Review: Radiohead - The King of Limbs

Radiohead
The King of Limbs
Released 18th February 2011 on XL Records

Radiohead are becoming renowned for their unconventional way of releasing music, their last album 'In Rainbows' was released on a 'pay what you want' basis, and in the early stages of recording for this album they released the song 'These Are My Twisted Words' for free with DIY artwork.

The King of Limbs' was announced only last week as having a February 19th release date, only for people to wake up on the 18th and find the full thing available for download.

Released 4 years later and named after a thousand year old Oak Tree near the recording studio where they recorded the critically acclaimed 'In Rainbows', can 'The King of Limbs' live up to it?

Opener 'Bloom' starts off well with a crackling piano melody, but soon ends up losing it and sounding a bit muddled up, the second song 'Morning Mr Magpie' does little to remedy this lacklustre start, fortunately third song 'Little by Little' is something of a gem which feels much more like 'In Rainbows' territory, the slow soft voice of Thom Yorke singing "Little by Little" over a fast paced percussion background. Fourth song 'Feral' again feels like an unorganised string of ideas meshed together with very little in the way of melody.

Luckily, at this half-way stage the album starts to turn around into a more focused effort. Fifth song, and first single 'Lotus Flower' is a more traditionally structured slow burner which adds layers of electronic and percussion rhythm over Yorkes soft vocals. Song six, 'Codex' is undoubtedly the best song in this collection, a soft piano melody and strings carry the music while Yorke sings "Jump off the end / Into a clear lake / No one around", the sense of sadness and the build up in the instruments around it can best be compared to 'All I Need' from In Rainbows.

Seventh song 'Give Up The Ghost' starts with bird song, and continues in an acoustic like manner throughout, some eerie atmospheric keyboard noises compliment the acoustic guitar and restrained use of percussion.
Eighth and final song 'Separator' is the perfect way to close this album (and has spurned a whole host of conspiracy theories due to the lyrics "If you think this is over then you're wrong"), it's the most uplifting song on the album and showcases Radiohead at their best.

This album is a difficult one to summarise, it's obviously a departure from the faster paced 'In Rainbows' into a body of work that is slower and much more atmospheric, this itself may be the problem with it, on first listen, to be totally honest I wasn't too impressed, but the more I've listened the more I've enjoyed it. The decision to move the guitar based sounds into the background and make the electronic atmospheric sounds more prominent could put off some Radiohead fans and is unlikely to win any others over.
All in all this album is a slow starter which improves as you listen through it, and although it's obviously no OK Computer, is still a great body of work which most fans will love. To me it feels like a slower more atmospheric sibling to In Rainbows, and given that In Rainbows is my seconds favourite album that is no bad thing.


Check Out:
Little by Little
Lotus Flower
Codex
Separator

Avoid:
Bloom
Morning Mr Magpie

Review: White Lies - Ritual

White Lies
Ritual
Released 17th January 2011 on Fiction Records


White Lies are an odd band to try and categorise, like Placebo they have a wide appeal, NME seems just as likely to write about them as does Kerrang.

Following on from their superb debut album 'To Lose My Life...' Ritual finds White Lies developing their sound, experimenting with new ones and dropping many of the aspects that once saw them seen as a Joy Division rip off band. However, I suspect this new sound is going to alienate some of their fan base and drawing comparisons between the two records is going to be difficult.

'Is Love' opens the album, and by the time the song's finished it's apparent this album isn't going to be To Lose My Life 2.0. some interesting instrumentation is played around with on this one, but it's going to be a great live song and builds up to be quite anthemic.

Second track, 'Strangers', is quite straight-forward song, but even here the use of synthesisers is something that wouldn't quite have fit in on the last album. First single 'Bigger Than Us' is the first (and maybe only) song that would feel at home one 'To Lose My Life...', with some great music and the White Lies-esque lyrics of "I wanted to stay / and lights on the hillside don't take me this way / I want you to hold me, and I want you to pray / This is bigger than us" there's no question this is going to be a live favourite to sing along to.

Next up 'Peace & Quiet' starts off like a new-wave version of a slow White Lies song, but the chorus feels a bit too cheesy pop ballad for my liking, but hey, maybe it'll grow on me. 'Streetlights' starts off quite minimalistic in it's sound and has some pretty decent lyrics "I'm bored and I'm afraid I'm falling like rain for you / So tired of picking skin, just 'coz it's something to do", a shame then that the chorus kinda just bumps along rather than going anywhere or lifting the song to new heights.

'Holy Ghost' then picks the album back up a bit, possible single material this song is going to be another live favourite, and is a great example of the new sounds and structures they're experimenting with on this album (n.b. anybody else reminded of Boney M's 'Daddy Cool'with the bass line?).
'Turn The Bells' is notable for it's almost Nine Inch Nails-esque use of percussion (that said, they were using Nine Inch Nails producer), unfortunately however this is one of the albums weaker songs, it just doesn't do anything.

'The Power & The Glory' is the most enjoyable song on the album and likely to be the second single, or would be if I had my way, a slow-starter it builds up to be a beast of a song, perhaps White Lies most uplifting song to date, even with their pendant sinister lyrics intact "As empty handed leaving as I was when I came / Tip-toeing through the rubble / and running through the flames".

Shame then that it is followed by 'Bad Love', musically it's one of the heavier songs, but it's let down by some suspicious lyrics "I'm gonna write your girl a letter / It'll make everything better" and it just feels a bit generic. Last song on the album 'Come Down' is another good one, it's a really slow starter (it doesn't really kick in until it's over the 3 minute mark), but well worth the wait.

All in all Ritual finds a band who don't want to repeat past glories and have instead pushed hard to experiment with new ideas and sounds, they've improved alot as musicians in the last two years and vocally there is a vast improvement. Sure, not all songs are quite up to the standard of the last album and the new sound may alienate some fans, but it's a price worth paying for a band that wants to develop and get better at what they do. I recommend this album simply because when it's bad, it's mediocre, but when it's good, it's fantastic.

Check Out:
Is Love
Bigger Than Us
Holy Ghost
The Power & Glory

Avoid:
Turn The Bells
Bad Love

Review: Linkin Park - A Thousand Suns

Linkin Park
A Thousand Suns
Released 13th September.


After the dull, limp and soulless 'Minutes to Midnight' and the electro-generica of 'New Divide' (which my friends will know I like to refer to as Linkin Park minus effort), one could have forgiven Linkin Park for returning to former glories and making a carbon copy of debut album 'Hybrid Theory', they haven't.

Instead they went into the studio and created an album that feels lost; it's full of ideas that go nowhere, there's little to no flow between tracks, lots of interludes, and some massive duds of songs (Wretches and Kings, The Catalyst).
But what they have achieved is to create an experimental album that is overflowing with ideas, doesn't tread on old ground and when it's good, it's great.

Choice highlights include 'Burning in the Skies' which may be one of the most upbeat songs Linkin Park have ever created. 'When They Come For Me' feels like it belongs somewhere between the Meteora and Minutes eras, but it's a pretty unique song. Second single 'Waiting For The End' feels a bit generic but somehow manages to get away with opening with Mike Shinoda rapping in a Jamaican accent for no apparent reason.
The vocal style on next song 'Blackout' feels like Bennington is getting advice from Mindless Self Indulgence, in fact the songs breakdown could fit happily on any Mindless album. And finally 'Iridescence' at song 12 out of the 15 tracks provides the last good song of the album, it starts off quietly with just Bennington singing over a slow piano track but builds into a pretty solid song.

As a fan of old LP this album came as something of a pleasant surprise to me, however I cannot help but feel that those people who got into LP through radio singles 'What I've Done', 'New Divide' and 'The Catalyst' are likely to dislike the album as a whole.

A Thousands Suns, for all it's flaws, feels like a band revitalised, making the music they want to make and not caring what the fans/critics say, something that always appeals to me.


Check Out:
Burning In The Skies
When They Come For Me
Blackout
Iridescent


Avoid:
Wretches And Kings
The Catalyst

Sonisphere 2010 Review

I figured it's about time I actually wrote something on here, rather than just posted links and gave away free music.
So, to get the ball rolling i'm going to review the UK leg of Sonisphere Festival which I attended at the end of July.


Thursday 29th July:
where to start?
Well me and two friends set off at 7am to make the 6 hour drive to the historic Knebworth House, sleepy and excited. After literally months of waiting (the first bands were announced and tickets went on sale last december) we were finally making our way there. The journey itself was fun but pretty uneventful (as you'd expect) and one slight de-tour onto the M25 and a stop for essentials (cider) at the Stevenage branch of Asda later we were finally at the site. We'd even managed to make it with an hour to spare, so we went and joined the queue.
At just gone 3pm the gates finally opened, what followed was an hour of standing up carrying heavy gear and moving at about an inch a minute but mercifully we finally made it through the gates and were off to set up camp. We had all bought our tents from the green tent company in advance which meant we could pick them up on site, they were reasonably priced and fully recyclable, so my friends went to find a site to camp while I went and got the tents. After the tents had been put up we relaxed with a cider and waited for a couple more friends to show up.

Damned Canadians

Two Hours later our friends had joined us and we're camped up so we decided to go and check out the arena and get some food. The arena itself was almost identical to last year, except the Saturn stage had had an upgrade and the Bohemia stage had moved. In Bohemia there was a rock/metal karaoke on which was pretty fun, especially one guy who got up and did an amazing rendition of Europe's 'The Final Countdown', complete with screams and growls.


After we had had a wonder round the stages, stall and got some Pizza we headed back to our camp-site for the night. Although before we could get any sleep we would have to bet with a mohicaned Canadian guy that he couldn't down two cans of larger without pausing in exchange for our Canadian flag, regrettably we lost.


Friday 30th July:


After stirring from sleep at about 8.30am due to chants, shouts and yells we decided to get some breakfast and 4 of us would head to Asda to pick up more essentials before that day's arrivals came and made it difficult for us to get back onto the site. Lucky we did, as when we left we heard one of the stages open into life with Rage Against The Machines 'Killing In The Name Of', when we got back about an hour later it was still playing and I was informed they'd had it on repeat the entire time.


We spent the rest of the day up until 5pm playing poker, listening to music and drinking heavily. At 5pm it was time to head to the arena for the first of the bands to start, but not before taking part in a world-record attempt time warp to open the festival.


The first band to play was Delain, prior to the festival I had only heard 3 of their songs, and frankly classed them as a poor mans Nightwish, but they did a great job of opening the festival, playing with energy and enthusiasm, they may have been the first band of the festival, but you got a real sense from them that they were just happy to be there.


Next up were Turisas, again another band I knew little about other than that they were in the same 'battle metal' genre as Blind Guardian, they wear face paint (Though if I hadn't already known this I could soon have figured it out from the crowd) and that they do a cover of Boney M's 'Rasputin'. I wasn't exactly won over by Turisas, they seemed a band that we're playing for the fans, and refused to play more than the opening chord of their most famous (cover) song.


Following Turisas were Europe, yeah the 70's euro-rock band that wrote 'The Final Countdown'. They played a surprisingly good set, proving that they're much more than a one-hit wonder, although in saying that, it was of course, The Final Countdown which got the crowd jumping up and down and singing along the loudest. 

Gary Numan

Next up was Electro/Industrial pioneer Gary Numan, who again refused to be shoeboxed by hit greatest hits, playing new and old material with energy and vigour he was one of the most surprising artists of the weekend. It was when he played ‘Cars’ and ‘Are Friends Electric?’ that it became obvious how much his music has changed over the years, not that that mattered as everyone in the crowd sang along in unison.

Alice Cooper

The day’s final act was Alice Cooper, who brought his ‘Theatre of Death’ with him. My knowledge of Coopers music is basically ‘Poison’ and ‘Schools Out’, this didn’t matter at all. His stage show included a noose, guillotine, a straight jacket and all the awesomeness needed to prevent anyone getting bored, sure some of it may have been a bit cheese but everyone was so entertained they didn’t care.


Saturday 31st July:

Saturdays acts were off to a mediocre start due to Family Force 5, Sonisphere's answer to Download booking Hollywood Undead, regrettably Family Force 5 were bad, there's no way around it. We tried to start off with an open mind but either by the time the song about radiators was played or the lead singer had brought out giant foam hulk hands, we were laughing at how bad they were. Sorry Sonisphere, you got this one wrong, they're for kids. On the bright side we knew the sound was working for the awesomeness to come.

Awesomeness that was regrettably delayed by Lacuna Coil, a band I used to like who now seem happy to play a boring set, the only highlight was the last song 'Our Truth'.

Shortly after this a much needed dose of fun arrived in the form of Anthrax, after seeing them at Sonisphere last year I did my research so I would actually know some songs this time around, although they're now back with their original vocalist they were just as good as I remember them, opening with 'Caught In A Mosh', was a highlight along with 'Antisocial' and 'Indians', they also played part of Heaven & Hells 'Bible Black' as a tribute to Dio. an effortlessly good live act and one so deserving to be here.

Papa Roach

Next up was Nu-Metal heroes Papa Roach, These were another highlight of my weekend, playing a set of mixed up old material and new almost every song was a sing-a-long, even brand new song 'Kick in the teeth' went down really well. Though, of course they saved the best for last and left the stage to the final notes of 'Last Resort'.

Shame then that Good Charlotte, despite their longer history and being a bigger act couldn't match them. They instead relied mainly on songs from their breakthrough album 'The Young and the Hopeless', making them feel like a cringe-worthy nostalgia act. That said their cover of Blink 182's 'Dammit' was fun, but with Blink around again it served as a metaphor for Good Charlotte themselves, redundant.

Placebo

Placebo came next, this was my third time seeing Placebo, and set-list wise this was easily the best. Opening with the rarely-played 'Nancy Boy' the set included 'Scared of Girls', heavy new track 'Trigger Happy Hand's' and a cover of Nirvana's 'All Apologies' as well as hits 'Every You Every Me', 'The Bitter End' and 'Infra-Red'. It seems that Placebo can adapt their style to suit any environment, whether it be at an indie festival, or sub-headlining a metal festival. My friend who hates them even had to admit she enjoyed their live show.


The final act of the day was of course, Rammstein. WOW!, I still can hardly find words to describe their show, other than "Go and see it!". I've seen plenty of bands over the last few years, but Rammstein blew them all out of the water. And now I know what 21 tonnes of pyrotechnics looks like.

Rammstein

Sunday 1st August:


The final day was opened by Australian prog-rockers Karnivool, Their set was good but I'm not sure how it went over to the shrunken (Henry Rollins was on at the same time) hungover audience.


After Karnivool, over on the Saturn stage were cKy who played a fun set and got the crowd going. a memorable moment came from their guitarist who caught a can of lager that was flying towards him and downed it in one to cheers and applause from the audience.

Back over on the Apollo stage Madina Lake played another good set, Having seen them play an awful set at Leeds Festival last year I wasn't expecting anything much from them, but I was wrong. Given the incident their bassist was in they were a man down, not that you could tell, they played with soul and enthusiasm. I'm not sure how they came across to the rest of the crowd but I know I was mildly impressed.

Skindred

The 4th act of the day came from Reggae-metal act Skindred, sure their songs may get a bit samey after a while, but they were easily one of the best acts of the weekend, frontman Benji was cracking jokes and making fun of the audience, and we loved it.


Next up was the 2nd 'Big 4' Act of the weekend... Slayer. Their stage set up was literally a wall of amps, and God was it loud!. I don't know alot of slayer apart from the obvious  'Raining Blood', 'Angel of Death' and 'South of Heaven', so to me it did start to get a bit repetitive, but 'Raining Blood' was simply awesome, and 'Mandatory Suicide' provided a much wanted Bill Bailey moment.


The next act was more suited to my taste, Alice In Chains. I personally thought they played a rather lacklustre set-list, but this was negated by the power of the vocalist and the acoustic rendition of 'Your Decision' provided a real sing along moment.

Pendulum

Pendulum were probably the act least suited to a metal festival like Sonisphere, but they were booked at the request of Iron Maiden to have some contemporary music on before them. and they killed it, playing all their hits they had the crowd holding on to their every movement, they even brought on the lead singer of In Flames to perform their collaboration song 'Self vs. Self', which really got the metal crowd on their side.


The final act of the weekend, and the one everyone had been waiting for was next, Iron Maiden. We all knew they'd struggle to top Rammstein's performance, and most of us didn't believe it was possible. unfortunately we were right, but nonetheless they played a great (if controversial) set. this was due to their choice not to simply play a greatest hits set, instead the majority of the songs played were recorded in the last ten years. Personally I preferred this, It didn't seem like a nostalgia act. If i'd wanted 80's hits i'd have gone to download and seen AC/DC or Aerosmith, instead we got a band that are at the top of their game and still producing relevant music to a constantly renewing audience. Also as a nice touch they played 'Blood Brothers' and dedicated it to Dio.

Iron Maiden

Anyway, all in all a fantastic weekend!, I didn't know if the Sonisphere crew would be able to top last years festival, they blew me away this year, lets hope they can do it again in 2011.

Shep

2008 Through My Ears, And In Your Face!

Hello there.
With 2008 slowly drawing to a close I think it's about time for my first annual good music review.

The following are my favourite albums from the last 12 months and the reasons why.

Nine Inch Nails - Ghosts I-IV
This set of intrumental works came out of the blue for NIN fans, it was the result of an experiment over ten weeks last year in which tracks would be made and laid down that sounds both like nine inch nails, and unlike they had anything they ad done before, everything that was recorded was to be released. Not only this but the album art with this included some of the best asthetics ever seen. (so much so that the physical package has been nominated for the 2009 Grammys). so we have nearly 40 tracks, great album art and asthetics, what else would fan's want... oh yes, the first 9 tracks are completely free, here.


Thursday/Envy - Thursday/Envy Split EP
Thursdays contribution on this EP is stunning, featuring two instrumental peices and two vocal pieces set with stunning soundscapes, I confess to not having heard of the japanese band Envy prior to this, but the goodness that is started on this EP by Thursday is certainly carried on by Envy.





Sigur Rós - Með Suð í Eyrum Við Spilum Endalaust
with thier last album, Takk, Sigur Ros reached an audience they never quite expected. it was the constant airplay of the song 'Hoppípolla' that garnnered them so much attention, on the new album (roughly translated as 'With Buzzing in Our Ears We Play Endlessly') they have stripped back thier sond a bit, but that in no way means a lower quality collection of songs. as proven by album opener Gobbledigook.


Coldplay - Viva La Vida or Death and All his Friends
A great new height was reached with this album. it shows coldplay willing to think outside the box and reject the formula that is all to evident in much of thier back catalogue and singles such as lost and viva la vida show coldplay at the top of thier game.

Metallica - Death Magnetic
After 5 years of waiting since the much criticized saint anger this is a real return to form, songs such as 'The day that never comes' 'Cyanide' and 'The Unforgiven III' return metallica to thier former status as the leaders of thrash metal (well at least until Slayer release a new album).



EDIT: edited out for being annoying everytime I view the page

This is a playlist of my favourite music from the last 12 months, now i'm not cruel enough to go through each and every track like i have for my favourite albums, God i couldn't write that much and you couldn't suffer that much.
But this list contains both songs you will have heard (unless you've spent the last year in a coma), such as Kings of Leon and We Are Scientists, and some which I like but you probably haven't heard of such as White Lies, Modwheelmood and Jubilee. Hopefully you'll like some of the new stuff, but if not then at least you've been open mineded enough to have a listen. Which is always important.

A quick note, if you like free music then as you will have noticed the last year or so has seen the idea of the free promotional single become an industry standard, with most bands giving them away before the release of albums, but Nine Inch Nails are the only major band that has given away a full album for free (of course they left interscope last year so are free to do whatever they like), the album 'The Slip' is still availiable for free download here. this is on top of previously releasing the first of the four volumes of thier instrumental set 'Ghosts I-IV' for free.
Even if you don't know thier sound or other material, at this price, it's worth a listen.


Anyway, that's about it for me, however, it wouldn't have been a music in 2008 blog without you at least visiting this site.

That's all from me, let's hope 2009 is just as good as this year has been.

Happy New Year.
[Shep]