Chimpomatic

Bonnie 'Prince' Billy

The Cursed Sleep EP

Billy whets our appetite for the forthcoming album The Letting Go with this 3 track EP. Although it only features 1 track that won't be on the album, it's a typically glorious listen.

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17th Aug 2006 - Add Comment - Tweet

Foo Fighters

In Your Honor

Everybody loves Dave Grohl, including me, so the idea of a rock/accoustic double CD from the Foo Fighters certainly has appeal. The first (rock) disc is pretty thundering, with a great opener In Your Honor sounding like an angry, heavier Pink Floyd, followed by a handful of great, powerful numbers (No Way Back, Best of You, DOA). After that however, a couple of average tracks with fairly whack lyrics make you realise what an unfaltering pace the album has, and that's actually a problem. Things pick up towards the end of disc one with Resolve sounding like fairly classic Foo, and The Deepest Blues Are Black is pretty good, but moving onto the acoustic disc and things flatten out again...

There are a lot of good tracks on disc two, but without the juxtoposition of heavier tracks, there's no real yardstick for what stands out and what doesn't. Don't get me wrong, you get a lot for your money and there's more than a CD's worth of really top tracks, but you might be advised to edit and sequence your own version of this album.

Nice idea, but an unsuccesful one.

UPDATE: A hot tip from chimp jnr: organise a playlist by track number (1,1,2,2,3,3 etc) and things even out a lot better.

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17th Aug 2006 - Add Comment - Tweet

Absentee

Schmotime

I have made it my mission lately to source bands who's lyrics go deeper than the obvious and could stand alone without the music to disguise their shallowness. So I was excited at the prospect of the first full length release from this promising British indie quintet. Their mini album Donkey Stock. released in 2005, was an unexpected gem and although Schmotime expands on a lot of the good points about Donkey, it ultimately fails to impress. And this annoys the hell out of me. It really has the makings of a great piece of work. Singer Dan Michaelson has a voice steeped in Tom Waits / Tindersticks tradition and lyrics that can often match the wit and tragic irony of Morrissey.

The element that lets the whole thing down is the music. Absentee's main manifesto, I would imagine, is that they make tragic melancholic songs about lost love and wasted life but set them to ironically jolly music. Whenever Morrissey or The Smiths tried this, in my opinion, it didn't work and it doesn't work here. Like Girlfriend In A Coma, songs like We Should Never Have Children see exceptional lyrics being lost in the weak, upbeat musical accompaniments. It hurts to hear lyrics like "darling we should never have children, they'd be one in a million ugly swine," go unappreciated. He then goes on to point out, with profound observation, the dangers of what would later become "A burning family tree, generations of falling leaves." In the excellently titled Truth Is Stranger Than Fishin he starts off, "One hundred fisherman set sail with rods out but only hooking tail." Here Michaelson uses the sea and the shore as metaphor for their distanced bodies and cuttingly points out, "besides I prefer slightly firmer lands." This metaphor for his lovers body as territory is continued in what is another brilliantly titled song, Something To Bang. In it he states, "I'm tired of being a man, always farming your land."

Even as I write these lyrics down their genius makes me wonder if I have got this band wrong and that I should persevere more, but I have really tried and as much as it pains me I just don't buy it.

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17th Aug 2006 - 1 comments - Add Comment - Tweet

Assault On Precinct 13

(dir. Jean-Francois Richet)

On New Year’s Eve, a heavy snow storm forces a prison bus transporting arch-criminal Larry Fishburne to take shelter at an old Police precinct - which is a day away from closing. As the storm sets in, so do the baddies, forcing the motley crew to band together.

OK, it’s one of those re-imagining things, and maybe it’s not as good as the original - but even that’s a re-make of Rio Bravo, so who’s counting? Just forget about that and watch it on it’s own merits and it's not too shabby. Ethan Hawke puts in a reasonable show as the flawed hero character, and there’s a couple of twists and turns here and there that keep things moving along. An old-school Saturday-video-rental-type-movie that keeps everyone entertained until the pizzas arrive.1

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17th Aug 2006 - Add Comment - Tweet

Our Lady Of The Highway

Beauty Won't Save Us This Year

Imagine for a minute that in some parallel universe David Gedge from The Wedding Present was born a twin and his other half was then shipped off to a loving family in Oakland, California where he grew up with the same hopeless luck with women as his brother. Then he gets into music and tries to convey this anger and disappointment in song. Dominic East would be that brother and his band Our Lady Of The Highway would be the result

Musically this is pretty run of the mill alt-country but it's the lyrics that East almost spits out at a long departed ex-lover that make this record interesting. They start off pretty tame as on Lord Stop The Bar where he says "There's of a box of your records that you won't get back," a venomous progression can then be charted, as in the standout track OYBAT where he talks about a letter he has sent to this unfortunate ex where he states, "Every thing I Want to do to you is in the last paragraph of the 3rd draft that I will never send to you" through to End Of The World where he admits "I can't count all the curses I've put on you." But it's at the point where he says "It's raining in all four chambers of my poor heart" where David, the long-suffering yet supportive brother would reach for the phone and call Mrs Gedge. "Mum, I think you better come get Dominic, he's really losing it."

When he's not spitting, East can produce sensitivity not unlike Ben Folds but it always has an edge, but this bitterness seems quite genuine and yet tongue in cheek and is delivered with a passion than can only be applauded. It's also free to download on eMusic, so gains points there.

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17th Aug 2006 - Add Comment - Tweet

Liars

Drum's Not Dead

The 3rd album from the New York art school trio is a difficult, yet I suspect, genius piece of work.

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16th Aug 2006 - Add Comment - Tweet

The Notorious Betty Page

(dir. Mary Harron)

The bog-standard approach of this film barely lifts it above the standard of a Biography Channel profile - giving us no real insight into the history of this iconic model. Nice posters though.

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15th Aug 2006 - Add Comment - Tweet

Spinto Band

Fopp, Camden, London

In the abscence of dark lighting, a PA system, a raised stage and alcohol - the Spinto Band sounded like a bunch of special kids let loose in music class. Plus, we were the oldest there by about ten years.

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15th Aug 2006 - Add Comment - Tweet

Shearwater

Palo Santo

This is Shearwater's fourth full-length and sees Jonathan Meiburg take the reins entirely from once collaborator Will Sheff of Okkervile River and sees them take a slightly new turn away from maudling Americana towards a much grander sound. Red Sea, Black Sea is the first sign that there's a new sheriff in town, and he means business. It ticks over slowly to start with then bursts with grandeur both instrumentally and vocally with Meiburg really starting to explore his range. It's this grandeur that makes Palo Santo so different from other Shearwater releases.

We see it again in Seventy Four, Seventy Five - the albums best moment. The thumping piano counts us in then the now characteristic bass heavy drums thunder through with the ever-increasing intensity of Meiburg's vocals. The only complaint is that as on Red Sea, Black Sea it all ends too suddenly.

There have been many comparisons between Meiburg's voice and Jeff Buckley. This is very evident and adds a certain sensitivity to other more low key tracks like Failed Queen and the album closer Going Is Song, a heartbreaker of a song that eases the album to a melancholic resting place.

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14th Aug 2006 - Add Comment - Tweet

M. Ward

Bush Hall, London

Wandering onto stage looking like Paul Giamatii's lost brother, M. Ward instantly dispelled my preconception that he would be a mannered or uneasy performer. He opened alone on the guitar with 'Paul's Song', that was as plaintive as it was capturvating. The small and intermate Bush Hall was a perfect setting.

Like all great music M. Ward instantly reminds you of many things, that somehow you cannot quite put your finger on. His guitar playing has something of John Fahey about it and his voice has echoes of Tom Waits and Billie Holiday. I could well be wrong though. But he most definitely is his own man.

After this stunning opening he was joined by his full band and demonstrated that he has many other strings to his bow. Where the opening was gentle and almost sedate the band ripped through a rousing 'Four Hours in Washington' and a storming version of the great 'Big Boat'. Although he played most of his excellent previous album 'Transistor Radio' and previewed songs from the forthcoming 'Post-War', Ward left the stage after an hour and a bit, which felt all too brief to me. And there was no 'Hi-Fi'.

Still great though.

Click here for pictures.

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14th Aug 2006 - Add Comment - Tweet

TV On The Radio

Return To Cookie Mountain

Brooklyn based band pen multi layered, challenging yet highly original gem. The album that keeps on giving but never puts out.

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14th Aug 2006 - Add Comment - Tweet

The Occasion

Cannery Hours

Solid offering from this New York band but they make no attempt to disguise the massive Pink Floyd influence.

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14th Aug 2006 - 2 comments - Add Comment - Tweet

The Longcut

A Call And Response

Late Night Bus was The Longcut's 2004 shortcut. A Call And Response is the longcut from The Longcut and the long and short of it is that it cuts the mustard.

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12th Aug 2006 - 1 comments - Add Comment - Tweet

Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby

(dir. Adam McKay)

Highlander may have been the "Oscar winner for most awesomest movie ever," but Will Ferrell's latest movie Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby is here to put up a fight.

NASCAR driver Ricky Bobby was brought up a winner ("If you ain't first, you're last!"), so his life is town apart when Frenchman Jean Girard (Staines' own Sacha Baron Cohen) arrives and knocks him off the top spot. His life implodes, to the point that even lifelong "Shake 'n Bake" sidekick John C. Reilly turns his back on him, morphing instead in to "The Magician". Luckily Ricky's long lost drunk of a dad comes back into his life and leads him to salvation - through some ingenious use of a cougar.

There is some vague political subtext, with the rivalry between the backwards Americans and prententious French sophisticates - but let's not kid anyone. If you seen any movie with Ferrell, or the Wilson brother's, or Vince Vaughn for that matter then you probably have a pretty clear idea of what to expect here. It's dumb and drawn out, like a series of disconnected sketches from an unfinished TV pilot. There's never any doubt how it's going to end, but there are plenty of laughs along the way.

It doesn't have the clever sub-text and emotional depth of cinematic classic Old School, but there are some genius More Cowbell moments from Ferrell. Those, plus a great red-neck soundtrack (and the fact that John C. Reilly's favourite Jesus has white wings and is backed on stage by Lynyrd Skynyrd, while he is drunk in the front row) are almost worth the future DVD rental price alone.

THAT JUST HAPPENED!

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11th Aug 2006 - 2 comments - Add Comment - Tweet

Peter, Bjorn & John

Writer's Block

Writers Block is the third album from this Swedish power-pop trio and its summer release could brighten up many a cheery bbq or dinner party. Young Folks is the obvious single here; it's a jovial little number featuring Concretes vocalist Victoria Bergsman. Somehow it manages, by the skin of its teeth, to remain on the right side of cheesy-we're-as-happy-as-The Magic Numbers-pop, but treads a very fine line. The whole album tends to tread this path, never crossing the line but coming dangerously close on occasions.

Up Against The Wall starts off this way but then seems to drift off into almost New Order territory with the last 4 minutes taken up by a glorious beat/guitar instrumental. This really picks the album up only to be dashed by the appalling Paris 2004. I would like to amend my earlier statement about how they never quite cross the line into Magic Numbers stomach churning happiness. They cross it here with the chorus "I'm all about you, you're all about me, we're all about each other." Thankfully this doesn't herald a halftime descent into puke, and we resume proceedings with The Cure-sounding Lets Call It Off and the even more Cure sounding The Chills. This obvious influence is not a criticism and it works very well creating 2 of the more interesting tracks on the album.

This isn't a bad piece of work. It's one of those records that demonstrate such clear influences but as those influences come from great sources it tends to work. But at the end of the day, the fact that they are so glaringly obvious is their ultimate undoing.

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10th Aug 2006 - Add Comment - Tweet

The Diableros

You Can't Break The Strings In Our Olympic Hearts

This is the debut full-length offering from the Toronto based sextet and it further goes to show that the mighty talent that has been flooding out of this country for years is not looking like subsiding. Their sound has been compared to the baritone seriousness of Interpol but The Diableros bring a welcome change to this style injecting furious urgency and a passion that leaves Interpol's Paul Banks' vocals sounding slightly laboured and sluggish. For me this album continues the good work already done by bands such as Interpol but take the music to places I always want Paul Banks and his merry men to go every time I listen to them.

One of the stand out tracks, Push It To Monday, saunters in with a Springsteen-esq "Born To Run" bass line and with the introduction of Pete Carmichael's vocals we soon have a true 'hands in the air' classic The Boss would be proud of. While Tropical Pets has an arrogant swagger worthy of Oasis in their Supersonic heyday.

The Diableros have more in common with The Wedding Present than any of their countrymen. As on albums like Bizarro or Seamonsters the vocals here are so under produced they are barely audible over the 'wall of sound' guitars that frequently attack your ears. At first I thought this was going to be a problem but then realised what effect this under-production had on the overall feeling of the record. It gives it a certain immediacy and rawness that is only found when a band play live and the audience is left stunned by the sheer energy of what they are seeing. You really feel exhausted at the end of each song, as so much emotional ground seems to have been covered in such a short and frantic space of time. This is quite a rare feeling with a lot of indie music these days as if the bands don't quite have it in them to grab you by the scruff of the neck and kick your arse.

I could go on and list so many instances where this is happens on this record but none so satisfying as on the album closer 'Golden Gates.' It starts off with a marching drum beat and simmering vocals then, as if shifting up to a hidden gear, it accelerates to a stomping finale that really evokes the defying sentiment of the albums title, "You Can't Break The Strings On Our Olympic Hearts," and for a glorious moment you profoundly believe this to be true.

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7th Aug 2006 - Add Comment - Tweet

Oneida

Happy New Year

Jagjaguwar

This is the eighth full-length album from this Brooklyn trio. On the whole it's a pretty patchy affair but when it's good it's great, as on the album masterpiece Up With People. This epic assault, clocking in at nearly eight minutes, is the reason to get this album. It's by far the heaviest song on the album with relentless guitars that sound like an engine refusing to start - calling to mind speed metal heroes Anthrax. Although Oneida fail to reach these heights again, the rest of Happy New Year is an interesting listen spanning many genres and tempos, but somehow falling short.

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7th Aug 2006 - Add Comment - Tweet

Golden Smog

Another Fine Day

The title to this record sums it up perfectly. The operative word being 'Fine.' It describes a state that is neither really bad nor really good. And it's 'Another' fine day, which hints at a monotonous state of fineness that goes on and on in a Groundhog Day fashion, never improving or getting worse. It's the kind of state where life just passes you by and you don't notice it. This is just what tends to happen to this record. It is yet another under-par offering from the apparent "Super Group" consisting of members of Soul Asylum, The Replacements, The Jayhawks and Wilco. Wilco's Jeff Tweedy's stocks have risen sharply in recent times and as a result his input here is minimal. When he does grace us with his presence he gives us the 2 best songs on the album, Long Time Ago and Listen Joe are classic Tweedy but they only serve to highlight the blandness of the rest of the songs.

When playing Another Fine Day in my car I had to turn it down so people didn't think I was listening to Crowded House. That's not a good sign.

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7th Aug 2006 - Add Comment - Tweet

The Black Angels

Passover

However you arrange your record collection these days, you will have no trouble fitting this lot in. Whether it's by mood, genre or simply alphabetical you'll find this Austin based group sits nicely between Black Sabbath, Black Mountain and The Black Keys. The only other reference that I didn't mention as it kinda ruins my theory is The Velvet Underground. This band take their name from a Velvet classic, "The Black Angels Death Song" and at times the spirit of Nico is summoned to great effect.

These guys aren't trying to rewrite musical history but Passover is a damn good listen none the less. Album opener Young Men Dead rolls in with a dirty piece of plodding, monotone guitar accompanied by the lyric, "Head for the hills, pick up steel on your way" and the mood is set for a gloomy, psychedelic and often heavy rock delight.

The Sniper At The Gates Of Heaven follows a structure that is employed throughout most of this album, it marches into view like the advancing armies of Mordor and builds the sense of impending doom magnificently with the help of Alex Maas' anxious and highly strung vocals while Bloodhounds On My Trail evokes The Velvets' world of drugged out, paranoid psychedelic but soon leaves it behind as the volume is notched up and off we plod to far rockier shores.

It's not all this satisfying though, The First Vietnamese War sounds like John Goodman's funeral speech to Donny in The Big Lebowski with it's simplistic and relentless "War Is Hell" subject matter. This sentiment is continued on the albums closing hidden acoustic track where we get the lyrics "He's fighting in the Iraq war, what for?" and it's a shame that this highly fulfilling album ends with the repetition of "Somebody please stop that war." But these complaints are few and far between and don't come close to ruining an album that satisfyingly ticks all the rock boxes.

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7th Aug 2006 - Add Comment - Tweet