May 2011
1 post
19 tags
April 2011
2 posts
7 tags
Hayvanlar Alemi - Crossroad Metamorphosis →
(clicking on the title above will take you to the bands myspace page, crossroad metamorphosis is the sixth song down. It’s hard to find music links in Turkish…)
Turkish band Hayvanlar Alemi have created an eight minute epic; a beautiful twisted waltz. Crossroad metamorphosis explodes eerily and sporadically making the repeated riff that carries the song far from monotonous, instead it...
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Track 1. The Most Important Track of All.
The mixture of anticipation, excitement and fear that moulds in your stomach as you press play on track one of any album is one of the finest feelings the world has to offer.
Below, in alphabetical artist order are some of my favourite opening songs of all time. Some are just great songs by their own merit, others lay the foundations of the great albums that follow them. This is the all...
March 2011
6 posts
26 tags
ELBOW - A VERY BRITISH LOVE AFFAIR
It’s difficult to count the number of bands that I have shunned for years simply because I missed the boat. I am ashamed to admit, but there have been countless bands that I have dismissed as overrated and not worth my time. When I was 14, I saw a Radiohead video on mtv2, I had heard of Radiohead before, of course, but I didn’t own any of their albums. I...
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February 2011
2 posts
January 2011
5 posts
November 2010
2 posts
6 tags
6 tags
October 2010
5 posts
7 tags
Kings of Leon - Come Around Sundown
It’s taken me a while to review this album, but some things take time. It takes courage to confirm the demise of a band you once adored.
Until recently, very recently, I would shout my lungs empty about the Kings of Leon. Youth and Young Manhood is an album I can live in. It’s raw rock n roll, fierce emotions stripped to the bone, churned out with passion and fury. Off the top of my head, now...
The original version of My Rock N Roll, as...
Dinosaur Pile Up - Growing Pains
In my second year of university, I begged my housemates to come with me to the alternative music night, New Slang, at a club with an awful reputation for school discos and sluts.
They stayed at home. I went alone, I broke my new sunglasses, I ripped one of my favourite shirts. I saw Dinosaur Pile Up, and I stood on the barrier, rocking out, whilst the crowd around me kept a safe distance. I...
Jamie Smith (of xx fame)
Though long overdue, The XX’s recent exposure and adulation is deserved. The only negative from this is their previously, hauntingly intimate live shows have been replaced by euphoric mass crowds, massive venues and stadium sing a longs: not to words, but to every single hook and note.
Here, Jamie Smith, the man who lends XX their incredibly unique sound creates his first solo effort....
September 2010
4 posts
A Classic: Wilco - Sky Blue Sky (2007)
Recorded in a loft in Chicago, Wilco’s 6th Studio offering, Sky Blue Sky (2007) is both beautifully intricate and instantly accessible.
The simple string arrangements on opener, Either Way, contrasted with Nels Cline’s gently peaking guitar lends the album an atmosphere of stoned contemplation, of late September evenings in the park sitting defiant in the cold and increasing dark; tinny...
