Nobunny – Love Visions

Slightly charming.

Sounding a little like The Trashmen, Nobunny rocks his/their? way through my head, dancing at a jaunty angle.

The lo-fi sound works very well with this 60s rock and roll sound, that encompasses quite a wide range of 60s rock and roll styles and succeeds in bringing them into the modern indie genre in a way that creates quite a charming sound.

Every now and then my ears prick up and pick out a bit that smacks me over the head and shouts the name of another band at me, be that The Beach Boys, The Beatles or The Trashmen, the ringing in my head dies away slowly, leaving a slightly odd, but not unpleasant taste in my mouth, that could be blood.

Listening to the whole album in full ends up being too much for me, the styles end up being like a rich cheesecake. Nice for a short while but if I scoff too much, I really wish I hadn’t. This album is the same. When these songs came on in my random playlist, they were a refreshing change and I really enjoyed the songs, but listening to the same, slightly distorted 60s rock and roll over and over again gets a bit tiresome.

Listen to this album: With a mop-top and a flower stuck down your penis.

Rating: 63%

“Boneyard”

Oasis – Dig Out Your Soul

Are these guys never happy?

More music from people who never seem to be happy about anything. Oasis are starting to become the kid at school who are always moaning about something, and to begin with you are interested about their heartfelt dismay, but after a while you begin to tire of it and wish the kid would go away.
This is what Oasis has become, for me. Been there, heard that, got the t-shirt.

I really enjoyed this the first time I listened to it and heard it from beginning to end, then immediately went back and listened to the whole thing again. I thought it was very enjoyable, solid and entertaining.
Do you notice how the above is written in the past tense?
The album quickly becomes boring, because while there is talent and ability there, the whole thing comes with a huge dollop of contempt, and it all becomes a little too Oasis for my liking.
Like a cheese omelette that has too much cheese in it.

This is not just me wishing for the heyday of Britpop, although I do, and yes, one of the iconic songs from my youth was an Oasis song, so I do feel as though I owe them something, but this album is dulL (with a capital L)

Maybe I am a little harsh on them. This is a lot better than every indie album that has come out since 2002, but that isn’t that hard of a task, and there’s a lot of good in here, there isn’t a bad song on the album. If you are under the age of 13 and like indie music, you should be worshipping this album as your new god.

It’s just that Oasis have seen better days.

Maybe, for you, the initial joy that I had for this album will be sustained, and you will get a lot from this album, but for my, it will drift down from my ears and out of my arse.

Listen to this album: Sporting a grimace.

65%

Extracts from ‘Bag it up’, ‘I’m outta time’, ‘Ain’t Got Nothin” and ‘Soldier On’

‘The Shock of the Lightning’

Foxboro Hot Tubs – Stop Drop and Roll!!!

Swinging rock.

Green Day, under another name, attempt to play 60s American garage rock music, and in points succeed with their mission and at other points they fail. At points they sound like Green Day, at other points you can’t tell it’s them at all. At points it’s good, at points it’s rubs.

The thing is, I don’t know if I want them to sound like Green Day doing this style of music, or if I want them to sound completely different. It’s just a bit confusing.

The best songs, I think, are the ones where they succeed to put an image of 60s America in my brain, and I just see them all stood about in black and white.
The songs which succeed in this are songs like ‘Ruby Room’ and  She’s a Saint not a Celebrity’.

Overall, I think they have a winning album with this, and it’s an interesting concept. They even split the album into 2 sides to keep in with their 60s ideology which is an interesting touch, but seems a bit pointless when listening to the album on CD or on your mp3 player. Maybe putting it on 2 CDs would give it the authentic vinyl feel as you have to make that extra effort to change CDs.

It’s exciting, it’s interesting and it makes me want to boogie.

Listen to this album: In 60’s black and white with your mum’s old clothes on.

Rating 81%

Extracts from ‘Ruby Room’, ‘Red Tide’ and ‘27th Ave Shuffle’

‘Mother Mary’

The Charlatans – You Cross My Path

Safe and comforting alternative rock.

It’s quite hard to listen to this album and not feel optimistic. If you’re in the depths of autumn, you know that winter is coming but this album reminds you that spring is just getting it’s wellies on. The only exception to this is the song ‘My name is despair’, which, as you can probably tell, is less about the optimism and more about despair but don’t let this worry you, there’s still a pinch of optimism in there.

It’s a nice, safe album that wraps you up in a familiar blanket and puts you to bed with a drink of hot milk.

The tidy guitars and the soothing vocals surround you and give you a cuddle and a kiss on the forehead. The drums tuck you in at night and the bass keeps guard outside the door to protect you from anything scary and unfamiliar.

The album is very well presented and should be a good companion for you.

Listen to this album: Tucked up in bed.

Rating: 82%

Extracts from ‘Mis-takes’, ‘A day for letting go’, ‘My name is despair’ and ‘This is the end’

‘Oh Vanity’