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William Hunter

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Joined April 3rd 2010

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The Futureheads: The Chaos Review

May 4th 2010 01:14
The Futureheads have never had a problem with being who they are, nor have they really felt a need to change it. The Sunderland foursome from their debut self titled album have excelled in 2-3 minute bursts of energetic punk/indie rock, topped with the quirkiness of lead singer Barry Hyde’s strong English accent. The album is unquestionably a brilliant, if simple-minded work. Their follow-up News and Tributes proved there’s no point in changing a good thing, full of catchy guitar hooks and lyrics. It proved the staying power of the band: their music didn’t do anything new, but they indeed had qualities which made them stand out from the pack.

Although the album bombed and they subsequently were dropped from their record label 679 Recordings.

You have to hand it to The Futureheads. Instead of throwing in the towel then and there, they started up their own record label and released 2008's This Is Not The World. It was a brave step.

Enjoying some more success with This Is Not The World, The Futureheads come back with The Chaos, battting the music recording industry on their own. It is again different to the pop orientated previous album;one which is almost a call back to their early roots. And it’s considerably more enjoyable for it. It isn’t a band on auto-pilot for their fourth album; they feel energetic and fresh. “Struck Dumb” opens the album with a sheer amount of force and great guitar work, before lead single “Heartbeat Song” while catchy, gives the impression the opener may be a one-off. Thankfully, it isn’t the case. “Stop the Noise” almost sounds like it could be on their self titled, and The Chaos continues to power through with bursts of guitar, almost never taking the time to slow down. Other highlights include the subtler “Sun Goes Down,” which breaks out mid-way through, “Dart At The Map” and excellent closer “Jupiter.” In a flash, the harmonies that follow two minutes of silence on the closing track signal the end of the album.

The Chaos feels like it’s over in the blink of an eye, and The Futureheads owe that to their excellent craft of simple and short indie rock songs. While the tracks often feel very enclosed within a genre, The Futureheads do it with enough charm to make it warranted. The title is very apt; This Is Not The World felt considerably cleaner than The Chaos, but ultimately suffered from it. No, this isn’t the best album you’ll hear this year. But it’s one of the most unashamedly enjoyable and fun. You get the feeling that’s all The Futureheads are after.

Best Tracks: Struck Dumb, Stop The Noise, Sun goes Down, Jupiter.
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Thee Oh Sees: Warm Slime Review.

May 3rd 2010 11:28
Thee Oh Sees‘ brand of lo-fi garage rock is one which seems like it may eventually run its course. So when they continue to output thrilling and fresh and new music which still fits within the cannon of the band, you have to hand it to them. Warm Slime is the 2010 entry of a band that continues to give and give; Thee Oh Sees have a myriad of releases since 2008 including two LP’s The Masters Bedroom is Worth Spending a Night In and 2009's Help, plus EP’s, live recordings and more. They have output releases at an alarming rate. And with Warm Slime, they may have produced their best LP yet, although the opening track duration may make you think otherwise.

Opener “Warm Slime” clocks in at a little over 13 minutes in length. Now, this is an extremely long track length for any band, but the for Thee Oh Sees it comes with a whole new level of reservation. Some of the bands best tracks (“Ghost in the Trees”; “Block Of Ice”) excel so much because they don’t out stay their welcome. Many of Thee Oh Sees best only stick around for around 2 minutes, yet it is usually 2 minutes of catch and brilliant music. They followed the same trend on 2009's Help, yet some of their longer experiments such as “Go Meet the Seed” stretch on, and could end at least 3 minutes early.

But remarkably, when Thee Oh Sees go all out with “Warm Slime,” it’s stunning to see the results. The track never lulls, and never is boring as it shifts through a slower tempo. Yes, it’s what we’ve heard from Thee Oh Sees before but it’s length works in its favour. It’s brilliant, almost one of the best tracks they have ever done. From that point, Warm Slime starts to become considerably more conventional within the style of Thee Oh Sees. “Warm Slime” leads in to “I Was Denied” another brilliantly catchy song which is Thee Oh Sees doing what they know best. The same could be said for the rest of the album; they feel so comfortable doing what they know. The remaining five songs continue to perfect this style before the album comes to a slightly abrupt conclusion with “MT Work.”

Warm Slime is the product of a band with a lot of confidence in their style. It’s Thee Oh Sees refining their sound even more. It’s the same brand of garage rock expected from them, with a different set of short guitar hooks and one very large experiment (“Warm Slime” almost takes up half of the albums short 30 minute duration). Thee Oh Sees know what works and have perfected that, and it’s because of that they have created their best album, and one of the best of 2010.

Favourite Tracks: Warm Slime, I Was Denied, Castiatic Tackle, Mega- Feast.
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The New Pornographers: Together Review.

May 3rd 2010 11:24
Together seems to be the word of the year for Canadian supergroup The New Pornographers. And I guess as an album title for a collective of musicians from different acts that every couple of years come “together” to record new music it is fairly apt. Here we have their fifth LP Together, one which again tries to upset what The New Pornographers were always so good at. Some of their power-pop anthems present on Mass Romantic, The Electric Version and Twin Cinema stand as some of the best of last decade. Then came 2007's Challengers, a shot in the dark, completly mixing up what they did best. What they crafted was a much more subtle, slower and more intricate album. But, didn’t we just want to hear another “Use It” or “Letter From An Occupant?”

Having said that, I’m not of the impression that Challengers is a bad album. Yes, it pales in comparison but is full of some really great tracks (Truth be told, the first New Pornographers song was Challenger’s single “Myriad Harbor.”).

Neither is Together. In fact, it’s pretty damn good, and better than Challengers. The issue is what the New Pornographers stripped from their sound: the energy which made their pre-Challengers records so exciting and thrilling. Together captures glimpses of a return to that sound; “Your Hands (Together)” has crunching guitars which are misleading in the way that they never appear again. Single “Crash Years” has a pace unlike singles such as “Challengers” ever did. Tracks alternate between striking similarities and differences; take Dan Bejar lead “Silver Jenny Dollar” compared with the subtle piano and guitars of “My Shepard.” The main difference you come to realise between Challengers and Together is that no song is particular dull or unexciting. The same cannot be said for several tracks on Challengers. The first 3 LP’s were catchy and brilliant slices of power-pop. Together doesn’t have this, but in it’s place is a lovely quality which is unmatched to those albums.

From here, Together powers through 3 minute tracks, with other highlights including horn lead “A Bite Out Of My Bed,” and the dramatic closer “We End Up Together” which at nearly six minutes builds up the way a closer should do; it may in fact be the highlight of the album and a case of leaving the best for last.

The comparisons to Challengers are more than appropriate. The New Pornographers changed everything with that 2007 LP and disappointed many fans. Together addresses this by taking again a different angle to their music, but managing to do it in a much more exciting way. There is an unmistakable beauty to many of the tracks on Together, the very same band who seemed completed tired on Challengers. Give this a chance. This won’t be the album The New Pornographers are remembered for, but is a well- earned step up. No, it isn’t as good as a Mass Romantic or a Twin Cinema. But really, did you expect it to be?
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