Biffy Clyro

 

Ok so I was lucky enough to get down to the first two nights of the Q Awards gigs running up to the Q Awards themselves, and therefore had the pleasure of seeing White Lies, supported by Bombay Bicycle Club and The Drums on Monday, and Biffy Clyro, supported by The Boxer Rebellion and Frightened Rabbit on Tuesday.

Both were incredible shows, with both headliners absolutely owning the stage and mesmerizing the crowd. White Lies thumped out booming bass-driven, sombre Indie-Pop anthems against a backdrop of pulsing bright white lights, to an entranced rabbit in a headlight crowd. Note perfection, pristine and polished production, and colossal renditions of singles Farewell To The Fairground, Death and To Lose My Life made this a memorable show.

Biffy Clyro meanwhile exploded onto stage in a flurry of Celtic ferocity and facial hair with the apocalyptic That Golden Rule. Monster riffs, ethereal melodies, tight as fuck arrangements and an epic light show worthy of a sci-fi battle scene made this performance unmissable! Biffy absolutely dominated, as expected: their presence more than filling the stage; and crowd pleasers such as Whose Got A Match? and Living Is A Problem Because Everything Dies deafening the ears. The Scottish Alt Rock / Power Pop trio finished with Mountains, originally a non-album single but now included on Only Revolutions (due for release 9th November), to the delight of a grateful and exhausted crowd. Epic. ‘Mon the Biff!

White Lies

Brand New

 

Anyone who had any doubt that Jesse Lacey is a songwriting genius; an unparalelled lyrical Behemoth; a throwback from bardic traditions who in times gone by may have graced the ears of kings with his deep, dark, gleefully sadistic and painfully witty tales.. I point you in the direction of Brand New’s latest, simply titled album Daisy. Ok, so it’s hard to be objective when you love a band this much.. bias will always creep in. That said, Daisy, released around 2 weeks ago, has rocketed to #6 in the US album charts, which speaks for itself, and suggests that there is no stopping this juggernaut of a band.

The stylistic shift that Brand New have made over the last 9 years is a much documented one, and to echo the musings of many journos before me I pose the question: who would have thought that the same young Pop-Punk band from Long Island, New York, who enjoyed a degree of success with Your Favourite Weapon: a fun and thoughtless teeny-Punk effort in 2001, could become the authority on Progressive and Experimental Emo / Alternative, crafting as they do emotive, intense and lyrically poignant songs full of depth and meaning. Equally, who would have thought that these boys could follow up The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Me with an equally perfect album, maintaining stylistic consistency whilst still injecting new sounds and ideas into their music. I was sceptical.. evidently unnecessarily.

The album opens with Vices, which starts with a crackly megaphone sample of On Life’s Highway, a gospel hymn written by Bertrand Brown, before exploding into a distorted, discordant powerchord frenzy. Vices opens the album like a punch in the gut, ending as abruptly as it begun and leaving you feeling flustered, disoriented and bewildered. Tracks such as Bed, title track Daisy, and the first single from the album, At The Bottom, by comparison are time-sig-bending, slow-building, emo-infused soft-rock tracks. Powerful, thoughtful, perfectly arranged, expertly and interestingly produced and heart-wrenchingly introspective, these are 3 highlights of the album, and indeed Jesse Lacey’s songwriting career, displaying prominent, guttural  basslines, delicate and ornate guitar lines, complex kit patterns and, of course, Lacey’s signature strained, raw and emotive vocals that tug at the heartstrings and stir the soul.

At this point I must humbly concede that I simply haven’t the linguistic prowess to do Daisy justice… You just have to buy it. It is a phenomenal effort that flows seamlessly from each tortured track to the next; a genre hopping masterpiece. Get on down to the MySpace page and prepare to be amazed.

Tom Allalone & The 78s

 

I was watching From Dusk Till Dawn  the other day, and as the Guadalajaran Mariachi meets Texan Rockabilly ‘Titty Twister’ house-band unceremoniously smashed out sleazy Rock ‘n’ Roll tracks, the Gecko brothers sunk shot after shot of fire water, and half-naked strippers slithered serpentine around greased poles (no innuendo intended) I couldn’t help but be reminded of this furious freight-train of a Rock ‘n’ Roll band, Tom Allalone & The 78s. Cooler than The Fonz, as impeccably styled as Costello, as rifftastic as a double-dose of  Mando Diao, and reeking of Zakk Wylde fresh from a JD and Tequila bender, Tom Allalone and his troupe’s debut album, released earlier this year, Major Sins pt.1, is full of good-times tracks guaranteed to have you throwing shapes like it’s 1978.

 

Tracks like Get Down & Dirty and Hell Hath No Fury evoke images of Wild West train robbers on horse-back gallopping towards an unsuspecting steam train, with whirlwind, delay-doused Rock riffs, jagged guitar stabs heavy on the whammy bar, lightning fast drum-patterns with chugging snare hits, walking basslines, and (in the case of the latter track) backing vocals ‘choo-chooing’. Dogshit Street, Wounded and, one of my personal favourites, Ten Little Cuts meanwhile would be at home in a late license smokey Jazz bar, or a prohibition-era speakeasy. Ten Little Cuts in particular is rife with delicate muted soprano sax lines, waltzing double-bass riffs, subtle brass and key licks and melancholy and lonely lyrics dealing with the introspection and self-loathing that follows a breakup. Take once nightly with a JD on the rocks and a fat Havana. Displaying an impressive versatility, Allalone and the boys, make for the border of Mexico (a long way from their native Gravesend!), conjuring up images of a perhaps mythical (though Tom assures us that it is a real club in Talbot Place) Casillero Del Diablo. Mariachi brass, hispanic rhythms and melodies and expressive vocals paint a vivid picture of the debauchery, lunacy and depravity that might take place in the ‘Devil’s Cellar’. Sign me up!

 

This is a sleazy, fast-paced, and raucus album, that’ll whisk you away on a riptide of Mississippi Delta meets Catalan Bullrunning imagery. JD meets Tequila; the Stomp meets the Samba; and carnage and mayhem will ensue!

 

So the first 4 artists have been confirmed for the Orange RockCorps concert at the Royal Albert Hall on the 25th of September!!

Razorlight

 

Indie kings Razorlight will be joined by:

David Guetta

 

Demon on the decks David Guetta feat. Pop diva Kelly Rowland..

Daniel Merriweather

 

..bastion of Australian soul Daniel Merriweather..

Chase & Status

..and dons of Drum & Base and banging Breakbeat Chase & Status..

The line up is by no means complete, and with headline acts still to be announced this is shaping up to be one hell of a show! Get yourself down to the Orange RockCorps website to sign yourself up and earn the hottest ticket going!

Horse The Band

 

Keeping with the equestrian theme… Horse The Band, the most brilliantly named band in music – when asked ‘why are you called Horse The Band‘, the reply was ’so you don’t confuse us with the animal’ – are due to release their fifth full length album, Desperate Living, on the 6th of October. Dubbed as Nintendo-core, and arguably the band that did Enter Shikari, before Enter Shikari, Horse The Band incorporate the chaos associated with the Fightpop stylings of bands like The Mae Shi and Dananananaykroyd; the heavily distorted powerchord progressions and gut-wrenching, larynx-shredding vocals characteristic of Screamo acts like Alexisonfire; and bleep and glitch synths and samples reminiscent of Tetris being played through a 1977 Atari console.

You must be a little intrigued right? So head on down to their Myspace by clicking the image and listen out for Desperate Living later this year.

Pony Pony Run Run

 

I fucking love these guys. Synth and sample-tastic, quirky Electronic Pop somewhere between Shiny Toy Guns, Mika, Frankmusik, and The Mission District… Pony Pony Run Run write irregular Wonky Pop tracks with jagged syncopated beats, off-beat guitar work, catchy singalong choruses and phat driving bass lines. Feel good summer music at its very best – album You Need Pony Pony Run Run isn’t in the shops here yet, but you can pick it up on iTunes, and I highly recommend that you do (if you haven’t already)!

If you are already all over Pony Pony Run Run and you’re wondering where you can listen to a grimey, dub-infused, bass and bleep remix of their ace track Hey You, then look no further than Leeds boys Jeuce. Their rehash, which you can check out on their Myspace along with all their other massive official remixes, is a monster mashup with floorfilling potential. I can’t reiterate this enough people.. Dance to Jeuce!

Chipmunk's Oopsy Daisy is out October 5th

 

On Thursday the 27th of August Chipmunk, one of the UK’s most exciting and fresh Urban artists, came down to the Orange RockCorps Community Youth Limited GIVE project in Deptford to get stuck in helping volunteers paint a recording studio, and to bosh out a bit of an impromptu performance for the Orange RockCorps massive.

At just 18 years of age, and having  just received his A-level results, Chipmunk has already achieved so much, including scooping the Best Newcomer Award at the 2008 MOBO Awards, collaborations with Ironik and Tinchy Stryder, and a hit single, Diamond Rings, which peaked at number 6 in the UK charts. However, it could just be that latest single Oopsy Daisy, due for release in early October, from debut album I Am Chipmunk (release date October 12th), will be the track that propels Chip into megastardom in the UK Urban / Pop scene.

With a banging 2/4 Dance beat, a simple piano chord ostinato, retro pop-hook synth lines, a potentially massive chorus hook, and a mellow and sombre tone dealing with relationship issues, Oopsy Daisy is the perfect follow up to the massive Diamond Rings. Catchy, poignant, lyrically brilliant and full of signature cheeky Chipmunk charm, Ooopsy Daisy is another rung on one hell of a career ladder for this rising star.

Chipmunk is hitting the festival circuit hard this summer, and will be touring with Tinchy Stryder and Robot Boy in September so check him out at a venue near you.

The Dø (Click image to follow me on Twitter)

 

In the last few weeks I’ve noticed an increasing number of obscure acts being featured on television adverts and campaigns. Finnish / French Folk-Pop act The Dø, Alt/Stadium Rock band The Temper Trap from Australia, and Fight Pop act The Mae Shi from Cali, all bands that I’ve written about in the past few months, have all been featured on the telebox recently.. I guess I’m just going to have to up my game to keep ahead of the pace.. ‘Cos I suppose at the moment I’m a little.. Commercial.. if  you’ll excuse the pun.

Simon Neil of Biffy Clyro

 

Scottish Rock Gods Biffy Clyro are back with yet another epic, apocalyptic monster of a track, That Golden Rule, which is to be released tomorrow (Monday the 24th of August ‘09), from new album Only Revolutions  (set for release October this year). Biffy fans will be pleased to know that the band are again working with Puzzle producer Garth Richardson, who played such a huge part in the album that catapulted the trio into the mainstream in 2007, but the direction will be more ‘classic Biffy’, as stated by drummer Ben Johnston in an XFM interview.

Following on from the incredibly successful and highly acclaimed ’non-album’ single Mountains from 2008 was never going to be easy – Mountains being by far their most commercially appealing effort, peaking at number 5 in the UK. However with signature Biffy, distortion-doused, whirlwind riff-driven verses, characterised by that standard Simon Neil growl, and high tempo, Punky drum lines, juxtaposed against delicate, beautiful, sparse and stripped down choruses with descending melodies, That Golden Rule holds its own. The track is essentially split into two parts – the second being a jaw-droppingly immense piece of Classical-infused instrumental Rock, with irregular, start-stop rhythms, and heavy powerchord progressions mimicked by a powerful string section blasting out intense melodic riffs.

That Golden Rule is both challenging and infectious to the modern rock fan. With stadium worthy, chant-along choruses and complicated polyrhythms it is instantly accessible and yet also undoubtedly genius in musicality – a real work of art to rival even Mountains.

Frankmusik playing a stripped down version of 3 Little Words to Orange RockCorps volunteers

 

On Saturday the 15th of August I caught Frankmusik playing a stripped and slowed down version of his 2008 single Three Little Words in a communal area outside Thamesmere Leisure Centre in Thamesmead. Frankmusik, aka Vincent Frank, acknowledged that this was probably ‘the weirdest gig I’ve ever done!’

Juxtaposing an old school, beaten up Casio (I think!) Keyboard, with all the tone and clarity of something out of the original Doctor Who theme tune, with vocals characterised by an impressive falsetto range that Mika would be proud of, as well as soulful meanderings reminiscent of some kind of Croydon-born John Legend, this really was a trippy yet haunting rendition.

Frankmusik, 2009’s champion of squelchy Electro-Pop and man’s answer to La Roux, has debut album Complete Me (released August 3rd) out now, and it could just be this years answer to Vehicles & Animals. Go buy it!