Anyone finding themselves in the alarming situation of having to discuss which modern day roots-rock bands would be “greatest” would surely namedrop Los Lobos. The appeal of the Los Angeles five-piece, who’ve been together for a staggering 37 years, is widespread. The countless awards they’ve received, including the odd Grammy or two, vouch for their commercial (and critical) acclaim. Following their last album of four years ago, The Town And The City, they return with Tin Can Trust, their 13th studio effort. That number might be unlucky for some, but for these longstanding veterans the resulting output can be summed up in three words: ‘business as usual’.

Read the rest of this review at MusicOMH.

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Posted on July 29th, 2010 by Max
Filed under: Uncategorized | No Comments »

Read that headline and weep fanboys and fangirls of Battles. They’re coming to London to play a show to debut new material. Sadly, this show happens to be at the Forum, one of the worst venues for live music in the capital, but it’s a Battles gig for crying out loud! Battles! Supporting them at this ATP-organised show – dubbed as Release The Bats – will be Beak>, The Field and Tweak Bird. The gig is on the 30th October and follows a show in New York that takes place four days earlier on the 26th (that’s at Le Poisson Rouge). Tickets are onsale now from the usual places. Go and buy tickets now.

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Posted on July 28th, 2010 by Max
Filed under: Gigs, News | No Comments »

I swear that this is not what Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly sounded like when I was trying to remember any of Sam Duckworth’s music. But, lo and behold, we have a song from his forthcoming record that guest features Shy FX. Everything about this song is just so remarkably tame. The lyrics are ok but the beats and the melody feels so weak and so stuck in the 90s that it just makes you wonder why this is allowed to exist. I hope that the rest of the album isn’t as soul-crushingly bad as this. At least with albums that you use your ears to listen to I don’t have to watch boring videos like this:

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Posted on July 28th, 2010 by Max
Filed under: News, Tracks | No Comments »

After the relative bombast and apocalyptic nature of 2007′s rather outstanding Neon Bible, it feels weird to listen to Arcade Fire‘s long-awaited follow up, The Suburbs, and to conclude that it sounds rather ‘homely’. Infact, a lot of things will confuse you the first time around. It’s a very long album – over an hour – and it’s difficult to take everything in at first. Is it too long? What should have been chopped off? The endless referencing to the ‘suburbs’ and the ‘kids’ might make you feel awkward. However, all you need to do is to listen to it again and it all suddenly begins to make sense.

The dramatics and theatrics of their past work remain intact. Rococo is full of flourishing strings amidst its waltzing tempo and Half Light I is surprisingly distant sounding but also familiar in a strange way. Then there’s the all-out guitar attacks that remind us of their younger and more care-free persona back in 2004. Empty Room is unrelenting in its distorted guitars and Month Of May is the result of what would happen if they went on Stars In Their Eyes as Queens Of The Stone Age.

However, there also signs of progression in their sound and a maturity that feels very welcome. City With No Children is Springsteen-esque in its tone whilst, on the other side of the dynamics coin, Wasted Hours and Sprawl (Flatland) shows the band at the most stripped down and restrained in their entire career. Their use of electronics is also a lot more clever and subtle than most bands. Lead single We Used To Wait feels as tense and as claustrophobic as anything on their previous album but the use of synths puts it in a class of its own.

All in all, there is enough on The Suburbs to convince me that Arcade Fire are still a band who are incapable of making a terrible record. It’s a record that mixes familiar textures and sounds with new ones to great effect and shows a brilliant progression in their own sound and musicianship. It doesn’t really matter what kind of suburbs you may come from (if you indeed do) – whether that is in America, the UK or wherever – they are bound to be playing stadiums near you at some stage in the next year and a bit off the back of this. Yes, it might be too long. Yes, it might refer to certain things far too many times. Somehow, Arcade Fire can just about get away with it.

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Posted on July 27th, 2010 by Max
Filed under: Albums, Reviews | No Comments »

If you have tickets for the Gorillaz concerts in September in the UK, there’s ‘sorta’ bad news. The gigs have now been rescheduled for November as part of a newly announced world tour. If you require a refund you should contact the company you bought your ticket from. However, if you live in Brighton, there is good news since they’ve added a date in that fine city. The tickets for that date will go onsale next Friday (30th July) at 9am. The rescheduled UK dates are:

11th November: Dublin, O2
12th November: Manchester, Evening News Arena
14th November: London, O2 Arena
16th November: London, O2 Arena
17th November: Birmingham, NIA
18th November: Brighton, Centre

The aforementioned world tour will take in North America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong. These are the rest of the dates announced so far:

21st November: Berlin, Velodrome
22nd November: Antwerp, Lotto
23rd November: Paris, Zenith
6th December: Perth, Burswood Dome
8th December: Adelaide, Entertainment Centre
11th December: Melbourne, Rod Laver Arena
16th December: Sydney, Entertainment Centre
19th December: Brisbane, Entertainment Centre
21st December: Auckland, Vector Arena

A show in Hong Kong plus twenty dates in North America, including a show at Madison Square Garden (a ‘cartoon band’ playing Maidson Square Garden? I’ve seen everything now…), will be announced soon.

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Posted on July 22nd, 2010 by Max
Filed under: Gigs, News | 1 Comment »