Standout track from the transitional, third album that has the agression and passion to become an instant Editors classic.
Listen on Tumblr
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Thursday, 26 November 2009
(Audio) Editors - In This Light and On This Evening
Title track from the aforementioned Editors album.
Standout track from the transitional, third album that has the agression and passion to become an instant Editors classic.
Listen on Tumblr
Standout track from the transitional, third album that has the agression and passion to become an instant Editors classic.
Listen on Tumblr
Review: Editors - In This Light and On This Evening
Ok, try to picture the scene. You’d burst onto the music scene with your critically acclaimed debut album, you’d then followed that up with a shiny, well-produced second album and now you need to release a third one push up to the next level. What do you do?
Well if you’re in Editors, you break out the synths and release In This Light and On This Evening.
Unfortunately, the 80s revival doesn’t come together quite as well as planned and often lacks the power and melody of previous efforts. Lead guitars are mixed lower, drums are less intense and despite lead singer Tom Smith’s best efforts, the songs are ultimately suffocated by the need for retro sounds.
However, it’s by no stretch a bad album and it’s clear that this a band who aren’t happy to produce the same material over and over. Title track and opener In This Light and On This Evening has an aggressive, almost dirty bass that drives the song and results in what is arguably one of the finest Editors track to date and first single Papillon features an uplifting chorus that could have happily featured on more mainstream second album An End Has A Start.
Other highlights include the industrial darkness of Eat Raw Meat = Blood Drool and album high point Bricks and Mortar, one of the rarer times when the lo-fi sound really gels with the band’s passionate style.
All too often however, In This Light and On This Evening sounds incomplete and feels more like a collection of experimental demos rather than a new direction for the band.
Beneath the layers of retro noise, ballad The Boxer has a real fragility about it that is suffocated by the need for a synth at every opportunity and a lo-fi drum sound that has all the musicality of somebody sneezing.
Similarly, Walk The Fleet Road is overpowered by the use of electronics and although it doesn’t feel as forced as The Boxer, it still sounds muddy and again suffocates Tom Smith’s vocal melody.
Overall In This Light… is an album from a band in transition and is bold step, but ultimately one that doesn’t do the band the justice they perhaps deserve. It has some chilling moments of darkness and Editors should be applauded for pushing themselves and their sound in new places and nearly making it work.
Deep down inside is an impassioned beast waiting to emerge with what this album could have been, had the balance been struck.
Editors will be more successful, that’s for sure, but with In This Light and On This Evening as the necessary stepping stone, true success won’t come until next time around.
Well if you’re in Editors, you break out the synths and release In This Light and On This Evening.
Unfortunately, the 80s revival doesn’t come together quite as well as planned and often lacks the power and melody of previous efforts. Lead guitars are mixed lower, drums are less intense and despite lead singer Tom Smith’s best efforts, the songs are ultimately suffocated by the need for retro sounds.
However, it’s by no stretch a bad album and it’s clear that this a band who aren’t happy to produce the same material over and over. Title track and opener In This Light and On This Evening has an aggressive, almost dirty bass that drives the song and results in what is arguably one of the finest Editors track to date and first single Papillon features an uplifting chorus that could have happily featured on more mainstream second album An End Has A Start.
Other highlights include the industrial darkness of Eat Raw Meat = Blood Drool and album high point Bricks and Mortar, one of the rarer times when the lo-fi sound really gels with the band’s passionate style.
All too often however, In This Light and On This Evening sounds incomplete and feels more like a collection of experimental demos rather than a new direction for the band.
Beneath the layers of retro noise, ballad The Boxer has a real fragility about it that is suffocated by the need for a synth at every opportunity and a lo-fi drum sound that has all the musicality of somebody sneezing.
Similarly, Walk The Fleet Road is overpowered by the use of electronics and although it doesn’t feel as forced as The Boxer, it still sounds muddy and again suffocates Tom Smith’s vocal melody.
Overall In This Light… is an album from a band in transition and is bold step, but ultimately one that doesn’t do the band the justice they perhaps deserve. It has some chilling moments of darkness and Editors should be applauded for pushing themselves and their sound in new places and nearly making it work.
Deep down inside is an impassioned beast waiting to emerge with what this album could have been, had the balance been struck.
Editors will be more successful, that’s for sure, but with In This Light and On This Evening as the necessary stepping stone, true success won’t come until next time around.
Visit them - http://www.editorsofficial.com
Or buy on iTunes
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Saturday, 21 November 2009
NPR: Live Concerts From All Songs Considered Podcast
This second link is called the NPR: Live Concerts From All Songs Considered Podcast and contains live performances from it's sister podcast All Songs Considered. As with the previous link, it has a huge selection of artists all of which are available for free.
NPR is short for National Public Radio and as you would expect, they also offer a variety of other podcasts, all of which are available on iTunes.
NPR is short for National Public Radio and as you would expect, they also offer a variety of other podcasts, all of which are available on iTunes.
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KEXP Live Performances Podcast
No review this time round I'm afraid, that'll come along over the coming week. Instead I offer a couple of excellent podcasts that I recently discovered. Both feature high quality live sets and interviews from some great bands and to top it all off, are available for free on iTunes.
This first link is the KEXP Live Performances Podcast and is pretty self-explanatory. It's released by Seattle based radio station KEXP and contains well over 200 featured artists. It's updated every week and is available for the princely sum of nothing.
I should also mention that KEXP do a few other podcasts that are worth checking out, all of which are available on iTunes.
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This first link is the KEXP Live Performances Podcast and is pretty self-explanatory. It's released by Seattle based radio station KEXP and contains well over 200 featured artists. It's updated every week and is available for the princely sum of nothing.
I should also mention that KEXP do a few other podcasts that are worth checking out, all of which are available on iTunes.
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Friday, 6 November 2009
(Audio) Long Dead Signal - Red Lines
Taken from the self-titled debut EP.
Standout track that shows maturity and fragility, while also maintaining an element of gritiness that should please most Indie fans.
Listen on Tumblr: http://bit.ly/3bBM68
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Review: Long Dead Signal – Long Dead Signal
Sometimes it’s fate that brings people together and I’d like to thing that I was introduced to Long Dead Signal by a similar method. At a guess, I’d say that most of you are not familiar with their self-titled debut EP and, were it not for a chance encounter only two months ago, neither would I be.
Whilst I was attending a function in Nottingham, these guys played an excellent set and, fortunately for me, were handing out free copies of their debut EP.
So, is it any good?
Well, yes it is rather. Despite only being three songs long, and clocking in at a poptastic eleven minutes, it has an twisted feel that is dark in sound and shows that indie needn’t be so boring (or happy).
Opening track Again introduces us to the band’s signature, almost dissonant guitar sounds, and the passionate and confident voice that the lead singer possesses.
However, on reflection it’s probably the weakest of the three tracks and never quite develops into the finished article, despite the chorus sounding much bigger than it has any right to.
Second track Red Lines is, how Long Dead Signal should be represented, and features an opening sequence that showcases a mature and confident vocal performance not to dissimilar to a lamenting Thom Yorke, and soon develops into a something more familiar and powerful. Despite the band’s best efforts, Red Lines never loses its unsettling and slightly fragile edge, showing courage from the band that they could easily have shied away from.
Final track, Twizzle, is how album opener Again probably should’ve sounded and feels more complete than it’s predecessor. It’s familiar chiming guitar feels much more liberated and complements the grittier vocals better, and although it’s nothing new, Twizzle is a strong track that has a definite sprinkling of Muse about it.
Overall then, an interesting and slightly left-of-centre indie record that, despite the below-par production values that blight it, shows potential that might yet see a bigger audience. Long Dead Signal is a courageous debut, which is becoming all to rare in the current indie climate.
If Indie is your kind of thing, then you could do a lot worse than to check out with these guys.
Now if they can just raise the money for Abbey Road…
Visit them: http://www.myspace.com/longdeadsignal
Or add them: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Long-Dead-Signal/65637908242
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Wednesday, 4 November 2009
(Audio) The Boxer Rebellion - Soviets
Taken from the aforementioned album, Union.
An excellent track that not only showcases a great melody, but also a lyrical maturity that matches up with the enchanting falsettos and spacious guitar sounds.
Listen on Tumblr
An excellent track that not only showcases a great melody, but also a lyrical maturity that matches up with the enchanting falsettos and spacious guitar sounds.
Listen on Tumblr
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