Friday 18 February 2011

different gear, stalled


music >> album review >> beady eye >> different gear, still speeding

oasis soundtracked my youth. strutting to liam’s snarl while bobbing to the strums of noel's g chord i loved these mancunian menaces. up until their split i’d back them despite being well aware of their obvious flaws, feeling a loyalty to them like a struggling football team. that said, post-split, like most i felt it was time to put down the guitars and the tambourine and leave it to the new conveyer-belt of indie smarters to formulate an educated and creative disco filling guitar sound that is modern, upbeat and doesn't repeatedly hail to the "sunshiiiiine".

but… liam's new band beady eye are about to release their debut album 'different gear, still speeding', a little ironic seeing as liam can't actually drive. on listening to dgss perhaps that is what he should have done with his time since the oasis break-up. either that or design more clothes, even swing on an old tyre - anything but involve himself with song writing.

dgss reminds me of late oasis b-sides written by liam or the other oasis members no one cared for and that chief noel declared not album worthy. while noel bossed oasis, liam clearly leads beady eye with his band mates seemingly too scared or too in awe to notify him of a shit song, and my god there’s loads! apart from opener 'four letter word', and the catchy piano lead 'bring the light' there is nothing here to suggest that beady eye are anything more than a passing fancy while we wait for the inevitable oasis reunion tour in ten years time. the album quickly declines with second song ‘millionaire’ containing lyrics sounding like something scribbled after a shower sing-song. some kind of bet gone horribly wrong is evidenced with the inclusion of 'for anyone', so appalling it pushes ‘little james’ close for liam’s worst creation. 'kill for a dream' and 'the beat goes on' are now prescribed on the nhs as an alternative to sleeping pills, and i gave up listening to the last song ‘the morning son’ for fear i’d actually die of boredom. the only bit i found interesting on this album were the drums half way through ‘wigwam’ purely because they sound like the opening title sequence to baywatch – if you can be bothered to listen to this album you’ll hear what i mean.

i didn’t expect much from beady eye, liam still thinks he’s john lennon’s left testicle while gem and andy remain too hidden behind liam’s cherry tinted glasses to even notice any failings, but this record after the (ever so slight) early promise from the free downloads is more than disappointing. liam in his usual blinkered and boastful way announced dgss to be as good as oasis’ debut ‘definitely maybe’. there’s no maybe about this album, it’s definitely shit.

2/10 (and that’s only because it’s friday and i’m in a good mood)

Wednesday 2 February 2011

the first rule of chapel club...there are no fucking rules


music >> album review >> chapel club >> palace

having listened to ‘palace’ by the much hyped chapel club i can’t help but think that these obviously skilled songwriters have missed a trick with their first release. a debut album from any band is often a jumble of structures, lyrics, themes and tempos as the hurried collection is formed from the most prominent ten or so songs gigged over the years as a band finds their place, mood and sound. ‘palace’ doesn’t suffer such inconsistencies, as fresh sounding tracks compliment one another, flowing comfortably while showing enormous potential and offering an accomplished and competent sound. however, despite the immediate compelling promise i am left wondering if it could have been so much better.

wearing your heart on your sleeve and being forthcoming with your influences will get you by, but originality is what can set you apart. throughout the album i was waiting for something novel, though incessantly my thoughts regressed to a sound reminiscent of obvious influences like echo & the bunnymen, joy division, the smiths, and more modern darlings such as editors, the strokes and white lies.

the delivery and lyrics from lewis bowman often sounds like a flirty yet moody poetic duet between ian mcculloch and morrissey. if this apparent intellect is a clever as he thinks, a slight tweak to the over wordy lyrics could have seen this album reach the loftiness the hype evoked. songs such as ‘surfacing’, ‘five trees’ and ‘the shore’ display intelligence and thought, while ‘blind’, ‘fine light’ and ‘o maybe i’ further evidence this is a band with obvious depth and song writing aptitude.

chapel club tick the right boxes for a modern british band – gloomy bleak vocal delivery, creative guitars plus they look the part and they can fill an indie disco, and that (not poetry corner) is where their focus should remain. if they can do this while exploring their own obvious musical psyche, they’ll quickly find that their sound becomes the one to influence so many others.

7/10