This is MP3Monster's blog. The blog covers music, technology, photography and anything else Monster considers worthy of blogging about.Kaiser Chiefs - Southampton Guildhall
Posted by monster in Music, Music Reviews, Technology
We managed to catch the Kaiser Chiefs on the small venue part of their European tour to promote the new Album Of With Their Heads. Initial impressions of the new songs is that good ones are very good, the others are only so-so, B side material, and leaves a me with the feeling that the album was rushed so that the pre-Christmas sales season could be exploited which is a shame.
I took some pictures at the gig with a new Samsung Soul mobile phone with what seemed to be a nice 5mb camera. Although its ability to focus in the conditions of a concert appears to be disappointing. To help with that I started using the multi-frame mode and discovered that when you do that it reduces the image resolution notably without any warning. I think I need to experiment some more with poor light conditions but at the moment I’d would say that the lower resolution Sony Ericcson K800i coped better at gigs.
Photoset at filckr here.
Matthew Ryan vs Silver state - Review
Posted by monster in Music Reviews
Matthew Ryan’s latest album - Matthew Ryan vs The Silver State or MRVSS has finally reached my ears, and boy has it been worth the wait. It is very much deserving of the good reviews. Matthew Ryan has been a songwriter of note for some time writing about subjects that can by deeply touching such as The Complete Family where his brother has been sentenced to 30 years in jail on the last album (From a Late Night High Rise) and the heart felt Hummingbird about wanting to be good enough for the woman you love. In this department, I might even be so blasphemous as to suggest he may even be on a par with Bruce Springsteen; he can certainly match for other lauded new generation songwriters such as Ryan Adams.
Musically Ryan’s voice has a slightly timbered and rough edge to it. This is combined with a musical style which for MRVSS has a live feel (we can only hope he tours the UK to here these songs live) although other albums (particularly Strays Don’t Sleep have had a more study polished feel). With the live edge to it the grittier songs such as Drunk and Disappointed bring to mind the likes Paul Westerberg or perhaps Jesse Malin and the quieter songs such as Hummingbird hinting at Tom McRae or Springsteen on Nebraska and The Ghost Of Tom Joad.
Useful links:
Delays - Love Made Visible
Posted by monster in Music Reviews
The Delays are back with a new EP as previously mentioned. I now have my copy of the limited CD run. I have to say - we’re pleased with what we are hearing. Love Made Visible continues with the Delays signature high vocal harmonies with an upbeat rhythm, bright splashy guitars and synth fills.
The EP comprises for five tracks of which for are new songs and the fifth is a radical remix of the title song, so radical you might as well consider it as a new song in its own right.
The title track pounds a long at a fair rate carrying you with it. If this had been released earlier in the year and we’d had a good summer then I think it would have been successful reminding us of those brighter days and correspondingly a hit. Sadly the weather was poor here, and the EP has only just been released in November.
Panic Attacks and Slow Burn, slows down the tempo, and have a more Autumnal feel to them dealing with less cheery subjects than love. You See Colours, the title of the last album, moves back to a brighter feel with a stronger synth presence. This leads us into the Together We Make A City (Love Made Visible) which takes the vocal from the title song and lays it onto a chilled out synth base with real stabbing blasts of keyboard and what could almost be a sample of Moby’s Go in the background - brilliant stuff.
Recommended listening.
Dragons - Here are the Roses — Review
Posted by monster in Music, Music Reviews
Dragons - another new artist worthy of some attention. Their debut album Here are the Roses is a marvelous blend of pre-stadium rock Simple Minds, early Depeche Mode and Joy Division/New Order. The heart of these similarities come from the way they use synths and guitars, they 
intertwined often providing both rhythm and melody; the keyboard sounds are very synthetic like those used by the Minds and others during the earlier 80s - looking at the kit in the videos on their website it also looks very 80s.
The lyrics are pretty dark in content and delivery, something that David Gahan would be proud of, and enough for Ian Curtis to take note if he was still with us today. Unlike both, the vocal delivery is slightly smoother and sweeter on the ear.
Finally, the drumming, it doesn’t saturate the rest of the performance, they’re even edging towards sparse. But they really down pound - as the producer Hugh Padgham would say - if you stand next a drummer giving it some welly - its bloody loud, and correspondingly that should be the case on record. The drumming certainly isn’t muted - driving the music along brilliantly without dominating.
If you like some rocking, synth based music then go give them a try - or at least have a listen to what they’ve posted on their MySpace site or the clips on their own site.
Websites:
home page : http://www.dragons.cc/
MySpace : http://www.myspace.com/dragons1
Review: Bitter Bitter Weeks - Peace Is Burning Like a River
Posted by monster in Music, Music Reviews
Rather than reviewing an obvious release like Ryan Adam’s latest release, I’m continuing with the less known stuff.
Bitter Bitter Weeks latest release Peace Is Burning Like a River have diverged from their more somber sounds in a big way. This is full of bright shiny 60s style guitar work, imagine The Delays swapping their synths for guitars. Brian McTear’s vocals match the mood beautifully with a light and sweet vocal. Even the lyrical content feels more cheerful.
I’ve been listening to this album, both in the car and on my MP3 Player - I have to say it does sound far better when given a chance to breath in an open space than with earphones - even these cracking Sennheisers.
My recommendation is atleast have a listen to the tracks on Bitter Bitter Weeks’ MySpace site. If you’re a Delays fan then don’t waste time - order the album NOW!
Lots of thumbs up from the Monster.
Tom McRae - Shepherds Bush Empire
Posted by monster in Music, Music Reviews
We got to see another fine performance by Tom McRae at London’s Shepherds Bush Empire as he tours supporting his latest album King Of Cards. I managed to capture some pictures with the mobile phone - more can be seen here.
Tom, has over a number of albums proven himself to a fine singer songwriter. But, for me the songs taken on something special when you hear him perform them live. Even last night, whilst suffering ‘man flu’ sounded good, and delivered the songs with passion and emotion that lyrics carry.
Not only does he perform well, everytime we’ve seen him, he engages with the audience joking and telling stories, something that really makes it feel that he is there for you.
This time around Tom’s support was Steve Reynolds, who played a great little set, and went down a treat with the audience (no mean feat for a support artists). All that and playing his guitar while struggling with a broken collar bone. Steve’s performance was engaging enough that we’ve ordered the album (another import).
The final gem, of the evening is picking up a EP of Tom’s that I’d not heard of - The Strongroom Sessions (autographed as well). Having not heard about it, I thought I’d search around for it today on the web and can’t find any reference to it - is his record company letting him down?
Tori Amos - American Girl Posse
Posted by monster in Music, Music Reviews
A Little slow reviewing this - having been out for a month or two. But I have found that Tori’s later albums take a lot longer to digest as her lyrics tend towards the obscure. Although the subject of the 
opening song on latest album American Girl Posse leaves little space for misunderstanding as criticism of George Bush.
The album’s song fluctuate from style to style as it delivers songs from different members of the ‘posse’ which it does with a fair degree of success. It seems that its each of the songs intros provide the clearest indication of which character is performing.
Unlike earlier albums the presence of the drums and guitar are a lot more noticeable giving album a more driven feel overall where as earlier albums the other instrumentation tended to be lower in the mix giving space the vocals and piano.
Overall not a bad album, but not Tori Amos at her best. But still distinctive and a cut above other the other ‘kookie’ female singer/songwriters.
latest find - Plastic Operator
Posted by monster in Music, Music Reviews
I’ve come across a little gem of an album - Different Places by Plastic Operator (homepage, myspace). If you can imagine early period Air (Premier Symptomes, Moon safari) combined with a slightly stronger beat and a little 80s synth in places then you’re getting the right direction. You can hear a couple of the tracks on their myspace.
This is the debut album by Plastic Operator - yet has been well reviewed by Uncut and album of the week for Rough Trade when it was released (14th May 2007 in Europe). If you’re really quick then you may get one of the signed copies if you purchase the album via their website (like Monster has).
“Not since The Postal Service have we heard an album that joins together electro and pop so perfectly.”
-Rough Trade Shop
You can find Plastic Operator’s bio here.
Review - Jarvis Cocker - Jarvis
Posted by monster in Music, Music Reviews
It about time I did another review. Although I prefer not to review mainstream artists, after all they get plenty of press already. I think this album warrants some attention as Jarvis Cocker has released under his own name rather than Pulp.
After Jarvis’ weird off shoot Relaxed Muscle we find this album returning to more familiar grounds. Although this isn’t Pulp it certainly is Jarvis at the top of his game lyrically. In truth the only real difference between this and a genuine Pulp album comes in the shape of lyrical subject and instrumentation.
Instrumentally it isn’t so hook laden and up beat (Do You Remember The First Time for example), so it takes more time to get to grips with it, but repeated listens certainly pay dividends. There are exceptions which are more musically reminiscent of Pulp’s drive such as Black Magic.
At the heart of Pulp and any good Jarvis solo effort of course are his observations through story based lyrics, and this certainly meets that. The difference between this and Pulp are subjects, the focus on the teenage and student views of life (hiding in wardrobes to watch your friend’s sister (Babies), living the life of the less well off (Common People)) has to an extent been replaced by broader issues although songs like Don’t Let Him Waste Your Time (the first single from the album) riff on those old themes, but other songs look at people in power (Running The World) and social climate (Heavy Weather, From A To I).
So if you like Pulp for its smart lyrics, you’ll love this. But if your preference is for pop sensibilities I’d approach with caution and try before you buy. Personally, I think its a fine album.
Links:
Relaxed Muscle (wikipedia)
Jarvis Cocker (myspace)
Pulp (official site)
Joseph Arthur - new album as donation download from website
Posted by monster in Music Reviews
I’ve been catching up with my podcasts, such as the wonder Morning Becomes Eclectic from KCRW to discover that Joseph Arthur has a new album out - which can be downloaded directly from his website (here) and only asks for a Donation!!!! Nice to see some brave thinking. I’ve made an initial donation and downloaded the album, if the album is good then we’ll donate some more.
In addition to this, Joseph also released Nuclear Daydream
Review: Hybrid - I Choose Noise
Posted by monster in Music Reviews
I’ve been listening to this album on my MP3 player for the last week or so and enjoyed it, but last night I finally listened to it through the HiFi, and boy is this the mutts nuts! I find electronca hard to write about - so here is a reasonable review for you : http://www.progressive-sounds.com/Music-Reviews/Hybrid-I-Choose-Noise.asp.
Hybrid’s I Choose Noise at Amazon
Review: Ray Lamontagne - Till The Sun Turns Black
Posted by monster in Music Reviews
I’ve been a little remiss in album reviews of late, so I here a quick look a new album. In the UK, Ray Lamontagne’s first album has been relaunched four or five times (but the record company never seems to follow through). As a result Trouble has been out for sometime now and the multiple launches has delayed the release of his second album here in the UK, which is a shame as the sequel- Till The Sun Turns Black, seriously eclipses his debut Trouble, not that Trouble was a poor effort, far from it.
Till The Sun Turns Black sees Ray’s vocal delivery coming across a little sweeter and a little less dry than on Trouble, and the instrumentation is far richer, running from a Stax/Memphis Horns backing on a couple of tracks to a muted trumpet that wouldn’t sound out of place in a Northern England brass band, then there is the purest simplicity of a guitar and voice (Lesson Learned); then we have a simple string backing on the title track. The overall effect is that the music carries you along without detracting from the Ray’s vocal performances.
This gets lots of thumbs up, you can purchase the album through Amazon - Till The Sun Turns Black
Kharma 45
Posted by monster in Music Reviews
The support to Faithless last week was a group called Kharma 45. Prior to the gig several people where handing out EPs from Kharma 45. I’ve finally got around to listening to the CD and I have to say its actually rather good - both in terms of production values and music. Their live performance as support was pretty good, although the vocals weren’t high enough in the mix (certainly not in comparison to the mix of the EP).
Kharma 45 are a traditional four piece who make heavy use of sequenced synths when live. Their recorded sound like wise has plenty of synth sounds adding a richness to the hard edged rock underpinning. If you’d like to hear Placebo in a upbeat and slightly more melodic mode; or The Delays with an harder rock underpining then Kharma 45 is worth checking out.
Having just checked out their MySpace website they’ve got three tracks that you can listen to and download including Ectasy which I can highly recommend from the EP.
In addition to the Faithless support slot they’ve been appearing at a lot of the major UK summer festivals, and should manage to build a good grass roots support from it.
I’m guessing here, but to be able to afford to give CDs away, get slots on a number of major festivals they’ve must have some form of backing and some music that they’ll actually sell. But if you check out their own website or the MySpace entry they don’t have any reference to a recording contract or any material in the pipeline beyond what I’ve just downloaded or given, and a quick Amazon search doesn’t show up anything either! So what’s happening ?
Annie - Anniemal - 5 minute Review
Posted by monster in Music Reviews
Interesting album, this is an interesting blend of sounds, perhaps not as chilled as Jem (a namely definitely worth watching for over the coming year), slighly less in your face as the chart stuff from Gwen Stefani’s first solo ofering (but also a damn sight better than Gwen which is fine as far as the singles go but after that is to put is baldly crap). The sound often comes across as ideas from the 80s pop to today thrown in a blender and the nicest results being pulled out. For example Me Plus One - sounds a bit like a Madonna singing the Human League’s Love Action, or Always Too Late could be a white Beyonce or a girl band with talent!
If you want to go light a frothy without becoming crappy (aka Girls Aloud)- then this is a good place stop.
Elvis Costello & The Imposters - Delivery Man - 10 Minute Review
Posted by monster in Music Reviews
10 Minute Review
The ever changing Elvis Costello is back again with Delivery Man having completed another classical piece this year and contributing to Mrs Costello’s latest(better known as Diana Krall) with a new album backed with the majority of the Attractions.
Time to rush out to your favourite CD shop, quickly click your way to that cheap online site you’ve found, or simply Amazon cause you they’ll have it listed?
Well the opening track suggests we’re in for something more punk/new wave than Elvis’ hayday; and hey whats the piano motif in the background that keep cropping - damn I know that but where from? Then onto something could have come from his North album (polished nudging towards something Jazz like). Then we’re off to something thats somewhere between Country and Costello’s New Wave roots. This pretty much how the album goes all the way through swinging between Country/Americana and Lounge Jazz with varying degrees of new wave infusions. As usual Costello’s song writing is strong distinctive (and you’d expect nothing less of him).
Do I like it, would I recommend it, on the first listen or two I personally am finding the strong shifting styles a little unsettling, just as I settle into the groove we’re off again. But it is growing on me, the title track, Monkey Man and Nothing Clings Like Ivy are certainly hittin home (with the lovely Emmylou Harris). I’m more than likely to be saying to be saying its a corker in a week or two, but try not not listen to it with any particular expectations.
Collateral Soundtrack - 10 minue Review
Posted by monster in Music Reviews
Michael Mann films are noted for three things :
1. A decent story line
2. Amazing cinematograhy - often of LA
3. Use of music to underline or enhance the atmosphere of the film (for example the downtown shoot out sequence in Heat - which can’t have run on so long if it hadn’t been for the taught underlying music, or closing scene when De Niro is shot featuring Moby’s God Flying Over The Face Of The Water).
Many of Mann’s soundtracks are essenitally compilations with a few additional special sequences written for the film (this time contributed by James Newton Howard). Unlike a lot of main stream soundtracks that work from compilations, Mann doesn’t go for obvious or easy choices - this makes for a refreshing change, and still the soundtracks stand up in their own right as an indpendent piece of music - see The Insider for proof of this. This soundtrack continues with this form, with only one well known track which was remixed for the film (Oakenfold’s Ready Steady Go which has appeared in the Bourne films).
The soundtrack opens with some decent straight ahead rock, which happens whilst the film is introducing Max. Then the you have the fantastic Groove Armada’s Hands Of Time which has a Ritchie Valens vocal. The album is worth investigating purely on the strength of this track alone.
After Hands Of Time we have several Latin/Mexican tinged numbers which build up tempo to an Audioslave number, all of which are worthwhile. But after Audioslave we get a jaring change of style to Jazz from Miles Davis, a fine number but I’m inclined to resequence the album to avoid this jaring (the album’s running order reflects the film’s chronology).
Then we have another dramatic change of style for Paul Oakenfold’s Ready Steady Go - a pretty dramatic piece of electronica, which was brilliantly cut in the film.
The final sequence of the pieces come from James Newton Howard which provide a tremondously pensive close.
Overall, great, but not quiet as brilliant as the Heat soundtrack.
Chris Whitley - War Crime Blues - 10 Minute Review
Posted by monster in Music Reviews
Another 10 minute review!!
It is a rare thing to hear raw authentic blues these days - and we’re talking Robert Johnson style recordings - a guitar, vocal and maybe something simple beating (a foot on the floor, a single drum etc) the basic rhythm. This is a long way from the studio polished efforts from the current blues statesmen (i.e. Eric Clapton et al). But here we have it - minimal mic’ing, all the nuances of guitar strings buzzing and vibrating on the recording. To top this off Chris also plays using a Pedal Steel Guitar - on its own a rare thing, but combined with the rawness of the delivery - something special to hear, particularly as it isn’t muddied by the fact it has had to be mastered from a piece or warn and tired out piece of vinyl or aged master tape. For most people this isn’t a recording that will invoke simple pleasure and emotional response. This is something that should be atleast listened to once for an appreciation of authenticity.
Chris’ voice is far from the smoothest, but then Chris’ isn’t in the easy listening secton of your local CD shop or webstore; his voice is extremely expressive easily changing in strength of delivery and intonation to support the lyrics.
Before I put most people off Chris’ work completely - his recordings so have ranged massively, through the blues (from this raw approach, through to very polished performances), into Americana (check out Living with The Law) and onto more conventional Rock and Grunge (Din Of Ecastasy). But this album is for Chris Whitley fans, and those that love the purest and rawest of blues or want to have a lesson in what it should sound like.
Faithless - Forever Faithless (aka Greatest Hits)
Posted by monster in Music Reviews
Well,
The greatest hits album has found its way into the record shops - the album contains:
1. Insomnia
2. Mass Destruction
3. God Is A DJ
4. Don’t Leave
5. Muhammed Ali
6. We Come On
7. Reverence
8. Salva Mea
9. One Step Too Far
10. Bring My Family Back
11. Miss You Less, See You More
12. Tarantula
13. Fatty Boo
14. I Want More
So it would appear that we have one new track in the form of Fatty Boo, and the rest are album cuts that have been released as singles. The tragic thing is Faithless have been innovative (although annoying) by re-releasing the albums with remix disks with some wonderful versions of their songs - non of which appear here. And what of their additional songs contributed to soundtracks such as Woozy for The Beach (it was a toss up between Woozy and Unkle’s contribution for the best track on the album). Then there is the Late Night Sessions and several other mixes.
This is not to say that this isn’t a great set of songs, it simply an unoriginal choice, if you have all the albums so far, then I’d suggest thinking hard before buying, you’d be better off paying for a ticket and seeing them live - great gigs despite Maxi Jazz’ voice suffers a bit on the road; that or a live bootleg if you can find one. But for those who just like the hits, or want to get to know Faithless better, then this is a great starting point.
The question is, come the autumn will we be seeing a double album version with the second disc containing remixes? Something that may well be a lot more interesting, particularly if Sister Bliss and Rollo decide to do some new ones!
Joseph Arthur - Our Shadows Will Remain - 10 minute Review
Posted by monster in Music Reviews
The first and most striking thing about Josepth Arthur’s work is his vocal delivery. This singular thing is most likely to turn people off his work in many ways like the average reaction to Bob Dylan’s vocal performance. This is not to say that his vocals are as demanding as Dylan’s (well atleast in my opnion). His delivery at the at its loudest can come across as a blues shouter as much as anything else, but much of his delivery is a lot slower and quieter, the only point of reference that comes to mind is taking Leonard Cohen and speeding his delivery up slightly, raising it an octave and making it slightly nasal. But what adds the unusual nature of the vocal is Joseph’s tendency to adding a choral/reverb effect to his voice, making things a lot easier to listen to.
If you are comfortable with this vocal sound then you’re in for a treat, as Joseph’s strength isn’t his vocals (and he recognises this - hence the processing) but the music and song writing which have improved with every release, and his debut Big City Secrets was no light weight to start with.
The album’s musical range is very broad from acoustic based tracks like Echo park through to more rocky stuff like Stumble And Pain. The later even incorporates string sections which feel perfectly natural.
This is probably his most accessable album to date, some might say the most mainstream. But I’d recommend any self respecting music fan to give this album a chance.
Faithless Live - Brixton Academy 30th November 2005
Posted by monster in Music Reviews
We get to the Academy in time to have missed the first of two support acts – Cass Fox – but catch the second – Crazy Penis. Crazy P’s slightly bonkers female lead singer has a great voice which is let down somewhat by the band’s tendency to musical blandness. This only changed for their final number, a fine cover of Candi Station’s classic You Got The Love. All credit to Crazy P for this as it really did get the crowd going – despite having seats on the balcony we’re already up on our feet grooving.
After a quick change of kit on stage (with the highly excitable audience cheering and applauding every mic check) Faithless hit the stage at 9.15 starting with a big instrumental opening from Everything Will Be All Right. The first few bars are enough have the audience on it’s feet and grooving with the beats.
Then Maxi Jazz saunters onto the stage and rips into classics like God is a DJ and Insomnia; and the audience goes nuts, the band goes nuts and the whole world just seems to be bouncing off everything to the huge tunes. Then, when Bliss gets to those seven fat chords in We Come 1, and the place feels like it exploding with energy; and that diving bass keyboard note just goes straight through your rib cage and shakes the house.
Despite this, the gig wasn’t Faithless at the top of their game. Maxi’s voice sounded a little tour worn, which is unsurprising when you consider how hard songs like Mass Destruction are on it. The instrumental sequences and less known numbers like Postcards (from Sunday 8pm) lost the audience who, in the main, seemed to be clubbers who had come for the big floor filling hits. This was compounded by a few sounds difficulties about halfway through – mic levels dropping and sound becoming “muddy” – which took a couple of numbers to get sorted. That said, as Faithless progressed through I Want More, Mohammed Ali, Miss You Less, See You More and Take the Long Way Home to reach the gig’s climax things came back together and by the end the place was like an overcharged Duracell battery it was so awash with energy again.
Overall: a reasonable gig – but not Faithless’ best, though I’m sure I’ll be back for the next tour.
