Kaiser Chiefs – Southampton Guildhall

We managed to catch the Kaiser Chiefs on the small venue part of their European tour to promote the new Album Of With Their Heads.  Initial impressions of the new songs is that good ones are very good, the  others are only so-so, B side material, and leaves a me with the feeling that the album was rushed so that the pre-Christmas sales season could be exploited which is a shame.

I took some pictures at the gig with a new Samsung Soul mobile phone with what seemed to be a nice 5mb camera.  Although its ability to focus in the conditions of a concert appears to be disappointing. To help with that I started using the multi-frame mode and discovered that when you do that it reduces the image resolution notably without any warning. I think I need to experiment some more with poor light conditions but at the moment I’d would say that the lower resolution Sony Ericcson K800i coped better at gigs.

 

Photoset at filckr here.

 

Technorati Tags: Kaiser Chiefs,southampton,Guildhall,Samsung,Soul,K8001,gig,concert,review,live

Matthew Ryan vs Silver state – Review

Matthew Ryan’s latest album – Matthew Ryan vs The Silver State or MRVSS has finally reached my ears, and boy has it been worth the wait.  It is very much deserving of the good reviews.  Matthew Ryan has been a songwriter of note for some time writing about subjects that can by deeply touching such as The Complete Family where his brother has been sentenced to 30 years in jail on the last album (From a Late Night High Rise) and the heart felt Hummingbird about wanting to be good enough for the woman you love.  In this department, I might even be so blasphemous as to suggest he may even be on a par with Bruce Springsteen; he can certainly match for other lauded new generation songwriters such as Ryan Adams.

Musically Ryan’s voice has a slightly timbered and rough edge to it. This is combined with a musical style which for MRVSS has a live feel (we can only hope he tours the UK to here these songs live) although other albums (particularly Strays Don’t Sleep have had a more study polished feel). With the live edge to it the grittier songs such as Drunk and Disappointed bring to mind the likes Paul Westerberg or perhaps Jesse Malin and the quieter songs such as Hummingbird hinting at Tom McRae or Springsteen on Nebraska and The Ghost Of Tom Joad.

 

Useful links:

• MySpace
• AllMusic
• Home website
• UK Record label
• Wikipedia

del.icio.us tags: Matthew Ryan, Reviews, Album, MRVSS, music

Delays – Love Made Visible

The Delays are back with a new EP as previously mentioned. I now have my copy of the limited CD run.  I have to say – we’re pleased with what we are hearing.  Love Made Visible continues with the Delays signature high vocal harmonies with an upbeat rhythm, bright splashy guitars and synth fills.

The EP comprises for five tracks of which for are new songs and the fifth is a radical remix of the title song, so radical you might as well consider  it as a new song in its own right.

The title track pounds a long at a fair rate carrying you with it.  If this had been released earlier in the year and we’d had a good summer then I think it would have been successful reminding us of those brighter days and correspondingly a hit.  Sadly the weather was poor here, and the EP has only just been released in November. 

Panic Attacks and Slow Burn, slows down the tempo, and have a more Autumnal feel to them dealing with less cheery subjects than love.  You See Colours, the title of the last album, moves back to a brighter feel with a stronger synth presence. This leads us into the Together We Make A City (Love Made Visible) which takes the vocal from the title song and lays it onto a chilled out synth base with real stabbing blasts of keyboard and what could almost be a sample of Moby’s Go in the background – brilliant stuff.

Recommended listening.

del.icio.us tags: Delays, CD, EP, review, Love Made Visible

Dragons – Here are the Roses — Review

Dragons – another new artist worthy of some attention.  Their debut album Here are the Roses is a marvelous blend of pre-stadium rock Simple Minds, early Depeche Mode and Joy Division/New Order.  The heart of these similarities come from the way they use synths and guitars, they intertwined often providing both rhythm and melody; the keyboard sounds are very synthetic like those used by the Minds and others during the earlier 80s – looking at the kit in the videos on their website it also looks very 80s.

 

The lyrics are pretty dark in content and delivery, something that David Gahan would be proud of, and enough for Ian Curtis to take note if he was still with us today. Unlike both, the vocal delivery is slightly smoother and sweeter on the ear.

 

Finally, the drumming, it doesn’t saturate the rest of the performance, they’re even edging towards sparse. But they really down pound – as the producer Hugh Padgham would say – if you stand next a drummer giving it some welly – its bloody loud, and correspondingly that should be the case on record. The drumming certainly isn’t muted – driving the music along brilliantly without dominating.

 

If you like some rocking, synth based music then go give them a try – or at least have a listen to what they’ve posted on their MySpace site or the clips on their own site.

 

Websites:

home page : http://www.dragons.cc/

MySpace : http://www.myspace.com/dragons1

 

 

del.icio.us tags: Dragons, Simple Minds, New Order, Depeche Mode, synth, music, album, review, CD, Joy Division, Hugh Padgham, David Gahan, myspace

Review: Bitter Bitter Weeks – Peace Is Burning Like a River

Rather than reviewing an obvious release like Ryan Adam’s latest release, I’m continuing with the less known stuff. 

Bitter Bitter Weeks latest release Peace Is Burning Like a River have diverged from their more somber sounds in a big way. This is full of bright shiny 60s style guitar work, imagine The Delays swapping their synths for guitars. Brian McTear’s vocals match the mood beautifully with a light and sweet vocal.  Even the lyrical content feels more cheerful.

 

I’ve been listening to this album, both in the car and on my MP3 Player – I have to say it does sound far better when given a chance to breath in an open space than with earphones – even these cracking Sennheisers.

 

My recommendation is atleast have a listen to the tracks on Bitter Bitter Weeks’  MySpace site.  If you’re a Delays fan then don’t waste time – order the album NOW!

 

Lots of thumbs up from the Monster.

 

del.icio.us tags: Bitter Bitter Weeks, Peace Is Burning Like a River, review, artist, album, CD Pricing

Tom McRae – Shepherds Bush Empire

We got to see another fine performance by Tom McRae at London’s Shepherds Bush Empire as he tours supporting his latest album King Of Cards.  I managed to capture some pictures with the mobile phone – more can be seen here.

Tom, has over a number of albums proven himself to a fine singer songwriter. But, for me the songs taken on something special when you hear him perform them live.  Even last night, whilst suffering ‘man flu’ sounded good, and delivered the songs with passion and emotion that lyrics carry.

 

Not only does he perform well, everytime we’ve seen him, he engages with the audience joking and telling stories, something that really makes it feel that he is there for you.

 

This time around Tom’s support was Steve Reynolds, who played a great little set, and went down a treat with the audience (no mean feat for a support artists). All that and playing his guitar while struggling with a broken collar bone. Steve’s performance was engaging enough that we’ve ordered the album (another import).

 

The final gem, of the evening is picking up a EP of Tom’s that I’d not heard of – The Strongroom Sessions (autographed as well).  Having not heard about it, I thought I’d search around for it today on the web and can’t find any reference to it – is his record company letting him down?

 

 

del.icio.us tags: Tom McRae, gigs, EP, CD Steve Reynolds, Shepherds Bush Empire, London

Tori Amos – American Girl Posse

A Little slow reviewing this – having been out for a month or two. But I  have found that Tori’s later albums take a lot longer to digest as her lyrics tend towards the obscure. Although the  subject of the opening song on latest album American Girl Posse leaves little space for misunderstanding as criticism of George Bush.

 

The album’s song fluctuate from style to style as it delivers songs from different members of the ‘posse’ which it does with a fair degree of success. It seems that its each of the songs intros provide the clearest indication of which character is performing. 

 

Unlike earlier albums the presence of the drums and guitar are a lot more noticeable giving album a more driven feel overall where as earlier albums the other instrumentation tended to be lower in the mix giving space the vocals and piano.

 

Overall not a bad album, but not Tori Amos at her best. But still distinctive and a cut above other the other ‘kookie’ female singer/songwriters.

 

 

del.icio.us tags: Tori Amos, review, Album, American Girl Posse, CD Pricing

latest find – Plastic Operator

I’ve come across a little gem of an album – Different Places by Plastic Operator (homepage, myspace).  If you can imagine early period Air (Premier Symptomes, Moon safari) combined with a slightly stronger beat and a little 80s synth in places then you’re getting the right direction.  You can hear a couple of the tracks on their myspace.

This is the debut album by Plastic Operator – yet has been well reviewed by Uncut and album of the week for Rough Trade when it was released (14th May 2007 in Europe).  If you’re really quick then you may get one of the signed copies if you purchase the album via their website (like Monster has).

“Not since The Postal Service have we heard an album that joins together electro and pop so perfectly.”
-Rough Trade Shop

You can find Plastic Operator’s bio here.

 

del.icio.us tags: Plastic Operator, Different Places, Review, album, Air, Rough Trade

Review – Jarvis Cocker – Jarvis

It about time I did another review. Although I prefer not to review mainstream artists, after all they get plenty of press already. I think this album warrants some attention as Jarvis Cocker has released under his own name rather than Pulp.

 

After Jarvis’ weird off shoot Relaxed Muscle we find this album returning to more familiar grounds. Although this isn’t Pulp it certainly is Jarvis at the top of his game lyrically. In truth the only real difference between this and a genuine Pulp album comes in the shape of lyrical subject and instrumentation.

 

Instrumentally it isn’t so hook laden and up beat (Do You Remember The First Time for example), so it takes more time to get to grips with it, but repeated listens certainly pay dividends.  There are exceptions which are more musically reminiscent of Pulp’s drive such as Black Magic.

 

At the heart of Pulp and any good Jarvis solo effort of course are his observations through story based lyrics, and this certainly meets that.  The difference between this and Pulp are subjects, the focus on the teenage and student views of life (hiding in wardrobes to watch your friend’s sister (Babies), living the life of the less well off (Common People)) has to an extent been replaced by broader issues although songs like Don’t Let Him Waste Your Time (the first single from the album) riff on those old themes, but other songs look at people in power (Running The World) and social climate (Heavy Weather, From A To I).

 

So if you like Pulp for its smart lyrics, you’ll love this. But if your preference is for pop sensibilities I’d approach with caution and try before you buy. Personally, I think its a fine album.

 

Links:

Relaxed Muscle (wikipedia)

Jarvis Cocker (myspace)

Pulp (official site)

 

del.icio.us tags: Jarvis Cocker, Pulp, Jarvis, album, Review, Relaxed Muscle

Joseph Arthur – new album as donation download from website

I’ve been catching up with my podcasts, such as the wonder Morning Becomes Eclectic from KCRW to discover that Joseph Arthur has a new album out – which can be downloaded directly from his website (here) and only asks for a Donation!!!!  Nice to see some brave thinking.  I’ve made an initial donation and downloaded the album, if the album is good then we’ll donate some more.

 

In addition to this, Joseph also released Nuclear Daydream which has been very quietly been released – I don’t think I’ve seen any reviews for it in the UK press, including the likes of Uncut, which is a shame, as I’ve been listening to a copy on and off since I found out about its release earlier in the year. Perhaps not as stunning as Our Shadows Will Remain, but still a worthy purchase (despite beingh an import).