It seems funny looking back how picked apart Radiohead’s 6th album was; 10 years since their debut the group had surged from being alt. rock nearlys’ to the “best band in the world”. Then they appeared to commit commercial suicide with the brave and expeirimental Kid A and Amnesiac, released just a year apart from each other. A live album followed and then rumours of Radiohead plugging the guitars back in and promising the sound of old. Is it strange that a return to the band’s rock roots is what we all wanted? Nonetheless, despite the clicking sound of a guitar lead being plugged into an amp, Hail To The Theif continues Kid A’s experimental vibe but somehow manages to convey a frantic live feel that the band’s two previous album’s lacked.
Whereas Kid A and Amnesiac often forsaked the traditional song formula, in exchange for texture and dynamics, Hail To The Theif manages to combine both. “2+2=5″ is a pulsating burst of almost punk-like energy that jolts to a sudden stop. “Sail To The Moon” sounds like a smokey, nocturnal dream, whereas the skittering electronic pulse gives way to a motorised beat that is hard to ignore. Indeed the electronic drone feeling of the earlier tracks continues all the way through the album, excluding the booming “There, There” and the wry “A Wolf At The Door”.
There’s only one problem with Hail To The Theif; it’s too long. Songs like “Go To Sleep”, “I Will” and “We Suck Young Blood” don’t really offer anything new and don’t seem to have any momentum. Take these three tracks off and you’ve got a trim and tight 11 track, 45 minute album. However, the brilliant “Where I End And You Begin” more than makes up those track’s failings, with it’s swooning synth atmosphere and it’s crunchy guitars. Hail To The Theif lags towards the end slightly, but I’ve been surprised as to how good the songs still sound today. Half the tracks here could easily be some of the band’s best in my opinion and the rest is solidly put together. Maybe Hail To The Theif lacks some of In Rainbow’s conhesion and light touch, but that’s no bad thing. It certainly doesn’t deserve the reputation as “the album Radiohead should have given away for free”.
Radiohead - There There:
When you listen to the Arctic Monkeys, you think of the North of England; working class accents, gritty upbringings, kitchen sink dramas and the minutiae of everyday life. Listening to the Last Shadow Puppets makes me think of continental Europe, the mystery and intrigue of the cold war, the epic sweep of romance and operatic tragedy. The contrast between Alex Turner’s main band and his side project with Miles Kane couldn’t be more pronounced: their album, The Age Of The Understatement harks back to a by-gone age of orchestral pop that recalls Scott Walker during his mercurial solo career. The album has been made with the collaboration of Simian Mobile Disco member James Ford, who produces and plays the drums. The other key collaborator is Owen Pallet of Final Fantasy who arranges the sweeping orchestral sounds that help give the album a grandiose feel.
Despite sharing vocal duties Turner and Kane sound very similar, so the effect is more akin to the technique of double tracking the vocals. The big string sound envelopes every track, often abetted by brass and some canny use of echo effects. The songs never hesitate or rely on a slow build up: it’s straight in, deliver the goods and then they’re gone. Even the longest track on the album, “Black Planet” is only four minutes long (although there’s an artificially extended outro, which feels unnecessary). The whole album is done in just under 35 minutes.
The Age of The Understatement shows why the Arctic Monkeys could surpass Oasis as one of the best British Bands of recent times. The Gallaghers were content to be a pastiche of themselves by the time they’d recorded their second album. With this album, Alex Turner shows he can be more that just the sum of his influences. Even a track like “I Don’t Like You Anymore” could conceivably be an Arctic Monkeys track manages to expand it’s origins into a force able guitar-driven pop song. There’s plenty of standouts, especially the nocturnal “My Mistakes Were Made For You” and the driving title track.
The Last Shadow Puppets - The Age of The Understatement:
Here’s some more videos for some of the recent albums I’ve written about:
The Presets - This Boy’s In Love:
Enter Shikari - Anything Can Happen In The Next Half Hour:
Vampire Weekend - A Punk:
Band Of Horses - No One’s Gonna Love You:
I actually have a smidgen of sympathy for so-called “MySpace bands”, which are bands that have supposedly used the internet to gain a following but seen to be passed it by the time they actually release any tunes. Vampire Weekend formed in 2006 but it’s taken until early 2008 for them to release their first album, despite a wave to hype and interest surrounding the band throughout the previous year. Maybe that’s a good thing: now the interest has subsided a bit, their self-titled debut album will have to stand on it’s own merit. What also helps is that Vampire Weekend really don’t sound like any other band right now. Taking the literary approach to rock and adding it to a world-music vibe makes for a really unique album in 2008.
Much has been made about the afro-beat influence on the band and indeed the drumming definately incorporates the layered “poly-rhythmic” african influence, especially on the lead single “Mansford Roof” which starts off kind of frenetic only to have a light chiming guitar and keyboard that mellows the track considerably. The songs on Vampire Weekend tend to be fairly short, normally lasting 3 minutes and this is a good thing: the songs are short and crafted, with short bursts of strings that lend a nice extra texture on some songs, like the jaunty “Bryn”.
Picking one track to highlight doesn’t do the album justice: Vampire Weekend works best as a cohesive album, rather than a collection of songs. At times, it reminds me of Paul Simon’s African inluenced Graceland album (the breezy melody of “One (Blake’s Got A New Face” and the percussive “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa”). Indeed, I think my favourite track is nestled at the end, “Walcott” has this amazing chiming sound which is either a piano played really far away of a very distorted guitar. When the second verse starts up, there’s a wonderful violin solo propelling it on. I hate recommending an album purely on the basis that it’s original and it stands out from the crowd, but Vampire Weekend really does sound different and it’s stuffed full of songs that have a lightness of touch about them which makes this album an intoxicating listen.
Vampire Weekend - Mansford Roof:
The Presets are probably the best dance act in Australia right now and that’s not a dig. Midnight Juggernauts, Cut Copy and Muscles are all putting out great stuff right now. The Presets had a big hit single with “Are You The One” a few years ago from their debut album Beams. Now Apocalypso has been released and it is a brilliant dance album. It’s one that manages the rare trick of having tracks that sound great in a club and it does really well as a full album. It spans quite a few genres but vocalist/keyboardist Julian Hamilton and drummer Kim Moyes keep it all fresh and consistent, even though there’s a few detours through some different styles.
“Talk Like That” is slightly camp and you half expect to see Hamilton twirl a rakish moustache whilst he sings the lyrics with the bombastic organ in the background. “Eucalyptus” sounds lo-fi and a little monotone until the chorus kicks in with a melancholy synth line and some haunting vocals. “If I Know You” wouldn’t sound out of place on the GTA: Vice City soundtrack (now there’s an idea, I’m gonna import the mp3 into the game now) with it’s 80’s ambience and classic drum machine sound.
The huge single “My People” is another stormer (a worthy followup to “Are You The One”), with it’s sneering electro vocals and throbbing bass line. It’s only the squelchy “Together” that sound out of place, it’s a track meant firmly for the dance floor. The instrumental “Aeons” sounds pleasant enough and maybe benefits from having no vocals laid on it. “Anywhere” is the come-down track at the end that layers some delicate synth lines to make a downbeat, but strangely uplifting track. Apocalypso is a winner on all counts and even thought their profile isn’t that big in the UK, find the album and get into it.
The Presets - My People:
Rock music and dance music haven’t ever really combined in a way that the unique elements of each genre stay unique. Usually it ends up sounding either like very polished rock music or dance music with rock-like guitars. The “New-Rave” scene scuzzed it up, but it basicaly didn’t do anything vastly different from the “disco-punk” bands of 2002-onwards, like the Rapture and Radio 4. Enter Shakiri take things a step further though, but adding thunderous metal guitars and drums into the mix of synths and programmed beats. It’s an exhilirating listen, but it’s not without it’s flaws. Enter Shikari formed in 2003 but it’s took them four years to issue their debut album “Take To The Skies”. The album features re-recorded versions of a some tracks that appeared in various EPs, that the band released between 2003 and 2007, but on the whole Take To The Skies is a cohesive effort.
Opening efforts “Stand Your Ground…” and “Enter Shakiri” set out a template the band sticks to: screaming vocals, anthemic terrace chants, pulsating synths and crunching riffs. It’s a staggering opening and “Mothership” helps keep up the drnamic. The slow ending of “Anything Can Happen In The Next Half Hour…” slows things down. However, the dye seems to be set. The band only use a handful of synth and guitar sounds and it begins to great. “No Sssweat” changes it up with it’s rolling beat and slightly surreal lyrics (I’ll bite your fingers off!”). “Today Won’t Go Down In History” starts of strangely slow but then develops into a glistening song that sounds like it was recorded in the 80’s.
There are still standout moments though: the closing refrain of “Return To Energizer” is melodic and tender and the single “Sorry, You’re Not A Winner” crackles with energy and focus. I just get a feeling that the band have maybe polished up a bit too much here; I’ve not heard their earlier versions on their EPs, but I feel they’d have more impact if they were even rawer. Just go hell for leather, up the riffs and tempo and layer on the synths. I know it sounds strange, but if they cut out the numerous unessecary interludes (all four of them don’t really add anything) and just went for blunt impact, then Take To The Skies would be really memorable.
Enter Shikari - Sorry, You’re Not a Winner:
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What I've Been Listening To
