With the song name of ‘Best Friend’ slowly being deteriorated because of its overuse, it’s going to be hard to make one that sticks out in someone’s mind, and separate the connotation connection they already have with another song called ‘Best Friend’. Confusing?
Well We Cut Corners have managed to make the best ‘Best Friend’ song to date, beating The Drums, Palma Violets and 50 Cent. The song is a reminder of how pop songs should be: two minutes long, catchy, singable and the ability to leave you pressing play again.
The riff initially is very simple as it skips between two chords, and reminding of a good old fashioned rock and roll song, but the screw soon becomes loose and the top is lost. As the song unfolds you can gradually begin to see the picture of teens falling about to this song, and shouting into each other’s ears – it’s happened.
The slithery lyrics seep out of the song effortlessly, and they sound genuine and real, because a lot of upcoming bands have a knack of sounding awfully pretentious. The singer manages to do this by his distinct vocals, which are delivered with certainty and no questions surrounding.
Prior to this song the band was unknown to me, but from this song I’m sure there will be a few more eyes casting over the band and their movements. They’ve clearly shown an ability to write a good pop song with ease, and it will be interesting to see if they can do this throughout their up coming album in May 2014.
This post has been a long time coming, I’ve been an awful music reviewer for the last month or so with all the work load and with uni coming back into play. After a lot of thought, and looking at how much work I will be doing I shall be aiming for at least TWO good posts a week, and I do mean good posts. Hopefully I will get a bit more time, and I shall be able to do even more, not promising anything. Right, The Vaccines, Come of Age, the second album from The Vaccines, released on the Columbia Label, and working with the producer Ethan Jones. Ethan Jones has worked with some good artists, those being Laura Marling , Kings of Leon and Paolo Nutini. There was a lot of talk coming up to this album, and I was quite excited for it, also after hearing ‘Teenage Icon’ and ‘No Hope’, but a part of me wished there was more.
The Album
I’ll begin with saying that it isn’t a terrible album, if you LOVE The Vaccines, then it’s probably going to be the best thing you’ve ever heard. It stayed in my car for healthy 2 weeks, this was not out of wanting it to be in there, this was just out of being lazy, if I wasn’t being lazy it probably would have left my car on the second day and here’s why.
I don’t think the album had a lot to offer, what it did have to offer was catchy songs, with it thought some of them were borderline pop music, decent pop music, but none the less pop music. After I was half way through the third time of listening to the album, I felt there was nothing else the album had left to offer, making it quite substance – less, and quite predictable. All the songs names were the chorus, or in the chorus, this were one of the factors making it predictable. I’d look at the case and think ‘What’s next? oh bad mood, lets wait for him to say bad mood’. I was also looking really forward to listening to Freddie Cowan’s guitar riffs and solos, yes they were all very catchy, but again I thought it was quite predictable because the solo just followed Justin’s singing, so i thought he played it quite safe for a good guitarist, and he is I saw him live and I thought he was extremely energetic when he was playing. The album for me wasn’t all bad points, it still had good points…
I’m not a music snob, I do like catchy music, I do like singing in the car every no and then. I think it’s rather a nice summer album, something nice to be driving round with, just generally singing to and that. My favourite track on the record would have to be ‘Weirdo’ or ‘Ghost Town’, mainly because I think ‘Weirdo’ is freaky, and can be a bit unnerving, also I like Justin’s lyrics in the song, I shall get on to those later. Also ‘Ghost Town’ seems to be the new ‘Noogard’, which also is quite catchy and 2 minutes of indie bliss.
Justin’s lyrics are probably what really lift the standards of this record, as there’s a lot lyrics that are quite amusing, I can’t be bothered to find them them out exactly, but the ones in ‘I wish I was a girl’, ‘Weirdo’ and ‘No Hope’, really like the lyrics in no hope.
Overall
Not a bad second album, I still think The Vaccines have something to offer, perhaps in their third album. I don’t want them just to stay an Indie-pop band, because I believe that they’re better than that. I’d like to see them be a bit more daring in their third album, a bit more raw and not so polished up. Also, let Freddie really go on the guitar and perhaps get him on vocals or something, I dunno. However I’m still going to see them when they come round to Birmingham, so they must be doing something right (keeping the tickets cheap). So if you’re seeing them in Birmingham, let me know.
Another band that’s been found off twitter, this band is quite close to home as they’re hailing Birmingham, UK (So you don’t wonder if it’s the USA one). Taking influences from bands like Oasis, Kings of Leon, The Coral and Ocean Colour Scene which is quite obvious when you listen to the band. These are a three piece band, members consisting of Iain Gough – Vocals/Guitars, Dom Boyle – Bass/Vocals and Ant Heath – Drums. They reformed in late 2011, and they spent a lot of time writing songs so they were ready and prepared for some gigs in 2012. They have quite a growing fan base in the midlands and supporting CAST and The Musgraves have only helped that.
Their Music
I’m just reviewing one of their songs, they have four more tracks which you can listen to on their reverbnation page, which is…
This band is quite versatile, with their acoustic song ‘Goodbye Charlie’ (which is probably my favourite one) to their heavy their heavy guitar riffed ‘Chase The Dragon’, which is another one of my favourite ones, purely because of the solo.
‘Goodbye Charlie’ was the first song that I listened to by them, and it’s a really catchy song with, the lyrics and the beautiful acoustic guitar part in the background. It doesn’t sound like one of the most complex of songs but perhaps that’s what makes it so good, because it is that simple. I also think the lyrics are a big part in ‘Goodbye Charlie’ because it doesn’t have any solos in it or anything, and I just think that’s what makes the lyrics such a integral part of this song and they really are some well written, well thought lyrics.
The lead singer reminds me of Tom Meighan a bit in his voice, because it sounds quite commanding but uplifting at the same time, you can see a good example of this in the song ‘I don’t need you anymore’, which also has a really catchy riff in it.
Overall
Another band, giving the world what it needs more of, MUSIC. Also they’re close to home so quite nice to do a review about a band that isn’t so far away. Lets get behind em’
Yet another band found through the use of twitter, these are a five piece band called ‘The Bedroom Hour’ (think that’s a good name), and they’re a psychedelia guitar/synth band with quite charmed vocals. They record and mix everything in their own studio space in Uxbridge, in greater London. They take influences from bands like Elbow, Interpol and Doves which you can tell when you listen to them, especially Interpol, he’s got a very Paul Banks voice, just a little toned down.
The Music
For a band that hasn’t made it big yet they have some good tunes in the locker, 6 in all (that I know of), one of those being an acoustic song called ‘Nocturnal’. The music sounds very haunting, which I’m a fan of being a fan of Pulp as they put a lot of haunting elements in to their songs. A big input into why it sounds so haunting is because of the voice on these tracks, it sort of howls and screams at you, which adds to that effect. Although it does have these elements in the singing, there are some beautiful harmonies in there, for example in the track ‘Heart will Haunt’.
The most notable out of all these tracks is ‘X marks the spot’ a song with a melody so so smooth, a drum beat that is so distinctive and vocals that are so beautiful you’ll forget where you are (especially if you have your earphones in). I’ve listened to ‘X marks the spot’ quite a few times, and I think it’s such a good song because of how brilliantly it’s put together. One of my favorite lyrics in the song is ‘I promise to love you more than my life’, doesn’t sound too good saying it, but listening to it, different story.
Throughout all the songs there are beautiful vocals in all of them, I just really like his voice, especially in ‘Submarine’ because I think the piano and his voice really compliment each other, making it stand out more.
Overall
Some beautiful songs that you would only expect off a band that has been going around for a very long time. Something tells me that this band is where they’re supposed to be so lets get their music out there and support em!
Listen to their songs and follow them, wouldn’t hurt 🙂
Probably shouldn’t writing this while I’m listening to Paul Weller’s new album ‘Sonik kicks’, which sounds promising so far, three tracks in ad quite good, it’s another step in the ‘Wake up the nation’ direction, which isn’t a bad thing just prefer his acoustic stuff, so there will probably a post about that album tomorrow, gimme chance to listen to it.
Anyway, I’m supposed to be bloggin about The Coral, yeah, well I chose to do write about this song because I heard it on the radio today and I thought, “shit, ain’t heard this in a while, this is fucking great”, and that’s when I decided to write about it. So, The Coral? They started in 1996, and are still doing stuff now, don’t think they’re doing a fat lot though because haven’t really heard about them for a while.
This is probably one of their most recognised songs, it featured on their debut album entitled ‘The Coral’, and only got to #15 in the charts, which I’m surprised about because it’s a catchy little song, which the public normally like and adhere to. They’ve got other great songs, buy the ‘best of The Coral’ and you’ll know what I mean, can’t be arsed to go through em’ all getting tired, feel like rubbish and still gotta do my 20 minutes on the bike (getting fit and that). I’m sure everyone has heard it somewhere, it’s one of those songs you’ve just heard of, whether it was when you was walking the dog and the man walking driving past has got it playing his car, an advert, your mate playing it, there is so many ways you could of heard it and you probably have. You only have to listen to one second of it, then you will be able to remember it.
Looked at the blog, no Miles Kane, right lets get one done so no one can read it.
Miles Kane is probably one of the most promising young solo artists that is around, after coming out of The Rascals and the ‘Alex Turner’s Mate’ Shadow, he has really looked like a guy that has bags of potential, the look and the songs to do something within the scene. His first solo album entitled ‘Miles Kane’ was brilliant, I don’t think there is a weak song on there, there’s not one that I skip, I really do enjoy them all, especially ‘King Crawler’, ‘Inhaler’ and ‘Colour of the trap’.
The thing is about Miles is that he has a bit of diversity about him, not only can he bang a brilliant electric guitar tune out, with a mind bending riff, but he can produce a soft heart warming acoustic song, and he’s voice really suits either of them. He has a voice that’s really uplifting, but also quite mellow and soft, I really like that about him.
Right, the song, I totally forgot about this one (I seem to forget every song I write about), but it’s such a great song. You have his soft voice just trickling In to your ear, and as it trickles down your ear, it leaves a warm feeling there, makes you shiver a bit. As well as that you get typical Miles stuff, a brilliant riff with that amazing guitar that he used on practically all of his solo album, and I really like it. If you listen to the songs ‘Rearrange’ and ‘Come Closer’ you’ll know what I mean.
To be honest I don’t think it’s a million miles off what The Last of The Shadow Puppets do, I could easily hear Tuner banging out a chorus on this bad boy. Another factor I like about the track is that it’s simple, Verse Chorus Verse Chorus Verse Chorus Verse Chorus Verse Chorus, you catch my drift. That’s how I like my songs to be sometimes, which I assume many other people would, just easy listening, something to sing along to, and sometimes that’s just it for me. I mean it can’t be totally shit lyrics, else will hate it. Right, it’s late and I wanna watch Only Fools and Horses, so goodnight. Listen to the tune.
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