Another Barrel O' Monkeys: Favourite Worst Nightmare review.

Whoever says the carefully crafted album is dead wears the doomsayer sign too early. The new Arctic Monkeys CD plays like a concert - the opening is strong and quick to get into the action (which is good as it is also their lead-off single, "Brianstorm"). The songs transition into each other smoothly but still have enough of a distinct flavor for you to know where you are. There is the chunk of softer fare that begins with the smooth jazz club feel at the end of "Balaclava," snakes through "Fluorescent Adolescent" (one of the two best songs on the CD), into the softest point "Only Ones Who Know," and starts to pick up in "Do Me A Favour". The penultimate song ("Old Yellow Bricks" - my personal favorite) feels like it could be a barnburner when done right, and "505" is a comfortable end.

The music is exactly what Arctic Monkeys started on "Whatever People Say...," only with some fine tuning, a little harder here, a little softer there. Whereas "Whatever" was mid-fast-tempo almost the entire way through, this album is slightly more polarized. The sound can be described as having the pop sensibility of early Beatles, the stomp of the Ramones, and the sardonic bite and wit of modern British lyrics. You'll find yourself bobbing along to even the least catchy of songs. And in plenty of places the music is deceptively complex; this isn't just your three-chord fare though it may sound as much at first listen.

I'd say if you're looking to bounce, or you liked "Whatever People Say...," this is something to pick up. You won't be blown away by most of it, but you'll certainly be bouncing about.

Final Score: 85.

Transatlantic Tidal Wave: The British Music Scene With A Vengeance

2007 is a very exciting year for fans of the British sound. And we're not even halfway there yet.

This year, Britpop fans were treated to new rising stars - and I don't use the term loosely - The Feeling and The Fratellis, among other emerging sounds. These names have already made it for themselves: The Feeling was set to tour with Of A Revolution until a hospitalization got in the way, while the Fratellis were the new poster boys for iTunes.

If that's not enough (and when is it ever?), new favorites and Britpop standbys flooded the stores. New heroes Bloc Party, Kaiser Chiefs, and Arctic Monkeys each provided their sophomore sets, lead-off singles not disappointing fans or critics. Rising band Maximo Park added to the mix in April with "Our Earthly Pressures". Seminal acts Manic Street Preachers and Travis each break long silences (3 and 4 years, respectively) to release new material, both released within the past two weeks. (Look for a review of Travis' "The Boy With No Name" soon.) Old school Britpop band Super Furry Animals dropped an album early on this year. Stereophonics are planning a new album, "Pull The Pin," for release later this year. Radiohead, South, and Franz Ferdinand are also shooting for 2007 releases.

Even current Britpop posterboys Snow Patrol made it big this year, landing the lead-off single for the Spiderman 3 soundtrack, "Signal Fire".

But wait! There's more. Starsailor are in the studio, with 18 skeletons of songs vying for tracklisting and more to come. The Charlatans are currently working on their 10th album, and Oasis is popping into the studio halfway through the year with recent drummer Zak Starkey (yes, Ringo's son). Embrace is currently hammering together a new album. Even Blur - yes, you heard me right - is trying to piece together a new album. They're not sure it'll work, but at least they can admit that. Unlike some bands (lookin' at you, Guns 'N Roses).

This was a lot of information. To recap:
In 2007,
Released
Arctic Monkeys - "Favourite Worst Nightmare"
Bloc Party - "A Weekend In The City"
The Feeling - "12 Stops And Home" (American release 2007)
The Fratellis - "Costello Music" (American release 2007)
Kaiser Chiefs - "Yours Truly, Angry Mob"
Manic Street Preachers - "Send Away The Tigers"
Maximo Park - "Our Earthly Pleasures"
Snow Patrol - "Signal Fire" (single)
Super Furry Animals - "Candylion"
Travis - "A Boy With No Name"

Going to be Released
Franz Ferdinand - TBA (2007/2008)
Radiohead - TBA
South - TBA
Stereophonics - "Pull The Pin"

In The Studio
Blur
The Charlatans
Embrace
Oasis
Starsailor

I'll let you feast on that for now. StayTuned for more!

Favoring Familiar Silhouettes To New Voice: American Doll Posse review

Three years following one of Tori's more personal albums ("The Beekeper"), Tori returned with a new album promising five different voices. "American Doll Posse," released May 1, was set to be a pentacle of perspective - a feat for any artist.

As an album devoid of concept, "Posse" comes through as something to add to your Tori collection. It features her in the different styles we know she can nail - whether it be the dirty funk of "Body and Soul," the jazzy "You Can Bring Your Dog" and "Teenage Hustling," the melancholy "Girl Disappearing" and "Digital Ghost," the uptempo but subtly sad "Beauty Of Speed," the angry feminism of "Dragon," or what can only be described as Vintage Tori on "Almost Rosey". There are a few clunkers - such as the well-aimed but misfired "Programmable Soda" or the blunt "Fat Slut" - but the rest of the album ranges from decent to great, and keeps the lyrical balance between wit and honesty befitting a Tori album. As a bonus, the album opens with an obvious shot at Bush ("Yo George") which is a good song on its own.

However, this was meant to be a concept album. Looking through the booklet prior to listening, I was impressed with the amount of detail that seemed to go into the concept. The songs were demarcated by personality - each personality getting vocal and background credits for the separate songs (for example, the dark story song "Smoky Joe" is credited not to Tori but to Pip - in fact, two parts of Pip). Each personality also has its own rumination on life and their pages come rife with Tori puns. "Smoky Joe," however, is a good example of where the concept falls flat. The song starts with two separate inflections for the two Pips, but Pip II starts sounding like Pip I - that is, if the way it's set up in the book is correct. This may seem a small gripe but leads to the greater problem. The voices for the album are not defined. There are small references to possible characters in the songs, but the characteristics start to blend from one of the posse to the next. Rather than getting five clear voices, it sounds more like five different sides of Tori struggling to come to the surface. If there were a comparison, I would say it's like your taste buds. We supposedly have separate areas for sweet, salty, etc, but put a salty food on the sweet area and it still tastes salty.

If you're looking for an innovative album, or a concept album, or even an album with any cohesion, this is not a place to turn. If you're looking for some new Tori songs to put on your iPod, there are enough good songs here to merit actually buying the CD.

Final Score: 84.

Five For Fighting: Tori's Posse Is Coming May 1st

Go GrrlPower Rangers!

You gotta hand it to Tori. Only she could turn an album of covers into a dark musical Vagina Monologues ("Strange Little Girls," 2001). Only she could turn a cross-country trek of one woman into a chart-placing album ("Scarlet's Walk," 2002, which climbed to #7 in the US). And now the sensuous-but-sassy (though slightly sensitive) storyteller returns on May 1, with "American Doll Posse," an album chronicling not one but five different personalities - reportedly named Santa, Clyde, Isabel, Tori, and Pip, according to the Wikipedia.org article - pictured above. The first single is a rollicking country-tinged song, "Big Wheel" (formerly called "I'm a M.I.L.F.") which you can hear streaming on Tori's official site.

For most sane musicians, this kind of task - create five distinct personalities and give each of them a life in the process of a single CD - may prove daunting. But it's just another day in the life for Tori. And Pip. And Clyde. And Scarlet. And...

Dandelion Blow

Sometimes, it's easy to overlook an artist when they don't make a press release about a new album. This is unfortunate, as many amazing songs by artists have been soundtrack-only releases. Do you know "Neither Of Us Can See" by Incubus? How about "A320" by Foo Fighters? The first one is off Stealth and the second Godzilla. Tori Amos released "Carnival" specifically on the Mission: Impossible 2 soundtrack. Ask any Tori fan about this song, and many will shrug their shoulders.

Franz Ferdinand is joining these ranks with new song "Dandelion Blow," to be soundtracked on upcoming British movie Hallam Foe. Says Alex Kapranos on Franz Ferdinand's official MySpace page:

I've put a new song on this page. We wrote it a couple of months ago as a theme for a Scottish film called Hallam Foe, directed by David Mackenzie who directed Young Adam and Asylum. The title character is played by Jamie Bell who was the lead in Billy Elliot.

Sexual tension, voyeurism, dark humour, Scotland and death are themes of the film - all of which seem good ingredients for a song by the Ferdinand. Nick and I read the script and went to screenings of early edits in the Glasgow Film Theatre which gave us the ideas for the melody and lyrics. Other Domino artists appear on the soundtrack including Psapp, Unpoc and Sons & Daughters.

The film will be realeased some time this year and will be appearing at the Berlin Film Festival. There's a blog that has been kept by Colin Monie here http://www.getyourpeople.com/ if you want to read more.

Alex

The track is a departure from Franz's typical dance-rock sound and is more along the lines of their tracks such as "Eleanor Put Your Boots On". You can preview the new track on Franz Ferdinand's Official MySpace page.

And Maybe Tomorrow, I'll Find My Way Home.

According to an article on RollingStone.com, Nine Inch Nails are possibly coming out with a new album. While this writer doesn't like to go off "possibly" (Hey Axl, where is "Chinese Democracy"? Is Sebastian done borrowing it yet?), Reznor has this to report:
"'Juggling fifteen all-new tracks around. Testing sequences. No leftovers from With Teeth' he writes on the band’s site. 'Highly conceptual. Quite noisy. Fucking cool.'" (RollingStone.com)

Don't get too excited. Bands have scrapped entire albums that they thought they were happy with. And sometimes rabid fans (or detractors) make off with the recordings. Ask Dave Matthews Band and Green Day. But, we may see a new NIN sometime next year.

More news and rants to come. Stay Tuned!

Rock Returns In 2007

Two bands are leading the charge, both of whom are long overdue.

March 20 sees the United States release of Finger Eleven's follow-up to their 2003 self-titled album - you may know it as the one that carries "One Thing" or "Thousand Mile Wish", ironically the only two less-than-mid-tempo songs on the album. The album, "Them Vs. You Vs. Me," promises to be a slight departure from their three earlier releases and may even take us back to their Rainbow Butt Monkeys (I am not kidding about this) days. That is, if the lead-off single "Paralyzer" is any indication. You will be able to catch them on tour opening for Hinder along with up-and-coming band Black Stone Cherry. Check out their MySpace or official page for more information.

No exact date has been given, but May will see the followup to Collective Soul's 2004 release "Youth" (and, if you count it, the following live recording "Home"). They promise to premiere new songs on their upcoming tour, for which dates past January have not been released. Stay tuned for more information as the months go by.

More future studio releases to be discussed soon, including a followup to Kaiser Chiefs' major label debut "Employment". StayTuned!