What a pleasant surprise in my email inbox this morning! “Hey dude,” writes a friend of mine. “Thought you might want to hear the new Dead Letter Circus song, so here it is.” Well, thank you very much, my good man! Having seen DLC just over a week ago, it’s very exciting to hear that their debut album is done with recording and is set for a mid-May release. Anyone who’s been following the band for awhile would be more than aware that they’re not the kind to disappoint, making their debut easily one of my most anticipated releases of the year.
This new track, Here We Divide, continues on with the sound established by earlier DLC records which mixes an Edge-style lead guitar with effortlessly technical rhythms and Kim Benzie’s distinctive, impeccably powerful voice raising hell atop of proceedings. Even at nearly five minutes and some forms of repetition that seep through the song’s movements, it keeps your interest and engages you as a listener right up to the final crescendo. That’s the great thing about this band – I’ve been racking my brain and can’t think of even one bad song these guys have. It’s an impressive track record, that’s for sure; and I doubt that will change much when the album drops.
What else can you say? Dead Letter Circus are something to get enthusiastic about. Let’s do so!
FINAL RATING (/10): 8
DLC’s debut is out in May. Don’t forget to check out the band’s website to explore Project Dead Letter, which is a really cool series of footage in relation to the recording of the album. Very nice!
You know you’ve got a good song on your hands if your only words after hearing it for the first time are “fuck” and “yeah” in quick succession of one another. Such was the case for the brand new single for Melbourne band Calling All Cars. I’ve been enjoying these guys for quite some time – they’re a bouncy ball of energy live and they’re always keen to chat at the end of their gigs, handing out fliers for the next gig (and, given their hard working schedule, there is ALWAYS a next gig). Now, fresh from a tour with AC/DC and Wolfmother, the three-piece are readying their debut album, entitled Hold, Hold, Fire.
Disconnect, the lead single, more or less sums up everything that’s great about this band. It’s punchy, ridiculously catchy and incredibly tight, with each member contributing to the overall sound in a positive light. The chorus alone is one of the best things I’ve heard all year – the thing has hooks as sharp as nails that will lure you in and then savagely tear at your body. Am I getting too violent? Maybe, but fuck it: Disconnect is awesome.
FINAL RATING (/10): 8.5
Hold, Hold, Fire comes out on the 12th of March. Also, they’re about to go on tour with Grinspoon. Fuck yeah.
What can be said that hasn’t already been about these guys? They’ve devolved from a somewhat ambitious rock band with a few catchy tracks in their arsenal (Leader of Men, How You Remind Me) to the epitome of what’s gone wrong with radio rock music. They are currently in the realm of glossy, ugly and mostly downright awful music that takes no brains to create and even less to enjoy.
Apparently this little number has been poisoning the airwaves since September of last year, but I’d thankfully avoided it up until now. In fact, all I’ve heard from the band lately is that song they do for the theme song of WWE Raw, which is bloody annoying. Speaking of bloody annoying, did they REALLY need to do another syrupy ballad about fuck-all? Chad Kroeger goes all cassanova with slow drums, simple chords and quite possibly the worst harmonies in any Nickelback song ever. Completely uneccessary, irritating turd of a song, this one. Like you expected any less.
I finally got around to sussing out Timbaland’s Shock Value II guestlist. It was nowhere near as strong as the first go around which had Elton John, Dr. Dre, Fall Out Boy, Missy Elliott, Nelly Furtado, etc. This is all Chad Kroeger, Miley Cyrus, Katy Perry, The Fray, Drake…y’know, somewhat good, but definitely not great. Of particular interest to me, however, was the collaboration with Australian band Jet. The song that Timbaland samples for the song Timothy Where You Been is, strangely enough, Timothy, the final track on Jet’s Get Born album. For all the crap the band gets, Timothy is actually one of their best works. It’s a heartfelt ballad around the story of Timothy Cester, the eldest Cester sibling (Nic is the vocalist and Chris is the drummer), who died before Nic was born and was mentally disabled.
With this in mind, it’s strange and a little offensive to think Timbaland has taken the song to be an “all-about-me” ego trip. Sure, the interpolation and reworking of Timothy is very cleverly done, but it’s no secret that Timbo is not a very good rapper or lyricist. His flow is menial and his rhymes pointless – perhaps the rhyme of “Nelly Furtado” and “escargot” could have been avoided if he wasn’t trying to big-up himself and name-drop at the same time? Ahh, who knows. The point is that the whole thing is great when Timbaland keeps his mouth shut. Isn’t that the same for nearly everyone of his tracks to begin with, though?
Just take a look at those two fucking pictures. Take a wild guess as to what a song with the former lead guitarist of Guns N Roses and the lead singer of Wolfmother is going to sound like. ROCK, maybe? Bang on the fucking money.
So you might not be big on the best-known stuff of either of these two, but this song is completely awesome. The lead guitar riff is godly, starting out on acoustic guitars and sounding somewhat medieval before kicking into some kind of electric overdrive and getting into a frenzy of fist-pumping warrior shit. Yep, just like Wolfmother's first album. It's a great sound the two have gotten together here - Slash gets some great solos and licks throughout the whole thing and Stockdale himself sounds the best he has vocally in years. It's pretty dumb music from a lyrical perspective ("To live and die by the sword!"), but switch off your brain and rock out on this one. So worth it.
FINAL RATING (/10): 8
Slash's solo album is out later this year. Stream the track here.
Did I miss something here? Last I heard, Many Machines on 9 were a heavy rock band with hints of electronica that had simple, fun and catchy songs like New Chemistry. The next I hear, they're just MM9 and have started to sound like Good Charlotte. Their debut album, The Air Between, is a very awkward listen for people who've listened to the band for awhile. It's a big, glossy pop-rock sound that the group have found for themselves, with the vocals landing somewhere inbetween Disturbed's David Draiman and Joel Madden. I have no idea where this has all come from, but it really doesn't suit them. It's trying way too hard and ends up tripping over its own feet. In short, if you liked them before there's a good chance you won't like them now.
Saturday was my chance to get into as much FNM as I possibly could. This was the first thing to hit my ears when I pumped up the first album that comes up alphabetically in my list of FNM albums - Collision is the first track from FNM's final album Album of the Year.
There's significantly less funk-rock and groove in this track than their better known material. It's straight into the heavy guitar riffing, big drums and wailing harmonies. Mike Patton once again goes to great extents to show off his insane vocal range, and for this reason alone it's worth a listen. Seriously, the dude is an absolutely insane voice artist; takes on so many great styles. It's an interesting introduction to Album, as well, as the song is somewhat of anomaly amongst the tracklisting. Still, it's pretty sweet. FNM don't do bad.
FINAL RATING (/10): 7
If you miss FNM at Soundwave, you join the Dead-To-Me list.
Tom Delonge's post-blink love of Angels & Airwaves have finally returned. Thank fuck, says I. Anything to get me away from bloody blink-182's reunion footage: they sound like trash and it's pretty obvious it's all about the money here. I know there's a lot of AVA hates out there, but whatever. I think enough time has passed for the blink obsessives to shut up and appreciate AVA's work as a separate entity - and a superior one at that.
The Flight of Apollo is the second track on LOVE, the band's third album which has just been released for free online, via Delonge's site Modlife. If you were a fan previously, you'll know the drill - it's atmospheric, with layered keyboards and big guitar with fuck-tonnes of reverb. There's even a bit of a synth-string section going on here in the background, which I thought was a pretty nice touch. It all comes together with a sense of familiarity, but fans won't have any major issues with this - the band sound great here and it's easily one of the catchiest things these guys have ever done.
So, Gyroscope are back. The Perth boys have been over in London working away on their fourth record, Cohesion. They've solidified themselves as one of Australia's better mid-card bands over the years and have yet to put out a bad album (though none of their releases are without their flaws). I'm still certainly optimistic about the album, although the lead single, Some of the Places I Know, has put me off a little.
This is the shiniest, most well-produced and radio ready song the band have ever produced. And this doesn't sound like Fast Girl or Beware Wolf that were all "well, this is the stuff we like to play, guess some people like it". This shit is all "we want to have a top 10 single bro". It's not an offensively bad song, but it feels too predictable and lacking in passion to really get into. It feels contrived to rock out to, in a way, which is certainly confusing for a band like Gyroscope - they are really genuine dudes who have made great music in the past. Here, though, I'm not sold just yet.
FINAL RATING (/10): 5.5
The single is out now, the video is below. Cohesion will be out in April.
A strange inclusion to my list, this track from David Bowie's third album, Hunky Dory, came to my attention via a mixtape made for me thanks to the amazing Last.FM Mixtape Trading group. For the record, that's a wonderful incentive and I strongly recommend those of you with a profile on Last to check it out.
The song itself is pretty cheesy and kitsch, as was with most of Bowie's early stuff - especially the singles. That doesn't stop it from being a fun little pop tune, that was apparently written to Bowie's son, Duncan, and was influenced by the immortal Neil Young. It's simply done, but it's still a really cute number that's very catchy. Also, The Kooks named themselves after this song. Kooky!
I got the debut EP from super FLORENCE jam to review alongside Neon Indian's album and Stroke, the compilation CD for Chris Knox. Stroke was excellent, Neon Indian was boring and this...well, this was garbage.
These kids are posturing themselves as the new saviours of Oz rok-n-rol.They fail on several levels, notably their singer sounding like an inbred Andrew Stockdale. The song has no hooks, just irritation repetition. The guitar is lame, the drums are weak, the vocals have a case for justifiable homicide...ahh, fuck this, I don't want to write about this anymore!
Got another interview coming up tomorrow - this time with Tim Norwind, bassist for American rock band OKGO (he's the first one on the left in the picture). I figured, thus, I should probably check out the band's new record. It's called Of the Blue Colour of the Sky - and if you think you have any idea what it's going to sound like, you're wrong.
From dirty funk to vocoder, this is easily the band's weirdest album. I think that's why I like it so much, though - in the five years since Oh No (which features the hit Here It Goes Again), they've really progressed as a band, and in a way they're more OKGO now than ever before.
This particular track, one of the longer ones on the record, is definitely of interest. From the wailing guitar that introduces it to the monstrous, thick bassline that follows it, the band really explore the minor aspects of their sound that were previously untouched or not properly expanded on. It's exciting, funky and really worth checking out - regardless of whether you liked the band previously or not.
FINAL RATING (/10): 8
The new album is out now and you can see the band when they visit next month.
Everyone is always very quick to bash on Operator Please. Most were annoyed with their runaway hit Just a Song About Ping-Pong, and their age (all under 21 at the time) was easy to make fun of (early silverchair, anyone?). I personally like to think that it was just how upbeat and boisterous the band were - both on CD and live - that peeved people. Add in some smart-arse lyrics ("Just out of curiousity/Can you tell me how old I'm supposed to be?"), and you're sure to have a band that can get on people's nerves.
I'll always love them, though - not just because I count Amandah Wilkinson (vocals/guitar) as a mate. They represent freedom, apathy towards negativity, making music for the love of music - they're a fuckload more real than you'd think. With this, I've just sampled their new single from their forthcoming second album, entitled Logic, and I really like it.
If you follow Amandah on Twitter (@operator_please), you'd know how much she loves a bit of Prince. I can definitely hear that love in the slinking bass and funked-out groove that welcomes the listener into the song. It's only fleeting, though - this isn't going to turn into Let's Go Crazy anytime soon. What I enjoy the most about Logic is that it sees the band faced with a pretty serious musical question - "So, what next?" - and taking it on with substantial confidence. There's a lot going on here, but above all it's still distinguishably an Operator Please song: fun, dancey and clever.
FINAL RATING (/10): 8.5
Head over to their MySpaz and suss that shit, baby.
It's time for the second mash-up of my challenge, and I'm really interested in this one. In the blue corner, Beyonce's smash hit Halo. In the red corner (see what I did there?), the gorgeous Hayley Williams with Paramore's Brick by Boring Brick. Two of the most popular women in music today, together at last (what, just me?).
I'll admit, I was pretty skeptical on face value. The potential to be awesome was just sitting there, staring me in the face. Count yourself lucky, Schmolli (if that is your real name), because this is the balls. Knowles' acapella is thrown in the deep end with the pop-rocking Boring Brick's instrumental track (with Williams popping in near the end). A few choppy transitions aside, it's amazing nobody thought of mixing these two before. The move from verse to chorus blends perfectly with B's soaring scales, and some moments just seem perfect for one another. Some great chemistry here.
Australian people will know what I'm talking about - how awesome are 2X and 3X? You know, when you get the two or three CDs in a package for a really cheap price? This happened to me this very week - I picked up a 2X of The Boss himself, Bruce Springsteen, and two of his albums in Nebraska and The Ghost of Tom Joad for just thirteen dollars! Going alphabetically, I've thrown on Ghost first, to be greeted with its title track.
It's hard to say it's a generic Springsteen acoustic ballad, as I honestly believe that no two Springsteen songs sound the same. It's definitely in familiar working-man territory, however - it's the story of a run-down town, hopless and mostly homeless. Definitely something we've all heard before in terms of the Boss' work, but that doesn't mean it's completely meritless. There's a lot of heart in this one, connecting as realistically as he possibly can with the underclass life. Cut away the cheese and you've actually got something passable here. Definitely no Devils and Dust, but still quite nice.
My girlfriend and I have a war going on. It's fairly friendly, though. We both pick a movie that we think the other is going to hate and we're going to enjoy. The last time around, she threw Step Up 2: The Streets into the ring. I, conversely, hit right back with The Jonas Brothers Concert Experience. Naturally, I won.
It's now time for my secret-favourite Jonas brother (no longer a secret, but you get it) to release his new solo shit. Yep, it's Nick. He's cute! And he's easily the most talented out of the three - whether that means as much as it should is debatable, but you get it. Anyways, the song is a lot more pop-rock than his JoBros stuff, but still has enough going for it to make the tween bitches swoon. It's got a catchy chorus and more structure, but it still definitely sounds like he's searching for a sound rather than trying to define it. For now, who Nick Jonas is = up in the air.
FINAL RATING (/10): 6
As usual, my girlfriend tried to bring poor little Nick down. It's like stepping on a puppy! Look at him!
I digress. Album's out this month, I think. Will get. Judge me.
Before we get into it, a very happy new year to anyone and everyone reading the blog and to everyone doing the 100 Days project! More power to each and every one of you, and I sincerely hope you make 2010 your year.
What a way to kick off 2010! The magnificent DJ Earworm has made his return by once again compiling the 25 most popular songs of the year (in this instance, 2009 - his third) into a magnificent mashup.
I'm not even exaggerating - this is an absolutely, unquestionably brilliant composition. How can this be? Easy: U.S.-based mashup king Earworm has tapped into euphoria by simple yet incredibly effective means.
The song's instrumental basis revolves around the catchy chord progression and beat found in Black Eyed Peas' I Gotta Feeling (which is, for those of you playing at home, G/C/Em/C), and brought it up one whole step - thus transforming it to A/D/F#m/D. For the non-musical types, this may not mean very much at all. To me, however, it's a small gem of beatmatched brilliance - in turn with the key change, the songs sampled have been tweaked to a new corresponding key (save for Kelly Clarkson's My Life Would Suck Without You and Beyonce's Halo which were already in the key of A to begin with). Everything changes. Kings of Leon's Use Somebody sounds more desperate than ever. A strange sense of world-weariness is added to the lyrics of Jay Sean's Down. Taylor Swift has her confidence boosted through the roof as she powers out lyrics from Love Story and You Belong With Me in notes soaring above their previous incarnations. Instead of sounding depressed about singing "the old me is dead and gone", Justin Timberlake now sounds as if he's been emancipated on T.I.'s Dead and Gone. Good God, even artists I normally cannot stand, such as The Fray (with You Found Me) and Jason Mraz (with I'm Yours), sound wonderful.
Herein lies another element of Blame It on the Pop's genius. No matter what change comes from the pitch-shifted samples, every single one of them is for the better. The songs sampled sound as if they are working towards a collective goal - and the way they tessellate is a wonder in itself. Just listen to the virtual duet between Beyonce and Miley Cyrus with her track The Climb. With the similar lyrics (Knowles sings "The risk that I'm taking", as Cyrus plays call-and-response with "Every chance I'm taking", etc.), the two have a momentary eclipse of pop-ballad beauty.
With 2009 a thing of the past, the pop music puzzle is complete. What Earworm has done is take the pieces apart once more, completing the same reconstructive task yet helping us notice the minute, formerly-ignored details we didn't take notice of when taking in the big picture. It also shows the mood that was set in 2009's United States of Pop, as its prequels did. 2007 was raucous and loudmouthed (Crank That Soulja Boy, Fergalicious, Umbrella). 2008 saw pop mature and engross itself in the grandiose (Viva La Vida, Bleeding Love, Apologize). So what of 2009? It was a year of uncertainty, distress and occasional incoherence. But that never got in the way of a good party. When Earworm posted the track on his page, he had this to say in relation to the composition and its bracketed title:
This year in the charts, so many of the pop songs this year seem to tell the same story: Yeah, we’ve been through a lot, but right now we’re gonna celebrate with music and dance, and it’s gonna be ok. With that spirit in mind, I invite you to…BLAME IT ON THE POP
FINAL RATING (/10): 10
Blame? Maybe later.
Right now, I just want to thank it for the good times. And while we're at it, let's thank Earworm for another stroke of genius - 25 in 1 never seemed like a better deal.
Finally, big ups to Vinyl and Vodka for helping me pick up on this. Muchos appreciated.
Here's to 2010!!
xoxoxo
David
P.S.: This is probably the most I've written about a song in the blog so far, so I apologise if it's a little long-winded, but I can't emphasise enough how great this is.
If you haven't heard Bomb The Music Industry!, you've surely heard of them by reputation - the alternative/punk collective who don't do a damn thing by the norm. They've got everything they've ever recorded up on Tumblr, for god's sake. They only play all ages shows for $10 or less. They even let you play with them if you learn a song of their and come to the show with your instrument. If that doesn't intrigue you, I've got nothing...they're all monkeys? No, that won't work.
Anyway, this track was recorded the exact same way the first BtMI! song was recorded - in frontman Jeff Rosenstock's bedroom on a laptop. The lo-fi, indie creation doesn't get in the way of the song itself being a happy-sad anthem, with the hook "I don't want to go outside/Cause it might be a terrible day!" and kitchen-sink instrumentation (cheesy fake drums, ukulele, horns, etc). Songs like this normally don't kick you out of your chair and demand repeated listens at gunpoint. I can assure you, however, that this little fucker did. And I gladly let it do so. And yes, I would do it again.
Come on! With a band name like THAT, was I really going to pass listening to this up?
I came across the band on a random blog, where the lady blogger in question spoke of an encounter with the band's lead singer. For those of you playing at home, he looks like this.
Mmm-MMM!
Onto the track itself - which is, insanely enough, fucking brilliant. A lo-fi take on Ramones-meets-The Cramps powerpop/bubblegum punk, the track is a homoerotic two-minute sugar rush. The chorus is infectious, in addition to the twangy chord progression and frontman Seth Bogart's buzzing melodies. Yes, the entire thing is paper thin. But it's colourful! And punching through it feels fucking awesome.
FINAL RATING (/10): 9
Close to trash-po perfection. Ugly songs about gay sex have never felt so fucking righteous. God-DAMN I'm loving this challenge - there's so much wonder out there for me!
Yes yes yes, Merry Fucking Christmas and all that. I sincerely hope you have a lovely day with your families, no matter what you celebrate. Much love and peace.
Let's get on with the challenge, though, shall we? We did a Christmas track yesterday, so let's continue on with a new track I've never listened to before.
Today's targets are a band I've been hearing a lot about recently and are coming to Australia next month. It's a meld of post-punk and post-hardcore, with vocals thrashing away with that throaty semi-scream in the spirit of The Gaslight Anthem, Against Me! or even Dropkick Murphys. The drums are loud and crashing, the guitar work a prickly, zig-zagging affair and the amalgamation of the entire sound is an excercise in passion, energy and consistently interesting music.
FINAL RATING (/10): 9
I get the feeling I'm going to like my time with this band a lot.
Here's their Australian tour dates:
Thur Jan 21- Rosies, Brisbane
Fri Jan 22- Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle 18+
Sat Jan 23- Annandale Hotel, Sydney
Sun Jan 24- Annandale Hotel, Sydney AA
Wed Jan 27-- Rosemount, Perth
Thu Jan 28 YMCA HQ, Perth AA
Fri Jan 29- Enigma Bar, Adelaide
Sat Jan 30- East Brunswick Club, Melbourne
Sun Jan 31- Castle, Melbourne AA
Hi there! I'm David, a nineteen-year-old aspiring writer. I'm taking on the challenge of Josie Long's 100 Days project by listening to one song a day that I've never listened to before in my life. If you have any suggestions, feel free to email me: valkyriefasterlouder@gmail.com
Thanks for checking it all out!
