the children of the future are drowning in the flood
Top 10 Albums of 2009
6. Kasabian - West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum (Swisslet)
I dislike Kasabian enormously: I hate their simian bearing and their staggeringly limited delusion that apeing Oasis is somehow greatest thing anyone could ever aspire to. I do, however, grudgingly have to admit that I quite like their music.
I wanted desperately to hate this album, from the moment that I first set eyes on its preposterously pretentious cover…. But again, I couldn’t do it. Lead single Fire sucked me in to buying the album, and from my very first listen, I was forced to admit that there’s more wit and invention on display than Oasis have shown in decades.
I wouldn’t quite go as far as Q Magazine by naming this as the album of 2009, but it seems that the gibbons have come up trumps again. But if, given infinite time, an infinite number of chimps with typewriters will eventually produce the works of Shakespeare….
Listen to: Where Did All The Love Go?
6. The Noisettes - Wild Young Hearts (LB)
Don’t be fooled by the Noisettes mammoth chart hit Don’t Upset The Rhythm. For months, I was, and I assumed they were some silly, Euro dance act with nothing but a bassline and a decent female vocal.
How wrong I was.
I was really surprised by how refreshing Wild Young Hearts sounds. If anything, it owes much of its charm to the great Motown hits of old rather than any formulaic, modern dance music. It manages to combine a really retro sound with something very 21st century and the result is a great selection of catchy, meaningful songs which actually have some depth to them. Don’t Upset The Rhythm is utterly unrepresentative of the rest of the album, and if you listen to one of their other singles like Never Forget You or the title track you’ll understand what I mean.
I really hope the Noisettes can build on this album and go on to bigger and better things. This could be the sign of great things to come, and if they have a car advertisement to thank for their big break, meh. So be it.
Listen to: Wild Young Hearts
6. Muse - The Resistance (bedshaped)
One has to wonder, just where are Muse headed nowadays? They've already reached global acclaim, filling stadiums left, right and centre. Album sales reaching stupid quantities and obviously huge amounts of money being thrown at them for their music video shoots. So what next?
Well....it's a case of more of the same, but with a few extra tweaks and a dash of really accomplished production, with Muse doing what they do best, but stretching their legs just that little bit more.
There seems to be a lot more 'filling' going on here. I don't mean that in a bad way. I'm not taking album filler tracks. Trust me, this album is all killer, no filler! To quote the fantastic Jamie T. No, I mean....there's lots of electronica, orchestrations, long instrumental breaks, and some of the most flamboyant piano strumming, the likes I've not heard for a long time. Matt's voice is as good as ever, and he does really great on the ballads. He really does seem to be finding his feet. I mean, it's only take ten years or so, hasn't it?
But yes....this album really is a must own for this year.
The album opens with the blistering Uprising. The bass pumping, sixties sci-fi emulating keyboard, pounding drums and a creepy similarity to Blondie's Call Me. Fantastic. And that grinding guitar is just brilliant. A great opening track.
The rest of the album doesn't disappoint. There's power chord rock, stadium anthems, funk, operatics, gentle ballads, tempo changes, story telling and voice that's hits notes all over the scale. Power chords a plenty, some very odd keyboard hooks, lots of piano, some massive drums, dirty basslines, Matt's falsetto vocals, great guitar work and lots and lots of orchestration. Ok, at times it may sound a little....pretentious, but put that feeling aside, just listen....and love the beauty....that is Muse.
Standing out just a little above the crowd are Resistance, a galloping, dare I say it, Queen type anthemic sound, and it's unbelievably potent chorus, which is surely a definitive 'Earworm' moment. Undisclosed Desires, which sounds breaktakingly familiar on first listen, with it's jaunty keyboard lead in. It's Muse on a funky day! Yay....go Muse, ya funky shizzle dizzle. And United States Of Eurasia/Collateral Damage is epic with a capital E. It's thrusting, operatic, Queen-esque, big, big and, erm....big. The song brilliantly calms itself down and exits with a lovely piano piece to close.
Best track for me is Unnatural Selection. Absolutely gorgeous church organ intro. The drum pounding, and then that phat guitar hook, Matt's weaving vocals and a chorus and bridge that's almost too big for it's boots. But not quite. This song drives and drives. Ooh...tempo change. Now it's a down and dirty swamp blues type groove. The guitar solo is decidedly jolly and Matts vocals are almost sexy. Almost. Aah, bollocks to it. Yes. YES! Matt's vocals make me feel naughty. Oh, tempo change again. The song finishes off like a neat sandwich. The top and the bottom are lovely, but the filling is delicious.
Listen to: Unnatural Selection
6. Kasabian - West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum (Swisslet)
I dislike Kasabian enormously: I hate their simian bearing and their staggeringly limited delusion that apeing Oasis is somehow greatest thing anyone could ever aspire to. I do, however, grudgingly have to admit that I quite like their music.I wanted desperately to hate this album, from the moment that I first set eyes on its preposterously pretentious cover…. But again, I couldn’t do it. Lead single Fire sucked me in to buying the album, and from my very first listen, I was forced to admit that there’s more wit and invention on display than Oasis have shown in decades.
I wouldn’t quite go as far as Q Magazine by naming this as the album of 2009, but it seems that the gibbons have come up trumps again. But if, given infinite time, an infinite number of chimps with typewriters will eventually produce the works of Shakespeare….
Listen to: Where Did All The Love Go?
6. The Noisettes - Wild Young Hearts (LB)
Don’t be fooled by the Noisettes mammoth chart hit Don’t Upset The Rhythm. For months, I was, and I assumed they were some silly, Euro dance act with nothing but a bassline and a decent female vocal.How wrong I was.
I was really surprised by how refreshing Wild Young Hearts sounds. If anything, it owes much of its charm to the great Motown hits of old rather than any formulaic, modern dance music. It manages to combine a really retro sound with something very 21st century and the result is a great selection of catchy, meaningful songs which actually have some depth to them. Don’t Upset The Rhythm is utterly unrepresentative of the rest of the album, and if you listen to one of their other singles like Never Forget You or the title track you’ll understand what I mean.
I really hope the Noisettes can build on this album and go on to bigger and better things. This could be the sign of great things to come, and if they have a car advertisement to thank for their big break, meh. So be it.
Listen to: Wild Young Hearts
6. Muse - The Resistance (bedshaped)
One has to wonder, just where are Muse headed nowadays? They've already reached global acclaim, filling stadiums left, right and centre. Album sales reaching stupid quantities and obviously huge amounts of money being thrown at them for their music video shoots. So what next?Well....it's a case of more of the same, but with a few extra tweaks and a dash of really accomplished production, with Muse doing what they do best, but stretching their legs just that little bit more.
There seems to be a lot more 'filling' going on here. I don't mean that in a bad way. I'm not taking album filler tracks. Trust me, this album is all killer, no filler! To quote the fantastic Jamie T. No, I mean....there's lots of electronica, orchestrations, long instrumental breaks, and some of the most flamboyant piano strumming, the likes I've not heard for a long time. Matt's voice is as good as ever, and he does really great on the ballads. He really does seem to be finding his feet. I mean, it's only take ten years or so, hasn't it?
But yes....this album really is a must own for this year.
The album opens with the blistering Uprising. The bass pumping, sixties sci-fi emulating keyboard, pounding drums and a creepy similarity to Blondie's Call Me. Fantastic. And that grinding guitar is just brilliant. A great opening track.
The rest of the album doesn't disappoint. There's power chord rock, stadium anthems, funk, operatics, gentle ballads, tempo changes, story telling and voice that's hits notes all over the scale. Power chords a plenty, some very odd keyboard hooks, lots of piano, some massive drums, dirty basslines, Matt's falsetto vocals, great guitar work and lots and lots of orchestration. Ok, at times it may sound a little....pretentious, but put that feeling aside, just listen....and love the beauty....that is Muse.
Standing out just a little above the crowd are Resistance, a galloping, dare I say it, Queen type anthemic sound, and it's unbelievably potent chorus, which is surely a definitive 'Earworm' moment. Undisclosed Desires, which sounds breaktakingly familiar on first listen, with it's jaunty keyboard lead in. It's Muse on a funky day! Yay....go Muse, ya funky shizzle dizzle. And United States Of Eurasia/Collateral Damage is epic with a capital E. It's thrusting, operatic, Queen-esque, big, big and, erm....big. The song brilliantly calms itself down and exits with a lovely piano piece to close.
Best track for me is Unnatural Selection. Absolutely gorgeous church organ intro. The drum pounding, and then that phat guitar hook, Matt's weaving vocals and a chorus and bridge that's almost too big for it's boots. But not quite. This song drives and drives. Ooh...tempo change. Now it's a down and dirty swamp blues type groove. The guitar solo is decidedly jolly and Matts vocals are almost sexy. Almost. Aah, bollocks to it. Yes. YES! Matt's vocals make me feel naughty. Oh, tempo change again. The song finishes off like a neat sandwich. The top and the bottom are lovely, but the filling is delicious.
Listen to: Unnatural Selection
delivered by LB at 9:16 AM
0 Discussions:
Post a Comment
<< Home