Pendulum (remember them?) have seemingly bounced back with a bunch of new tracks (I'm not sure how it is that several of them have leaked already seeing as the album is out in May) and I'm surprisingly liking what I'm hearing so far. I wasn't a huge fan of that nu metal/DnB thing they were trying to do on their last album, so I'm pleased to announce that it seems as if they've gone closer to their roots on the new songs, once again producing some pretty fun DnB (the last album was also way too serious in my opinion). The best of the ones I've heard is definitely 'Ransom', can't get that transformers hook out of my head:
Sorry the quality's a bit shit, but at least the music is good.
Hmm, moving along. The new Pokémon games are out in less than two weeks!
I got a lvl 100 Arceus the other day from an event in GAME.
I went with a friend of mine, she'd hate me if I said who it was. Actually, no one reads this so she probably wouldn't care. Her name rhymes with tether, hahahaha... I am in the middle of a four-day weekend, so no college today and none tomorrow either!
I am 18 in less than a month.
/ORGASM
P.S. I reckon I might start up a tumblr, seeing as I can never update this regularly enough (the posts end up being way too long) and tumblr seems a lot better suited to regular quick posts. I'll still use this (mainly for my 'music journalism', though I can't really call it that...) but I'll probably use tumblr more if I can get the hang of it. It seems like the cool thing to do (oh dear I am so behind) anyway. Oh look, here I am! It's clearly awesome so you should take a look.
...is a lot harder than one might think. I've started teaching Heather although they're not really proper lessons, I'm more just sort of helping her along as she goes (she's only been playing for just over a week, bless her). Whether or not you'd actually consider it 'proper teaching' is more or less irrelevant anyway, it's a good laugh so I hope today will have just witnessed the first session of many. I don't really see myself as a very good teacher of anything in particular; I've often had difficulty in the past explaining concepts and that to people. All things considered though I think today was pretty much a success, we went through a bit of Zep and I taught her the main riffs of 'Heartbreaker' and 'Whole Lotta Love', as well as teaching her the basic ideas of the 12 Bar Blues. We didn't play around with that too much though, which was a shame (you can vary it a lot so it can end up being very fun to play around with). Hopefully we'll get to do a proper bluesy session another time.
Another thing which hath provided me with joy lately is my friend Chris' vlogs. He actually started making them about a month ago or something, but I only watched them for the first time yesterday. There are 4 now (although the second is split into 2 parts). GO WATCH, they are awesome! You can find his Youtube channel here although because I am nice and generally amazing I'll put one of his made-of-win videos right here, right now. This is his first vid:
If you don't love it then you do not have a soul. Anyway I must be getting on, SO MUCH WORK TO DO. But before I go, here is one last thing:
Plastic Beach gets released almost everywhere today! (Apart from America, lololol). Although you should already be familiar with it, as it leaked a whole week ago now (get with the program guys!). Iddy did her review the other day and its top stuff. You can look at it here, whereas mine is still up on my homepage, just under this post. I seriously cannot stress how much you need to listen to it, to digest it, to take it into your soul! Ah I sound like one of those stupid over the top black priests (I don't mean to be racist...) but it is a very good piece of work, definitely up there for the top album of this year.
I saw the new version of Alice in Wonderland yesterday (by Tim Burton, who else) and I'm pleased to say it surpassed expectations! I've been getting a bit sceptical of Tim Burton lately, his films just seem to be getting more samey and predictable. Alice in Wonderland was a very enjoyable film though, a nice alternative to a sickly sweet stereotypical fairytale, of which I am sick of (not that surprising really). It isn't quite as good as his best films (Sleepy Hollow, Nightmare Before Christmas etc.) but it does seem like he has at least regained his creative enthusiasm, which he had seemed to have lost with recent films. I recommend it to anyone looking for something a little bit different, but still somewhat familiar. I am aware that was a very annoying sentence.
Another thing that is currently awesome is Ash's A-Z Series, which I know I have blogged about before but it is getting very good now. They're currently on K (so 11 main songs plus 'Return of White Rabbit' plus all the B sides and remixes... a lot of songs) with L due to be released next Monday (the main songs are released every two weeks). I'm thinking of reviewing the first half of it (A-M) as an album review, only including the main songs though as that's what it would be like if it was actually an album (I think). They're a bit inconsistent, you get the odd dodgy track followed by a song that just completely blows you away. The overall quality of the new songs is very good though, I reckon some of the tracks are some of the best stuff they've ever done.
Here's a few of my favourites so far: Tracers (D):
Pripyat (F):
Ichiban (G):
ONE MORE THING. Ffion Mai is awesome and made of win (even though she's Welsh...she doesn't let it hold her back). Cheers Ffi!
It's March! The sky outside is purple! I haven't done a post in ages...! Sorry about that... A lot of stuff has been going on and I haven't really had the time or been bothered enough to do anything with this. Not to worry though, I'm still alive! With my general alive-ness I bring you my next music review. This one is possibly going to be published in my college's newspaper/magazine type thing, so I'm naturally excited about that! As for what it is... well it should be obvious.
Gorillaz - Plastic Beach
This is the release that's got me the most excited for quite a long time. Much more excited than Heligoland did last month (and that got me very excited). Probably the nearest thing I have to compare this level of excitement to was Muse's The Resistance all the way back in September of last year (that's a bit weird, I can remember when that came out like it was yesterday...). Anyway moving along, I can happily report that this, unlike the two previously mentioned albums, lives up to all my expectations. That is, it is as good as I wanted it to be, but in terms of what it actually sounds like it is something different altogether.
The first major change comes at the very beginning, where Damon has placed another instrumental intro. But where on Demon Days there is a visceral hell-trip, here we get a lush orchestra that brings to mind a sun dappled beach with the tide lapping away gently at the shore. A clever little reference to the title of the album, eh? (In case you don't know, the 'story' of this one is that Murdoc has holed up on the most isolated point on Earth, made up from all of the detritus and rubbish of humanity. This is the 'Plastic Beach' of the title). The first part of the album from here on in is littered with potential singles; from the beautiful 'Rhinestone Eyes' (if we're making comparisons to Demon Days then this is definitely the album's 'El Mañana') to the downright quirky 'Superfast Jellyfish'. The latter is definitely one of the standout tracks and is without doubt the 'poppiest' thing the album has to offer, despite feeling like a proper old school hip-hop track (De La Soul are heavily featured) complete with bizarre samples and jokey lyrics. The song genuinely made me chuckle the first time I heard it, which is a very rare thing indeed. The previously released 'Stylo' is sandwiched between these two, another of the album's highlights. The song itself is actually quite a challenge for me to write about as it encompasses pretty much everything I love about Gorillaz; from the can't-get-it-out-of-your-head beat to the melancholic but brilliant vocals, even the fact that it features someone completely random but awesome (Bobby Womack was persuaded to sing the bridge part after his daughter told him that Gorillaz were cool). I reckon his vocals make the track, it's really something very powerful indeed.
'Empire Ants' follows the block of radio-friendly tunes and is a very pretty sounding song; it reminds me somewhat of their brilliant epic 'Hong Kong' (a song that was recorded during the Demon Days campaign but wasn't on the album). I'm not really sure what to make of the next two tracks. 'Glitter Freeze' and 'Some Kind of Nature' are both fairly repetitive and bland songs, they're not terrible, they're just nothing particularly remarkable either. Not what I have really come to expect from Gorillaz. 'On Melancholy Hill' is another potential single, it's not really standard Gorillaz fare but the composition is done very well and the melody is damn catchy. It'll be stuck in your head for days afterwards. 'Sweepstakes' is an interesting one, I think. It brings to mind very strongly the sound of the first Gorillaz album; dirty and not very poppy at all. The whole album has a similar sort of feel to it, for Demon Days they decided to go very poppy and mainstream which is fair enough as it turned out very good. For Plastic Beach it feels as if they've taken a step back the other way towards where it all began. It's not quite the same though, the majority of the songs here are a lot more intelligent than anything they've ever done. Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett have been very clever with Plastic Beach, everything from the title of the album itself to all the promotional art and videos feels meticulously crafted and put together for a very specific purpose.
All of this climaxes during the title track. 'Plastic Beach' is a beautiful song and without doubt one of the best things they've ever done. It features none other than Mick Jones and Paul Simonon of The Clash fame but it sounds anything but punky. The song brings together all the themes and ideas from the whole thing and combines them to create a fantastically epic masterpiece. The overarching message is that we should really stop and take a look at how our failing planet is doing before it all goes down the shitter; a message we are all familiar with I'm sure but the track is so powerful that it really does make you stop and think for once about how much we are fucking things up.
I was expecting a closer for this album that lived up to the fantastically pretty title track from Demon Days and with 'Pirate Jet' they almost managed it. It really builds itself up into something epic, but then suddenly cuts short. This is one of my main problems with the album; the last track should be much longer! It's like 'Don't Get Lost in Heaven' from the last one, really good but you want it to last a lot longer than it does. Oh well, you can't have everything.
Plastic Beach is in summary, a very good album. It is completely different to Demon Days however and I think they'll lose a lot of their casual fans for this, but sometimes it's good to have a bit of a change. The big list of guests they got to collaborate with them actually works as well, I was worried it might be a bit all over the place because of the wide range of guests but it doesn't really affect the integrity of the whole thing at all. Well done 2-D, Murdoc, Russel and Noodle (although for this album she's actually been 'replaced' by a robot clone of herself... don't ask). You've done it again.
A happy (or not so happy) Valentine's Day to you all! The final song is of course The Beatles' classic 'All You Need is Love' (how could it be anything else?!). By far the most widely recognised and famous song on the entire list, I reckon it's the perfect song to finish it off.
Now, if you'll excuse me I have a rather important matter to attend to...
Portishead - Dummy
Right, from trip-hop to yes, more trip-hop. I only really started listening to Portishead earlier this week (I am the world's biggest musical slowpoke...) but I can already say that I like them more than Massive Attack. Why? Their albums are just consistently more brilliant, their songs far more haunting and their singer is just much better than any of the vocalists Massive Attack reel in (although for Hope Sandoval I might make an exception). Dummy is the best example of this; I haven't actually listened to Third yet but I'll be very surprised if it can beat Dummy's level of brilliance.
'Mysterons' starts things off with a chilling and appropriately sci-fi sounding (the Mysterons were the extraterrestrial villains in Captain Scarlet) loop before dropping into a rolling bassline/beat that carries you along with it and refuses to let go. The next track, 'Sour Times', is one of the highlights of the album and really takes things up a notch. The beautiful vocals from Beth Gibbons speak of despair and loss, as well as a burning desire for something distinctly out of reach (the chorus goes 'Nobody loves me/It's true/Not like you do'). A theme of despair seems to run throughout the album, with none of the tracks sounding particularly happy at all. This is no bad thing though. Portishead channel their collective complex of emotions beautifully through their music, this has the effect of drawing you in and leaving you craving for more.
It's not just the emotions running high either. They are clearly very talented; the soundscapes they create here are incredible, going from eerie to intensely powerful within the same song. Listening to Dummy feels less like listening to a trip-hop record and more like a complete thing, a thing about love, loss, despair and everything in between. 'Glory Box' is the perfect closer; it starts off with a lazy bassline (actually a sample) accompanied by Gibbons' ghostly vocals, before exploding into a cacophony of guitars that could be the soundtrack to the end of the world. It brings to mind the climax of Muse song 'Take a Bow'; the apocalypticness and huge sense of scale is still there.
So in summary we have a quite remarkable record here, one which will take every person who listens to it on a personal journey of their own. Just a little bit of advice: don't listen to it if you're feeling a bit emotionally fragile. It'll tear you to pieces.
I really wanted to use an Elbow song as one of the Valentine's songs, they're very very romantic so I was a bit spoilt for choice (even though I only have The Seldom Seen Kid). It's taken me a while to choose which one to use (I only wanted to use one song from each artist I used) but I finally settled on 'One Day Like This'. In the end it was a bit of a toss-up between that and 'Mirrorball'; they're both two of the most beautiful and romantic songs I know, by any artist. I'm not sure what made me choose the former over the latter... maybe 'One Day Like This' is just more obviously romantic (with 'Mirrorball' being a bit more subtle) and even if you don't know Elbow, you will likely recognise it. Therefore it gives me great pleasure to give you the penultimate song of my Valentine's Playlist: 'One Day Like This' by Elbow. If you haven't already heard it, first of all where have you been?! Second of all, LISTEN. Even if you know the song well, listen to it! It is vital music for the soul.
I've got a corker lined up for the final song tomorrow. With regards to tomorrow, I am very nervous, excited and scared all at the same time! I've never really tried anything like this before...
Oh and don't worry, I haven't forgotten. Review will be up later today!
Don't worry, I'm not actually in love yet. That would be creepy and quite frankly ridiculous. It's just a lyric from today's song, which is of course the classic by The Cure. How could it be anything else?
On a totally unrelated note, may I introduce to you... BANANAS BRIAN!! I should probably explain, myself and a few others have set up livejournal accounts and started posting as fictional characters. These characters are all middle aged or elderly and all have hilarious names (generated by taking a boring name and putting a bizarre adjective in front of it. I wanted to alliterate mine just to make it that little bit funnier), they're also ridiculously exaggerated and have very old-fashioned points of view. Just read some of the posts by 'us'. You'll understand. As well as me, there is also Crazy Simon (Kayleigh), Dangerous John (Rachel), Wild Floyd (Adam) and Juicy Margaret (Heather). You should be able to find them from Bananas Brian's page fairly easily.
I was going to do a review of Dummy by Portishead today, but two nights of taekwondo on the trot really tires me out. You'll just have to wait 'til tomorrow, ha!
Yet another classic tune for all of you's, today's song is 'Teenage Kicks' by The Undertones. I feel it describes that intense feeling of wanting someone all to yourself perfectly. I listened to Merriweather Post Pavilion (remember, that Animal Collective one?) for the first time in about a month today. I'd forgotten just how good it is, listening to it is just such a brilliantly happy experience. 'Brother Sport' (the closer) is definitely my favourite; words simply cannot do it justice for how incredibly uplifting it is.
There will be no review today, I'm far too knackered after taekwondo. Maybe you'll get one tomorrow. On another completely random note, Skins was well good today. This week's episode is definitely up there with my favourite episodes ever.
Of course, I had to include this one in the Valentine's playlist somewhere. It's a bonafide classic! I grew up on hours of Madness videos (we had a couple of brilliant compilations on VHS) so this is also quite a personal one for me. If you don't warm to this song (or even relate to it) then I'm afraid you don't have a soul. I'm sorry, that's just the rule. I can't wait 'til Sunday!
In other news, my next review should be up soon. I don't know what it'll be of yet, but I've been listening to a lot of new stuff over the last week or so (not new new, just new to me) and it's all pretty good so I shouldn't have trouble deciding. I'm afraid I'm going to have to end this one here and leave y'all with a short post again. You can't expect me to do a properly long post every day... that's just unrealistic. I'm only posting daily currently because it's special circumstances. Anyway, see you tomorrow!
The Blur classic is today's Valentine's song. I chose this one not only because it is a classic (and one of my favourite songs in general) but also because it can be interpreted in a lot of different ways. You could view it as a song of loss, a song for those waiting to fall in love, or even just for being in love. Listen to it, you'll see what I mean.
I've put it up at the top of the page, along with the others (including 'A Life Less Ordinary' just because why not) in a handy playlist-esque format. This is where all of the Valentine's songs I have chosen will end up eventually. That'll be all for now, goodnight.
Let me show you them. Yes, it is once again that time of year (starts about one month prior to the release) where I get really ridiculously excited for a while about the current year's set of Pokémon games. I mean main series RPGs here, none of that shitty spin off stuff. The Pokémon game series has for a long time been one of my favourite game series' ever (even though I'm not much of a gamer) although I think that the main reason I get so excited is because they always get released so much earlier in Japan, so by the time the games come out over here I already know virtually everything about them. The upcoming games, HeartGold and SoulSilver, were released in Japan way back in September, which feels literally like an age ago. They see their release over here on the 26th March and I can't wait! As you may already know, they are the generation II (for those of you who aren't that into Pokémon, we're almost at the end of generation IV) games Gold and Silver remade for the DS. This is an insanely exciting prospect for me, as Gold and Silver are my two favourite Pokémon games (possibly my two favourite games ever...) and the fact that they're being remade for the DS can only be a really good thing (all the generation IV games have been on the DS; this has meant that they've been able to make huge improvements on previous generations, in all areas). Elements of the third gen II game, Crystal, will also be incorporated into the new versions and as such there will be no 'third' game in this set. To get back into a gen II sort of mindset, I have been playing through Crystal over the last week on an emulator I own on my computer (mostly because I haven't really played Crystal much in the past, and it's fairly different to Gold/Silver) and I've been having a blast. I'll admit, they aren't really the most difficult games in the world (I've already got all 16 badges and beaten the league...) but it's fun as anything. My current team is as follows:
'This Fire' the Typhlosion
Level: 51
Moves:
Strength
Swift
Flame Wheel Earthquake
'Innocence' the Dragonair
Level: 51
Moves:
Iron Tail Dragonbreath Thunder Wave Surf
'Helicopter' the Magneton
Level: 51
Moves:
Thunder Wave Thundershock Tri Attack Flash
'Angel' the Espeon
Level: 51
Moves:
Psychic Cut Bite Shadow Ball
'Hunter' the Noctowl
Level: 51
Moves:
Dream Eater Hypnosis Fly Confusion
'Waterfall' the Gyarados
Level: 51
Moves:
Waterfall Hydro Pump Icy Wind Whirlpool
As you can see, I have a pretty awesome team. You may have also noticed that they are all named after songs; these are by the bands/artists Franz Ferdinand, Björk, Bloc Party, Massive Attack, Björk and The Stone Roses respectively. Anyways, enough about Pokémon. Deary me I am such a NERD.
I am still in the same romantic mood as yesterday; I can't seem to get away from it. Seeing as this is kinda Valentine's week I was thinking I might put up a romantic song or something each day of this week. You all got Muse's brilliant (well I think so) cover of the classic 'Can't Take My Eyes Off You' yesterday, today you can all have something a bit more old school. Now that I come to think of it, this song isn't really one you'd think of when coming up with a romantic playlist but it's fantastic anyway. So without further ado, here is the Jimi Hendrix classic, 'Bold as Love':
You're just too good to be true, can't take my eyes off you You'd be like heaven to touch, I wanna hold you so much At long last love has arrived and I thank God I'm alive You're just too good to be true, can't take my eyes off you Pardon the way that I stare, there's nothing else to compare The sight of you leaves me weak, there are no words left to speak But if you feel like I feel, please let me know that it's real You're just too good to be true, can't take my eyes off you I love you baby and if it's quite alright I need you baby to warm the lonely night I love you baby, trust in me when I say Oh pretty baby, don't bring me down I pray Oh pretty baby, now that I've found you stay Let me love you baby, let me love you You're just too good to be true, can't take my eyes off you You'd be like heaven to touch, I wanna hold you so much At long last love has arrived and I thank God I'm alive You're just too good to be true, can't take my eyes off you
I love you baby and if it's quite alright I need you baby to warm the lonely night I love you baby, trust in me when I say Oh pretty baby, don't bring me down I pray Oh pretty baby, now that I've found you stay Let me love you baby, let me love you
Sorry it took a while for this post to appear, I've been a lazy sod again. I could've reviewed Massive Attack's new one Heligoland days ago, but I guess I'm just too good at procrastinating. On an unrelated musical note, Ash (one of my favourite bands) did a live performance/Q&A session yesterday, streamed for free from their website. I'm not sure why they did it (I just got an email telling me it was going to happen the day before) but I thought it was a great idea and more bands should do stuff like that to show their appreciation for their fans. They played a wicked set too (true, it was only 7 songs, but the guys chose them very well). It included my favourite Ash song, 'A Life Less Ordinary' (recorded specifically for the film of the same name). Ash have been releasing a lot of new material lately via their A-Z Series, a series of 26 singles released over an entire year, one single every two weeks. Anyway I've been properly getting back into them lately so in recognition of this (also, so it doesn't look like I'm completely Damon Albarn's bitch... I am anyway) I have changed the song at the top of the page to 'A Life Less Ordinary' and the subheading to said song's title. It's pretty appropriate seeing as the theme for my life recently seems very much to be love and it's a dead romantic song (well I think so anyway). Anyway, onto the review!
Massive Attack - Heligoland
I'll admit, I was really looking forward to this when I first found out about it. Massive Attack were pretty much dead as far as I was concerned; they hadn't really done much since 2003's 100th Window and that one basically passed me by as well. So to find out that they were actually going to release a whole new album for so long was pretty damn exciting. I don't really know what I expected from Heligoland, but I suppose I was excited to see if their sound had drifted off in a completely different and new direction.
To be honest, I was a bit let down when I first heard it. For the most part, Heligoland sounds like standard Massive Attack only a bit tedious and well... boring. There are a few moments on the album where they do really well (most notably 'Paradise Circus', 'Babel' and the previously released 'Splitting the Atom') but even these moments of brilliance don't sound very much different to stuff they were churning out over ten years ago. You'd think by now they'd be able to evolve their sound a bit. The bad songs aren't that terrible, they're just usually ruined by one or two elements. For example, 'Rush Minute' would be a good song if Del Naja's vocals weren't so shit; he just drones on in the same monotone for the whole song. In contrast, the main reason why 'Paradise Circus' is the album's high point is because of Hope Sandoval's beautiful voice (and a brilliant vocal melody).
For the most part Heligoland is a pretty dark album (even for them) with the exception of maybe 'Babel', a track possessing one of the most upbeat and jumpy beats they've ever created. The song still retains a fairly dark atmosphere, but you get so caught up in that swirly beat that it's not very noticeable. 'Pray For Rain', the opening track, is probably the darkest piece of music on here and isn't really the most obvious choice for an opener, but it works. The only problem with it really is it drags on a bit too long. Unfortunately Heligoland is niggled by loads of little problems like this all over the place and while it is a good album, it could have been a lot better.
Yes, it's true. Exams are finally over (for another few months) and seeing Sia/Gabe/Kayleigh at the weekend made me happy. It's also half term soon (hurrah for another week off college!) and Valentine's draws ever nearer. For once that doesn't feel like a bad thing though. My plan is developing (makes me sound like some kind of evil mastermind/freak, although it's not really that complex) nicely and it'll be nice to break my habit of never doing anything on Valentine's. I was thinking about the fact that I've never gotten a proper valentine as well, and how happy I would be to receive one. With this in mind hopefully I'll at least be able to make someone pretty happy (and wasn't that the original point of Valentine's day anyway?) although I refuse to reveal who. I'm actually strangely optimistic about the whole thing. Normally the massive pessimistic side of my mind would be warning me not to get too excited, but I just somehow feel like it's all going to turn out okay. I hope I'm right.
So yeah, I feel really happy about everything for once. It actually makes me quite nervous, my natural pessimistic side is just waiting for something awful to happen (nothing ever seems to go this well for me, so it's logical for me to think something terrible will happen soon) and my mind is agitated trying to make sure I make no mistakes. Still, it's nice to be positive for once. Oh and the new Massive Attack album leaked over the weekend. On the first few listens I can happily report that it's looking pretty good so far. Full review coming VERY SOON.
It's also my Dad's birthday today. I know, it was only Mum's birthday the other day (they're only 10 days apart!) so it was quite stressful having to get something together for both of them in such a short period of time. I actually asked my Dad yesterday whether he deliberately got with Mum just because their birthdays were so near, he replied "Yeah, we organised it in the womb." He also went on to tell me that that's a very important factor to consider when choosing a partner. Yeah it is, depending on how much I want to annoy my future children. Thanks for that Dad, I'll be sure not to forget that one. Happy birthday as well, by the way.
I'm seeing my awesome friend Sophia in a just over an hour! This is very exciting because she lives all the way in Colchester, so I naturally don't get to see her very often at ALL. I think she's the only person I've ever met (apart from maybe Josh Taylor) who likes Blur more than me (hence the blog title - if you didn't recognise it go and listen to some more Blur, fool!). This is quite the coincidence, as Blur's formative years were mostly spent in Colchester. We're going for a meal with Kayleigh and Gabe (Gabeleigh? Or possibly Gayleigh?) which presents a problem for me, as I don't really possess any particularly smart clothes. I am always the most underdressed for everything and its been getting to me recently (I didn't really care before then, it's quite odd). Still, Kayleigh said Gabe is only coming in a hoody and jeans. I hope she wasn't lying, because that's what I'm planning on doing too.
It's Valentine's day soon, AKA the worst day of the year. I have always been single on Valentine's day for the whole seventeen of them I have lived through. It always makes me so bloody miserable, especially all the ridiculously lovey dovey couples. They're the worst. I don't think I've ever even received a proper valentine either. I always used to tell myself that that year's Valentine's would be different, that that year would be the year. This year though I know it's bound to be shit so I can't even be bothered to try being optimistic. I do actually have something up my sleeve for this Valentine's, but I have no idea how it'll work out yet. It'll probably never happen and stay as this stupid little dream in my head, like most things involving love.
Next music review should be up soon, once I decide what I'm actually going to review. It won't be as long as the last one, that one took forever (well, three days). I couldn't help it though really, I just have so much to say about it (a lot of which didn't even make it into the final review) and I really do love it. This is Harry, signing off.
What's that? Another music review you say? By Harry Atkinson?! Surely not! But, ladies and gents, I am afraid that this is indeed the case. I have been getting back into everything Gorillaz again in anticipation of their third album, due out in March (remember I was going on about the single the other day?). All sorts of tasty little bits and pieces of bonus content have been appearing over on the official website, including the first of a series of 'pirate radio' broadcasts set up and run by Murdoc himself. I think a little bit of his insanity has rubbed off on me a bit and I suspect it's probably coming through in the writing, but oh well. I know Murdoc's character is a psychotic fucking weirdo, but I can't help but love him a bit. The same with the others, they're just such brilliant characters. I can't help thinking that what Messrs Albarn and Hewlett created all those years ago has evolved into a twisted work of genius. It's weird how much difference age can make on a person's opinions. I first got into Gorillaz when I was maybe about 13 (although I'd heard of them much earlier, way back when Clint Eastwood came out) and I liked them quite a bit, although I wasn't particularly crazy about them or anything. They were just another pretty decent band, and the fact that they were cartoons gave them a bit of extra appeal. Now though at almost 18 years of age (I am naturally very excited although it's odd to think I'm that old) I think they're absolutely fucking brilliant. This has of course only occurred to me recently because of the excitement over the new stuff, however if I had chanced to look into them a bit more thoroughly at any point last year I reckon it would have had much the same effect. I only decided to have a good proper listen to them because I was excited about the new album, this was a fortunate decision on my part as otherwise I might not have realised just how much I love them. You get me?
Anyway, time for the review.
Gorillaz - Demon Days
I'm just going to go straight ahead and say that this is one of my favourite albums ever. I really do love it a lot and that actually makes it a bit of a challenge to review. I suppose it is easier to point out an object's flaws than it's perfections. Or maybe I just know that this review is bound to be biased. Because of this, I'd like to apologize in advance if you listen to this after reading my review expecting it to be the best thing ever, then realising it's not actually as good as I make it out to be. To be honest I don't really care if you disagree with it anyway, these are my reviews based on my opinions. If you don't like them maybe you shouldn't read them (no one reads my blog anyway so this shouldn't be much of a problem).
Demon Days begins with an eerie instrumental intro that sounds like a doomed voyage into hell itself, with lots of strange noises accompanying a haunting string melody that draws you in; it is at this point that you realise there is no turning back and you're in for one hell of a journey. As soon as it hits, the intro withdraws into the start of Last Living Souls, whose catchy beat makes for a more optimistic start to the album, although the lyrical themes are still dark. Towards the beginning it is quite a quiet and simple track, with little more than the beat, vocals and a simple piano melody. This builds however and by the end it has become something different entirely, a theme which continues into the even more brilliant Kids With Guns. This starts with a lazy bass line and while catchy, doesn't seem like anything too special. By the end it has evolved into a cacophony of screeching guitars and crashing symbals, along with a particularly effective vocal line by a gospel choir that sounds more like a horde of musical banshees. O Green World is next and is one of the stranger tracks on the album. The intro consists of a weird collection of samples thrown together into a beat which shouldn't work, but it really does. This then morphs into a guitar sequence and vocal line that would be at home on the first Gorillaz album, but strings and the aforementioned samples come into play again later on and you're reminded that this band has evolved on a large scale.
The album really comes into its own during Dirty Harry, the title of which is yet another reference to Clint Eastwood. Quite possibly the most catchy keyboard line I have ever heard leads into a chorus of children singing along to the words of the song. This sounds like it shouldn't really work, but the end result is epic and the rap that comes in about halfway through is better still. Albarn seems to have a real talent for picking awesome people to collaborate with and this really shows here. Dirty Harry segues into Feel Good Inc., which, for lack of a better way of putting it, is one of the best songs I have ever heard. The slick bass combined with the incredibly melancholic vocals already make this a pretty evocative track. You'll feel really nostalgic when listening to this (and not in a bad way either). When the acoustic guitar comes in for the chorus the effect is spectacular. It's a very simple chord sequence but it has been so well done that when it comes in it just sounds beautiful. It is hard to describe precisely how this track makes me feel, so you'll have to listen for yourself. El Mañana is next, which somehow manages to evoke even more emotions than the previous one. The chords combined with the meaningful lyrics and amazing strings make this song a very powerful one indeed. It's the kind of song that might make you question love, it's that effective.
The album gets a bit more experimental from here on in, with next track Every Planet We Reach Is Dead being a bit reminiscent of Kids With Guns in that it builds into a spectacular wall of noise at the end complete with even more strings and a synth solo. This track continues the theme of doom running through the album, particularly in the line 'I love the girl, but God only knows its/getting hard to see the sun coming through/I love you/What are we going to do?' which I really like. November Has Come and All Alone follow, with the former continuing the theme of hopelessness from the previous track with a pretty chilling soundscape and atmosphere. It would sound at home on their first album, just for its simplicity and dirty sound. All Alone is mostly rapped, but it contains a considerable glow of optimism unseen so far in the bridge towards the end. This comes in the form of a female singer (I don't know who it is) singing along (in an amazing voice, might I add) to a brilliant set of guitar chords that just seem to materialize out of nowhere. This is definitely the most 'Gorillaz' sounding track on here, but that's no bad thing and the overall sound varies so much from track to track that it wouldn't matter anyway. Case in point: take the next track, the frantic White Light. This opens up with plenty of distortion and a very simple but heavy beat (along with almost screamed lyrics). This has the effect of sounding a bit like a grimier Song 2 (classic Blur garage-rock hit) minus the "WOOHOO"s. All of a sudden this metamorphoses into another heavenly bit of choral ahhs and a lovely bit of acoustic guitar. What the fuck they were thinking of when they wrote this? I have no idea, but it somehow manages to work. White Light manages to simultaneously be the weirdest track on the album but also one of the most fun.
The final four tracks are some of my favourites and manage to wrap up the album with considerable flair and spectacle. First comes Dare, a track so catchy you will have it in your head for months after listening to it. It's not annoyingly catchy either, the hook is so good I do wonder a bit how they have managed to produce an album oozing this much with perfection. Noodle's (the little quirky one) vocals on this track sound delightfully innocent and uplifting in contrast to Shaun Ryder's infectious refrain. One of the happiest and best moments on the album (although that's not to say the melancholic ones aren't as good). This leads me quite nicely into Fire Coming Out of the Monkey's Head, a track that is more of a story than a song, with the verses narrated rather than sung. It is a story about a mountain called 'Monkey' and those known as 'happy folk' who inhabit the land around it. I won't tell the whole thing, but 'strange folk' invade and take everything that isn't pinned down. The lyrics are positively haunting, while at the same time managing to tell a fable about recent affairs (the Iraq war etc.) and it really is an incredibly powerful track. Don't Get Lost in Heaven follows and while it certainly has a heavenly atmosphere (you will literally imagine bright white clouds as soon as this one starts) the lyrical themes are a clever parody of what heaven could be interpreted as. Listen carefully and you'll see what I mean. What makes it more effective is the fact that the lyrics are deliberately sung at the top of Damon's (2-D's) range, so they not only sound like they should be innocent (keeping with the rest of the song) but they're also often hard to determine. Don't Get Lost in Heaven segues nicely into the title track, also the album closer. Demon Days is my favourite Gorillaz song and I see it on an almost entirely different level to the rest of the songs here. Firstly, the opening lyrics (sung by Damon/2-D again) are at the top of his range and are even more difficult to determine. This doesn't actually detract from the quality of the song though, as it makes them seem more angelic (which is the word I would use to describe the final two tracks) and when you find out what he's saying you realise it is actually fairly depressing, almost as if he has given up all hope. This is balanced brilliantly by the string melody, which is one of the most uplifting things I have ever heard, and the angelic, ethereal feel to the song. Damon's vocals cut out not that far in and as soon as that happens the song gets a bit quieter and a very simple guitar riff starts playing. This riff signals the beginning of the end of the album for me, as it sounds like a brilliantly satisfying closing melody. The song also gets a bit happier at this point, but the lyrics that are sung next (by a gospel choir) are pretty despairing of humanity in general, I think. These lyrics are repeated over and over, speaking of things like not being able to trust the air we breathe, 'cause Mother Earth wants us all to leave. Surely a reference to our shortcomings as a species? This goes on to talk about how we 'numb ourselves with drugs and TV' which is pretty much dead on the truth, I think. Demon Days doesn't just contain beautiful instrumentation, it is also a very observant song.
It all ends with a final glimmer of hope though. The final two lines of Demon Days go 'you pick yourself up it's a brand new day/so turn yourself round, don't burn yourself turn yourself, turn yourself around into the sun' which provide a little bit of optimism that maybe tomorrow will be better than today after all. The final three words are repeated over and over until the song fades out, and you're left with a slightly deeper understanding of yourself and your place in the world. Demon Days is a beautiful album; a journey into hell and back but it's the kind of hell you wouldn't mind visiting just for the experience. It's one incredible journey too and you'll come out the other side all the more better for it. A truly enlightening experience, I still discover little audio delights I didn't notice before every time I put it on. You'd be daft to miss it.
I've been reading Frankie Boyle's autobiography (awesome Christmas present) and I'm nearly at the end already despite only starting a few days ago; suffice to say it's a pretty easy read. He's a very cynical man, although I think he's also one of the funniest men on the planet right now. I think reading it has made me even more sarcastic/cynical than before (and I already was quite a lot). That's not really a bad thing, I mean people say that sarcasm is the lowest form of humour but I disagree. I think that sarcasm is probably the highest form of humour, after all it's the only kind of humour that idiots can't understand. For example, yesterday some annoying little fuckers were trying really hard to look cool over the medium of the internet (what) by acting all tough and trying to intimidate me (again, what). They're already not doing any favours for themselves, for acting tough on the internet is like trying to insult someone in a language they don't understand. Stupid and pointless. In fact it's probably even worse than that. Anyway, I disagreed with this guy on something to do with a Muse song (can't be arsed to go into details) and he saw that as an excuse to rip into me, (well he tried his damn best, bless him) making out I was some kind of posh cunt just because I used a couple of words he couldn't understand. Just because I speak in good English doesn't make me posh, just means I'm not a retard. He probably doesn't even know what the word vocabulary means. Then his girlfriend (who seemed like even more of a retard) decided to join in and I said something to her (I can't even remember what it was, but I'm pretty sure it was nothing offensive) and this guy goes completely fucking insane and protective over her. At least I know a surefire way of trolling this guy if he ever bothers me again. I just need to talk to his girlfriend (I may only have to mention her in conversation) and he starts shitting bricks all over the place. Anyway, I played along pretending to be really hurt over all this crap they were spouting, although anyone who wasn't a moron would have been able to tell I was being heavily sarcastic. The sarcasm was meant to piss them off more, but I clearly underestimated just how stupid they are and they didn't realise. It actually turned out funnier that way anyway, so everyone's a winner (except them). Even after I had gone they kept laughing at their own shitty jokes, convinced they were in the right. They are two years younger than me though, so I guess I should expect higher levels of stupid. Despite this, I was a lot more grown up than them at their age. It's rather worrying what that says about our generation.
Anyway, rant over. It's Iddy's birthday today (remember her? She's the one with the awesome music blog) and this means that I have now known her for well over a year (I can still remember her last birthday well and back then I'd already known her for quite a while) which is pretty weird seeing as I've never actually met her (she lives all the way in Wales). Despite this, I feel as if we know each other really well and I can really trust her. She's a very good friend of mine and it just goes to show how much of a bond you can form with someone if you just keep talking to them every day and stay in contact. Anyway, here's a little something...
Penblwydd hapus i ti, Penblwydd hapus i ti, Penblwydd hapus i Ilid, Penblwydd hapus i ti!
Thank you Iddy, for being nothing but a caring and supportive friend throughout the entire time we have known each other. I was introduced to you when you were just a young'un (well, 16...)but you've matured into a right decent young woman. I am grateful to know you, and feel privileged to be your friend. Cheers!
It is also my mother's birthday (but that's obviously not as important...) so a happy birthday to her too! I can't even remember how old she is now, but she wouldn't want me to share on here anyway so it's probably for the best. Still no new music review yet, this post ended up being a lot longer than it was originally going to be (otherwise I would have done one). I promise there will be a new one very soon though! See y'all then.
I really am sorry (can't you tell?!) for giving this thing next to shit all attention, but I really can't be arsed a lot of the time. Maybe I just need to be inspired more often. Christ, I'm a whiny little fucker. I only ask that something inspires me to write every day, is that too much to ask...? Daily miracles, that'd be good.
This post is already going off on a tangent (my mind feels a bit crazy currently, maybe it's because midnight is now far gone but I don't know) to what I originally wanted to write about, that is my next music review. Actually that wasn't even a tangent from the original subject, it was just a completely random introductory paragraph. I don't know what's going on, I would be most grateful if someone could tell me what this mood/state of mind would be called (I can't think of what it is right now). Maybe I'll do a White Stripes album next (or maybe even a few), no matter what mood I'm in there always seems to be a song of theirs to match it. I suppose for this mood it'd probably be either I Just Don't Know What to Do With Myself (I don't), Little Room (just because of the slight touch of insanity inherent in that song, also I am on my own in a little room), or St. Andrew (This Battle is in the Air) (simply because that song is also made up of lots of random shit). Just to give you a little bit of insight into my mind, here are all three songs in an easily accessible format (i.e. youtube flash player). You'll probably all know the first one anyway:
I Just Don't Know What to Do With Myself -
Little Room -
St. Andrew (This Battle is in the Air) -
In other news, the first proper song from the new Gorillaz album (which I am very excited about) was leaked today. Well, it was yesterday really but this early in the morning still feels like Wednesday to me. It is the first single too, named Stylo. I really really like it already, but it doesn't really strike me as an obvious lead single. It is certainly far flung from the hip hop/poppiness (hip pop?) of last album Demon Days, but I'll let you make up your own mind. Here it is, in all its glory (aren't I just so generous?):
Stylo - Gorillaz -
In more other news (although obviously not as exciting as the new Gorillaz tune) I ordered Sia a belated birthday present today from the great and wondrous internet. I shouldn't put it here because she'll just see what it is and it'll ruin the surprise. So you'll just all have to find out when she does, sorry (although I know you really don't care). I'm hoping it'll arrive in time for her visit to Brighton next week, if it doesn't I will be most annoyed. I've given it about 9 days to get here though so it should be OK. I also bought myself a deadmau5 shirt which I am pretty pleased with. It looks like this (see picture on the left) and was totally worth the ridiculous £18 (20 including P&P) I paid for it!
Sadly I am still struggling with exams, it seems like we are already about halfway through exam season (at least) and yet I somehow still have 3 left. I'm also STILL ill (I have no idea how) and I suspect I won't get properly better until spring. I have almost forgotten what it feels like to be well. Fuck winter.
Seeing as I don't seem to use this much anymore (I never seem to have anything decent to write about these days... my life appears to be in a slump) I've decided to use it as a platform for writing music reviews. This is inspired quite a lot by my good friend Iddy starting up one of these recently for that purpose alone. That blog can be found here and it is really rather good (her taste is quite a brilliant one indeed). She is intending to review every release worth writing about in 2010, as it comes out. I'm not that ambitious, so I'm just going to review stuff I want to review, when I want to review it (no matter when it came out). I will end up reviewing some of the new stuff for this year, but also expect a lot of reviews of old albums (I'm more of an old music person anyway). I'll start with one that I missed on my 'music of 2009' blog post. I only heard it for the first time a week or so ago, but if I'd paid attention when it came out I reckon it'd be on my favourite album list for 2009. It is the debut by New Yorkers The Pains of Being Pure at Heart.
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
When I first put this on merely days ago, the immediate warmth of opener Contender reminded me of something I couldn't quite place. I'm not sure what it was exactly, but the implacable memory it evoked was strong on an emotional level. This feeling continues throughout all the songs on the album, the echoey drums and clangy guitars reminding the listener of a better time. It's a difficult feeling to put into words, the unrestrained glee and innocence emanating from the songs almost taking the listener back to childhood. It sounds a bit silly, but listening to this album kind of makes me feel safe and above all, gloriously happy. If Merriweather Post Pavilion is a happy album (the Animal Collective one I wrote about a while ago) then The Pains of Being Pure at Heart is euphoric. Not the stupid kind of euphoria used to describe night clubs, either. The floating above the clouds kind of euphoria is the one on offer here.
Maybe the opening guitar sequence of Contender simply reminded me of when I last felt a bit like that; when I was a kid. Or maybe it just reminded me of the post-punk days of the 80s. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart don't sound like a modern band, with their slightly punkish songs and romantic lyrics (coupled with a dreamy production) you'd be forgiven for thinking that they are from that time. I struggled at first to think what other band I could compare them to (my music knowledge from that era still has massive gaps, I'm afraid) but I've now read that they're been compared with Joy Division which I can't say I disagree with, only they're a much much happier version.
Despite the simplicity and dreaminess of their songs, there are some very good tunes here. Songs like Come Saturday and Young Adult Friction show that they are a band with considerable talent and may well become pretty popular in the future. They deserve to be, that much is for sure.
It seems like it's been ages since I last updated this, even though it's only been less than two weeks. Still, I used to update this thing daily, so it is a while I suppose. Since then and now a few things of note have happened:
It snowed even MOAR. This is what the UK looked like last week:
Seriously.
After realising how boring life becomes when you are forced to stay in most of the time, I promptly wished the snow would go away.
I went to see the film It Might Get Loud, which is about Jack White, The Edge and Jimmy Page's experiences with the guitar and the way the instrument has evolved and changed the music scene generally. It's good, but I only really recommend it if you're into guitars. The banter between the three 'legends' is pretty entertaining as well.
I got ill again. Winter man flu version 2.0.
Exam season finally started and as such everyone is now either running around panicking or complaining their arses off about it all. Suffice to say I'll be glad once it's all over.
I got very much into The White Stripes (pretty much thanks to the aforementioned film) going to the extent of downloading all their albums (I know, it is free but I am very lazy) and learning a few of the songs. They are now one of my favourite bands.
I wrote something musical for the first time in quite a few months, entitled 'Winter Blues' after all the crap that seems to have infected this winter a bit. I've never really liked winter that much anyway. It's heavily influenced by The White Stripes and it's not quite finished yet (but I've written quite a bit).
There was something else, but I'm not of the nature to disclose it here.
That's all for now, folks. Can't be arsed with any more, I feel too ill. I can't wait for this month to be over.
2009 was quite frankly a brilliant year for music, a treasure trove in comparison to 2008. Let's look back on some of the fantastic sounds released this year...
TOP 10 ALBUMS OF 2009
The majority of these will probably be fairly obvious, but I'm hoping my music taste will turn out to be quite interesting after all.
1. The xx - xx
Every year many groups and artists realise their dreams and get a shot at a debut album, but it's a much more rare event when one of those debuts ends up surprising everyone and becomes one of the defining albums of the year. This is what happened to The xx, a former four-piece (they've since lost a member) from London, this year. Their debut (released August 2009) had a quiet release but gradually invaded our collective consciousness (both the critics and the public alike) until all of a sudden people were hyping them as 'the next big thing'. This was helped by huge radio play of their singles Crystalised and Islands, and by the end of the year The xx were one of the biggest success stories of 2009. Unfortunately sudden success took its toll and the constant touring (as well as a few other differences, I suspect) caused one of their number to leave. With a debut album this good though, it's difficult to see that slowing them down at all. The album itself is a brilliant collection of sometimes upbeat and sometimes harrowing songs about growing up, set to very minimal soundscapes and warm vocals. They seem to be able to describe perfectly all the emotion and elation associated with growing up in song, and it's this quality that makes them so likeable. Favourite tracks:Islands, Crystalised, Heart Skipped a Beat
2. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
Animal Collective are a band who have been going for a long time, though I only found out about them this year with this, their eighth album. Merriweather Post Pavilion has been their most successful album (in the mainstream) so far, before this they seem to have been somewhat of a cult band (over here, anyway) and so this is my reason for only just hearing about them. It is a fantastic album, taking the listener on a wondrous journey through lush soundscapes and echoed vocals, complete with rolling drumbeats that lift the listener up into the clouds and beyond... It may take you a while to get into it though, as it sounds like nothing I have ever heard before. It took me a while anyway, I'm not really used to such mindblowing music. It starts with the dreamy In the Flowers and keeps the dreamy, happy mood right up until the final track, the climactic (but no less uplifting) Brother Sport. Although technically the music is quite complex, there's nothing deep to understand here; it's just very very happy music. Favourite tracks:Brother Sport, My Girls, Lion in a Coma
3. Björk - Voltaïc
Okay, I accept this isn't really in the same league as the others but it's so damn good I wanted to include it anyway. Voltaïc is a box set comprised of 2 CDs (one live disc and one disc of remixes) and 2 DVDs (one live disc and one disc of music videos) containing material from her Volta campaign (Volta was her last proper studio album). It's not really an album like the others on this list by it's very nature, but this is so good any Björk fan (and most open minded people) would be stupid to miss it. Her songs come to life a lot more when she performs them live and this is worth the expensive price (unless you can find it cheap somewhere) for the live material alone. It is difficult to describe the brilliance of Björk in words, so I will simply urge you to buy it (or at least have a look). You won't be disappointed. Favourite tracks: It's all good here, though the live performances of Earth Intruders, Hyperballad and Declare Independence are particularly brilliant. The remixes are all top-notch too.
4. Fever Ray - Fever Ray
Fever Ray (I can't remember her real name, her stage name is awesome anyway) is one half of Swedish electropop duo The Knife (they gave us the original version of Heartbeats, or 'that song on the advert with all the colourful bouncing balls'). Fever Ray sounds very different to her parent band, though happily she sounds a lot better too. The sounds present in her songs are still in the same vein as those used in The Knife's songs (lots of weird synthy noises and bouncy drums) but Fever Ray's music is a lot darker. Out of all the albums mentioned here, this is the only one I would describe as being 'scary'; the vocals are so eerie and those weird electro noises I already mentioned are twisted into much more spooky versions of their originals. It is difficult to find flaw in this album, every song moves so well into the next and you get dragged further and further into Fever Ray's dark musings on herself as it progresses. Essential listening for anyone in possession of a soul. Favourite tracks: If I Had a Heart, When I Grow Up, Concrete Walls
5. Deadmau5 - For Lack of a Better Name
I have never been that much into electronica and I don't think I'll ever be an expert on the genre, but this album (very much an electronica album) made such a buzz on the internet earlier this year that I had to listen to it for myself. What a brilliant discovery that was. Deadmau5 has been going for several years now, but he has only really found mainstream success over the last two, with his first two full studio albums. This, the second, is far more diverse than it's predecessor and takes the listener through a world of slick beats and catchy samples. Every track is mixed seamlessly into the next and as a result the album feels like one complete item rather than a collection of songs. This 'item' manages to constantly keep the listener interested by mixing up the flow with each track change, giving a very danceable experience complete with mellow moments to cool down and savour the masterfully produced sounds within. One of the more danceable moments is the fantastic Ghosts n' Stuff, featuring Rob Swire of Pendulum on very auto-tuned vocals. It's an epic track, complete with apocalyptic organs and a heavy synth bass line. Even the auto-tuned vocals work. This epicness does not go away, instead sticking around for more or less the entire album. For Lack of a Better Name is an electronic masterpiece. Favourite tracks: Moar Ghosts n' Stuff/Ghosts n' Stuff, Hi Friend!, FML
6. Muse - The Resistance
So here it is, the one album I was anticipating much more than anything else musically oriented this year. It is a testament then, to how much good music was released in 2009 when 5 other albums have beaten it. I was honestly expecting The Resistance to blow everything else away, for it all to pale in comparison to this, Muse's fifth and most challenging album to date. When I saw them live in November I was completely blown away, on the stage they not only lived up to my expectations, they soared right over them. The tracks fall a bit short on the album though. Don't get me wrong, there are a few absolutely amazing songs here (probably some of the best of their career) but the consistency is all over the place. Take the closing three part (Muse don't seem to understand the word 'boundaries') Exogenesis, for example. The first two parts (Overture and Cross-Pollination) are fantastically apocalyptic pieces, especially the former, with its never-ending spiral of strings and falsetto of doom. The final part (and last track on the album, named Redemption) is rather tame in comparison and to make things worse, very repetitive. The whole album is plagued by issues like this one but if you can overlook its flaws, The Resistance is a very enjoyable experience. I was just expecting something a bit more ridiculous. Favourite tracks: United States of Eurasia, Uprising, MK Ultra
7. Green Day - 21st Century Breakdown
This album (and it seems, everything Green Day has done since they released Dookie) was the subject of a lot of mixed feedback when it was released way back in May. I've always kind of liked Green Day though, so I thought I may as well give it a chance. Even after the first listen, this album draws you in and you become addicted, having to listen to all three of the 'acts' all over again. One of the things that surprised me most about this album was its level of ambition. It is very long (by anyone's standards), clocking in at around 70 minutes, but when you listen to it all the way through it doesn't feel that long. When they released American Idiot over five years ago, critics said they couldn't make an album more ambitious. With this one though they've smashed that statement through, rocketing upwards to write an album of stratospheric proportions. The album is a sequel of sorts to American Idiot, telling a story of a young couple caught up in the events post-American Idiot. The story flows through three distinct acts and while there are moments of awe-inspiring brilliance (such as penultimate track American Eulogy, which releases all the tension surrounding 21st century America in a chaotic 4 minutes) the album is ultimately let down by the same thing as The Resistance, its lack of consistency. Favourite tracks: American Eulogy, 21st Century Breakdown, ¡Viva La Gloria!
8. Maxïmo Park - Quicken the Heart
This third album from Maxïmo is on a somewhat different trajectory to the first two, in a way they seem to have grown up a bit. This means that they've traded their trademark bonkers 3 minute guitar/keyboard songsfor a sound that is altogether more intelligent. The only song on this album that is strongly reminiscent of the first two is the opener - Wraithlike, a song which ironically focuses on criticising the band's past. The opening line itself 'Here's a song that finally you can understand' is clearly cynical regarding frontman Paul Smith's random and often chaotic lyrics. Just because they've grown up doesn't mean they've becoming boring though. I really really like this album, and it sees them as sharp and witty as ever. It's just a bit different to what you might expect. Favourite tracks: The Kids Are Sick Again, Wraithlike, I Haven't Seen Her in Ages
9. Franz Ferdinand - Tonight
This was one of the first albums of 2009 I listened to and it definitely set the scene for the rest of the year. Tonight is a brilliant journey through what would be commonly called the 'perfect night out'. It starts with Ulysses, a track very aptly named (Ulysses was an adventurer in Greek mythology) as it sets up the night ahead, with a frantic build up of tense energy from a very quiet beginning. All the while Alex sings about his desire to go out and 'get high' before exploding into a frenetic chorus. The album keeps going at its own unrelenting pace as the 'night out' gets more and more intense; by the time Lucid Dreams comes around you're spinning in a pool of cocktails and acid trips.You just about have enough time to regain your senses for the surreal Dream Again (sounds like even more acid) and the somewhat calmer Katherine Kiss Me (a song which quite accurately describes the 'morning after'). Tonight is good because of the way it progresses so well, it's also a lot of fun. Favourite tracks: Lucid Dreams, Ulysses, Send Him Away
10. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz!
This is another album in which the band making it have gone off in a completely different direction to what you would expect. It's Blitz! still sounds unmistakably like Yeah Yeah Yeahs, but there are a lot of differences between this album and its two predecessors. For one thing, Nick Zinner has traded in his guitars for keyboards and synths on most of the tracks. This isn't necessarily a bad thing though. A lot of the tracks sound just as energetic as they always have been, although in a few of the tracks it does seem like there is something lacking. A bit like an empty space where Nick's guitars used to be, an empty space which cannot be filled by anything else. That said though this album contains some of the best songs of their career and overall it is a good album, just not as good as the previous two. Favourite tracks: Zero, Hysteric, Skeletons
TOP TEN SONGS OF 2009
This list was somewhat easier to do than the album one, it also comes with SOUND!
1. United States of Eurasia - Muse
When I first heard this (it was released for free way before the album) I couldn't stop listening to it and with the Collateral Damage outro (a nice bit of Chopin) it becomes simply a flawless piece of music to listen to. That's what I think, anyway.
2. Moar Ghosts n' Stuff/Ghosts n' Stuff - Deadmau5
Okay, so this is actually two songs... but on the album they're mixed so that one leads straight into the other and they are both very similar. Unfortunately I couldn't find a single mixed track on youtube so you'll have to cope with two separate ones.
3. Brother Sport - Animal Collective
The version posted here is live.
4. If I Had a Heart - Fever Ray
This song gives me serious shivers.
5. Islands - The xx
6. The Kids Are Sick Again - Maxïmo Park
7. Crystalised - The xx
8. My Girls - Animal Collective
9. Uprising - Muse
Live version.
10. Lucid Dreams - Franz Ferdinand
That's all for 2009 folks! I know this one ran on a bit late (oops...) but nevermind, eh? Roll on 2010!
