Album Review: Paramore - S/T

Having never been a huge fan of Paramore, but always been a big fan of their singles, I've found myself listening to their entire discography over the years but have never been overly impressed; sure they were often showing glimpses of being a great pop punk band, but the reliance on a strict formula and cringe worthy ballads totally killed it for me. On their latest self titled album I was totally caught off guard by how much I enjoyed this album, with a total line up overhaul, Paramore have strung together a diverse collection of top tier pop songs that just relentlessly deliver in memorable hooks, melodies and energy. With tracks such as 'Fast In My Car', 'Grow Up' & 'Ain't It Fun' all jostling for single of the year you also have some awesome heavier moments such as the Post Rock closer 'Future'. It could be criticised for being perhaps a bit too long but as far as I'm concerned the isn't really a dud on the whole album, but if it was only 12 track it'd have been one of the greatest pop record released this generation.  As it stands it's a flawed pop masterpiece. 

Music Video: A Primitive Evolution - We Are Lost

A Primitive Evolution are an alternative rock/blues band from Toronto whose accolades read pretty impressively for any upcoming band with various festival appearances, support slots with popular acts such as Billy Talent and coming 2nd in a regional hard rock competition; it's fairly clear to me that this band has appeal. What struck me was how polished and high budget this music video is for an unknown band, with very acomplished direction & some impactful imagery,  I kind of like it! Now whilst this is far from my usual cup of tea & I cannot envision myself listening to this too much in the future I can definitely say as far as big anthemic rock songs go this is a tier above from your average band, and I can imagine fans of bands such as Queens Of The Stone Age, The Dead Weather and Jane's Addiction getting quite the kick out of it. Whilst not a huge fan I can definitely see this band potentially grasping a large audience, the blend of acoustic guitars in what is a fairly heavy up-tempo track & those harsh guitar tones towards the end adds a breath of fresh air in what is often seen as a very stale genre; it's pretty good but those looking for a revolutionary sound may need to look elsewhere. 

'We Are Lost' was released on debut album 'The Prize' last year & is available on Spoitfy 

 A Primitive Evolution – The Prize

Why am I rebooting my blog with a song I'm not in love with you ask? I got an e-mail and remembered I had a blog! I will now resume updating said blog.

Dawn Richard - Goldenheart

'Goldenheart' is the debut full length LP from former P.Diddy manufactured girl band 'Danity Kane' member Dawn Richard coming off the back of her highly brilliant EP 'Armor On' which came out last year. This album pretty much follows all the tropes of this alternative R&B that seems to be around at the moment & if I'm honest with you I think this may be that genres defining piece, at least currently. Full of hooks, infectious melodies & some incredibly clever song structures which combines subtlety with abrasiveness which allows Dawn to create an album that sounds familiar and approachable as well as producing an album that has got it's very own defined sound, atmosphere and theme. For an album as long as 'Goldenheart' I was really quite surprised at how cohesive it sounded with every song sounding completely at home within this album with enough variants and changes to stop the album from dragging or becoming repetitive. In short this album is a masterpiece and would proudly sit as the Magnum Opus of any musicians back catalogue & considering this is a debut I really cannot wait to hear what else comes from the mind of Dawn Richard in the near future. 

Memory Tapes - Grace/Confusion

We all have a band like this, love one and only one release and be practically indifferent to anything they've released besides that release, and this is mine I'd like to welcome you to 'Memory Tapes'. I loved 2009's 'Seek Magic' to the point of it my album of the year, it was bright and fun, it took you threw a journey of ideas without ever seeming cumbersome or lost. 2011 saw 'Player Piano' come out and I honestly couldn't tell you a thing about it, it was an album that failed to hold my attention, and I must've listened to it no more then 2 or 3 times... this coming off the back of an album I still listened to frequently at the time of 'Player Pianos' release. Now we end up at 'Grace/Confusion' an album which has some fantastic moments and ideas but it sure likes to take it's sweet time getting to them & whereas the more ambitious moments found in 'Seek Magic' were equally as long and as adventurous each song felt like it had a sense of purpose and it held your attention the whole way. 'Grace/Confusion' has a lot of moments which will make you really pay attention but more then half the time is spent transitioning from moment to moment and it fails to hold your attention whilst doing so. The are 2 songs on here that I cannot recommend enough though 'Neighbourhood Watch' is a beautiful song with moments of melodic sombre and frantic epic electronic infused noise, it was a build that I loved with results that paid off. The second song is the lead single 'Sheila' which really feels like it could have been one of the stronger moments from 'Seek Magic' and it has found the long lost groove found on that album, both these songs are excellent and would've made a fantastic single, in fact the is enough here for a great EP but as it stands at least half the material here is disposable and whilst it does make those bright moments shine that little bit brighter I'd be lying if I said the journey to get there wasn't a bit of a slog..

Patrick Wolf - Sundark and Riverlight

Patrick Wolf has already been with us for 10 years & that's quite a hard thing to get your head around. I got into him fairly late in 2004 when I first heard Lycanthropy pouring out of my friends stereo and immediately fell in love with his electronic folklore. Over the years Patrick Wolf has gone under a bit of a diva transformation, gained and lost fans on every passing release & is constantly evolving his sound. The heart is still there but where it was in an incredibly bleak place before it's now dancing on the beaches of San Fran with a huge smile on it's face & good on him. This song concentrates on stripping down some old favourites to their bare acoustic roots & whilst it is for the most part a collection that provides some memorable renditions it has to be said that given most these songs were made with a showy composure in mind some of these songs simply don't work. The are moments in songs like 'Paris', 'Bluebells' & 'The Magic Posistion' in particular where he goes into chanting and without the grand composure behind the lyrics the songs begin sounding a little bit on the comical side. Some songs translate surprisingly well such as 'Hard Times' & a lot of the material from 'The Bachelor' in particular come out far better then I thought it would with it's more sombre approach foregoing to schizophrenic production on that album. Patrick's vocals are also the strongest I have ever heard them, he's certainly not the shy 17 year old any-more  he sings his songs loud & proud and that really helps carry this album. As an artist that relies so heavily on electronic beats on his songs this is a surprisingly good experiment & works as your very own acoustic session of Patrick Wolfs greatest hits & whilst they rarely improve on the originals it's a very good way to cap off your 10 year anniversary  Even the most jaded Patrick Wolf fans should give it a shot even if it's to hear some reworkings of your favourites from yesteryear. 

Love and Regret - Cold Showers

Cold Showers is the debut album LA band 'Love & Regret' who formed around about 2 years ago & they combine pop music with traditional angular guitar riffs and shoegaze to create a sound that's heavy in atmosphere and heavy in hooks. On first listen it may seem that 'Cold Showers' and it's 8 songs sound a bit nondescript & for the most part this is kind of true, I could imagine any number of shoegaze influenced bands putting out this record & this would be a problem if some of the songs weren't so damn catchy. This album does one thing particularly well and that's throwing you some incredibly catchy and simple guitar riffs that feel immediate and garners your interest pretty quickly 'In Terms Of Pleasure' is a favourite of mine with it's bass line and indie pop guitar tone  and female/male vocal harmonies making up a very simple yet very strong chorus, & 'Seminary' is a pretty strong closer offering an increase in tempo and overall presence which works really well for this band. The one thing that can be laid against this album that whilst for the most part songs are very enjoyable the is nothing really to them that allows them to truly stand out from the crowd, whilst all the songs have their quirks which make them unique within the context of the album, they really do not stand out in an oversubscribed genre. I guess the best way to sum up this album would be 'good but unspectacular' & I don't mean that in a horrible way either. The just isn't enough in this album to make me get overly excited about it,  is a fairly accomplished debut with some very strongly crafted pop influenced shoegaze treats.  

Bat For Lashes - The Haunted Man (6.7/10)

I have been quite a huge fan of Bat For Lashes for quite some time now, the first time I heard 'What's A Girl To Do' I knew I found the quirky female musician for me. Fast forward to 2012 and we see Natasha grace us once again with her third album 'The Haunted Man' and where the kookiness has left Bat For Lashes ambition has never been greater... unfortunately this leaves a distinctive lack of charm and identity. Bat For Lashes has never released a killer album, I found Two Suns to be a bit top heavy, but for me it's always been about those great moments Bat For Lashes produces on quite a consistent basis. This year it's all about the likes of 'Laura' which is an incredible conventional ballad with some real power behind it with an incredibly strong vocal performance, 'The Haunted Man' is quite an epic  , 'Rest Your Head' has a really nice dream scope underlying the driven momentum & 'Winter Fields' hits you in the face with an incredibly haunting yet driven sound. However this album falters, where the low points of previous efforts where mealy disappointing, the lulls in this album often feel soulless and lifeless & this can mostly be blamed on incredibly limp production.  The synths and drums on this album sound particularly pathetic as you hear snare hits quietly whimper in the background & with synths that leave no impression at all, I honestly couldn't pin point a single tone or sound a synth produced on this entire album despite their heavy presence.  'Oh Yeah', 'Horses Of The Sun' & 'Deep Sea Diver' are three clear examples of an idea not quite coming together  they all sound like songs with killer ideas in them but they never feel like cohesive and engaging songs threw and threw. This album is a collection of some incredibly ambitious ideas & to her credit she does have more then her fair share of moments where the album all comes together to produce something fantastic but unfortunately about half the duration of the album left me incredibly frustrated, underwhelmed and bored. I think these songs will for the most part translate really well live but I cannot stress how truly awful the production is at times & this hindrance really shows up some of the flaws of the song writing.

+ 'Laura', 'Marilyn' & a few others are really strong songs; some of her best to date
+ Shows a lot of ambition
+ Should translate well live with a lot of big moments which will sound much better without lifeless drums

- A lot of songs don't quite come together as well as I would have liked
- The production is awful, the drums & synths have no presence and it's often way too bassy
- This album lacks true identity, relies a bit heavily on sounding 80's & conventional

The XX - Coexist (4.0/10)

Lets get this right out of the way, the self titled album, yeah I didn't like that (aside from a few choice moments) I thought the album was several levels of bland and had nothing in the way of sincerity or even likeability as this very stylised and constructed image that swamped the band from the get go tried to cover up quite shallow and insubstantial music. 'Coexist' seems to only continue in this trend as it seems to strip what little character the was to be found on the debut entirely leaving a collection of very minimal and broody songs that have that fake emotional whimper slapped all over it. I understand why they're popular and even had a few awards thrown their way but this album just amplifies all of the XX's weaker moments and makes a whole album out of them. The songs are mostly forgettable with a few moments occasionally shining through, the synth sound on 'Try' is really hypnotic for example, but it's thrown in between incredibly contrived, uninspired and incredibly flat verses & this is par for the course on this album. Aside from some interesting pieces of production from Jamie XX this  album is coffee table music in the worst sense of the word, it's just very bland & the sort of thing people in middle management would throw on if they're feeling conservative.

Recommended Tracks:

Menomena - Moms (8.2/10)

Menomena are one of my favourite bands & have been for quite some time, their mix of experimental and traditional indie rock has always drawn me in, & when they announced the band would be losing long time member Knopf so he could focus on his other band 'Ramona Falls' I grew a bit worried as some of his contributions where my favourite. Luckily for me 'Moms' doesn't sound like a band in disarray at all & in fact feels even more reassured and better put together then previous release 'Mines' which was a pretty great album but didn't quite tickle me in the same way the magnificent 'Friend & Foe' did. This album starts off incredibly strong with 'Plumage' & 'Capsule' being incredibly ear catching with bold, memorable & loud melodies being thrown at you from the word go. 'Capsule' also given time to breathe with an incredibly nice and sombre ending which shows Menomena's gift in being able to take what sounds like a predictable pop song into an entirely new direction as if it comes second nature. 'Pique' is the track that follows & this maybe the highlight for me with it's quite sombre build and brilliant vocal harmonies playing a particually ear catching drum beat and a fantastic ear catching chorus and some brilliant uses of horns, it's busy but incredibly pleasing to the ear, it's one of the most fully realised songs Menomena have put out to date. 'Heavy Is As Heavy Does' is an album with quite frankly stunning progression which Menomena have shown signs of before but never so clearly & it's ball grippingly brilliant. Both approachable and off the wall experimental,  'Moms' is an album full of all the highs of Friends And Foe but it's also an album that feels a lot more consistent, complete & accomplished. Menomenas strongest experimental and conventional song writing is to be found here and it's a great marriage. 

Recommended Tracks

Deerhoof - Breakup Song (8.4/10)

'Breakup Song' has this very strange honour of not only being Deerhoofs strangest and most bizarre album to date but also the most approachable, yes it's time for some quirky pop music, & honestly I couldn't think of a better band for the job then 'Deerhoof'. 'Vs Evil' to me felt like an underwhelming change to the Deerhoof formula, it seemed to lack all the energy and fun found in earlier releases, well I guess the nap really paid off as 'Breakup Song' is anything but lacking in energy & it certainly has a lot of fun thrown in. The pop music is a strange blend of their old stabbing guitars and jazz like percussion over an orchestra of sampled sounds, electronic beats, synths, strings, horns & pretty much anything else you can think of. You would be forgiven for thinking this album would sound incredibly cluttered and way too busy from that description but the songs are structured as such as to give each individual element of their new style to interact and breath with each other and the results are often, if not always, brilliant. 'Mothball To The Fleet' for example has a very traditional Deerhoof chorus but in between it gets filled with processed guitars and synth keys but it doesn't feel at all disjointed. Personal highlight 'The Trouble With Candyhands' has quite the sixties vibe about it but also the air of the Caribbean with a very gentle vocal hook & it'll remain one of my highlights of the year & that's for sure. 'Flower' also a fantastic demonstration in the merging of sounds is a fairly disjointed and uneasy sounding song up until a chorus which frankly reminds me of Jackson 5 and it's insanely catchy. This album is just the right length & whilst I think it could maybe stretch out for another 10minutes or so the are some signs  within this album that anymore and it may have started to collapse under it's own weight & ambition, but as it is this is a very enjoyable album which sounds incredibly fresh and has breathed some new life into Deerhoof & this little taster leaves me very excited for more. 

Recommended Tracks:

Stealing Sheep - Into The Diamond Sun (5.5/10)

Before this review & listening to this record I honestly couldn't tell you who Stealing Sheep were but from listening to this album I hear a band with lots of influences stuck in  psychedelic  rock from the 60s but what I also got was very dreamy and hypnotic beats which certainly add a bit of character to a genre of music which can often come across as very cliché and contrived. This album is the 2nd from the Liverpudian trio offer plenty in the way of harmonies, melodies and grooves which can really plant you into a nice little atmosphere & world if you enable to lose yourself into it. The opening 5 tracks made me an immediate fan of this band with 'The Garden' has it's somewhat sinister and hypnotic guitar and synth being interwoven amongst some very soft vocals and some very dreamy and chimey guitar sounds, it creates a very nice contrast within the song and offers some very strong dynamics. Other highlight 'Genevieve' just is the great pop song with all the 60s aesthetics that the album had hinted, but it still sound remarkably modern and not at all dated, & 'Shut Eye' sounds like a very folky build on the formula with a very strong hook and sound which draws the listener in. The thing the album does so very well at the start is it throws a lot of ideas and sounds into a base formula which creates very interesting, diverse but surprisingly cohesive start to the album. However the 2nd half of the album really fails to hold my attention as it just starts to sound all a bit monotonous, the ideas feel like they have dried up and the songs no longer grab or hold my attention as much as those that proceed it in the first half of the album. The thing I found after every listen is that I come out remembering the songs on the first half but I remember next to nothing about the closing half & after 4 listens that becomes a bit telling. In my opinion this album falls a bit short of the potential shown at the start but for the most part it's still an enjoyable listen, you have a great EP here but a fairly luke warm album, that being said I do look forward to hearing more from the band.

Recommended Tracks

The Heavy - The Glorious Dead (7.0/10)

'The Glorious Dead' is at it's very core a rock album this has been heavily influenced in sound by soul and blues, think  of bands such as The Black Keys & 22-20s, but whilst many of these bands would typically focus on the slower more broody side these genres this album is quite often the sort that throws in the more jubilant and upbeat vibes from both genres by offering a strong arrangement of loud, bombastic and fast songs that are designed to get you to dance as much as they are meant to sound moody. Personally the stand outs on this album are the ones that embrace this ethic to the umpteenth degree with tracks such as 'Big Bad Wolf' ,with it's very present and stupendously catchy horn section cutting in between a fantastic vocal hook, 'Can't Play Me Dead', which adds a very hypnotic groove complete with soul filled vocals blasting behind the main gruff vocals & 'What Makes A Good Man?', with it's very large upbeat sound complete with what sounds like backing choir  found in your typical African-American church. It's the songs with the inclusions of the more eccentric side of Bluesy Soul rock that stand out the most but to say this album is without it's filler would be a bit of a lie, & whilst not much of it, songs such as 'Same Ol' & 'The Lonesome Road' seem kind of lazy and uninspired in comparison to the rest of the album.  But besides those few faults this album is full of very strong songs & whilst lacking a truly defining sound this album is full of tracks that embrace the more eccentric & upbeat side of Soul filled Blues Rock, & I recommend it to fans of the genre.

Recommended Tracks

Jessie Ware - Devotion (9.0/10)

The is something I really love about melodic and understated pop music & provided it's well produced then the concept of it alone is probably enough to carry it to a seal of approval. Devotion is such an album & after hearing 'Wildest Moments' & 'Running', which sounded like instant classics to these ears, I was already expecting this album to meet my expectations. So the question I have to ask is does it exceed my expectations & once again the answer to this question would be a resounding yes. As said earlier in the review 'Wildest Moments' & 'Running' are both the sort of instant classics that most musicians could only dream of having with their strong hooks, strong performance & incredible production the really isn't a single thing you cannot like about those songs. But it's also the sheer amount of other songs on this album that also reach the dizzying heights of 'Wildest Moment' & 'Running' which really took me aback, for example '110%' is a more upbeat song with lush chorus but all achieved without really ever hitting the volume dial; the energy and melody carries song so as a result it never really needs to, and 'Something Inside' is an incredibly beautiful song with some fantastic melodies and harmonies in the chorus.... hell even the bonus track 'Strangest Feeling' is the sort of track that would normally stand head and shoulders above the rest of it's contemporaries. The vocals on this album are really top notch and accompany the understated melodies and use of instrumentation incredibly well, the vocals are definitely at the forefront & are generally significantly louder then the music the accompanies it, but such is the strength of the instrumentation you will remember and pay equal attention to both. 'Devotion' does bog down a little bit in the middle, the highs are not quite as high and the themes become slightly repetitive but this is something I found become less of an issue on repeat listen & I eventually found it serves as a reliable bridge between the start and the end of the album. Some people may say think this album is a bit 'Radio 2' or 'MOR' for them but for me I think this is an incredibly well crafted album with some of the most memorable songs you're likely to hear this year; it's clever, it's catchy, it's memorable & as far as I'm concerned it has all the makings of an instant classic.

Why - Sod The Seed [EP] (7.5/10)

I often find that even my favourite bands are often fully capable of releasing an album that does absolutely nothing for me, usually right when I feel the band is capable of doing no wrong, it was in 2009 that Why? became the latest addition to this ever growing list of bands. 'Eskimo Snow' was an album I found to be rather bland, it kept all the melodic scope of Why? but it seemed to lose the quirkyness along the way & I found it made for a collection of rather dull forgettable songs. As a result this latest EP from Why? felt like a bit of a re-evaluation, are they going a direction not meant for me, or was 'Eskimo Snow' just a one off? Thankfully 'Sod The Seed' passes this test with flying colours as it seems to be calling back to the sort of sound found on 'Elephant Eyelash' with it's focus on melody still firmly intact but with the added bonus of their quirky sound and hooks, something I felt was missing almost entirely from 'Eskimo Snow' and as a result the personality that drew me to Why? seems to be back in full force. The album opens off with title track and 'Sod In The Seed' which in particular reminded me of the 'Elephant Eyelash' days with it's soft chorus and rapped vocals over bass line and organ. This is followed by personal favourite 'For Someone' which does more of the same and then the very church organ inspired 'The Plan' comes in full force with a very catchy melody which could come off a bit hokey but the uplifting feel of the organ tone really suits this song. The closer 'Shag Carpet' follows a couple of incredibly short but very much enjoyable tracks which almost trade off as interludes between the start of the album and the closer which carries the slightly darker  feel found on 'Alopecia'. On the whole Sod The Seed has the very much unmistakable sound of 'Why?' about it and whilst 'Elephant Eyelash' had this sparingly this album breams with 'Why?'s' very distinct character and that's what I like about them more then anything, it's the concept & sound of the band that first drew me to them & whilst the lyrical prowess remained  threw out Eskimo Snow the sound I fell in love with was no there but with Sod The Seed it appears to be back.

  

Bloc Party - Four (8.0/10)

To put it politely I have had no time for Bloc Party at all for quite some time, Silent Alarm was excellent and A Weekend For The City was a flawed but still by all accounts strong sophomore effort by the band, however everything since then has been a confusing mess of experimentation of the house variety which quite frankly simply didn't suit the  band. Kele seemed down right intent to silence his incredibly talented friends by making them take a back seat to his new love of electronic music & making some truly trash tracks in the process of doing so. So it's to my surprise that 'Four' isn't only not embarrassing but it's actually rather good with some of the bands strongest output since 'Silent Alarm' won all our hearts way back in 2005. The band have embraced the raw sound once again with the traditional bass, guitar & drum formula they'd become famous for, but whilst this may sound like they've just retreated back to old territory, that would be an inaccurate assumption to make. 'Four' is far heavier then anything they've put out before with a lot of Grunge influences to be found on this album, 'Kettling' for example sounds like something Smashing Pumpkins would've put out in their peak, and the first 2 tracks 'So He Begins To Lie' & '3x3' slap you in the face with distorted guitar and creepy vocals. The are a lot of incredibly melodic moments to be found here as well 'Real Talk' sounds like a very strong Red Hot Chilli Peppers song and 'Day Four' grabs the listener with it's subtle build and captivating atmosphere. This album is by no means perfect and I don't think it reaches the highs set by 'Silent Alarm' but it's a very consistent collection of good songs which will make Bloc Party fans everywhere sigh with relief; the band hasn't sounded so together and cohesive for a long time. 

Eugene McGuinness - The Invitation To The Voyage (4.5/10)

I have been quite the fan of Eugene McGuinness, ever since his debut single 'Monsters In The Bed' I have followed his career fairly closely; something thats actually been quite easy as it's been 4 years since his last full length album release. 'The Invitation Of The Voyage' is his 3rd record after the excellent 'The Early Learnings Of' and the strong but flawed self titled that came out in 2008. I have always viewed Eugene as an  artist full of potential just waiting to come out and with 'The Invitation To The Voyage' once again we get glimpses of this but perhaps a more pressing issue we see lots of it being repressed in generic stylistic pop. I never thought I'd see the day where Eugene McGuinness would put out something as frightfully dull as 'Videogame' but lo and behold it actually happened. Having said that the are a few moments on this album which are actually incredibly strong 'Lion' & the title track 'Invitation To The Voyage' are both stellar moments and the final run of tracks is exactly the sort of thing I hoped for from Eugene but it doesn't really make up for the early body of the album, at least not enough to give it a whole hearted recommendation. 

Twin Shadow - Confess (8.7/10)

One could be said that I'd be bored of 80's inspired pop by now, but if it's done well & with a somewhat modern twise, it is easily one of my favourite genres of music being released at the rate that it is. 'Twin Shadow' is the latest album I've heard to provide me with such thrills and it does achieve the aim of both sounding positively huge and 80s but is also a cannon full of incredibly catchy songs. The first 4 track of this album in particular sound like would be classics with 'Five Seconds' simply being one of the finest pop songs I've heard in quite some time. This album isn't = in it's self a bona fide classic though, the album does to lose it tremendous momentum going into the final 3rd, but it's still a great album to check out if you're a lover of 80s inspired pop music such as myself.

Eleni Mandell - I Can See The Future

It's taken me a while to acquaint myself with 'Eleni Mandell', in fact this album is my first taste of here & after hearing some pretty great things I can't help but feel a slight bit disappointed with this album. It's not that it' bad, far from it, the opening track 'The Future' is a thing of beauty & 'Magic Summertime' more than makes up for this gaping Camera Obscura hole in my heart right now, but quite often the album sort of finds it's self stuck in a kind of aimless rut with many songs laying down the same foundations as 'The Future' but with a structure of a kind of slap dashed construction and end up feeling almost incomplete. I guess what I'm trying to say is whilst this album is a good listen on a sunny day, it just doesn't quite get me going in the way I thought it would; but I'm still glad I listened to this album as it introduced me to a couple of very good songs. 

    

Album Review: Shonen Knife - Pop Tune

Shonen Knife are the cult all girl punk band from Japan & by all accounts make the music scene a more fun place to be, the is simply no denying this. 'Pop Tune' is the latest effort from the trio and whilst it presents a handful of quality straight up punk tunes it has to be said I do feel it falls a bit short as a whole. The problem for me is that the majority of the songs are just plain out forgettable, the exclusion of the first few songs I didn't really take anything away from listening to this album, it left pretty much no impression on me. The high points 'Welcome To Rock City', 'Pop Tune' & 'Osaka Rock City' are worth getting a hold of as they prove the be the exceptions to the rule with strong song writing, memorable riffs and catchy hooks but I honestly really couldn't tell you anything about the songs past track 3. Whilst the is plenty here that hardened fans will enjoy; it just didn't quite thrill me enough.

Album Review: Port St. Willow - Holiday

Holiday but Port St.Willow is an album created with 2 very simple rules; Atmosphere & Falsetto. 'Holiday' is what I'd like to call a cohesive album and is something that really needs to be listened to as a whole piece and probably in solidarity with your eyes shut and preferably with headphones. Despite it's sparse song arrangements and atmospheric approach the is something really quite grandiose sounding about this album, it manages to pull off quite a large and urgent sound, and this gives some tracks a sense of umph about them that a lot of 'atmospheric' albums tend to lack, at least whilst not jarring the listen at all. Songs such as 'Hollow', 'Amawalk' & 'Consumed' are pretty great and have already become some of my favourite songs of the year, this album will be a nice tickle to the senses for fans of bands such as Sigur Ros and The Antlers, however on the whole I feel this album just doesn't quite tick all the boxes for me and as such falls just shy of being a great album.