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Folk singer Ben Howard’s debut album ‘Every Kingdom’ has earned his first Mercury nomination. The Independant have offered odds of 8/1 for the singer to take home the prize, making him joint fourth seed with Lianne La Havas and Michael Kiwanuka.

There is no shortage of charming British acoustic singer-songwriters at the moment. For a long while it seemed like Newton Faulkner was the only slightly off-centre equivalent we had for American mainstays like Jack Johnson. In the last year or two though great British male solo singing talent has really started to seep through the cracks - from the now house-hold name of Ed Sheeran to the new hotly tipped talent of Jake Bugg.

Ben Howard inhabits a similar soundscape to all these artists, but with his own unique spin on the formula. Where Sheeran uses a loop-pedal, side stepping the need for accompanying musicians, Howard embraces depth of music with a full backing band who give his songs a larger scale sound more akin to the currently chart-smashing folk pop stylings of Mumford & Sons, particularly in the opening double-salvoof ‘Old Pine’ and ‘Diamonds’ which are both catchy and musically complex.

Second single ‘The Wolves’ is a particular highlight as the multi-layered opening backing vocals and down-beat subject matter (‘where you been hiding lately/hiding from the news/we’ve been fighting lately/fighting with the wolves’) draws welcome comparisons with modern folk classic ‘White Winter Hymnal’, which can’t be a bad thing.

Stripped-back ‘Everything’ allows Howard to showcase his unique and powerful voice alongside his beautiful soothing riffs, complete with fret-board slide sounds left in, giving the song a really genuine and intimate feel. As Howards croons ‘it’s about time darling, about time we let this go’, you can hear the heartbreak in his tone. 

Latest single ‘Only Love’ is epic and anthemic, a rival to Sheeran’s similarly titled ‘Give Me Love’. Howard isn’t content to play second fiddle to Sheeran and doesn’t hide away from big hooks. Late album track ‘The Fear’ is a favourite as it builds from simple stripped back sound into sharp beats and then to a big catchy chorus and back again, summarising the strengths of the album in one highly enjoyable song.

All in all the album is a charming piece which segues seamlessly between intimate heartbreak and festival-sized hits. It may be an outside chance, but it’s a beautiful album and well worth the extra attention this nomination will grant it.

‘Every Kingdom’ is out now on Island.

You can currently stream it for free here:

http://grooveshark.com/#!/s/Everything/4eoxE9?src=5

So begins an attempt to review all the 2012 Mercury Prize nominees before the actual ceremony renders it all a bit pointless. 

Alt-J have been dubbed favourites by many and received 6/1 odds from The Independent, making them joint second with Django Django on their list.

Alternative electro stylings like these are no stranger to Mercury nominations, and this nomination makes alt-J and their electro pop peers Django Django this year’s equivalent of Metronomy and Everything Everything last year, Foals the year before and Friendly Fires and The Horrors in 2009. It is interesting to note that none of these bands took home the prize. 2010’s winners The xx, though not being entirely comparable, are probably the closest thing to their sound to win the prize in recent years. Does this neglection of the electro mean the odds are actually stacked against alt-J? It’s impossible to say, but I think it could be time for a nod to this ever-growing scene from the Mercury judges.

The album itself is a delight, mixing patches of easy listening with festival-sized anthems and an abundance of originality. Singles ‘Tessellate’ and ‘Breezeblocks’ are as catchy as anything on the list combining the lyrical speed and skill of Everything Everything with the heady basslines of early Bombay Bicycle Club singles and the synth wizzardry of Hot Chip. The songs have a lot of heart to them too, something which occasionally lacks in this genre; ‘Tessellate’ is the most intellectual track ever written about spooning and ‘Breezeblocks’ details the protagonist’s desire to keep a hold of his lover by (presumably metaphorically) tying her down with soggy clothes and the eponymous blocks. This track builds from a lament about affection-free texting (‘never kisses - all you ever send are full stops’) to a full blown singalong refrain of ‘please don’t go, I’ll eat you whole, I love you so, I love you so’. It’s a beautiful ballad which demands a place on any and all favourites playlists.

The band pull on your heartstrings furthermore with ‘Matilda’ and ‘Disolve Me’. The former, a reference to the film Leon by Luc Besson, combines acoustic guitars with a short story arguably about lovers with varying levels of success (‘my defeat sleeps top to toe with her success’) while the latter simply adds a poppy synth riff and techo-ish cymbal-hits to a description of Joe’s childhood bedtime routine with his mother (‘she makes the sound the sea makes to calm me down’) - it’s a euphoric number but the narrative lead by Joe’s emotions and memories keeps the song rooted in reality, avoiding any risk of stadium-aiming lyrically empty pop.

Furthering this emphasis on lyrical integrity the a cappella interlude ‘Ripe and Ruin’ is a particular highlight in which singer Joe Newman shows off his incredible voice and lyrical skill in a short story about a step-counting female acquaintance. 

This is only the start of my delving into the Mercury noms this year, but on first impression alt-J would be very worthy winners - this album has literally everything you could want - instrumental skill, brilliant lyrics, top production and catchy singles.

An Awesome Wave is out now on Infectious. 

You can currently stream the album for free here:

http://soundcloud.com/alt-j/sets/an-awesome-wave

Tis the season to be releasing your second album, and the quality of this one certainly gives reason to be jolly, even though, after their debut record ‘xx’ went on to win the Mercury Prize, The xx were surely feeling the pressure.

Getting the only negative comment out of the way at the start, there are moments on the record, particularly in songs’ introductions, where something intangible seems worrying familiar - are they using all the same chords? I’m not sure, there are, after all, only so many to choose from. However, this stripped-back low-fi soundscape was the breath of fresh air which sparked intrigue in their first wave of material, so perhaps the feeling of similarity which cloaks some tracks shouldn’t be considered a turn-off.

Anyway, as with my recent review of ‘The Vaccines Come of Age’, it’s the new touches and experimentation which provide the most enjoyable facets of this record. Musically, The XX have added some new sounds to their repertoire: ‘Sunset’ features an almost-techo thumping beat alongside their trademarked wistfully wandering duelling guitar and riffs adding a contemporary edge to their unique style, while the prioritised bassline in ‘Chained’ adds more listen-ability to  and the synth-simulated steel drum-like sounds on ‘Reunion’ prevent the record from lulling into repetitiveness.

Female vocalist Romy has expanded her range and developed her singing technique too which, particularly on opener ‘Angels’, creates something worryingly close to a singalong song. ‘Missing’ also allows her to explore this as she wails backing vocals creating echoes and harmonies with co-lead vocalist Oliver. These harmonies and exchanges remain key to their sound and the moment in ‘Tides’ where they cut in and out finishing each-others’ sentences is a particular highlight.

Lyrically, the themes of loneliness and lost love continue, but the courage of the singers to speak their minds has grown exponentially, particularly in ‘Angels’ where Romy sings overtly of love and dreams of angels, the lyrical brilliance of the track providing one of the many indicators that The xx are one of Britain’s bravest bands continuing to deliver at the highest level.

‘Coexist’ is out now on Young Turks.

You can currently stream the album for free here:

http://coexist.thexx.info/

Second albums. They’re difficult. They’re a creative conundrum. They’re often utter shite. 

Many potential great guitar bands of our generation have fluffed up the second album by sitting in one of two camps - losing some credibilty/interest by hurrying out a copy-cat of their debut or suddenly changing style and running the risk of losing fans.

Arctic Monkeys’ ‘Favourite Worst Nightmare’ had one good single in their original style and a lot of filler. Franz Ferdinand’s ‘You Could Have It So Much Better’ presented a relative carbon copy of their eponymous debut while Kaiser Chiefs’ ‘Yours Truly, Angry Mob’ fell into a similar trap - taking and repeating the lad culture successes of ‘I Predict a Riot’, the break-out single from their debut, to a comparitive lack of interest. The Pigeon Detectives seemed to chuck a load of B-sides together to rush-release ‘Emergency’, a potential early nail in the coffin of their indie cred. As much as all these bands have dodged the fatal bullet and managed to continue producing records, but all of their second albums seem to be just that - a deliberate dodge. Franz and TPD third efforts were arguably much closer to classic status while their sophomore releases were simply a stop-gap.

On the other side of the fence, The Killers alienated a lot of fans by shifting from guitar-led pop to brass-infused pomp with ‘Sam’s Town’, but produced some of their biggest tracks yet - ‘When You Were Young’ and ‘Read My Mind’ were two of the biggest sing-alongs when I saw them at V Festival this summer. Similarly, with ‘This Modern Glitch’ The Wombats took the plunge and largely dropped the guitars in favour of synths and swapped songs about teenage lust after a myriad of ladies (see ‘A Guide to Love, Loss & Desperation’) for darker topics such as anti-depressant addiction, lost youth and broken relationships. Arguably this second camp, desipte its risks, has produced the more memorable and hit-filled records for this generation of guitar bands. So what would The Vaccines do?

Well, in their second outing, entitled ‘The Vaccines Come of Age’, the West London foursome, ever-opting to be different, haven’t reinvented the wheel or stuck with their original sound. Instead it’s a kind of progressive middle ground, a collection of tracks which offers something for original fans and those looking for something slightly more.

The Vaccines stormed to fame through their amped-up guitar pop in the form of tracks like ‘Wrecking Bar (Ra Ra Ra)’ and ‘If You Wanna’, and their second new-album single ‘Teenage Icon’ completely lives up to this reputation producing some of their catchiest and most enjoyable material yet, doubtlessly keeping a number of fans on-side. However, ‘Change of Heart pt. 2’ is the only other track which attempts this short poppy formula, with perhaps slightly less success. The inclusion of these tracks shows the band’s intention to keep old fans happy, but the absence of any more indicates their need for progression - 2 albums in a row of indie pop sing-alongs is an unsustainable method if they want to hold onto their crown of the biggest new UK guitar band of the last two years.

On their debut, ‘Wetsuit’, ‘Blow It Up’ and ‘All In White’ showed another side of The Vaccines  - the slow building epics. This album also tips its hat to these previous favourites with songs such as ‘Lonely World’ and ‘Weirdo’, both of which build to stadium-filling size after a slow-burning start. These songs are enjoyable, and could well become live favourites, but as with any new album it’s the differences rather than the similarities which are most interesting, and The Vaccines go for different in a big way on this record.

Firstly, debut single and album opener ‘No Hope’ offers a different sound altogether, including less reverb covered guitars and a Bob Dylan-esque casual delivery of lyrics, which almost resembles a drunken ramble rather than singer Justin’s usual shouty delivery, possibly a result of Justin’s numerous throat operations. However, the sing-along festival sound remains intact in the form of a catchy chorus, and The Vaccines manage to show their versatility early on without alienating anyone.

At Reading Festival last weekend, the only non-single new songs the four-piece played were ‘Bad Mood’ and ‘Ghost Town’, which fall into a new sound-scape for the band. Perhaps as a result of their work with Albert Hammond Jr, these songs are lead by repeated hard rock-esque guitar riffs, something there wasn’t really much time for on their 36-minute debut. Both songs work well, building up from a rocky riff to amped-up verses and singable, though not necessarily poppy, choruses. This style recurs on ‘I Wish I Was a Girl’, where Justin gives an inside look at an unexpected side of his psyche, whilst also leaving time for a massive guitar solo that any classic rock act would be proud of. Will this new rockier sound be the future of the band? It’s impossible to say, but it works well to help give this album a third dimension.

A personal favourite and a possible single from this record is the anomalous ’Aftershave Ocean’ which ambles along at an uncharacteristically low BPM but is held together by jangley major chords and self indulgent background guitar playing including bent-notes and a number of could-be solos. Justin’s ‘No Hope’ style casual delivery makes the song sound almost Beatles-esque, telling a simple story over the life-affirming sounds of chord structure simplicity. The subject of the song could well be trying to seduce a girl with a boyfriend. A boyfriend who, presumably, wears a lot of aftershave. The song includes some brilliantly tounge-in-cheek lyrics including ‘You’d say “I don’t understand you”, You’d say “ignorance is bliss”, so come give me a kiss!’ and my personal favourite ‘I got water up my nose, and had to dry my clothes, in your aftershave ocean’.

All in all, the album seems like an experimentation of sorts. Some slow numbers, some old style sing-alongs, some amped-up riffy rocky smashers and one brilliant song about girls and aftershave. This mixture of sounds was a good shout, allowing the band to measure which sounds get the best reactions on their upcoming tour and then perhaps settling into one sound later. For now, we should enjoy this eclectic collection of songs and be glad they’re trying new things out.

‘The Vaccines Come of Age’ is released September 3rd on Columbia. 

You can stream it for free for a short while here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2012/aug/29/vaccines-come-of-age-stream

In recent years Blur have managed to achieve the dream of many a long-gone 90s band - headlining Glastonbury, hosting their own Hyde Park shows, picking up a Lifetime Achievement Brit Award (pissing of Adele in the process), launching a massive career-spanning box set, and even being picked to close the London Olympic Games with another headline slot at Hyde park - and all of this, without any new material.

Well, almost none. In 2010, Blur put out a limited release of new track ‘Fool’s Day’ for the annual national actual-physical-recording-supporting event Record Store Day. The track was an OK return, some wishy washy lyrics and a basic format - it was greatly read as ‘not a proper release’ but instead a studio reunion excericise to stretch the old collaboratory muscles between the long-separated band. All evidence on setlist.fm (great setlist database site) suggests that the song was never even played live.

But last night, Blur fans were treated well to a comparative feast of proper Blur material - two new songs, ‘Under the Westway’ and ‘The Puritan’, both of which Albarn has written with the overt intention of playing them at their big Olympic show, raising the game from the never-played-live ‘Fool’s Day’. The debut of the tracks through an online Twitter video stream, including a live Q&A with the band, was a hugely successful publicity stunt, garnering attention from pretty much all sectors of the press including tabloids, regional radio and a string of online interviews.

Through Facebook and Twitter, the band teased at the tracks through a series of accompanying images (which would later prove to be stills from the post-stream lyric videos) and images of the band setting up their gear on a roof in London. The hype was huge, and Blur (or their PR people?) have presented themselves as masterful users of social media, unexpected from a reformed 90s act.

But after all the anticipation and hype, were the tracks any good? Let’s See…

Under the Westway

At 6:15 promptly, the middle-aged foursome began the live stream of this track, previously teased in a strip-down two-man performance at a War Child benefit concert. 

Now, we’ve all got our favourite stretches of road, I particularly enjoy a flutter in my stomach every time I cross the Surrey-Hampshire border on the M3 - there’s a very homely feeling about it, whichever way I’m going. Musically embracing an inspiring stretch of road in the title of this track, Mr Albarn is referencing an elevated dual carriageway in London, and not for the first time. Or the second. The road has become a repeated reference in Blur songs, first Albarn’s down-heartened city boy protagonist was ‘lost on the Westway’ in second album opener ‘For Tomorrow’, then the Westway was ‘flying by’ in the background as Albarn made his way to the studio to embrace ‘a love of all sweet music’ in ‘Fool’s Day’, and now Albarn has committed a whole song to stories and memories of the bridge.

And what a beautiful song it is, from the opening chimes of bells, through melancholy verse lyrics (‘grey is the day, they switch of the machines’), ripping interlude guitars and a euphoric yet slow-paced finale, allowing drummer Dave Rowtree to showcase both the big chorus cymbals and the slowed down subtleties in his excellent repertoire. In the latter stages of the track, Albarn and Coxon sing in harmony - it’s the moment every Blur fan has been waiting for since ‘13’, and it’s ruddy gorgeous.

The teaser picture (above) suggested that this would be a more classical number to fit in alongside Blur’s now-anthemic lovelorn hymnal ‘Tender’, and this suggestion was completely lived up to through Albarn’s haunting piano and mainly-low vocal range, which was accompanied beautifully by the rest of the band. Any doubters of the band post-‘Fool’s Day’ certainly had their concerns quelled by this anthemic ballad. The subtler parts of the song come into their own in the lyric video, but I’d reccomend watching both:

Live performance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHiK0MtbBiQ

Lyric video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5DlAZoEsfo&feature=related

Pictures courtesy of The Sun website and Blur Facebook page.

The Puritan

Kicking off at 7:15 then, was the second track, ‘The Puritan’. This one had not been sneakily previewed anywhere - a true enigma of a tune. 

This intrigue and confusion was hardly dispelled by the song as it presented a complete contrast to ‘… Westway’ and to much of the Blur back catalogue. The song kicked off with a backing track playing a quick jaunty piano chords as Rowntree held a quick almost-electro-sounding beat and Albarn played quite quietly on an electro-acoustic. My first impression, and presumably a lot of other fans, as Coxon and Alex James stood around waiting for their bits was ‘well, this is weird’.

As Albarn kicked in with the opening lyrics of ‘Well, are we institutionalised, by the demands of today? In our regalia, are we OK?’, little reassurance was restored to the viewer/listener. Surprisingly, given the presumed comparative sobriety of the band these days, Albarn has presented his most cryptic and unclear lyrics since the heroin-infused ‘Beetlebum’.

The track builds as Albarn explains that ‘the ice, and the gold, is just a double code, it’s a paradigm for every little thing that fashion gives you’ and then follows this with a knowing ‘yeah!’ as the whole band are allowed to go a bit bezerk in the interlude, Coxon relishing the opportunity for some smashing guitar licks as James is allowed to explore a bassline for the first time in the song, finding a smooth, almost-jazzy flow, before the action halts for Albarn to continue his poetic yet confusing musings. Albarn now discusses a ‘happy sad melody’, the second reference to a ‘blade’, rhymed cunningly with ‘parade’, before smashing into the rocked-up instrumental section again.

This time the neon simplicity of the teaser photo and the title being a person’s name, made me expect a back-to-basics character tune from Blur - a simple story about a person in the vein of ‘Country House’, ‘Charmless Man’ or, at a push, ‘Stereotypes’. Torwards the end of the track the ‘la la la las’ and shouting of ‘the puritan, what ya gonna do about it?’ does echo this style, but the majority of the electro-synth backing and confusing lyrics offered something completely different - rather than an instantly entertaining tounge-in-cheek story, this instead posed an intriguing listening experience - a challenge to try and decipher the meaning of the song and to embrace the new musical style. Is it a comment about fashion and the media deteriorating human life? Who knows, but that’s my best guess.

All in all, after a few listens it begins to grow on you and the confusion and freshness of it becomes just another string to Blur’s bow - they can do the slow number, they can do the indie sleeper hits, they can do the big anthemic tunes, and now they can do electro/jazz/hip-hop confusers. Again, I’d reccomend listening to them both to make up your mind:

Live performance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBiNteteJhs

Lyric Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zDNv8HTecw

It’s still unclear whether these tracks and shows will lead to a new album but it’s certainly a great start and an effective way of keeping fans happy. For now, let’s just be glad that they’re back making music!

Currently under a lot of scrutiny from both critics and angrily commenting fans is The Vaccines’ comeback track ‘No Hope’.

‘What’s happened to his voice?’ was the general consensus among early commenters, referring to several notable changes. In terms of actual vocal performance, singer Justin has simply calmed down a bit, understandably refraining from his frequent technique of dramatically yelling his lyrics (for the majority of the track at least) after a string of mid-tour throat operations. Instead Justin delivers a clear story within an ambling melody, garnering worthy comparisons to a Dylan-esque delivery.

Also, the wealth of reverb covering Justin’s vocals on ‘What Did You Expect…’ has been removed from the Standard Vaccines Track Production Pack, giving the whole song a more relaxed, natural sound.

This development is also present in the lyrical choices as Justin croons the self-reflexive (and self-derogatory) ‘I could bore you with the truth, about an uneventful youth’ in the song’s opening gambit. 

This allows the song to build up to it’s (still catchy) chorus over time rather than jumping straight to the point as The Vaccines have become known for, resulting in a surprising run-time of just over four minutes.

All in all the track displays more of a stylistic development than an immediate leap to stadium-sized super-stardom, which some might have expected. It’s not as formulaic or attention-grabbing as their previous singles but it certainly deserves credit and has raised intrigue in their upcoming album ‘The Vaccines Come of Age’.

Hear the track here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_3eEPpmKwE

Image stolen from youtube.

The Virgins aren’t a new act, but with three new members (John Eatherly, Xan Aird and Max Kamins) now forming the band with front-man Donald Cumming, and no release since their 2008 self-titled debut record, they have a lot to prove.

Their new track Venus In Chains will no-doubt be measured against the pop expectations set up by their previous danceable tracks like One Week of Danger and Rich Girls, which earned their debut record a 7/10 NME review and four stars from Rolling Sone. 

The song details the fancying of a feminist woman. It builds up nicely from relaxed dueling riffs in the opening salvo and lyrics like ‘she is a tiger, no-one can cage her’ into an effective build-up, and quickly into the chorus by the forty second mark. It then repeats this tried-and-tested pop structure.

It’s the same quick stereotypical catchy pop they became know for those four long years ago, and it still works. My only qualm is the predictable ryhme of ‘girl’ and ‘world’ which seems to appear in such a multitude of pop songs that you barely even notice it here. It’ll take more tracks and the presumably upcoming album to prove if they can still garner success, but one thing’s for sure; they’ve still got the knack for pop gems.

You can listen to the track here:

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/the-virgins-venus-in-chains-20120517

Picture courtesy of Rolling Stone website.

A four-piece all-girl group who met at an army recruitment centre in Blackheath. Such a perfectly bizarre band origin story, they must be good!

And indeed they are, their basic four-piece bass-drums-guitar-singer set-up combined with the dark vocal intonations has made them a band likely to be followed be a stream of endless comparisons - ‘Ian Curtis re-incarnated as a female!’ reads one facebook comment, there was something about the ‘Girlband version of The Horrors’ floating around somewhere. There are obvious comparisons you can draw between singer Jehn and other dark mysterious frontwomen like, say, Crystal Castles’ Alice Glass. But from my stand-point, these comparisons are bit reduntant.

They’re a great new band with heady basslines, distinct vocals, sharp beats and talented guitar-playing. They create a dark echoey soundscape which is genuinely original compared to the majority of the music scene at the moment.

Check out their songs:

Give Me A Gun: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mx5FM3r_bzE

City’s Full: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUqDckQuqcg

London five-piece Citizens! told the NME that they’re gonna ‘bring pop back to the people’, and early signs of them succeeding are looking very very good. 

Mixing catchy guitar chords, memorable synth-riffs and melodic, actually good vocals with alternative song topics (like becoming a reptile), Citizens! have squeezed themselves into the tiny collective of artists who are writing decent pop music for love of the genre, not singing someone-else’s words for massive profit. 

Anyone with good taste will tell you that proper pop music is currently being replaced by autotuned nothingy naffness, and more acts like Citizens! is exactly what the music scene needs at the moment. 

Their debut, Alex Kapranos-produced, album ‘Here We Are’ drops on May 28th. For now, check out their songs:

True Romance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EySm81Q6qIU&feature=fvwrel

Reptile: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wA0lYaekxxk

The most talked-about new band at the moment, currently storming their way around their native America, including ten performances at iconic festival South by South West, are Alabama Shakes.

It’s got to the point now that you just have to check them out to see what the fuss is about. And boy is the fuss about something brilliant.

The four-piece centre around front woman Brittany Howard, who really is the core of the band due to her jaw-dropping vocal talents. She’s drawing comparisons to Adele all over youtube comment boards, but the general consensus is that she isn’t   a wannabe, she’s an undeniable talent creating her own 60s-infused, Americana-inspired, somehow kinda Marvin Gaye-esque sound.

They’re signed to Rough Trade in the UK, and are releasing their debut album Boys & Girls drops early next month.

This is the video to their song You Ain’t Alone, watch it, you won’t regret it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HxNtWEIKhQ