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Another debut album, this time, from a young three-piece from Dublin. JJ72 seem to have carved themselves out a sound that sits somewhere between the Manic’s, Joy Division and Suede’s early Bernard Butler days with rather edgy guitars and high pitched vocals. There is something about this album that gave me a strange feeling of Deja vu. Although the album consists of new material, there is a weird familiarity about it that I can’t quite put a finger on. One track inparticular that generates these feelings is "Way Down South". It has crisp well defined drums, guitar and bass and an intriguing falsetto which could have easily convinced me that it was a Siouxsie and the Banshees track from 1979 that I had never heard before. "Undercover Angel", the second track has an excellent chorus and a riff that can stick in your head all day if you listen to it on the way to work. The latest single, "Snow", is another fine track worth listening out for. It’s no wonder that JJ72 have been nominated for the best newcomer in this years Q Awards. The band seem to be incorporating all of the best Rock n’ Roll cliches, The plain black album cover, and more recently they cut short their set at London’s Astoria and proceeded to smash up everything, including drums, percussion, bass and amplifiers. All they need to do now is have their drummer killed in a bizarre gardening accident and they can claim to be true rock stars.
I have always been a firm believer that rap is actually spelt with a silent "C", so I was little reluctant to get a copy of the Marshall Mathers LP. However, he does seem to have a rather high profile at the moment so I decided to bow to popular demand and give it a go. An interesting fact to start off with for those not familiar with Eminem, his name is actually derived from the initials of his real name, Marshall Mathers, (M&M), and is nothing to do with his love of sugar coated chocolate peanuts. The lyrical value of most rap records I have heard in the past cause me to believe that the average rapper must have hit an unfeasibly large amount of branches when falling from the top of the stupid tree. Eminem is however on a slightly higher plain. When he is not rapping about oral pleasure (by far his favourite subject) he devotes the remainder of his time to rapping about his contemporaries, his hatred of boy bands and Britney Spears and although hardly profound, it is quite listenable, and rather amusing at times. The album starts with a public service announcement insulting the listener for buying the record. He then gets underway with "Kill You", which boils down to "Don’t mess with Shady, or He’ll Kill", Even if he was serious, I’m not scared. Perhaps the most notable track on the album is "Stan". The story of a mentally deranged fan, Stan, is told in the form of a number of letters. The first letters from Stan to Eminem tell of Stan’s infatuation with Eminem, and his disappointment that Eminem has not responded to any of his letters. The last letter from Stan, in the form of a cassette made in his car, with his girlfriend gagged in the trunk just before they drove off a bridge, is more disturbing. The final letter, Eminem’s response, although too late, contains a rather sensible reply that seems to have been written by Claire Raynor rather than the real Slim Shady. "Criminal" contains minimal music content, a basic drum beat, a simple bass line and uncomplicated keyboards, but is nonetheless a damn good song with interesting lyrics based on the premise that every time he writes a rhyme, some people think it’s a crime. The closing track, "The Kids", appears to have been inspired by Stan, Kyle, Kenny, Cartman and Mr. Mackey and tells the important morale message that "Drugs are bad, M’Kay". Whilst getting over this important message the song also caused me to produce a few rye smiles, as well as giving me a very good description of a G-String. Maybe it’s hard for modern pop stars to appear to be hard and be original. There’s nothing new about throwing TV’s out of hotel windows or smashing and burning your equipment, even biting the heads of chickens is old hat, so what can the new breed do to attempt to shock us. The latest craze seems to just be peppering the offensive lyrics with the rudest profanities they can think off. In my opinion it doesn’t shock, it just makes it awkward to play the album when the kids are around. The humour and timing in the Eminem’s lyrics is perhaps what sets him apart from many of the other rappers around at the moment. All though the lyrics are designed to shock the music itself is very tame compared to what previous generations have come up with, so Eminem may think he’s hard, but I reckon Ozzy could have him, no problem.
La-Peste is one of those albums that grabs you by goolies on the very first track, by the second track a firm grasp has been established and is not relinquished until the dire cover of Don Henley and Glen Frey’s "Hotel California" three quarters of the way through the album. For those of you not familiar with Alabama 3 they look and sound like a renegade posse of AWOL cowboys with a rapidly dwindling stash. I was therefore most surprised to discover that they actually hail from Brixton, London. The style of music is quite hard to categorize but the best description I have heard is "Acid Country". The album opens with the single "Too Sick To Pray" which starts with a weird electronic sound effect followed by a lone steel guitar before slowly building up to a towering wall of bass, drums and throaty Nick Cave/Iggy pop style vocals. Other notable tracks include "Walking in my sleep" which starts of with sermon by a preacher from the Deep South before moving into a slow dance beat and some vocal styles and lyrics that must have be inspired by Dr John. "Cocaine (killed my Community)" has a prominent drum loop and keyboards with a distinct "Talking Heads" feel to it. For those of you following the US TV Drama, "The Soprano’s", I am reliable informed that Alabama 3 provide the music, which has gone someway to increase their somewhat low profile. Although perhaps one of the most amazing coincidences is that the band members "Larry Love", "D. Wayne Love", "The Mountain of Love" and "Sir Real Love" all share the same surname, but are not actually related; what are the chances of that. Certainly a bit different from most of the other stuff around at the moment, and well worth the experiment.
OK, picture the scene, Its Friday night, 11pm and the barman has already called for last orders. In pubs throughout the country the eternal question flashes across everyone’s mind. Should you go to the local Balti House for a few pints of larger and a chicken vindaloo, or should you attempt to strut your funky stuff at the local club. It’s a tricky question and one that is seldom answered correctly, however its is now possible to have the best of both worlds. For an enjoyable club and curry experience in the safety of your own home you will require the following ingredients. 1 jar Sharwoods Balti Sauce, 1 Chicken Breast, 1 large onion, 1 cup of basmati rice, 1 powerful hi-fi system, a copy of Bengali Bantam Youth Experience by Black Star Liner and understanding neigbours. Step 1; give the food items to a woman and point her in the general direction of the kitchen. Step 2 place the "Black Star Liner" CD in the CD player and crank the volume up to 11. Step 3 listen to the exquisite blend of traditional Indian music and modern dance beats cleverly woven together. "Low BMW" is one of my personal favorites and has a deep reggae style heavy bass. "Gurdeep’s Yellow Funk" is equally catchy despite consisting of a single lyric, "Electronic music for the mind and the soul" repeated throughout the entire song. "Pink Rupee" showcases the band talents in actually playing some traditional Indian instruments in addition to being able to program their synths and "Indeer Automatic" is an inspired mix of dance and Indian music with superb vocals courtesy of "Anna Samamt". Proof positive that there are some real gems hidden in the dance sections.
Either I’m producing more testosterone than is good for me or Madonna is one horny mother. However its all to no avail as on 22nd December 2000 Madonna walked down the aisle of a Scottish Cathedral to the dulcet tones of "Music" sung by a choir of schoolboys dressed in their best Ali G outfits. "Music" the album, like Madonna’s wedding entrance also gets underway with "Music" the single as Ms Ciccione asks "Hey Mr. DJ put a record on, I wanna dance with my baby". The song itself probably requires little more description as it has been fairly hard to avoid. It is however a first class piece of modern pop and demonstrates Madonna’s ability to keep up to date. Another notable track, "I Deserve It" has an opening lyric of "This GUY was meant for me and I was meant for him"; there’s no doubt that she got the hots for a certain British film director. Despite the overly soppy lyrics this is another fine song. "Amazing" is not dissimilar to "Beautiful Stranger", which featured in Austin Powers 2. It seems to have a very similar structure and melody, and more importantly it helps me conjure up happy memories of her rubbing her butt up against Mike Myers. "Don’t Tell Me" the latest single is seemingly designed to make people think their CD players are on the blink as the song seems to be randomly jumping or skipping. The video doesn’t help a great deal as that also freezes and jumps around. After several listens though it does seem to work quite well and this is yet another great single. The album concludes with her version of Don McClean’s "American Pie" which was never going to get anywhere near the original and she doesn’t even attempt the later versus. The next thing to look forward to is a release of the version of "Music" sung by the Ali G schoolboy choir, all in the name of charity of course.
Another debut album, this time, from a young three-piece from Dublin. JJ72 seem to have carved themselves out a sound that sits somewhere between the Manic’s, Joy Division and Suede’s early Bernard Butler days with rather edgy guitars and high pitched vocals. There is something about this album that gave me a strange feeling of Deja vu. Although the album consists of new material, there is a weird familiarity about it that I can’t quite put a finger on. One track inparticular that generates these feelings is "Way Down South". It has crisp well defined drums, guitar and bass and an intriguing falsetto which could have easily convinced me that it was a Siouxsie and the Banshees track from 1979 that I had never heard before. "Undercover Angel", the second track has an excellent chorus and a riff that can stick in your head all day if you listen to it on the way to work. The latest single, "Snow", is another fine track worth listening out for. It’s no wonder that JJ72 have been nominated for the best newcomer in this years Q Awards. The band seem to be incorporating all of the best Rock n’ Roll cliches, The plain black album cover, and more recently they cut short their set at London’s Astoria and proceeded to smash up everything, including drums, percussion, bass and amplifiers. All they need to do now is have their drummer killed in a bizarre gardening accident and they can claim to be true rock stars.
I have always been a firm believer that rap is actually spelt with a silent "C", so I was little reluctant to get a copy of the Marshall Mathers LP. However, he does seem to have a rather high profile at the moment so I decided to bow to popular demand and give it a go. An interesting fact to start off with for those not familiar with Eminem, his name is actually derived from the initials of his real name, Marshall Mathers, (M&M), and is nothing to do with his love of sugar coated chocolate peanuts. The lyrical value of most rap records I have heard in the past cause me to believe that the average rapper must have hit an unfeasibly large amount of branches when falling from the top of the stupid tree. Eminem is however on a slightly higher plain. When he is not rapping about oral pleasure (by far his favourite subject) he devotes the remainder of his time to rapping about his contemporaries, his hatred of boy bands and Britney Spears and although hardly profound, it is quite listenable, and rather amusing at times. The album starts with a public service announcement insulting the listener for buying the record. He then gets underway with "Kill You", which boils down to "Don’t mess with Shady, or He’ll Kill", Even if he was serious, I’m not scared. Perhaps the most notable track on the album is "Stan". The story of a mentally deranged fan, Stan, is told in the form of a number of letters. The first letters from Stan to Eminem tell of Stan’s infatuation with Eminem, and his disappointment that Eminem has not responded to any of his letters. The last letter from Stan, in the form of a cassette made in his car, with his girlfriend gagged in the trunk just before they drove off a bridge, is more disturbing. The final letter, Eminem’s response, although too late, contains a rather sensible reply that seems to have been written by Claire Raynor rather than the real Slim Shady. "Criminal" contains minimal music content, a basic drum beat, a simple bass line and uncomplicated keyboards, but is nonetheless a damn good song with interesting lyrics based on the premise that every time he writes a rhyme, some people think it’s a crime. The closing track, "The Kids", appears to have been inspired by Stan, Kyle, Kenny, Cartman and Mr. Mackey and tells the important morale message that "Drugs are bad, M’Kay". Whilst getting over this important message the song also caused me to produce a few rye smiles, as well as giving me a very good description of a G-String. Maybe it’s hard for modern pop stars to appear to be hard and be original. There’s nothing new about throwing TV’s out of hotel windows or smashing and burning your equipment, even biting the heads of chickens is old hat, so what can the new breed do to attempt to shock us. The latest craze seems to just be peppering the offensive lyrics with the rudest profanities they can think off. In my opinion it doesn’t shock, it just makes it awkward to play the album when the kids are around. The humour and timing in the Eminem’s lyrics is perhaps what sets him apart from many of the other rappers around at the moment. All though the lyrics are designed to shock the music itself is very tame compared to what previous generations have come up with, so Eminem may think he’s hard, but I reckon Ozzy could have him, no problem.
La-Peste is one of those albums that grabs you by goolies on the very first track, by the second track a firm grasp has been established and is not relinquished until the dire cover of Don Henley and Glen Frey’s "Hotel California" three quarters of the way through the album. For those of you not familiar with Alabama 3 they look and sound like a renegade posse of AWOL cowboys with a rapidly dwindling stash. I was therefore most surprised to discover that they actually hail from Brixton, London. The style of music is quite hard to categorize but the best description I have heard is "Acid Country". The album opens with the single "Too Sick To Pray" which starts with a weird electronic sound effect followed by a lone steel guitar before slowly building up to a towering wall of bass, drums and throaty Nick Cave/Iggy pop style vocals. Other notable tracks include "Walking in my sleep" which starts of with sermon by a preacher from the Deep South before moving into a slow dance beat and some vocal styles and lyrics that must have be inspired by Dr John. "Cocaine (killed my Community)" has a prominent drum loop and keyboards with a distinct "Talking Heads" feel to it. For those of you following the US TV Drama, "The Soprano’s", I am reliable informed that Alabama 3 provide the music, which has gone someway to increase their somewhat low profile. Although perhaps one of the most amazing coincidences is that the band members "Larry Love", "D. Wayne Love", "The Mountain of Love" and "Sir Real Love" all share the same surname, but are not actually related; what are the chances of that. Certainly a bit different from most of the other stuff around at the moment, and well worth the experiment.
OK, picture the scene, Its Friday night, 11pm and the barman has already called for last orders. In pubs throughout the country the eternal question flashes across everyone’s mind. Should you go to the local Balti House for a few pints of larger and a chicken vindaloo, or should you attempt to strut your funky stuff at the local club. It’s a tricky question and one that is seldom answered correctly, however its is now possible to have the best of both worlds. For an enjoyable club and curry experience in the safety of your own home you will require the following ingredients. 1 jar Sharwoods Balti Sauce, 1 Chicken Breast, 1 large onion, 1 cup of basmati rice, 1 powerful hi-fi system, a copy of Bengali Bantam Youth Experience by Black Star Liner and understanding neigbours. Step 1; give the food items to a woman and point her in the general direction of the kitchen. Step 2 place the "Black Star Liner" CD in the CD player and crank the volume up to 11. Step 3 listen to the exquisite blend of traditional Indian music and modern dance beats cleverly woven together. "Low BMW" is one of my personal favorites and has a deep reggae style heavy bass. "Gurdeep’s Yellow Funk" is equally catchy despite consisting of a single lyric, "Electronic music for the mind and the soul" repeated throughout the entire song. "Pink Rupee" showcases the band talents in actually playing some traditional Indian instruments in addition to being able to program their synths and "Indeer Automatic" is an inspired mix of dance and Indian music with superb vocals courtesy of "Anna Samamt". Proof positive that there are some real gems hidden in the dance sections.
Either I’m producing more testosterone than is good for me or Madonna is one horny mother. However its all to no avail as on 22nd December 2000 Madonna walked down the aisle of a Scottish Cathedral to the dulcet tones of "Music" sung by a choir of schoolboys dressed in their best Ali G outfits. "Music" the album, like Madonna’s wedding entrance also gets underway with "Music" the single as Ms Ciccione asks "Hey Mr. DJ put a record on, I wanna dance with my baby". The song itself probably requires little more description as it has been fairly hard to avoid. It is however a first class piece of modern pop and demonstrates Madonna’s ability to keep up to date. Another notable track, "I Deserve It" has an opening lyric of "This GUY was meant for me and I was meant for him"; there’s no doubt that she got the hots for a certain British film director. Despite the overly soppy lyrics this is another fine song. "Amazing" is not dissimilar to "Beautiful Stranger", which featured in Austin Powers 2. It seems to have a very similar structure and melody, and more importantly it helps me conjure up happy memories of her rubbing her butt up against Mike Myers. "Don’t Tell Me" the latest single is seemingly designed to make people think their CD players are on the blink as the song seems to be randomly jumping or skipping. The video doesn’t help a great deal as that also freezes and jumps around. After several listens though it does seem to work quite well and this is yet another great single. The album concludes with her version of Don McClean’s "American Pie" which was never going to get anywhere near the original and she doesn’t even attempt the later versus. The next thing to look forward to is a release of the version of "Music" sung by the Ali G schoolboy choir, all in the name of charity of course.