Seminal punk act Rancid release their new album this week - their first in 6 years - Let The Dominoes Fall. As a forerunner the first single is Last One to Die which you can watch here. It’s a slab of mediocre American punk but try to give the guys a break - they’ve been going for ages…
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April 28th, 2009
Celestial synths over dirty bass has become the staple diet of French electro ever since Ed Banger and its horsemen of the dance floor apocalypse churned out their initial showcase compilation. If Justice’s debut record was anything to go by, lyricisms are far too calorific and would have weighed down the triumphantly ground-shaking euphoria of the likes of Phantom and Genesis and perhaps this is where this francophone plummets. Lacking the wry wit of Morrissey and the poetic merit of Cohen, Yuksek may benefit from an updated rhyming dictionary; Extraball couples sound with town. And then with ground. And then crowd. And then around. It’s excessive to say the least. The French lilt caresses cynicism and is rather endearing nonetheless but layered over predictable drops, uninspiring arpeggios and dated guests (from nu-rave rockers ShitDisco to chic tongue-in-cheek electro freaks Chromeo) Pierre-Alexandre Busson could do with a system update.
The aqueous bleeps that elevate I Could Never Be A Dancer into astronautical atmospheres are engineered for late nights and early mornings whilst Tonight’s relentlessly incendiary onslaught is enough to ignite damp leaves in drainpipes before the hidden acoustic version of the track exposes a seducing contrast revealing the man behind the Moog. Whether Busson’s new direction lies in the retro stylings of Rhodes pianos and bass guitars seems dubious but if Paris’ Régine club is the hottest of night boxes on the planet then those extra calories can be burnt off dancing holes in those designer shoes to a credible hometown debut. 6/10
April 24th, 2009
Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson and his debut album have somehow lurked beneath the mainstream radar is the US, though whether that will also happen in the UK is another matter.
The twenty-five year old singer/songwriter from Brooklyn has made a very personal and moving record and the finished product is really impressive; writing music as a means to deal with his heavy drug addiction, the songs show his morbid views on life and death. Each track is moving, self-pitying and thought provoking, occasionally stating that death would be preferable to living, just to hammer it home. The album seems to be a soundtrack to his life; lots of low points, his fears of living and life falling apart after all the wasted years.
Musically and vocally it is very comparable to Bon Iver, Miles’ low, rumbling, soulful voice reaches deep to the back drop of folk-rock and will spontaneously and flawlessly form into an scratchy, fuzzy, lo-fi rock similar to The Velvet Underground. His excellent, critically acclaimed single Buriedfed opens the album and is a particular highlight.
Throughout the record he collaborates with Grizzly Bear’s Chris Taylor and Christopher Bear in addition to TV on the Radio’s Kyp Malone and you can hear their influence on the album. It is, at times a brutally honest reflection of his thoughts and the things he goes through on a day to day basis. Overall it is a great effort from Miles, who looks like he’s got a good future ahead of him.
More astoundingly is that since recording his debut album he’s completed two more and is looking forward to getting started on another, so we won’t have to wait long to hear more from this hugely talented musician. 8/10
Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson’s self-titled debut album will be released through Transgressive Records on 1st June.
April 2nd, 2009
Green Day have announced the release of their eighth studio album: 21st Century Breakdown.
The album is out worldwide on May 15th and is the trio’s first album since 2004’s
long player American Idiot, which sold 12 million copies.
21st Century Breakdown is divided into three acts: Heroes and Cons, Charlatans and Saints and Horseshoes and Handgrenades. It follows a young couple Christian and Gloria through the mess and promise of the century so far.
Song titles announced are: Know Your Enemy, 21 Guns, East Jesus Nowhere, Before the Lobotomy, and Restless Heart Syndrome.
The band has been working on the album since early 2006 with producer Butch Vig, most famous for his work with Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins and Garbage.
The first single from 21st Century Breakdown is Know your Enemy, out in April.
In addition Green Day recently announced that an opera version of their album American Idiot will be staged in Berkeley, California from September-October this year.
March 27th, 2009
Marilyn Manson and co. will be releasing their 7th studio album The High End of Low in late May with a appearance on the Mayhem Festival in the States this summer. He updated his MySpace picture which had him with less cosmetics then ever on…
Will his fans like the new change? And will he be able to make the same music that he made back in the 90s that made us all want to cross over to the dark side?
Who knows!?… But i’m tickled that now I wear more make-up than him… lol
photo by Delaney Bishop
March 18th, 2009
Placebo have announced that they will release their new album, Battle For The Sun, on the June 8th. The new album will be the group’s sixth studio album and the first since the arrival of new drummer Steve Forrest.
Lead singer /guitarist Brian Molko has said he’s “in a positive frame of mind and a good head space” about the new album and adding ”There’s a lot of life in the old dog just yet.”
You can download the title track, completely free, from placeboworld.co.uk - where you can also pre-order a very limited edition box set of the album and the first 500 copies will be signed by the band themselves.
The band will embark on a European tour from May which takes in RockNess in Scotland - see MySpace for dates.
November 25th, 2008
Prodigy fans might have to wait until until March 2nd next year for their new album Invaders Must Die, but the generous V Festival ‘08 headliners are giving away a free download of the title track from their official website for one week only from Weds 26 Nov. Keep your digits hovered over www.theprodigy.com for when the time is nigh!
But they’re not finished there - oh no… those crazy crazy Prodge types are also releasing the video for the song on the Xtival channel on XBox Live. So keep your eye on: www.xbox.com from 12 noon (London time) on November 28.
And if all that doesn’t whet the jilted generation’s appetite enough, then here’s the full Invaders Must Die tracklisting:
1. Invaders Must Die
2. Omen
3. Thunder
4. Colours
5. Take Me To The Hospital
6. Warrior’s Dance
7. Run With The Wolves
8. Omen Reprise
9. World’s On Fire
10. Piranha
11. Stand Up
October 10th, 2008
“I’m not a Business man..im a BUSINESS mannnnnnnnn”- Jay-Z
The Blueprint 3 is the eleventh album by American rapper Jay-Z. This will be his last album with record label Def Jam before he begins recording with Live Nation - when he will become his own boss. Production will be done by Kanye West and producer Timbaland. I’ve been a Hova fan since Reasonable Doubt (best album he ever released) so I’m more then excited to see what Mr Carter will stir up this time.
His first released single Jockin’ Jay-Z is already a big radio hit in the US and is blasting on everyone’s iPod.
Catch this YouTube clip of the new song which he premiered in NewYork City at Kanye’s Glow In The Dark show.
October 7th, 2008
A pocket full of Glaswegian charm and on the cusp of stardom with the release of their new single ‘Wendy’ and hotly tipped album ‘Friday Night Lights’ later this month. Eleanor Conway chats to lead singer, Kev about his intergalactic dreams, sharing urinals at V Festival, and meeting David Gest down a dark alley.
EC: Hey, what you up to?
KS: Sitting reading my comics. We’re in the studio recording some b sides today…
EC: How rock and roll is the session? Going on a scale of one to ten. Is it non rock and roll, or is there drinking and topless girls dancing on the mixing desk?
KS: (laughs) We’re being very well-behaved today, we’re probably 2 or 3 on the rock-o-meter, we’ll probably phone in for some topless dancers later.
I don’t know if you’ve heard of an early record producer called Kim fowley a notorious maniac, he was producing a band in Manchester from LA on the phone, they were doing it live and so he called up a local Manchester brothel and ordered a bunch of prostitutes to come round and dance in the studio so the band would play better. I don’t think our manager Francis would actually do that but you never know.
(raucous laughing)
EC: You recently played at V Festival, how did it go?
KS: We were up against The Verve and Kaiser Chiefs, I was still surprised we got a crowd it was great. People came along to see us.
My favourite part was the backstage area you go to the toilet and you’re taking a piss next to Ricky of the Kaiser Chiefs, Richard Ashcroft would walk past you to take a dump. You’re like ‘what the hell is going on here!’
EC: Let’s talk about your latest single, ‘Wendy’, I’m assuming you are not talking about a cheap mode of habitation, such as a Wendy House, so who is this girl called Wendy?
KS: She’s a mixture of various girlfriends of all the guys in the band have had over the years. She’s a Frankenstein character to be honest, bits of different people all mashed together to make Wendy as you know her.
EC: If you were to make your ultimate girl, like in the movie ‘Total Recall’, where Schwarzenegger is in the chair and he designs a perfect girl, what would be yours?
KS: I’m always getting slagged off in the band as I go for small dark haired foreign girls.
EC: One’s that can’t understand you?
KS: Yeah, it means that my general inability to communicate with human beings isn’t a problem until they master English and I master their language.
And at that point they’ll dump me.
(laughing)
EC: Wendy has been remixed by The Fratellis along with The Vaselines, I’m a househead at heart, so I don’t really get the indie remixes. What did The Fratellis mix add to the orginal?
KS: We were kind of surprised, I suppose there’s an element that if you change the chords in somebody’s song it could be see as an insult, but it also takes a lot of balls. It worked, we were like, ‘fucking hell, we never thought of that chord’.
I’m a big dance music fan myself, I love getting the remixes, the more dancey ones. It’s kind of made me think I should get myself a sampler and start writing some German minimalist techno.
EC: You’re shocking me, this is like a genre crossover, you can’t do that.
KS: (laughs) I kind of grew up listening to indie and going to hardcore dance clubs at the weekend, it’s a strange dichotomy, one day we’ll hook up with Fat Boy Slim and come out with some wild dance stuff. That would be real cool.
EC: You actually supported Paul Heaton who was in the Housemartins with Fatboy Slim earlier this year didn’t you?
Maybe that’s a subconscious connection in my head. We did a short tour a couple of months ago, he’s the nicest guy in the world. I’ve never played with a main act who has said on stage, ‘this is our new single, if you don’t like it, go and buy Attic Lights new single’. I’m in awe of Paul Heaton.
EC: I watched a short film about you guys on YouTube. Kev, you were described as enigmatic, talented, hopeless, optimistic, hyperactive, an intelligent space cadet — now which do you relate with more?
KS: Colin calls me a hopeless optimistic all the time, Tim is always loathed to sit beside me on the tour bus because I’m totally hyperactive, and end up screaming at him and poking him and tickling him, so it depends what mood you get me in.
EC: Virgin are embarking on intergalactic space adventures, Virgin Galactic, if you were to go up to space, what is the one thing you would like to do? Pee, make love, or make music?
KS: That’s very difficult, because all three would have definite appeal.
I’m not sure actually, I’d genuinely love to go to space, it would be tremendous. In case my mum encounters this interview I won’t say make love in space, and making music in space would be quite good, but being a basic infant, I’d probably want to pee in space to see what happens.
EC: I agree with you, I’d probably do the same.
I generally dislike comparing artists to people that have been before, but you’ve been described by journalists and reviewers as the Beach Boys with distorted guitars, do you see that comparison yourself?
KS: I suppose it’s an easy thing to do, there’s part of me that’s like ‘you know we’re more than that’, and every band is more than their comparisons. When we started Attic Lights the idea was, we wanted Beach Boy melodies, uplifting yet slightly melancholy songs, we want loud guitars, coz we grew up with Weezer and the Pixies and stuff like that. So aye, it doesn’t bother us too much and I’m sure people will get a handle on it and make their own minds up.
EC: It’s been said that you guys love Glasgow, and I can’t remember which band member said they would love to work for the council if the opportunity arose. How good is Glasgow, and how much fun can I have for a tenner?
KS: It kind of depends on what you want…
(Noel boisterously shouting in background)
KS: (sternly) Noel, you can’t say things like that.
Noel is being extremely rude.
Colin said he actually worked for the council, much to the amusement of everyone else.
(Shouts to band) Colin you go out more than anyone else, what can you do in Glasgow for a tenner?
(shouting– musician styleeee ) A bottle of Buckfast, take it to the park or five white Russians at Nice and Sleazy, which is a pretty cool bar.
EC: Obviously as your success grows (fingers crossed) there will be big pull towards the smoke. Have you considered moving to London?
KS: Do you know what? It’s something I’ve been thinking a lot about recently. I think previously we’d been down in London on a regular basis, we thought London was a bit too big for us. Now I’ve fallen in love with London, it’s absolutely fantastic I just love going down, the architecture is amazing, the difference between Camden and Kensington and all that. Everyone that is a real music aficionados from the States, always talk about London bands, and the UK scene. There’s definitely kudos. I guess to people in London it’s not that amazing, I just love walking around Camden it feels like a really incredible multicultural mix. I’d definitely like to live in London, London is definitely one of the great cities of the world.
EC: Just before calling you I was looking at your video for ‘Bring You Down’ which weirdly has David Gest in it….. er why?
KS: It’s not ours. It’s a long story, I’ll give you the condensed version, it’s rather bizarre. Our tour manager, John, met David Gest on a flight from London to Glasgow. They ended up getting pissed and having a party back at John’s flat, he played Gest a version of our song and then phoned us to come round. Everyone’s hammered and David Gest is like (Kev adopts American/Glaswegian accent), ‘I’d like to do a monologue over this’. So we let him put a monologue over it, and he wanted to his own video to it as well. So it’s a bit weird isn’t it?
EC: It is, because the video features the ‘Small people of Davidland’ and ‘The Chinese girls with Herpes’, so my next question is, which would you like to meet down a dark alley?
KS: I’d go for the small people, as opposed to the girls with Herpes. I’m a bit of a hypochondriac, anyone with a disease I try to stay away from.
EC: What would the people of Attic Lights land look like?
KS: Good question actually, y’know you got me stumped, if they were anything like the band they’d probably be a mixture of hyperactive or stoned or confused. Basically like five headless chickens, because that’s what the band is like, but somehow we always seem to get things done though.
EC: With a little bit of Glaswegian charm I’m sure….
KS: We always put on the charming smiles, especially for lovely journalists like yourself.
EC: Excellent. Correct answer.
And on that note….. Attic Lights release their new single ‘Wendy’, and album ‘Friday Night Lights’ on 6/10 and 13/10 respectively.
Attic Lights:
http://www.myspace.com/atticlights
Words: Eleanor Conway
September 25th, 2008
“I changed my album to November something cause I finished the album and I felt like it, I want yall to hear it as soon as possible.” - Kanye West
I woke up this morning to see this on Kanye West’s blog. My hands shook in excitement!
After originally being scheduled for a December 16th release date, hip-hop superstar Kanye West is now planning to drop his highly anticipated fourth studio album, 808s & Heartbreak a month early.
I’m so excited for this album and I can’t wait to give you a review on it. Me and my good friend Shade F. are going to the CD signing…
But for the meantime check out his new single Love Lockdown.
