Today I read read a post on Shut Up, Bands ripping apart a young band with little inspiration. I forwarded it to my studio engineer friend and he ended up writing his own critique and even offered to record one free track for them.
Here is a good song instead.
TRACK:
Matt & Kim – Daylight (Troublemaker Remix feat. De La Soul)
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to the RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
French Horn Rebellion are treating fans with a special mini EP available exclusively through this website.
If that wasn’t enough to keep your happy the band have also announced some upcoming UK dates. Check out the schedule:
26 Feb – Glasgow, Pin Ups
27 Feb – Camden, Proud Galleries
2 March – Camden, Barfly
3 March – Cardiff, Buffalo Bar
6 March – Sheffield, Plug
TRACKS:
‘Hombre lobo‘ ( which translates to “Werewolf” in English) is the long awaited follow up to EELS‘ 2005 release “Blinking Lights and Other Revelations“. Alas, we were waiting for it so long that it took us 6 months to review it. Oh well. On swiftly.
What we have here is a concept record loosely based around desire. Not just any kind of desire but “…. That dreadful, intense want that gets you into all sorts of situations that can change your life in big ways” explains the EELS‘ bearded front person E ( or Mark Oliver Everett to the uninitiated). Now if the intent of this record was to sonically represent the erratic peaks and troughs one finds themselves in when faced with such torturous desires, this record is a resounding success!
Within ‘Hombre Lobo‘ fuzzed up MC5 driven rockers, whisky drenched Beatles-esque ballads and some lo-fi grooves (especially on the first cut “Fresh Blood“) all bounce off each other with relative ease. Of course, none of these comparisons do justice to the inevitable EELS twist that E’s vocal drawl adds to the whole piece in general.
Although the balls to the wall attack of tracks such as the “Prizefighter“, “Lilac Breeze” and “Whats A Fella Gotta Do“, provide a sort of instant gratification, it is the more introspective that intersperse the first half of the record, and the resounding hope filled pop that sees it out, that will demand repeated listens.
The understated “All The Beautiful Things” with all its wymsical horns & strings that hark back to the “Blinking lights…” days, is a revelation having followed the initial distorted yelps scattered along the way. Having turned the corner and leaving all the love lorn loss behind it, the record ends with a big arms open smile on its face with the unashamed fuzzy pop of “Beginners Luck” and the self realising “Ordinary Man”
It all leaves you with a slightly bewildered but ultimately happy “what the hell just happened“.
Give it a bit of time, you’ll love it!
—–
First post by new Cougar collaborator Beard (not real name). Welcome to the team!
—–
TRACKS:
This weekend I sat down to plan my gig calendar for the next few months. Here are the rest of my highlights for 2009:
The Pixies were one of my most cherished bands growing up and to date Doolittle is my favourite album. To catch the Boston legends on two occasions was an absolute treasure. The culmination of 15+ years of fandom!
Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros live in London
August 2009 will remain a memorable date in Cougar history. Having briefly spun the 10-piece’s debut album in the build up I attended the Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros show at the Lexington with a mixture of bemusement and curiosity. It took just 45 minutes to convert me to their cause and it took two more shows for their album to became my top album of the year.
If Charles Manson and The Manson Family had focussed their energy on creating memorable pop they might have reached a fraction of the talent Ed Sharpe and co. possess
TRACKS:
Pixies – The Thing (allez-allez bootleg)
This weekend I sat down to plan my gig calendar for the next few months. I can’t believe its already February and already there are some classic events coming up. Before we even notice it will be festival season again.
Still, this year will have to deliver very highly considering the quality of shows I witnessed in 2009. My highlights were as follows:
There is something primordial about watching a crowd of 19′000 go mental watching The Prodigy on the outskirts of Paris. The fact that the festival also offered up classic performances from Birdy Nam Nam, MGMT, Metric, and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs was an added bonus.
Neil Young/ Bruce Springsteen live at Hyde Park
As far as rock legends go you could do much worse than seeing either Shakey and The Boss live. The fact that I saw them play back to back at Hyde Park this summer was Epic. Both lived up to their legendary status and my I concluded my weekend as a very happy man.
I have already said several times on these pages that Tim Kusher is a songwriting hero of mine. Back in July I finally saw him live fronting Cursive at the intimate Camden venue. The fact that they picked and mixed discography and the relative closeness to the stage made this a night to remember and led Kenny to drunkenly label it “a religious experience for the atheist“.
Good luck with living up to that 2010
TRACKS:
The Prodigy – Invaders Must Die ? Liam H Re-amped Version
I’m not quite sure what I was expecting from the new OK Go album. They are a group who offer the occasional moments of brilliance, for example their phenomenal videos for ‘A Million Ways’ and ‘Hear It Goes Again’ (for which we offered an impassioned defence back in April) or their red hot debut single ‘Get Over It’. Then again they are also a group who tend to pad out releases with some filler material.
Firstly, and most importantly, let us note that ‘Of the Blue Colour of The Sky’ is an album title that boasts an impressive four conjunctions in a seven-word sentence. It is also an album which sees OK Go veer away from their squeaky-clean pop structures and express themselves with a creative freedom that moderate commercial success often affords artists. It is a risk which pays off in places; the soulful vocals on ‘Skyscrapers’ are reminiscent of John Lennon’s latter work and shameless 80s throwback ‘End Love’ is a more than listenable offering.
However, despite an abundance of ideas the album is severely lacking in any sense of cohesion and often sounds like nothing more than a mix tape. Nowhere is this more evident than on ‘Last Leaf’, an ill-advised acoustic number which harks back to the obligatory 90s secret track, yet sits right in the middle of the track listing.
Understandably, trying to pull off 90s acoustic, 80s synth and 60’s psychedelic (‘Back from Kathmandu’) all in one release is a tall order. Laying to one side the likability of the band members and the individual merits of the tracks in question, OK Go’s effort sadly has the effect of leaving the listener more than a little disoriented.
‘Of the Blue Colour of the Sky’ is an album which starts off with real promise but seems to run out of steam halfway through and is glaringly lacking in instant ‘hits’. OK Go’s knack for memorable music videos means they will probably be remembered for a long time to come, however the group who are running out of time to deliver on their exciting early promise.
The band are offering a live mp3 of ‘This Too Shall Pass’ through their website now.
—–
Post by Kenny the Backpacker
—–
TRACKS:
