Editors - Smokers Outside The Hospital Doors -- An End Has A Start (2007)

Up next is one of my favorite bands of all time, with for me the best album they made so far. I had little to no inspiration today so I let Miri decide what I should post. And lets face it, she did well! Not only is this band one of my top 3 most played bands of all time, as well did she pick the right album from them to talk about. 

The album is a former number one album in England and the second album made by the band after the debut album The Back Room of course. The album is characterized by the indie rock and the post punk revival music the band plays, with the pretty unique and awesome vocals of Tom Smith obviously. Back in the post about Joy Division I said he reminded me of Ian, or the other way around... This still is the case and again I will say that they are basically Joy Division on speed, a description others often gave them over the years. The album contains hit songs like Smokers Outside The Hospital Doors, An End Has A Start and The Racing Rats and it made me absolutely fall in love with them. I bought The Back Room short after its release but didn't give it much plays back in in 2005 and 2006. I did give them a lot of attention in the summer of 2007 though, for the simple reason they were coming to Pukkelpop and I was planning to see them live. In the two weeks before Pukkelpop I played their material an awful lot and I absolutely fell in love with An End Has A Start that came out two months earlier.

The song I chose to post is Smokers Outside The Hospital Doors, because it's after Swing Life Away my favorite track I'd say. The last few days before the festival I had it constantly on repeat and when they finally played it live I just closed my eyes and had goosebumps for the total duration of the song. So it was an easy choice to make I'd say! Because of this I have picked a live version of the song as well. Before I conclude this post with an enjoy, I'd like to say that new material should be coming later this year. It's not officially announced I think but few media mention a fourth album for later this year. Enjoy!

Official site

last.fm artist page

Peace - Wraith -- In Love (2013)

We're going to England once more, Birmingham this time. Peace is a four piece band that creates melodic indie rock and brought out their debut album at the end of March. The album is decent to good after a few listens but does leave you slightly disappointed  For the simple reason they were hyped so much on the internet and compared to bands like Foals and Vampire Weekend. As well did they play on the NME (they gave the album a 9/10 as well...) Awards tour this year. So yeah it's a decent debut record, but it didn't meet the (or my) high expectations. Anyways if you are new to the band and didn't hear about them before you might actually really like this release.

The album is pretty poppy in my opinion, and is full of catchy tunes and lyrics about young love. It contains the previously released singles Follow Baby and Wraith, and the album is basically more of the same. To be honest it sounds pretty much as so many other indie rock releases. Not that this is per se a bad thing, they don't have a revolutionary new sound, but at least they are able to make some good indie pop/rock. If you are, like me, a fan of the genre then it's worth to give the album a few spins and you'll find yourself liking it. But I'm not sure if it will stick, maybe the hype will continue and the band will get a lot of airtime and media attention. But I'm afraid a lot of people might be slightly disappointed and they'll slowly disappear out of the media. Nevertheless the album is pretty good and I'd give it somewhere around a seven on ten, just don't expect to be blown away by it...

The song I'm posting is Wraith, because I know them from this song. It isn't the best on the album but at least it has an official video and it's one of the two songs most of you will already know by them. Enjoy!

Official site
last.fm artist page

The Virginmarys - Dead Man's Shoes -- King of Conflict (2013)

Right now I'll be talking about another hard(er) rock band. After Wolfmother only a day ago it will be about The Virginmarys this time. While the first band is pretty much known by most people the second one is only starting out, well not exactly since they are active since '06 already. But this activity was limited to touring extensively and releasing some ep's. The first complete record only came out last month though and it sounds pretty good. So I expect that the time of being unknown by most people will soon be over for these guys. 

The band is a trio from Macclesfield up in the North of England and they produce some very good alternative, hard/garage rockish sounding music. The record opens with the song i'm posting here: Dead Man's Shoes and it immediately shows the energy/power these lads will entertain you with. The intro is very catchy and likable and the rest of the record seems to hold up after this promising start. I'm pretty new to the band as well so I can't really say much about them, but I'd strongly advice to give this song a try and if you like what you hear I'd do the same with the complete album! The album is a double album containing the record of 12 tracks as well as a stripped album which contains mostly the same songs but in acoustic versions obviously.

The song is like I said the opener of the record and is called Dead Man's Shoes. It was the song I stumbled upon myself yesterday, it's an official video, it's a very good video and it's catchy as fuck. Reasons enough to pick this one of the record I'd say! Enjoy!

Official site
last.fm artist page

Foals - My Number -- Holy Fire (2013)

Right now i'll be talking about a band from Oxford, England. Foals are a math/indie rock band that released three albums in the past. The debut album by the band is definitely my favorite. It's characterized by fast paced math rock guitar work and is catchy as fuck. Something the two later albums have less. The Total Life Forever & Holy Fire records are a bit slower, still good but not as good as Antidotes was and they both demand you to re-listen the record a few times before you start to like it. Here I'll be talking about the latest record Holy Fire, simply because it was released last month so it's obviously the most recent one of the three. 

The record starts rather slow and has a rather grown up sound for the band. Like I said you need to listen a few times to the first two tracks to really like them. After the slower intro you have My Number which will be the track I'm posting here, it's more like the debut album (although it's poppy-er than the sound of the debut album) and less like the grown up sound they have now. I mean I get it that bands evolve over time, but if you had an excellent debut album it's always nice to hear songs that remind you of that. It's like the albums now are far more indie/alternative while it previously was far more math rock inspired. And I really appreciated the math rock sound of Antidotes, so it's a real shame in my opinion. After this short moment of nostalgia the album gets slower again with Late Night as the slowest track (until you reach the outro with Moon), but this track has a pretty long and nice build up and gets a bit harder over time. This somehow shows the range of Yannis Philippakis his vocals, something you notice as well in the providence song that is a bit harder and faster than the other material, this song has a very excellent build up too by the way. But not only Yannis stands out as well do the rest of the band and especially the drumming of Jack Bevan in my opinion is outstanding, you have the harder more straight forward drumming, as well do you have pretty complex drumming in some songs. All this is combined with rhythmic guitar work that is catchy as hell at times.

The song is like I said My Number for the nostalgic feeling it gives me. The video is official as well I think so this is a big plus as well. The record in general is good but you need to give it time to grow on you. Enjoy!

Official site

last.fm artist page