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

Young Statues - Eraser -- Age Isn't Ours (2013)

Young Statues is a New Jersey/Philadelphia based band that I know little to nothing about. What I do know is that they released the Age Isn't Ours 6 track ep last few days, and it doesn't sound bad at all after a few listens. It's an indie rock band with sometimes an emo rockish sounding touch to them if you ask me. The vocals are decent and the music is actually pretty good in my opinion. Nothing extraordinary but a very decent release that is worth to check out. It seems it's the third release by the band after a self titled album in 2011 and an acoustic ep last year, so more to check out if you like what you hear.

The song I'm posting is the first one on the ep, called Eraser. The quality of the video isn't great at all but I actually like it because of this, it adds some sort of charm to it. If you want to properly check the band out you can go watch this video of Spacism, which was featured on their debut album. Enjoy!

Official site
last.fm artist page

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Sacrilege -- Mosquito (2013)

Tonight another recent release will be the topic. The Mosquito album by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, not sure if it's actually out already or it just has leaked, but that's basically the same thing these days. I'm listening my third time to the album upon writing this and I'm not entirely convinced. I love the band, heck the Y Control song features as my gamer and nick name on a lot of platforms. But this record is pretty alternative, even experimental. I don't consider it to be bad but I don't know I miss the rock in the album. I'm not used to having to re-listen a Yeah Yeah Yeahs album to actually start liking it I guess.

The record is for Yeah Yeah Yeahs standards very slow and again experimental. It's like they completely forgot how to play indie/alternative rock. It starts of with Sacrilege and Subway, which both are very surprising songs for the band. The third song after which the album is called does remind you a bit of the older material and is a nice flashback to how you expect them to sound. Afterward the record continues in the experimental mood set in the first two tracks and sometimes you get another song like Mosquito that reminds you of the old albums, if you're lucky that is. At least you still have Karen O's vocals during the complete record, and they still sound pretty awesome if you ask me. Actually these vocals make the record a whole lot better, if it wasn't for her voice I'm not sure if I'd still like the record really. I have nothing against the musical change they are making but it's not really my type of music and I would soon give up on it. But now I know it's a Yeah Yeah Yeahs album, I love them and I love her voice so it makes me re-listen it. Not because I wanted to after the first spin but because I forced myself to do it. And to be honest the record starts growing on me, I really miss the old sound but it's actually a very decent record. Not good but like a solid 7 on 10 at the moment for me, and who knows maybe it gets a higher rating after the few extra listens.

The song is like I said Sacrilege simply because the official video of it came out earlier this week and it's a great example of the experimental direction the band has headed in. Enjoy!

Official site
last.fm artist page

Team Ghost - Dead Film Star -- Rituals (2013)

Now I'll be having it about a band created by Nicolas Fromaguea. Who was a co founder and member of M83 (until 2004). The music the band plays is a mix of a lot of things, it's electronic combined with indie rock as well as a mix with post rock influences at times. Which apparently is the Cold-Gaze genre according to NME (New Musical Express). Therefore I'm very intrigued by this french quintet. 

They tell on their site that their first album is out now, and obviously they mean Rituals. But a little research learns that We All Shine was released in 2011 already with 14 tracks on it. So I think you can speak of a follow up album in this case. Anyways for the great masses and for me as well it's the first thing you'll hear about Team Ghost so we can indeed speak of a debut album in many ways. And it's good, not all songs convince me after three listens, but the album in general is entertaining. Personally I love the post rock elements in them, it's a cool refreshing aspect in music like this for me. The vocals are decent, nothing too great but decent, and the sound of his voice grows on you with every listen. It's a pretty atmospheric record in few songs as well has it quite some tempo with the more faster paced electronic and post rockish tracks. The record actually starts off with everything I just mentioned. It has a very atmospheric/electronic intro. Which actually builds up to guitar work & drums that continues to build up to an eargasm. So you can immediately hear the post rock influences this album has. And all this in one song! Honestly it's an awesome opening track for me. Further in the record you get a mix of actual rock songs, actual electronic and very atmospheric songs. As well do you often get a mix of all the previous elements in one song which was the case in the intro. I would be posting the away (intro) song because it illustrates the mix between the electronic and the post rock music pretty well. But the song has no official video so I had to pick another one. 

And the video I picked for you guys is the hit song on the album and the most famous one. So of course it has an official video coming along with it. But honestly my favorite track is Away, Dead Film Star is good just less, simple as that haha. In general I'd stongely advice you to check this entry out, I'm enjoying quite a lot! Soooo enjoy!

Official site
last.fm artist page

Biffy Clyro - Biblical -- Opposites (2013)

Up next is the first repost I'll be doing. Last year (already) I posted about Biffy Clyro and talked a bit about the Only Revolutions album, the band in general and how good I consider them live. I also mentioned the new material coming early this year. Right now I'm going to talk about two things, again the excellent live performance these guys delivered and the new material. 

First things first, Opposites came out late January I think and is the sixth studio album these lads delivered. At first I wasn't convinced, I felt that they again became more accessible and again got further away from the old sound. Like I explained in my older post, I'm ok with this I liked Only Revolutions and Puzzle as much as the older albums. And I could have expected that they would continue to follow the road of the previous two albums since they finally are becoming very successful with them. Nevertheless I was slightly disappointed after that first listen, I was going to see them live though in mid February so I figured I needed to give the record a few re-listens. And like so many times when you do this you start to develop a liking for the record. Every time I re-listened I discovered other songs I really started to enjoy and to be honest two months later I don't think this was a bad release at all. Yes again it's more accessible than Blackened Sky to name one of the old albums, but it's still Biffy Clyro. It's still good rock with Scottish vocals on them. I got the deluxe edition of the album so I'm not 100% sure what songs aren't on the normal album but I pretty much like everything on the record at this time and I can only advice to check it out completely if you haven't already. 

Secondly I'm gonna talk a bit about the gig, not doing much gigs anymore lately. Lack of time mostly... Only saw Biffy Clyro and Bloc Party last month and both were good. But even though Bloc Party is my favorite band, the Biffy Clyro concert was way better. They played a lot of the last three albums, which was a bit sad actually. But they played it with so much energy that you were satisfied at the end of the concert. Sure I would have liked some extra old songs, but I guess a lot of the crowd coming to their shows now only are familiar with the newer material so you can't blame them for mostly playing this song. The Opposites record got a lot of playtime as well (obviously) and I can tell that for me the songs were very enjoyable live!

The song I'm posting here will be an official video of one of the tracks, I like so many songs of the record that I'm just gonna pick the first video I get which is official, haha. And the lucky one is Biblical, one of the examples I could have given of the more accessible (mainstream I guess) sound they have since Puzzle. But at the same time one of the examples I could have given of a song you really start to like after listening a few extra times. At least I do and I hope you'll do the same, Enjoy!

Official site

last.fm artist page

CHVRCHES - Recover -- Recover ep (2013)

Up next on the blog is maybe the next big thing in the electro rock scene. CHVRCHES (pronounced Churches) are a pretty alternative trio from Glasgow, Scotland. The band produces some catchy tunes combined with very fragile vocals from lead vocalist Lauren Mayberry. 

Right here I'll be talking briefly about the Recover ep which came out in the past week I think, the title song of this ep Recover didn't convince me at first listen but it's growing on me. I seem to need time to adapt to the very high vocals in the song but they definitely are growing on me. The second song ZVVL (no idea how to pronounce this one, haha) is less catchy but the combined vocals of Lauren and one of the lads (I have no clue which one) are very well done. The third song, Now Is Not The Time, is a bit of a mix of the previous two. It combines the catchy sounds of Recover and the nice sounding combined vocals of ZVVL and for this reason I'm actually really fond of the last song. As a bonus to these three tracks you get two remixes of the Recover song by Cid Rim and Curxes. Both are well done but like usual I'm the type of guy that prefers to the original. But especially the Cid Rim remix is very entertaining and worth checking out.

The song I'm picking will be the Recover song, simply because it has an official video. I'm not sure if it's my favorite song of the three but let us call it a tie between Now Is Not The Time and Recover. In general it's a good ep and the previous released singles such as The Mother We Share were good as well. So I'd say it's a trio we could be hearing a lot of in the near future. Enjoy!

Official facebook (I think)
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

The Blackwater Fever - Don't Fuck With Joe -- The Depths (2013)

The Blackwater Fever is an Aussie based band that will release their third studio album The Depths in the near future. For some unknown reason I have the album already, good guy internet... And it actually sounds pretty good! It's something between garage and blues rock and it manages to keep you fascinated for more or less three quarters of an hour. It actually reminds me a lot of a local band called the Black Box Revelation, I have to make a post about them next time! If you like the genre don't hesitate to check any of the bands out. (for The Black Box Revelation I advice the debut album...)

Anyways I didn't hear much yet from 2013, nevertheless this trio from Brisbane is one of the first discoveries of the year for me. It's quite amazing they are active since 2005 and stayed under most people's radar until now, or at least mine... I'm actually rather interested in how the previous two albums sound, but for now I'll keep listening to this one, I really like it haha.

The song I posted for you guys is Don't Fuck With Joe. Which is the fourth track of the album, not my favorite at the moment but it's an official video which is a big plus, and it's still quite good of course. So enjoy!

Official site
last.fm artist page