Where does music go next?

Sorry for the considerable delay since my last post , unfortunately album reviews haven't really grabbed me as of yet but I finally have some inspiration for my next musically-concerned post which I will leave you all (or the very few of you reading) to bask in...

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Just under two weeks ago, Arctic Monkeys released their highly anticipated fourth album, Suck It and See. On my part, I've greatly enjoyed it, it draws on elements of the first two albums, bringing in that high tempo, zany and youthful guitar interplay while blending those songs with some mature, relaxed and laid-back sounds, with some truly brilliant, nonchalant lyrics (lyrics don't really grab me half the time but lines like "You're rarer than a can of dandelion and burdock" are excellent), reaffirming Alex Turner's status as one of the best lyricists of the current musical generation.

However, I recently watched a video blog reviewing the album, I have no qualms with what was said, music and opinion on it is obviously subjective and the guy in question provides an interesting viewpoint and enlightens me with decent music I haven't heard of, but one point he made particularly intrigued me and I have now drawn inspiration from for this blog post. The point being that Arctic Monkeys  have not really created something new with this, nor have they created a genre-crossing album, but at the same time they haven't harked back to a previous age. Instead, they've, in places, rehashed an Americana sound from before, which you can hear. 

Arctic Monkeys' debut album, released in 2006, blew everything out the water.

In this case, where does music really go next? What is the next step, what is the next genre, what will be the next sound? There's only a certain amount of combination of notes, so to speak. There is seemingly a dearth of new bands that are going to come out and break the mould with something completely new.

However, in the first place, is there a genre now that is suffering that can be completely be smashed apart? We had the Nirvana-inspired grunge era, which when it once became lethargic and uninspiring, along came the likes of blur, Oasis and Pulp under the Britpop banner who blew that out the way; albums such as Definitely Maybe, Parklife and The Great Escape being key to such success. Then we've seen the Strokes decimate anything in its path with Is This It before inspiring bands such as The Libertines and of course, the aforementioned Arctic Monkeys with their storming debut album, Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not.

However, all this music infiltrated the mainstream as well, adding to its success, what do we have have there now in terms of actual conceptual genre music other than the dire electronic synth-pop production filth that is being lapped up by punters who think Scott Mills is best thing since sliced bread, acts such as "Lady Gaga" and "Example" to name but a few. Of course not everything that is in the charts is utter crap to put it bluntly, but there isn't a large representation of a genre outside such electronic pop to blow wide open.

Even then, underneath the mainstream. what is there? There is a large movement of previously guitar-centered bands moving towards the use of synths within their songs but no real massive bands using them, while other up-and-coming bands are harking back to the sounds of the bands of old, the comparison between some of The Vaccines' songs and the sounds of The Ramones is screamingly loud.

The real innovators in music over the last ten to twenty years, Radiohead, going from the critical success of OK Computer, then to the sounds of Kid A have continued to move forward both musically and in terms of marketing their music. However, this year, they released the King of Limbs, surprising their adoring fans and the musical spectrum, but seemingly the guitar has gone, the electronic sounds replacing them. Have Radiohead backed themselves into a corner? Where do they go next?

Maybe it's because I'm not a musician or I haven't really been seriously into music for a long time that perhaps I hold such a viewpoint, perhaps someone who plays an instrument, or is in a band can see where such bands would go next, but in my eyes there aren't very many bands out there or up-and-coming ones who could completely rip what's out there apart now and grab everyone's attention. The other big bands? Foo Fighters continue to roll along doing what they do, as brilliant and adrenaline rush-worthy as it is; Kings of Leon remain a band that will tour for what it's worth and probably won't leave their comfort zone for a few more years, you readers are more than welcome to give suggestions of course.

Everyone obviously knows my love for Arcade Fire but perhaps the stage is set for them, what can they bring to the table after such a brilliant, emotive, genre-crossing and critically acclaimed third album The Suburbs? They've said they're going for something more jazz sounding, we'll wait and see.

I'm certainly not saying music is dead, or it has nowhere to go, I'm just intrigued to see what it does next, what will blow the roof off and leave us all gasping in awe. All of us as music fans of course eagerly await that...

2011: Debuts, comebacks, and delicious music galore.

From any avid music fans perspective who doesn't pay any attention to mainstream chart music, 2011 for music is simply mouth-watering. It'll have its fair share of comebacks, both live and in terms of records, and debut albums from some hotly anticipated new bands, touted about by the musical press. So, here's a rundown of what you should be looking out for...

The boys are back in town.

Arguably a year where we see some of the biggest bands in the music industry step back into the light and release a new record or just make a comeback altogether. The biggest announcement of 2010 was probably that of Britpop band Pulp, who announced they were coming back and confirmed shows at Wireless in London, Primavera Festival and sub-headlining for Foo Fighters on the Saturday at Isle of Wight Festival. Is another UK festival on the cards? Will a new record be coming out? Will we be seeing the band playing across the country this year? All of this is yet to be confirmed but you'll be sure to hear hits like this over the coming few months.

However, it's not just all about Cocker and his gang making a comeback this summer as several other bands are returning with brand new records. Mentioned above, Foo Fighters have just announced they've completed recording a new album, in Dave Grohl's garage recording on tapes, and as well as Isle of Wight, they are also headlining Oxegen and T in The Park in Ireland and Scotland respectively. Speaking of Oxegen, Arctic Monkeys have also been confirmed as headliners for the festival, but very little information has been released about a possible new album, but fingers crossed we will receive some in due course.

One band that everyone eagerly awaits to return is The Strokes. Their last record, "First Impressions of the Earth" was released all the way back in 2006, and while solo projects from Julian Casablancas, Albert Hammond Jr. and Nikolai Fraiture, as well as a live return in the summer last year have helped to whet the appetite, a new record, a proper tour and some more festival appearances in summer 2011 would go down a storm.

Will we be seeing a return from Radiohead in the coming year? Work has been on-going on the follow-up album to "In Rainbows" but seems to have stalled over the past few months, but it'll be interesting to see what they can produce, and whether it'll be finished in time to make any live appearances this year. Unlike Radiohead, Elbow are well set to make a grand return this year, their fifth album "build a rocket boys!" is scheduled to be released on the 7th of March, and with an arena tour also taking place later in the month, Guy Garvey and co. say the new album is definitely sounding good for the big arena audiences. A video below is a live recording of one of the tracks off the new album, "Lippy Kids." Other notable mentions go to the likes of White Lies, Portishead, REM and many more.

Little fish enter the big pond.

2011 also looks an exciting year for new, up-and-coming acts, who either are set to release debut albums or make big strides in the music industry with massive tracks take will make a big splash in the music world. One band that has already been written about on here that have their debut album out at the end of January are Chapel Club. The London-based band's "Palace," which features The Shore, All the Eastern Girls and O Maybe I as well as an additional 4-track CD for a few extra quid hits shelves on January 31st, but for the meantime, enjoy their upcoming new single, "Surfacing," which will be out in the next few weeks for download/purchase.

BBC's Sound of 2011, NME and many other music publications have raved about the likes of The Vaccines (their debut album "What Did You Expect From The Vaccines?" will be out in March), Jamie Woon, Brother and MONA, but one artist  in particular looks set to have a bright future in James Blake. Despite finishing second in BBC's Sound of 2011, his song "Limit to Your Love" really does send shivers down the spine, a truly beautifully constructed record. With a brilliant soulful voice, Blake's self-titled debut album, which is out on February 7th, should be something every avid music fan should be looking out for.

Perhaps rap, hip-hop and the likes don't get enough attention, but artists like Jay Electronica will surely make a big splash in 2011. Originally spotted as a result of a 9:13 minute piece of music on MySpace called "Act 1: Eternal Sunshine (The Pledge)" using music from the soundtrack of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and changing the music and mood in each of the 5 segements whilst mixing in dialogue and rapping, it was no surprise he would soon be spotted, and unlike Jay-Z's recent signing of Cher Lloyd onto his record label Roc Nation, the critically acclaimed rapper surely must be onto a winner here. Songs like "Exhibit C," shown below, will have all music fans begging for more from the young star.

A massive year for music lies ahead...

Live Review: Interpol @ Brixton Academy, 7th December.

It's a mean feat selling out Brixton Academy three nights in a row, especially in a period of bitterly cold weather and most money going towards Christmas festivities, but Interpol are still one of the biggest bands on the alternative scene, and with a wait of 3 years for a new album since Our Love To Admire in 2007, plenty of fans were definitely keen to see the New York band again.

It must've been on the lips of many fans whether the band would miss their former bassist Carlos Dengler, who left in order to pursue his own musical interests, and with his intricate bass riffs and general musical dexterity, it may have been hard for Paul Banks, Danny Kessler and Sam Fogarino to find a suitable replacement who could replicate such brilliance. Dave Pajo was drafted in to take Dengler's place on the live dates and was generally appreciated, with Brandon Curtis also brought in on keyboards and vocals.

Not too much difference between the set-lists on each of the three nights, but the audience for the 2nd date were lavished with Turn on The Bright Lights brilliance, the band's first album and was hailed as one of the best debut albums of all-time and defined the band's sound for years to come, even being touted as one of the best albums of the decade. Leif Erikson, Say Hello to the Angels The New, NYC, Obstacle 1 all featured before slamming into a 4-song encore which finished fantastically well with Stella Was A Diver and She Was Always Down and PDA.

Of course with a new album released, songs off the self-titled fourth album were played, Barricade certainly went down a storm with the crowd, Lights being played straight after NYC was a stroke of genius and Safe Without with its melodic chorus were all received well.

The latest album doesn't really match their previous 3 albums by any stretch of the imagination, it still has some great tracks on it, however it will be interesting to see in the coming years whether Banks and co. can find another brilliant bassist and come back with a bang with a fifth album that blows everyone away, but for now, they're doing quite nicely.

8/10

The best albums of 2010.

Arcade Fire - The Suburbs

The album that's been touted as Arcade Fire's "OK Computer" by certain publications delivers from start to finish and provides distinctly diverse sounds from track to track. Rather than provide the odd anthemic song, Win Butler and co. provide so many different sounds on their third album; from the musically dexterous such as The Suburbs to more rocky numbers such as Month of May to the poignantly beautiful in Sprawl (Flatland). This album has made Arcade Fire one of the biggest bands and certainly one of the best critically acclaimed artists in 2010.

Foals - Total Life Forever

Moving on from the initial success of their first album, the Oxford band have produced an album which shows maturity in sound and a departure from the young indie vibe of the first album. Mixing fast-paced tracks such as Blue Blood and This Orient with the more sombre, slow-paced After Glow, What Remains and Two Trees, Total Life Forever shows an array of high and low-tempo hits, all to bathe in the beauty of, and as such deservedly being nominated for the Mercury Prize this year. Of course, the album would be nothing without the 7-minute brilliance that is Spanish Sahara, building and building beautifully before anti-climaxing and finally hitting emotionally amazing guitar riffs and lyrics of "Forget the horror here, forget the horror here, leave it all down here, it's future rust and it's future dust..." 

Beach House - Teen Dream

A musical masterpiece from the Baltimore-based band, a 10-track flowing majestic piece of beauty; Victoria Legrand's voice is so smooth and melts the heart upon listening. The album is utterly faultless and from start to finish, the beauty in each song is clear to hear and a joy to listen to. Just on the basis of the sheer enchantment and artistry of Teen Dream, it is easily one of the best albums of 2010.

Delphic - Acolyte

After each and every listen of the debut album from Delphic, you can always find something new in it which blows your mind away; something which can be very difficult for a band with more electronic-based sounds to do. The Mancunian band have provided an album that while using such electronic sounds, has produced songs with belting choruses, surging guitar riffs and brilliant pieces of music. From Clarion Call to Remain, every song grabs you straight away and makes you want more. 

Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

The American rapper continues to push the boundaries of music and with a controversial album cover and an A-List cast including the likes of Jay-Z, Bon Iver and John Legend, West produces a stellar album that matches his loud personality. Actions certainly speak louder than words, and with a wide variety of genres and artists featured in the album, he certainly backs up his outspoken life. Mixing hip-hop tracks such as Power and All of the Lights with superb harmonies and beautiful piano pieces while keeping with his persona with brilliantly bizarre and self-centered lyrical genius has made West's album one of the best releases of 2010.

A great year of music for 2010, and with albums from The Strokes, Radiohead, Elbow and many more set to be released next year, 2011 looks set to be even better.

Live Review: Klaxons @ HMV Forum, 16th November.

Anyone who didn't go to the gig may be somewhat bemused and puzzled as to what this picture is, but do not worry, it's Jamie Reynolds sporting a woolly Slipknot-esque hat which all the members of the band were wearing as they came on stage before launching into the first song of the night, Flashover.

The HMV Forum, a small, somewhat cosy gig venue in a secluded part of Kentish Town was filled with the scent of adolescent sweat as Klaxons set out to send the crowd into a frenzy with hits from Mercury-prize winning album Myths of the Near Future and recent album Surfing the Void.

The band, with their astronomical lyrics and space-focused songs play track after track where there's just no stopping, there's no breather for the fans as Klaxons go from hit to high-tempo hit and there's not much of a break in between.

It was always going to be a hard task for Reynolds and co. to better the first album, especially with such sing-along anthems like Golden Skans and It's Not Over Yet but also fast-paced Atlantis to Interzone, Magick and Gravity's Rainbow which will always win the crowd over, but Surfing The Void has attempted to reach the heady heights they've set themselves. Echoes, which they ended with before encore, combines thudding piano notes with a chorus so brilliantly catchy, you can't help but belt your heart out to it.

While the angst-ridden teens love such belting tunes, it would be nice to see a more slower tempo song from Klaxons with more dexterity in tempo and lyrics, although the second album does seemingly comes close to this, the recently released single of the new album, Twin Flames, is fantastically atmospheric and Venusia carries a steady beat with a belting chorus.

It will be even more of a challenge to produce an even better third album, what with the band's love for astronomy and the like, and perhaps even harder to blend this in with something a bit maturer, but with gigs like this, the fans really won't care.

7/10.

Live Review: Foals @ O2 Brixton Academy, 12th November.

Even on a cold, mid-November night and having been given the wrong type of tickets, nothing could ruin a mesmeric night where Yannis & co. were simply sublime.


The incompetence of the ticketing service Crowdsurge who Foals use on their official site as their ticket provider, who say are a "new and independent ticketing company dedicated to bringing you cheaper service charges, the best customer experience possible and innovations in ticketing." Well, in terms of customer experience, I think those like myself who bought standing tickets in the pre-sale will be greatly dissatisfied. With only a week or so to go until the gig, a great number of those who bought standing tickets in the pre-sale received an e-mail from Crowdsurge saying they had made an "unfortunate error" and had sent us seating tickets instead. Despite my best efforts, they couldn't do anything about it, and offered to refund the booking fee for the tickets and send signed Foals T-shirts as compensation (which at the time of writing, haven't arrived yet), which is less than satisfactory.


However, this really couldn't dampen what was a fantastic gig. Firstly, one of the support bands were absolutely fantastic and anyone who was there probably really enjoyed their set and would advise you to listen to them. Their name was Crystal Fighters, who had a Gogol Bordello set-up but very much had a samba-dance sound and certainly had some catchy tunes such as Xtatic Truth and Champion Sound, and they even played a dubstep song called Swallow, which I personally quite enjoyed.


As for Foals, the band have the ability to play a set which not only combines songs that will get the crowd jumping, but also have several songs which you can simply bathe in their beauty, Spanish Sahara even combines the two, a song that was simply amazing when played.


They started off the set with recently released single Blue Blood which really got the gig off to a flier which such funky guitar riffs. Songs such as Balloons, Cassius, Red Socks Pugie and Olympic Airways were played off the album Antidotes, while Miami, Total Life Forever and the atmospheric and climatic Spanish Sahara off the latest album, Total Life Forever, creating a brilliant atmosphere within the venue and all were massive crowd favourites.


Highlights included Yannis jumping into the crowd during Electric Bloom and personal favourites What Remains, After Glow and 2 Trees all being played, songs that contain such sheer beauty you had to bask in and just admire. 


The gig really climaxed during the encore, coming back on stage to play the French Open and Hummer, a song they hadn't played in a while before their recent tour for the new album. They finished with a bang, and what a bang, with Two Steps, Twice, gradually building and building the tempo before sending their adoring faithful into a wild frenzy, what a way to finish.


Considering my friend & I were in seating and not in the frenetic standing area may have worsened our experience of the gig, but in fact, it's definitely up there in the top 5 gigs I've ever been to, and I was simply lost for words at how they good they were on our journey home. After that, I'll definitely be looking to get a standing ticket for their New Years Eve gig at the HMV Forum, and you should too.

Chapel Club - Echoes of the Bunnymen and bands of old.

Chapel Club, a great new band from London, are making great waves on the alternative music scene. When checking them out on YouTube, they've been compared to a great number of bands; Echo & The Bunnymen, The Smiths, The Cure, Joy Division, the list goes on and on, however Chapel Club are in a field of their own.

Lewis Bowman, the lead singer of the band, does follow in the footsteps of the above bands and their lead singers with a distinctively deep-toned voice, but pulls it off in such a relaxed manner, it's effortless.

One of the their songs, The Shore (which is free to download off their website) provides a breathtakingly hypnotic 6-minute masterpiece , building and building before hitting a brilliantly delicious guitar riff. O Maybe I produces something similar to the vocals of Morrissey, talking of the conflicts of life, complete with pulsating guitar riffs, while Surfacing, with the constantly thunderous sound of the drums, provides an eerie feel before delivering a belting chorus. Recently released single All the Eastern Girls shows the bands diversity, able to move away from perhaps more darker, mysterious works to a song with a more lively sound and a catchy chorus to boot.



However, there is more to this band that meets the eye, a freshness that perhaps has not been seen in the music industry recently. Bowman's lyrical inspirations stem from the likes of Ernest Hemingway and Ted Hughes, while the songs aim to look at questions of religion and faith rather than the musical stereotypes of love & sex that are used far too frequently.

Their album, yet to be titled, is set to be released in January, and something which a lot of people will look forward too. This album could potentially make heads turn, what with some of their songs about that look set to make the tracklisting for the album, and could give faith to the shoegazing generation of old, complementing the rise of bands such as Editors and White Lies.

Check them out, buy their songs, listen to the album in January, and if you can, get tickets to the live shows in 2011, they are not to be missed...