Great band - awful album

A few years ago I read a review of Foo Fighters "In Your Honor", the album that was subtitled "One loud. One not so loud", but I would subtitle "Americans Can't Spell". The reviewer wrote of this epic double album just two phrases: One good. One not so good.

How is it that so many great bands can make shockingly bad albums. When paying bills happens because you sell albums, it's only normal that mediocre albums should occur, especially for that "difficult second album", for example Rage Against the Machine's "Evil Empire". However, some bands seem intent on making really really bad albums. What was up with Red Hot Chili Peppers' One Hot Minute, Green Day's Warning or U2's Zooropa. What were Garbage thinking when they made Beautiful Garbage?

The reason I'm writing this article is that last night I watched the amazing Bloc Party on Jools Holland. I know, I know, they're trying to do something different with this album, but really? This? Flux was something different. This is something awful.

dan le sac VS Scroobius Pip

Guess who I'm going to see tomorrow night?

Summer sucks.

I shouldn't think that the title needs justifying, considering last time I saw the large ball of fire in the sky I was abroad. Summer however also breeds other sucky offspring. For a start there's the full blown manflu I have at the moment, liquidising my brain and making my face feel like it's been attacked by a cheese grater. This, however, isn't a health-related blog, but rather a music blog.

Summer sucks for audiophiles due to a total lack of new and exciting music. Every innovative band is dragging it's drunken drummer round all the summer festivals, either to hear other bands that aren't releasing new music, or to play the same tunes they were playing in April, the last time I wrote on this blog.

The last release I was genuinely excited about was Does It Offend You, Yeah?'s "You have no idea what you're getting yourself into". Ah, me! bring on the rain.

Bleep, bleep, bleep!!

Oh, what a geek I am!

Hands up anyone who played Sonic the Hedgehog, Mario Bros, Zelda or Street Fighter for hours on end when they were a kid... Surely it can't just be me, but maybe I am the only one that while at work, find myself humming the theme tune to "Link's Awakening", or "The Electic Egg Zone".

So a little while ago I got into bands that usually only 14-year-olds listen to, like Hadouken!, Crystal Castles, and :( (aka Colonopenbracket). These bands really are, in my opinion, the new punk, and while not exactly clever or intelligent music, they are setting out to discover some new territories. Alot of these bands are armed only with broken 80's keyboards, circuit-bent drum machines, and Gameboys. It's through these bands that I've recently got into Chiptune - the most geeky genre ever.

The thought behind Chiptune is to take an old Commodore 64, an Atari, or a Gameboy, and compose music played exclusively with the bleeps and noise generated by the sound chips on board these machines. Don't get me wrong, a lot of these artists just make generic Eurocheese tunes, that would be very at home on a Nintendo game cartridge, but many others are making beautiful music. Check out Pixelh8, and Bitshifter, for a real taste of what Chiptune is capable of.

So I've dug out my Gameboy, bought a tracker for the thing, and am hooked. You can hear my attempts on The Last Living Soul's Myspace page.

Sex, Drugs, and Bleep'n'roll!

You better believe it

"You're just another girl looking for love, looking for love" Sammy sings to me when I enter their Myspazz. Only I'm not, I'm a mid-twenties-goatee-wearing-music-loving-bloke looking for cool tunes.

Ok Tokyo are 3 boys that make incredibly fun and catchy pop. It's big, but it's definitely not clever. The self-declared Lords of Adventure Rock are currently touring with Mumm-ra, and release (or unleash) their first single "You Better Believe It" on the 31st of this very month. You can order it from Rough Trade.

Goodies in the mail

Today I received goodies in mail. The brilliant We Are Scientists' new single "After Hours" fell through my letterbox this morning, unleashing it's catchy chorus and cribs-esque guitar riff.

A rather special addition to my collection.

Death Cab!

Death Cab! Death Cab! Death Cab! Death Cab! Death Cab! Death Cab! Death Cab! Death Cab! Death Cab! Death Cab! Death Cab! Death Cab! Death Cab! Death Cab! Death Cab! Death Cab! Death Cab! Death Cab! Death Cab! Death Cab! Death Cab! Death Cab! Death Cab!Death Cab! Death Cab! Death Cab! Death Cab! Death Cab!

Do you like my new song? It's in celebration of the fact that a brilliantly talented band are releasing what I'm sure will be a hugely fantastic album.