Burn The Witch
Joe Eyebank offers some anthems of resistance

Kate Nash- Merry Happy
After being sent most of Kate Nash's back-catalogue in single form, I felt it necessary that I should comfort Kate Nash's cushy album-sales with some written analytical text.

This song like the Elevator worthy anthem "Foundations", is well, disgustingly average. The lyrics taking on the style similar to a university student at Luton, with a 'cute', indie, Fisher price keyboard melody bouncy playfully like a care bear while Kate reminds us that her life is incredibly boring; "dont tell me that you didn't try to check out my bum, cause I know that you did cause your friend told me that you liked it" and "dancing at discos, eating cheese on toast…, chatting on the phone can't take back those hours"... As you can see some deep inspiration has gone into this - howewever if she were to write a song about the Spanish revolution or Palestinian Conflict it would not fit with the mediocre tunes so it seems fitting that the subjects of Pumpkin Soup and Cheese on Toast are placed next to streamlined tractor tunes.

The thing though which differs the playful tune from every other singer/songwriter NME leech, is Kate's voice, sometimes sounding like a 'Cockney Gal' and other moments reminding me of a Shirley Temple with a lisp.

So at the end of this AHEM Independent scene we can all tell our children that the biggest love affair that drove music in the 21st century was Topshop.

Mabye Kate will be remembered as one of the pioneers of the genre.

What a um legend.

1/10

WolfPack Unleashed- Anthems Of Resistance
Wolfpack Unleashed are an Austrian band on Napalm records with an album with 80 tracks altogether, each song after track 3 being spilt into parts, pointless but hey, it fills space in my i-tunes.
On the back of "Anthems of Resistance" they have conveniently put "thrash metal" incase you were to be confused as to which sub-genre of metal they exactly are. So there you go, at least if you're going to insult their unoriginality you know which sub-genre to classify them as, in the confusing web of metal genres. To be honest they sound so similar to most of the tightly compacted metal bands that make it big in the media that there's nothing too surprising or different about them, even they know that, by writing what they are classified as on the back of the c.d, at least they're not pretentious or unaware of themselves.

They could have coated the ruler drawn tunes by saying they have an "ethnic twist" because they do tapping solos in Harmonic minor, oooooo, anarchy! But they know themselves which is reassuring.
The album begins with a riff that was probably cut 'n' paste from a Trivium track and singing like a foreign James Hetfield with occasional screams.
So basically, if you're new to metal, you'll almost certainly bang your head to the double bass and clench your fist to the bone crunching riffs but if you are aware of the likes of Metallica, Megadeth, Anthrax, Exodus and any other big thrash names you will have seen it all before.
4/10

Dan le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip- Angles
When a hip-hop artist takes a name from an Edward Lear poem, you are either put into confusion as to if it's meant to be irony of a sort, or whether it's a piss take(or maybe a side project of the Dog Men Poets!). But well no, it's neither of the above suggested, Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip combine rhymes, beats and intelligence, covering subjects such as generic pop music, religion and general cynical ness in life. It's refreshing to have such an original act in the hip-hop genre, when there are so many out there covering the same superficial subjects with simple lyrics and choruses designed to sell. (There is also a 'piss-take' version of Dizzie Rascals "Fix Up Look Sharp" about hip-hop nowadays, not disrespecting Dizzie!)

The particular gems to the album are the biggest track "Thou Shalt Always Kill", which could almost become an anthem, with such lyrics as
"Thou shalt not read NME.
Thall shalt not stop liking a band just because they've become popular."
It's forcing opinons at you in a dictating fashion as if to say that fashion itself is almost dictating, dictating 'originality' as if there are codes for liking stuff and not liking it in music genres and scenes, almost ironically that what Scroobius Pip says is anti-vogue. It's both intelligent, humorous and has the ear worthy-ness substance to make it good hip-hop!

Thous shalt buy this album!
9/10

Stone Gods- Burn The Witch
After The Darkness's split, bassist Richie Edwards (! - MSP obsessed Ed) swapped places to front the new band "Stone Gods", having made their name on an internet band naming site, Stone Gods were already off to an um hopeful start.

The songs themselves are almost as obvious as the band naming site entries, and while listening I begin to wonder whether they got their lyrics, melodies and sound off an internet site as well. 'Burn The Witch' is like modernised Def Leopard in a detention centre, while a computer database controls the lyrics/music and sound to fit a formula built to not offend. The other thing that people without personality will find incredibly innovative and interesting about "Stone Gods" is they have solos based around pentatonic scales done with a slight new-age virtusuo solo take, which music boffs with an appetite for cadences will find sensational. So basically one of the most expressive music genres has just had a newly furnished, straight-edge band enter the genre, and guess what! They are not offensive or too diverse. Yay!

(I see, it's not that Richey Edwards - Ed)

2.55555555531/10

Alone, The Home Recordings Of Rivers Cuomo
This is almost a Musical Autobiography of Rivers Cuomo and Weezers early form of foetus, and the songs they didn't manage to put onto record. With the original ideas for their famous "Buddy Holly" single and outlines for other songs by Weezer mainly, circa 89-07. The recordings are rough and earthy, so much so that you hear it when the track skips or any background noise which gives it a very personal feel and sets the scene from the time those songs were recorded. The album is not so much an album as the songs are, pretty bland if you don't read the little personal stories to go with them in the booklet, which boosts the feel, but it doesn't have the feeling to be i-pod worthy. There's also some songs from a rock musical Weezer were planning to make called "Songs from the Black Hole", which later morphed into their album "Pinkerton".

A rough, random collection of songs in no particular order but it provides enlightenment and a peek behind the scenes into Weezer's career, not so much for general listening but more for an outlook on Rivers Cuomos as a musician and an insight into Weezer, like a short musical biography with a disc and booklet.
6/10

Pendulum- Propane Nightmares
Since the underground success of "Hold Your Colour", Pendulum seemed to become the new face of Drum 'n' Bass, and recognised by some people as the only dance music they like as the fast bass and beats with a rock twinge generally fit most tastes no matter how defined and picky the person may be, with this Pendulum started to become successful in the rock scene as well, and now due to that they have now made an album leaning more towards their rock roots than the Drum 'n' Bass they originally captured clubs and dance floors with, with the intention to "sell more". Putting Cynical aside 'Propane Nightmares' is probably the best track on the album, it being the most diverse but still maintaining that signature fast beat that Pendulum made the skeleton for the majority of "Hold Your Colour". The track begins with some celebratory, Spanish sounding horns with vocals, then launching into some big breakbeat that lead to the synth driven cosmic, space age dance battering ram.

Something that differs to old Pendulum is the fact that now they sing, and it seems that some of the instruments are now played as apposed to digital, computer made, this is good in some ways but it feels that they have almost abandoned that signature 'go mental while intoxicated at a party' sound and headed for the more 'learn the tab' way.

A soaring tune with talent and adrenaline, although largely made to fit the needs of album sales.
7/0

Joey Eyebank

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