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Thursday 22 November 2012

Radiohead - Paranoid Android -- OK Computer (1997)


Last post was about Alt-J where I mentioned they were my album of the year, well apparently they did win, at least, one prize for that album. My girl told me they won the mercury prize few days or weeks back, I have no clue about when exactly. Anyways I started browsing the prize to find some ok albums but no epic winners in the past for me. Not only where they not epic, sometimes I really couldn't understand the result. To be more exact in 1997 the winners where Roni Size and Reprazent with their New Forms album. Which is a good drum and bass album, and even a good album in general with my personal favorite Brown Paper Bag on it. But this album is nothing, and I mean literally nothing compared with the OK Computer album of Radiohead if you ask me. I mean the first of these two albums is good the second one is epic. This may be reduced to my own personal taste, but I really do think nowadays a lot of people don't even know the Reprazent project formed by Roni Size anymore. Ok partly because of the inactivity around the project with the last (really) new album dating from the late 90's or early 00's but still if this album was that good people would know it. And to be fair lots and lots of people don't. 

Anyways for me OK Computer should have been the winner in 97, at least of the few nominated albums I saw, maybe there where other excellent albums that weren't even nominated... But with their 3rd studio album they just delivered a masterpiece, and I'm not even a Radiohead fan. I honestly consider them boring at a lot of times. But yeah this album really is a gem, and not only for the musical aspect. The message Thom Yorke sends us trough the album with his unique vocals are worth listening to as well. It's not like nowadays a catchy song without meaning this album had some meaning, or at least society gave that meaning to the album.

Choosing the song was pretty easy this time, without a doubt Paranoid Android was the best song I could pick from this album. For starters has the song a fucked up but at the same time cool video, on top of this has the song so many different aspects and stages and it feels like I'm (re)discovering something new every time I listen to it. Feel free to (re)discover along with me, enjoy!

Official site
last.fm artist page
Mercury prize

Alt-J (∆) - Breezeblocks -- An Awesome Wave (2012)


From the one year to the other, from 2011 to 2012. Like I said in the previous post the debut record of Little Comets was one of my favorites of 2011, the debut album of Alt-J is maybe my AOTY (album of the year) 2012, or at least one of my favorites of this year. The album contains lots of good tracks like tessellate, Breezeblocks, Matilda and so on. What makes these tracks so excellent in my opinion is of course the total package of the songs, but what makes Alt-J stand out from the rest this year is the sound of his voice, I really like the vocals a lot. To a lesser extent the use of unusual instruments/sounds make them stand out a bit as well.

If you didn't check this Leeds based band out yet you definitively should, at least on record they sound amazing. I would check them out live and they actually are coming to Belgium, few weeks back I saw the concert appear in the news letter of a local venue. I obviously got really excited and immediately went to the site to buy some tickets only to see the concert was sold out already, they scheduled them in the small venue where only like 100 people fit in and put some crap act in the main room that night, I was and am really pissed off for this. Because on record these guys really sound awesome so I was hoping for an excellent gig as well. Oh well if any of you guys saw them live yet feel free to leave your opinions in the comments. For now enjoy the song it's Breezeblocks, not my favorite which is Matilda, but it's the one I knew first by them and if I'm not mistaken the video is official, which is a big plus as well no?

Official site
last.fm artist page

Tuesday 20 November 2012

Little Comets - Adultery -- In Search Of Elusive Little Comets (2011)


Up next  is, for me, one of the better releases from last year. With the "In Search Of Elusive Little Comets" the band, Little Comets, delivered a very catchy and like-able debut record in early 2011. The album features lots of songs with rather fast guitar-work combined with very good vocals and lyrics you just want to sing along too. At the other end the record also contains some calmer material, like the end with "Intelligent Animals" or "Her Black Eyes" which shows a bit of the range that this trio can handle. And if you ask me they can handle it very very well. 

While making this post I read a bit about the new album as well. The record called "Life Is Elsewhere" was released last month, and I honestly can't wait until I'm able to hear it. But this magical moment will be for tomorrow evening, so I have to be a bit more patient, haha. On a serious note I have to say that I really do have great expectations for this one, I'm very excited to hear the new material since the debut was that good... So let's hope they are able to meet these high expectations. Don't let me down Little Comets!

Anyways for this post I chose the song Adultery for two reasons: The obvious one is that I really like the video and the song itself of course. The second reason is the fact that it was the first song I knew by them. Combine both reasons and you have a winner, haha (I always find it difficult to pick just one song of an album). Anyways I hope you guys can live with my choice and are able to enjoy the song.  


Monday 19 November 2012

Kodaline - All I Want -- The Kodaline ep (2012)


Few weeks back I was browsing the /mu/ board on 4chan when someone started a thread about this song. About how the video coming along with this song was so beautiful. After watching it, and hearing the song for the first time, I could only agree with the poster of the thread. This is one of the best music video's I saw in my life, I really like Swing Life Away by Rise Against (obviously), as well as the video for Give It All by the same band and the video for Memory by Sugarcult to name a few. And of course there are at least 100's of other good video's I saw in my life and probably 1000's more I didn't even see. But this one really left an impression on me, not only is it an excellent music video, almost a short film I would say. The song itself is very good as well. I like the build up of the song in general as well as the vocals, which are pretty high and somewhat fragile, which I'm usually not that big of a fan of but it works for Kodaline.

Anyways besides the song with the excellent video Kodaline seems like a new band with some potential, the rest of the ep isn't as awesome as this song is, but it's OK in general. The fragile voice combined with the excellent build up in All I Want leaves me longing for more so I'm looking forward to the first complete album by this Irish band. It seems they'll bring out another ep out first though, let's hope that one will be as good as this song. Enjoy the video and song!

Sunday 18 November 2012

Biffy Clyro - Bubbles -- Only Revolutions (2009)


From the one excellent live band to the other. Next up is Biffy Clyro. Very different from Explosions In The Sky but just like them a band that I would love to see as often as possible. This because of the last concert I saw of them few years back at Pukkelpop. The band played, like the first time I saw them, very well, but now this was coupled with a brilliant atmosphere! They had a small crowd that day (still don't understand why) but it was an amazing one.  

Anyways I really want to tell and even discuss something about Biffy Clyro with you guys. I know Biffy Clyro for a quite some time by now, to be more exact from the release of the Infinity Land album. I admit it's not that long but hey I was only 14 back then. So ok I wasn't a fan of them from the beginning in 1995, I was only 5 years old so seems a bit impossible. But I do know them for a few years as well.
What really frustrates me now is that a lot of people think they sold out last year (or is it two years ago already?), this frustrates me because I really don't think think that this is the case. Ok they did a mainstream thing, but so what?! The music they make didn't change that drastically over the years if you ask me. It's a bit more accessible than before maybe, but that's all.
So all they did is try to generate a bit more attention and obviously the associated money trough some TV show, which is alright if you ask me. Everyone would try to make as much money as possible, even I have adds (click them, haha) on my small blog here. So to everyone who actually think they sold out, fuck off... If you would be playing some excellent music for more and less 15 years and you still don't get the attention you deserve what would you do then? Honestly we all should be happy they are a bit more well known now,  too many bands quit in the past for the lack of attention and revenues, do you really want that this would happen to Biffy Clyro as well?

Oh well ranted enough, I chose for the song Bubbles of their latest album because all of the previous ranting, of course the music is a bit more mainstream than before, but is it any less good than the old material? I honestly think the latest albums are as good as the first ones, they all were produced by Biffy Clyro and every single one of them is good. By the way new material coming early next year, looking forward to that! Enjoy!

Official site
last.fm artist page

Explosion In The Sky - Snow and Lights -- How Strange, Innocence (200/2005)




It seems like forever since I posted some post rock. This might just be because of my inactivity though. still let me make it up to you with one of the major bands in the genre. And for me personally the band that made me fall in love with the genre after Joy Wants Eternity introduced me to it. Explosions In The Sky is an Austin Texas based band that is producing some of the more excellent music since the end of the last century. Honestly there isn't an album they made I did not like, I can't even name a song that I dislike. For me this band is what post rock should be, and of course taste differs for everyone and there are a lot of excellent bands out there, I know all this. But for me they just are just that little bit better than the others, until now at least.

The song is from their debut album and I especially like the drumming in this one, it was amazing to see them play this song live. Although that was the case for almost every song they played. It was my first post rock concert and I was really amazed how they made some of the sounds by just hitting (not playing) their instruments. It all seemed so random, like what other rock bands would do at the end of the gig, just to produce some noise... But here it was to make the exact sounds, not noise but music. It sounded exactly as it would sound on the album and it was just unbelievable how they did it, haha. Definitely one of the best concerts I saw in my short live and one of the very few bands I would like to see as often as possible even if it would be two days in a row, I honestly wouldn't mind. Enjoy!

Friday 16 November 2012

Good Shoes - Morden -- Think Before You Speak (2007)


Next up is the British band Good Shoes. Apparently they formed in a part of London called Morden, which is the song title of the video I'm posting. Not 100% sure if this little fact is right or not, but it's on the Last FM bio which often seems (and is) legit. When this album first came out I was a huge fan of the catchy and fast songs. The album always succeeded in making me feel happy, and good in general. Now few years later the album is still one of my favorites when I feel a bit down. In general I listen less to the band because the second album was kind off a disappointment. It was good but I expected so much more, and maybe too much of them. I've got it playing now though so maybe the extra plays of the record are able to change my mind. Wouldn't be the first time that I wrote an album off to early...

Now that I'm looking into them a bit more I can't help but notice that they are very inactive. No news about a possible new album, no new gigs, no updates on their site... I just hope they are still together. Even though the second album wasn't that great for me, I still feel the desire to see these lads live one day. All profiles tell "2004 - present" so I still got hope. The fact that they didn't connect on their Myspace for over a year maybe just means that that site really is dead, haha. 

Anyways enjoy the song and hopefully we'll all be able to see them live soon. Like I said the song is Morden for the simple reason that it's my favorite on the album, like usual no?

Tuesday 6 November 2012

Yellowcard - Ocean Avenue -- Ocean Avenue (2003)


Next up is Yellow Card, again a band I'm listening to for quite some time. To be exact since my early teenage years, age 13 more and less. Right now I'm not that much into the punk rock genre anymore, but some bands I still am able to enjoy a lot, especially Yellowcard (explains the post) and Rise Against (explains the blog title). The Ocean Avenue album in 2003 didn't actually blew me away, I wasn't that much into music back then so the album didn't really get the chance to do it I guess. I did have few songs of the album and the Ocean Avenue song itself is right now my favorite by the band but it didn't strike me as being that excellent at first. Two albums later all that changed though, I developed in huge a music freak in 2007 and played the new record over and over. So I was and still am a huge fan of the Paper Walls album when it came out. I guess I'm one of the few people that actually finds this album better than the Ocean Avenue one, but I did back then and I still do right now.

About the newer material I can't say that much, I have it but I really don't listen to it. Which is a shame, I know, but whenever I feel like it I put on Paper Walls and nothing else, Maybe I should change that tonight and put on When You're Trough Thinking, Say Yes or Southern Air or look for the two first albums online to add to my media library, who knows. For now it's Paper Walls while typing this, and I'm happy with it, haha. 

The song itself has an entertaining video and excellent lyrics to sing along to with good punk rock music supporting them. It really gets me nostalgic whenever I listen to music like this, it's a bit like Deftones and the harder music when I was a kid, but now for my early teenage years, the years right before I listened to Indie Rock a year or two years later in 04/05. So yes I'm not that much into it anymore but you may expect some bands like this, just because I have some history with them and I enjoy ranting about them. I'm not even sorry, haha. For now enjoy the song and go back to whatever age you were when you found out about Yellowcard.

Monday 5 November 2012

Netsky - Iron Heart -- Netsky (2010)


Next up is the first Belgian artist, about time considering I'm from Belgium. Not only is he the first Belgian artist but as well is he the first drum and bass artist I will be posting here. To be more exact Netsky produces liquid drum and bass and he's doing it very well. At age 23 Boris Daenen already made two records and he's a rising star  in the drum and bass scene, if he isn't a star already. I'm not that well known with the genre so it's hard to tell for me.

Anyways I do am able to tell that in Belgium he's really popular, especially at festivals where the stages are crowded as fuck where he plays. The song I chose is Iron Heart from his first record, the video is official but doesn't contain the full song. I do advice to download/buy both his albums. The second album came out earlier this year, and I don't know it that well yet. But what I heard of "2" sounds very good,  The first album on the other hand is one of my favorite albums, and was an excellent debut record. If you still want more then he has lots of good tracks that aren't featured on one of the albums. Since i'm not that well known with the genre or Netsky in general I'll make this a short post. Just want to add that in the future I'll be posting more Belgian artists. For now you can listen to, and hopefully enjoy, one of our biggest talents with Netsky.

Official site
last.fm artist page

Friday 2 November 2012

M83 - We Own The Sky -- Saturdays = Youth (2008)


Next up on my blog is M83, for the simple reason that I'll be seeing them live tomorrow. Not to sure what to expect since I only know half of the albums. I do am some sort of fan of them, in a way that I really like to listen to it, but I do not know how it will sound live and what the atmosphere will be like. Especially in Belgium where most people don't know any good music and a lot of folks just are there to try something new, which makes the crowd often very boring. 

Maybe tomorrow will be better though, since M83 is the project of the French artist Anthony Gonzalez. Our countries are neighbors and i'm going to a venue that is in Brussels and has mostly french speaking visitors, so maybe just maybe they actually know this artist for once. Not that I know them that well, but probably I will know more than the majority of the crowd, oh well. If you wouldn't believe the Belgian crowds actually are bad... Then I can tell you out of my own experience that we are somewhat neighbors of the United Kingdom as well if you ignore the sea in between us. But the average Belgian person doesn't seem to know anything of the music coming from there, so I probably shouldn't get my hopes up too high for tomorrow. Anyways the most important is the band, if the gig itself is good I will be a happy man. For now i'd say enjoy the song, it's We Own The Sky of the Saturdays = Youth album, which is my favorite of the three albums that I know.  

Official Site
last.fm artist page