I Fight Dragons - Cool Is Just A Number

Today I’m going to review a unique style of band. The name is I Fight Dragons and these people are huge video game nerds. Now I know you’re interested. They use the ordinary instruments that you’d expect in a band: drums, bass, guitar etc but most of their sounds comes from hacked video game controllers. I know right?

These modded controllers range from NES, SNES, Powergloves and Guitar Hero controllers with each button making a different noise when sent through a program. But on to the EP that I’m supposed to be reviewing. Cool Is Just A Number was the first EP to be recorded by the Chicago band. The intro being a nice sentiment to an old game. We here a game cartridge being placed in a console and the chiptune opening screen of a game. The album then goes to it’s first song, The Faster The Treadmill, a song about having a dream or a goal set and then being told that it’s unachievable. A feeling I’m sure that we all feel. The lead singer, Brian Mazzaferri, has an incredibly soothing voice and it gives the band a very relaxing feel. Very easy listening. If you listen you can hear that the music behind the vocals are exactly the same as your old school game consoles.

The following song Money feels slightly darker. Talking about how money is what’s important and that it will never disappoint you. Incorporating the old saying that money makes the world go round. With each button on a controller making a unique noise, then it becomes an instrument in itself. The controllers actually make up a lot of the main melody. And it’s not immediately obvious that it’s a games controller making the melody. The sounds of the controllers blend in perfectly with the original instruments perfectly. Who would have thought, eh?

A short intro of chiptune then played alongside the main instruments is another way of showing how well these two worlds work together. A lot of people make up this band, so there’s certainly a lot going on in each song. But the layers and layers of instruments all working together is outstanding. I really can’t say much more than I have already. If I do continue to repeat myself, it’s for emphasis. 

I think that if you are interested in I Fight Dragons then you should certainly check out their website. http://www.ifightdragons.com/

They were recently signed by Photo Finish Records (Atlantic Records) and have been opening for some popular acts such as 3OH!3, Cobra Starship, and Travis McCoy  

Aphex Twin - New music!

Richard James recently blessed Europe with some new sets, and as a result some new music of his has been recorded by some (lovely) gentleman. I guarantee a listen will not be a disappointment.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nAqf2xMP5k& 1/6
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnVRp6SXSk4 2/6
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ivfcn_Zz8lU 3/6
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6Hota-tQ6M  4/6
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9PwOdUvS6g  5/6
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xx8E6R_x1Q 6/6

It sounds like he’s gone back to his Window Licker stage, which, honestly, isn’t a bad thing. 

Weezer - Pinkerton

Pinkerton, Weezer’s love, loss and confusion solidified in a near perfect album. When I first came by this album it was lying in my ‘to listen’ pile for a couple of weeks, after exploring sludge and drone metal, I decided to rock the more indie side of music. Honestly, I can say this has cheered up several times over, it’s melodies lifting me to the peak of musical ecstacy an the lyics plummiting me down back in toe depressing nirvana that it always does. Not to ssay that thel yrics are nexeceraly saddening, it all depends on how you listen to the album.

A few of the album’s hilights such as ‘Tired Of Sex’, th opening track, describes a young man’s struggle to push the bounary between plain sex and making love, in a very screamed sense. My personal favourite on the labum is ‘Pink Trinagle’ , depicting amn average guy falling in live wih an average girl, although describing his emotions and his advances in the first verse, the chorus plummets his hopes and smashes them on the floor.

To give a sense of the overall effect of the album, as with few albums, is to admire the album cover. The cover is a rendition of a classical picture, in the same way that I view this album as a rendition of a classical view of music, whilst being the tortured by the screams and pains of a seemingly teenage angst.

As I said, the album was near perfect, sadly, with most amazing albums, this follows th trend of “I’ve heard this recently”, althought the songs are catchy, you alsmot feel you’re cheting yourself by listening to it sooner rather than later.

Oddly enough, this has often been placed in to the genre of ‘emo’, so, in my eyes this would be the first listenable emo album, which is pretty cool.

Although it may sound corney, I have heard few a bad word sai d about this album, and everyone I know who has enjoyed it has got a seperate story to say about it„ it helped my friend with a breakup, it turned my frined from metal towards a more light genre, whereas it basically bitch-slapped me in to diverting my attention from movies to music.

Easily a 9.5 out of 10, the point 5 dropping out due to it being disappointing short, and limited constant re-listenable value.

9.5/10

Pink Triangle

Recommend us on Tumblr Tuesday!

These Streets - Paolo Nutini

So today marks the first album review that the Scottish kid will write, so why not start off with some Scottish material? This is Paolo Nutini’s debut album entitled These Streets and must I say, a very well put together piece of musical art. Nutini’s song writing incorporates a nice acoustic feel with his tales of romance, loss, happiness and longing.

The opening track Jenny Don’t Be Hasty is a track written by Paolo about how he misses a girl he once had. She left him when she realised he was only 18 at the time. The song’s lyrics fit together very well while still able to describe the ordeal, the simplicity of the song’s power chord/barr chord combination makes the song the catchy tune it is and can’t help but entrance you in his singing.

Following this there are two fantastic songs, Last Request and Rewind. One talking about his last request in a relationship (giggity) and one talking about how he wishes he could write his wrongs by rewinding time. But he doesn’t just state this in his songs. His songs are poetry within themselves, the meanings of them aren’t spelled out for you. Don’t get me wrong, they’re not hard to decipher either.

Half way into the album we hear the song sharing the name of the album, These Streets. This song follows a simple chord progression and an angelic voice, simply describing of his change from living in a small town to a big city. The scenes he describes in his verses, simply put me in a good mood. His carefree attitude is one that I envy, walking through strange streets but looking on the bright side and continuing is something I was could understand. I like being in new places, and I guess me and Nutini share that.

Now, here comes his cheeriest song, possibly his most well known song from this album too. When I started listening to Paolo last year I didn’t realise that he performed this song, I don’t know if he wrote it, I’ll assume he did because he does write his own material with this album. This song is written about the simple feeling you get when you buy some new shoes. Yes, it is New Shoes. I’ve felt this, when you buy some shoes that really like, you can’t help but look at the ground as you walk with a smile on your face. The song starts with him waking up to another boring day, finding some old and tattered shoes, deciding to wear new ones and the day turning out to be pretty good. Damn, Paolo. You and your happy song writing.

To sum up this album, I know it’s not done yet but I’ve covered the most interesting songs, it is a good listen, some of the songs have you singing along and others allow you to relax and enjoy some easy listening. I do recommend this album to those of you that are unsure about Paolo Nutini. His new album Sunny Side Up is completely different from this album. This album is about song-writing, tales of romance, cheery choruses. His new album is about the charts and let’s face it, the majority of people who claim to be Paolo fans now hardly know about his first album which I think is an utter shame. Oh, just incase you’ve heard his new album and have already decided you don’t want to listen to this one. I just want to say… he doesn’t do the stupid old man accent that he does in songs like Candy etc.

7/10 

New Deerhunter tracks

Deerhunter have recently been featured on BBC Radio 6 and have recorded 2 tracks especially for the show - ‘Helicopters’, which is a regular in live performances and ‘Who makes the nazis’

Both available to download :

Helicopter

Who makes the nazis?

Fang Island - Fang Island

Fang Island. A band difficult to place in terms of genre. Their slef-proclaimed ‘Everyone high fiving everyone” makes for a laughable genre name on first sighting, although after a decent listen to the album it’s hard to think of a better category. It sounds like a mix between the melodic rhythms of ‘Animal Collective’, spiced with the erratic drumming from ‘And So I watch You From Afar’. To put it simply, one long look at that album cover is enough information you need to heavily divulge in the band.

Released on the 21st of February this year (the day before my brithday, I may add) this has become my personal soundtrack for the spring, and it’s almost as shame for Spring to progress in to the Summer as I will have to find a new ‘Summer Anthem’. 

The first track we are greeted with doesn’t follow the genre of most “contemporary” albums, where the band is eager to show of their capabilities, the simplistic ‘dreams of dreams’ consists of vocals, and old organ and fireworks, but this is mearly an intro, a warm up act for the real deal, ‘careful crosses’ amazes me still, 2 months later, with it’s mix of rolling drums and synth-sounding guitars, the combination makes me want to high-five someone, so the genre is complete. This early in to the album you get a feeling for the feel-good, exciting and adventurous album you are about to experience, because that’s what this album is about, an experience. I want to make some analogy to this and Sigur Ros’s style of music, Sigur Ros paints a slow and melodic picture with their music, thrusting you in to the landscape that is Icelandic Post-rock, but Fang Island follows a similar concept, but instead of the gradual painting of the scenery, they boast a paint-being-thrown-at-the-canvas style, rather than the delicate artwork of the Icelandics, it’s more of a post-modern approach to the same effect. 

After the bizarre and confusing affair that was ‘Careful Crosses’ we come to the headline, in my opinion, of the album, ‘Daisy’, it begins with a layering of vocals that The Beatles would envy, and then the drums approach with a similarity of Battles, only to be massacred by the Guitar showcasing its immense ability, and then the song kicks in. This song is literally too good for words, instead of me spelling out the vastness of their genre-kicking ass, I will post a video at the bottom, so you can decide for yourself. If this song were a painting it would beStarry Night the deep swirling of the sky complimented by the bright bursts of light, and below the un-suspecting city.

Not only does this album impress me in the depth of pure talent, it amazes me in the forwardness of their genre, it’s hard to recognise Fang Island without boasting of its breakthrough in the odd Math-Rock/Psychedelic/Post-Rock combination that seems to work oh so well.

The entire album is a mix of delightful vocal layering combined with an impressive mix of the guitar and the spontaneous over-flow sound of the drums complimenting each other and sending themselves higher and higher in to my favourites. 

9/10 - Possible Album Of The Year.

Daisy

Eric Clapton - Unplugged

With unplugged albums being a new concept, MTV seized on the opportunity
to endorse and profit off a non-bootlegged version of live recordings. With only
Paul McCartney (Unreleased) and Elvis to follow an unplugged format, Clapton
took centre stage and rushed the genre with Unplugged. 

We are greeted with Signe, the cheers and whistles amplify the feeling of 
virginity with the genre, and a relatively free form song flowing from Clapton’s
guitar with only a simple drum beat. The song almost feels as if it’s a overture
from classical albums, (starting with some simple chords from Tears In Heaven
as a teaser) designed to impress and inform the audience of the conductor’s
capability, and, boy, does it. 

After Clapton is done showing off his guitar skills, we move on to a more
recognisable style, a Slowhand classic, Before You Accuse Me, this is the first
we hear of his voice and it’s a warm and soothing voice he flexes, very similar
to early Dylan.

With the 3rd track, Hey Hey, we hear the first of Andy Fairweather, accompanying Clapton
with his own lax guitar, adding several layers of chord depth making
Clapton’s vocals stand out even further, although simple lyrical style
it is a definite classic, even if this was your first Clapton track, you
would begin to feel the power of Slowhand’s magic.

After Hey Hey, we are greeted with a more melancholic sound of
Tears In Heaven, a deep vocally intense and moving song, the history
of which follows his son’s death and Clapton confused whether they
had spent enough time together on Earth

for them to be re-united in Heaven. This is the classic track from Clapton
and by far his most famous work, his voice transforms from the happy and 
warm we had seen before to the slick and saddening tone that blues singers
would carry after a severe incident.

Tears In Heaven marks a significant change in the album, a valta between the folk acoustic we had heard before to a more blusey and depressing feel, although equally as captivating a moving. Lonely Stranger and Nobody introduce a tinney piano sound from Chuck Leavell, giving the songs a well needed backing sound, although Clapton can pull off solo work, it does begin to drag.

Clapton was the first to break the MTV format with Layla, as most artists had followed a pattern of un-released work and B-Sides, but Clapton brings in his 
most famous work, Layla, showing off both his voice and his guitar, with obvious whooping and hollaring from the crowd which had been previously silenced until 
the end of tracks.

Despite Clapton’s singularity with his singing and guitar styling, the album makes for very easy listening, with heavy lyrics and both folk and blues guitar securing, in my mind, and I’m sure many others, Clapton as one of the many guitar legends, but one of the few who could perform as well live as he could in a cushy studio.

8.5/10