Music is doing fine, you’re the one that’s stagnant

It seems to be a common gripe from people my age (early 30s) that music is somehow not as good as it once was. As someone who listens to a lot of new music, this attitude really fucking annoys me. For a start there is arguably more great music out there today than at any point in popular music’s history, and it’s more readily available than ever. Sure, the music industry as a business may have collapsed in on itself but believe me, that is not a bad thing. If you feel bad about music executives not getting $35 a pop on the music that you’re now getting for free then I’m sorry, you don’t deserve good music anyway. We don’t need your pity. Some people are quite happy to listen to nothing but old music, and I find that really sad. Have you noticed that it’s almost always from … Read more →

Top Songs: The 1975 – ‘Sex’

Wow. I somehow missed Manchester band The 1975′s Sex EP when it came out late last year, which is a shame cause it’s fucking amazing. I’ve caught up now though, and I have to say that “Sex” is one of the best songs I’ve heard for ages. I just can’t stop listening to it. The band have two EPs out at present – the aforementioned Sex and the more recent Music For Cars, which is also excellent – and a third, IV, on the way later this week. There’s also an album due in September which based on everything else they’ve done could be a contender for album of the year. “Sex” is admittedly a bit of a departure from the band’s usual sound which is more upbeat dreampop, but all of their tunes are pretty amazing regardless of style. “Sex” sort of reminds me of Glasvegas at their finest … Read more →

The Strypes are fucking great

I wasn’t too sure about the hype surrounding Ireland’s The Strypes the first time I heard them.The return of UK* guitar pop has been falsely heralded more times than Pete Doherty’s had hepatitis scares. But occasionally its worth investigating further than the hype (the Arctic Monkeys anyone?) and sometimes it takes a live performance to really understand what a band is “about”. The Strypes first few releases were covers of rhythm and blues standards by the likes of Bo Diddley and Muddy Waters, and although undoubtably brilliant, it wasn’t until I saw a live performance of their first original single “Blue Collar Jane” on the Jools Holland show earlier this week that I really fell in love with this band: Fucking magic. The fact that they’re only 16 years old and hail from the Irish equivalent of Palmerston North makes them even more special. I can’t wait to hear more … Read more →

Peace – ‘In Love’

Clearly among the front runners in the UK’s ‘great indie hopefuls’ for 2013, Birmingham’s Peace were apparently the best think at this year’s SXSW music festival since ‘large rimmed glasses’ and ‘not acting like you’d think a Texan would act’. They’ve chucked a lot of the album up here on Soundcloud, which is frightfully nice of them. I am still coming up with some meaningless superlatives to describe their sound, by which I mean I am still digesting it, but have a listen yourself and have a crack. One of their cracking tunes is below. Enjoy, and Peace out. Yep. I went there. The NME may have beaten us to the album review but I beat them to the joke.  Well, okay ‘joke’ is pushing it too…   Tweet

Unknown Mortal Orchestra – ‘II’

In 2011, when Unknown Mortal Orchestra released their debut self titled album, not liking Unknown Mortal Orchestra in some circles was considered a crime against New Zealand.  It was a bit like saying you didn’t like The Hobbit or  Sir Edmund Hillary . If I’d been better looking I’d have been labelled an ultra-hipster for my view that they were over-rated and that there was nothing ‘stand-out’ about them that raised them above the rest except for their Mint Chicks pedigree. The thing is, I was wrong.  I was wrong because I missed the point.  Unknown Mortal Orchestra didn’t write stand out tunes that jumped out at you and that you felt straight away.  The thing is, they did stand out but they stood out in your mind later – the complex, meandering guitar, the strange drum patterns, the vocals buried deep in the mix.  I should have known better. You could … Read more →

New music mix – February 2013

So 2013 is shaping up to be a pretty great year for music all ready. We’ve already had a new Postal Service track after 10 years, not to mention the first new My Bloody Valentine record in 22 years(!). Plus on the horizon we’ve got new albums on the way from old Riot Radio favourites like Wavves, Theophilus and Bad Religion. Plus there’s already been a handful of exciting new acts ripping shit up: Free Energy, Pure Love, Joey Bada$$, and Bleeding Rainbow to name just a few. Read more →

Review: Pure Love – ‘Anthems’

Remember that time when one of your fave bands put out a couple of epic hardcore records, and then the vocalist pulled the “musical differences” card, upped sticks and left to work on a new project with the former guitarist of another great hardcore band? For me, that time was about July 2011, when Frank Carter quit Gallows and joined up with Jim Carroll of The Hope Conspiracy in a band called Pure Love.  I knew the hardcore scene was quite incestuous, but I was intrigued by Frank’s “musical differences” and then forming a band with Jim. Fast forward to April 2012, and the release of Pure love’s debut single, ‘Bury My Bones’. Imagine my surprise at hearing the man who once spat “we have no fear, we have no pity … we hate you, we hate this city” melodiously singing ” I’m so sick of singing about hate, it’s never gonna make … Read more →

Review: My Bloody Valentine – ‘m b v’

If the Mayans were wrong about the apocalypse, then surely the release of a new My Bloody Valentine album is a much more significant sign that the end times are upon us. Their last album – the undeniably classic Loveless – was released in 1991, and despite the band never officially breaking up, the development of a follow up has been in the works since the mid 90s. Just think about all the water under the bridge since then: since Loveless‘s release we’ve had grunge, the entire golden era of hip hop, the rise of electronic music, hell, even the internet wasn’t around to any recognisable extent in 1991. The world is a very different place since My Bloody Valentine last released some original music. That’s a lot of historical baggage to be saddled with. The trick to enjoying new albums from classic bands is to listen to them for … Read more →

First Classic Track of the Year: Joey Bada$$ – ‘Unorthodox’

Joey Bada$$ is a rapper from Brooklyn who raps in the classic New York style. There’s nothing retro about this – just a simple love of hip hop and hip hop traditions, a focus on lyrics and flow rather than production and pimping. Having said that, the track is produced by DJ Premier so you know you’re in for a treat. Keep an eye out for an album from Joey later this year – fingers crossed for another superb year of hip hop in 2013.

Click through to listen and grab a free download.

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NME Predicts the Return of Guitar Rock in 2013, Monkeys Throw Poo

I had to chuckle when I saw this one on NME.com: “Radio 1 boss, Rough Trade and Paul Weller predict the return of guitar music in 2013″. Well of course they do. This is about as startling a revelation as Snow Patrol predicting piano-driven snore-fests as the next big musical movement, or Nicky Minaj predicting a fashion surge in stupid fucking purple wigs and collagen. I used to love NME. For a long time they were THE source of all things Indie Rock and UK based. But sadly, in the last few years the UK indie rock scene has been more than a little tired and uninspired, with the cutting edge of new music swinging accross the other side of the Atlantic as it is want to do every decade or so. The last time the NME were on point was with the Klaxons – roughly the same time as … Read more →

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