The Horrors: Primary Colours

After a harsh and edgy garage rock debut, The Horrors have taken stock and, no doubt aided by Portishead producer Geoff Barrow, re-emerged with a far more polished and elegant follow up. The raw arty originality of the their debut is perhaps the only element retained in this fresh blossoming of sophisticated psychedelia.

The Low Anthem: Oh My God, Charlie Darwin

What a brilliant album title, how could I not get myself a copy? The Low Anthem are an American alternative rock/folk combo with founding members Ben Knox Miller and Jeff Prystowsky now augmented with classical composer Jocie Adams, (A NASA technician no less).

So is there much beyond a quirky album name. Oh yes indeed. OMGCD is released on the Bella Union label (the home of Fleet Foxes), and there are many comparisons that can be drawn between the two bands.

There’s plenty of variety within the album from the sepia toned gentle folk of “To Ohio”, the stomping blues of “Home I’ll Never Be” the country romp of the title track, the harmonic, almost, Simon & Garfunkel vocals of “Cage the Songbird” and the atmospheric brilliance of “To The Ghosts Who Write History Books”.

OMGCD has tinges of Dylan and Cohen and is modern Americana at its finest.

Mastodon: Crack In the Skye

It appears that by buggering about with Greek mythology, silly spiritualism and dodgy physics Mastodon have created a nice little metallic yarn of astral projections, wormholes and spiritual channelling.

The music itself is heavier than a sack of anvils with lustrous guitar solos leaning much more on Metallica than the heady earlier days of metal. Not really a genre I know extensively, but this certainly seems to be the cream of this particular genus.

The XX: The XX

An intriguing debut from this London 3-piece. I was going to say 4-piece, but one of them is knackered already and gone for quick lie down. Bless.

The crisp clean repetitive and swirly guitars give a sort of early Cure or minimal Goth flavour enhanced by the seductive boy-girl lead vocal thing.

I like it.

Porcupine Tree: The Incident

Following the Prog Rock path to success is a long old road these days. Porcupine Tree have indefatigably toiled away since the early 90’s producing a string of consistently good albums and have very gradually and slowly established a sizable fan base.

Although I pine slightly for their early albums of cheeky floydish psychedelia, the rockier and more seriousness of recent albums seems to be wining them through.

The incident builds once again on the success of its predecessor with lengthy compositions interspersed heavy riff-age, gentle acoustic strum-age, and (to continue to invent my own lexicon), delicate piano-age, with of course a healthy dose of moody aural soundscapes.

Them Crooked Vultures: Them Crooked Vultures

WTF, A supergroup that actually exceeds the sum of its constituent parts. And as those constituent parts include the greatest rock bassist from the greatest rock band, ever, that’s no light statement.

Work on TGV has been a fairly covert affair with Dave Grohl (Nirvana, Foo Fighters), Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age) and John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin) beavering away for much of the year under the radar. And with Jonsey on this sort of form, Planty should be feeling suitably embarrassed for not wanting to come and play with his old mates.

“New Fang” has a vivacious beat that could cause you to hop around the lounge like Mr Spigott at a Tarzan audition.

“Scumbag Blues” has a Cream-like guitar and vocal introducing a sort of “Trampled Under Foot” clavinet funk that occasionally threatens to turn into the theme tune to Mission Impossible before squealing guitars steer things back on track.

Top track for me though is “Gunman” with its super solid bass-lines, last heard on Jonsey’s 2 solo albums at the start of the noughties.

I seem to have focused rather more on John Paul Jones’ bass parts than the other two contributors. Did I never mention that I’m a massive Zeppelin fan?

Echo & The Bunnymen: The Fountain

Ever since Rick from the Young Ones addressed his letter of complaint to the lead singer of Echo and the Bunnymen, I’ve been a fan of Ian McCulloch and his merry band of Scouse rabiteers.

However, if you’ve yet to buy an Echo and the Bunnymen album (and you really should), this is not the place to start. The album is instantly recognizable as an Echo album, but it’s a completely uninspiring set of mediocre songs covered in a dull coat of Coldplay production.

The lyrical puns embed in “Shroud of Turin” are so cringing it makes the song hard to listen to. Things do however pick up on the upbeat “Proxy” and the contemplative “Idolness of Gods” that closes the album

A great band sadly treading water.

The Editors: In This Light and On This Evening

I must confess to making the mistake of prejudging this album. I was expecting the well worked out commercially successful, but often bland indie rock standard formula to be adhered in order to maximise sales. I am however delighted to hear that this album has far more interest and originality than I anticipated.

Despite the vocals on many tracks sounding rather like a cross between Gene Pitney and Vic Reeves’ pub singer, I have to confess that this is a most agreeable album.

Although, it might be an idea to listen to the tracks in reverse order, as I reckon the tracks at the arse end of the album out shine the openers. In fact, better still, start off with, “Eat Raw Meat = Blood Drool” as its wobbly bouncing rhythm and sing-a-long chorus should certainly engage your enthusiasm.

The Flaming Lips: Embryonic

Weird avant-garde music often requires you to put in a lot of hard groundwork, listening multiple times before the free form cacophony comes into focus. I frequently give up before I reach the fourth bobo of avant-garde musical enlightenment. However if you an persevere, once you’ve achieved this higher astral musical plane it is possible to exclusivley and meaningfully converse with ones fellow musical aficionados and sneer at the musically unenlightened rather like Dicky Dawkins poking out a bit of Christian from the tread of his shoe.

Actually, Embryonic isn’t really that hard work to get into. It is also quite early Floydian in places, which as far as I’m concerned, is a good thing.

Arctic Monkeys: Humbug

Admitedly a lot of pop culture passes me by unseen. However, even I couldn’t help notice the fanfare accompanying the release of the first two Arctic Monkeys albums. I was therefore fairly surprised when perusing the Amazon web site for some new audio delights, that there was in fact a third Arctic Monkeys album available that I was previously unaware of.

The distinctive thick bass and modern crisp and edgy guitars of Humbug’s brace of predesors are certainly still in evidence on this third offering, but it seems as though Alex Turner has also retained some of the suave 60’s sophistication of last year’s “Last Shadow Puppets” album.

I always enjoy a few good euphemisms in my lyrics, so I was of course delighted with album opener “My Propeller” which is basically a simple ode to Alex’s cock. The album lyrics in general though reflect the change in lifestyle that the success of the first two albums has afforded the band. The sharp working class humour has thankfully not been lost but reflects the circles that the band now move in.

So I’m not sure if there was less hype or if I jussed missed it, but either way the content is well worthwhile.

Try and seek out a copy with the Japanese bonus track, a nice cover of Nice Cave’s Red Right Hand.

Recommended.

Paramore: Brand New Eyes

In previews reviews I’ve waxed lyrical about albums that I’ve bought blind, and then been delighted to discover a great new band. Well I took a punt on this album with that in mind, but sadly it didn’t pay off on this occasion.

Wolfmother: Cosmic Egg

If like me, you respect the Sabbath, you may want to wrap your lugholes around the second studio offering from the Lupine Mater.

Like the early 70’s metallic giants they successfully ape, Wolfmother have already undergone a major line-up change, citing the classic "irreconcilable differences” for a reshuffle that simply retained guitarist and vocalist Andrew Stockdale.

As with the debut album, although the majority of the album sticks to an extremely plausible classic 70’s rock script, the game is given away by a couple of rouge contemporary tracks. Namely: “Far Away” which sails painfully close to a true rock fans most dreaded two words, power ballad. And the much better “Violence of the Sun” which is an excellent modern indie rock anthem akin to some of the latest Kasabian offerings.

These two songs aside, the rest of the album is pure unadulterated classic rock. For example “California Queen” has fast paced pounding verses before four slow snare beats hail in the heavy slow riffing and high vocal chorus where Stockdale takes on the roles of both Iommi and Osbourne concurrently.

The title track offers jerky Deep Purple riffs and more Sabbath Bloody Sabbath vocals. And why not check out the awesome “New Moon Rising” yourself. It's right here…

Super stuff. Ignore Mojo’s 3 paltry stars this is a 5 starrer.

Eels: Hombre Lobo: 12 Songs of Desire

Eels’ 7^th studio album is a concept album. However, it’s one of those rather “loose” concept albums. Despite numerous listens (I was going to say countless, but thanks to iTunes I know exactly how many times I’ve listened to it), I was simply enjoying it as a collection of random songs without seeing the connection. Perhaps if my Spanish was a little better and I’d taken the time to read the album sub title, I might have realised that “Hombre Lobo” is the Spanish for werewolf, and the whole album is a follow up to Souljaker’s “Dog Faced Boy”, exploring the various types of desire through the album’s hairy protagonist.

Standout tack is “Fresh Blood” which starts off with thumping drums and a slow bass keyboard before the song title is followed by a piercing scream that leads us into a rollicking chorus with howling and declarations for the need of fresh blood. Hang on a minute, how did miss the theme of this album again. Cock.

Pearl Jam: Backspacer

The term “return to form” is a favourite amongst music journalists, and I’m sure if I read back through my old reviews, I’ll discover that I’ve abused it a fair bit too. I loved Pearl Jam’s debut album so much that the anticipation of any new material in the early to mid 90’s was always high, but with each subsequent new release the anticipation diminished until their eighth studio album that I never actually got around to buying until at least 6 months after its release. “Oh, another new Pearl Jam album, better get it, after all I’m such a completist”.

But I’m glad I didn’t waste too much time acquiring a copy of “Backspacer”, named after that outdated typewriter key. Production reigns have been handed back to Brendan O’Brien and although their Grunge roots may seem quite distant at times from this poppier and punkier direction, it seems to work, so I’m loathed to call it a sell-out.

The overall tempo has picked up from those early moody, angst soaked, slow burning classics that eventually worked their way around to the blistering guitar solos. The Coldplay styled bashing keyboards on “Unthought Known” are overlaid with Eddie Vedder’s rich vocals. “Supersonic” as the title suggests is a face-paced number with a simple punk riff that could get the less self-conscious pogoing around the lounge. But my personal favourite is “Amongst The Waves” which admittedly is one of those moody angst soaked, slow burning classics that eventually works it way around to the blistering guitar solo.

I really like the artwork on the cover too. Take note Ian Brown.

Ian Brown: My Way

Ex Stone Roses front man and bipedal ape, Ian Brown, returns with his 6th solo offering. I really enjoyed Brown’s first two solo albums so I’ve kept with him, but despite retaining those familiar vocals, still undistinguishable from the Stone Roses’ classic debut, I’m left pondering what could have been.

Without John Squire on guitar, Brown, as the album title suggests, does it his way, and that way invariably involves synthesisers, loops and processed beats. There’s nothing wrong with stretching the boundaries and looking to take things in a new direction but Brown seems to have set off without a map and consequently I’m not really sure where he is right now.

Opening track “Stellify” is engaging enough with its boppy keyboard and energy levels are retained with the equally bouncy “Just Like You”.

Brown’s cover of “In the year 2525” is not terribly dissimilar to the original which make it instantly likeable, but I prefer my cover versions to add a new dimension rather than just being a facsimile.

The remainder of the album fails to provide anything to really engage me. Perhaps the most memorable thing will be the truly awful album cover. Is there a prize for worst album cover ever? If so, this has to be in the running.

Black Crowes: Before The Frost

Mid 70’s southern blues rock isn’t as fashionable now as it was in say, the mid ‘70’s, so kudos indeed to the Black Crowes for refusing to kowtow to current vogues.

There is not a single sound bite on “Before The Frost” that would identify it as a contemporary album. Recording the album in Levon Helm's Woodstock barn before a special selected close audience may well sound like a simple marketing gimmick, but it adds a cosy feel, hearing a small enthusiastic crowd in between tracks. Unless that was just a way of masking the in between track brawling noises of brothers Chris and Rich Robinson going at each other like, well two brothers in a rock band.

“Good Morning Captain” gives us a boogie-woogie piano intro into a blues rock standard that sets the scene for the entire album.

My favourite track of the album, “Been A Long Time (Waiting On Love)" is a lengthy piece that gives the band the room to stray into something that sounds like a live jam with guitar, Hammond organ and harmonica taking it in turn to play the lead.

“Appaloosa” has the slow sliding guitars of an Eagles classic that slows things down again.

It may sound a little dull to the modern rock fan used to more speed and gusto, but to my ears this is perhaps their best album.

Muse: The Resistance

It’s often easy to convey the feel of an album by throwing in a few musical comparisons. This can be very easily and accurately accomplished in the case of Muse’s 5^th studio offering which quite literally sounds like they’ve taken a selection of Queen and Radiohead CD’s and cleverly remixed them down into a single album.

The album kicks off with the vivacious “Uprising” and its rolling back beat, not dissimilar to the Timelords’ “Doctor and the Tardis”, punctuated with a simple guitar riff.

“United States of Eurasia” has an epic Freddie Mercury style vocal and a Brian May styled screeching guitar solo before fading into a classical piano outro.

“Guiding Light” shamelessly recycles Ultravox’s “Vienna” and adds a Thom Yorke vocal and tinkling guitars that to be honest left me pining for the sparseness or the original classic.

“Unnatural Selection” cranks it up a few gears with a clean and sharp Rush styled guitars.

The closing 16 minute classical symphony in 3 parts, “Exogenesis” proves without any shadow of doubt that Muse are so far up their own arses that an embarrassing trip to casualty will be required to bring them back to reality. The classical element of the first part is a simple repetitive Philip Glass affair with extravagant vocals and a guitar crescendo that leads into a truly moving and impressive classical piano piece. I know that sounds a little unkind, but it’s not a criticism I love a nice bit of pompous rock.

A truly grandiose rock album as pretentious as anything Yes ever accomplished in the 70’s.

The Dead Weather: Horehound

Doesn’t Jack White just make you sick with his endless talent, energy and originality. For his latest project, Jack has decided to leave the primary guitar duties to Dean Feritita (Queens of the Stone Age) and take his place behind the drum kit. Meanwhile “little” Jack Lawrence (The Greenhornes, The Raconteurs) straps on the bass and Alsion Mosshart (The Kills) assumes the position behind the microphone.

While White’s various groups all have a stiff back bone of raw blues/rock, there is a distinct flavour to each of his 3 main projects (The White Stripes, The Raconteurs & The Dead Weather). The Dead Weather seem even more deep rooted in the classic blues genre with perhaps a few punk undertones. The album has a crisp sharp feel and subtle and minimal production flowering that I suspect will make it hard to date.

“60 Feet tall” has simple blues refrains, crashing drums and blistering guitar solo’s all punctuated by atmospheric gaps. “I Cut like a Buffalo” has a keyboard chord keeping slow time behind a more freeform blues jam session and “Treat me Like Your Mother” has a corking zeppelinesque riff.

My high expectations have been met and even exceeded.

Kasabian: West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum

Today’s album review is brought to you by the medium of Excel Charts. I have ranked the first three Kasabian and Kaiser Chiefs albums and determined the following trend lines for both bands:



As can clearly be seen, despite a strong opening album by the Kaiser Chiefs, the gradual steady increase in quality of Kasabian’s output has caused the trend lines to cross in 2006 now giving them a clear lead .

Good work lads, great album. Stand out tracks include:

Underdog
Where Did Our Love Go?
Fast Fuse
Take Aim (which includes a synthesiser that is evocative of Jeff Wayne’s Martians)
West Ryder Silver Bullet
Fire

Chickenfoot: Chickenfoot

Super Groups seldom live up to the sum of their constituent parts, let alone exceed it. Chikenfoot are a real super group and as such the sum of their impressive line-up is large.



Joe Satriani
Chad Smith (Red Hot Chilli Peppers)
Michael Anthony (Van Halen)
Sammy Hagar (Van Halen, Montrose, Solo)

With scorching Satriani guitar solos and great vocals from the Red Rocker himself it does indeed add up to an impressive package. They sound like their having fun too, nothing too over-produced or orchestrated, simply live jamming rock n roll the way its meant to be.

Equal to the sum of it parts, but not greater, but that’s still a lot.