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music |
Biffy Clyro
Only Revolutions
Them Crooked Vultures
Self-titled
music |
Biffy Clyro reached the big time with
2007’s, 250,000 selling, Puzzle. Now with
new album Only Revolutions, they want to
stay there.
Considering that nearly a quarter of the album,
was released in advance (in the form of an
EP and singles), Biffy’s marketing machine
has gone into overdrive to make people want
this album before it hits the shops. The songs
released in advance are possibly some of
the band’s finest music. “Mountains” finds
singer Simon Johnston in a wistful voice. “That
Golden Rule” is possibly the album’s best song.
It is fast, frenetic and everything one comes to
expect from Biffy. It mixes the band’s previous
tendencies of noise and melody; with their
newer approach of grandness and pomposity,
hence the orchestra playing in tandem with
the band. Opener, “The Captain” is the only
pre-released song that runs out of steam. Its
Muse-esque leanings and pop-sensibilities are
at odds with the Biffy “sound”
Lady Gaga
Alter Ego
Lady Gaga unveils her dark side as she
releases her eagerly anticipated follow
up to her multi-million selling debut album
entitled ‘The Fame: Monster’. The CD
contains eight entirely new songs marking
the start of a new direction for the megastar.
Previous album ‘The Fame’ notched up four
hit singles including Just Dance and Poker
Face (which has been certified the most
downloaded song in the history of the UK
singles chart) and sold just over 4 million
copies worldwide. Not half bad for the artist
who was an unknown a year ago.
A lot of you must be thinking that the rerelease
in question is just a cash-in of The
Fame with a few tracks added on at the end.
Instead, this is a collection of songs in its own
right. You’ll be buying a new album which
just so happens to have a copy of The Fame
in the same box.
Lyrically, sonically, melodically and
conceptually it’s right up there with its
When they first came onto the music scene,
their “sound” was rough, raw and edgy. The
Scottish threesome were classed with other
noizeniks like Hell Is For Heroes and Hundred
Reasons. Soon, they would leave these bands
in the dust. Their original “sound” can be
found on the Blackened Sky and Infinity Land
albums. The mashing of hard rock tendencies,
fast riffs and strained vocals with unexpected
tempo changes and beautiful harmonies
worked well.
With Puzzle and Only Revolutions the band
has become more refined and more ambitious.
This is not a bad thing, but for fans of early
Biffy Clyro it may be unexpected.
The rest of Only Revolutions is exquisite. The
band has improved on their previous efforts
in everyway possible. Queens of the Stone
Age front man, Josh Homme, and his helping
hand can be found on another album standout
“Bubbles”. It motors along delightfully with a
predecessor The Fame, with a definite feel of
things moving in a new direction.
First up is lead single ‘Bad Romance.’ It is a
dark mid-tempo song with a catchy chorus
that fits right in with the whole ‘Monster’
theme of the album.
Next is ‘Alejandro.’ Gaga seems to pay
homage to Madonna with this modern
version of ‘La Isla Bonita.’ It has a definite
Spanish feel to in terms of the lyrics and
music.
We then have ‘Monster’ .This one has dark
lyrics, plenty of sexual innuendos and is
almost irritatingly catchy. ‘So Happy I Could
Die’ follows. It is a mid-tempo number with
some Tiesto-esque bits thrown in.
The biggest surprise on this album is the Ron
Fair produced, power balled ‘Speechless’
written by Gaga herself about her father’s
heart condition. It doesn’t sound anything
like the stuff we’ve heard from her before.
fantastic sing-along chorus. Elsewhere, “Many
Of Horror” is soon to become a gig staple. It is
a lighter-in-the-air song in waiting. “Born On
A Horse” finds the trademark Biffy quirkiness
surviving, ‘I’ve never had a lover that was my
sister or brother before’, being a particularly
memorable lyric. The only disappointment
comes in “Know Your Quarry”. It is slow,
plodding and quite dull. It lacks the energy and
passion found elsewhere on the album.
Only Revolutions is a continuation on of Biffy
Clyro’s march to global musical stardom. It
finds the band hitting a level of refinement
and polish lacking from previous efforts
and will blast the band into the mainstream
consciousness.
_________________
David Claxton
It’s going to be huge for her.
Finishing off we have the brilliant ‘Dance
in the Dark’ with the super chorus and the
Madonna ‘Vogue’ style rap thrown in the
middle. Closer, ‘Teeth.’ hints at the new
direction for the third album.
This album is a worthy follow up, with at
least four potential singles, some elements of
the songs don’t work at times but there are
no real filler tracks here.
She’s here to stay it seems. As the good lady
herself said: “A good pop chorus never killed
anyone.”
__________________
Jenny Mc’Shane
When you get the
collective creative
geniuses of Josh
Homme, Dave Grohl and
John-Paul Jones into one band,
you know you’re onto a good
thing. In the past both Homme
and Grohl had made no secret
of their admiration for Jones
and the mighty Led Zep. The
thoughts of all three coming
together to actually make
music, seemed pure fantasy,
well not any more kids. What
do you get when you combine
1 part Queens of the Stone Age
& Kyuss, 1 part Nirvana & Foo
Fighters and mix in 1 part Led
Zeppelin, you get the amazing
Them Crooked Vultures.
A group that previously could
be only described as a hard rock
fan’s wet dream, has actually
come to be. The term supergroup
often get’s banded around
the music world, but for once
this title is completely apt. The
collaboration between the three
has been on the cards since
2005, when Dave Grohl in an
interview with Mojo magazine,
declared "The next project that
I'm trying to initiate involves
me on drums, Josh Homme
on guitar, and John Paul Jones
playing bass. That’s the next
album. That wouldn’t suck.” So
the only question remaining
is who would be singing.
Speculation runs rampant, but
nothing has been confirmed yet.
In a recent interview with
Homme’s wife, Brody Dalle of
Spinnerette, shared her opinion:
“I’m not at liberty to talk about
it… but I think [the project] is
pretty ****ing amazing. Just
beats and sounds like you’ve
never heard before.” Since their
live debut at the Metro, Chicago
on August 9, 2009. Their songs
have been slowly popping up all
over the internet, especially on
You Tube. Most of the videos on
You Tube are of them playing in a
live setting. Songs like Elephants,
Nobody Loves Me and Neither
Do I, Mind Eraser (No Chaser),
Scumbag Blues, Dead End
Friends etc., confirm one thing
TCV are here to rock and rock
bloody hard.
Just seeing Grohl behind a
drum kit again beating the hell
outta the skins as only he can,
all failing arms and tattoos, is
amazing. Homme stalking and
crooning into the microphone
with his intimidating presence,
never missing a note. JPJ
obviously psychically a pale
shadow of his former self, is
still a joy to behold, anchoring
down the rhythm section, with
his inimitable nodding noodling
style of bass playing. One thing
that strikes you immediately
watching these videos is how
’tight’ the band are, it looks like
they’ve been playing together
for years, not months. If those
three together wasn’t enough
QOTSA guitarist Alain Johannes
is the ‘4th’ live member, adding
even more muscle to TCV’s live
shows.
The self-titled alum will be
released in Ireland on the 14th
of November. The only official
release from the band has been
the single New Fang. Which was
premiered on October 26th., the
song is a throwback power trio,
full of swampy riffs, doomsday
vocals and lots and lots of
volume.
On September 1, the band
announced two 2009 tours of
North America and the United
Kingdom, in October and
December respectively .The tour
will be titled Deserve the Future
Tour and the UK leg sold out in
just under 12 minutes, making
it one of the quickest sold tours
in the UK - without the band
even officially releasing a song
to date. Unfortunately there will
be no Irish date on the tour.
Whether or not TCV will be
the so called ‘saviours of rock’
remains to be seen, either way
people really shouldn’t care less.
The vultures are here to show
you a good hard rocking time,
turn it up to 11 sit back and
enjoy the ride.
http://www.themcrookedvultures.com/
http://www.myspace.com/
crookedvultures
http://www.facebook.com/
crookedvultures
_________________
David Murphy
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