A Couple More Reviews...

I've uploaded a couple more live reviews to my flickr page, I've reviewed two NME Awards shows from February; the Howling Bells and The Maccabees at Koko on the 25th and 27th(respectively). Hope you enjoy reading them.

The Howling Bells

The Maccabees

Anant

Kate Nash

I came across this singer-songwriter called Kate Nash the other day and she's already sent my iTunes playcount into double figures. I decided to write a short review for her Double A side single...here it is...


In other news I got a hair cut, I miss my finge tho, despite how messy and dare i say it 'Emo' it was getting. Heres a little sentimental photo of me and the hair enjoying ourselves...


Anant

Bloc Party Album Review

I've just uploaded my review of the spanking new Bloc Party record to my flickr page. For those of you who find it hard to read in image form heres the review in text below. I decided not to give this album a rating out of 10 as usual as it doesn't need one and, the album has loads of interesting modern themes pinned to it and I think anyone used to city life can relate to it, anyway I'll cut the jibba jabba - here it is....

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BLOC PARTY - A WEEKEND IN THE CITY(Wichita Recordings)

Its one thing when a weekly music magazine hype your debut prior to release and you manage to live up to it and then some, but punters naturally expect the goods the second time round. Regardless of the pressures in hand Bloc Party have gone on to create a bold second effort. Produced at Grouse Lodge Studios (Ireland) with the help of Garrett “Jacknife” Lee, ‘A Weekend In The City’ is more politically charged and lyrically grounded and in their words “challenges Coldplay” over accessibility.


Burnt in and out with voice collages ‘Hunting for Witches’ is, strangely enough, a danceable song about Xenophobia in modern Britain, further downstream “Where Is Home?” also themes itself around hostility and discomfort and angst directed towards second generation citizens with ricocheting guitar flicks for extra lift. The two tracks provide a brilliant critique to a nation falsely recognised as a cosmopolitan one.

Waiting For The 7.18 documents the life of a Londoner ridden with frustration, Monday morning syndrome, nine-to-fives, and daily commutes. It’s a song centring on a character who has nothing to show for his/her life post graduation, reminiscing life experiences and wishing they took more risks and chances during youth. Climaxing with the plea “Lets drive to Brighton on the weekend”.

Continuing with modernists topics ‘Uniform’ critiques youth culture today and in particular the patterns amongst teensters and scenesters hanging out in malls being idle, following popular culture trends, abusing drink, drugs and others “when they have entertainment and things to pass the time".

One feature that made predecessor Silent Alarm such a hit for music fans was love, and Bloc Party haven’t departed from this notion. Tracks like ‘I Still Remember’ and ‘Sunday’ are memoirs of love past and present, which ooze confidence and nostalgia (“Our love could have soured, over playgrounds and rooftops”).

Singles wise, the first half of AWITC packs more punch than the latter which is much more sensitive and if you wanted to be harsh, “weaker” in comparison. The Prayer (the first single, shatters the amps with its drum loops and guitars humming like a beehive. Singer Kele Okereke voices his prayer for fulfilment with the words “tonight make me unstoppable and I will charm, I will slice, I will dazzle them with my wit”. ‘The Prayer’ and ‘On’ are both tracks depicting drug taking (“Hidden away in every old toilet…Rolled up twenties, they disappear”), not necessarily legitimating them but evocatively elaborating on why people choose and more so need to take them. The string arrangements ‘On’ embeds are sure to make the hairs on the back of your neck stand tall. These tracks are the centrepiece of the records fixation with the storytelling of how nowadays people just want to go out and get mashed. What better way for the album to comedown but “SRXT”.A track named after a widely used anti depressant drug. Inspired by his friend’s near suicide Kele pens the words “A battle that lasts a lifetime, a fight that never ends”.

A Weekend In The City is a record scored straight down the middle, coupling love and grit, an album which backdrops the state of a nation. Overflowing with intelligent beats and finely produced rhythm there’s no reason for it to not replica the success of its older brother. There’s no need to speak further, the album is summed up in its first line, ambitiously “trying to be heroic in an age of modernity”.

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Anant

My Favourite Music of 2006

With the likes of NME and Gigwise compiling their top album/singles lists, I thought it would be a nice way to pass the time to create my own list of my essential albums that best soundtracked 2006 for me and more...

MY TOP 15 ALBUMS:
1. MUSE - Black Holes And Revelations*
2. YEAH YEAH YEAHS – Show Your Bones
3. THE KOOKS – Inside In/ Inside Out
4. CSS – Cansei De Ser Sexy
5. LARRIKIN LOVE - The Freedom Spark
6. THOM YORKE – The Eraser
7. THE GRATES - Gravity Won’t Get You High
8. ARCTIC MONKEYS – Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not
9. METRIC – Live It Out
10. MYSTERY JETS – Making Dens
11. KASABIAN - Empire
12. RAZORLIGHT - Razorlight
13. WOLFMOTHER - Wolfmother
14. FLAMING LIPS – At War with The Mystics
15. HOWLING BELLS – Howling Bells

(Featured Album Art)
* = No surprise there

MY FAVOURITE "NEW BAND" OF 2006:
CSS/ THE MACCABEES
After lot of thought I couldn't really decide between these two. Thus I cheated and made it a tie between CSS and The Maccabees. With CSS hailing from Sao Paulo and The Maccabees from some corner of southern England their worlds and music couldn't be further apart, however their rationale for being my favourite new bands to emerge in 2006 are because of both bands' live shows, which are more like parties than gigs to be fair.

(Left: CSS, Right:The Maccabees)

Signing out, Anant!