REVIEW: Editors

Artist: Editors
Album: An End Has A Start
Plattenspieler Rating: 6.5/10

Refreshingly when they first arrived, Editors had something slightly different to offer from the rest of the chilly post-punk sounds so deeply in vogue. While Interpol likely did exactly what these folks were aiming for with even more startling confidence on Antics, Editors managed to mostly eschew the misarablist ice of Joy Division for the warmer climates of The Chameleons and The The. While still obviously in thrall to Ian Curtis in their pitch black record cover and thumping, Hooky basslines, their existed a hope in their songs that lifted them from the dark of post-punk and further towards the elegiac anti-anthems of early-REM, lacking still the lyrical grace maybe but not lacking the tunes.

Their first album The Back Room, while no masterwork, provided superlative singles in 'Munich' and 'Blood' ("Blood runs through your veins/thats where our similarities end") and pointed the way towards a promising future producing Echo-like glacial singles to live on.

An End Has A Start opens in tubthumping manner with 'Smokers Outside The Hosptial Doors', a confident stride through hammering drums (ever present across the record) and stadium-sized choruses. Any trenchcoated chilliness dissapates for heartfelt sympathy and everyday minutae. Whisper it quietly, but this is very close to what Snow Patrol are doing right now on Grey's Anatomy.

It barely lets up in terms of bombastic eighties guitars and giant drums for the next few tracks and its so far, so last album. When Paul Smith utters "Slow down little one/you can't keep running away", you wish he would take his own advice and give you a let up from this relentless Echo guitars and New Order bass onslaught and try something a little more colourful. And he does on 'Put Your Heads Towards The Air' which again strays slightly into Snow Patrol territory again but don't take this badly, its a genuinely good thing. Editors have a graceful touch, able to retain the smaller emotions even in these huge, built-for-domination tracks. Against that, they sound so much like Interpol here that plagarism is a genuine concern. But then, Editors have never been anything but the sum of their influences.

The most interesting moment of the record comes at its close, the piano-led 'Well Worn Hand' which reveals an open emotion which remains hidden for much of the record. For all the emotive sweep the songs take on, real heart is lacking and it holds back Editors from moving on into that new stratosphere of band. Indeed, just as Interpol streamlined their artier tendencies for Antics, Editors have embraced the anthemists inside and have made an album built for indie consumption in large arenas. Its a simultaneous step forward and back, losing some of the intimacy but gaining a huge audience. Good luck to them, Q Magazine will love it.

REVIEW: Voxtrot

Artist: Voxtrot
Album: Voxtrot
Plattenspieler Rating: 6.5/10

Having rode an astonishing wave of praise after two excellent EPs last year, the hype behind these Texans anglophiles has calmed a little and the vicious blogger backlash begun. Their 'Mothers, Sisters, Daughters and Wives' was one of last years best singles, jabbed melodic guitars and fuzzy, Smiths-ish choruses burrowed into me and I was utterly enamoured. My personal backlashing moment came seeing them support The Shins over here and giving a just horrible performance (partly due to sound) that left me disappointed and redfaced with friends I'd recommended the band too.

When hype like this builds, taking a band on their own terms becomes difficult (a la Arctic Monkeys) but once the dust has settled and the talk silenced, Voxtrot have made a pretty good debut album. This was never to be a band to change you life, even their best work was utterly in thrall to melodic guitar chiming of the past from The Smiths to Wedding Present with a dose of Belle and Sebastian thrown in. The eloquence of those acts comes through at time with 'Kid Gloves' and the lovely, string drenched 'Introduction' opening the album in style. 'Ghost' never seems to deliver the promise while 'Firecracker' and 'Brother In Conflict' both fail on the count that they can't quite rock out the way the songs need them too. Great lines abound though throughout. "I never had guts, I'm a Velvet Touch" is particularly Morrissey-esque from 'Brother In Conflict' and singer Ramesh Srivastava does have a great turn of phrase. Elsewhere, 'Stephen' is a quirky, twee gem while 'Real Life Version' sound a little piano-rock but retains its appealing humanity.

Its no masterpiece but this is serviceable, enjoyable music and deserves attention, if not quite as much as it may well get.

REVIEW: Modest Mouse

Artist: Modest Mouse
Album: We Were All Dead Before The Ship Even Sank
Plattenspieler Rating: 9.1/10

In a right and just musical World, Modest Mouse's 'Float On' would have been a Timberlake sized pop hit. All stomping chorus and uplifting angularity, it broke Isaac Brock and his band of indie godheads into the mainstream, so much so that this follow up to Good News For People Who Love Bad News went straight in at No. 1 on the US charts. Its a strange turn of events for a band whose career to that point was strewn with difficult, often beautiful music and crushing personal problems. All of a sudden, this is the biggest little band in the World and now they need an album to deliver on the promise so many have bought in to.

Leaked prior to release, the blogs were polarized in opinion of whether this album constituted a selling out, a loss of the occasional dissonant forays into art rock epicism that characterised their excellent albums previously or if this was the step forward into a fuller, even mature sound. Happily, while first listens may not quite capture the breathtaking scope of Brock's new confidence, the record reveals itself to be their finest work yet over time.

The addition to the band of Johnny Marr (Smiths jangling genius) has made a huge difference in the band's ability to flesh songs out fully, preventing the occasional lapses in quality control that peppered Good News.... 'Dashboard' is as catchily spiky as 'The View' but manages to sustain itself throughout with trumpets decorating the jabbed guitars. 'Spitting Venom' is an epic work of genius that may well be their 'Stairway' but the finest moments come in Brock's ability to use that voice in such differing phrasing patterns, creating multiple emotions often within the space of one line. While not quite at the level of versatility, comparisons could be made to Mike Patton's polypolar vocals but Brock manages to find the emotional spaces Patton never quite attains. 'Parting of the Sensory', 'Florida' and 'Missed The Boat can be filed next to their other masterwork songs and while the restless energy remains intact, this is now a band working on a whole different level.

What We're Diggin' on the Box

So this will be a weekly/fortnightly feature on all the new, old and somewhere inbetween shows that we are taking in at any given time. It aims mostly to just give you all rundown of what's out there at the moment and maybe get you all watching something new every now and again.

Heroes: What an arc Heroes has taken. It begins with the season's most blistering and intruiging pilot, blowing off the collective socks of our household and giving us reason to tune in for the season. It then slogs through 19 serviceable episodes of television, never rising above being just entertaining before, low and behold, episode 21 hits. The episode set 5 years in the future, it left us giggling messes of adoration for a show we nearly dumped not too long ago. The characters have got interesting again, especially the morally shaky Nathan Petrelli (can fly) and his uber-powerful brother Peter (can absorb other powers). It all building to a climax which better not ape Watchmen but will be hugely entertaining. Its ended up saving itself and at least going someway to justifying the hype.

The Sopranos: This took a sinister turn this week with Christopher finally coming back into focus and causing havoc while off the wagon. Michael Imperioli may never get away from his fantastic character in this but what a role to live on. Still though, James Gandolfini astonishing performance rules the roost and the seething tension building between him and basically everyone else is starting to come to a head with only 5 episodes to go. As it builds and builds, this could well end in a bloodbath but however it ends, it seems likely this will become the first show I've ever experienced to have never, never made a bad episode. Peerless.

The Colbert Report: Not on over in the U.K so I've only just got into this but I'm loving every moment. Stephen Colbert can start to place himself alongside Jon Stewart as the comic voice of political reason in America.

Life On Mars: About to get an American pilot made, this fabulous British series ended on a daft but wholly satisfying note a couple of weeks ago. It lived and died on its concept but the performances were good enought to justify its existence throughout. While John Simm does his best ever work, he's blown off the screen by Phillip Glenister as the Sweeney-in-one DCI Gene Hunt whose outbursts grow funnier and ever more un-PC by the episode. One for all those with prejudice against British shows to sit down and watch and then wipe the egg off their faces.

The Office: The climax next week promises much heartache and loveliness but more than anything else, despite the Jim/Pam storyline, this is just hands down the funniest show on television. When you have a cast of over 10, all of whom get regular laughs, you are doing something right and still, Steve Carell outshines them all. The man is the unimpeachable King of Pathos Comedy. All hail The Office!

Battlestar Galactica Season 1: I've begun my journey into the World of Battlestar and while I wasn't left a jittering mess on the floor by its brilliance, I did very much enjoy the sheer gaul of Ron Moore's writing, packing more into the first three episodes than most do across a whole season. Given this precedent he sets, the rest of the season's storylines can seem drawn out by comparison but the finale manages to be both heartbreaking, shocking and exciting all in the space of around 5 minutes while the infamous '33', episode 1, is one of the most relentlessly breathless pieces of television this side of 24. Season 2 apparently promises more but this will all be reported on soon enough.

Shows coming up in the rotation: Carnivale, Boomtown, Battlestar Season 2/3, 30 Rock, The Riches and more...

REVIEW: Patti Smith

Patti Smith - Twelve
Rating: 6.7/10

The High Priestess of Art Punk, arguably the creator of the Greatest Single Album achievement of the entire CBGB era. Patti Smith was, is and may well forever remain untouchably cool. Never has she streamlined that intense talent into anything resembling a pop record, nothing ever to compromise her original Rimbaud-quoting high art masterpieces. Now, past 30 years in the business, she has come as close as she ever has to making a true pop record, one filled with torch ballads and, yes, singing of the highest order.

Likely the stumbling block for many Smith fans will be the straightness of this covers set on which she tackles a host of warhorse songs from Dylan, Hendrix, The Stones and, most infamously already, Tears for Fears' 'Everybody Wants To Rule The World'. The latter is likely the weakest track here, an unexpectedly reverential treatment losing nothing of the original's fey attempt at political satire. A couple of others, 'Pastime Paradise' and 'Helpless' get by on the strength of the originals rather than Smith's own visceral imagination. 'Gimme Shelter' fairs better, partly due its status with the Rock canon and the reverence given to it. It is one of the greatest songs of all time yet Smith tackles it head on, ripping its machismo out to replace with future fear and pathos. Better even is Kurt Cobain's soul-warcry 'Smells Like Teen Spirit', reduced to its base elements and sung with a strength of voice missing elsewhere.

Its not her weakest album but it feels like a missed opportunity for Smith to blow away the competition with a matchless songbook and braver, more expermental lilt to her aims. As a reverential set paying tribute however, it stands strong and it worth investigation for those wonderful moments when Smith realises she has nothing to fear from these songs.

Patti Smith on Amazon.co.uk - 'Land' currently at £3.97 which is a ridiculous bargain.
Patti Smith on Amazon.com

Apologies and New Stuff Coming

Hello. I say this anxiously, sheepishly due to my astonishing lack of ability to keep up this whole blogging game. Its been six weeks since my last post and for this, I truly apologise.

Its just laziness I suppose, I have no excuse. It has been a busy last month or so with many gigs, much drinking of the unhealthy kind and turbulence at work so I suppose it hasn't been too easy to keep up but still, my fault entirely.

This is really just an apology letter so I won't keep it up for too much longer. What I will do is discuss what will be coming up on here very soon for all of you. First up, Music will be returning to the forefront after being pushed back far too much by film and television posts. Nothing wrong with these, and they will keep on coming, but Music will return. So below is everything planned at the moment for the blog.

Music: Album reviews of Bjork, Battles, Patti Smith, Rufus Wainwright, Wilco, The National, Feist, Blonde Redhead, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Rosie Thomas, Elliott Smith, The Twilight Sad, Modest Mouse and Kings of Leon. Also, there will be re-reviews of Grinderman, The Hold Steady (back catalogue too) and a few retrospective reviews of Built To Spill, The White Stripes and Eels. Also, Live Reviews of Cat Power, Deerhoof, Patti Smith and Modest Mouse.

Film: Reviews of Grindhouse, Spiderman 3, Zodiac, Lives of Others, Deliver Us From Evil, Old Joy, Andrew Bujalski's Funny Ha Ha and Mutual Appreciation, Disturbia and Bridge of Teribithia. Also articles on Sex and Violence in Films, How Utterly Execrable Eli Roth Really Is and Director Profiles including David Lynch, Terry Gilliam and Sam Raimi.

Books: Continuation of the 104 Challenge (which has slipped a bit but will come back kicking very soon).

Television: A comphrehensive rundown of all the new pilots and their pitches and a special look at the offering from HBO and Showtime. The End of the Sopranos and My Journey into the World of Battlestar Galactica.

So see you all soon, I hope.