Tuesday 29 April 2008

#12: Muse - Showbiz (1999)

  1. Sunburn
  2. Muscle Museum
  3. Filip
  4. Falling Down
  5. Cave
  6. Showbiz
  7. Unintended
  8. Uno
  9. Sober
  10. Escape
  11. Overdue
  12. Hate This And I'll Love You
I wasn't even sure what today's review was going to be until about 2am this morning, when this review began to form in my head while I was listening to 'Uno'. I personally find it difficult to tell people where to start with Muse if they haven't been following the band's progression, but as I'll probably end up covering all their albums eventually I may as well start at the beginning - especially as that's where my head's taken me right now.
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When bands graduate to titanic, arena-filling status, it can be easy to forget that there was a time when they were just like every other band - such is the case with Muse. It may seem like an age ago (indeed, it's getting on for a decade now), but in a time before sold-out Wembley Stadium shows, space-prog opuses, and even before 'Plug In Baby' was terrorising radio playlists, there was Showbiz.

And yet, from the haunting opening piano line of 'Sunburn', you can sense the ambition to be something greater than a band who've "played in every toilet" (a reminder that the road to success can be long and hard, even for a band like Muse). Lyrically, it's a clear indicator of the album's overriding themes: "She burns like the sun... and I can't look away!" Matt Bellamy howls as the piano takes a crashing turn. 'Muscle Museum', meanwhile begins with a menacingly brooding bassline, before the chorus sees him "begging for so much more than you could ever give." - it's a good introduction to the band's dark, emotionally-charged rock.

'Falling Down' is a more relaxed moment, although it can't contain itself for too long, with Bellamy's singing "Too late, I already found what I was looking for..." before breaking down into a roar of "you know it wasn't you!" towards the song's climax. Later on in the album, 'Escape' pulls much the same trick, beginning with plaintive sentiment before suddenly switching to weighty guitars. 'Filip' and 'Cave', on the other hand, reverse the format, starting out energetically before breaking down mid song.

'Showbiz' is the perfect centerpiece for the album, building up slowly from an echoy drumbeat before working itself into a frenzy of feedback, distortion, and gutturally howled vocals: "They make me dream your dreams! They make me scream your screams!" comes the cry from Bellamy, like the sound of a man driven insane by some twisted new form of mental torture.

Indeed, the mid-section of the album offers up some of the band's best work: Not just on this record, but in their back catalogue as a whole. 'Unintended' is still one of Muse's most tender moments, the fragile sound of a man struck so hard by love that he's got to scrape the shattered pieces of his heart from the floor before he can carry on with his life. Completely different, but no less brilliant, is 'Uno', which operates a perfect loud/quiet dynamic, opening with a squall of guitars before quietening down to little more than ominous guitar strums as Bellamy's malicious vocal cranks up the tension. And then it explodes once again in the chorus: "You could've been number one, and you could've ruled the whole world, and we could've had so much fun: But you blew it away!" screams Bellamy, his voice somehow encompassing both seething bitterness and wailing heartache. This leaves 'Sober' with a lot to live up to, and it just about manages it without being overly spectacular, but the thrashed-out guitars and wailing falsetto of the chorus do enough to keep it reasonably memorable.

As the album draws to a close, 'Overdue' storms through its two and a half minutes with Bellamy seething "I'm young, but I know when I'm aroused!" before his soaring falsetto returns on the chorus. Finally, in a fitting climax, 'Hate This And I'll Love You' alternates between strained, yearning vocals and a bombastic chorus that almost feels like a hint of what would come in the band's future, before presenting a tear-stained finale: "You lead me on," weeps Bellamy, before the guitars fade out to the chirping of crickets.

Looking back, Showbiz represents Muse before they had the intention of creating galaxy-spanning space rock or filthy intergalactic hip-shakers: Raw, visceral, and heartbroken, it's not aiming for the stars, but rather to hit you straight in the heart. In the context of their back catalogue, it represents somewhat of a paradox: It's not their most accomplished work, and yet some of their best songs are contained within it. Although it may have been difficult to see it at the time, in retrospect this album did contain a level of embryonic promise of the grander heights that the band would move on to - and in that sense, it's definitely worth your time to take a listen to it.

Sunday 27 April 2008

#11: The Last Shadow Puppets - The Age Of The Understatement (2008)

  1. The Age Of The Understatement
  2. Standing Next To Me
  3. Calm Like You
  4. Separate And Ever Deadly
  5. The Chamber
  6. Only The Truth
  7. My Mistakes Were Made For You
  8. Black Plant
  9. I Don't Like You Anymore
  10. In My Room
  11. The Meeting Place
  12. Time Has Come Again
In what's either a demonstration of the latent effects of 'Monkey Mania' or an uncharacteristic demonstration of taste by the British public at large, this album went to number one in the UK charts today. What better time to dive into the pleasures of this collaboration between Alex Turner (Arctic Monkeys) and Miles Kane (The Rascals)?
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At first glance, it sounds like the ultimate in throwaway whimsey: Two best mates head off to France for a couple of weeks to record an album, then get Arcade Fire's Owen Pallet to arrange and conduct an orchestra over the whole thing. But to look at it like that would be to ignore the vision behind the record and the care that's gone into it: Any dread that may be inspired by the phrase 'side-project' should categorically be put aside when listening to this record.

The album's opening gambit is a bold one, with titular track 'The Age Of The Understatement' sounding like The Coral collaborating with the London Metropolitan Orchestra to cover 'Knights Of Cydonia', while Turner's lyrics seem to invite a doomed romance: "Before this attraction ferments, kiss me properly and pull me apart." It's very much a statement of intent: A sweeping, bombastic tune that's over in a punchy three minutes, it's epic without being overwrought.

'Standing Next To Me' sees Turner and Kane nail their vocal harmonies exceptionally over an upbeat acoustic guitar strum, while the strings tastefully rise and fall at all the right moments. 'Calm Like You', meanwhile, shows from the very first line that Turner maintains his brilliant lyricism even outside of the context of his 'day job'. "I can still remember when your city smelt exciting: I still get a wiff of that aroma now and then," he sings wistfully, a perfect intro to the track's orchestral pop sensibilities. Later in the album, 'In My Room' combines these sensibilities with organ sounds borrowed straight from the 60's, while 'Only The Truth' starts out with a staccato vocal and drum combo before returning to the spaghetti-western style of the opener, galloping through its tale of a femme fatale ("Don't give her an eye or she'll sniper your mind!") in less than two minutes before breaking down into a squall of guitars, horns and strings.

Like many classic pop albums, the themes of love and loss run throughout the album. 'The Chamber' sees proceedings take a fragile, melancholy turn, with Turner advising a former lover to "Leave yourself alone." And while 'My Mistakes Were Made For You' may begin with the lyric "About as subtle as an earthquake, I know," it actually turns out to be one of the album's most tastefully restrained moments, with Turner's plaintive vocal taking centre stage before the sweeping orchestration gradually builds up to a poignant climax. This trick is repeated again on 'Black Plant', only this time it's a soaring string line that takes the lead in a tale of a boy "Who got papercuts from the love letters you never gave him."

It's not all sentimentality though, and the album certainly demonstrates a dark side at times. 'Separate And Ever Deadly' starts with a Tango-like beat before rapid-fire guitars that wouldn't be out of place on an Arctic Monkeys track kick in, while 'I Don't Like You Anymore' is the album's most sinister moment, with reverberating minor-key guitars matched with a pair of contrasting vocals: Turner's sounding ghostly and distant, while Kane's sound distorted, bitter and angry.

The album ends with two contrastingly tender tracks that demonstrate the breadth of The Last Shadow Puppets' ambition. 'The Meeting Place' is the album's most grandiose classic pop moment, with the orchestration sounding at its most epicly upbeat as the duo sing "I'm sorry I met you darling: I'm sorry I've left you." At the opposite end of the scale is 'Time Has Come Again', with Turner's melancholy vocals set starkly over a simple acoustic guitar line, before the strings rise calmly in the background, tugging at the heartstrings without ever overwhelming the song as a whole.

It's amazing how epic these songs manage to sound despite the fact they never extend past the four minute mark. As a whole, The Age Of The Understatement is an unashamedly grand pop album, updated with a modern twist thanks to Turner's trademark lyricism. Far more than simply a tribute to an era of music gone by, and certainly not a half-arsed joke between a couple of friends, this record shows that Alex Turner's vision extends far beyond sweaty dancefloors on a Friday night.

Friday 25 April 2008

#10: Editors - The Back Room/Cuttings (2005)

The Back Room:
  1. Lights
  2. Munich
  3. Blood
  4. Fall
  5. All Sparks
  6. Camera
  7. Fingers In The Factories
  8. Bullets
  9. Someone Says
  10. Open Your Arms
  11. Distance
Cuttings:
  1. Let Your Good Heart Lead You Home
  2. You Are Fading
  3. Crawl Down The Wall
  4. Colours
  5. Release
  6. Forest Fire
I won't beat about the bush: This is one of my favourite albums, full stop. Anyone who knows me will know of my love for Editors, a band who are important to me both musically and personally, so yes, this will probably turn out to be a bit gushing. I wouldn't normally cover bonus disc material, but in this case I feel like the 6-song collection that accompanied the limited edition of the album not only compliments the main album superbly, but stands up as a mini-album in its own right. In fact, it was so important that I own the two-disc set that I was compelled to buy a replacement copy after my brother lent it to a friend and never got it back (of all the CDs he could've lost...) - if you haven't heard it, then I'd absolutely recommend you get hold of the tracks somehow. And if you haven't heard this album at all... I'd say you're in for a treat - but then, of course I would. And go see them live too: They're even better than on record.
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Although they're often weighed down by inevitable comparisons to certain other bands that I probably don't even need to mention, in my opinion Editors can stand up as a great band in their own right. Their 2005 debut album, The Back Room, amply demonstrates what they are capable of, and then some.

The album jumps into things immediately with 'Lights', a frantic two an a half minutes that serve as a great introduction to Editors' sound: Powerful drumming and effects-laden guitars that provide a shimmering backdrop to Tom Smith's arresting baritone as he proclaims "If fortune favours the brave, I am as poor, poor as they come." 

The album continues with further examples of this sound. 'Munich' and 'Blood' are each built around an infectious post-punk riff and an instantly memorable chorus hook: 'Munich' warns that "People are fragile things, you should know by now: Be careful what you put them through," while 'Blood' seethes with malice for a former friend or lover "Blood runs through your veins: That's where our similarity ends." It's this lyrical darkness that combines with the soaring guitars to make Editors such an intriguing proposition: Gloomily oppressive, yet at the same time oddly uplifting.

Critics of Editors' sound often falsely assume that the band are a one-trick pony, but they definitely have other cards up their sleeve. After the frantic pace of the first three tracks, 'Fall' demonstrates a more contemplative side, with the shimmering guitar effects sounding just as good when the band slow down the pace, and Tom's vocals sounding more thoughtful as he sings "I wanted to see this for myself." This style is continued on album centrepiece 'Camera', which begins with little more than a ghostly keyboard line before building up to an absolutely epic crescendo as the lyrics achingly ask "Look at us through the lens of a camera: Does it remove all of our pain?"

Elsewhere, 'All Sparks' combines a mid-tempo drive with a the message that "All sparks will burn out in the end" - a statement that could either be taken as a message of hope, or one of disappointment. 'Someone Says', returns to the crashing intensity of the opening three tracks, with the guitars taking on a minor key tone while the lyrics add to the sense of urgency: "I've got so much to tell you in so little time," intones Smith, as the song rushes towards its conclusion.

Even amongst all the doom and gloom, Editors can still pull off moments of euphoria. 'Fingers In The Factories' is a fists-in-the-air triumph that feels like a rousing rallying cry, while 'Bullets' is still one of the most emotionally charged three minutes of music I've ever heard. "You don't need this disease: Not right now," pleads Smith with a tear-stained hopefulness, before the guitars outdo themselves by soaring to ever greater heights as he repeats the refrain over and over, and you almost believe it more every time it's uttered from his mouth.

The album's most epic moment, however, comes with 'Open Your Arms'. It combines the best bits of everything that comes before it: The epicness of 'Camera', the heartfelt vocals of 'Bullets' and of course those sparkling guitars all combine in a massive wall of sound finale that eventually breaks down into minimal, ethereal album closer 'Distance'.  It's oddly downbeat seems like a strange way to end such a high energy album, and yet it contains a little bit of hope: "I wish you all the best," is the earnest send-off from Smith, before the song shimmers and fades out of existence.

This fade-out works rather well to lead us into Cuttings, with 'Let Your Good Heart Lead You Home' starting out with a stripped-down guitar line before breaking into a crashing drumbeat that pounds relentlessly as the guitars build up around it. 'You Are Fading' follows much the same pattern, with Tom's melancholy vocals once again contrasting with the huge-sounding instrumentation.

'Crawl Down The Wall', meanwhile, sees him scraping himself from the depths of despair and contains one of my favourite choruses in any Editors song: "We'll see how this goes, we'll pull love from our lows," is just a perfect mix of confusion, desperation and hope. In contrast, 'Colours' feels like one of the band's poppier moments, seeming very upbeat compared to a lot of their other songs. It's a love song, but possibly an uncertain one: The lyrics contain mixed messages, with Tom telling his love that "You mean a lot to me, you've got a heart of gold," before telling her to "Fill your life with something else baby."

'Release' once again sees the band outdoing themselves in the epic stakes: It just sounds so massive that it's impossible not to be overwhelmed, and the simple, repeated refrain of "Release, find your peace my love," builds with a fervour that matches the rest of the song. Finally, in much the same way that 'Distance' provides a serene finale after 'Open Your Arms', 'Forest Fire' sits beautifully after the epic intensity of 'Release', once again ending proceedings with a message of hope: "I'll miss this when it's gone, let's not waste life, come on."

Overall, The Back Room and Cuttings are great records simply because of the level of intensity and emotion that they generate. Some may have tired of Editors in the years since this album's release, but not me: The same things still get me every time, whether it be the lyrics or that characteristically electrifying guitar tone. For people who judged the band purely on the singles, I can only encourage you to check out the rest of their material and see that there is a level of depth to this band beyond their (admittedly brilliant) dark and angular post-punk style. For those who are already converted, dig this album out again and stick it on - you owe it to yourself to get reacquainted with it.

(P.S: If that's not quite enough Editors for you, there's great depth in their B-sides beyond those included on Cuttings. I've gone on enough, but to throw some names out there: 'Find Yourself A Safe Place', 'Come Share The View', 'Heads In Bags' and their cover of Stereolab's 'French Disko' are particular highlights.)

Wednesday 23 April 2008

#9: Radiohead - Kid A (2000)

  1. Everything In Its Right Place
  2. Kid A
  3. The National Anthem
  4. How To Disappear Completely
  5. Treefingers
  6. Optimistic
  7. In Limbo
  8. Idioteque
  9. Morning Bell
  10. Motion Picture Soundtrack
You could argue that I should start covering Radiohead with OK Computer, but I figured it would be more in the spirit of this blog for me to look at an album of theirs that I'm less familiar with. Besides, Kid A was such a radical departure from OK Computer that it almost seems irrelevant which album I start with - so I'll begin with this, their first foray into a more electronic-based style of music.
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Radiohead's fourth album was, by all accounts, a difficult one to make. Spawned in part by writers block, overwhelming media attention, and depression, Kid A represented a huge and very conscious change for Radiohead, with the band abandoning their three-guitar lineup and replacing it with a myriad of electronic instruments and more besides.

It's clear from the very beginning that this is a very different record to OK Computer. Opening track 'Everything In Its Right Place' slowly swirls into being with a mesmeric synth line and warped, cut up vocals, before Thom Yorke's voice cuts through it with simple, repeated statements that are somewhat abstract and open to various different interpretations (a theme that continues throughout the album). The eponymous 'Kid A', meanwhile, sounds like a video game soundtrack recorded underwater, with vocals that are little more than a computerised burble.

Things almost begin to sound a little bit more 'normal' on 'The National Anthem': The song begins with a fuzzy bassline and the first 'real' drums we've heard on the record so far. However, even this is shot through with electronic effects, and Yorke's vocal is once again twisted slightly, yet still recognisable. Then the brass kicks in, with scattershot trumpets and parping horns eventually spiralling off into wild, unpredictable patterns, contrasting brilliantly with the rhythm section, which remains resolutely in time throughout.

'How To Disappear Completely', however, takes the record in a completely different direction. Underpinned by an acoustic guitar, strings swoonsomely rise and fall around Thom's vocal as he sings "I'm not here, this isn't happening...", craving the escape that the title suggests. 'Treefingers' maintains the calm vibe, with its minimal ambience almost acting like an extended interlude before the second half of the album.

'Optimistic' kicks things back into gear with probably the record's most conventional song, built on a simple guitar riff and a steady, pounding beat. But even this track shows the band's newfound love for electronic sounds, with an eerie synth looming in the background as Thom tells us that "You can try the best you can... the best you can is good enough." The record then changes direction once again: 'In Limbo' brings back the ambient swirling sounds, but layers them superbly with a clean guitar line, an understated drumbeat, and Thom's distorted, echoy vocals before the whole thing becomes distorted and eventually fades into static.

'Idioteque' shocks things back into life with what is probably the best synthetic percussive noise ever, forming the basis for an electronic drumbeat that runs throughout the song as sampled chords hum like haunting guitar feedback. Whatever the song is talking about, be it nuclear war, global warming or something else entirely, Thom's urgent vocal assures us that "We're not scaremongering: This is really happening," adding to the song's sense of oppressiveness and intensity. Its outro leads seamlessly into 'Morning Bell', where tight drumming and an aquatic-sounding synth suddenly give way to buzzing guitars - which then leave just as suddenly.

'Motion Picture Soundtrack' ends the record on an almost dream-like note, with a reedy organ and sparkling harps underscoring a gentle vocal from Thom, although in contrast the lyrics can be interpreted somewhat darkly ("I will see you in the next life..."). After the song finishes, there's a pause, and then the harps return amongst almost choral sounds in what isn't so much a hidden track as a delayed outro to the album as a whole.

While Kid A may be a vastly different proposition to the album that preceded it, that doesn't make it any less of a success. Every track seems to attempt something different, and while this means that some songs stand out more than others, the record still manages to flow as a cohesive whole. It's the perfect example of why it's foolish to write a band off just because they've decided to change: It may have disappointed those who hoped that the band would be saviours of rock, but this album proved that Radiohead have ideas by the bucketload and talent to spare.

Monday 21 April 2008

#8: ¡Forward, Russia! - Life Processes (2008)

  1. Welcome To The Moment (The Rest Of Your Life)
  2. We Are Grey Matter
  3. A Prospector Can Dream
  4. Spring Is A Condition
  5. Don't Reinvent What You Don't Understand
  6. Some Buildings
  7. Breaking Standing
  8. Gravity & Heat
  9. Fosbury In Discontent
  10. A Shadow Is A Shadow Is A Shadow
  11. Spanish Triangles
Yes, two recent albums in a row again, but in fairness they both came out last Monday so by covering them now I'm keeping this blog cool and relevant. Or something like that. Anyhow, ¡Forward, Russia!: I loved the first album, so I was greatly looking forward (haha) to the follow-up. Those of you expecting Give Me A Wall mk.2, however, might want to cast aside those preconceptions...
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It's been almost two years since ¡Forward, Russia! unleashed their debut album on the world, and their follow-up, Life Processes, proves to be a quite different beast, but just as accomplished nonetheless.

The album begins on (almost) familiar territory: 'Welcome To The Moment (The Rest Of Your Life)' sounds more like Give Me A Wall than anything else you'll hear on this album, but even during its frantic two minutes you can feel it straining, striving for something more epic. Follow-up 'We Are Grey Matter' starts out in an uncharacteristically restrained manner, with an echoy "Call! Response!" refrain and a minimal synth line, before a disco drumbeat kicks in. It's only after a minute or so that those characteristic guitars return, along with a shout of "Let me make this fucking clear! I've got a landmine attached to my leg!" which ironically doesn't make things clear at all.

Indeed, Tom Woodhead's lyrics are still as enigmatic and cryptic as ever, but intriguingly this time they seem to be shot through with references to the bible. For example, on 'A Prospector Can Dream' he asks: "Did you ever study the Israelites? They made a new life for themselves with such a peculiar change." Not your average Friday night conversation down the pub then, but yet within all the oddball metaphors there are some lyrics that stick out as meaningful: "We could be something in a new location!" could be a rallying cry for people stuck in dead-end towns everywhere.

It's evident that the band were full of ideas when recording this album, and it shows with their ability to cram multiple ideas into the space of a single song. 'Spring Is A Condition' combines brooding intensity with a purposeful, earnest chorus and some electrifying guitar work before throwing in some video game synth noises in for good measure, while 'Don't Reinvent What You Don't Understand' mixes jerky math-rock riffs with shimmering guitars to great effect.

'Breaking Standing' seems like the album's most accessible, almost poppy moment, with guitars that sparkle and shine - even in the heavier parts of the song they feel a little restrained, allowing Tom's vocal to take centre stage with memorable hooks such as "When it weighs too much, think of it as seven times the weight." It made sense as a first single, and it sits well in between the weightiness of 'Some Buildings' and 'Gravity & Heat'. The former is an epic slow-burner that once again breaks out the biblical references ("Ashes to ashes! Dust to dust! Jesus Christ and Lazerus!"), while the latter spends six minutes lurching brilliantly between heavy metal riffing and swathes of reverb-laden guitar. The heavy metal guitars also feature on 'A Shadow Is A Shadow Is A Shadow', which must surely be considered a pioneer as far as songs that contain the phrase "pitchfork-wielding mess" are concerned.

However, if you thought the rest of the album was a departure for the band, then 'Fosbury In Discontent' will provide even more of a shock: Consisting of little more than a piano and Tom's plaintive vocal, it's an unexpectedly tender moment amongst the intensity of the rest of the record. The album's ambition truly comes to fruition with another great departure, closing track 'Spanish Triangles': A nine-minute epic that builds steadily from an understated drumbeat and sparse, echoing guitar to a towering, majestic soundscape for Tom's yearning vocals to soar above. The lyrics achingly remind us that "We all have our moments!" - and this is certainly one of ¡Forward, Russia!'s best yet.

So, while the tracklisting of Life Processes warns against reinventing what you don't understand, there should be no such worries when it comes to this album. ¡Forward, Russia! have managed to create a record that's very different from Give It A Wall without losing sight of what made them such a great band in the first place: Their relentless intensity and Tom's crazed vocal theatrics are still very much in place here. Rest assured, the band still understand how to make not just one great song, but an album full of them.

Saturday 19 April 2008

#7: Blood Red Shoes - Box Of Secrets (2008)

  1. Doesn't Matter Much
  2. You Bring Me Down
  3. Try Harder
  4. Say Something, Say Anything
  5. I Wish I Was Someone Better
  6. Take The Weight
  7. ADHD
  8. This Is Not For You
  9. It's Getting Boring By The Sea
  10. Forgive Nothing
  11. Hope You're Holding Up
Honestly, it wasn't deliberate... but much like this album, this review is better slightly late than never, right? I've really got to try and start working ahead again... anyway, Blood Red Shoes are a brilliant live band who make a far louder noise than just two people ever should, and their album finally came out this week.
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It's been a long time coming, (due to record label issues more than anything else) but at last the debut album from Blood Red Shoes is finally here. But has it been worth the wait?

'Doesn't Matter Much' kicks the album off as it means to go on: With a grungy guitar riff, pounding drums and a simple, catchy chorus. Next up is re-recorded version of 'You Bring Me Down' that ads a touch of polish and a dash of anger to an already sublime slice of intense guitar pop. The rest of the band's previous singles are also present and sounding better than ever. 'I Wish I Was Someone Better' barrels along at 100 mph, thrashed out guitars and incessant drumming underlying a simple, non-ironic message of, well, wanting to be someone better, while 'It's Getting Boring By The Sea' combines reverb-laden guitar stabs with the frustration of hometown boredom - "You can't escape anything in this town" is surely a sentiment that many can relate to, regardless of whether they're from a seaside town or not.

'Take The Weight' slows the pace a little without removing any of the band's intensity, and the band even prove they can do vocal styles other than 'shouty' with an a cappella round towards the end of the song. Of course, the brattishness returns in style on 'ADHD', with Laura-Mary shouting "Now now now now now now now now boy!" as Steven distractedly tells us that "I'm so bored I can't think straight."

It might seem like an odd word to use to describe a Blood Red Shoes song, but if the band has a 'tender' moment then 'This Is Not For You' is it. Dealing with a failed relationship, it sees Laura-Mary show a much more melodic side to her voice as she tells her former lover "I don't want you to think I do the things I do because of you," before wearily deciding to "pretend that everything is just fine." They can't contain their anger for long though, and the song's climax sees them crank the volume up as Steven's howl provides a perfect contrast to Laura-Mary's melodies.

The band have evidently got a lot of bile to spew: 'Try Harder' mockingly sneers at scenesters ("We'll change our hairdye! We'll change our footwear! We'll change our ideas to fit what magazines say!") while 'Forgive Nothing' is arguably the album's most bitter moment, with Laura-Mary seething "Forgiving nothing is being kind: You turned your back and you left your spine!"

The album's most emotionally charged moment comes with 'Say Something, Say Anything': Steven's personal tribute to his father's death from cancer, his vocals sound raw and cracked before finally breaking down into a cry of "How long can you miss someone?" - again, a sentiment that's easy to relate to, and a moving one at that.

After all the anger, frustration and bitterness that permeates the record, 'Hope You're Holding Up' acts as both a glimmer of hope and an olive branch to lost friends or former lovers ("I hope you're holding up, I don't see you too much"). It also ends the album on a reflective note, with Laura-Mary pondering "Looking for reasons, it's hard to see: Would I change this for you, or change it for me?" before the song gently fades out into nothing more than breathy "aah"s.

Some may argue that Blood Red Shoes are a one-trick pony, and while this album doesn't feel like it's actively striving to quash these claims, there's plenty happening here to keep me interested. Box Of Secrets demonstrates that there's enough depth and energy in their girl/boy/guitar/drums style to last them for an entire album, with songs like 'Take The Weight', 'This Is Not For You' and 'Hope You're Holding Up' being different enough to prevent the record from becoming monotonous while managing not to stick out like a sore thumb alongside the rapid-fire singles. It's not really clear to me where they might go from here, but it's definitely a good thing that this record has finally seen the light of day. So, to answer my own question: Worth the wait? Absolutely.

Thursday 17 April 2008

#6: Rage Against The Machine - Rage Against The Machine (1992)

  1. Bombtrack
  2. Killing In The Name
  3. Take The Power Back
  4. Settle For Nothing
  5. Bullet In The Head
  6. Know Your Enemy
  7. Wake Up
  8. Fistful Of Steel
  9. Township Rebellion
  10. Freedom
As they're headlining on Saturday at Leeds Festival and it's not entirely unlikely that I'll end up seeing some or all of their set (depending on how things look once the full lineup is announced), I figured I may as well delve into Rage Against The Machine's back catalogue a little: And where better to start than with their self-titled debut? This review is perhaps a little shorter than I'd like, so sorry if it feels a bit half-arsed.
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Rage Against The Machine are a band as known as much for their outspoken political stance as they are for their music - and that's because, for them, the two go hand in hand. Take album-opener 'Bombtrack', for instance: Combining a clean but heavy guitar funk that just makes you want to bounce with angry, almost anarchical lyrics, with the intent being to "make punks take another look," as Zack puts it.

This leads into one of the bands most recognisable songs, 'Killing In The Name': Its simple, repeated hooks see de la Roche raging against white supremacy groups, before screaming the iconic anti-authority chant of "Fuck you I won't do what you tell me!" It's clear that that he's got a lot to be angry about, with each subsequent song tackling a different theme. 'Take The Power Back' tackles corrupt education systems, while 'Settle For Nothing' is a stark tale of broken homes and gang culture. 'Township Rebellion' rails against apathy and apartheid, while 'Wake Up' and 'Freedom' are both massive rallying cries that each end with Zack screaming the title repeatedly down the mic.

With all this talk of politics, it's easy to let the music take a back seat - but Rage aren't just a political soapbox. For example, amongst all the lyrical fire of 'Bullet In The Head' there's one hell of a funky, understated bass riff, while the jerky, staccato guitar at the start of 'Know Your Enemy' sounds like a series of little electric shocks - in a totally awesome way, of course. Morello even shows off some 'special effects' during 'Fistful Of Steel', first making his guitar sound like a siren, and then pulling off turntable-style scratch solos on it. It's not the only song to feature oddball guitar effects, with the beginning of 'Township Rebellion' sounding almost like a didgeridoo. 

Another thing that might be easy to overlook if you focus too much on the lyrics is the fact that de la Roche's vocals do a lot to complement the music. When he's spitting out his messages in a rapid, aggressive style, his vocals always flow well. And while his default emotional setting appears to be 'angry', he often lets his rage seethe under the surface during the slower, quieter moments before letting out raw, explosive screams when the band turn up the volume.

Rage Against The Machine is an unrelentingly heavy listen, and can start to drag towards the end of its 53-minute running time. But at the end of the day, you can approach this album in one of two ways. Either you can delve into their lyrics and the politics behind it all and hold the band up as a voice for change screaming "WAKE UP!" at the world from the rooftops... or you can simply whack 'Killing In The Name' on and jump around, shouting along in appreciation of the band's weighty funk. Perhaps I'm being a bit shallow, but the latter option seems like a lot more fun to me.

Tuesday 15 April 2008

#5: Los Campesinos! - Hold On Now, Youngster... (2008)

  1. Death To Los Campesinos!
  2. Broken Heartbeats Sound Like Breakbeats
  3. Don't Tell Me To Do The Math(s)
  4. Drop It Doe Eyes
  5. My Year In Lists
  6. Knee Deep At ATP
  7. This Is How You Spell, "Hahaha, We Destroyed The Hopes And Dreams Of A Generation Of Faux-Romantics"
  8. We Are All Accelerated Readers
  9. You! Me! Dancing!
  10. ...And We Exhale And Roll Our Eyes In Unison
  11. Sweet Dreams, Sweet Cheeks
  12. 2007: The Year Punk Broke (My Heart)
I hadn't intended to do two albums from this year in a row, but I ended up half-starting about four reviews and this was the one that fleshed itself out the most before the deadline. Five albums in and I'm already struggling, oh dear... on the bright side, this is a fantastic record, and barring some freak slew of amazing releases in the remainder of the year, it'll almost certainly be in my top ten albums released in 2008.
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Welsh septet Los Campesinos! seem diametrically opposed to the style of indie music that has become ubiquitous in recent months, (and you suspect that they know it too) - which makes their debut LP Hold On Now, Youngster... a refreshing alternative for those who might feel that "Four sweaty boys with guitars tell me nothing about my life!"

After a few brief guitar strums, the album barrels into life at full speed with 'Death To Los Campesinos!'. The guitars squeal and squeak with an undeniable rawness, and the song's point/counterpoint boy/girl vocals and liberal use of glockenspiel are themes that continue throughout the album. The energy doesn't let up, as 'Broken Heartbeats Sound Like Breakbeats' continues proceedings with a giant shout of "One! Two! Three! Four!" before a joyful guitar line kicks in. The song's outro leads seamlessly into the gentle violin and glockenspiel intro of 'Don't Tell Me To Do The Math(s)', briefly slowing things down to let us catch our breath before another jolt of guitar brings things back to life.

While the first three tracks showcase the band's boundless energy, their lyrics can seem a little nonsensical and vague (although nonetheless containing some great one-liners). However, things get a bit more structured on 'Drop It Doe Eyes': The song charts the deterioration of a relationship, with Gareth "Drawing tiny little pictures of skeletons to get across the sense of impending doom," before resigning himself to the realisation that "not even two gospel choirs could save us now," as the song reaches a chaotic climax. 'My Year In Lists', meanwhile, manages to cram problems with long-distance love letters, a rant against the new year, and the brilliantly bitter kiss-off "I cherish with fondness the day (before) I met you" into less than two minutes of unrelentingly brilliant twee angst. And while the exact situation that inspired 'Knee Deep At ATP' may not be familiar to most listeners, the overall theme of discovering that you're second-best when it comes to someone's affections surely has a far wider resonance (and is summed up beautifully by the line "And when our eyes meet, all that I can read is "You're the B-side."")

Indeed, this album deals with heartache on a a very cynical, personal level. Not only is 'This Is How You Spell, "Hahaha, We Destroyed The Hopes And Dreams Of A Generation Of Faux-Romantics"' a frontrunner for best song title of the year, it also contains the most sublime spoken-word section I've heard in a song since... well, 'You! Me! Dancing!' actually, but before that 'You Could Have Both' by The Long Blondes. It's also a fantastically bitter breakup song, and the rejection of love continues on 'We Are All Accelerated Readers', with Gareth declaring that "the opposite of true love is as follows: Reality!" It's not all post-teenage heartache though: '...And We Exhale And Roll Our Eyes In Unison' sees the band hitting out at sexism in the music industry, while 'You! Me! Dancing!' is simply one of the most joyous, sprawling 7-minute pop songs that you'll hear all year.

The album almost feels like it has two closing tracks. First comes 'Sweet Dreams, Sweet Cheeks', a song that somehow sums up all the jaded bitterness that permeates the record as a whole, condensing it into three and a half minutes of rapid-fire intensity before breaking into a desperate, yet somehow hopeful chant of "One blink for yes, two blinks for no, sweet dreams sweet cheeks, we leave alone!" - it's a real lump in throat moment. There's a deliberate lull, and then 'hidden' track '2007: The Year Punk Broke (My Heart)' kicks in: Beginning sparsely and with simple, sentimental lyrics, it then builds into a gigantic instrumental finale, serving as a beautiful epilogue to all that's gone before it.

The brilliance of Hold On Now, Youngster... lies in its juxtaposition of upbeat instrumentation that's almost twee in places with fantastically bitter lyrics and a breathless sense of energy. It's also worth noting again how well Aleksandra's sweetly-sung lyrics contrast with the half-spoken, half-sung vocals of Gareth, with the rest of the band more than willing to contribute when the volume needs turning up. For me, the lyrics are the true star of the show: I've pointed out a few examples, but I could probably write a whole article simply quoting lyrics that I like from this record. Some may find that the shouty vocals and knowing 'indieness' become too much to bear, but for me this is an amazing debut record and certainly an early contender for album of the year.

Sunday 13 April 2008

#4: Does It Offend You, Yeah? - You Have No Idea What You're Getting Yourself Into (2008)

  1. Battle Royale
  2. With A Heavy Heart (I Regret To Inform You)
  3. We Are Rockstars
  4. Dawn Of The Dead
  5. Doomed Now
  6. Attack Of The 60 Ft Lesbian Octopus
  7. Let's Make Out
  8. Being Bad Feels Pretty Good
  9. Weird Science
  10. Epic Last Song
Not much to say about this one - I pre-ordered the album in the hope of being able to listen to it before their gig in Newcastle at the end of March, but due to my stupidly small letterbox (yes, really) I didn't get to hear it until afterwards. I've seen them live a few times, so comparisons between the record and the live show are inevitable. This review somehow feels like a bit of a cop-out, but as I'd half-written it in my head already there doesn't seem to be much point in delaying it, particularly as they're very much a band of the moment.
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Does It Offend You, Yeah? are the type of band who attract the ire of some music fans merely for their David Brent inspired moniker. But would they be right to direct the same negativity towards their music? While You Have No Idea What You're Getting Yourself Into may provide fuel for the fire for some, for me it's a decent, if ultimately somewhat shallow record.

It's fair to say this is an album of two halves, the first half being the type of song that first brought them to my attention some months ago: It only seems appropriate that the album begins with such as song (the first one they ever wrote, in fact). 'Battle Royale' is a straightforward electro-rock number built around simple synth riffs and pounding beats: Lacking subtlety and hardly containing a great deal of substance, but good fun nonetheless. At the other end of the album, 'Weird Science' pulls much the same trick, albeit with more going on in general and synths that sound like a malfunctioning robot gargling sludge. 'We Are Rockstars' also comes from the same stable, with the twist being that it features warped vocals that take a jab at Internet posers: "Where's your real friends now? You have let them down, you're a download pal." However, it's this song that loses the most in the transition from the live stage, with the shouts of "Yeah!" sounding muted and the impact of the song's crunching riffs somehow lost a little.

The second half of this album, on the other hand, feels like it wants to be a synth-pop album. This is first evidenced on 'Dawn Of The Dead', which features a semi-memorable hook and some potentially moving sentiment, but not a lot else of note. 'Being Bad Feels Pretty Good' suffers much the same fate, starting out well enough with a searing guitar riff but then managing to drift by without making much of an impact. Their best shot at this type of track comes with album-closer 'Epic Last Song': It's still not their most memorable of tracks, but it feels more fleshed out compared to the other two similar efforts, with the elements of the song combining to create a decent take on synth-pop. Overall though, this direction doesn't feel as successful as their other tracks - they're the kind of songs that are perfectly listenable, but if you didn't know who they were by you probably wouldn't care enough to find out.

Sometimes, however, the songs fall between these two camps, or even somewhere else entirely. 'Doomed Now' sounds a bit like Devo's 'Whip It' covered by androids from a post-apocalyptic future, while 'Attack Of The 60 Ft Lesbian Octopus' is a bizarre interlude, caught somewhere between an 80's TV show theme and 90's video game pastiche. 'Let's Make Out', meanwhile, is a vicious, sexed up, cowbell-thrashing beast, which by the end has synths glitching all over the place and Morgan positively screaming out the vocals (something which is lost in the live performance, making this song a little better on record in my opinion).

Their best tune though, is 'With A Heavy Heart (I Regret To Inform You)'. It sits closer to the first school of songs with its heavy bassline and stabs of guitar, while vocals wail distortedly before cries of "Oh God" build up like a cross between an orgasm and a mental breakdown - and then the song goes berserk with the spasm-inducing sound of crunching guitars and synths aborting themselves.

Some might argue that there's not much longevity in this band. But does it matter? This is a record that makes sense now, in a post-'new rave' climate, and the band aren't particularly setting their stall out to become some sort of legends. The only ears Does It Offend You, Yeah? are going to be offending are those of parents across the country, and possibly those who prefer their music with a bit more depth or lasting sentiment. For everyone else, this is simply a fun record to listen to, have a dance around to if the mood takes you, and then probably forget about shortly afterwards.

Friday 11 April 2008

#3: Guns N' Roses - Appetite For Destruction (1987)

  1. Welcome To The Jungle
  2. It's So Easy
  3. Nightrain
  4. Out Ta Get Me
  5. Mr. Brownstone
  6. Paradise City
  7. My Michelle
  8. Think About You
  9. Sweet Child O' Mine
  10. You're Crazy
  11. Anything Goes
  12. Rocket Queen
With my knowledge of the band and genre being rather limited, this is perhaps not the type of album I'd expected to cover so soon (even though it was suggested to me early on). However, as Zane Lowe recently chose it as part of the second round of his 'Masterpieces' series, I figured I may as well strike while the iron was hot (if only because listening back to the show was a lazy alternative to getting hold of the album by other means). Ironically, this review is also timely for another reason: Reports emerged yesterday that Axl Rose has finally finished the forever-delayed Chinese Democracy album and handed it over to his label. I'll be honest, this review was difficult to write at first, with my first listen to the album leaving me clueless as to what the hell to say. I guess I'm not entirely happy with it, but well... you be the judge.
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Appetite For Destruction is Guns N' Roses first, and arguably most famous work: Chances are, if you ask someone with only a casual knowledge of the band (like me) to name a Guns N' Roses song, it'd probably come from this album. Three of the bands biggest and most instantly familiar hits appear here: Namely, 'Welcome To The Jungle', 'Paradise City' and 'Sweet Child Of Mine'.

Let's get those three out of the way then, shall we? 'Welcome To The Jungle' kicks off the album with that signature guitar shred, before Axl Rose screeches "Welcome to the jungle! We've got fun and games!" Not the literal jungle, of course, but the urban sprawl of LA, where Rose moved during his teenage years in search of fame and fortune. But like all these things, the high life comes at a price, and Rose warns "You can taste the bright lights, but you won't get them for free."

On the other hand, the almost country-esque twang that begins 'Paradise City' seems oddly incongruous, but after a brief synth-laden interlude it gives way to the the usual hard rock guitar. Lyrically, the song sees the search for fame in the big city weighing heavy on Rose's heart, longing for a place where "the grass is green and the girls are pretty" before begging "won't you please take me home?" - a refrain that's repeated over and over as the song spirals rapidly towards it's climax.

'Sweet Child O' Mine' needs even less introduction: Its opening guitar riff surely embedded in the memory to the point where hearing it produces either instant elation or a sigh of over-familiarity. Lyrically, it's a pretty straightforward love song and probably the album's most sentimental moment. There's even a little musical restraint shown during the "where do we go now?" breakdown, before the band bust out the obligatory massive finale.

So, what is there beyond that then? Well, musically, it's pretty much more of the same. Subtlety be damned, it's all about primal, pounding drumbeats and bombastic, heavy rock guitar riffs. Slash's guitar solos wail out in a level of self-indulgent rock n' roll excess reflected in the lyrical themes of the songs. 'Nightrain' is the sound of the band fired up on cheap booze, while 'Mr. Brownstone' depicts an escalating drug habit. 'It's So Easy' sees the band's new-found fame effortlessly attracting women, while the final two tracks seem to deal with an almost voracious sexual appetite. 'Anything Goes' is three and half minutes of unrestrained lust that's pretty much as the title suggests, while 'Rocket Queen' sees Rose proclaiming "I might be a little young, but honey I ain't naïve." And that's before the sex noises kick in: Depending on which rumours you believe, they could have come from any one of a number of sources. However, it also ends the album on an oddly tender note: As the song draws to a close, Rose tells his queen that "All I ever wanted was for you to know that I care."

It's not the album's only caring moment though - along with 'Sweet Child O' Mine', 'Think About You' also contains some oddly touching lyrics - well, as touching as they can be when set against such a weighty, frantic backdrop. Even 'My Michelle', despite its stark portrayal of a girl the band once knew, contains a little hope: "Honey don't stop tryin' and you'll get what you'll deserve."

Overall, Appetite For Destruction isn't rocket science, but it never claims to be. The manifesto is simple: Sex, Drugs, and Rock n' Roll - and like that combination, it's fun while it lasts, but to overexpose yourself to it means you run the risk of burnout. Guns N' Roses aren't particularly the kind of band I'd go out of my way to listen to, and hearing this album in full hasn't done much to change that. But now, at least, I have a little more understanding as to why they have such a great appeal.

Wednesday 9 April 2008

#2: Foals - Antidotes (2008)

  1. The French Open
  2. Cassius
  3. Red Socks Pugie
  4. Olympic Airways
  5. Electric Bloom
  6. Balloons
  7. Heavy Water
  8. Two Steps Twice
  9. Big Big Love (Fig. 2)
  10. Like Swimming
  11. Tron
After the lengthy introduction that preceded the previous review, I move to an album without much context behind it, apart from the fact that I still haven't seen the band live yet. Foals probably don't need too much introduction, having exploded in popularity at the start of the year (this album made the top 3 of the UK charts on the week of its release). It may be a recent album, but it's still a damn good one.
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Foals are a band of opposites - immediate, but with an underlying depth to them, and combining a level of math-rock intricacy that reminds me of Battles with pop sensibilities to make an easily accessible album that's also incredibly rewarding.

Those pop sensibilities come to the forefront most obviously on recent singles 'Cassius' and 'Balloons', with instantly catchy guitar lines, funky bass, memorable lyrical hooks and brass twiddles. 'Red Socks Pugie', meanwhile, feels rhythmically like Bloc Party on fast forward, contrasting with soaring instrumentation and almost yearning lyrics ("These heart-swells, oh, which make us explode.")

When they're not creating jerky math-pop classics, the band demonstrate a more relaxed side without losing any of their intensity. 'Olympic Airways' features tender vocals and a more chilled-out vibe, yet it maintains a sense of drive thanks to understated but incessant drumming. 'Electric Bloom' continues this style, and is a particular highlight: 5 minutes of blissed-out melancholy that sounds like it was built on the guitar riff from the end of Jimmy Eat World's 'Cautioners'

Even within a single song, the band's music evolves and changes. 'Heavy Water', as it's title suggests, is a weighty, deliberate affair, starting out with a slow and dream-like feel that transforms into an intense dance-rock number, before ending with jazzy trumpet blasts. Meanwhile, 'Two Steps Twice' pulls off the feat of becoming an entirely different song about halfway through: Staccato vocals and intricately woven guitars give in to a massive building chant that eventually becomes an anthemic indie floor-filler. 'Big Big Love (Fig. 2)' also manages effortless feats of metamorphosis, with the song switching between a riff similar to that in 'Electric Bloom' and another riff laden with Interpol/Editors style guitar effects, with the rest of the instrumentation undergoing a seamless transition along with it.

The handclap-laden, aquatic-sounding swirls of  'Like Swimming'  break down into little more than buzzes of static that serve as a perfect introduction to 'Tron', a song that has an epic air of finality to it that's fitting for an album closer. It also has a darker feel to it than most of the other songs, with frontman Yannis warning "If something won't heal, comforts can't help you out" as the music builds ominously around him, before a blast of trumpets ends the album as it began.

The lyrics are more cryptic in some places than others, but they seem to deal with escapism ("Let's go to an aviary far from home") and the chaos of modern life ("These wasp's nests in your head"). The band also pull the trick of making them feel like they're being used as another instrument, math-rock style. This is most notable during 'The French Open', where short, repeated chants add as much to the sense of rhythm as everything else in the song does.

The great thing about the songs as a whole is that each time you listen to them you can pick out something different: An understated bassline, little guitar fills that add depth to the song, a relentlessly intense drumbeat, or a lyric that really hits home. Not only will the songs grab you from the first listen, they'll also make you want to come back for more in order to gain a greater understanding of them.

Overall, I personally feel that it's difficult to find fault with Antidotes: Foals have made an instantly brilliant album that also stands up to repeated listens, and because of that this album will certainly be deserving of any accolades thrust upon it at the end of the year.

Monday 7 April 2008

#1: The Velvet Underground - The Velvet Underground & Nico (1967)

  1. Sunday Morning
  2. I'm Waiting For The Man
  3. Femme Fatale
  4. Venus In Furs
  5. Run Run Run
  6. All Tomorrow's Parties
  7. Heroin
  8. There She Goes Again
  9. I'll Be Your Mirror
  10. The Black Angel's Death Song
  11. European Son
Well, where better to start than with one of the bands that is partially responsible for inspiring this project? Although not for the reasons you might think if you're a fan of the band - it's actually because I'd barely listened to them up until now. You see, when talking about music, honesty tends to get the better of me - so I'm not going to pretend to love a band I know barely anything about. Therefore, when a friend asked me (in a rhetorical manner): "Who doesn't love The Velvet Underground?" I foolishly replied "Um, me?" Not because I hated, or even remotely disliked the band, but simply because to say I liked them would be a lie, as I was pretty much totally ignorant about them at the time. In hindsight I should probably have just kept my mouth shut, but hey, we're here now, and this blog was partially inspired by similar exchanges with... well, some people more than others, but pretty much anyone I ever talked to about music. (Yes, the irony is not lost on me.)

I'm often confused and/or overwhelmed as to where to start with artists if their discography consists of more than 3 or 4 albums. Thankfully, this wasn't too much of a problem with The Velvet Underground as they 'only' have 5 albums to their name. Having discovered that Squeeze (largely made by only one member of the band, Doug Yule) and Loaded (significantly different to their previous material) wouldn't be particularly representative starting points, it seemed sensible to begin at the beginning.
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It might seem a little pointless for me to write about this, one of the most influential records of all time. But it's taken me long enough to get round to listening to it, and so I feel there's some worth in sharing the experience of a first time listener.

The album eases into existence with 'Sunday Morning', the twinkling chimes of the main instrumental hook (played on a 'celesta': An instrument most famously used in Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker Suite) providing a little hope amongst the melancholy comedown from the night before. "Watch out, the world's behind you", Lou Reed warns in an almost nonchalent, yet heavy-hearted manner, perfectly capturing the feeling of having the weight of the world on your shoulders. It seems odd, thematically, to begin an album so based around drugs with a comedown, 'morning after' song, but it works perfectly.

'I'm Waiting For The Man' transports us back to 60's New York with a straightforward tale of trying to score heroin in Harlem. Lyrically honest and with a steady driving rhythm, it feels like one of the album's more easily accessible songs. 'There She Goes Again' is another track that's easy to appreciate with its bluesy jangle and vocal harmonies, but it's perhaps not as lyrically straightforward: Does "You'd better hit her" infer physical violence or a more metaphorical need to snap out of something?

'Venus In Furs', on the other hand, is a far more challenging listen. Build on a discordant guitar drone and stabs of violent strings, the whole song has the air of someone in a trance - and that's before considering the lyrics, a dark tale of sadomasochism sung in an equally trance-like manner. (Upon further research, it seems the song is inspired by the book 'Venus In Furs' by Baron Sadler-Masoch.) However, once you get over the initial shock and play the track a few more times, it becomes a mesmerising masterpiece. 'The Black Angel's Death Song' is another difficult listen, due to the almost grating viola that, for me, just detracts from the song as a whole. Far be it for me to be criticising a band that's held in such high regard, but I have to wonder what an acoustic version (sans viola) might sound like - as it stands, it's my least favourite song on the album. Following this and closing the album is 'European Son', which feels like the ultimate antithesis of modern math-rock - any semblance of order and precision thrown out of the window after the first minute in favour of seven minutes of frantic, almost masturbatory instrumental chaos.

Given the period it was recorded in, it's not surprising that the album is shot through with drug references: 'Heroin' being the most obvious, a crash course for the innocent in the highs and lows of the titular substance. The track's throbbing drums sound like the heartbeat of an addict - slow during the comedowns but rapidly increasing in pace as the drug hits. The rest of the instrumentation parallels this, melancholy and thoughtful during the slower sections, but speeding up during the 'highs', eventually to the point of disarray as the drug finally takes over. 'Run Run Run', meanwhile, seems to explore the colourful characters of the drug scene: And I suspect that the title isn't just referring to using your legs.

Of course, the album wouldn't be titled as it is without the appearance of German chanteuse Nico, and she provides vocals on three tracks. When you first hear her on 'Femme Fatale', the contrast between her vocals and those of Reed can seem jarring: It takes a couple of listens to appreciate what her breathy performance and inflected accent add to the song. Her Teutonic vocals return on 'All Tomorrow's Parties', her low-pitched tone combining with methodical percussion to give the song an almost medieval sound that's dragged into the present by a guitar line that sparkles incessantly. The song itself seems like a requiem for material excess and a lifestyle that can't hide the emptiness of "Thursday's child". 'I'll Be Your Mirror' is the final track to feature Nico. A tender, melancholy love song that certainly holds some personal poignancy for me, it's about insecurity and trying to show other people the good that's in them. In my opinion, it's the best of the tracks that feature Nico.

While the album is rooted in the drug-fuelled haze of the late 60's, some of the lyrics still seem ironically relevant to today's 'indie' culture: Girls wearing "a hand-me-down dress from who knows where" and boys who "want to make love to the scene". Of course, the true magic of the album for many will surely be that it gives them a window into a world they've never lived. But while the record might inspire romantic notions of a hedonistic life in 60's America for some, it's also a cautionary tale that details the lows as well as the highs.

One other thing I noticed about the album as a whole is that tracks often seemed to fade out too soon. It's a minor nitpick that's easy to forgive given that the album was made nearly forty years ago, but it makes the transitions between some songs seem a little forced.

In my opinion, The Velvet Underground & Nico is a record that takes a little getting into, but once you do it's largely a rewarding collection of great songs. Everyone will have their own personal likes and dislikes: Some may find Nico's vocals difficult to listen to, but I've got over that and learned to appreciate them. My personal limit comes with the final two tracks: 'The Black Angel's Death Song' is ruined by the tuneless strings, and the psychedelic wig-out of 'European Son' drags on a little too long for my liking. However, the rest of the album is brilliant and deserving of the classic status it has gained, with my personal highlights being 'Sunday Morning', 'Venus In Furs''Heroin', and 'I'll Be Your Mirror'. There's little point in me attempting to pass any further critical judgement: This has probably been said before, but it's one of those albums that everyone should listen to in order to make up their own mind.

Sunday 6 April 2008

Introduction.

This is a project born of many things: A need to discover music both new and old, a need to form opinions of music, a desire to share music I already love with others, wanting to overcome feelings of musical ignorance, hopes of becoming a music journalist (failing that at least I can pretend), boredom, and buying cheap albums from HMV.

I had originally conceived this as 'An Album A Day', but I quickly realised that trying to listen to and write about seven albums every week was over-ambitious if I wanted to maintain some sort of semblance of quality, and that's before I take into account my inherent laziness. And so I changed it to 'An Album Every (Other) Day': By halving my workload, not only will I have more time to write about each album, I'll hopefully be able to use my off-days to build up a buffer of albums that I can use when things get too busy.

I hesitate to call the writings that will appear here 'reviews', although I can't think of a better word right now. I don't plan on including some arbitrary scoring system to rank the albums with (unless people really want that?), and my experiences with music will always be influenced by my own personal life, meaning I won't always be truly objective about things. I hope to keep things quite varied, writing about an album I've just listened to for the first time one day, then re-visiting an album I love the next, and then maybe looking back at an album that I own but haven't listened to that much.

Updates will run on a two week schedule: 

Week 1: Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday
Week 2: Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday

If that gets too confusing, just remember that I'll update every other day (as the title suggests). So as long as it's been more than a couple of days since your last visit, there'll be something new to read (most of the time anyway).

That's all for now, the first update will be tomorrow. Feel free to leave comments or suggestions of albums I should write about below: This is about musical discovery, after all.