Articles

Blueline Medic was on Fueled by Ramen Records back when the label wasn’t just an incubator for the majors. Their first EP, A Working Title in Green, was a catchy little four-song exercise in Bad Religion and Jawbreaker-influenced indie rock and emo. Their last full-length, Text Bomb, was terrible. But The Apology Wars, which came out the same day as blink-182’s Take Off Your Pants and Jacket, is phenomenal.   But this album’s strength is not just in its poetic lyrics, though that is quite clearl

Elbow has released a string of ambitious albums, but no masterpiece. Its 2001 debut Asleep in the Back evoked its title image by making you feel disoriented yet serene; the follow-up, A Cast of Thousands, coughed up bigger singles, louder guitars and a Gospel choir. Neither album put the band at the top of the British music scene—Radiohead strikes a better balance of mood and songcraft, and Coldplay’s Chris Martin gets The Girl—but Elbow’s unique atmosphere and creeping emotions always set it ap

How do you follow up an album that launched you into the pop aristocracy at the first time of asking? In Keane's case, you combine the commercial sheen of your debut with an admirable urge to push your things forward.   At the very least, we're discovering Keane aren't content to just churn out a "Hopes and Fears" mark II. Lyrically there's been progression: although the emotional frailty of their debut is still here, there's a definite sense of an album informed by the world around it, with a p

How do you follow up an album that launched you into the pop aristocracy at the first time of asking? In Keane's case, you combine the commercial sheen of your debut with an admirable urge to push your things forward.   At the very least, we're discovering Keane aren't content to just churn out a "Hopes and Fears" mark II. Lyrically there's been progression: although the emotional frailty of their debut is still here, there's a definite sense of an album informed by the world around it, with a p

After a couple of years off the shelves the 1st Merz album is to be re-issued by Gronland Records. Originally released by Sony in 1999 in UK & France it will shortly be available across Europe and other shores. The new release will be a double CD with the original album on one and a selection of extra songs and remixes on the other. In addition to the original artwork the booklet will also include all the single artworks.   A bumper value package of Merz music from the last century!   "Merz

This rock band, Mew: They might not be “cool.” I mean, they’re Danish, and they’re pretty, and they wear natty blazers and scarves, and they play great music, all of which is pretty cool. But if you see them perform, there will come a point when Bo Madsen is playing metal-style power chords, while the long-haired 1970s-prog keyboard player unleashes his “epic” wash settings, and singer Jonas Bjerre soars up into his sappiest, most atmospheric register, and you’ll notice that they’re good with ha

It seems to have taken a lifetime for this album to come out. After all, legend has it that it was hearing this record playing in Parlophone HQ that inspired Chris Martin to rewrite Coldplay's X&Y album, and that's been out for ages!   Worth the wait? Well, it's more instantly grabbing and a lot less namby pamby than the Coldplay record, but at the same time there are obvious signs of this being the debut record of a band still to truly find their forte. It seems for a lot of the time that M

If its predecessor, Absolution, was steeped in portents gloomy enough to gladden the heart of the most heavily mascara-ed Goth, Black Holes and Revelations takes Muse's trademark paranoid political outlook to a new pitch of melodramatic intensity.   Though often compared to Queen, the trio are closer to the Seventies prog-rockers Rush: like them, Muse fuse grandiose pomp-rock and fanciful political beliefs with outlandish sci-fi overtones - but without quite reaching the solipsistic absurdity of

Pearl Jam's debut video was the first non-lipsynched MTV video ever, because they didn't go in for that phoney bullshit thank you very much.   To insist on this sort of thing BEFORE you're famous shows some conviction. This commitment to doing what they want without care for what's good for their career has largely been behind their mixed commercial fortunes since the mega-sales of their first two LPs in the early '90s. Recent albums have sounded indifferent.   Now it's 2006, they're all in thei

Pearl Jam's debut video was the first non-lipsynched MTV video ever, because they didn't go in for that phoney bullshit thank you very much.   To insist on this sort of thing BEFORE you're famous shows some conviction. This commitment to doing what they want without care for what's good for their career has largely been behind their mixed commercial fortunes since the mega-sales of their first two LPs in the early '90s. Recent albums have sounded indifferent.   Now it's 2006, they're all in thei

There's no doubt that the Hume brothers - Jon, 22, Peter, 20 and Dann, 18 - are the biggest export that Feilding will ever have.   Their radio-friendly debut, Dreams, shot up the Australian charts before they were acknowledged at home with an Apra Silver Scroll award. This follow-up sees them signed to huge US label Sire Records by head honcho Seymour Stein, who launched the careers of Talking Heads and Madonna.   Evermore have never wanted to rock out. Instead they felt more comfortable being

Early signs of a glorious Ashcroft comeback are apparent. A sell-out UK tour in the pipeline, a fabulous Live 8 reception and performance, and mass praise from heavy-weights such as Coldplay seem set to help connect him back on the fast-track to success.   Keys to the World is evidence that Ashcroft has managed to re-enter the zones of his song-writing brilliance the world woke up to with Urban Hymns. Pilot single, Break the Night With Colour, has re-introduced the charts to his mellow late-nin

Following in the footsteps of straight-laced, big-sound Brit-rock outfits like Travis, Keane and Coldplay, Scottish collective Snow Patrol are well and truly on their way to establishing their mark on the scene with this fourth album.   Which is to say, more of the same stadium-sized anthems and overwrought, emotive singalong vocals, and no such artistic adventurism on the order of, say, prime-era, incendiary Primal Scream, or the perennially, restlessly innovative Flaming Lips.   However conse

One feature of soppy, anthemic rock is the notion of redemption it seeks to nurture; a manly hug that says, 'We've all made mistakes but it's going to be OK.'   Soppy, anthemic rock appears able to redeem entire careers, too. Take Embrace. Around the time of their 1997 'All You Good Good People' single, they were pegged as the new Oasis. Eventually plummeting out of favour, they were rescued commercially in 2004 by a Coldplay song.   Snow Patrol started life 10 years ago as a likeable if ineffe

One feature of soppy, anthemic rock is the notion of redemption it seeks to nurture; a manly hug that says, 'We've all made mistakes but it's going to be OK.'   Soppy, anthemic rock appears able to redeem entire careers, too. Take Embrace. Around the time of their 1997 'All You Good Good People' single, they were pegged as the new Oasis. Eventually plummeting out of favour, they were rescued commercially in 2004 by a Coldplay song.   Snow Patrol started life 10 years ago as a likeable if ineffe

Alt-rock band Snow Patrol doesn’t need to put much more in terms of musical offer much more to fans except more albums in the future. The Irish rockers institute a melody of rock entranced with valor and tenderness that echoes that of Coldplay or even U2s previously produced works.   The bands latest LP Eyes Open demonstrates a luminosity of validity that presents Snow Patrol as one of the best acts in the biz. Eyes Open demonstrates the bands collective talents and versatility as artists on a

Alt-rock band Snow Patrol doesn’t need to put much more in terms of musical offer much more to fans except more albums in the future. The Irish rockers institute a melody of rock entranced with valor and tenderness that echoes that of Coldplay or even U2s previously produced works.   The bands latest LP Eyes Open demonstrates a luminosity of validity that presents Snow Patrol as one of the best acts in the biz. Eyes Open demonstrates the bands collective talents and versatility as artists on a

Its sort of hard to imagine the current crop of bands still going strong 25 years after their debut. Can you picture Coldplay in 2022? Or The Kaiser Chiefs in 2028? Or even Orson in 25 years (where they will mostly be in their sixties I should imagine). Can you see these bands still releasing albums of new material in the whizzy exciting twenty-twenties?   Well, Sonic Youth can still manage it, and are at the stage where new records just slip out, with little fanfare. The beauty of their career

It's the age old question, how to follow up a critically acclaimed album? For The Dears, that time is now. Breaking through with 2004's "No Cities Left", a swirling Brit-influenced album full of the joys of Britpop and the sorrows of Morrissey, they captured the imagination - dragging you kicking and screaming into their dark and heavily layered world. "Gang of Losers" however, is a very different beast. Instead of treading the same paths created by "No Cities Left", they've found a different ro

The Ruse has a distinctive, mature sound that will speak to your heart and cry to your deepest emotions.   These four guys should already be rich and famous. John Dauer, Jim Bilus, Mark Stolze and Jason Young make up this imaginative, new band.   Their current album, "Light in Motion," radiates with brilliance and endless possibility. Get this album and you will hear an intriguing combination of U2, Coldplay and Sting all very cleverly meshed together.   Read the full review here

The Ruse has a distinctive, mature sound that will speak to your heart and cry to your deepest emotions.   These four guys should already be rich and famous. John Dauer, Jim Bilus, Mark Stolze and Jason Young make up this imaginative, new band.   Their current album, "Light in Motion," radiates with brilliance and endless possibility. Get this album and you will hear an intriguing combination of U2, Coldplay and Sting all very cleverly meshed together.   Read the full review here

Call it an occupational hazard, I suppose. When you write about music, you find you have a whole group of New Best Friends and an ever-growing collection of demo discs from bands who, for the most part, will never go any further in their music careers.   I still have what they called "tapes" in the 1980's from local "new wave" bands who went on to pursue brilliant careers in retail management, banking and law. It wasn't that they were terrible musicians-- they just didn't understand that jamming

Daniel Green, Brian Walters, Daniel Abrahams, Tim Jackson and Rick Pita are Third Floor Story. The London based band are ready to unleash their debut album Lonely City. After drafting in three more band members Third Floor Story have been out touring and have completed recording their debut album.   With websites like myspace, it is always lot easier to find some stuff out about new up and coming bands and Third Floor Story are one of those bands that are on myspace, and have their own website.

Daniel Green, Brian Walters, Daniel Abrahams, Tim Jackson and Rick Pita are Third Floor Story. The London based band are ready to unleash their debut album Lonely City. After drafting in three more band members Third Floor Story have been out touring and have completed recording their debut album.   With websites like myspace, it is always lot easier to find some stuff out about new up and coming bands and Third Floor Story are one of those bands that are on myspace, and have their own website.

While its creator cites recent inspiration for its inception, "The Eraser," the new solo album by Thom Yorke of Radiohead, has been long in its genesis.   Yorke made it clear that the album was an individually conceived and entirely computerized venture. The piano, the guitar, even his own angelic vocals were all run through a computer before they reached wax. Statements like this tempted skepticism. As powerful a front man as Yorke is, he shares a creative burden with multi-instrumentalist and