This album sounds like they’ve taken an upbeat album and just slowed most of it down. The tempo goes from slow and boring to dull and boring and back again. It sounds at though they forced Goldfrapp to do an indie rock album.
The female singer seems to have been told to make her voice as whiny as possible, shrieking along with some of the most tedious guitar I’ve heard for a while. There’s no variety in any of it. They all seem to be playing and singing the exact same notes throughout, meaning no harmonising, no depth, and no interest from me.
The first song that is actually worth listening to the end of, comes 8 songs in, with ‘Golden Web’ which actually has some depth, and although there is still little change in the pace or tone of the song, this song actually seems to have something that works. It’s a shame that they put the song so far along the album or I wouldn’t have already have lost all patience with them. It’s like someone putting an old mattress down to try and cushion the impact of a jumbo jet crashing into the ground.
From here on, it’s just more wailing and shrieking and I long for either the end of the album, or the end of the world, whichever comes first.
Oh wait…what’s this?
It’s the ‘Off’ button.
Thank god for that!
Listen to this album, but make sure there are no sharp objects that you might stab into your ears.
Album that contains the lyrics “You’re still picking your nickers from your arse, like you’re playing a one string harp” will instantly be a hit with me.
Bell X1, are Irish and they play music that will make you chuckle along to the imaginary that they present you with, the example above being one of them. Think Mouldy Peaches meet the Hoosiers and you might have some idea of what to expect.
Bell X1 play music that is kind of minimal soft rock that is very word based. they are not a band that will make you want to dance or cry or rebel or anything like that, but they do seem to touch a nerve inside of me that really endears me to them and I end up wanting to go and hug the band.
I listened to this album mainly while walking too and from work and it made a really nice soundtrack to everyday life. I’m listening now while writing this in my bedroom and it doesn’t sound nearly as effective. Blue Lights on the Runway has a kind of gritty realism that allows their sideways glance at the world but it’s not too heavy with it.
This kind of poncey rock music is a genre that some people would dismiss quite quickly and I tell them, “Don’t” and they should listen, because this album is nice, the sounds sound good and the lyrics are funny and interesting. There could have been a bit more variety on the album, the songs all fit quite a similar pace and style, and this may cause me to bore of the album quicker than some.
Bell X1 have something, I think, that’s a bit new within a genre that has been dragged by it’s bollocks for far too long, but Bell X1 seems to have picked it up, dusted it off and given it a new set of clothes. It’s a nice amendment to my collection.
I have just flicked through youtube, for some songs from their other albums, and none that I have heard are a patch on anything from Blue Lights on the Runway.
Listen to this album: And experience a real, but not too troubling slice of life. Rating: 84%
Munroe Effect are a fluffy rock band from Portsmouth. Munroe Effect are the kind of rock band that, instead of grabbing you by the balls and squeezing, will tickle them slightly. With some kind of feathered instrument, a boa or a duck, maybe?
The music seems to come from a basic enough place. The guitars strum nicely along, changing chords every once in a while to keep your interest, the drums beat simple rhythms and the singing drones tunefully through, about some subject matter that doesn’t quite interest me enough to listen to the lyrics.
Not to say that the music is boring or badly played, no, no, no, I’m not saying that at all. It just plays things pretty safe.
Every now and then the singer begins to scream his little heart out, bless him. While this is entertaining, I’m not sure it’s for the correct reasons. I’d love to see him do it live, his little face all red and twisted, looking like he’s fallen off the toilet.
Munroe Effect are described as “experimental Post-Punkers” and except for a few whiffs, like a fart on a farm, I don’t see this at all, and would see them more as a post-recent-bland-rock group. Meaning that Munroe Effect are after the bland rock, not part of it.
There are some interesting sections in on this EP, and would really like to see how they develop as a band. This is obviously a first draft, and it sounds like it. If I had heard them on the radio, amongst a mix of other music, I would not have picked them out, but I feel privileged to have been given the chance to listen to them.
Check them out, but wait to see how things turn out for them before investing too heavily.
Listen to this album: While balancing a heavy suitcase on your head.
Each time I listen to Whole Wheat Bread, there is a complete shift in my opinion of them. I go from really being very annoyed by them to quite liking them and back again with each listen.
They use a rather familiar mix of rock and rap with a twist of punk in there to add to the flavour. They’re like two electromagnets, one containing rock music and the other containing rap music, with an alternating current of punk that keeps switching the polarities of the magnets so that one minute they are stuck firmly together creating a good mix of sound, then the next minute the polarities change and the magnets fly apart, slightly injuring passers by. It’s a strange blend of likes and dislikes that works intermittently.
At times they sound like they’re trying to be Skindred, and failing, ‘Throw Your Sets Up’ is a song that has this similarity and every time I hear it, I have to turn off Whole Wheat Bread and go listen to Skindred. Other times though, they are quite original and entertaining.
I just keep flip flopping about whether I actually like to listen to the album, and it’s not even that some of the songs are good and the rest is just filler, the same song can have very different reactions each time.
Whole Wheat Bread cross more genres than is first apparent. They have elements from Rock, Rap, Punk, Pop and most of the already established interjecting genres. It’s actually quite an eclectic mix, and is a lot more subtle and varying than is first apparent.
”I Can’t Think’ for example has some very punky undertones but has large sections of rap in there and it works very well. The singer, Nasty Nigga Fleetwood, has a nice raspy roundness to his voice that fits itself to all components of his vocals and doesn’t fall short at any point and I think this is what carries the album through the connecting genres. This is the point where other bands that try to cross the genres fail, but Whole Wheat Bread seem to remain solid throughout.
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.
Pretty funky hardcore punk music to make you jump about like you’ve got a bomb shoved up your backside. The album is just full of energy, like a child on speed, this is the perfect album if you need to get the blood pumping and the adrenalin. The bad thing about this side effect is that if you’re sat in a dark room, with not enough room to move, then it will make you very fidgety, which is not what you want if you’re locked in a cupboard, for example, so this is not the album for you if those are your circumstances.
If you are, however, in a wide open space, and want to jump about, sweating on each other, maybe spilling alcoholic drinks, then there are few albums that would suit you better than this one.
The music has a nice consistency to is that causes it to flow nicely through the barrage of punky anger without it feeling like you’ve been blasted in the face with a water cannon. There’s also the fact that it feels very fun, it’s that halfway stage between rebellion and fun, where you’re still rebelling, but you’re being sensible about it.
I think you’d be hard pushed to find anyone under the age of thirty who couldn’t get some enjoyment from this album.
The only thing about the album, is that there’s not enough variety in the songs, because while I enjoy all the fun and excitement, I have very little stamina, and get tired very easily, but this album doesn’t give me any time to rest. It’s exhausting.
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 first thing that annoyed me about this band was a quote I saw on Wikipedia:
“I think most people are not used to having no lyrics to focus on. Lyrics are a real comfort to some people. I guess they like to sing along and when they can’t do that with us they can get a bit upset.”
It just makes me think that they are arrogant and that they think that the people who hear their music are stupid enough to go
“urgh, no words…what going on…me no like!”
GET OUT OF YOUR OWN BOTTOMS!
Now I’ve gotten that out of the way, the album is good. Very good in fact. It’s dynamic, it’s exciting, it’s all the things you want from a post-rock album. The lack of words isn’t even an issue in this album and it took me till at least half way through the album to even notice that there was no vocalist, because I was enjoying the music so much.
It reminds me a lot of Tool, in style, with the repetitive bass lines and staccato lead guitar creating a very engaging sound that really sucks you in and keeps you stuck. It just won’t let me go.
It’s like a meat pie, this album. It’s succulent and juicy, and it fills you up, leaving you satisfied at the end. Not completely full to the brim, but enough to sustain you for the rest of the evening.
It’s really quite a decent length, this album, which isn’t bad, because you can have a few goes at it, and it will continue to be interesting and exciting and you will always want to go back for second helpings.
It’s also a very robust album, you can have it on in the background, you can turn it up loud and it can also accompany lovemaking. For any occasion, unleash the Mogwai.
Listen to this album: Anywhere/Anytime.
Rating:82%
Extracts from ‘Batcat’, ‘Local Authority’, ‘Scotland’s Shame’ and ‘Thank You Space Expert’
“Screech, Screech…” sings lead singer Caleb Followill, as the soft rock guitar chugs behind him.
This album is not only whiny and high pitched, it’s also whiny and high pitched. Is there anything you need to know about the album? Has this description not already caused you to throw up your arms in disgust and vow never to buy this album?
Well, other than that, it’s pretty solid as an album, the quite mild tempered nature of the music causes me to be quite forgiving of the self-obsessed and pompous singer. Like a big floppy dog, that’s just done a poo in the middle of your floor, but looks really sorry about it, the music seems to apologise for the over the top nature of the lyrics. It’s like when your friend is far too drunk and is making a fool of himself in public, and you spend your whole time apologising to everyone and trying to usher your friend into the nearest taxi and tell the driver to dump him on his doorstep.
I really want the singer to have a soft raspy voice, telling me about the harsh times he’s faced and how he struggled through adversity. Instead I have some stupid-faced kid screaming at me that my sex is on fire. That’s not what I want from any album.
Throughout the album, it doesn’t get any better and I continue to be slapped with a barrage of trivial nonsense that sounds less preferable to nails on a blackboard. At least with nails on a blackboard, I can punch the person who’s doing it.
The short periods that are enjoyable are quickly doused with another helping from the Screechasaurus. Crawl is one of the only songs which shows what this album should have been like, with the deep sound, the meandering rhythm and the singing that isn’t very annoying.
Listen to this album: With your head in a bucket of ice water.
Rating: 43%
Extracts from ‘Crawl’, ‘Manhattan’, ‘Notion’ and ‘I want you’
Each song sounds like the artists were dragged from their beds, while they lay there suffering from the flu, and forced to perform their music. They sound like they really aren’t enjoying most of the music that they are performing. This is one of the things that I love about this album. They sound as though they have no energy left and are really struggling to perform and are really suffering for their art.
I don’t really know what the songs are about, but I feel that whatever it is, is important and more people should hear about it.
There’s plenty of different of styles for you to munch on in this, as they rap, jazz, and rock their way through the songs, and there’s a nice mix of slow and upbeat songs that give a nice, full and varied sound. You never get bored and there’s always something new jumping out at you at every turn. Causing you to be slightly shocked, but it all adds to the excitement to the album.
Still, throughout the album, there’s this sense of unease about the whole thing that I just can’t shake off, and I’m not sure if I like it or not. In some songs, it adds a kind of Portishead style anxiousness to the whole thing, and in others, it brings what should be a song of high energy and sucks all the energy out of it, leaving you with a husk, left after the real intention of the album has grown into a butterfly and flown away to enjoy itself.
Overall, I think I like this album. Not in an enjoyment way, but more like watching an arthouse film about people who are dying, but still living their lives to the full and having fun. There’s lots of happiness there, but it’s hidden behind a cobweb of lies and sadness, and if you try to touch it, you get covered in this web.
I find myself nodding along, but then I stop, feeling slightly guilty.
Listen to this album: Carefully.
88%
Extracts from ‘Crying’, ‘Stork and Owl’, ‘Family Tree’ and ‘DLZ’
