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Hot in the Dolls House The Daves: ASBO Street The opening track, 'Saturday 3pm' comes bursting into your speakers to deliver a powerful, upbeat punk anthem. It has a sing-along chorus that makes you feel like smashing something, if not everything, around you. Lead singer 'Dave's' gravely voice in the chorus is backed by the lyrics "hey ho lets go." The repetitive punchiness of the guitar could match Johnny Ramone.
'Mad dogs and Englishmen' is a predictable song but has some funny memorable lyrics and the guitars are both strong. 'ASBO Street' sounds like the result of the Ramones and the Sex Pistols recording a tribute to the Dead Kennedys. The Daves are possibly one of the best underground punk bands around right now. www.thedaves.co.uk 10/10 Guile: Rock n' Roll Guile are a terrible band. They are boring and depressing. They ruin the name of rock with songs about walking with Jesus by your side, and the singer wins the award of having the most boring voice ever. Track 3 is the best song on the album and even then it is dreadful. They describe themselves on Myspace as "alternative psychedelic shoegaze" and their music has been described as "...Musical refreshment for the soul..." The overall feel is that a group of hippies got together and wrote songs about things no one really cares about just to see how bad music can be. www.guilemusic.com -4/10
My Passion are a sort of electro rock band with wailing emo-esque vocals. They rely heavily on synthesizers and keyboard but the guitar is equally important. They sound a bit like Billy Talent gone electro. In track 1 Hot in the Dolls House the drums are slow but keep the rhythm well. The distorted guitars thrash out a tune and the vocals whine away letting the team down. Track 2, Last Day in Paradise', sounds much like track 1 but 2 octaves higher. It is less heavy but is overall the best out of the 2 songs. They are an average band but they will probably appeal to quite a lot of people. www.mypassion.co.uk 5/10
The sound of heavy metal blasts through your speakers. All is good until the vocals start as the singer can't decide whether to sing or scream which seems to make him go very out of tune but never mind. They sound like Iron Maiden and Helloween doing a concert with James Hetfield singing when he's drunk. All the songs have very metal names, such as 'The Ale House Braves' and 'Cities of Frost'. On the back it seems to have a cheap rip off of Avenged Sevenfold's logo but who cares as no one really likes them.
Metal can't get much better than this. It's as if hundreds of everyone's favourite CDS have been thrown into a blender and then flattened out to make Orange Goblins unique brand of stoner metal. Orange Goblin have returned and sound like they're in the mood for a fight. Raise your horn of ale and put on your Viking helmet cos metal is back. www.orange-goblin.com 9/10
The Tupolev Ghost have been described as "one of the most exciting new bands to come from the dark depths of Cambridge" but their style of music is not for me. Queens of the Stone Age were wrong. This really is Songs for the Deaf as, in my opinion, they are the only ones who would enjoy listening to them. www.myspace.com/thetupolevghost Jessica is a classic rock song about falling in love with a girl [it's about Jessica Alba - pedantic Ed]. It is no surprise that this song is on all the music channels as this is a catchy blend of pop music, vocals and heavy rock guitars, with a keyboard player that shouldn't fit in, but does, perfectly. All these things make Elliot Minor one of the best new bands in the UK.
Their second single is exciting and tells an interesting story that fans of any genre will love. Their success will grow and grow until the 5 ex-choir boys will be unstoppable. Mosh or dance to them, Elliot Minor are a band you just have to admire. www.myspace.com/elliotminor 10/10 The Pigeon Detectives: I Found Out The Pigeon Detectives are one of the many indie bands around right now, but unlike the rest of them they actually make good music. Track 1 is a sing-along song that uses an interesting range of lyrics and catchy guitar parts. This track was released quite a while ago and is probably the most played track out of their many popular indie anthems.
Track 2, 'Left Alone With You', isn't as bouncy and vibrant as 'I Found Out' but it is still another indie masterpiece with a lyrical assault of well chosen words. 'Hello (My Old Friend)' is a slow acoustic ballad that is less interesting as the vocalist doesn't seem as enthusiastic as in the other songs but it still deserves recognition. The Pigeon Detectives are the future of indie. thepigeondetectives.com
The 'Yeah Yeah Yeahs' are an American band with a unique blend of ambient pop-rock. A sudden outbreak of noise during the chorus makes you think that something special is about to happen but when the faint vocals of Karen O kick in you become severely disappointed and realise this song is not going to get any better and you give up listening to it.
The guitar lacks style and the vocals are so weak they sound as if they are being sung by a mouse with a sore throat. The vocalist sounds like she is trying to remember whether she left the cooker on and she isn't really interested in making music at all. Altogether the combination of Brian Chase, Nick Zinner and Karen O playing music together makes you either laugh or cry about how boring their music is. The 'Yeah Yeah Yeahs' is their name and "Stop Stop Stop" is people's reaction to their music. www.yeahyeahyeahs.com -2/10 Asobi Seksu: Walk On The Moon Asobi Seksu are very relaxing to listen to and 'Walk on the Moon' is an album made to please. The first song is a pop rock song with soaring female vocals and guitars that range from being light and gentle to harsh and distorted. In track two the keyboards opens up the song then a crazy sort of thing that may be a guitar, but I couldn't tell as it had so many effects on it. Yuki Chikudate's vocals soared to pitches that are un-imaginably high but suit the songs so it doesn't matter. The drums keep a constant beat but seem to be exactly the same for the entire song. Asobi Seksu are branded as "shoegazing influenced indie rock" (Whatever that is!). www.asobiseksu.com 9/10
Interpol are a New York band that are showing the way forward for modern rock with their latest single, 'The Heinrich Manoeuvre'. The lyrics are interesting and the guitar holds everything together. The pounding drums provide more than just rhythm, they provide the heart of the song. The lyrics could just as easily be from a Panic! At the Disco song.
Interpol are a band that have the talent to get far but need to develop more of their own style. They sound much like many of the other bands around right now but are one of the best. www.interpolnyc.com 7/10 Rob McCullough: Six of One Radio-friendly crap is what spews out of your speakers when you listen to this single and it reminds you of every bad song that has ever been played on Radio 1. Annoying is the only way to describe it - predictable pop music that tries to portray itself as a "song about the underdog" when it is just another song to everyone but the singer. Rob McCulloch is said to be influenced by, among others, Johnny Cash, The Doors, Oasis and The Beatles but to me 'Six of One' is vaguely reminiscent of the Artic Monkeys performing at a folk club after listening to Bryan Adams. www.robmcculloch.com 2/10
'Sunlight' is a slow tempo pop song with the lead instrument being a piano, which provides a solid tune all the way through the song. The guitar parts are quite simple yet effective as they form a continual background sound. The vocalist sounds like the singer from the Scissor Sisters as he sings in the same high pitched whining way but this is good as it fits in with the style of slow acoustic pop that they play. The artwork on the album is striking and is a kind of evil duck person in cartoon form.
Track 2 'These are the Willing' is a slightly heavier song, with the slow acoustic guitar having been replaced with a slightly faster electric guitar, but overall the song lacks the weird individuality that 'Sunlight' has. Strawhouses are the sort of band that may only appeal to a few people as they don't really fit into any genre, but are worth listening to.
6/10 Steffan Bones Bleat radio friendly crap about these reviews on
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