I’ve never done anything like this before, so if it sucks, put it down to inexperience :).

First of all, the whole reason I won this in the first place is down to Gigs & Tours, who I follow on twitter, so massive thanks to them for picking me as the winner, and a massive thanks to Polydor records who are very nice people!

Turned up at the arena at about 3.30pm, there was something like 10 or 15 of us in total, i’m not sure? Everyone got a free copy of Daisy which was generous, since I’d already pre-ordered a signed copy from Newbury Comics I gave both of mine to the 2 lads that had very generously driven me all the way to Wembley, about 110 miles, and all the way back after the show. We were led to the main arena by security who told us it was strictly no photos or pictures, which kinda sucked. The band were soundchecking and went through about 4 or 6 songs including Vices, You Stole and At The Bottom. At one point, Jesse was fine tuning his guitar and started playing the opening bar or Nirvana - Rape Me… He also soundchecked with an acoustic guitar and it was even set up and plugged in on stage during the show but he didn’t use it once for some reason?
The whole soundchecking process took about an hour or so, after that the band disappeared for about 10 minutes then came out in to main arena, Brian, Derrick and Gerrett came out first, and looked slightly nervous but friendly enough. Vin seemed to take it all in his stride chatting away to fans about Glastonbury and Reading, finally after about 5 or so minutes Jesse came swanning out, munching on a nectarine and went straight over to the girls! He was a friendly guy though, he asked everybody their name and shook everyone’s hand. None of them seemed to have the slightest little bit of rock star arrogance. They all talked about how they were a bit nervous about the show because they hadn’t played together since October. But in retrospect everything seemed to go smooth. I heard them talking to one guy about UK festivals and they aid they couldnt really say anything right now, so maybe they’ll be making an appearence? Who knows.
To be fair I didn’t really speak to the band too much, I never know what to say! I met Frank Turner a few years ago and couldn’t really say much! So I’m sure some of the girls that were there have much more awesome stories than me.
We only got to spend about 10 or 20 minutes with them, but everyone got their stuff signed, alot of people were getting Daisy signed. They were all really friendly and none of them came off as arrogant or pompous which was pretty cool considering how big a band they are.

I can’t remember the whole set list for the actual gig, but the opening was Welcome To Bangkok with 2 drummers, I’m not sure who the other drummer was but he stayed on stage all night providing various extra percussion. They went through their whole back and uhh… present catalogue including: Sic Transit Gloria, Sowing Season, Vices, Gasoline, Jude Law…, Seventy Times Seven, At The Bottom, The Archers Bows Are Broken, Okay I Believe You… and Sink. I think they only played 3 tracks from Daisy which kinda surprised me really. There was solo electric version of Limo which was amazing and ended with the rest of the band rejoining Jesse for the closing. And the final track was a solo electric version of Play Crack The Sky was a great closing song.

I feel like I should talk about Glassjaw and Thrice a little bit before I close this off. Both bands were equally as amazing. Thrice are easily one of the most under appreciated alternative rock bands out there and the live version of Artist In The Ambulance was outstanding. The closing song was the title track from the new record, Beggars, and was just mind-blowing.
Glassjaw who I was seriously just as excited about seeing as I was Brand New, were outstanding. Daryl Palumbo is an enigma, he just has bundles of energy! They were loud. VERY loud and didn’t fail to disappoint. Siberian Kiss, the closing song was dedicated to Justin Beck. If you haven’t seen them live I seriously recommend it, they were amazing. An awesome gig.

Bombay Bicycle Club - I Had The Blues But I Shook Them Loose

I’ve already vented how I feel about this album quite alot already, which you can read here so I’ll avoid going over old ground…

This for me was the best record of 2009 for the following reasons:

1. The entire album flows perfectly from the opening song to the closing. At no point does the record die off, even at ‘Always Like This’ which in comparison with the rest of the record, bar the final track, is one of the slower ones.
2. This was the most refreshing and uplifting sound I had heard in a very long time. The whole ‘nothing new’ argument could still apply because of the “jingly jangly” guitar riffs mixed with good old fashioned indie rock riffing, but Jack’s vocals are amazing, and it seems to knit everything together perfectly making the whole record sound fresh and original even if it does take shades from other bands
3. Every single track has the ability to carry it’s own as a single release. There seriously isn’t a weak song, or a filler song on the entire album. Even the closing track ‘The Giantess’ which is a slower, live session recording could hold it’s own.

I could probably go on, if I sat here all day and thought of things, but I think I’m in danger of waffling on too much.
I cannot stress how good a record I think this is, it seems to have captured perfectly the live spirit of the band and produced the most catchy, enjoyable album I’ve heard in a very long time. I hate it when reviewers compare bands to other, more established acts, but there’s shades of Bloc Party, Editors, Interpol perhaps even early Libertines-ish guitar work in here, but instead of churning out the same old Brit-Pop sound, B.B.C. seem to have re-invented it and injected it with a youthful exuberance and made an outstanding debut record in the process.

Favourite Tracks: Lamplight, Dust On The Ground, Cancel On Me, The Hill

I had the pleasure or un-pleasure if that’s even a word of hearing the Joe McAlpine (I know that’s not his name…) uh… cover on Saturday night and it was terrible, purely terrible. Even taking an unbiased view, I thought O.K., this is a pop song and it’s from X Factor lets try to take that into consideration when listening to it. And it was still hideous. Miley Cyrus has a whiny voice anyway but to listen to a teenage lad try and emulate that was painful. Apparently he didn’t choose that song, he was just given it to sing and release. Doesn’t that somehow destroy the whole spirit and ethos of music?! What a joke.

So I’m hardly surprised that Rage winged it. I suppose in part I’m happy coz alot of my friends and Facebook friends are all like “fuck yeah RATM no 1!!” and stuff. So it was a public personal victory… and I out of the 2 songs, it is the better option.
Apparently Simon Cowell is gutted. And everyone is like “aww isn’t it a shame that Joe won X Factor but didn’t get a number one” well uhh, no it isn’t. He or Simon Cowell shouldn’t take the number one for granted like they have been doing. However short of a similar, and probably less successful campaign next year, one of his karaoke proteges will probably be there for 2010.

x

To be fair, this rant is long overdue…

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Dananananaykroyd - Hey Everyone!

Probably one of the most amusing and entertaining live bands to come around for a while, Scottish six piece Dananananaykroyd, who take their name from the actor of the same uh… name, released their debut full length in April on Best Before (records). There’s already been shit loads of reviews, hype, and stuff about this already so to be honest it’s difficult to think of something to say that hasn’t been said already over and over and over and over.

It’s an unrelenting punk rock attack at times evolving into early 90’s grunge, and peppered with sassy hardcore influences drawing comparisons to The Blood Brothers. To be honest, that’s why I got into them, coz I loved The Blood Brothers.
The whole album is so full of fizzy hyperactivitity it’s impossible not to enjoy yourself listening to it, however underneath all of the fun and fucking around there exists a much experienced and intellectual voice pitching this miles and miles away from just another party album by the likes of, oh say, Andrew W.K. Also the rehashing and re-recording of earlier songs like ‘Pink Sabbath’, ‘The Greater than Symbol…’ and ‘1993’ all sound so polished and perfected it’s amazing. I think this was in my car stereo for about 2 weeks…

This record is just awesome, basically.

Favourite Songs: The Greater Than Symbol & The Hash, Totally Bone, One Chance, 1993

Florence & The Machine - Lungs

The hotly anticipated debut from Florence Welch et al was released in 6th July 2009, same week as Bombay Bicycle Club and both of Island Records. The record builds on the anthemic and euphoric sound first debuted on early single releases of ‘Dog Days Are Over’ and ‘Rabbit Heart’, however it is taken to a wholly impressive new level and is at it’s strongest point on tracks such as ‘Howl’ and ‘Cosmic Song’. It’s hard to “pigeon hole” the sound of Florence & The Machine, being somewhere between Soul, Baroque and at times a more expressive kind of Indie Pop… I hate putting things into Genres anyway… You have probably heard the cover of ‘You Got The Love’ which features as the last song on the album, and if you were lucky enough to get the 2 disc limited edition release you were also treated to ‘Bird Song’ which should have taken the place of ‘You Got The Love’ on the album in my opinion, but before ‘Blinding’ so that would be the last song…

Easily one of the best records of the year, peaking at number 2 in the UK Charts (Not that that is important!) and taking ‘Florence Robot Is A Machine’ (Thanks Wiki!) from underground indie cult Heroine to mainstream media Princess.

Favourite Songs: Girl With One Eye, Howl, Hurricane Drunk, Drumming Song

Frank Turner - Poetry Of The Deed

Sometimes when a band or musician release an album almost 18 months after their previous album, it sets alarm bells ringing. Luckily, this is the exception to the rule. Poetry Of The Deed is the first record by Frank recorded with a ‘full band’ written of the strength of an extensive UK, European and American tour, and it is clear by the album’s sound that Frank and has grown from strength to strength, leaving behind the ‘Acoustic Troubadour’ tag he had been associated with and produced a record more akin to a “folk rock” records. The Frank Turner songwriting is still prevalent, especially in ‘Try This At Home’, ‘Sons Of Liberty’ and ‘Journey Of The Magi’ however, it is now reinforced with both the creative input and influence of the rest of his band and it brings a conclusion to the direction that began with ‘Love, Ire & Song’.

Having followed Frank from his humble acoustic beginnings, posthumously from his split with Million Dead (I remember the 4 track bedroom demos!), it’s exciting to see the mainstream culture starting to acknowledge how talented Frank is, with ‘The Road’, first single from the album enjoying extensive radio airplay.

Favourite Songs: Live Fast Die Old, Isabel, Sons Of Liberty, Richard Devine

The Cribs - Ignore The Ignorant

I could never really get into The Cribs, I liked ‘Men’s Needs’ the track, but I gave the album a listen and it just didn’t work for me, I found them a bit awkward and truth be told I just thought they were an average rock band… and I forgot about them. Then I was watching MTV2 and ‘Cheat On Me’ came on, and I couldn’t get over how much of a good song it was. The rest of the album follows in pretty much the same suit, with jangly guitar work courtesy of Johnny Marr (who is know with The Cribs full time for the time being…) and outstanding, catchy sing-a-long lyrics provided by Gary and Ryan Jarman, the whole record is a solid effort and easily one of the most enjoyable and listenable Indie Rock albums to be produced within the last 3 years. Whether it’s the sound of a band who have matured to mainstream culture without (!) forgetting their DIY roots or maybe it’s just because Marr’s catchy guitar work reinforces The Cribs already prevailing sound, it makes for a very entertaining record and a shining example of the British Indie Rock scene.

Favourite Songs: Hari Kari, Nothing, Victim Of Mass Production

johnnyw:

johnnyw:

Ok, so i’ve listened to Brand New - Daisy a handful of times now, and yes I was pretty disappointed with it the first time around.
Now I feel it’s an ok record but it still doesn’t grab me like Deja Entendu or Devil & God did. To borrow a line from Nostalgia Critic; “It’s ok. That’s it, just… O.K.” I still love Gasoline and At The Bottom but the rest of the tracks just sound like filler to me. I suppose Daisy isn’t bad being the title track but i’m not sure. If they called it a day tomorrow I’d be gutted but could understand why. Vince is a fantastic rhythm guitarist and could probably write some great songs but for some reason the chemistry just doesn’t seem to work here.
There i’m done with this one now. Closure. Hahah.

x

motherloader:

I’m so surprised to read someone say this because I think it’s a great piece of art from top to bottom. It’s a coherent and cohesive sonic journey. You might be looking for something you’ll never find if you’re comparing this to their earlier albums because this album can, will, and has to stand on its own two feet. My two cents.

I honestly feel it falls short and sounds shallow, almost unfinished. I’m not so much comparing it to the earlier albums but feel that it pales in significance compared to Devil & God. Whereas Devil & God presented thought-provoking, emotional and at times, europhic sounding music, here I feel like Jessie is saying; “there, here you go, it’s not the best I can do but y’all can live with it, right?” Its almost too laissez faire for it’s own good, like people will like it because it feels so lazy. If this was, say their first record, I’d be like: “Yeah it’s good, but I can tell from listening to it that they havn’t achieved their full potential” and thats how the whole record sounds to me, like it could have been amazing but they’re almost holding back, almost ‘achiveing their full potential’, but not quite. Take for example, and i’m sorry to bring them up again, but mewithoutYou. ‘Catch For Us, the Foxes’ or ‘Brother, Sister’. Both records could easily stand out on their own, even the new record ‘it’s all crazy!…’ You could take any one of those records and listen to it on it’s own but I feel with Daisy, not to take anything away from it, but you listen to it and think, “yeah it’s ok, but if you really want a taste of BrandNew, give Deja or Devil & God a listen…” I don’t know…

But yeah, fair comments and opinions from you and thanks for reblogging me :) Hope I havn’t offended you, i’m not trying to start an arguement or be a cock or anything! Of course, people do feel differently about it when listening to it, but thats the beauty of music, it appeals to everyone differently!

bengilchrist:

That’s a shame! I really love it, I was listening to it on repeat 6 or 7 times a day when I first got it. I don’t think that Be Gone really works but apart from that I think the album is brilliant! I think it flows better than The Devil and God, although maybe that is the slightly better album. The Devil and God was so different to any of their back catalogue that any album after was always going to have a tough time standing up to it. I think this album manages to carry some of the stylistic traits of The Devil… without sounding like a continuation, which is something I really like. It would have been easy to carry on down the same path, especially with the last album being so well received, but this album is much more aggressive. I dunno, I’m just rambling a bit but I think it’s a fantastic album, definitely in my top ten this year. I think my favourite tracks are Bought a Bride, Gasoline, Noro and At The Bottom and I think they’re definitely up there with their best songs. But like you said, each to their own!

Yeah well put Ben, I suppose i’d have been even more disappointed if it was ‘Devil & God 2’. I feel they are trying to sound more like Nirvana, or Mudhoney with this record. I played it again after posting that and I’m starting to get into Noro, like you said. I still don’t know about it though.

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