Vampire Weekend's Rostam Batmanglij and Ra Ra Riot's Wes Miles marry Miles' concept of an all-synth band and Bat's idea of handclaps over snares, creating an ethereal modern day reggae record. My enjoyment of it, like many things in life, relies on how drunk I am. Sober, it's an enjoyable half an hour romp. A few drinks in, however, I'll be bleating 'Ooo baby baby baaaaaaabe!' to the chorus of the earnest Can You Discover?, air-keyboarding to the blippy melody of Swing Tree, and revelling in the Jackson Five I Want You Back cover, a track as fun and delightful as it is ludicrous. You'll love or hate this, so do yourself a favour and find out.
You want shouty, jagged, sweat-soaked, jaw clenching, engorged vein, melodic power rock? And you also like pithy agit prop lyrics all about the system and that sort of stuff? Well put down your Nickleback bootlegs and Third Eye Blind re-issues because Future of the Left are back with album number B. Future Of The Left are the cult band di rigueur. Rising from the ashes of McKlusky and Jawback they make exactly the sort of music you'd expect from a trio of well read, jumped up Welshmen. They represent the uncompromising, piquant ying to Super Furry Animal's fruity strawberry fuzz yang. As one of the best tracks - Land Of My Formers - exclaims "They only get under your skin if you let them". And they do.
Joe Gideon and The Shark - Harum Scarum: [Bronzerat]
You realise you've been transported to a strange land. Stranded with your unashamedly pathological tour guide, Joe Gideon, you fear but ache for what lies ahead. Harum Scarum, the opener, casts a spell. This mystic troubadour has a rawness and conviction in him that draws you in and scares the heck outta you simultaneously. He is the biographer of characters tragic and inspirational and a scathing self-critic. His lyrics turn your head - reflections of purpose mixed with futility, somehow leaving you with faith in a mad mad world. This is a personal album - introspective, vindictive, a rite of passage. Joe might be speaking to you directly, such is his vocal style of storyteller and foreteller. The songs seem like vehicles through which he narrates; the band occasionally wrenching away like a separate entity reclaiming and reminding its mouthpiece that it is not to be outdone. The sound is deep and bold blues rock. Shifting from rolling and haunting to uplifting with gospel backings provided by his sister Viva, 'The Shark'; it's like a rattlesnake armed with a wink and a nod.
Could this be the voice of the angels when they come to take you ? If so, I'm ready to go right now! The fancy title is a pseudonym for Angela Little, who's siren's call would lure any sailor onto the rocks. Simple yet alluring keyboard melodies feature in all songs, trickling down to create a wraithlike atmosphere. These are punctuated for dramatic effect by a screaming guitar in Leave a Light On and by a raging fiddle in Greedy. Her voice weaves a wide range of emotions: passion, hope, wonder, doubt and even a chillingly vengeful tone, positively dripping with revenge. I was blown away by the sheer beauty of this EP.
Dream Theater - Black Clouds and Silver Linings: [Roadrunner]
Another year, another (excellent) Dream Theater album – and, as the band’s heroes Rush would say, “plus ca change, mais plus de la meme chose’. Really, you know exactly what’s lurking within the portentous sleeve – another hour or so of majestic, pompous heavy rock – so what’s on offer that’s going to make you thrust your paw pocketwards in preparation for the big shell out? Quite a lot, actually. Black Clouds… easily outstrips its predecessor, the uneven Systematic Chaos, although too often we hear the band treading water when they have the chops to break new ground just as easily. It’s telling that the ballad, Wither, does more in it’s five minute duration than any of the songs clocking in at between ten and twenty minutes manage to do, though in the nineteen minute epic The Count of Tuscany the band lay down the finest tribute ever recorded to Rush, in the process recording a true DT classic. Elsewhere a surprisingly direct quote from Megadeth’s In My Darkest Hour perks up The Shattered Fortress as it rambles to a rather directionless conclusion, whilst The Best of Times, despite it’s borrowment of a Styx title, actually rather resembles the pomptastic Kansas at their very best – and you won’t find me moaning about that. At the end of the day, you’re either a fan or you’re not, and the band’s crossover appeal isn’t big enough to reel in hordes of new fans at this stage in the game with a big ‘hit single’, but this is a strong, strong release with something to appeal to all fans of metal music in 2009, and as such comes glowing ear to ear with references from yours truly. Marvellous stuff overall.
The Levellers - Letters From the Underground: [Shock]
Whilst ‘return to form’ is an over-used phrase in the world of music reviewage, it’s bang on the money here. English folk-punkers The Levellers have been in a bit of a trough of late, but with LFTU you get the sense of a band completely revitalised and ready to face the next chapter in their history. Formed in 1988, the band’s halcyon years ended around 2000, but the band is a massive draw on the live circuit (they host their own outdoor festival, Beautiful Days, every summer in the UK), and it’s this popularity that has seen them continue to prosper even in the face of indifference from the wider record buying public. If there was any justice, the situation would all change with Letters…,comfortably the best release from the band in nearly a decade and a half. It’s a record that sees them, on tracks like the coruscating Eyes Wide, Burn America Burn or opener The Cholera Well regaining some of the righteous anger that was formerly such a trademark. There really isn’t a bad track on offer here, and in Behold a Pale Rider the band has recorded a song that equals (and possibly betters) anything they’ve recorded since 1993. There’s very little out there at the moment that presents sincerity of belief and musical integrity as a calling card, but if that sounds like the sort of thing that might provide your ears with some relief in this age of cancerous blights on the soundscape like Jet and Nickelback, then I implore you to get out and get this now. In fact buy enough copies to distribute to all your loved ones – they’ll thank you for it.
Could this be the voice of the angels when they come to take you ? If so, I'm ready to go right now! The fancy title is a pseudonym for Angela Little, who's siren's call would lure any sailor onto the rocks. Simple yet alluring keyboard melodies feature in all songs, trickling down to create a wraithlike atmosphere. These are punctuated for dramatic effect by a screaming guitar in Leave a Light On and by a raging fiddle in Greedy. Her voice weaves a wide range of emotions: passion, hope, wonder, doubt and even a chillingly vengeful tone, positively dripping with revenge. I was blown away by the sheer beauty of this EP.
