"Favourite Worst Nightmare" really is - for me - the first great album of 2007. There have been some truly outstanding albums this year so far (Patrick Wolf, Tracey Thorn, Bjork, Tori Amos, just to name a couple), but none have ignited such fireballs of passion as this. I wasn't at all fussed by the Arctic Monkeys' first album, "Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not", so I really wasn't expecting to take any sort of shining to the follow up, even though I was slightly impressed with the "Who The Fuck Are Arctic Monkeys" E.P. from last year. But upon hearing the first single, "Brianstorm", lifted from this new album, I immediately began taking an interest. I've always thought Alex Turner and Jamie Cook (pictured, left) from the band were incredibly good looking (it's my thing alright, those kind of bratty Britty-boys, leave me alone), but the sounds just hadn't been good enough in the past for me to pay any attention toward their musical instruments rather than just their faces. Then this bloody album came along and turned everything upside down.
"Brianstorm" is such a menacing rock affair that it's hard NOT to enjoy it. Turner's voice sounds so deliciously evil throughout, and there's something really exciting about the "t-shirt and tie combination" lyric, which probably has something to do with me SHOUTING IT in the car every morning on my way to work. And THAT breakdown - something I soon figured out was a Monkey trademark - totally overwhelming. "Teddy Picker", which I felt has a certain rockabilly element to it, talks about someone "gagging for it"... that was my most used phrase of 2005. I totally love the fact it's made a revival of sorts in music. "D Is For Dangerous" is just fucking great, but not as spectacular as "Balaclava", an asbolute stand-out moment on this record. A hyperactive, balls out, high-tension, pure rock song that sounds almost as if it was recorded with its live performance in mind. Total Arena material.
Is "Fluorescent Adolescent" going to be a single? It should be, another absolute masterpiece, and Turner's little-boy-lost approach to the lyrics ALMOST makes this his cutest moment on record, a title that - however - belongs to "The Bad Thing", a slightly more uptempo tune which takes you to new levels of adoration with the lyric "really love is fiiiiiiine!". "Only One Who Knows" is a drumless strummy-guitar ballad of sorts that accentuates a slow cracking in Alex's voice... absolutely gorgeous. "Do Me A Favour" is easily the first of my three stellar favourite moments on here though. It's the bearer of one MASSIVE build up that just adds to itself with each verse. Totally insane and probably the most 'pop' moment on here. Apparently this is about Turner's break up with Victoria McDowell... "Do me a favour/and break my nose/...and stop asking questions/...she walked away/her eyes were all red/you could see that we'd cried". Just lovely lyrics, but not as good as the "perhaps fuck off might be too kind" line though. "This House Is A Circus" is the second acer than ace track on here, a real messy, fun and over-excited pop/rock assault that does a very good job of summing up WHY these guys are so bloody good in just a mere 3 minutes and 14 seconds. "Old Yellow Bricks" has this totally amazing violin-bit through it which blends incredibly well with the harsh guitars and slight shouting, and "If You Were There, Beware" is so ridiculously offtap it's hard not to completely appreciate it. The albums closer, "505", is the third of the three mind-blowing ditties on this long player. Starting itself off at a splendidly slow rate, it's the massive build-up that takes this up about ten notches from being a mellow love song into a complete state of bonkers Indie-pop heaven. Beautiful beyond belief.
No one is more surprised at this recent Monkey-turn-of-events to my ears than I. But I am so impressed with this album that I've started giving their first one another chance... I'm pleased to say it's REALLY growing on me. I know a lot of the readers wont agree with my new found love of the boys, but I'm sure everyone can relate to the absolute joy you feel when you experience a really rewarding surprise in music... it's all been such a great thing, discovering their new choons and rediscovering their older stuff.
Cannot wait to see them play at Splendour In The Grass over the first weekend in August down Byron Bay way, either... Yep, my good friends Ben, Verity & I will be forking out hundreds of dollars to not only secure tickets for the festival, but pay for accomodation AND get flights up there as well, and the main incentive for me has been to see the Monkeys perform. It's going to be one expensive music festival but by GOD have you seen the line up?! Alongside the Monkeys, Hot Chip, Klaxons, Kaiser Chiefs, Bloc Party, Lily Allen, Sarah Blasko, The Shins, Josh Pyke... You should come along! More details here.
BONUS YOUTUBE VIDEO: One of the MANY reasons I love Alex Turner... He's just so adorable... "Sarah & Nicola, Girls Aloud!"
Wednesday, April 25, 2007 The Album of 2007 thus far...
...is a record of songs by the Arctic Monkeys. You know, their new one "Favourite Worst Nightmare"? Yep, that's the one.
I have a feeling a lot of people aren't going to agree with me at all on this, and there is actually one particular person I am certain will be emailing me the minute he reads this post, fearing the absolute worst for the wellbeing of my ears. Anyway, this album's brilliance is something I'll be talking about tomorrow. But until then, I'll just leave you with the thought that me, Adem, who completely disliked their first album, is now going to fork out a few hundred dollars in August to see them playing several thousand kilometers away from home at the Splendour In The Grass Music Festival. Almost solely for them.
Meet Isabel, Clyde, Pip, Santa and Tori, the five women with something to say on this new Tori Amos album, American Doll Posse. Each five of these women take turns in presenting the vocals on various moments through out Posse, even though these five women are actually all Tori Amos. It's just her playing assorted characters rather than duetting with a bunch of unknowns. Isabel takes photos for a living and is quite political, Clyde is coming to terms with being let down on an alarmingly consistent basis, Pip is a bit like Xena: Warrior Princess, Santa has nothing to do with Christmas but plenty to do with sexuality, and as for Tori... well, what can be said about a woman sharing her albums release with her multiple personalities? It's just all so delightfully bonkers...
The incredibly satisfying thing about this record is that it's just such a vast improvement on the sombre 2005 release of The Beekeeper, which left a slightly unfavourable taste in my mouth. It wasn't that I didn't like The Beekeper, but - much the same with Bjork's last one, Medulla - I just felt it could have been much better. And, unlike with The Beekeeper, it doesn't take too long for things to gain excitement. "Bouncing Off The Clouds" is quite easily the records absolute shining glory moment, with a gorgeous melody and poignant lyrics coming from the emotionally confused character of Clyde. "Teenage Hustling" throws a few loud guitars into the mix, whilst "Secret Spell" introduces itself in the form of a Dixie Chicks song. "Beauty of Speed" could have sat perfectly on To Venus And Back, "You Can Bring Your Dog" absolutely sweetens your ears with its strikingly Vintage-Tori feel, and "Roosterspur Bridge" - another Clyde track - is Balladry Tori in classic form. As you'd expect, high on piano's, a surprising bevvy of very big choruses and, of course, schizophrenic behaviour by the truck-load. There are a few of those interludey things as well, and instead of serving the purpose of exercising the action of placing your index-finger-to-the-skip-button, they're actually put together nicely enough to sit through each of the four 45 to 90 second bursts. In particular "Fat Slut" and "Programmable Soda" - the "Mr Zebra" of 2007 perhaps?
This is a good record from someone who's last effort just wasn't felt much by me at all. There are some duds (about 5 or 6), but seeing as it carries 23 songs, that still leaves about 17 delights... 17 more than can be found on the Christina Aguilera album of a similar mountain-top length.
I just hope the whole 'conceptual art' thing doesn't cause harm to the success and general outcome of this project. Quite a few mouths have labeled it all a bit self indulgent, a comment so flippantly thrown around by people who've not even heard the album yet to make a proper final judgment. I don't think the idea behind this album is terrible at all; if actors like Eddie Murphy can get away with playing 73 different characters in every single movie they make, why can't a singer/songwriter do the same for an album? Essentially, this is the combination of an actor expressing themselves through a series of songs. There are interesting political, love, loss and life points raised through out American Doll Posse, and whether it be Clyde, Tori or the other three crooning about it, it's all actually INTERESTING to listen to. Clearly this is no From The Choirgirl Hotel or To Venus & Back, but it is most definitely a step back for Amos in the right direction after a wrong turn.
Everyone's favourite alcoholic, Girls Aloud's Sarah Harding, has denied the Sun's stupid story over the weekend announcing an Aloud split this year, by declaring there's a new album on the way. Sarah hopped on the official GA Website - in between having a drink and being the greatest pop star on the planet since Madonna - to post a few comments on the girls' future.
"Just wanted to post a msg on here to say don't believe the ridiculous story about us splitting up in one of the papers on Sunday. As you know by now, some people just can't stop making stories up out of nothing. Me and the girls are really excited about the tour coming up - and we've got some great surprises planned. We've also started work on our new album which will be out in October. Andyou'll be pleased to know there will be no covers on this album!! Oh and Cheryl has just texted me saying to make sure I mention that she is not going to a judge on any reality show - these stories are just rubbish. Hope you're all enjoying the sunshine. See you all at the shows. Sarah xxx"
Please take note of the double exclamation marks as the sentence proclaiming a cover-version-free album draws to a close. You can view the whole thing over on the GA website. Quote copy and paste job with thanks to the ace BopPop, however.
PS: Popjustice is back after what felt like 3 months away. They've had an Ashlee Simpsonstyle nose-job, which looks quite fabulous really.
PPS: If I'm slightly absent for the next week then it has something to do with having to pen eight thousand assignments by Friday, my birthday being just around the corner, an upcoming 5 day weekend from work, and emulating my hero Sarah Harding as much as possible for the entirety of my Annual Crisis Talks... (thanks to Janina for that witty line, btw.)
So far mine has been running for two weeks which - as it turns out - would mean there are two column entires. I have absolutely no idea what I'll write about next week but I shall cross that bridge when I get to it, right?
This week I have spoken about how the fusion of Music & Television can change the way you feel about a featured song.
Last week I spoke about the whole Girls Aloud OZ Promo Tour 2006 vs Westlife OZ Promo Tour 2006 debacle. This particular column entry is infinitely better than this weeks, but what can you do.
Bookmark the new column and clicky-clicky. Have a good weekend...
Thursday, April 12, 2007 Timberdonna: The/Aftermath
As expected, the internet has gone into overload with the confirmation that Justin Timberlake will be working with Esther on her upcoming album. Madonna forums the world over are throwing themselves into a spin... some of the response is quite positive, but the majority of it, well, isn't very favourable toward Lady M's recent decision to enlist the former N*Syncboy.
But there were several responses which absolutely tickled my fancy beyond compare to an array of others. A quite brilliant and well known Madge forum has an entire thread on the topic, which as mentioned, yo-yo's up & down with praise and alarm. Let's take a look at some of the wondrous things being said:
"All I can say to this is HUGE MISTAKE MADDIE! HUGE! "
"WTF!"
"That little shit is gonna dis yo ass the minute you turn yo back!"
"He has No Respect for Michael, Janet, or Prince so what she thinkin? (Justin) rips bras off and does not take the blame, thinks he is the king of pop (cant dance nor sing like Michael), and thinks prince is too short! I dont think I will be buying the album if that faker fucker is on it! A word of ADVICE! Dont perform with that fucker! He gonna pull yo bra off and then let you take the fall for it. God this makes me so angry. I have been waiting years for her to record a dance song with Michael or Prince or David Bowie or anyone better than a prick who thinks he's the fing king of pop!"
"Kick his ass Madonna! Kick it HARD to the CURB!"
"U R losing yo mind girlfriend!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
"I swear if this is true Madonna aint getting any money from this girl for her cd."
"She might as well include Nazi Eminem too while she is at it!"
"The shit has hit the fan!"
There is so much I could say in response to almost every single line there but really, who has the time to point out the obvious? It should also be noted that every single one of those quotes comes from the one forum poster. You seriously cannot make this shit up.
That is a picture of Madonna and Justin Timberlake leaving the same London recording studio after their first day of recording together this week. Liz Rosenberg - everyone's favourite celebrity publicist - confirmed last night that the Queen of Pop was working with Justin & Timbaland on her upcoming album.
Rosenberg also claimed that their was no firm release date penned in yet, though most reports are predicting it to be sometime around November, much like the Confessions release in 2005.
According to the worlds most unreliable UK Newspaper, The Sun, the album will be quite eclectic and have a "hip hop" feel, however dancey songs produced by living, breathing god Stuart Price and Felix Da Housecat will also appear, with some apparent people "in the know" claiming it'll be her most ambitious project yet.
Roll on November...
Meanwhile, environmentalists around the world are slamming Madonna for being a hypocrite by partaking in the Live Earth event. John Buckley - a professional hippy - has claimed that "It's great for the celebrities to come out and support the cause, but they then have to follow it up in their own lifestyles. We should now keep a close eye on whether Madonna and the others makes any changes to their own lifestyle. Perhaps her next world tour will be performed in one venue, but broadcast to billions over the internet"... ERM. WHAT? Unfuckingbelievable. Dare I say it, but the uproar caused by a mass of Madonna fans around the world not receiving a visit on a world tour would probably escalate to a much bigger level than the problem of gas emissions being released from her tour jets. Could you just IMAGINE?
So last week I handed in my first two assessment tasks for Uni and am petrified at what the results might be. So instead of launching head-first into the next two assessment's, I've just been a bum and have been watching loads of TV and listening to a shitload of music. How did you spend your weekend? I spent my Friday & Saturday evenings organising my iTunes. Oh yes.
But the afternoons were filled with the brilliance of Australian Television. Now, when we do drama well, it's done REALLY well. More often than not a lot of shit gets produced in this country for the small screen, but every so often a shining light like Foxtel's Love My Way beams through, offering a glimmer of hope for the unemployed Aussie actor. I sat with my mother this weekend and completed the DVD of Season 1, and we were left heartbroken. For those of you who've seen the show, you'll know what I'm talking about. A truly upsetting but totally amazing example of just how random the art of living really can be. To quote straight from the LMW website: "Love My Way is an exploration of the love that binds us and the relationships that define us. It deals with the randomness of life & death and the realisation that life is so precious we have to grab it with both hands, take risks, be brave, and most importantly... love."
Living Legend/Future Saint Claudia Karvan plays the stunning Frankie, Asher Keddie plays the funny, bitchy and super sexy Julia, Brendan Cowell plays the strangely attractive Tom, who's brother Charlie (played by Dan Wyllie) is married to Julia but fathers a daughter with ex-flame Frankie.
For those of you haven't, may I strongly suggest you go out and either buy the series or rent it? If you're in Oz you can rent both seasons 1 & 2 from Video Ezy stores, and Season 3 has just begun on Foxtel. Overseas readers - if you want to see how outstanding, how real, how electrifying and how passionate SOME Australian Television can be, then please don't look any further than this show. Get it. This show really makes you think about the important things in life... your loved one's, your friend's, being happy with you are... there is so much to offer on a personal level for anyone open enough to take it all in. It is seriously the best thing to happen to my retinas since Six Feet Under.
Sunday, April 08, 2007 It Ain't Easy Being Green...
If you've ever wondered what Kermit The Frog got up to after the death of his creator Jim Henson, look no further than YouTube. According to www.sadkermit.com; "Kermit turned to a life full of drugs, alcohol and sex. His fall to rock bottom was quick and unrelenting."
The shocking revelations sink themselves deeper as the story continues. Kermit spent quite a substantial amount of time recording his own interpretations of Radiohead's "Creep", Elliott Smith's "Twilight", and this... a cover (with video clip) of Nine Inch Nails' "Hurt".
Good grief, isn't that something? Obviously not as good as the Johnny Cash version, but absolutely an improvement on Reznor's, yes? Aside from how hilariously terrible it is to see Kermit channel his inner-Courtney Love-circa-1994, please take special note of the first ever sighting of Kermit having a wank... to a picture of Miss Piggy. It's almost like when Michael Hutchence died jerking off to photos of Paula Yates, isn't it?
Visit Sad Kermit for audio downloads and hilarious write up's.
Thursday, April 05, 2007 Mutya vs Madonna, Dannii & Tina Arena.
Welcome to Music Video studies, hopefully you will enjoy this class. To begin, let's take a loot at a former Sugababe and her latest latest video. Mutya Buena's latest single - like most singles - has its own video clip. Take a close look at this video, it shall be important for the next three clips you are to observe.
All very good. But does this clip not look quite similar to the Australian eye? Why, yes it does!
Look!! It's Tina Arena! Her home country of Australia doesn't like her, but golly those French think she's a bit of alright. Let's take a moment to actually reflect on how absolutely amazing this song was (especially the Filterheadz and Tiesto Remixes), before returning ourselves to being alarmed at the similarities between this and Mutya's new clip.
Awwww... it's Madonna and that pretty song that is played at funerals. It comes from the movie about baseball which Madge starred in with Rosie O'Donnell and that NASTY Tom Hanks. Obviously Mutya has borrowed Madonna's photo album with video capability for her new clip. Who knew they were friendly?!
Now, let's watch some Dannii.
I hope todays lesson has proved informative. Now move along kids, nothing to see here.
So amidst the drama of having lost my beloved dog, getting a wisdom tooth pulled out and quite obviously not adjusting too well with the idea of working a relatively full time job AND studying University at the same time, I've been listening to a lot of sensational music. About 2 months back I was exposed to Simon Curtis (pictured, right) via Paul at The Zapping. From what I'd heard on his MySpace account, it was all very fabulous pop and I was quite keen on hearing more. Low and behold, several weeks ago the lovely Simon sent me his entire new album which is very bloody good. Unfortunately, iTunes decided to play funny-buggers on me last week and deleted about 30 albums I had stored on my computer, Simon's being one of them. It's really okay because most of these albums I have the originals for anyway, but this one was specifically sent to me... SIMON COULD YOU PLEASE RESEND THAT LINK TO ME AGAIN WHEN YOU GET THE CHANCE? Anyway, if you're keen on checking out more, head on over to his MySpazz page and download the album, Alter Boy, megamix teaser. You should also take note that Simon is VERY EASY ON THE EYES and has a nice hip-bone.
Siobhan Donaghy's new album "Ghosts" is spellbinding. My best friend Ben & I were discussing it last week and had concluded that, amongst it being quite Kate Bush-esque, it was also incredibly Witchy. In fact, Siobhan may have very well spawned her own style of pop, Witchy-Pop, the genre she is labelled as on both Ben & I's iTunes. "Medevac" is currently my favourite song of 2007, "Coming Up For Air" sounds like the kind of beautiful pop song that the UK *SHOULD* be sending to Eurovision (and would probably win with), rather than the shit they've peddled through for the last 3 years. The album as a whole is pretty amazing, just as her first "Revolution In Me" was. But there is something just a little more special about this one. Definitely a Top 5 contender for Album of '07.
Everything bar maybe the one song from the latest Silverchair album "Young Modern" is - as expected - quite outstanding. Daniel Johns = still a musical genius. Chris Joannou = still INCREDIBLY sexy. THANK GOD for that then. This is easily next Monday's number #1 album in this country, without a doubt.
I was INCREDIBLY unpopular last week when I brought up the new Joss Stone album. But you've GOT TO ADMIT that track #8 - "Arms Of My Baby" - is POSITIVELY ELECTRIFYING. Very good job Joss, you obviously 'fucked well' for that track.
Oh, just quickly, whatever anyone tries telling you, the new Timbaland album is NOT good. It's actually a complete waste of everyone's time and a big wallop of old rubbish. Sadly, the terror also includes the song he's done with M.I.A. which takes nausea brought on by music to a whole new level. Although "The Way I Are" is probably the records only exciting moment.
I'm still playing the absolute hell out of Patrick Wolf, Tracey Thorne, Amy Winehouse, and Madonna's "Confessions Tour". Am starting to cool on the new Jay Jay Johansonalbum though, which has slowly begun to grate on my last nerve. Comparing to the last record he brought out, it really isn't that good. I know, I claimed it as one of the years best, but after excessive listens I found myself distancing away from it with each listen, rather than finding more to love about it. I don't think it's terrible by all means, but I was definitely a bit premature on heralding it as one of his best efforts. Oddly enough, Brian McFadden has an ACE NEW SONG on his MySpazz profile called "Alice In Wonderland". Just please go and listen to it, this absolutely blew me away and very much needs to be a single.
And just finally, 2007 marks 10 years since Baz Luhrman's remake of Romeo + Juliet hit the cinema screens. It also marks 10 years since the groundbreaking soundtrack topped the world's album charts for 972 consecutive weeks. The movie's soundtrack gave us pop gems such as The Cardigans "Lovefool", Garbage's "#1 Crush", Kym Mazelle's take on "Young Hearts Run Free", Sade's "Kissing You", and that Prince cover Quindon Tarver bung on about. All in all, the soundtrack was a pretty special part of my collection back in the day (bought on cassette, thank you very much), and now - to celebrate the passing of 10 years - a limited edition pressing of the CD has been released. There are bonus tracks galore and, as previously mentioned, The Cardigans' "Lovefool", which is worth the money alone. You can find that on Amazon.
Wednesday, April 04, 2007 "Only last night I found myself lost..."
So last night I was lucky enough to see the Pet Shop Boys in concert at Melbourne's Sidney Myer Music Bowl. Full review coming up in the next couple of days, I'm just nursing the removal of a wisdom tooth right now so not feeling quite up to writing too much, but I will say it was a life defining experience that needs to happen again very, very soon.
Setlist:
* Left To My Own Devices * Suburbia * Can You Forgive Her? * M.I.N.I.M.A.L * Shopping * Heart * Opportunities (Let's Make Lots Of Money) * Integral * Paninaro * Se Avid A E * Domino Dancing * You Were Always On My Mind * Where The Streets Have No Name * West End Girls * Sodom & Gomorrah Show * So Hard * It's A Sin * Go West
