Odds & Ends for 28th March 2008

In a way, this is the new title for my news in brief style posts (which I kinda stole from these two completely unrelated blogs). But yeah, this is the stuff I didn't really feel like rambling on about in great detail:

Radiohead have announced some tour supports. As far as the UK and Europe are concerned, Bat For Lashes and Modeselektor (a band which Thom has been banging about like a raving loon since Kid A times) will attempt to entertain the masses. It's a great choice of artists and I look forward to seeing both bands.

EDIT: My bad - it's only Bat For Lashes playing the UK. I got a bit confused by the countless news articles saying different things.

My festival conundrum has been partially solved. I'm going to the 02 Wireless festival on the 4th July. I hate Morrissey but the fact that The National and Beck are on the bill so far can only spell out good things for that day. That and my girlfriend likes Morrissey, so everyone wins. I've e-mailed the people behind the tickets for Redfest, asking if I can get a day ticket on the 5th July. Guilfest looks absolutely atrocious this year, even by my very low expectations. I might end up going on the Sunday though, so who knows. That weekend of the 4th/5th/6th could be a trio of festivals!

This was a good post on Twelve Major Chords, explaining why the model that The Raconteurs undertook for their rush-release of Consolers Of The Lonely isn't exactly perfect by any stretch.

I've entered this competition to win tickets to Muse's Royal Albert Hall gig, and to be part of 'the Muse Choir.' That thought scares me a lot, surrounded by hyperactive teens wolf-whistling at Matt or Dom.

Have a good weekend everyone!

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The Raconteurs - Consolers Of The Lonely

Aaaah, The Raconteurs. Their debut album release in 2006 called Broken Boy Soldiers wasn't too shabby. Songs like Steady As She Goes, Store Bought Bones and Hands rocked hard but had an air of pop sensibilities, similar in a sense to the work of Brendan Benson. The one main criticism I had with it though was that it was far, far too short (just over half an hour) and all the fun was over in a flash. So I had high hopes for a second album, hoping that the band would learn from mistakes in the past.

Since listening to it, I've learnt two key things.

The first thing, and the key reason that stops me from liking this album a lot, is the length, YET AGAIN. This album is 55 minutes long. There are about three or four songs on this album that just do not belong on here. Songs like Attention and Carolina Drama just sound so boring and uninteresting. This kind of thing makes the album more of a frustrating listen than Broken Boy Soldiers. You're ultimately left thinking, at the end of the album, that this could have been over 15 minutes or so ago and would feel far more satisfied for it.

The second thing is how much of a Jack White album this feels. There are several tracks on it that spell out his influence quite clearly, from some of the riffing on tracks like Salute Your Solution, the piano tinkling on tracks like You Don't Understand Me and Pull This Blanket Off, the trumpets from last White Stripes album Icky Thump on tracks like The Switch And The Spur...the list is endless.

There are, despite my grumblings, some pretty darn good, rockin' tracks on this album. Salute Your Solution is an ideal choice for a first single and is easily the most direct song on Consolers Of The Lonely. Five On The Five, Many Shades Of Black and the title track, Consoler Of The Lonely, are all also notable highlights. The Switch And The Spur is the true highlight though, with its absolutely brilliant and dramatic arrangements and it is probably as close as The Raconteurs get to something epic-sounding.

So, overall, there are some good songs on here, but they are all pretty much overshadowed by the issues I have with Consolers Of The Lonely. The fact that The Raconteurs can't seem to make an album of decent length makes them turn from a band with the potential to make something really awesome into a band that frustrates my musical ears.

What's even more worrying, potentially, is that I still feel that they haven't made an album that doesn't feel like more of a side-project for Mr Benson and Mr White. Consolers Of The Lonely does feel like at points the wealth of leftover material from Jack's short-lived Icky Thump phase of his White Stripes time.

It's not necessarily a disaster, just a bit of a disappointment.

RATING: 6/10

The Raconteurs

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Interview with Plastic Palace Alice

Photo courtesy of Elisa Bryant

Plastic Palace Alice, for those who didn't read my gleaming post about them two weeks ago, are an Australian six-piece who make epic, lush and beautiful music with some fittingly grandiose lyrics. On the 29th March, they'll release their debut, The Great Depression, in their own homeland. I'll be making sure that I get myself a copy on import!

I was very lucky enough to get an interview with Gabriel Piras, the bassist of the band who is on the far left of the photo above. I spoke to him about how their debut record was made, their live sound, the Australian music scene and possible plans to come over to the UK.

So yeah, READ ON!

Max: How did Plastic Palace Alice form and what sort of music backgrounds did each of you have before you formed?

Gabriel: The band formed one member at a time, as each person heard Rob’s songs and recognised him as a bit of a twisted genius. Rob and I had both been trying to get a serious band going for years before we met, not everyone we played with shared our obsessive vision I suppose! We only play his songs in this band, but everyone in the band writes songs and music of some sort. Lisa studies classical composition and is responsible for all the beautiful string arrangements on the album. Emily is quite secretive about what she’s written but she assures us it’s there – she’s primarily an actress but has a great ear and an intuitive style. Jeremy was a choirboy for many years prior to becoming a drummer, he’s still just as adorable.

M: You're releasing your debut album, The Great Depression, very soon. Describe the recording process of that album. Was it a quick and easy job or a long, tiring slog?

G: It was recorded in two parts six months apart - we had very little time, twice. All up it worked out as about two weeks recording and two weeks mixing. We payed for the first half ourselves with the faint hope that we would get a grant to finish the album, and we were floored when that grant came through! It’s been the best possible outcome really, our government payed for this record, but we own it - how about that? The long hard slog part is everything that needs doing, including waiting for Christmas to be over, in order to put the damn thing out. It’s been over a year since we finished recording and almost two years since we started it, so we’ve pretty much written the second one now.

M: Are you fed up of the constant comparisons to Arcade Fire & David Bowie? In an ideal world, what artist would you want to be compared to?

G: Not fed up no, out of all the people to be compared to we’re glad it’s been two acts that we’re big fans of! That comparison is based on our first single, which sounds a certain way, but the album is wilfully eclectic, there are a dozen tracks, so twenty two more comparisons to be made – fire away! The ones that come to mind immediately are Neil Young, Talking Heads, Nick Cave, Augie March, Spoon… there’s a bunch but what it amounts to is just a list of our favourite artists; and it shows. We set out to make an elegant pop album which contrasts disparate styles, not to dodge flattering comparisons!

M: Are you surprised at the exposure you guys have in Australia, especially with pretty massive radio stations like Triple J giving you heaps of praise?

G: Australia is lucky to have heaps of grass roots local community radio stations, whose DJs are volunteers and aren’t governed by playlists. We’ve had support from all of those guys. Triple J is the biggest station that has played our single and the only national, we feel lucky because a lot of bands don’t get that far, but it’s still the bottom rung on the station! We have fantastic responses at our shows and it feels like that the reason more people are digging it has as much to do with playing heaps all over the country as with the radio play.

M:Is it difficult trying to recreate your sound onstage?

G: All our songs have evolved in smelly rehearsal rooms so as far as our jobs go, it’s very doable live. We’ve played with string sections on a few occasions and it’s a lovely luxury, but it does take a lot of doing and makes the whole thing a lot less rock! The person with the tough job is the mixer, we run around twenty lines and there’s a bunch of things that only get used once, so if the snooze, we lose! Luckily we work with a bunch of the most excellent exponents of their craft – well, they return our calls at the very least.

M: Sell to me why the Australian music scene has an edge over all other scenes.

G: Venues out the wahzoo, which is good, but not many punters, low population, low sales. This does however mean that if you’re mad enough to do it here, you probably really mean it. There’s such variety here, a lot of it is jockish and crap but the indie scene is chucking out heaps of gems. It’s easy to live here though, and rehearsal space is cheap, so I think it’s been a lot easier for this band to gestate, than it might have been in the UK for instance. None of us work full time for example, which has afforded us the time (to waste). Saying that it’s probably meant that I’ve watched more serialised television than I ever thought possible.

M: Any plans to tour outside of Australia, like in the UK and the rest of Europe? Or are you focusing on your homeland audience for the time being?

G: We would love to. We’re gonna apply for grants. Maybe you can too in your country, on our behalf? No, really, the government gives you free money to do art, try it! Or buy our album en masse, or something. Yes sadly it’s a money thing and we’d be there in a flash if we could afford it, but I think we’re going to have to eventually pick somewhere we like and relocate there for a year or so, cos getting back and forth is a killer! Please feel free to make suggestions. We played with Stars recently and they rate Montreal…

M: Anything else to add?

G: If you do happen to find yourself with a copy of our album, please listen to the whole thing a few times! It might be a bit dense at first but let it settle - we made a big old sprawling albums like they did in the young old days (if not the old old days), and they might be a dying breed. It could be the last time we release something meant to be listened to from go to woe, so come along.

Big thanks for Gabriel for taking the time out to do this and also to the band's media team at Shiny Entertainment who helped me in arranging the interview.

You can buy The Great Depression, out on Saturday through the independent record label Inertia from their own website, albeit on import if you don't live in Australia.

Plastic Palace Alice MySpace

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Universal screws Be Your Own Pet

I hate major record labels. I'm sure most of you dear readers share the same hatrid. This makes me hate them even more.

Be Your Own Pet have just put out their second album called Get Awkward. There's no hitches in the UK and European release but the American release is missing several songs. Why? Because Universal have taken issue with some of them. Universal said to the band either change the lyrics or drop the songs altogether. The band decided to drop them. The songs in question are Black Hole, Becky and Blow Yr Mind. And no, it's not because they all begin with 'b'. These are the lyrics that they deem 'violent', first from Black Hole and then from Becky:

"Ooh, baby, wanna get in a fight! / Breaking glass bottles is oh-so-fun / Let's go and kill someone! / Living in this city, I get so bored / Wanna kill myself on a telephone cord"

"I heard you talked a lot of shit about me to your new best friend / Doesn't matter anyway, cuz I've got a brand new friend, okay / Me and her, we'll kick your ass, / we'll wait with knives after class!"

Whilst they are lyrics that suggest towards a violent nature, Universal have 50 Cent, Eminem, Marilyn Manson and a few other artists on their roster that also showcase pretty explicit lyrics. The reason why those artists haven't been approached is because they're big money earners. Be Your Own Pet are not a money-earning band. So it leads me to think it's more a case of the big bully making an example of the weak and defenseless victim.

Jemima Pearl, lead singer, has been quoted of saying:

"When I found out that the songs were going to get taken off, I was just like, 'Is there anybody I can talk to?' It's like, I don't even really know who these people are. There's no one you can talk to to try to argue your case. Other than that, Universal has been great. But I guess that's just what happens when you decide to have something to do with a major label. They're going to be scared of anything that's not completely cookie cutter."

That sort of sums it all up.

I know the band aren't one to care that much. After reading a lot of media interviews with the band, they give me the impression that they're quite easy going and adopt a 'whatever happens, happens' attitude. It still pisses me off though that not only can labels like Universal boss around artists and still tell what their music should sound like, but also be incredibly elitist at the same time.

Be Your Own Pet MySpace

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Redfest 2008

I've always thought of Guilfest as the only real music festival that the county of Surrey has to offer. What it means is that every year I pay something like £80 to go to a festival that, whilst held with good intentions and a success every year, doesn't offer me much of the music I want to hear. There are only two bands really that I look forward to (last year it was Rodrigo y Gabriela and Howling Bells).

My perspective has now changed. On the 4th and 5th of July is Redfest, a music festival in Redhill (where else?) in Surrey. For me, it's a further distance to travel than Guilfest but the bands on offer could make the whole deal worth it. This is who has been announced so far:

Late Of The Pier
Lightspeed Champion
Does It Offend You, Yeah?
Pete And The Pirates
Elliot Minor
Robots In Disguise
Operator Please
Ebony Bones
Fear Of Music
Johnny Foreigner
I Haunt Wizards
This City
SixNationState
WinterKids

A few bands I've seen before and/or like their music anyway, most others I've heard of and the rest are unknown. The point is this - that line up caters to a completely different audience. It caters for me and all the other teenager/young adult types who think Guilfest is for old farts and for people who can't afford Glastonbury tickets. This appeals to, and curse me for even mentioning this term in my own blog, the NME audience. I shudder at the thought of typing that.

I should be there like a shot, buying tickets already (it's £64 for the two days), but Guilfest is trying to tug my heart strings and convince me to wait until I hear their headliners. Granted, it won't give me a full impression of the line up, but if they have a band like Supergrass headlining again, then who knows?

Buy tickets for Redfest here

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GIG REVIEW - The Cure at Wembley Arena

First, a disclaimer. I was stupidly ill before I went to the gig. A really, really bad cold which had left me with a sore and stuffy nose, a sore throat and, at points during the gig, a tendancy to just want to vomit. This fate was avoided thankfully. But yeah, if I have slight grievances that make me sound awfully grumpy then that might explain why.

Of course, it wasn't just The Cure who I was vaguely interested about. The support band was 65daysofstatic. This is a band who I rank very highly, due to their own fantastic brand of instrumental post-rock. Even if their current album is a bit pants, they still have two amazing albums before that (The Fall Of Math and One For All Time) are fine examples of heavy music with dramatic and exciting soundscapes. The fact that they were playing Wembley Arena, probably, as they said onstage, for the only time in their career, was quite staggering and something I didn't want to miss.

The setlist was brief but somehow they managed to convey their massive noise into the arena perfectly. They are a band meant for these places, but they will never ever get to that status on their own terms. Starting with Drove Through Ghosts To Get Here and ending with the truly magical Radio Protector, it was a set that was truly hypnotising in sound. A couple of technical gremlins aside, it was as perfect a support slot as you could get. I'm now pumped up for their own headlining London show at the Dome (albeit, the smaller arena) on the 11th April.

The Cure came on just after 8pm. I'm not familiar with much of their music (only the hits really) but over the whole set they did somehow keep me engrossed, which, when considering I was highly ill, was some achievement. The setlist itself is the main talking point. It was a three and a half hour long setlist. That's just impressive when you think that the ages of the band are well into their 40s and, for some members, pushing 50. I would have watched it all, had it not been for needing to get home at a decent time, so I had to leave after the second encore. But I felt satisfied at that point, so it wasn't a loss at all.

The setlist itself was peppered with songs throughout their back catalogue. They also played a surprising amount of well-known hits. I didn't think they would play songs like Friday, I'm In Love or Lovecats but it was well received. Standout songs for me were Plainsong, End Of The World, In Between Days, Disintegration and A Forest. They did start off though with a lot of songs that were from their darker side. They should have done what they did for the rest of the set and just nicely mix up the light side and the dark side of The Cure. Big blocks of either didn't really work for me.

The lightshow was executed perfectly. They had a lot of lights, so it worried me a bit before they started because I thought they might go for a manic approach, which my head wouldn't be able to deal with. But, the lights were used in a variety of different ways to suit whatever song they played. Visuals were also used, but ONLY when they were needed and they didn't detract from the performance of the band, who were very tight all evening. Basically, nothing was overused. That is what makes a good stage show in my opinion.

Overall, very decent and watchable performance. But a tip incase you do go and see them at some point. Only see them if you can stomach the duration length. I can understand some grievances about a show of this length.

This was the setlist:

Plainsong
Prayers For Rain
A Strange Day
Alt.end
A Night Like This
The End Of The World
Lovesong
To Wish Impossible Things
Pictures Of You
Lullaby
From The Edge Of The Deep Green Sea
Hot Hot Hot
Please Project
The Walk
Push
Friday I'm In Love
In Between Days
Just Like Heaven
Primary
A Boy I Never Knew
Shake Dog Shake
Never Enough
Wrong Number
One Hundred Years
Disintegration
At Night
M
Play For Today
A Forest
The Lovecats
Let's Go To Bed
Freak Show
Close To Me
Why Can't I Be You?
Three Imaginary Boys
Fire In Cairo
Boys Don't Cry
Jumping Someone Else's Train
Grinding Halt
10:15 Saturday Night
Killing An Arab

The pictures on this post are taken from this Flickr account, so do check his photos. Good stuff!

I'm probably gonna do a feature post about concert lengths at some point this week, so do watch out for that.

The Cure

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LCD Soundsystem - Big Ideas

This track is further proof that James Murphy is a genius. An utter genius. Big Ideas is a one-off track taken from the upcoming film 21. This song is typical LCD Soundsystem but one that could quite easily fit into Sound Of Silver. Layers build and build and build to turn this dance song into a pulsing riot of a tune. It's very much, in fact, like standout album track, All My Friends. This might be a good thing or a bad thing depending on what you prefer. To me this is a very good thing.

The soundtrack also features MGMT, who I've only just discovered after watching them perform at SXSW on YouTube, and UNKLE amongst others. Listen to Big Ideas now on that cute American indie site called Stereogum.

LCD Soundsystem
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The Raconteurs release a new album next week

It's out next week and it will be available everywhere and it will be titled Consolers Of The Lonely. And doesn't Jack look a bit weird with his new emo cut?

They say in the press release (which can be seen on their Tron-like website) that there are 14 new recordings on the album, which I think is excellent news. I thought their 2006 debut, Broken Boy Soldiers, whilst a very solid album, was just way too short. One of those recordings is Salute Your Solution, the first single from the album, which will have its video released next week also. They also say, bless their corporate socks, that it is NOT a reaction to a potential leak, meaning that it most definitely IS a reaction to a potential leak.

They will do some tour dates in America starting from April, and I imagine that they will come to the UK around the time they do a T In The Park and Oxegen double header (mid-July basically). I would be very keen on seeing them, since that the White Stripes gig in London last year got cancelled to the unfortunate anxiety illness that Meg had.

Of course, The Raconteurs are not the only band to have done this sort of thing recently. Radiohead started the trend in October last year with In Rainbows and Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails has done this his own Ghosts record a couple of weeks ago and the last Saul Williams record in November.

And to think that this all started as a rumour on At Ease, a Radiohead fan forum. Yikes.

The Raconteurs
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The Astoria faces closure - another hammer blow for live music?

I've only been to the London Astoria once, and that was when I saw Patrick Wolf nearly a year ago. It was an enjoyable time had by all (even me, which was amazing considering how struck down I was with illness). So imagine my sadness and slight anger when I found out today that Mayor Ken Livingstone has no intentions whatsoever to save the venue from fear of demolition.

It's not so much the actual venue closure I'm angry about, but merely the fact that London has lost yet another venue. Last year, the Hammersmith Palais closed down to make way for office blocks. The Electric Ballroom in Camden is also a venue frought with danger from London transport bosses, as they seek to extend the tube station, which sits right next to the venue.

Not so long ago I remember reading a report - I think it was by the Live Music Forum, but I don't think that is the case - saying that more venues need to be saved from closure. I can't agree more. My current fear at the moment is that venues will increasingly be demolished without a new plan to build new venues. Ken Livingstone is pledging to protect more venues from being closed but I don't believe him for a second that this promise will be foreven unbroken. He's one of the most untrusting politicians I have ever seen.

But yeah, RIP Astoria. It was only one time but it was one good, joyous time.

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Plastic Palace Alice

This is my current new favourite band. Hailing all the way from Melbourne in Aussieland, I managed to stumble acorss this band whilst reading the blogs A Reminder and Get Big, Little Kid (both brilliant blogs and recommended fully). I sort of like to think of them as a poppier, upbeat version of Arcade Fire. But then again, when you have a band that consists of six members, music that is lush and joyous, and a xylophone, I can't think of anything else.

They are releasing The Great Depression in late March in their homeland and I might just try and nab a copy on import. I'm also going to see if I can wrangle an interview with them, so fingers crossed! I recommend you listen to Empire Falls and The Girl Who Cried Wolf.

Plastic Palace Alice MySpace

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Radiohead release second single off In Rainbows

Nude will be the second single off the excellent In Rainbows. The CD will come with Down Is The New Up as a b-side and the vinyl will feature 4 Minute Warning. Both b-sides were songs that were available on the discbox issued out last year.

That's all pretty conventional stuff, but apparently the single will also give fans a chance to remix Nude. That is all that has been said so far but it sounds intriguing...

Radiohead
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Muse: The HAARP Tour

Last night I had the oppurtunity to go and see the new Muse DVD at a Vue cinema in Fulham. This would be a screening in HD and surround sound. This was also, rather lazily it has to be said, a streaming from somewhere in Belgium. You could almost say it was a fancy version of a YouTube video. Whilst we were watching it the stream froze for about 5 seconds on three seperate occassions. Other than that, the streaming was very sound.

But what of the actual film?

Well let me start by saying it was miles better than Absolution Tour. That said, Matt could shit on his glittery red guitar and it would still be better than Absolution Tour. The audio on the DVD was excellent and brilliantly mixed. Whilst the sound of the band dominated proceedings, you can hear some of the crowd during the songs. The bass sound was a little bit too loud in the mix for my liking, but then again I was in a cinema and it might be totally different at home.

Also, imagine my surprise when I found out that the person responsible for the mixing of the audio was none other than Rich Costey! The same Rich Costey who absolutely annihalates the sound of most bands into something utterly shite. This DVD in the end turns out to be a rare success for him.

Editing wise, it was all very smooth apart from a few noticeable cuts. Even though the DVD is marketed as the 17th, don't expect all footage to be from the 17th. There are some noticeable cuts from bright light to dark light, especially in the quiet section in the encore. Also, the outro at the end of Map Of The Problematique was only played on the 16th as opposed to the 17th where it just wasn't played. It's still a cool riff, so I can easily let that one slide.

Other, perhaps light-hearted, observations of the screening:

• The middle-aged man who decided to be a guitar hero and air guitar to Hysteria in the middle of the cinema, almost as if he was actually at the gig. Either that, or he thought he was at a screening of U23D.
• Some of the close ups of the fans are quite funny - my favourite being a fan who, quite aptly, is singing along yet falling asleep to Invincible, which I still maintain as the worst song Muse have ever put to record.
• Morgan Nicholls, the band's extra band member live, uses a shaker during Supermassive Black Hole. Does this add anything to the live sound? I'm saying no.
• Me and the four other people I went to the screening with were the only people who cheered for Tom Kirk, the person who directed the DVD.
• There were two drunkards in the row in front of us who claimed to us they were super Muse fans...yet didn't know who Morgan or Tom was. Lame.
• Matt develops a bit of a Thom Yorke-like wonky eye at one point.
• Chris looks shit-scared for the first few songs. The close up on his face just before Knights Of Cydonia is the look of a terrified man.
• Halfway through, a couple of guys got thrown out for recording the thing. Fools.
  

So, overall, I thought HAARP was great. I don't think it could ever beat Hullabaloo but I'm not sure yet. The editing though is solid as is the audio mix, but it's spoilt a teeny bit by bad cutting and absent songs from the DVD (Sunburn and Bliss are two such songs). It's still a recommended purchase though, simply because it perfectly captures why Muse are one of the best live bands in the country.

Oh, and the strings version of Blackout in the end credits is beautiful. I need to find an mp3 of that.

Muse: The HAARP Tour is out this Monday. You can purchase the standard edition or the special edition here.

Muse

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GIG REVIEW - Apocalyptica at Kentish Town Forum

You might be asking why the hell I went to see Apocalyptica on Friday night, especially when you bare in mind that I hadn't heard any of their music apart from the comic extravanganza that was Eurovision 2007. It's simple really:

1) My girlfriend is Finnish.
2) A friend of my girlfriend flew in from Finland for a short holiday and we decided to give her an idea of the British gigging scene...by seeing a band from her own country.

Makes sense now? Good.

Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to see much of the support band, Oceansize. Someone from uni today, who has his own music blog for you to read if you click this link, said that they weren't really that good live but on record they sound great. So far his theory has been proved right. The couple of songs I did see didn't really interest me that much, but I'm gonna download something by them soon to see if they do indeed sound good on record.

Then it was onto to the main act. I think musically they were very tight and accomplished. I don't think that their set persuaded me to buy any of their albums but I did enjoy myself because they gave it their all and really lapped up the crowd support (more on that in a bit). And that is sometimes what I need after a long, long day of work and travel. Something that, whilst I wouldn't ever get into fully and would never really consider seeing again, was fun. I thought the way that one of the guys pronounced the venue name ("Foooooooruuuuuum!") was very funny. Bless their English.

The crowd were another reason as to why the gig was good. Most people say London crowds are tame and I've seen plenty of examples of this. The crowd at the Fooooooooooruuuuuum though were brilliant. They even played their part in singing along to the tracks that would normally have lyrics - the best examples of such sing-a-longs include Seek & Destroy and the cover of Metallica's Enter Sandman.

The sound quality was also surprisingly good. For some reason, when I last went there to see Franz Ferdinand in August 2006 - a gig dampened by piss poor sound, I was expecting the worse, but I could hear everything properly. Awesome.

The setlist, courtesy of someone I asked on Last FM:

Worlds Collide
Refuse/Resist
I’m Not Jesus
Grace
Master Of Puppets
SOS
Path
Betrayal
Bittersweet
Helden
Life Burns
Last Hope
Seek And Destroy
Inquisition Symphony
--
Enter Sandman
Hall Of The Mountain King
--
Seemann

No pictures from me unfortunately this time because, from where I was, I didn't think I would get anything remotely close to decent. Best pictures I've found so far though can be found here.

Apocalyptica

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Art Brut leave EMI over a single

EMI has lost a lot of artists recently. That's pretty evident. Whilst I don't think that the loss of Art Brut will be as damaging for them as the loss of Radiohead and Paul McCartney, the reasons why the band have left are most certainly interesting.

EMI decided to release a single from their second album, It's A Bit Complicated, entitled Pump Up The Volume. This was something that was done without the band's knowledge. There was even a music video 'made' for the single behind the band's back. The Eddie Argos-led group were understandably surprised and frustrated. It now looks as if the relationship between EMI and Art Brut, according to the blog post that appeared on the band's website:

Dearest Internet, it looks like our much loved adventurers just couldn’t work it out with EMI after all. That’s right, after staying up well into the night talking it over, they have both decided it best if they see other people. The spark just wasn’t there anymore. The reasons, you ask? There were many. Maybe the age difference, maybe the mounting work committments. It just looks as if they both needed some space. And hey, maybe they both need to play the field a little more before settling down. They promise to remain close friends and lunch whenever they can. Good luck to all involved!

It's hugely unlikely that the band will call it quits - they have quite a loyal following and are loved on both sides of the Atlantic. If anything, I can imagine them going back to a small indie label.

Art Brut

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Nine Inch Nails - Ghosts

It was always going to be interesting to see what Trent Reznor would do after he broke free from Interscope last year. His last album under Nine Inch Nails, Year Zero, was a departure to a more electronically textured sound and came third in my Albums of 2007 list. I still hold it in high regards as one of the best albums that Nine Inch Nails has released.

Which leads us to Ghosts. It' a 4-volume set (although Trent has promised that more might be coming soon) of ambient, instrumental music and the whole thing is just shy of two hours long. Instrumentals are not a new thing for Nine Inch Nails as there have been several of these on past albums like The Downward Spiral, The Fragile, and Year Zero, and all of those pieces fitted in well within the context of the respective albums.

It's a heavy listen. There are certain instrumentals on Ghosts that work really well and some that don't. You could say hit and miss. There also doesn't seem to be anything that connects them together as such. I was expecting it to be something coherent but instead it feels like a bunch of instrumentals. However, that said, the dynamics of the instrumentals are amazing. The softer, piano led ones are beautiful to listen to and the heavier, almost full-band like sound of the louder ones are fascinating to listen to.

So what is my overall impression? I think it's a brave thing to put out something like Ghosts. It is without doubt Trent's most demanding and challenging piece of work to date but, like Year Zero, the rewards are there to be reaped. However, for me anyway, I'm not sure whether I would feel like listening it as much as past albums. The ideas though are definitely there but, if anything, it works best as background music.

RATING - 6/10

DISCLAIMER: This is just a summary of my thoughts after the first listen. If it changes, I'll post up a second opinion in the future.

Nine Inch Nails

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Nine Inch Nails album released

Trent Reznor has released a double album under the Nine Inch Nails guise, entitled Ghosts. I'm sure you've heard a lot about it right now. If not, then this link should explain it perfectly.

It seems like he wants to learn from his experience with the Saul Williams download and add more options. This sounds like an album that would be awesome to keep on CD, so I'm glad it's being offered this time. A shame that to get the vinyl I have to also buy a Blu-Ray disc, which I don't need. Oh well.

A full review of Ghosts will be up soon when I get the chance to listen it (or should that be download it, haha). I do urge you to buy the download at least and not be cheap, because Trent Reznor deserves it.

Download Ghosts

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