ALBUM REVIEW: Obscured By A Setting Sun by Ox.Eagle.Lion.Man

Y'know, I very nearly let this one pass my by completely. Never have I been more affronted by shoddy mixing/production as I was upon attempt #1 at listening to this album. Ok, now I know that to most people, production values aren't at the forefront of their minds when listening to an album, and in fairness I'm usually the same. But when it's THIS bad, it really ruins the experience.

Muddy guitars, heavy-handed bass EQ, and an annoying filter on the vocal niegh ruin opener "If This Is A Man", to a point aproaching the "Unlistenable" category. Which is a shame, because it's probably the best on the record.

Once we push past this initial hurdle, does it get any better. Well, no. Not really.

The band's singer, one Frederik Blood-Royal, despite having a glourious 'tache, sounds about as pretentious as his name. He recalls ¡Forward, Russia!'s singer, without the charm or wide-eyed urgencey. Lyrically, he's spouting on about biblical scenes and "corporeal mortification"... you get the picture. Delivered by a good singer, I'd be prepared to credit this. Delivered by an infuriatingly bad singer..?

The band don't sound as orriginal as they would like to think. Aforementioned "If This Is A Man" sounds like it was stolen from The Mars Volta's discard pile, while elsewhere some Jimmy Paige-esque arpeggio' work against a backdrop of (gasp) cellos fails to really excite.

In short, there's nothing here that hasn't been done a lot better elsewhere. Admitedly not by such snappy dressers, but that aside, you'd be much better off spending your money elsewhere.

Cheers!
Chris/Audio Bigot
xx

p.s. Apologies for any spelling errors. I'm currently writing from an internet cafe in Greece... and because it costs a BOMB I don't yet have Word on this computer. Will update when I get home! OH and as promised, Animal Collective review is on the way. I'm still making my mind up...

ALBUM REVIEW: Jewellery by Micachu and the Shapes

Play this album LOUD! It's a weird, disturbing and unsettling ride, and the only way you'll make it through is to rock it hard!

Micachu is a brilliant singer/songwriter/Dj/producer and this album showcases her ability to make songs that shouldn't work... well... work? I don't know where else you expected me to go with that sentence. Micachu doesn't construct nice, straightforward songs then scuzz them up to be more "cool", but takes scuzzy elements like crapped-out guitars and nasty keyboards and makes pop songs out of them, layering them with her lovely, if slightly bitter-sounding, voice.

Some songs a more straight-forward than others, such as "Golden Phone" and "Calculator", whereas others are shorter, more trippy affairs, such as "Sweet Heart", which starts with one hook, before breaking into a disparate punk rhythm. There's so much originality here, with twists and turns around every corner and some genuinely brilliant lyrics.

Now, I'm not gunna pretend that this album will be to everybody's tastes, but if you have a sufficiently open mind there's some great little songs here. There are a surprising number of sing-a-long moments and hip-waggling rhythms too, so if you're willing to make the jump from your nice clean world of slick production and narrow-minded marketeering, you might just find that "Jewellery" is actually a real gem.

I'm now going to go lie down after that terrible pun.

Chris/Audio Bigot.
xx

LIVE REVIEW: St. Vincent, Blue Roses and This Is My Normal State @ Thekla, Bristol

Finally! I get to review a gig at my favourite Bristol venue - THEKLA! Why is it so good? Well, its a tiny stage that gets a massive range of bands to play; from acts that still think its a big stage, to genuinely big names (I've seen Calvin Harris there, and Does It Offend You, Yeah? are set to play soon!)

Unfortunately though, I have to start the review badly. First support act, This Is My Normal State, are the most over-equipped, under-talented band I've ever seen. Gleefully misunderstanding the point of the atmospheric/shoegaze/epic indie thing, instead they just sound like a sterile kit-demo at a NAMM* boothe.

Now bands using computers is fine. I mean it makes sense; it opens up a world of possibilities, and if I ever get my act together and write anything I will probably be relying on Ableton to do a live show. But when I watch the show, I don't want to hear the click track for god's sake! And why does a band that's doing a 30 minute set at the front of the bill, having just recorded their 1st EP, need over a grands' worth of radio in-ear monitoring systems?

If this band were pumping out really amazing, life changing sounds I'd forgive them being tooled-up to the teeth... but instead, with a disappointing vocalist, a completely redundant cellist, and a guitarist who looks and acts like the kind of guy who does the band around his tech-support day job, these guys just reek undeserved ego. If you want to see this done properly, check out A Genuine Freakshow, or maybe The Big Pink.

Next up, and by complete contrast, were the lovely Blue Roses. From something sterile and techy, we move to something that couldn't be more grass-roots and natural. While not really breaking much new ground, the folky/blues thing is done very well here. Lovely vocals, with firm harmonies... I can see this young woman having at least one song that could become very dear to you.

It seems rude to say so much less about an act that I enjoyed than an act I didn't, but I want you to go and check out Blue Roses, and discover them for your self. Let's just say that this was a confident, disarming performance that will stay with me for a while. Check her out!

As I already said, I love Thekla. But Thekla, it seems, does not love St. Vincent. I've never seen so many things go wrong in a set; 2 broken strings, monitors not working and at least one amp not working properly... But still this is a tightly controlled set. Good for her.

St. Vincent (aka. Annie Clark and her 4 piece band) bring a refreshingly up-beat vibe to a room housing not a few gloomy hipsters**. Onstage, it's big grins a-plenty, as the band play out each funky, minimalist tune. Clark's sparkling guitar tones cut through well, and just as well because it's quite impressive playing.

Her band has a violinist and one guy who is an entire wood-wind section! They both use sampling/loop pedals to make themselves sound much bigger than they are, and the result is a lovely sound that's full and shimmering. Vocal harmonies are amazing aswell, with a full 4 part accapella section rounding off the main body of the set sounding so tight and well rehearsed it beggars belief.

After the second broken string, I felt that a bit of that buzz and enthusiasm may have escaped the band, but on the whole I'd say this was to be expected. This was still a really exciting set, and I'll be checking out her records soooon!

Thanks for reading!
Chris/Audio Bigot
xx

*Non-nerd translation: An international Expo, where music hardware/software manufacturers come to show of their latest variation on the loop-pedal/electronic drum kit/whatever...

**I couldn't help but chuckle when I saw a guy in a tweed suit, frilly shirt and a cool hair-do retrieve his vintage suitcase from behind the bar; much to the bemusement of the barman.

ALBUM REVIEW: Lungs by Florence + the Machine

Ok, so here it is. After a storming live performance at Glastonbury, will Flo/Mac's album live up to the hype? Well I'll be honest- It could be better.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves. This album is a perfect example of the uniqueness that has propelled Florence and the Machine to such giddy levels of hype; Passion, harps, driving disco/rock beats and of course that amazing voice are all present and correct. The record pivots between stomping anthems with heart-beat drums ("Howl", "Dog Days Are Over"), bluesy ballads ("Girl With One Eye", "My Boy Builds Coffins") and the more radio friendly singles. It's also great to see "You've Got The Love" included here as a bonus track. I'm not going to suggest by a long way that her best song is a cover, but Miss Welch's voice is really amazing on this track.

Lyrically, it's strong, taking it back to an old school, story telling vibe. I guess that a lot of it is pseudo-fictional; wikipedia has a quote that claims she writes "stories with consequences and weird morality issues" and I'd say that kinda sums it up. In fact that's why I used it. Clever that, eh?

One special aspect of this album, is that it conceals among it's singer/songwriter, bluesy, harp-laden song-smith-ery a fair few tracks that can only be described as "party anthems". I certainly wouldn't complain if the DJ dropped "Kiss With A Fist" or "Hurricane Drunk" on my booze-y night out.

So far, so good. And before I start to say anything negative I want to qualify this. This album is good, and my grumbles are because it doesn't grab you by the collar and nut you with its awesomeness in the same way as the live show. An album this hyped, from such an exciting band, should be an immediate classic. And yet on my first listen, it didn't thrill me.

This is the heart of the matter. After such an electric set, you would expect the album to really jump out at you. But instead it falls limply into the slightly over-crowded category of "Growers". I'm gunna choose to blame the production. Reading the album's sleeve notes is quite a job... So many producers have been involved in the recording of this album, which in turn was recorded in quite a few different places.

Usually, a band does a debut album in 3 weeks or less, in a tiny studio with the biggest name producer they can find, and yeah, maybe it works for some bands to have the leisure of time and a bigger budget, but I don't think Florence and the Machine are one of those bands. The focus and excitement that the band convey live seems diluted on this record, and it's such a shame.

And so, I reach the end of the article. I suppose a summary might be a good idea? Ok. This album is good, you should check it out and maybe you'll grow to love it. But if you want the REAL Flo/Mac experience, get down the show. You won't be disappointed.

Cheers.
Chris/Audio Bigot
xx

p.s. Check out Jamie T's remix of "Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)". It goes a long way to being better than the original.

For your knowledge...

Just so you know, Johnny Foreigner have a new single out called "Feels Like Summer"!

It's a bit awesome, but so far as I can tell it's not getting a proper release. Instead it's free to download from their new website, you just have to give your email address!

So go download. Now, boy!

In other news... I HAVE FLORENCE! The new album arrived on saturday morning ahead of the monday release, and I think I played it through at least 5 times that day! I'm planning to pen some thoughts on that matter tomorrow, closely followed by some succinct observations on the latest Animal Collective album. There'll probably be a few other things to go with it too so stay tuned!

Cheers.
Chris/Audio Bigot
xx

Glastonbury: My Experience

So last weekend was my first ever Glastonbury and I had a REALLY good time. A few people have said that I should do a review, but I don't think that's possible because a festival is really what you make of it! If you had a crap time then it's probably your own fault.

Instead, I'm gunna do a top 5 Best Moments, almost like a proper journalistic feature! HERE GOES!


NUMBER FIVE: Discovering that my tent, which I had eventually erected at the ridiculous hour of 2:30am on thursday, had in fact survived the day's absolute DOWNPOUR and remained waterproof. Result.

NUMBER FOUR: Following a 30 minute delay in their (probably unnecessarily) huge set up, N*E*R*D ended up over-running their slot massively. Since they showed no intention of finishing on time, the sound desk cut the sound from the main speakers half way through "Everyone Nose (All the Girls Standing in the Line for the Bathroom)", but down the front we could still hear the sound coming from the onstage instruments and finished the song sing-a-long style! Achooo!

NUMBER THREE: This one, I feel, has to be a three way tie between Micachu and the Shapes' set, discovering the Rough Trade marquee*, and having been sat on the front barrier of the John Peel tent, turning round to discover that I really WASN'T the only one enjoying Esser's major tuneage... (The guy just looks quite grumpy, luv him!)

NUMBER TWO: Frankly, Bloc Party's whole set was amazing; the kind of life-affirming set that makes you realise that this band are gunna be with us for a while, and I'd be quite happy to bet that in 30-40 years time they'll enjoy the kind of status Led Zeppelin or Queen have now. However, my second best moment of the festival was when Kele Okereke returned to stage crying "Where the fuck do you think you're going?" They then played "This Modern Love" and kicked ass!

NUMBER ONE: The crowd's reaction to Florence and the Machine's "Dog Days Are Over". Hands down, one of the biggest moments of insanity I've ever witnessed. For some reason she played that song and the John Peel tent just went NUTS. She nearly cried as well, bless. But the really amazing thing is that she hasn't even got an album out yet! This woman is destined for big things, and God sparing her any Winehouse-style drama, should be one of the most important singers to happen to the 21st Century. And shes a BABE.

So there we go! A complete weekend of awesomeness boiled down to 5 easily digestible chunks! It in no way does it any justice, but then it was never going to was it!

Until next time!
Chris/The Audio Bigot
xx

*Where else can you take your pint in a record store? Best thing since coffee in a bookshop!