What Ever Happened? (Part Two)

Icelandic six-piece Jakobinarina were one of the first bands I saw when I moved to London and their album ‘The Last Crusade’ is definitely worth a mention for one of the most enjoyable albums of 2007. They are a really fun band live and I was really shocked when I found out that they were splitting up. It seemed like they were getting some good press, growing a pretty good fan base and getting around the country touring. Who can forget songs like ‘His Lyrics Are Disastrous’, ‘Jesus’, ‘This Is An Advertisement’, ‘Monday I’m Vain’ and ‘17’. It’s a real shame that Jakobinarina are no longer together…

Voxtrot released two of my favourite EP’s the first one in 2005 titled ‘Raised by Wolves’ which included such songs as ‘Missing Pieces’, ‘Raised By Wolves’ and my favourite song ‘The Start Of Something’. Second EP from 2006 ‘Mothers, Sisters, Daughters & Wives’ was as good as the previous EP if not better. Outstanding songs from that release were the likes of self titled track ‘Mothers, Sisters, Daughters & Wives’, ‘Soft & Warm’, ‘Fast Asleep’, ‘Rise Up In The Dirt’ and ‘Four Long Days’. Actually, that EP did not include a weak song and all five songs on the EP could have been singles quite comfortably. When the album was announced I was very excited about a full release from a band who had offered so much from those first two EP’s. However the album was a big disappointment to me and did not do well in many music publication and websites. There was not one song from the first two EP’s on the album which is something I admire, but the quality of songs on the album was nothing like the first two EP’s. I am not sure where the band will go from that disappointment, but obviously the only way is up.

Twisted Charm’s album ‘Real Fictional’ was purchased for me at Christmas 6 months ago and it has to have been my favourite present. Mainly because I’d looked for it everywhere and it was always out of stock or really expensive. I had already heard the album for a few months and really loved their sound and that album remains one of my favourites. An album packed with snarling songs like ‘Socialite’, ‘Cinema’, ‘Layabout’, ‘Boring Lifestyles’, ‘Clone Baby’, ‘London Scene?’, ‘Broken Girl’ and ‘Television Nation’. Twisted Charm’s take on society, media and culture was one that not many other bands were doing at the time. The bizarre fashion in which way they were doing was something that really appealed to me, and when I put that record on it still does. Sadly not many other people brought into their style and sound and I am not sure if they’ll be able to release a second album. This is disgusting when you consider bands like The Pigeon Detectives, The Fratelli’s etc are all pumping out tripe and the sad thing is people are buying it too. We can only hope Twisted Charm get another go at an album because I’m intrigued to see what they would do.

What Ever Happened? (Part One)

Not about the first song on The Strokes album ‘Room On Fire’ but about bands that you loved that have disappeared or ultimately split up.

First up is Nine Black Alps, who in summer of 2005 brought out one of my favourite albums of the year. Obviously influenced by the grunge era and definitely Nirvana Nine Black Alps had a Manchester grunge sound like no other at the time. Since that brilliant debut album the band did bring out a second album titled ‘Love/Hate’ however the album did not live up to the first album and was critically shunned by most publications and websites. Hardcore Nine Black Alps fans will claim the album is as good if not better than the first album but in my opinion I think ‘Everything Is’ is a great debut album. Any album which has such singles as ‘Just Friends’, ‘Cosmopolitan’, ‘Shot Down’, ‘Not Everyone’ and ‘Unsatisfied’ is always going to be a fantastic album. Not forgetting my favourite track from the record ‘Headlights’ which could easily have been another single. What was so great was that unlike many other bands Nine Black Alps never re-released any of their singles they just brought out new ones which can only be admired. The word is that the band are currently working on a third album so fingers crossed the album will be a step back in the direction of the first.

Despite much criticism The Others did manage to record a fantastic debut album and however much you hate lead singer Dominic Masters he did have plenty of charisma to be a front man. I really loved that album and live The Others were terrific too, but unfortunately that first album was their peak and a peak they will probably never ever manage to reach to again. The second album ‘Inward Parts’ was terrible and even die hard Others fans cannot argue with that. Even though a third album is talked about for later on this year I think The Others have had their day and should call it a day and be proud of that first debut album.

Art Brut are a great band and Eddie Argos is a much loved lead singer who has plenty of charisma and charm about him. So much so that you know that he’ll be around in music for a long time to come yet, even if Art Brut won’t be. ‘Bang Bang Rock & Roll’ is full of great songs; ‘Formed A Band’, ‘Emily Kane’, ‘Modern Art’, ‘Good Weekend’, ‘Bang Bang Rock & Roll’, ‘Rusted Guns Of Milan’ and I could list pretty much the whole album. Art Brut did record a second album titled ‘It’s a Bit Complicated’ but like so many other bands it could not match up to the fantastic first album. ‘Nag Nag Nag Nag’ and ‘Pump Up the Volume’ were high points on the album, earlier on this year the band left EMI and Eddie Argos has got other avenues open to him in the music scene. So who knows what will happen to the much adored Art Brut.

2008's Album Disappointments (Part Two)

We Are Scientists ‘With Love And Squalor’ is one of the best albums I own, and when I heard the first single ‘After Hours’ from the new album ‘Brain Thrust Mastery’ I was expecting another solid release from the Californians. This is where the disappointment comes in the album is really, really poor and apart from the lead single ‘After Hours’ there is not a song on there that I could really get enthusiastic about. We Are Scientists really proved that that second album is extremely difficult to master and this album is my biggest disappointment of 2008.

Cajun Dance Party were hotly tipped by just about everyone to hit the big time (including myself) and while this might happen the debut album ‘The Colourful Life’ is a major disappointment. After such promise with the demo’s everyone had for a while there was a real hope this band could bring out a fantastic debut album. Sadly the album is not what I expected and after a couple of listens I felt really disappointed because I really expected a great release. The problem is all the songs are ones we’ve had for ages and most of the recordings seem flat. Bernard Butler produced the album and I’m afraid to say that the ex Suede man has not done a very good job.

I’ve been waiting a good two years for Cazals to release an album (and to play some shows outside of London). The debut album ‘What Of Our Future’ was one of my most looked forward to albums of 2008 so when I finally got hold of the album I was very excited to listen to it. The album starts very well with ‘New Boy In Town’, ‘To Cut A Long Story Short’ and ‘Somebody Somewhere’ but throughout the songs (including the first three) you can’t help thinking that the demos were a lot better. All the songs have been slowed down with added random electronic bits here and there and generally. It’s a real shame when a band has so many great songs but they are ruined by production, because the band had so much potential but the album to me is a big let down.

2008's Album Disappointments (Part One)

2008 has been a pretty good year thus far especially for debut albums when you consider the likes of Foals, Blood Red Shoes, Los Campesinos, Elle Milano, These New Puritans, MGMT, Born Ruffians, Vampire Weekend, Johnny Foreigner have all released cracking debut albums. However there have been some really poor albums this year released and albums that I expected to be a lot better.

First up The Young Knives released their follow up to ‘Voices of Animals and Men’ which was always going to be a hard task to better or even equal. Sadly the second album titled ‘Superabundance’ was not a patch on the first album which was one of my and many others highlight of 2006. However the second album did not really get anywhere close to being like the first album and it did prove to be that very tricky second album. Despite this the first two singles ‘Terra Firma’ and ‘Up All Night’ did rescue the album, slightly. I expect The Young Knives to return with a strong third album, at least I really hope so because I really love the first album and live they are very good.

The Long Blondes released their second album ‘Couples’ on April 7th and I was very excited the prospect of Erol Alkan and The Long Blondes working together. I was really expecting a great second album which I thought would better the debut album ‘Someone To Drive You Home’ which in itself was a little disappointing to me. Erol Alkan producing The Long Blondes, you’d think that was a perfect combination. However the album did not fulfil my high expectations and The Long Blondes still remain one of those bands I just cannot get into, both live and on record. A shame really.

Single: Tellison - Wasp's Nest

Banquet Records are a record label close to my heart and have been since I moved to University because it’s just down the road for me. One of their favourite bands who they constantly play on at their excellent New Slang night club is Tellison who also happen to be on their Banquet Records label. Their new split single with the rather excellent Tubelord ‘Wasp’s Nest’ is quite easily my favourite song at the moment.

Sharp lyrics, a catchy chorus and some great Dartz influenced guitars make this song a beautifully crafted single. I’m not often bowled over by a single but as soon as I heard this song on their Myspace I had it on repeat. Wasp’s Nest is one of those songs that you keep going back to whenever you open your iTunes.

September 2007 saw Tellison release the full LP ‘Contact! Contact!’ on Banquet Records and Gravity DIP Records and despite that being under a year ago Tellison are back with a brand new single. Just testament that this band has a good future ahead of them and proof they can create brilliant songs. Tellison have been going for many, many years and should be going for many years to come if they can continue to write songs like ‘Wasp’s Nest’.

9/10

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

The first film based on the book by C.S. Lewis ‘The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe’ was absolutely fantastic. Walt Disney created a family masterpiece from the world famous books about the world of Narnia. The second film based on the second book Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia came out this summer and is set to be a great summer family smash.

The film directed by Andrew Adamson always had a hard task following the first film which undoubtedly will go down as a family classic film. To begin with the film wasn’t really filling its potential despite the fantastic settings but as the story went along the film gradually was improving. What Prince Caspian did fantastically was build the story of the film to a thrilling end which obviously you don’t appreciate at the beginning of the film when the story is a little slow.

Peter, Susan, Edmond and Lucy are waiting for their train home from school when suddenly they are taking back to Narnia after Prince Caspian (Ben Barnes) blew the horn when he was in trouble in the woods. The way in which the film took you from Strand tube station to the land of Narnia was definitely an impressive technique, using the train to provide the “Wardrobe” from the first film.

Sergio Castellitto played the bad guy and Prince Caspian’s uncle King Miraz and his performance was really impressive. He played the bad King tremendously well which is surprising when you hear that Sergio has never read any of the books or knows little about the novels. Of course the four children played their roles well like they did from the previous film and Prince Caspian’s performance was good too. Characters such as Reepicheep played by Eddie Izzard, Nikabrik played by the fantastic Warwick Davis and finally Peter Dinklage the cynical dwarf Trumpkin were all on top form and provided a great cast.

Throughout the whole film you are waiting and expecting the arrival of Aslan (voiced by Liam Neeson) and he finally appears in fantastic fashion. It is the relationship between Aslan the four children and all of the Narnians that makes the films and the novels so special for everyone who likes a good fairytale adventure film.

As previously said the film builds the story wonderfully to an epic finish between King Miraz’s troops and the Narnians, Prince Caspian and Peter, Susan, Lucy and Edmond. Having said this, the story does not quite live up to ‘The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe’ but it has provided a great summer family blockbuster.

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Wimbledon

As much as I like tennis I couldn’t say I was an avid watcher of it, in fact the only time I really take an interest is when Wimbledon is on. Obviously I am aware of the other three Grand Slams but because of the time difference of two of them and the lack of coverage of the French Open usually I tend not to watch any of them. Wimbledon on the other hand I usually get quite excited about and will watch a lot of the matches (if I am not working, which I am currently not). There is something about Wimbledon which sets it apart from any other tennis tournament and every year all tennis players look out for Wimbledon. I'm not suggesting it's a better tournament than the US or Australian however it is different and has something quite special about it the other three don't appear to have.

All the talk in this country at least has been about Murray and on Monday night he provided one of the great Wimbledon comebacks coming from two sets down to win 3-2 against world number 8 Gasquet. Unfortunately for Murray the quarter-final opponent that stood in his way was one Rafael Nadal who is at the moment the best player on tour and is tipped to finally win the Wimbledon title that Roger Federer has dominated for several years gone by.

You can help but not like Nadal who comes across off court as a genuine guy and on court he is a master with a tennis racket. My money is on him to win the tournament because I seriously don’t want Roger winning another. The final looks like it will be a repeat of last year and a repeat of the French open final with number one and reigning champion Roger Federer against hotly tipped and 5 time French Open Champion Nadal.

In the Women’s draw the final looks like it will be an all American all Williams final. Venus Williams is currently destroying number 5 seed Dementieva and her sister Serena faces the un-seeded Chinese Zheng. Who despite knocking out some big seeds will surely not be able to beat the power of Serena Williams? So for the Williams family another final for the two sisters’ beckons, the question is who will the Williams family support?