Jane’s Addiction have followed up their previous single “End To The Lies” with another new track, “Irresistible Force”. Both tracks are from the forthcoming album, The Great Escape Artist which comes out in the Autumn.
You can watch the video for “Irresistible Force” now by clicking below. Continue reading
I’ve been a fan of The National for a few good years. Alligator was the first album I owned, however I was introduced to them courtesy of ‘About Today’ being included on a magazine cover disc long before that. I loved the understated emotion which crept up on you, and then boils over. The dark melancholy of the lyrics, and most of all Matt’s deep baritone vocal.
First time I saw them was in Glasgow’s famous King Tut’s during their Alligator tour. I’ve been lucky to have seen them few times since including Festivals and in support slots. Tonight however it was lovely to see them in a Headlining slot once again.
Tonight’s show was announced a good few months after their show in Edinburgh Corn Exchange had sold out. That show was last night, and even with that tonight the venue seemed packed. I know tickets were available on the door today, however inside it felt like the Academy was near capacity. At 9:15 The National came onstage and immediately waltzed into ‘Start A War’ from previous album, Boxer. Continue reading
Trivium are back with In Waves, follow-up to 2008′s excellent Shogun. To my mind, Shogun is a bit of a modern masterpiece, comparable to Machine Head’s The Blackening in scope, ambition and sheer length of song. Sadly In Waves isn’t as good as its predecessor, but it definitely isn’t a poor album. Far from it in fact, as it’s been spun (if that’s the right term to use these days) on my iPod more in the last two weeks than anything else.
In Waves has an overall feel much more like the breakthrough record Ascendancy that catapulted Trivium into the public eye. In the time between those records their releases have been a bit of a mixed bag with a fairly poor public reception of direct follow-up The Crusade and a near 50/50 love/hate reaction to Shogun. Didn’t hurt sales any though. Continue reading
1991 was a great year.
For starters, I was 16 that year – a ripe age for absorbing all sorts of new music and discovering many bands for the first time. It is perhaps ironic then that 1991 was also the year that many landmark albums were released.
Unbelievably this year we are celebrating the 20th Anniversary release of many albums which are now considered classics. There were many more than the short list below, however the following albums are those which I bought and helped form my music tastes for years to come:
The Subways are back with another infectious little number.
Sure it sounds a lot like everything The Subways have done before (the beginning is ‘Rock N’ Roll Queen’ all over again), but there was never anything wrong with what they did!!
I am very much looking forward to the new album if it sounds as good as this. Continue reading
Nirvana’s Nevermind is the album that got me into rock.
Ever since the day in school I was handed a C90 tape with the album on it I was hooked. I know every little piece of this album inside and out. I’ve listened to it for 20 years and I’ll be listening to it for the next 20 and the 20 after that. I guarantee it.
Now being 20 years old it’s getting attention again and SPIN magazine have released a freely downloadable tribute album, Newermind. It features a range of artists, most notably two of Kurt Cobain’s favourites The Vaselines and The Meat Puppets. For the most part the songs are fairly faithful in length and pace, yet executed in such varying styles it’s really quite interesting to see how different they can be. It doesn’t always work, but some of it’s great. Continue reading
Charlie Simpson has been in the music business since the early 2000’s. It’s hard to believe that at only 26 that’s over 10 years on the circuit with his fingers in assorted flavours of musical pie. Young Pilgrim however is his first foray into solo territory, taking a bold step away from his current band Fightstar.
Unlike Fightstar, which is primarily heavy rock with some outings into metal terrain, his solo material is a lot mellower; being mostly acoustic with a distinctly modern folk influence. Opening track ‘Down Down Down’ is a prime example of the rich musicianship as it switches half way through from a one man acoustic effort to a full on Mumford & Sons like toe tapper.
The song writing is very strong with a slightly melancholic heartbreak kind of feel to a lot of the lyrics, yet with a positivity that suggests the negative experiences are in the past and it’s all about moving on and learning from them. The upbeat delivery just helps to reinforce that feeling. It’s the clever writing and execution that puts Charlie Simpson far above some of his peers and shows just how much he’s grown as a musician since his early days in the pop circuit. Continue reading
Deftones frontman Chino Moreno is up to his ever prolific tricks again with side project †††, aka Crosses. Teaming up with Far guitarist Shaun Lopez, it’s a considerably calmer affair than you’d expect, concentrating on a more electronic feel.
It’s quite a strange EP with most of the songs feeling languid and really chilled and laid back. Imagine stoner style music but electronica instead of the rock. Chino’s vocal is much more melodic than a lot of Deftones material and sounds superb. There’s a distinctly Deftones edge to it (though the experimental material rather than the metal obviously) but that’s probably just due to the influence of Moreno.
In truth it’s a lot closer to other side project Team Sleep than it is to Deftones.
But the best news is that the first EP release is available for free via the band’s Facebook page. All you need to do is ‘Like’ it and you’ll get access to a widget with the download information. And while you’re there, why not ‘Like’ Musicscramble too and keep yourself up to date with the latest posts.
