Dull band Labels Another Dull Band As Dull.

The singer of The Enemy, the dull indie band from Coventry who are known for that one song “Had Enough” has called another dull band, the Arctic Monkeys, who are known for that one song “I Bet You Look Good On the Dancefloor” dull.

 

“That first video was out, you know, I looked at that and I thought: “There’s a bunch of working class lads from a proper town playing a tune like they mean it”,” Mr Tom Clarke recently told the BBC. “It was quality and I went out and bought the first album and I thought it was top. Some really good songs on there.” 

 

He goes on to say that he didn’t like the second album – Your Favourite Worst Nightmare – and says that he feels that certain aspects of their music and personalities “are just dull”.

 

As per usual, the fans of both bands have gone mad, filling forums with rants and rude words and cashing in on the excitement of the horrible re-birth of lad-rock, which should have died in about ‘97 when Oasis started losing it.  Hopefully though, in about a year you’ll never hear of all these Libertine-wannabes ever again, and we can forget about all of it.

 

Hopefully. 

 

 

last song i heard – “Hard Feelings” – The Constantines

 

 

CD Review – Sia – “Some People Have Real Problems”

There’s been quite a lot of talk in the past year concerning the mainstream return of Jazz and Soul, but you only ever hear one name, and that name, of course, is Amy Winehouse. After two albums, it looks like it may be a while until she releases anything else. So what to do now?
You could try Sia’s third release, already a possible contender for folk-pop album of the year, and seeing as we’re only a month in, that must mean something.
Best known for “Breathe Me”, used in the Six Feet Under finale a few years back, and her “Buttons” promo – one of the most watched videos on youtube – she’s released the cd that may well get her noticed in the mainstream. With the album being released through the Starbucks affiliated Hear Music label, it’s even more likely.
It’s worth debating whether the album will cater to the average Starbucks loiterer – the ones waiting for the new releases from Maroon 5 and Norah Jones. True, she may have left her introspective lyrics and digital sound behind, in favour of a upbeat, poppier style, but there’s still a odd slant to the songs. Consider “The Reminder” last year – enough to satisfy the people who bought it due to the ipod advert, and enough to keep the old fans happy.
With her first album in four years, it’s likely that people will scan it over looking for a standout track, like with “Breath Me”, the hit off her last album “Colour the Small One”, which was actually re-released in North America two years after it’s initial release on account of that one song. Whether there’s a song here that lives up to that mainstream standard, only time will tell, but “Little Black Sandals” and “The Girl You Lost To Cocaine” are good bets, with the latter being my current favourite on the album, so place your bets now.

There’s a couple of problems though. Some of the songs are a little bit too long, probably the result of having worked with Zero 7 and gaining some electro tendencies. Long songs work easily in electro, but when you’re dealing with soul, simply extending the choruses a few too many times isn’t as effective.
The second problem, and maybe this is just a minor quibble, is the horrendous cd cover. Imagine a child given a box of marker pens and told to draw something. As you proceed to throw purple paint at a wall, the same child begins to smear the pens over it’s face. Got a mental image? Then you’re probably close to the cover. Or, if you can’t be bothered thinking, you can just look here…

See? It’s completely at odds with the music on the cd, and it just seems a strange choice of cover to me.
In the end though, if you’re sick of Lily Allen and Kate Nash, try this, you might like it. Or you could use it as a coaster for your coffee.

last song i heard – “Captain Caveman” – Lightning Bolt

New Feist Video Released – More Bad Dancing Ensues.

“I Feel It All” -

last song i heard – “Stadiums and Shrines II” – Sunset Rubdown

A Brief Discussion Regarding Nu-Rave.

“rave v 1 fume, go crazy, go mad, rage, rant, roar, splutter, storm, thunder.
2 (rave about sb) enthuse, go into raptures, gush.”

When Rave first came crawling out of the warehouses in the early 90’s, stumbling it’s way into the singles chart, I though it was great. Granted, I was only about eight at the time, but look at the people who listened to it! Glowsticks, massive fluffy boots (for the girls), acid lemon clothes, bizarre spikey hair in any colour you could imagine. It was like a party full of cartoon characters!

Then, to my child’s mind’s view, after about two weeks, Rave disappeared. And most people refused to believe that it still existed, deep underground.

Now go back to last January. The debut album by The Klaxons is due to be released. Suddenly, all Hell breaks loose. Never since The Strokes has a band had so much hype surround a debut CD. Bands like Hot Chip, CSS and Simian Mobile Disco come out of nowhere. Then, in an interview, The Klaxons jokingly create a term -“Nu-Rave”. The scene was set.

But what is the scene, exactly?

The “scene” is built around five or six bands, and the rest is fashion. You’ll have seen the clothes if you’ve ever walked past American Apparel – skintight jeans and bright pink hoodies for the boys, and for the girls: bright blue tights, oversized cardigans and t-shirts with huge block lettering. So far, so sexy.

There is a problem though. The genre was created by the media, bought into by a public who don’t know the history of where the original scene came from. For “Rave”, look at genres such as House or Acid. Compare these to CSS and you’ll find is that Nu-Rave is merely a form of Indie-Dance, like Franz Ferdinand with more synth.

But now bands are starting to believe the scene they are “creating”. Seeing bands screaming “are you ready to rave!” to a glow stick waving pile of 14-year olds is getting away from the whole ideal of the original Rave culture. There’s only one band I know of that actually references the days of old – the Glaswegian Shitdisco, who sample early 90’s artists.

Though the scene may not last too long. The Klaxons are already turning their back on the culture they founded, as they record their second album. As guitarist Simon Taylor says, “the most boring thing we could do is make a similar record [to “Myths…”]. We’ve never specifically been about fashion or anything “now”.”

Is Nu-Rave a movement? No, it was just The Klaxons having a bit of a laugh and poking fun at the fickleness of the music journalism industry, who then latched onto it. But what can be done about the industry? Isn’t it all too commercialized and shallow?

Best not to worry about it, there’ll be a new scene along soon enough.

last song i heard – “Eat Him By His Own Light” – There Will Be Blood OST

Burlington Nightclub Closes.

It’s been announced that a popular Burlington nightclub will be keeping its doors closed for good after a 45-day liquor license suspension is completed.

The NRG/Kingdom club, located on Plains Road for over 20 years, had begun it’s suspension last Monday – the result of violations found by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario. The incidents in question, all held under the Liquor License Act, included permitting entrance to intoxicated, selling and serving to intoxicated, permitting the removal of alcohol from the premises and use of narcotics (found to be marijuana) on the premises.

The suspension was due to continue until February 28th.

However the club’s owners have recently spoken out about their decision to close the club for good. Wendy Marotta, co-owner with her husband Tony, says that the suspension would have cost the business a lot of revenue. With a lot of money spent on lawyer’s fees in order to fight the accusations, she claims it would be too difficult to continue business.

Early reports indicate that the building may be now used as a church. Kevin Philp, a local pastor, is looking to expand from a three hour Sunday evening service held at the NRG. The church had been renting space from the club for almost a year.

last song i heard – “don’t you wanna be relevant?” – the cribs

CD review – Holy Fuck – “LP”

With a band that cobbles their sound together from a huge variety of equipment, ranging from cheap keyboards and scuffed guitar pedals to toy laser guns and children’s beat boxes, you may be surprised that they’d manage to release one album, never mind two.

But after their 2005 fully improvised debut, and a hard drive failure that lost all of their material earlier this year, Toronto’s Holy Fuck have released a recording that improves on capturing the effect of their now famous live shows. Their reasons for forming may have begun under a “no songwriting, no rehearsal” context, but the sometimes fickle, trend-chasing nature of the press and audiences have led to demands that the band couldn’t contain.

The result is shown on their second full length, which comes after their short EP released last year. Simply called “LP”, the new record has been assembled from a collection of live, one-off recording sessions. In the case of frenetic opener “Super Inuit”, the song was plucked from a !!! support slot, and it gives a good idea of what the band get up to live.

Once you get past the first track’s climaxing introduction, the album’s music is relentless.

“Milkshake” (no, not the Kelis one) is a slightly raw affair, with occasional vocal mumblings by front man Brian Borcherdt. “Safari” begins with a loop of what sounds like an old Nintendo (and quite possibly might be), then flies through 4 – plus minutes with an almost Lightning Bolt-esque tone, the drum beat barely holding it all together through the layers of feedback.

The biggest surprise on the album is “Lovely Allan”, the closest thing they’ve done to a song so far. After a quick backwards keyboard burst, it flips around and builds until it all kicks off, reminiscent of Lemon Jelly’s “The Staunton Lick”. The keyboard sample, constant against the brutality of the bassline and clouds of ambient noise, becomes more prominent. In effect, making the track sound poppier. Add to that a violinist, in the form of Final Fantasy’s Owen Pallett, and you have a contender for the album’s standout.

Another standout track is “The Pulse”, being the only song that goes on for over five minutes. Compare that to their debut, where only two songs were UNDER the five minute mark, and you start to notice the band’s developments in their focus.

So what started as collaboration between a By Divine Right sideman and an unknown sound engineer from Hamilton has filled out, with a rhythm section that seems to be less elastic than the previous constantly rotating line-ups. With this, they’ve released an album that is a statement of intent, showing a young band that is quickly evolving. At nine songs and just over half a hour, “LP” is the first cd the band haven’t released themselves; the Young Turks label will handle the band in North America, while indie label XL are looking after them in the UK. This may see a significant increase in the band’s publicity – look out for pensioners being horrified when posters start appearing on street corners – though hopefully the band can continue with moving on from the initial hype surrounding them.

Let’s just hope they remember to back-up their hard-drives this time.

last song i heard – “don’t tell me to do the maths” – los campesinos

Radiohead’s Brick Lane Gig In Full.

January 16th – 93 Feet East – Brick Lane -London

“15 Step”

“Bodysnatchers”

“Nude”

“Weird Fishes/Arpeggi”

“All I Need”

“Faust Arp”

“Reckoner”

“House Of Cards”

“Jigsaw Falling Into Place”

“Videotape”

“Up On A Ladder’

“You And Whose Army”

“The National Anthem”

“My Iron Lung”

“The Bends”

last song i heard – “the gonk” – kid koala

Best of 2007 – Albums

Gogol Bordello – Super Taranta!
Field Music – Tones of Town
Dizzee Rascal – Maths + English
White Stripes – Icky Thump
Robert Wyatt – Comicopera
Electric Six – I Shall Exterminate Everything Around Me That Restricts Me From Being The Master

last song i heard – “go places (lite mix)” – the new pornographers

The basis.

So here’s my third blog over the same number of years. The first one died because I was working full-time in a warehouse and ran out of decent (or interesting) stuff to talk about, and the second one was a website that lasted about 2 weeks, because the server was shit and I couldn’t be bothered with it anymore.
But anyway here we go again. I’m thinking that, OFFICIALLY, I’d like to keep it based around music, so there might be things like music news, new bands I come accross, what I’m listening to et cetera. Reason being? Well however likely it may or may not be, I’d like to work in the area of music somehow, whatever that means.

last song I heard – “I’ll believe in anything” – wolf parade