A God-awful Small Affair

I'm not sure what or who it was that planted this idea into my head, but I was always, until recently, under the impression that the Beastie Boys were a joke. I reckon my childhood wires might have crossed with New Kids on the Block for some reason. Alas, it's taken me until 2011 to discover them - or Paul's Boutique and License to Ill at least. But then a Youtube I subscribe to pointed me in the direction of 'Too Many Rappers' and my interest was revived. After a couple of health setbacks the Boys are most definitely back. From opener 'Make Some Noise' all potential fears that they'd lost it were blown out of the park - it reminds me a little bit of Pharoahe Monch in that sense of overblown, floorfilling dance presence that provides the perfect backdrop for the trio to go wild to. Do you remember those microphone toys you could buy as a kid and they'd make your voice sound robotic? I think they might be used in 'Nonstop Disco Powerpack', a s...

In the first of what is hopefully to be many instances where I've been mailed the album (thanks Kerry!) I'm reviewing (if you have anything you'd like to mail to me, contact me via email) I've sort of opened myself up to a state where a song has been so firmly embedded in my subconscious for the past few days that it'd almost be a burden, were it not brilliant. Certain friends of mine might cringe at this news since the last time was with VV Brown's "Shark in the Water", a song which, once introduced, left some of them listening to it all night. Exaggerations of my influence aside, there's a cross-generational appeal about this debut album from Jake Morley that have drawn comparisons to Eliza Doolittle and Olly Murs - but fret not, elitists, for there's more mettle in he than those heathens. Responsible for "vocals, guitars, piano, percussion, melodica, stylophone, ukelele, accordion, anything else" he's not just one of those ...

Perpetually on the brim of mainstream attention, Guillemots frontman last year found himself with a great deal attention courtesy of a Billy Joel cover and John Lewis advert. It therefore seems a shame that many will pin the band down as a nice folk band - because there's always been much more than that. With the third album comes a sense that they're almost parodying themselves. On a stylistic level the band have always been a kind of vague attempt at the avant-garde, which doesn't bode well with their scruffy, homegrown and raw image - but they had the music to pull it off. And the eponymous opener to Walk the River is certainly an example of that: crooning, howling vocals ebb beautifully over a dark, bleak instrumentation and lyrics of "hunted animals" add to a primal, mysterious atmosphere. But the je-ne-sais-quoi disappears in 'Vermillion', a pretty standard Doves-like track with unthreatening strums and foreground noises that do little more than dist...

With so many current clichés to boot it's difficult where to start to evaluate Holy Ghost! An electronic (1) male (2) duo (3) from New York City (4) that have built a small name for themselves (5) by remixing (6) for the likes of MGMT (7) and LCD Soundsystem (8), what does stick out is the sheer tenacity with which opener 'Do It Again' asserts itself. Sounding like a Prince collaboration with the Pet Shop Boys, it's a perfect stab at current trends with a slick synth chorus and cool twanging vocals about 'the city' and 'networks'; like Kraftwerk felt like dancing. 'Wait and See' continues with the pop hooks in the same vein that Empire of the Sun managed albeit less consistently (whilst their singles certainly shone better), but 'Hold My Breath' is just a shade too nostalgic and retrospective as to prove anything remotely original or stellar. There's however a disco-funk element to 'Say My Name' that is endlessly catchy; paire...

If you were to look to most music-media outlets you would be forgiven for getting the impression that The Airborne Toxic Event are up there with the likes of Gary Glitter, Phil Spector an Rebecca Black in terms of vitriol. Although there is a certain zeitgeist to frown upon those who perform angsty soft rock (take a look at Snow Patrol or Coldplay) it just seems a little bit uncalled-for. Granted, they're not exactly a band set to change the music scene, or overwhelm you with beauty (ignoring the soppy girls fanbase (sorry Jen if you're reading)), but there's a certain charm about the music for me that speaks volumes, and is instantly more forgivable than the vacuous personality-voids that occupy most of what's seen as 'cool'. For with TATE you always know where you stand: having made small ripples of success with 2008's "Sometime Around Midnight", from their self-titled debut, we were given an immediate glimpse into a world of melodrama, romance a...

About a week ago I got an email from Francesca of OfeliaDorme, titled "Anna Calvi's half Italian... Ofeliadorme completely italian :-)" - aside from being probably my weirdest message from my inbox, it opened my eyes to an exciting little album. Ofeliadorme hail from Bologna, Italy, and the immediate impression one gets from Italian music is that, whilst they have a reputation for some fine classical and operas - when it comes to modern pop/rock, there's few famous exports. Lacuna Coil are probably the only example I can think of. Which when you think of it, given the beautifully romantic and poetic nature of the language, is a little bit strange. But back to Ofeliadorme - and at first glance it's slightly obvious why I was emailed with regard to Anna Calvi's review I did a month or two ago. The sounds are immediately theatrical: opener 'Paranoid Park' is a beautiful opener, sounding somewhat like Florence + the Machine with its chimes and bleak, poign...

All-female bands are gaining something of a popularity in recent years, what with the rise to fame of the likes of Warpaint, CocoRosie and The Pipettes. But the world of indie pop has long been a male-dominated affair - at least, where the instrumentation is concerned anyway. But enough gender politics; their debut in 2008 was a pretty limited success for the Swedish group, yet a 2 million-strong listening on last.fm gives an indication to a slight cult status amongst the girls. Daydreams & Nightmares is from the get-go an innocently poppy assault; harsh synths and tribal drums supporting vocalist Linnea Jönsson's husky proclamations on 'Reaching Forward' that drift slightly astray in the middle for a bit of self-reverential tension that doesn't really work with the lyrics ("there is so much more to life than this" indeed). A nice hook saves the track though, and another presents itself in 'I'll Be Yours', a noticable Joy Division influence wi...

Despite being from Totnes, I'd never heard of Metronomy until I pinched their free iTunes single of the week about a month ago. It's something of a rarity to find music about my own area; mostly because whilst it gives off the illusion of being something quite beautiful but home to a vast array of social problems (we have the highest teenage pregnancy rate in the country, perhaps Europe I think, and a ridiculously high unemployment rate). But who cares when you have palm trees, right? So, avoiding desires to spread my wings and leave, The English Riviera has its merits - the opener of the same title merges the sounds of seagulls and waves (quite accurate, you could even have sampled some of Torquay's finest) with a brief but tense string that introduces 'We Break Free', a slow and funky track that sits somewhere between the last Bloc Party album and Stars. It clatters at times and becomes a little unstable, like a wobbly wheel on a shopping trolley, but composes it...

Having long been something of an underground hit, TV On the Radio finally got real widespread attention with the 2008 release of Dear Science, a perfect combination of gutsy blues-rock and pop sensibilities from the Brooklyn-based art rock outfit. With their fifth studio album came the tragic news that bassist Gerard Smith was diagnosed with lung cancer - so tragic because of the sheer funkiness of album opener 'Second Song''s bassline. It's almost a big band take on the Go! Team, combining grand instrumentation and rich sounds with simple, guttural hooks. 'Keep Your Heart' sounds something like Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds collaborating with OutKast - another interesting combination of desperate romanticism and blues-pop that's as catchy as it is crooning. 'You' could just easily be put onto an Apple advert, with its bass hooks and kind of MGMT-style walls of synths that ebb and flow nicely and remind me a little bit of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, whilst th...

The first impression I got of The Pains of Being Pure at Heart was that they were going to turn out to be one of a long list of pretentious indie bands with absurd names and bland music - how wrong I was. Their eponymous debut in 2009 met almost universal praise and the follow-up seems to be getting a similar buzz, being shortlisted for Pitchfork's "best new music" section. The New York fourtet are essentially a romantic band. There's a variety of nice similarities to the likes of the Cure, the Smiths, 80s Bowie and, of more recent times, Belle and Sebastian about them - with such focus on light-sounding infectious pop-rock that miraculously avoids being corny or predictable. The self-titled opener 'Belong' is a pretty firm hook, clashing grungey guitars against whispered and raspy vocals for a chorus that's something like The Enemy only less...British. Also less exciting, which is some feat. 'Heaven's Gonna Happen Now' sounds more like their d...

Please bear with me for a moment whilst I put on my nearest home-sewn sweater, black-rimmed glasses and pour myself a cup of soya, fat-free, wheat-free, mainstream-free hipster juice. Aaah. Refreshing, and not well-known. One half of the Pitchfork gods Animal Collective, Noah Lennox has been going under the Panda Bear pseudonym for four of his own albums now - the majority of which (ignoring the 1998 self-titled debut which really didn't get any attention at all, it seems) have found their way onto Pitchfork's end-of-year and even end-of-decade lists. Now for 'Tomboy', which introduces itself with 'You Can Count On Me', a haunting mish-mash of distorted vocals and Depeche Mode derivatives that is quite pleasant and works well to instil a sense of foreboding. The title track was released in the latter half of 2010 and has already garnered a little buzz, earning a play in CSI. It's a pretty conventional track by Animal Collective's standards - sounding lik...

Icelandic popstar Hafdís Huld originally released this record in 2009 but I received an email a week or so ago from someone working with her in the States, where she's just released the record. So here I am. Of course being from Iceland there's inevitably going to be a few comparisons to you-know-who but I should really quash any of those: Björk is easily in the top 5 female artists of all time, and whilst I mean no disrespect to Huld, it'd be a little premature to compare the two. At least because of their sound - Synchronised Swimmers is a chirpy, romantic, cute record that's all sweet little tunes and satisfying layers of folk influences. 'Action Man' is a pretty perfect blend of Mumford and Sons easy-folk and almost nursery-rhyme lyricism and vocals: the tune is a little bit similar to "Secrets" by OneRepublic but not enough to be a disappointing ripoff, if anything just a familiar chord put to good use. 'Oldest Friend' is more contemplativ...

From the very first bar of understated drums in 'Night Air' there's an immediate sense that you've stepped into a world where there's more to be said of what isn't than what is. Such is the modern potency of minimalism in music that draws inspiration from the pioneers (John Cale, the Velvet Underground) to the contemporaries (The XX, Aphex Twin), that each echo in Jamie Woon's opening track to his debut Mirrorwriting feels almost spiritual in its neglect and suggestion. Critics at the beginning of the year were eager to pin Woon into the shadow of James Blake. At first the comparisons are fair: both experimental solo males with a penchant for quiet, soulful music. But those of you who follow this site regularly will remember a pretty scathing review for Blake's self-titled LP: it lacked in every sense of the word. Where Blake relied on his (to be fair, pretty nice) voice to carry along each drop of emotion, Woon elaborates musically. In 'Street'...

Aside from a penchant for perpetually pulling silly faces in press shots, I've been unable to surmise much about Cage the Elephant until recently. Indeed, the album was released in early January - but the powers that be (namely albums I've actively seeked out) have prevented me from writing a review. Still, better late than never. Having achieved a staggering #2 on the Billboard album chart, something seems to suggest I might have just missed a very big and very crowded hype train. Opener 'Always Something' is a pretty sinister-sounding ballroller; a series of paranoid and cautionary lyrics set to creepy guitar riffs. "It never works out the way I wrote it in my head" suggests a deal of frustration, which was elaborated on in an interview with vocalist and songwriter Matt Schultz: “There were a lot of things in my life I was trying to control and it all unraveled in a real bad way,” Matt says. “Because everything fell apart I had to face up to everything. Some...

The Washington-born band U.S. Royalty are the fourth of my requested reviews, and had previously gone unnoticed to me. With an instantly noticeable nod to Spaghetti Westerns, ambitious rock and loud, distorted noise, it's likely to be greatly appreciated by anyone who's so far this year enjoyed Yuck and Glasvegas, amongst others. The record produced by Gus Oberg, who has worked with Bloc Party and the Strokes, this mere fact alone should shed some light on the rawness and potency behind this record. The opener 'The Mirror' is a bluesy, rattling piece of majesty that instils an ominous feel, quickly merging into 'Hollywood Hollows', a kind of reimagination of Primal Scream's "Moving On Up" through a Jimi Hendrix medium. It's exceedingly catchy and the bassline throws out numerous bouncy hooks. 'Monte Carlo' is noticeably quieter but doesn't hesitate on the energy - a clear western influence adding another notch to the great American ...

Far from an energy-saving plea; the Foos' 7th outing sees them at their loudest, and perhaps their best? Having appreciated them for considerably longer than the majority of those I currently write about, not to mention their side projects and former bands, it's with great pleasure that album number 7 arrived. From the promotional pieces earlier this year (White Limo's video featuring Lemmy!) to the track itself the 4 year wait wasn't likely to have been a disappointment - and from the very first listen of this record I can confirm that. With former guitarist Pat Smear now firmly back in the lineup for his first record since 1997, this could be the best lineup yet. The opener 'Bridge Burning' immediately pulses with inanely simple riff hooks and Grohl's token screamed aggression that we've come to miss in Them Crooked Vultures, and allusions to bridge-burning are sadly universal, not particularly evident of a musician feud at all. Lead single 'Rope...

Copycat accusations are thrown around a little too liberally nowadays. Most of all by pop fans, whose endless range of starlets and generally replaceable drones can be seen to be heathens for simply borrowing something as trivial as a black and white tint to a music video. However with Natalia Kills, a British singer ready to burst onto the world scene with her debut album, there's something a little more weighty behind the tag "GaGa rip-off". It's all there, and it's not exactly unjust - her voice has the same twang, she has the same producer behind songs The Fame, Eh Eh and Starstruck, the same outlandish outfits, the same genre music, the same taking-herself-seriously-by-acting-like-a-wanker-in-interviews shtick, and it's all a little bit embarrassing. But I'll try my best to overlook the comparisons. She made a brief journey onto the pop scene in 2005 under the alias Verbalicious, with a single called 'Don't Play Nice' that I personally lov...