Monday 28 September 2009

Paramore - brand new eyes


Paramore haven’t just been milking the huge success of 2007’s Riot! for the past two years, they almost split up due to the pressures of a huge world tour (and the fact that front woman Hayley Williams and guitarist Josh Farro’s secret relationship came to an end but shh… it’s a secret.) brand new eyes is physical proof that whatever doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger. This almost break up seems to have made Paramore even angstier and angrier, if that’s even possible.
From the first few seconds of opening track Careful you can tell that Paramore definitely haven’t changed the old Tennessee quintet’s formula of big drums, fast riffs and fills that make you go, “woah that was cool!”
The first single Ignorance explodes into life with one of those amazing riffs that Paramore have used on almost every track since their 2005 debut All We Know Is Falling. It’s a fast paced, fuming track with various key changes and one wonders if it’s possible for Hayley Williams strain her voice any more. And it ends as suddenly as it starts.
Playing God is their attempt at a Jimmy Eat World style, mid tempo pop rock song with the threat of “Next time you point the finger/I might have to break it off” as the chorus.
The psychological centrepiece of the record, Brick By Boring Brick, gives the huge, angry guitars a rest with a bass fuelled verse but a huge chant along chorus that sees the men of the band getting a shot in the vocal limelight.
Looking Up takes a much less angry approach to the almost break up of the band with the lines “God knows the world doesn’t need another band/can’t believe we almost hung it up/we’re just getting started.” Paramore fans the world over can breathe a collective sigh of relief that their favourite band aren’t going anywhere soon.
They return for one last massive head bang on the closing track All I Wanted which starts as a mellow love song and ends up with a wailing Hayley Williams with some Whitney Huston/Dianna Ross style epic yelps of “All I wanted was you.”
Paramore really have gone from strength to strength, with this third “mature” album adding to the back catalogue of fantastic albums. Hopefully they really are just getting started.

brand new eyes by Paramore is out now on Fuelled By Ramen.
You can listen to the whole album for free at www.paramore.net

Sunday 20 September 2009

New Music / What I've Been Listening To: September 09

We Have Band –

This London threesome infuse catchy synth lines, techno beats and compressed guitars with female vocals reminiscent of Yeah Yeah Yeahs to create some of the best band techno music since L.C.D Soundsystem. With a huge touring schedule covering all corners of the globe, I’m sure they’ll be appearing in Britain soon. They also boast one of the best names I’ve seen in a while.
For fans of Hot Chip, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Passion Pit.
www.myspace.com/wehaveband

Good Old War –

It’s official: I love Good Old War. The bearded Philly lads, who have fans like The Gaslight Anthem, Blink-182 and Circa Survive, sound like they should hail from the beaches of California instead of the cold north east of America. Drum brushes and acoustic guitars galore added to the soothing melodies of singer Keith Goodwin.
For fans of Death Cab For Cutie and Dashboard Confessional
www.myspace.com/goodoldwar

mewithoutyou –

Okay so they might not exactly be “new music” and I might’ve been oblivious to their music for a while – seven years to be exact – on hearing their 2009 album ‘It's All Crazy! It's All False! It's All A Dream It's Alright’ I instantly adored this band. Although their peers are much heavier (three of their close friends are Manchester Orchestra, Sparta and Brand New) they produce clever acoustic music. Formed from two brothers and two best friends, singer Aaron Weiss’ songs tell stories of nature, a highlight of their newest album being ‘The Fox, The Crow And The Cookie.’
For fans of Tokyo Police Club and Fun.
www.myspace.com/mewithoutyou

Friday 18 September 2009

Jay-Z + Coldplay - Hampden Park


Now I’m about as far from a big hip-hop fan as you can get, but even I love the music of probably the most influential and consistent rappers of all time. Swaggering on stage to the horns of his session band, Jay-Z kicks straight into ‘D.O.A (Death of Autotune) - the first single from his new album ‘The Blueprint 3.’
The Brooklyn born king of hip hop, dressed entirely in Rocawear clothing (his own clothing brand), patrols up and down the stage rolling out modern day rap classics like ‘99 Problems’, ‘Izzo’, ‘Public Service Announcement’ and ‘Dirt Off Your Shoulder.’
Taking this support slot must have been a tough decision for the Jigga man as Coldplay fans aren’t exactly renowned for their love of gangsta rap and songs like ‘Big Pimpin’’ don’t go down quite as well as they probably should. His current No.1 single ‘Run This Town’ makes for a good climax to the set, even without Rhianna and Kanye West’s input. He leaves the stage to probably not the loudest cheer he’s ever had, but does it really matter to an icon like Jay? With eleven number one albums and a half a billion dollar industry under his particularly low slung belt, probably not.
As the sun sets on the home of Scottish football The Blue Danube Waltz drifts through the stadium and the lights go out. The four members of Coldplay emerge with sparklers swinging around their heads. Immediately they start the set with the instrumental ‘Life In Technicolour’, the first song from the most recent album ‘Viva La Vida.’ The thudding beat of ‘Violet Hill’ really gets the crowd going for the first time and it is followed up by three back to back classics in ‘Clocks’, ‘In My Place’ and ‘Yellow’, at which point hundreds of, obviously, yellow balloons are bounced around the crowd. The little known ‘Glass of Water’, which was on the recent ‘Prospekt’s March E.P’, fits in well with such classics and I feel it may have been up there with them if it had made it onto Viva La Vida. The graphics on the huge screen behind the band are phenomenal, with a 3.D rollercoaster style trip through the planets in space, ending with a solitary picture of an eye.
Epic doesn’t do ‘Fix You’ justice. Its anthemic climax sees singer Chris Martin jumping and sprinting across the stage with his arms held outstretched. By the end of the song he is lying at the end of one of the extended arms of the stage looking into the clear sky and having the crowd sing the last few lines for him. The rest of the band then troop out to join him for a few songs, with the Phil Collins look-alike drummer using a drum machine and a keyboard for techno renditions of ‘Talk’ and ‘God Put a Smile on Your Face.’ Then the band leave Chris on his own with the keyboard and go for a breather as he shows off his excellently delicate piano playing skills. A beautifully intimate version of ‘The Hardest Part’ is followed by around a minute of tinkling away. The sole spotlight goes out but after a moment of silence and darkness you can make out Martin’s figure gesturing frantically back to the stage, clearly something’s gone wrong. “We’re very sorry,” he says into the microphone, “but we’ve just had the biggest technical f*ck up we’ve ever had! Let’s rewind a minute or so…” Another moment of tinkling piano and this time it’s followed by the correct amount of silence and darkness before the pounding kettle drum of “Viva La Vida” is blasted out from the caveman/Phil Collins look-alike. Chris Martin just about makes it back to his spot behind the microphone as the vocals kick in and the band play one of the best songs they’ve written since ‘Fix You.’ The haunting chants echo around the stadium for a good minute after the song is finished and it’s probably the loudest any crowd’s been since the last time Scotland scored at this sacred ground… whenever that was.
Jay-Z makes a quick appearance for his verse on ‘Lost+’ before leaving again as quickly as he came, probably to the delight of some of the older fans.
The lights go out and the band can be seen making their way off the side of the stage, followed by an isolated cheer as the people in certain sections realise that they’re standing just feet away as Coldplay run past to go to the small stage set up in the middle of the crowd. Once safely on the mini stage Phil Colli- I mean Will, the drummer takes control of the microphone and an acoustic guitar for a very campfire-esque song called ‘Death Will Never Conquer’ followed by a strangely catchy cover of Michael Jackson’s ‘Beat It.’
After about 5 minutes of battling through the crowd it’s back to serious music making time as the strobe light infused ‘Politik’ bursts into life. An encore of ‘The Scientist’ and the final song ‘Life in Technicolour ii’ (a version of the instrumental opener but with words) makes for an epic ending, with fireworks, confetti and all. “Epic” is a major theme for the Coldplay boys’ stadium shows, excellent choice of support act too.

Jay-Z's new album 'The Blueprint 3' is out now.
You can listen to an hour of Coldplay's set at Hampden on Radio 1 (www.bbc.co.uk/radio1)

Friday 4 September 2009

Brand New - Daisy


Daisy – Brand New
It’s been three long years since Brand New released an album, with the monumental ‘The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me’ and it’s time once again for the New York five piece to take the alternative rock scene by storm with the release of ‘Daisy’ at the end of the month.
Brand New’s story is the stuff of music fairytale. Formed in 2000 by Jesse Lacey, who at the time played bass in Taking Back Sunday, they were signed after their second ever gig to Triple Crown Records. Their debut, ‘Your Favourite Weapon’ was a pop-punk masterpiece. The follow up, ‘Deja Entendu’ was received with critical acclaim that put Brand New in a new spotlight. More meaningful than the debut, ‘Deja Entendu’ remains one of the best alternative rock albums to be released in the last decade. However there was a three and a half year gap until anything else was released by the band. This release came in the form of ‘The Devil and God…’ which is possibly their best work to date. It added a whole deeper level to their music that seems unrecognisable compared to ‘Your Favourite Weapon.’
And now, almost three years after that groundbreaking record, comes ‘Daisy.’ Brand New have become renowned for reinventing themselves on each record they produce and ‘Daisy’ is no different. Sounding far looser and less methodical than The Devil And God, they have created a record that sounds half improvised at times and raw throughout.
Opening track ‘Vices’ starts off with a haunting female opera singer’s voice floating through the speakers. Real Brand New fans will know not to be lulled into a false sense of security, after TDAG’s ‘Luca’, which seemed a simple eerie acoustic track until near the end where Jesse Lacey’s blood curdling scream turns the track into a full blown rock out. And they’ve done it again with 'Vices'. Just as the last note on the tinkling piano is played, all hell breaks loose and the full force of Brand New’s rage is felt for the first time… well, in three years. Kurt Cobain will be moshing in his grave. It left me asking, “is this really Brand New?” I didn’t know they had that much noise in them.
After you get over the initial shock of ‘Vices’ and change into clean underwear, the grungy ‘Bed’ floats along with a laid back Nirvana sort of style. The first single, ‘At the Bottom’ is one of the obvious high points of the record, with Jesse’s voice layered over itself like in ‘Degausser’ from TDAG, and the chorus is one big sing along, the only one to be found on the album. Midway through it sounds like all the instruments simultaneously break the whole song falls to pieces, however they pull it all together again for a couple more choruses. ‘Gasoline’ is a rough, ragged and slightly awkward song, followed by ‘You Stole’ which is a lot like a track that could’ve been on ‘Deja Entendu.’ An interlude titled ‘Be Gone’ is very strange, some country guitars sound like a Texan hoe down, and Jesse’s lyrics come through distorted, as if a child is putting the volume up and down on the C.D player as fast as they can. ‘Sink’ is a thumping beast of a song, with the screaming guitars and vocals making up the loud part of the loud/quiet style of The Devil And God…
One of the jems of the album comes in the form of the first title track Brand New have ever made. ‘Daisy’ reintroduces electric drums, not used by the band in almost ten years. They fit perfectly with Jesse’s delicate vocals. There are samples from a minister asking the congregation to turn to a hymn page and a child talking. Overall these background effects work perfectly to make one of the best songs on the album. And it’s over as suddenly as it started, last track ‘In A Jar’ ends with no real bang, it just fades out. However there is a line where Jesse sings “Now it has to end” and this Is probably aimed at the fact that he’s stated that “Brand New is no more” and that this is, sadly, likely to be their last album. At least they’ve had a good run and if they do decide to call it a day, they can say they were fantastic right up until the end; they are still as c-c-c-c-controversial as ever.

Daisy is out on September 22nd on Interscope Records.

Pearl & The Puppets - Loch Ness

Situated in the heart of the Scottish Highlands is possibly the most famous body of water in the world: Loch Ness. Tonight however, the centre of attention is not on the mythological monster beneath the surface, it is instead on a small boat steadily making its way down the loch. The “Bella-boat” is, for one night only, the location for a very intimate gig from two of Scotland’s best female acoustic artists.

Starting the night is local girl Rachel Sermanni who, with just her voice and acoustic guitar, creates beautiful music with the depth of a songwriter twice her age. She grins nervously around the cramped little on-board bar and confesses that she’s left her set list in her car. “Don’t worry though,” she adds, “I’m good at awkward moments so I’ll just try and remember what I was going to play.” New song ‘Ever Since the Chocolate’ fits in well with the delicate ‘Little White Dove’ and the country tinged ‘Lighting Candles.’ An acoustic version of the Jackson 5’s ‘Want You Back’ goes down nicely and Midway through her set Pearl slips her way through the crowd to sit, with her band, cross legged on the floor, likely to make the slightly uncomfortable youngster a little more at ease.
As the boat stops in the middle of the water parallel to the extremely picturesque Urquhart Castle, Pearl and her Puppets once again make their way through the cramped bar area to play. Pearl swings her guitar strap over her head tentatively so as not to hurt her bandaged wrist as her Puppets climb behind their instruments and sit or stand on various objects, such as the emergency stairs and the lifejacket cupboard, alongside the heavy amps already sitting on the top of the cupboard. I’m sure health and safety would have something to say about that!
‘Mango Tree’ is the opener and with it’s catchy drums and quick guitars it makes you think more of the Pacific than Loch Ness but it’s still an excellently laid out song. A beautiful rendition of ‘Use Somebody’ by Kings of Leon allows the Puppets a break and Pearl to seemingly make deep eye contact with everyone in the bar. A slightly faster version of possibly her most famous song ‘Because I Do’ (which featured in a Vodafone advert in Australia) comes midway through the set with cheers and applause from the crowd and a lot of “bah baw, badda bow”-ing. The extremely catchy ‘Make Me Smile’ (which is also my favourite song) finishes off an amazing set from the most exciting female acoustic artist since Kate Nash and Laura Marling, definitely one to watch.

Pearl and the Puppets are on Myspace at: www.myspace.com/pearlandthepuppets
The debut album is due out next year.