James Nalton

Enter Shikari – A Flash Flood of Colour Review

Jan 262012
 
Enter Shikari - A Flash Flood of Colour Review

A Flash Flood of Colour opens with what on the face of it seem like some daft lyrics about a house in a field on a side of a cliff, but as the album progresses you realise that there might be more to this opening gambit than meets the ear.  The album tackles several political issues as well as some references to global warming and stuff like that; it would be easy to dismiss this as some kind of gimmick, but it makes for an album which surprises in both its musical and lyrical content. Some of it is unintentionally Read More – Watch Music Video

Tracks of 2011 – With a Video

Jan 052012
 
Tracks of 2011 - With a Video

Below is a list of the tracks that caught the ear in 2011. Below this list is a Youtube video. The video is for the Foo Fighters track “Rope”. Because the Foo Fighters somehow manage to retain the status of some kind of cool cult band even though they’re well beyond cult status. There are undiscovered Amazonian tribes who enjoy recreating the Foo Fighters “Learn To Fly” video during leisure hours. They know who Dave Grohl is. Manic Street Preachers – This Is The Day Spector – Never Fade Away Beady Eye – Millionaire The Heartbreaks – Jealous, Don’t You Read More – Watch Music Video

Spector – Picket Fence of Sound

Nov 132011
 
Spector - Picket Fence of Sound

The ‘generic middle of the road indie’ bandwagon never really goes away, it just drives along in the background waiting for another group of hip middle class looking scenesters to have a go at being the leaders.  All of them wanting to try the driving seat, pretending to be proper rock stars for a while, before letting a genre with more substance effortlessly over take them on the inside.  They then take up a real life job where they can tell their new friends about the rock and roll antics of a previous life, or if they truly were middle Read More – Watch Music Video

Stone Roses Reunion – Heaton Park and Ticket Prices

Oct 202011
 
Stone Roses Reunion - Heaton Park and Ticket Prices

There’s no doubt that when it comes to putting music down on to a record, the Stone Roses are one of the best bands ever. Their song writing craft and arrangement of melody and groove can’t be matched by many bands, and in this respect they even outdid their fellow Mancunians to whom they passed the baton in the mid nineties. And maybe it’s not a coincidence that their re-union comes at a time when there is an Oasis shaped hole in the musicsphere, especially as Beady Eye and Noel Gallagher recently exposed the fact that neither can operate at Read More – Watch Music Video

Noel Gallagher – AKA… What a Life – Music Video

Oct 082011
 
Noel Gallagher - AKA... What a Life - Music Video

Previously known as the song from the Vauxhall advert, we now get to listen to the new Noel Gallagher track without having to put up with seeing those England footballers. This video featuring Russell Brand, was filmed in California, Arizona, and New Mexico, and is sure to generate interest prior to the release of his debut solo album High Flying Birds, which is due out on the 17th of October in the UK, and November 8th in North America. Be warned though – this is more like a short film than a music video – but is well worth hanging Read More – Watch Music Video

Mastodon – Black Tongue

Sep 272011
 
Mastodon - Black Tongue

Mastodon’s new album The Hunter is released this week, which seems like a good excuse to feature as our track of the week, the single released earlier in the year – “Black Tongue”. Apparently this album isn’t a concept album, and the resultant freedom of subject matter is reflected in the music, which seems more flowing than on previous Mastodon albums. Either that or they listened to Blue Record by fellow Georgians, Baroness, and thought that they’d have stab at making an album as good as that. Anyway, this isn’t an album review. Maybe we’ll do one at a later Read More – Watch Music Video

Nirvana – In Bloom – (Nevermind the 20th Anniversary)

Sep 242011
 
Nirvana - In Bloom - (Nevermind the 20th Anniversary)

Everyone’s talking about the 20th anniversary of Nirvana’s Nevermind album, so why can’t we? It was released on 24th September 1991 don’t you know, and for some reason the 20th anniversary is more special than the 19th, so this particular passing of time is being celebrated by everyone because they like nice round numbers on which to celebrate events. We’ve chosen the song which was released as the fourth single from the album, a track entitled “In Bloom”, as our song of the week. Chosen because the video is fairly humorous and seems to fit in with the hype surrounding Read More – Watch Music Video

Track of the Week – Young Knives – Vision in Rags

Sep 132011
 
Track of the Week - Young Knives - Vision in Rags

The Young Knives have been in and out of the fray since their moderately successfully first album proper, Voices of Animals and Men, and a follow up in the shape of 2008′s Superabundance, which was met with mixed reviews and unfortunately most people believed the worst ones. This meant that their third album entitled Ornaments from the Silver Arcade, wasn’t really one of those three years in the making albums that fans are constantly checking the internet music places for updates on.  Which is a shame. This week we look at their excellent new single “Vision in Rags” taken from their aforementioned latest album, and it’s typical dryly humorous promotional Read More – Watch Music Video

Eagulls – Songs Of Prey – Council Flat Blues

Aug 252011
 
Eagulls - Songs Of Prey - Council Flat Blues

The world of the new music seekers doesn’t seem to know what to make of Eagulls.  Which is one of the reasons this review was written: to see if we can find out what they are. They’re a band, based in Leeds.  They seem to consist of guitars, drums, vocals, and presumably they have human beings using these musical tools to produce their sound, which is, erm, not indie or art rock or anything like that….. They create a wall of sound which has seen them compared with, well, another band whose early recordings created a wall of sound (definitely Read More – Watch Music Video

The New Iceage – White Rune

Aug 202011
 
The New Iceage - White Rune

Denmark’s Iceage are a relatively new band who released their debut, New Brigade, earlier this year and since then have gone on to infiltrate the minds of people who didn’t even realise they were missing punk rock and it’s subgenres. Maybe the reason this band have sneaked into the minds of many music fans – pleasing bumbling critics in the process – is because they approach what could be defined as proper punk, and in a world of overproduction even in the messier genres, this sounds somewhat refreshing. They’re not exactly the Ramones, or the Sex Pistols, or Slaughter and Read More – Watch Music Video

-