Disney release Joy Division-related T-shirt, already withdrawn from sale whilst a clear homage to the post-punks debut release, in itself was never an original piece of work. Lifted from the Cambridge Encyclopaedia of Astronomy, the artwork depicts the first ever recorded presence of a pulsar; yet the argument that Disney have in no way tried to draw on Joy Division’s iconic status to ensure a sale seems to be falling on deaf ears. Former bassist Peter Hook has been quick to distance himself from the T-shirt, stating that whilst ‘it’s a hell of a compliment to be bootlegged by someone like Disney’, the bands Without question one of the more unanticipated decisions management agency were never contacted made by any American conglomerate in recent years, earlier this month The Walt Disney Company threw the world a by the Californian based media group. proverbial curveball by choosing to release a Mickey Mouse Whilst forms of bootlegging and use of famous band imagery has been used for T-shirt inspired by the iconic artwork from Joy Divisions decades as a means of boosting sales across 1979 release Unknown Pleasures. Stranger still, having been mediums, it still seems strange that a compaon sale for less than a week on their web store, for a reason ny as large as Disney took this step without unbeknownst to anyone bar themselves, Disney have now any attempt to seek permission for its use, decided to pull the product from their site entirely. Whilst some reports initially tied the shirts design to the now-iconic but even Hook has suggested that ‘someone may have done it as a tongue in cheek comartwork, other critics have been quick to highlight the fact pliment.’ that the illustration (seen above, prior to being pulled),
M.I.A shocks all, surprises no-one with half-time Super Bowl finger stunt. Having hired Madonna to appear at last month’s Super Bowl (XLVI), it seemed that NFL were content to continue the ‘recent tradition of getting washed up and irrelevant performers to headline their greatest spectacle’ (Martin, 2011). Yet post-performance it is M.I.A making all the headlines, and for the wrong reasons to boot. Aquick middle-finger salute to the cameras during the performance has drawn scores of both praise and criticism from either side. Madonna has been quick to label the gesture immature and ‘teenage’, yet others have noted how those accusations from the Queen of Pop seem a tad hypocritical. Audio Addict
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Original Happy Mondays Line-Up re-unite, possible return of Madchester? Any band whose roots stretch as far back as three decades should suggest to many that any concept of an original line-up 30+ years on would be impressive at least. The Happy Monday’s third reunion back in 2004 saw the departure of founding member and former bassist Paul Ryder whose split from the acrimonious to say the least, reported to have stated that he’d want nothing to do with the band going forward. Yet earlier this week backing singer Rowetta Satchell not only confirmed a fourth and completely original line-up for 2012, but that they already
had a full schedule of gigs planned for the month of May. There has been no word as of yet with respect to a possible sixth studio album, but with fellow Manchunians The Stone Roses having reunited late 2011 (already promising a new record), is there a chance that 2012 could signal a second wave of Madchester?
Jay Z & Beyoncé release first pictures of baby
Blue Already a world record holder for youngest appearance on a hit record, many have been anticipating the first images of Blue Ivy Carter, first child to Hip-hop mogul Jay Z and Beyonce Knowles. To the surprise of many however, those first shots have not been released amidst an anticipated fanfare of exclusivity. Instead the power couple have opted for a far simpler approach; this weekend the
first images were uploaded to a tumbler account, with a quick word of thanks. “We welcome you to share our joy. Thank you for respecting our privacy during this beautiful time in our lives, - The Carter Family”. The full set of snaps can be found at http://helloblueivycarter.tumblr.com/
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Drake & The Weeknd wrap up filming for music video to ‘The Zone’ shaping up to be even bigger for The Weeknd, real name Tesfaye. Having released his first music video to the ‘The Knowing’ back in November,few were anticipating the layered symbolism and dystopian-futurist imagery that the piece contained. Some critics interpreted the video as a backlash to the notion of The Weeknd’s seemingly unopposed path towards mainstream success so it may have come as a surprise to those same sceptics when earlier this month OVO/XO announced that ‘The Zone’, At the beginning of 2011, few music fans or critics had heard of The taken from The Weeknd’s second mix tape Thursday, would be the artist’s Weeknd, yet 12 months later the Canadian-born prodigy already seems destined for long-term greatness. Three critically acclaimed second single chosen for music video mix-tapes, sell out tours and a carefully orchestrated media profile treatment. has seen The Weeknd rise from obscurity to critical darling. Despite the unprecedented level of success in ’11 however, it seems 2012 is
Daft Punk playing at Nile Rodgers’ House A titan of the disco era, Nile Rodgers continues to write, compose, arrange and produce hits well into the present day. An aggressive cancer diagnosis in late 2010 has done little to stem his appetite for destruction and earlier this month Houston Culture Map were the first publication to break the news that the disco legend had started collaborations with the French electronic music duo. Having released their third studio album Human After All in 2005 to mixed reviews, Daft Punks most recent efforts were apparent in Tron Legacy; the outfit were tasked with creating the films soundtrack. Since that 2010 release, news regarding any possible fourth studio album hasn’t been forthcoming; for now fans will have to be content with Rodgers’ honourable mention. 4 Audio Addict
What do The Vaccines Expect? The Vaccines have had a very rapid rise to fame. Having formed just less then two years ago, the West Londonbased indie rockers have emerged as one of the UK’s biggest bands of 2011. Only a year ago, you could go and watch the relatively unheard of quartet for around a fiver in some of the smallest venues in the country. Today, they are headlining huge sell-out tours with thousands of people wanting to see the band that NME hailed as “the most exciting new band in Britain”. Audio Addict caught up with both Árni Hjörvar and Freddy Cowan on a wet and windy night at Southampton’s Guildhall to talk all night partying, new album plans and their swift rise to success.
Step Back To 2009, Google ‘The Vaccines’ and your results would be about as far away from indie rock superstardom as you can get. Google it today and you’ll find four middle-class Londoners who two-years-ago decided to pick up guitars and see where they could take them. Justin, Freddy, Árni and Pete were all bored with their lives, as Freddy points out, “We were all sort of hitting a dead in what we were doing. We were generally just not very happy and so we wanted to do something about it. It was never about ‘let’s start a band and go on tour’. It was more just like, ‘let’s do something we care about, let’s do something for ourselves,’ which I like because anyone can do that.” And so after experimenting with a number of other band names such as ‘The Catholics’ and ‘The Red Indians,’ ‘The Vaccines’ were born in late 2009.
By 2010 they had begun getting a lot of radio airplay on Radio 1 with their first single ‘Wreckin’ Bar (Ra Ra Ra)/Blow It Up.’ Zane Lowe named it as the ‘Hottest Record in the World’ and it received significant fame and notoriety for being just 1:24 long. In late 2010, they set off on a tour of small venues around the UK, gathering a large following from their energetic and fast-paced live shows. Freddy assures us “We’ve worked so hard on becoming a good live band.” In March 2011, they released their debut album, ‘What Did You Expect from The Vaccines?’ which was a huge hit and reached number four in the album charts. “We thought it was a good record, so we thought it probably wouldn’t do very well,” jokes Freddy, “but it’s been a good year for music like that.
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People give someone like Adele a hard time because she’s been so successful but you know the thing is, she’s quality and thank God it’s someone like her and not One Direction.”
land. We were sitting in a little room all day. Bands like Kings of Leon would turn up ten minutes before they played but we had to get there at eight in the morning. It was 12 hours of nervousness. It didn’t sound very good, it didn’t look very good but there Like Adele, they have had an incredible 2011. “It was something special about it. Since then we’ve hasn’t been a usual year for us. We’ve done more in a never played a show that’s not sold out.” The show year than most people do in three or four and we’ve saw the band rise to what they are today - a big felt that, ‘look at us we’re a mess, but we’ve done it.” name in the British indie scene performing sell out The band are still trying to get their head around, tours where they now have their own support acts. how they have gone from support group to main attraction in such a short space of time. “It’s cool to The Vaccines look set on getting bigger and better be the parents for once and not the kids, because over the coming years. Once their UK tour comes to we’ve been kids the whole year now. It’s like we’ve a close, they set off once more around the globe fincome up a year at school or something but it’s great, ishing in Asia at Easter, and after that, they plan on it’s really fun.” getting stuck into working on a new record. “We’d like to do a new album, but I don’t know when. For Freddy and Árni, their ‘we’ve made it’ moment, Definitely next year, we’ve started writing a bunch of was an appearance on The Jools Holland Show back songs. It’s definitely priority number one.” in 2010. “People often rub that out of our story. They talk about everything in relation to journalism, but It won’t be long until they are drawn back into the really what started our whole career was Jools Hol- pandemonium of festival season, a time that was very important to the band last year. “We played 45 festivals in over 4 continents with no sleeping, 56 flights... yeah it was mental, absolutely mental but it was incredible. People wanted to see us and we went everywhere we could.” They have already been announced as headliners for Spain’s biggest pop/rock festival, Benicàssim next July. For now though they just want to focus on what the next few months have in store, “I don’t really want to think about it because it seems like we’ve just finished last summer. I’m sure by June we’ll be quite happy to go back to festivals, but right now the thought makes me shiver.” It is a very busy time for The Vaccines and they never seem to get a break, but it’s this hard work and determination that will make them kings of ‘Indie Rock n’ Roll.’ When asked how they handle the pressures of escalating to be one of the biggest acts in the country, Freddy answers, “it just feels natural and we’re grateful for it.” As cool as you like, but then what did you expect from The Vaccines? -Richard Cook
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Friendly Fires on their 2011 Whether it’s lead singer Ed McFarlane’s flamboyant Hawaiian shirt collection, the band’s Balearic party vibe or their enticingly fun lyrics, for one reason or another, everybody loves Friendly Fires. At the start of November the St Albans Indie dancers embarked on their biggest tour to date. Unfortunately they had to pull the plug on a few of their dates due to Ed McFarlane being “too ill to talk let alone sing.” However they rescheduled just in time for Christmas and Audio Addict popped by for a quick chat with lead guitarist Edd Gibson at The Guildhall in Southampton.
Friendly Fires’ Ed, Edd and Jack first formed a band when they were in year 13 at school, writing their own ‘post-punk’ tracks, entangled with “really long post-rock instrumentals.” It wasn’t until later that they left their alternative teen noise behind to infuse guitar pop with dance culture, influenced by New York disco. Edd told me, “when we were about 17 or 18 we just started going to clubs for the first time and we were able to go into London and spend all night there, just experiencing the dance floor. It was a totally different environment for us and we just fell in love with it.” After getting increased attention, the trio needed to develop a catchy name. Edd reminiscently explains how their manager at the time locked them in a record store until they eventually stumbled upon ‘Friendly Fires,’ the first track on a Section 25 LP.
Having received existential media coverage for a number of early singles, they released their debut album in September 2008. It was a phenomenal success and was developed even further with their bonus track enriched re-release. “The first album just seemed to grow and grow, it was a real slow burner and when we put ‘Kiss of Life’ out and managed to re-release it, it got another lease of life and it almost felt like we’d done two campaign tours by the end of it.” In May last year they released their second album, ‘Pala’, which came in at number 6 in the UK albums chart and was dubbed by a number of critics as “the soundtrack of the summer”. Since then they have been touring non-stop and playing at an exhausting amount of festivals, “I think we’ve done 140 shows this year so far and we did 39 festivals or something so it’s been fairly relentless.” 7
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Friendly Fires have had an extremely busy year, in particular the summer; a season the band thrives upon. Clear blue skies bursting with brilliant sun and wispy cloud match all the credentials of the Mediterranean-esque party band. Upon reflection Edd jokes “yeah I’d like to think that The Strokes got everyone warmed up for us.” They didn’t come on until 3am but it was a funfilled fiesta where tens of thousands of people partied through the night. But it was Glastonbury which took over the band’s hearts in 2011, “I think we had a fantastic Glastonbury this year. We had this huge spectacular of Hawaiian dancers and drummers.” They have already been confirmed for Future Music Festival in Australia in February and Lollapalooza in South America in the spring. They’ve been getting a few UK festival offers as well but Edd insists “I think this year will be less hardcore then it was last year. I think we’ll have like a weekend festival, and then a break, then another festival, then a break, but it’ll be good fun.”
What’s next for 2012 then? “We’re definitely keen to start writing again. Not necessarily a third album, but just getting any tracks together and getting ideas of how we want to continue or progress. We’re going to try and go over to Sweden where I think we’ll end up in a secluded log cabin surrounded by ten feet of tundra and there’ll be no escape even if we wanted to.” On top of more writing Edd tells me how he hope to put on more event nights, like the all night party that the band arranged in London last summer and the line up for a stage at Bestival. “We want to be involved in actually organising events and just try and show people more of what we’re into. It’s fun taking the reins.” So, perhaps it won’t be as crazy a year for the Hertfordshire boys as 2011 was, but they’ve certainly earned a chance to put their feet up and revel in their indie-club superstardom. You know you’ve made it when you get a helicopter ride around Christ the Redeemer, “we just thought like damn, plugging away back in the garage in St Albans has got us here. That was quite amazing, and yeah we didn’t own the helicopter but maybe one day we will.” The way things are going for Friendly Fires it wouldn’t be a surprise if one day they owned much more than that. -Richard Cook
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Foreign Beggars but Finding Success “I get the feeling that tonight’s going to be the liveliest one we’ve done so far. I think tonight’s going to get rowdy,” anticipates Metropolis, MC for Foreign Beggars ahead of their show at Soul Cellar in Southampton. The London-based underground crew have returned to the UK this year, with a highly anticipated tour which is sure to rattle the biggest sound systems in Britain. The troupe, consisting of MC Metropolis, MC Orifice and DJ No Names, are tearing the dance scene apart, creating a unique sound in the underground world, by mixing up their hip-hop flow with drum n bass, dubstep and grime.
“I wouldn’t say it was a conscious decision like ‘oh we need to start making dance music to stay alive,’ but we’ve just always been open minded about music and always wanted to flex on whatever, so that’s kind of how we’ve ended up where we are now. We’re not a grime act, we’re not strictly a hip-hop act, we’re not a D‘n’B act, we’re not a dubstep act, but we can flex on anything.” At the beginning of their career, they were considered primarily as a UK hip-hop act and at the moment, Metropolis sees the UK hip-hop scene as being “very strong.” But over the years they’ve begun experimenting with different aspects of hip-hop and in particular were closely associated with the UK grime scene. From their perspective, “In some ways grime is more UK hip-hop then UK hip-hop is because it is something that has grown out of our island.” Like so many other UK hip-hop acts over recent years, the group have joined forces with dance artists, creating some of the heaviest beats in drum ‘n’ bass and dubstep. “It was time we tried some new stuff and pushed the boundaries a little bit and, yeah it’s kind of working in the UK now isn’t it?” Metropolis explained how their change in musical direction has stemmed not only from their enjoyment in doing so but also to keep their audience interested and to move with the times.
They may not have released a Foreign Beggars album for some time now, but they’ve been as busy as ever. “Oh man we have been touring non-stop. We’ve been all over Europe, we finished recording the vocals for an album with Noisia and we got a whole lot in the bag. We’ve just released an EP on Never Say Die Records featuring Alex Perez.” They’re currently enjoying a busy UK tour and in particular looking forward to Leeds, Exeter and Edinburgh. They had a good festival season in the summer, playing a huge host of different festivals both in the UK and abroad.
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They must be the most well-behaved hip-hop collective to ever grace the festival scene as Metropolis assured me, “no one ever gets too smashed and pisses themselves or anything. Everyone’s really sober. We’re all good lads. We all go to church on a Sunday.” I detect a hint of sarcasm. The most exciting news heard all night was the prospect of a new album. “Later on in the year we’re going to start working on our next proper Foreign Beggars album which is also going to be huge, so at the moment we’re just talking to different people and talking to different labels and artists to see what kind of thing we could put together.
The plan is to have two albums for next year.” Along with the album, the band plan to tour again throughout 2012, with dates set for Australia and Spain. The group has progressed from a relatively unknown underground hip-hop act to a relatively well know underground hip-hop act, who now incorporate much more to their music then big beats and quick lyrics. For them, their eight-year adventure in the music industry thus far has been highly eventful as Metropolis explains, “We’ve had all the highs and all the lows and it all just blends into one journey and
I wouldn’t want to separate one thing and say like ‘this was better than anything else’ because it’s all good We’re enjoying ourselves, we’re very lucky to be in the position that we’re in and we’re very lucky to have real cool fans and also to be respected by a lot of different industry heads from all over, so it’s all good.” It’s an exciting time to be a Foreign Beggar fan and it doesn’t look like it’s calming down any time soon. -Richard Cook
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The Answer - Q & A When The Answer first started, we were looking at a very different band. It’s been an uphill struggle since the beginning, trying to bring back rock’ n’ roll to the masses. Now that they have toured with their major influences AC/DC, as well as Whitesnake, success for the band is slowly but surely happening. Audio Addict caught up with vocalist Cormac Neeson backstage in Portsmouth to see how things are going.
How is the tour going? This is the ultimate gig of the first leg of the Revival tour, so everybody is kind of winding down a little bit you know. I’m glad to have 20 gigs under the belt. It’s been a great, very positive tour so we’re feeling pretty good yeah. But it’ll be good to get home. When you first start touring again, you’re so happy to be back on the road. Then 20 shows in, you’re kind of looking forward to getting a night’s sleep in your own bed. I think everybody’s ready to catch up on a few lost hours. Since the release of Revival (their latest album), how has the response been from the fans? It’s been great. It went into the album charts at 19 which we were really happy with as we’re arock ‘n’ roll band, and in today’s music scene, to break into the top 40, it was a real result for us. Our hardcore fan base,
at least the majority of them seem to agree that it’s our best record we’ve released so far. It’s obviously really important to us that we kind of keep The Answer’s faithful fans, first and foremost…this is kind of the beginning of the touring cycle, which will last for the next year and a half. It will pick up momentum as we move along. What happened to the release of the new album in the USA? I think we initially thought about having a worldwide release date on October 3rd. But we had a good think about it because we’re not physically going to be able to get over to the US to promote the album till maybe late March. So it made sense to postpone the release date till January, so we’ll be able to get over there soon enough after the release and back it up with a lot of solid touring.
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Would you tour with any other bands that aren’t classic rock, or sound like you? Obviously any band you play with, you like the music to tie in together. It gets the crowd properly going. Every support bill needs to complement the next band that comes on after. For example with us supporting AC/DC it was a perfect fit there, because we get up there and we’re playing good hard rock ‘n’ roll, but it’s obviously not trying to rip off AC/DC. We don’t sound too similar to them, so the audience is really getting their money’s worth.
“With us supporting AC/DC it was a perfect fit” You have been giving away a free track on your website. What made you want to do that? It made sense to us because we just came back from El Paso with 17 tracks recorded and we were only going to be putting 12 on the album so we thought we’d give this one away and get it kick-started. I mean we like to keep our fan base well connected; we’re currently releasing different chapters to do with the making of the album as there was a lot of video footage we took in El Paso and in the back of practice rooms and it’s a good way to keep our fan base involved. When did you start thinking ‘this is what I want to do with my life’ and what brought it on? It was pretty soon after getting with the guys. I’ve been in different bands before and it never really clicked enough to contemplate doing it for the rest of my life. But when I met Micky and James and this lot, we were all into the same music. They really knew how to rip it up and were great musicians. We started writing songs early on and we thought we were really good as well. I just remember thinking ‘I think we got a great shot at this’.
“We’re coming back in March for a bunch of bigger gigs” What can we expect from The Answer in the future? We’re very focused on promoting this new album and it will be a good year and a half on the road, which will take us all around the world. I mean as far as the UK is concerned, we wrap up this leg of the tour in London, but we’re coming back in March for a bunch of bigger gigs and kind of following up on what we’ve been doing on this particular tour. So a lot of travel and obviously at the end of all we’ll be getting back into the studio to record the next album. All in all, The Answer have a slight mission that they are well underway in pulling off. Rock ‘n’ roll is coming back, no matter what anyone says. The Answer are bringing it back bigger and better than before and this is only the beginning. -Raven Lyness The Answer head back to the UK in 2012 to play the following dates:
What do you do to chill out when you’re having a break from the music scene? Stick on a bit of Billie Holiday on the record player and just kick back and take it easy. Watch the football at the weekends. I remember when we were touring with AC/DC and we were parked up in massive car parks and we would have our crew versus the AC/DC crew. They are American though, so they weren’t really all that good. We kicked their ass.
March 6th LEEDS March 7th GLASGOW, March 8th ABERDEEN, March 10th WOLVERHAMPTON March 11th NOTTINGHAM March 12th NEWCASTLE March 13th MANCHESTER March 15th LONDON March 16th BRISTOL March 17th BRIGHTON 12
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Lana Del Ray - Born To Die Lizzy Grant, now performing under an alias of Lana Del Rey has become a bit of a modern urban legend. Since the promotional video for ‘Video Games’ was uploaded to YouTube, it has amassed over 23 million views, resulting in a number of rumours about possible cosmetic surgery and conjecture concerning her background and upbringing. While Del Rey herself would prefer that the public focused on the music, the popularity Lizzy Grant has gained from the ‘Myth of Lana’ is undeniable. Although this is in fact her sophomore album, Born to Die is being billed as a debut, with her original first album set for release in the summer. Born to Die opens with the title track. The song itself is a largely dramatic affair, a wash of whirling strings and hollowed out drum noises It’s a strong statement of intent from Del Rey, showing the listener what they can expect from the album, an almost country-esque ode to the styling of Nancy Sinatra, whilst giving the listener something new and fresh throughout through the use of modern sampling. Off to the Races’ displays a hypnotic, beating drum line over Del Rey’s falsetto damsel in distress pleading’s of “I need you to come here and save me”. Once again, Del Rey uses the same instrumentation to create an element of drama in a way that perfectly complements her soothing, breathy tones. ‘Blue Jeans’ offers up something different from the first two songs. While the string sound is still present, it loses prominence to the plucked guitar of the track. This, along with the crawling elegance of Del Rey’s delivery presents a sinister atmosphere to the track. This song highlights one of the album’s largest flaws, Del Rey’s lyrical contrivances.
A lyric such as “You fit me better than my favourite sweater”, would be seen as a hideous cliché anywhere in this album, but somehow, this album manages to find class in its crassness, a celebration of the unashamedly tacky. Next comes the ubiquitous ‘Video Games’, a beautiful, creeping melody, lamenting lost love. Although this album does exhibit some ‘more of the same’ repetition, there are flourishes that prevent the album becoming stagnant. The string line that greets ‘National Anthem’ is largely reminiscent of The Verve’s ‘Bittersweet Symphony’, while the rest of the track encapsulates perfectly Del Rey’s love of Americana and all of the vices and hidden evils that come with it. Born to Die is a perfect melancholy celebration of American society and the disillusionment of youth culture. The lyrics, whilst riddled with cliché, are a perfect comment on the lack of sincerity in emotion of the young people of the world, and imply that in this society, money and possessions are more important than love. This of course, is represented ironically and through the use of contrivances, much like Grant’s Lana Del Rey ‘persona’. While not without its flaws, Born to Die is everything it promised to be. A largely great, melodramatic monster of a pop album, and possibly 2012’s first great album. -Mitchell Stevens 13 Audio Addict
Pulled Apart By Horses - Tough Love full of energy and enthusiasm. The band already has a fearsome live persona that is only going to be boosted by this sterling album.
Pulled Apart By Horses’ latest effort follows up 2010 self-titled album and continues where the Leeds outfit left off. Crammed full of screaming vocals and a punk rock vibe, the album has enticed so many new fans. It’s hard to fault such a raw and musically excellent album. The heavy percussion and rumbling baselines complement the rest of the ensemble and hold everything together without overpowering any of the tracks. The opener ‘V.E.N.O.M’ contains some perfectly
obscure guitar work and builds the atmosphere that is represented throughout. The pick of the bunch however is ‘Wolf Hand’. It just oozes rock and roll, and really highlights the talents that PABH have. All the tracks on the album are perfectly written for live shows,
Any weaknesses I hear you ask? The only one that I have is that there is a degree of familiarity to their songs. But when a band can give you such a sense of peace and angst at the same time, what would you change? The ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ rule definitely applies to Tough Love. All I can add is that I hope the outfit hit the studio again soon and produce another cracking album that can stimulate their audience as well as this one does. - Matthew Cook
Maccabees - Given to the Wild It is most certainly a welcome return for The Maccabees who are back with their third album Given to the Wild and with this effort has come a sudden surge of popularity. Selling out venues across the UK, predictions of the band’s accession to the charts are high this year. However, to those of whom are familiar with the band, this album may not be what you were expecting. The intro alone acts as an indication of a stylistic change, differing from the quirky intros that we have all grown to love from the previous albums. Given to the Wild offers our ears a delicate and elegant orchestral sound, enough to relax even the most tense of shoulders. However this more mature musical style comes at a price. It is only when you arrive to the last few tracks that things start to acquire some sort of pace, leaving the album falling some what on the dull side of the spectrum.Not ditching their roots completely, the plucky signature guitar styling’s are still evident, in tracks such as ‘Slowly One’ and ‘Pelican’. It is here that life starts to come back with that familiar energetic, fast-paced punch, making itself present again for the first time in the album, yet still all the time retaining that calming orchestral vibe, which is perhaps what makes these two songs some of the best on the album. The album itself one can only compare to that of a good cheese; over time it will mature, and may just grow into something more spectacular but for now I find it hard to accept the album as anything more than a bit mild. -Shadene Lewis 14 Audio Addict
Overlooked But not Overplayed... The advent of the digital revolution post-1980 has changed the way we as consumers interact with music at every level. In addition to providing unfiltered access to the vast majority of all recorded music, the flow of new music released on an almost daily basis means that even the most ardent music fan can be forgiven for letting an occasional gem slip through their grasp. With that in mind this short article has attempted to shine the spotlight on three albums which to some extent have each shared the same fate. Whilst the artists name may be familiar to some, for the most part they remain criminally overlooked we hope this article provides our readers with an opportunity to spare their blushes and cash in.
Susumu Yokota – Sakura (2002) Having risen to prominence in the early ‘90s, Susumu Yokota has continued to deliver a consistent yet diverse electronic/ambient discography. A staple of Japan’s burgeoning mid-90’s techno boom, much of his earlier work also found moderate success overseas, particularly with respect to the release of his debut Frankfurt-Tokyo Connection, published only in Germany and the US. His partnership with the then newlyformed Sublime Records in ’94 solidified Yokota’s house credentials, but it wasn’t until the release of 2000’s Sakura on Yorkshirebased Leaf label which perked the attention of numerous critics, particularly British publication The Wire (who named it their top electronic release for that year). A departure from the sound from his earlier records, Sakura’s blend of hypnotic electronic ambience is still regarded by many as the artist’s magnum opus. Much of his subsequent work has continued to tread the path of ambient detachment but despite their efforts few manage to match the timeless quality found on Sakura.
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their 22nd anniversary with the release of the band’s eighth studio album, Generation Freakshow. Much of the band’s success has been attributed to frontman Grant Nicholas who, since their major label debut in ’95, has been responsible for writing the vast majority of their recorded material. The band’s mix of grunge, indie and pop-rock won the band thousands of fans in the ensuing years but the shock suicide of long-time friend and drummer Jon Lee in 2002 served as an unforeseen catalyst in altering the band’s signature sound.
Feeder – Comfort in Sound (2002) The release of ‘Buck Rogers’ back in 2001 propelled Feeder into the proverbial mainstream with many critics at the time questioning their ability to sustain that level of success; later this month Feeder will celebrate
A significant shift away from their pop-rock roots, the release of 2003’s Comfort in Sound alienated much of the band’s core fanbase at the time, yet in doing so Feeder also produced their most accomplished release to date. Despite the critical acclaim heaped upon it, the raw, distinctly un-pop sound of the record failed to resonate with those expecting otherwise and justifiably deserves an honourable mention. In identifying the songs most suitable for single release at that time, in doing so the bands label (Echo) succeeded in portraying the album in a dishonest light, giving the impression that Comfort in Sound was traditional Feeder when it was anything but.
Ed Harrison – NeoTokyo (2009) Arguably the least recognizable release in this article (either by artist or album), both Ed Harrison and NeoTokyo are names few music fans would identify with. The release of 2004’s critically acclaimed Half-Life 2 signalled a wave of online developers to attempt their own modifications, not least of which spawned NeoTokyo, a mod heavily inspired by cyberpunk and futurism. Despite no initial plans for a soundtrack, during its development 22 year old Ed Harrison became involved and started working on what became the 27 track OST. Arguably the mod’s release gained as much notoriety for its music as it did the modification itself; many fans cite the soundtrack as the release’s most redeeming feature. Only 1000 copies were pressed to disc; as a result each individually numbered copy has, over the years, become somewhat of a collector’s item. Encompassing a subliminal range of genres from downbeat to darkstep, NeoTokyo’s soundtrack fits effortlessly with the game’s dystopian backdrop, setting an underground benchmark for bedroom musicians for years to come. Considering this remains Harrison’s first and only release makes the maturity and quality of this release all the more impressive. Note: In 2010 Harrison released the entire soundtrack online, in FLAC, for free. Get it here: http://edharrison.net/ neotokyo/NTFLAC.html
17 Audio Addict