In New Music We Thrust

Some thoughts on some new music whilst I'm at work:

I had thought that Brand New would chill out with their new album, and dare I say it, become a little standard and boring. They certainly made sure they didn't go down that path! It's raucous and abrasive, not the easy listening I expected. Definately good, but I think I prefer The Devil and God, which was near perfection. Where can you really go from there I suppose?! I will listen to it more though and it will prob continue to grow on me.

I had a wierd sense of apprehension about the the new RX Bandits album, and upon hearing it, an immediate slight disappointment. But after I got over the fact there weren't any horns, that it was a different direction, and gave it a few listens, it really came into its own. The album is brilliant, rocking, with the but it's just not quite there for me. Hard to put my finger on why, but I guess as they're pretty much my favourite band I always expect the best from them, and while it's a great album, I think maybe I'm just not as excited by it as I was by their last 2 albums. Maybe I'm a little older, and they're a little less fresh and the album is just as good... Time will tell.

Not long until new Biffy Clyro album as well! Can't wait for that, though I fear it will be dangerously poppy. Hopefully it will still have the Biffy quirkiness that is there in the new B-sides Will showed me, but was ever so slightly missing on the last album. At the same time it's what made the album massive though, the more standard structures and rhythms, and they are good at writing the pop songs, but I loved them before. The new singles are pretty good, prefer the punkiness and the stabby bridge of That Golden Rule to the cheesetastic "somebody help me sing" of The Captain, and hopefully the album will deliver. They haven't failed yet.

I thought Frank Turner could do no wrong, apparently I was wrong. He is the only modern solo artist I can think of off the top of my head that I'm in to, every release had been getting better, and I fucking loved the last album. I remeber the first time I heard it it made the hairs stand, something that generally seems to be reserved for coffee and the cold nowadays. So from the first seconds of the Kate Nash/Lilly Allen piano intro I was disappointed. It's not a terrible album. But it's not up to the standard of the last. It feels to me like he's let the band have too much input, rather than just being backing for him, and at times his band are pretty bad, especially the guitarist. Frank still shines through, and the moments when it's just him and his accoustic are brilliant. But there's parts of the album that are just boring, and I don't think it's necessarily the songwriting, but the arrangement. I could imagine the same songs performed just by him having the raw intensity that made me love him. As a pop album its the most commercial, and that along with his conitual touring I'm sure will keep him on the rise, but I can't even listen to the whole album without wanting to skip, which is a real shame.

I'm in to the new Thrice. Much more cohesive than the four part epic, a solid album of good songs.

This has passed another amazing morning at work morning nicely! The day I can wake up and know that all I have to do is write or perform music will be a truely magical day. For now I'll just have to keep dreaming!

"Do what you love, cause in the end we only die... And though the body may be imprisoned, nothing can stop the bird of hope from taking flight."
Thank you Matt Embree! Easy for him to say though, they've been living off the band since their teens!

All The Other Humans

I have joined a new band, All The Other Humans, playing drums! It's with Will (Overthrow) and Adam, who used to be Abel Hans. It's great to be playing drums again as it was my first and only instrument for many years. The music is heavy and melodic and pretty technical, and blistering the fuck out of my soft undrummed hands!

Toasters Tour

So the Toasters dates are done and they were great! Not packed, but a slight step up for us, both in terms of venues and the headline act. The Underworld show was inevitably the best, saving the day after a royal fuck up the day before for the Birmingham gig, getting stuck in traffic for so long that we had to turn around and not play! The Toasters are a really good band. They didn't particularly impress me at the Brighton show, though I think at the same time they prob weren't that impressed by the crowd. But at the shows where the turn out was good (especially The Underworld) they were on top form, always tight as fuck, and I can see why they've had such a great run. It must be hard reaching that stage when your popularity begins to wane. I can't imagine ever wanting to stop doing what you love, especially after 20 or 30 years. But when your fee begins to outweigh the crowd... must be tough. Anyway, all in all, super shows, and when we did speak to them, they seemed like sound guys too.

We are well on the way with new tunes. We've got about 8 songs, and are debating at present whether to do another EP and get it out as soon as possible, or spend longer writing and recording a release a full album. Let me know what you think. Not much reggae in there. Not a deliberate departure, but it's hard to write many reggae parts that don't feel like a rehash of the past. A lot of cross rhythms and a lot of
rock powered by Will's beard! Beards make you look like you're in a band apparently, shame I can't grow one! Anyway, tunes are sounding fat, can't wait to get them out there...therefore edging towards an EP myself.x