Project 90...
Joe 90 returns to blast some more baddies

Graham Coxon - Love Travels At Illegal Speeds
Graham Coxon returns with 'Love Travels At Illegal Speeds', the follow up to 2004's 'Happiness In Magazines', and he has once again managed to make a really good album. Opening track 'Standing On My Own Again' sets a good tempo to a record that never seems to lapse or lose quality, forthcoming single 'You & I' is one of the stand-out tracks on the album, with enough 'la la la's' to keep a stadium of people singing along all throughout the song. Well done Mr Coxon, you've done it again.
8/10
http://www.grahamcoxon.co.uk/

 

The Dresden Dolls - Sing (single)
When I told my mates that I was going to be the reviewing The Dresdan Dolls their reactions where "Wow, they're great, really original", which left me thinking I was going to be reviewing a real cracker.
I'm sorry to say it, but I'm disappointed.
This download-only single 'Sing' is so basic its unreal, the lyrics are poor, and the music is very amateur. This leaves you feeling very disappointed and really quite frustrated that this is all there is to offer.
Perhaps its just this single, perhaps the album is so much better, but if a band has this much hype, the least they can do is live up to it.
2/10
http://www.dresdendolls.com/

The Utopians - Britain's Littlest Killer
The Utopians combine a fuzzy electronic sound with a punk attitude. And to a certain degree they pull it off, but whilst listening to this EP you soon realise it lacks the bite that this type of musically so desperately requires.
The ideas are good and the riffs are pretty original, but I don't think I'll be the only one who will have a problem with the vocalist, his high-pitched squeals don't exactly add any attitude to this music.
Although they are not quite the complete package yet, they sound like a good band in the making
5/10
http://www.theutopians.co.uk/

Dead Letter Society - EP
The EP kicks off with 'Lost In Conversation', a quirky little tune with lots of spiky guitars and a hint of Ordinary Boys about it. When you get through tracks 2 and 3 it soon dawns on you that Dead Letter Society are a one-trick pony, relying on simple melodies and spiky guitars to get them through, and it all seems a bit dull. The bonus live track at the end isn't anything different either, with a very plodding beat making 4 minutes seem like 4 hours.
That's that then.
3/10

Dirty Pretty Things - Bang Bang You're Dead
I really did want to hate this single. I honestly did, after spending the past year or so despising The Libertines I thought I would take great pleasure in slating it.
But it's all gone wrong. This is excellent.
The song starts off by making you think you are in some 1930's film soundtrack and then exploding into a fury of punk and rock. The vocals are gritty yet tuned, the guitars messy but neat, and the overall sound is that of a band in full swing. I am particularly fond of the lead break about half way through, which is inevitably trashy and messy but for some reason, it just sounds so good.
9/10


http://www.dirtyprettythingsband.com/

The Slides - Slow Bullet
The Slides single 'Slow Bullet' gets off to a promising start, with a scratchy guitar and neat vocals, but after a couple of minutes you realise it hasn't really built up to anything, with those same guitars and vocals only being joined by VERY quiet guitars. At the end of the song you sit and feel a bit confused because when you first put the song on it really does sound like it could be a cracker. But it just falls short of the mark
5/10
www.theslides.com

Kwangchow - King Biscuit Time
Awful
Awful is really the only word I can use to describe Kwangchow (what kind of name is that anyway?)
1/10
http://www.kingbiscuittime.co.uk/

The Human Value - EP
When I read The Human Value's bio I am told that they are "One of the hottest new bands to come out of the States", but I'm sorry, but I'm just not buying. The distorted guitars just make the mix sound like one huge mess and the wishy-washy vocals are not a pleasant thing to listen to.
But are the songs any good?
No, no not really.
They are basic 3 chorders with simple 'thud thud thud' rhythms and no real interesting structure to make the EP stand out
3/10
http://www.thehumanvalue.com/

The Boyfriends - Adult Acne
The Boyfriends have a sound very similar to The Smiths, with the singer seemingly doing his best Morrissey impersonation, and when the song really gets going it is actually very impressive.
Everything sounds big and epic in the chorus but it swiftly changes to funk-fuelled verses, even though they are different they flow together quite nicely and creates something quite unique
'Adult Acne' is a song that you feel you have to keep listening to, and if you don't, you will find yourself humming it all day.
7/10

Action Directe - Cometh The Hour, Cometh The Band
Action Directe sound like one of those bands that have just lost their guitarist to an out of town conference the night before a gig and need to get John from down the road to fill in for them and learn their entire set in 24 hours.
Which means, overall, it's all very messy
The guitars are out of tune, and it's the same with the vocals. These songs lack any structure or tune, as they seem a bit too pre-occupied with being 'angry' and 'mean'.
Probably bloody good live though
4/10


www.actiondirecte.co.uk

Thrush - Demo
Um.
This is crap
And they probably know it too.
The vocalist doesn't scream, he doesn't sing, he doesn't shout, he just kind of howls. And the rest of the band don't exactly excel themselves either.
And to think, someone actually paid to record this demo. Oh dear.
1/10

Nuclear Kazoo - Live Album
It's not my type of thing, but if you are into 'Irish-sounding' music, you will probably really enjoy this. The songs seem pretty well crafted and the overall sound is very neat and is very well performed considering it is a live album.
Everyone keeps in tune and there are not many mistakes.
But it's not exactly groundbreaking
4/10

Joe 90

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