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UKMusic.com Ltd
Copyright © 2007
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Reviews written by Lucy Busuttil
Try St John\'s Wort instead, Thursday, 06 March 2008
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Overall rating
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2.2 |
| Originality
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3.0 |
| Lyrics
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2.0 |
| Memorability
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2.0 |
| Melody
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2.0 |
| Production Quality |
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2.0 |
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Kooky... it's a word that either makes you happy or breaks you out in hot sweats. In the style of Bright Eyes and Mazzy Star, this music makes lonely undergraduates feel like they have found a similarly weedy kindred spirit: but it makes the rugby team feel like downing another snakebite and finding someone to beat up.
You can guess what they look like. He wears a nasty jacket that doesn't scrape his wrists and plastic beads on ratty string. She has a massive fringe and a gormless, far away stare. They both have the vegan pallor of a cadaver.
Set your metronome to dirge, close all the curtains and prepare yourself for music to die to. Tedious organs, bells, a retard on a wood block and drums so bad they make Meg White look like Beethoven crawl along incoherently, never leaving first gear. This band doesn't need to moan about their feelings: they need fresh air, sunlight and red meat.
Death Set make me deaf, Thursday, 06 March 2008
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Overall rating
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2.6 |
| Originality
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4.0 |
| Lyrics
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1.0 |
| Memorability
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2.0 |
| Melody
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2.0 |
| Production Quality |
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4.0 |
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If you're one of those people who wear a hat with a gold sticker on it that you haven't peeled off yet, this is probably your thing. If you don't know why those people leave the stickers on their hats, you probable won't understand the 'mother-fucking Death Set.' In the tradition of Enter Shikari and Hadouken, this is techno inspired fit-music for pubescent boys. Anyone who's had sex isn't going to get it.
What you get is high quality: clever samples and quality production make this better than most, and cute keyboard doodlings make it almost paletteable. But your Mum and Dad are right- this isn't music, this is noise, and this isn't singing, this is shouting.
Gorillaz D-sides make Z-list, Tuesday, 15 January 2008
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Overall rating
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1.4 |
| Originality
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1.0 |
| Lyrics
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1.0 |
| Memorability
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1.0 |
| Melody
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3.0 |
| Production Quality |
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1.0 |
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As the press release enthuses, this is a chance for ardent fans to hear the artist at work: not to hear completed masterpieces. Each song has only one idea: even ‘We are happy landfill’, which opens to an engaging riff, soon peters out into soulless pre- recorded technology. The subjects are as niche as this album’s target market: ‘Stop the dams’, a collaboration with the Sugarcubes’ Einar Orn, protests dam building in Einar’s native Iceland. The Mandarin version of ‘Dirty Harry’, shows what the band might sing like were they born in China: a question I doubt has kept more than five people awake at night.
Let youir hair down and dance, Thursday, 06 March 2008
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Overall rating
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4.0 |
| Originality
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5.0 |
| Lyrics
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5.0 |
| Memorability
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4.0 |
| Melody
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3.0 |
| Production Quality |
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3.0 |
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So you're at the Reading festival and you're eating a horrible tub of expensive noodles. It's mid afternoon and you're sunburnt. You wish you hadn't drunk that martini and orange squash combo you had last night in a plastic bottle. What do you do now?
If you're lucky, you go and watch Hayseed Dixie. This country/rock band first claimed fame with their covers of AC/DC (get it?) Their entertaining lyrics are surprisingly intelligent (one song is jokingly dedicated to Camus), the musicianship is inventive and the melodies are sing-along joyous.
This album features comedy songs sung from the perspective of the slacker hick male. 'You got me all wrong baby' assures a girlfriend that, despite her hopes that he's sensitive deep down, he actually is that shallow. 'Donkeys in Morocco' saracastically entreaties donors to look after 'cats with their skin torn off.' 'Born to die in France' bemoans the hick situation of having the 'taxman's hands deep down my pants.'
Like all comedy albums, you're going to tire of the joke after a couple of plays. But for one lazy afternoon, this band will make you smile. They are the perfect antidote to the stereotype that all Americans are humourless, Bush supporting, narrow-minded workaholics. They also prove that country music doesn't have to be serious.
Sound and self satisfaction, Friday, 07 March 2008
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Overall rating
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1.8 |
| Originality
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1.0 |
| Lyrics
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1.0 |
| Memorability
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1.0 |
| Melody
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3.0 |
| Production Quality |
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3.0 |
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Rock'n'nroll! was done so well- and so extensively- in the 70s and 80s that, in this post-grunge era, to do it again seems unnecessary. Sound and Fury have tried though.
Lyrics don't veer from established rawk stereotypes. '18' bemoans '(I'm) 18... and I've had enough'. Naturally anyone older would think he's quitting too soon. 'Bad Touch' explains how popular our man is with the ladies. Apparently, he has 'the bad touch... that feels so right', repeating ground Gina G already covered when she sang 'if it feels so right, how can it be wrong?' He claims he's going to 'make me crawl on my hands and knees'... and I'd really rather not.
'School's out' explains itself, a topic already covered by a more famous band. And 'Teenage Rampage' describes how much their fan loves rocking out- a truth you would hope to be self evident, which makes you wonder why they're boasting about it.
It's done well- it's just been done before. The production quality is good, the melodies well put together. But the singer's wailing and moaning is totally uninspired, and the guitar merchant bankery is just polyfilla. Save your money for the Led Zepellin tour, and see how this was done the first time round. << Start < Prev 1 Next > End >> Results 1 - 5 of 5 |
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