a pound. Despite been hard as nails it still manages a killer chorus and a pop sensibility and that ain’t easy. Quite honestly it’s fucking ace! 10/10. 3, Head – ‘Head’ completes a killer opening trio, a bit more electro than the previous duo and has a bit of a 80’s synth feel to it but they don’t feel anyway out of place with a pacey drum beat. Ben’s vocals again shine on as song that sounds like coopers of old whilst still having a new edge to it. 9/10. 4, Connect – Now this is where it starts going a little strange, firstly there are the heavy synth influences and Ben don’t do the vocals which sound a bit like Damon (Blur / Gorillaz). Behind the synth is actually quite a simple song, which after a while hooks you in and has your blessing despite it’s failings. 8/10. 5, Waiting Game – This is quite a simple straight forward pop rock tune with quite a catching chorus, sounds like a number of other songs of a similar ilk. Quite a pleasant canter but not really that challenging. 7/10. 6, Once More with feeling – This is a dark one, heavy edged with ugly vocals. Not pleasant like ‘Waiting game’ but short and bruising. 6/10. 7, What have you gone and done? -  Now this is a decent tune, never reaches the heights of ‘Damage’ or ‘Homo sapiens’ but again the chorus does good business. Jon’s drums lead up to natty guitar solo and then vocals re-appear with some great accompanying strings. 8/10. 8, Take Comfort – Now this is very weird, a very simple uncomplicated but poppy tune with strong vocals. Not very cooperlike with samples pushed aside for a jangley guitar feel. Unusual but not unpleasant. 6/10. 9, All I see is you – One of the slow burners that the Coopers always slot onto albums and b-sides. It springs into live around the four-minute mark with Ben’s growling vocals mixed in with heavy guitars and strings. Possibly the type of song that the Coopers have made a name for themselves with it’s six minutes of trademark variety, part dark slow burning almost smouldering build up and fires into top gear with a burning ending. 8/10. 10, Isn’t it Strange – Change of vocal duties actually helps this, a decent pace and stomping guitars again with the killer almost pop like chorus. Another uncomplicated rock romp that is sure easy on the ear and to be honest should really be the end track. 7/10. 11, House of Cards – Doesn’t really go anywhere this one, quite of just ambles through minutes without hitting any heights or pushing the cooper boundaries. Of interest for the mixed vocals duties but does sound more like a b-side than a climax to an album and does sound like it has a trumpet on it! 6/10. Verdict – Firstly it has to be said another hit on the artwork front, hats off to Richard Sweeny for the design concept. Now onto the music, lets say straight away that it isn’t a disaster but we have to admit that like other Cooper albums it does take a few listen through to get really and we do mean really into. It kicks off at an amazing rate and the trio of ‘Damage’, ‘Homo sapiens’ and ‘Head’ is one hell of a way to start any album, that could actually be a big problems that they do seem to peak a bit early! ‘Homo Sapiens’ is possibly the best or if not in the top three or four of Coopers tunes, it is quite simply awesome. On the flip side there are a few songs that don’t come near to previous work, ‘House of Cards’, ‘Take Comfort’ and ‘Once more with feeling’ do have the feel of b-sides promoted to the big leagues. So what do we have then? Well a mixed bag that fortunately has more winners than losers and is definitely worth a spin. And where do the Coopers go from here then? Well hopefully straight back into the studio, promote Ben to sole singer (as that’s one major thing that hasn’t really worked as well as probably they hoped on ‘Make this your own’) and keep kicking up the flames. The fire hasn’t gone out but could do with a few more logs thrown on to let the flames break loose once again. File under – Difficult third album, partial success! 

TD Lind – Lets get Lost (Tell Tale Records) Intro – When we received debut single ‘Come in from the cold’ it threw us completely and utterly, we said it was a very personal and special song by a no ordinary singer songwriter. Just to take a step back TD Lind is an Englishman with a difference, he has walked away from the English goldfish bowl music scene and been around the block once or twice. Whether it be singing the blues in New York or jazz in Paris he has added influences along the way, no time more so than doing the states one side to the other via wastelands, big cities and those backwaters that give real true live experiences. The Music – This is one mans music journey that can’t easily be pigeon holed, true there are alt country vibes, a touch of the blues, elements of Dylan and Cash but TD Lind is his own man. This is a solo record that kicks ultra charming and bland efforts by such ‘artists’ like James Blunt well and truly into touch, it ain’t polished but shows the grit of a man writing both from his head and his heart. ‘Milestone’ is just his voice and an acoustic guitar, not an easy job to pull off but with a great voice like TD Lind possesses he pulls it off with some style and beauty too. ‘One fine day’ shows a rockier side but it doesn’t work as well as the more simple approach of guitars, piano and up tempo vocals of single ‘Radio Proposal’. ‘Falling’ has that alt country edge but is at heart a moving love song. In fact he is a rather fine writer of a love song, lyrically ‘Her’ is testament to that, the song itself gets a rather bouncy poppy feel and sounds all the better for it. Going back to our first comments ‘Come in from the cold’ still remains one of the finest songs we’ve heard, great guitars going head to head with Dylan style vocals and a fantastic, descriptive story too, just superb. Strangely one of the weakest tracks on the album is the only cover, a rather country take on ‘Jesus Christ’ by Woody Guthrie, not a great take but a pointer to where TD Lind is coming from. Another pointer is ‘I don’t miss you’ which Lind voice is paired only with a piano, it takes balls and talent to pull that trick out of the bag but pull it off he does with some ease. Verdict – Shamefully it’s doubtful that this album will make much of a dent on the English music scene but for those who do find a copy in their collection they will not be disappointed. TD Lind is a songwriter of the first order with some unusual musical influences for an Englishman which together makes an album that is anything but run of the mill. File under Englishman travels the world soaks in an unusual mix of blues, folk and rock influences then produces a damn fine debut album. 

The Horrors – Strange House (Loog / Polydor Records) Intro – Looking like a disaster in a Robert Smith does Widow Twanky fancy dress factory The Horrors are labelled glam punk rock. The album is sub named ‘psychotic sounds for freaks and weirdos’, should be fun to live up to that billing! The Music – What is this a joke then? Opener ‘Jack the ripper’ is absolutely dreadful, vocally it’s like pulling teeth except without the fun! ‘Count in fives’ is slightly better for the keyboards which drive the song but other than that you might as well pop your head in a blender for the same effect. It don’t get much better as the thing goes on neither, the vocals are sub Nick Cave at his tuneless worst (‘Thunderclaps’ takes the piss) and backing vox is a drone at best (‘Draw Japan’). Musically too it’s all over the shop, only the excellent keys give it any direction the rest just matches the cringe worthy vocals! Lyrically too it’s bloody awful, take ‘She is the new thing’ yak! And they have the balls to include lyrics sheets with the album too, wouldn’t have dared. Highlights and Lowlights –  ‘Excellent choice’ isn’t too bad for it’s unusual story telling form, shame they have to include some ‘singing’ too! To name all the low lights it would take a while, let’s put it this way pray you have a skip button on your stereo! Probably the highlight is ‘Girl Sleeping’ for it’s lack for the singer and half decent beat and again saving grace those keys. The first wave of goths like The Cure and the Banshees must be turning in their graves at albums like this; it’s just an out and out joke. Verdict – Horrors by name, Horror show by nature. This is awful and we can see why The Horrors look so pissed off in the cover shot, they have had to listen to the album in full in one sitting! According to the album sleeve it was ‘recorded in horrortone’, no shit! File Under lighter fuel and a lit match! 

Floorfillers Anthems – Various (UMTV / Universal) Intro – You see television adverts everyday for this compilation and that compilation offering tens of number ones and dozens of so called ‘Anthems’. Very few of these albums ever live up to their advertising budgets hype. Floorfillers Anthems covers three discs and weighs in a monster sixty three tracks and boasts no fewer than fifteen number ones, but that don’t mean shit as you can get to number one these days by selling enough copies to your family and mates! The Music- Well quite obviously it’s a flaming dance music compilation! It’s split by era onto each of the cd’s which is a rather natty idea. The first Cd is the ‘let’s go back in time’ disc and transports the listener to the early nineties to some rather splendid dance and pop tracks. The opener and closer are both masterstrokes to start with, The Shamen’s ‘Ebenezer Good’ was always more than the Sun’s sensational drug headlines and a classic tune then The Soup Dragons ‘I’m free’ to end the disc is genius. The twenty other tracks in-between does indeed feature some right anthems, the heavy beats of Norm Cook’s Beats International ‘Dub be good to me’ is just such a classic and Sub Sub (later to become moody rock types Doves) ‘Ain’t no love’ still sounds fresh today. Disc two gets off to such a flyer it has difficulty in keeping up with it’s own pace. The first two tracks which lets be honest is worth buying any album for are ‘Insomnia’ obviously by Faithless (and incorporates probably the most recognisable section of music this side of Beethoven!) then anthem that is ‘Right here right now’ arguably the high point in Norm’s illustrious career. It does tail off a tad but still a suprising monster tune is Yomanda with ‘Synth and Strings’ which to those familiar with Scott Mills on a Friday evening would be inducing wee up and down the motorways of Britain! Also a notable inclusion if Moloko’s ‘Sing it back’ which reminds us of a story we got told about Billie Piper but for legal reasons we cannot repeat! Onto the present day and disc three brings us bang upto date. It’s a fair mixed bag to be honest but that’s music in general for you. The highs include ‘lazy’ by Xpress 2 (excellent guest Talking Heads vocals), the blinding ‘Another chance’ by Roger Sanchez, tv advert inspired ‘Love don’t let me go’ by David Guetta vs The Egg and then the killer track has to be Oakenfold’s generation defining ‘Big Brother’. On the flipside the low’s can get really quite low including dreadful Daniel Beddingfield’s ‘Gotta Get thru this’ (it may well have been number one for ages but it was still crap) and then the truly awful ‘From Paris to Berlin’ which is just about the worst song of the sixty three! Verdict – As far as compilations go this is bound to be a winner, it has some classic tracks that can be regarded as true anthems. Yeah fair enough there’s some right bollox too but that’s the beauty of compilations, one mans classic is another mans crap! But there’s enough on here to make it worth a punt by anyone. So we’d suggest getting plenty of mates round and then play all three back to back with plenty of beers! File under – pass the glo sticks.

The Hours – Narcissus Road (A&M Records) Intro – ‘They understand what music is for – it’s for human beings to communicate with other human beings. It’s that’s simple, it’s that important. Let them into your life. You won’t regret it’. Not our words, no those of a certain Jarvis Cocker. The Hours are essentially a duo of Anthony Genn and Martin Slattery who have done the rounds musically (mainly as session or backing musicians). What they lack in youth they make up with a vast music experience and knowledge of how to write and record a great guitar album with the ability to add strings and piano as and when required. Music – Wow what a start ‘Ali in the Jungle’ is, from the opening bars it’s set up to be once of those classic openers. It’s a deep indie guitar tune but still nice an easy to listen to with a great tune, it even finishes with a great sample of when Ali reigned in the jungle too which is a neat touch. ‘Narcissus Road’ keeps up the good work, a decent pace with excellent guitars but is easily outshone by ‘Back when you were good’. This is such an awesome song; the guitars, stunning vocals and the complimentary strings it is one of the best songs of this genre in many a long year, it is that good. Obviously there may be a bit of a come down and ‘Love you more’ does slip into this rut. The lyrics are a bit dicey, take for instance ‘I love you more than all my hooded tops’ ain’t gonna win no prizes for songwriting but overall it isn’t too bad. ‘Icarus’ is another fantastic piece of music, great piano and Anthony Geen’s vocals are just stunning, a big epic song. ‘I miss you’ is the other side of the coin, simple with acoustic guitars and piano, simple but really effective and quite lovely. Carrying on that lovely vain is ‘Murder or suicide’ which begins with brilliant piano and thoughtful and meaningful lyrics, the drums pick up the pace and it ends up romping home, a winner! ‘Dive in’ is a slow, sullen, moody tune with again the piano showing the sensitive qualities of Anthony’s vocal talents, a tad on the short side but even so pretty good. ‘I need to know’ is a bit of a weird one, a stomping beat and quite surreal lyrics, different! ‘People say’ starts off sounding a bit like a song by the criminally ignored band Mainstream, the lyrics that of a man seeking to discard a small town past and being cast as a dreamer for wanting to move on and up. In fact it’s an excellent tune for about four minutes before it goes a bit weird and Geen goes on a torrent of fucks, I suspect an edited version would be a better listen! It finishes with ‘Let me Breathe’ another piano based tune with excellent vocals plus backing vocals by Becky Byrne and a great chorus too. A lovely end to frankly a lovely album. Verdict – The dark and moody indie guitar genre is a crowded marker place and to shine you have to be something quite special. To be fair it isn’t note perfect and there’s the odd track that isn’t quite up to the job but overall as debut albums go this is a bit special. If you like Suede, Doves, Dark Star or anyone of this ilk The Hours would firmly be up your street. We whole-heartedly agree with Jarvis ‘Let them into your life. You won’t regret it’. File Under – Great use of the piano in a pop based indie guitar fest!

 Gruff Rhys – Candylion (Rough Trade). Intro – Fans of Super Furry Animals will no doubt be rejoicing in the valleys as Gruff takes time out to release another solo offering. The Music – Gruff would probably be the first to admit he ain’t gonna push back the boundaries of music, nor style if the sleeve pic is anything to go by! That said you’ve always got a fair idea what’s going to be on a SFA or Gruff Rhys album and Candylion is no different on that score.  It’s low fi indie folk rock, a bit like a welsh Badly Drawn Boy or even the much missed and long departed Alfie. There’s tracks that border on alt country, see ‘Beacon in the darkness’ and others that border on pure mellow pop, single ‘Candylion’ is Gruffpop at his best. Highlights and Lowlights – Unfortunately ‘Gyrru gyrru gyrru’ is quite annoying and instantly forgettable but the rest of the album is decent enough. ‘Candylion’ is a great listen and you’ll wish ‘Now that the feeling is gone’ is longer than it’s three minutes and one second. ‘Ffrwydriad yn y ffurfafen’ cracks a decent pace, as does ‘Cycle of violence’ which is a grand tune. Strange for a album that has eleven tracks hovering round the three minute mark the final track ‘Skylon!’ actually racks up a length of over fourteen minutes! It just drifts around without any offence at all which just about sums up the album; mellow, pleasant and nice! Verdict – Despite never pushing back the musical boundaries Candylion is a solid album, it may not be the most exciting record ever recorded but as a chill out album or even just plain old background music it works just fine. File under - easy listening!

Rob McCulloch – Escaping times (Gladrag Records) Intro – You may not have heard of Rob McCulloch yet but we do mean yet as the North West’s has produced another songwriting talent who will make people sit up and take note. Burning out of Bolton with thirteen self-penned tracks that ouse a pop quality that belies his years. According to his myspace page he gave away 100 copies of the album to his myspace ‘pals’ those lucky few being the first to give it a spin. Music – He claims influences from sixties mod sounds through The Jam to latter-day Oasis and we’d wholeheartedly agree with these adding northern pop starlets The Lightening Seeds, Weller’s solo outings and also just a touch of the Arctic Monkeys evident briefly too. Rob has the smart new mod look down to a tee, just look at the pics on the inner album sleeve for evidence of this and his look does indeed follow through the music too, very much an English album by an English singer. Opener ‘Something Abuse’ sets the pop standard and it just carries on throughout the full album, nothing too heavy just nice guitar pop. ‘Doing One’s bit’ has a nice relaxed acoustic feel whereas ‘Six of one’ is a shiny pop tune of the best order. ‘Internal Paradise’ tempts that there may be something darker inside but it’s straight back up-tempo with ‘Cinnamon sticks’. Highs and lows – There’s plenty of good old fashion pop songs, he has a good knack of knocking out a decent tune. ‘Six of one’ is a belter along with ‘Something abuse’ too. It’s a shame that Rob’s darker side can’t come to the fore more often and that’s the major gripe. Minor problems are that it does sound a little naïve in places but it’s a debut album so that is usually the case. Verdict – Those hundred myspace punters got a real bargain for this is a champion album, Rob isn’t the finished article yet and it does have it’s little flaws but none the less it’s a good listen. File Under put on the old Fred Perry and get ready for some northern guitar pop!

Klaxons – Myths of the near future (Rinse / Polydor) Intro –  Last year the hype machine surrounded The Arctic Monkeys and they lived up to it all and then some with their stunning debut long player. Since then the music press has shifted it’s attention and musical tastebuds to a more dancier edge and in their minds eye it’s chosen ones Klaxons.  Can the christened leaders of this so called ‘new rave’ movement (which is a joke name to be fair) live up to their hype? Music – Starts neatly enough, ‘Two receivers’ is low key but very pleasant on the ear perhaps a warm up for the magic that awaits on the following ten tracks. It all goes a bit Pete Tong early doors though for ‘Atlantis to interzone’ is a bloody mess, they can’t decide what tune it is, firstly sub KLF then a bit moody indie then Electric Six and it all just ends up a messy nonsense. Fortunately as a tonic to this is the simply stunning ‘Golden Skans’. It’s a more conventional song, great drum beat and excellent chorus; ‘Golden Skans’ is a tune that just has you humming along constantly. ‘Totem on the timeline’ has a dreadful title and the lyrics aren’t much better but fortunately the backing tune pulls it back from another failure. ‘As below, so below’ isn’t a bad tune neither that despite the Kaxons trying to overpower it at times with needless effects, when left along the chorus actually gets the feet tapping with ease. ‘Isle of her’ is instantly forgettable and just doesn’t go anywhere so press the skip button. ‘Gravitys rainbow’ picks up the pace and is more like it, not quite as great as ‘Golden Skans’ but more like what is expected given the expectations. ‘Forgotten works’ is alright but nothing special and that leads onto former single ‘Magick’ which to be honest is just plain awful! It’s Klaxons at their messed up, throw all the ideas in the air and see what comes out worst. Unfortunately what comes out half the time sounds like all the band are playing different songs to one another and the hype is built on this, how? ‘It’s not over yet’ sounds pretty good but there again it isn’t one of the Klaxons songs! That said the vocals are good and the beat is up so if you are going to attempt a cover you might as well make a good job of it and thank god they have. Then to ruin that they end with the dreadful ‘Four horsemen of 2012’ it’s got a bad rock drum beat, effect laden vocals that suck and just sounds like prog rock gone horribly wrong, not the ending that was required to leave a positive impression. Then if you skip along for about fifteen minutes the secret track is just a bit of noise, why bother! Verdict – Just go out and buy the single ‘Golden Skans’ cause vast parts of this album are frankly a waste of time and at best average indie dance stuff that’s been done better a thousand times before. File under – Don’t believe the hype.

Neurosonic – Drama Queen (Bodogmusic) Intro – Neurosonic is the name of the rock project of  Canadian Jason Darr, a man who has the trademark looks of new goth metal. He has the long dark lank hair, tattoos and alternative good looks. The Music – Jason cites influences such as the ambiguous Nine Inch Nails and System of a Down along with The Beatles, which is a bit off the wall and unexpected to say the least. Opener ‘ So many people’ packs real punch, using those nine inch nail influences to notable effect and has a monster go at manufactured pop nonsense. It’s not just a noise thing neither ‘I will always be your fool’ shows more of a delicate side but still manages to have a grand rock chorus. ‘Me myself and I’ follows much in the same vain but borders on Yankee ballad territory, just about staying the right side of that line. There’s still plenty of forays into the more usual My Chemical Romance territory just should prove popular with the current rock scene. ‘Boneheads’ has the quality of being hard enough to appeal but still has an accessible feel to drag you in and get you hooked. Highlights & lowlights – ‘I will always be your fool’ shows mature songwriting whilst being a great song. Manufactured pop is fair game and absolutely savaged to great effect in ‘So many people’; the lyrics are amusing to say the least! ‘So now you know’ sounds subtly Evanescence like before heading for an epic ending. Verdict – As you’d expect there’s plenty of bitterness and self-loathing but amongst all that is a pretty decent rock album. Sure there are a few trips down near ballad cul de sacs but when it rips up it does it in pretty good style. File under – listen on the black parade!