lots of stuff to waste money on - perhaps

hell.o

ok, enough is enough, here's a quick rundown on the current pile, bear in mind i've had a crap weekend - so these opinions may indeed be different when the sun shines:

 

ben harper - both sides of the gun

never having had a real urge to hear any of this guys stuff, when the offer came in i was originally heistant, but in the details provided it became apparant that the doube cd is made up of the mans 2 styles. one cd rocks out, the other cd doesn't. initial listens seems to bear this fact true. still aint sure if it's my kind of thing. honest, earnest classic sounding rock, with lots of heartfelt emotion. while ben is obviously a hugely admired talent and has been doing this for years, i just wonder if in this post-blunt world if people are getting fed up with ''bloke with guitar complaining' type of stuff. oh, hang on, may be that's just me.

archie bronson outfit - derdang derdang

well i never. appearing out of nowehere, this one is a cracker. dirty, grotty swamp filled blues rock that really hits home. the phrase, 'shake ye hips' is proclaimed on the drum, and fuck me, if you dont start feeling the primal groove within the opening riffs of 'cherry lips' then you may as well check in with the undertakers. awesome stuff. proper review to appear when i can be arsed, but if there were one guitar based album in recent times that you should check out - this is easily it.

spank rock - yoyoyoyoyoyoyoyo

no idea if thats enough yo's in the title, but hey. this is the new blossoming sound from baltimore. electro booty bass madness, on top of which saucy wordplay lets rip. i must be old, but the constant declarations of pumpin' pussy/ass/tits/ho's etc gets tiresome, which is a real shame as the production is at times inspired. recent single 'rick rubin' stands out from the hormonally charged partners.

morrissey - ringleader of the tormentors

if you have have read any press on this album you will know that this is the album that most people make when in their 20's, ie this is morrisseys sex album. he is in love. and shock, horror. it could be with a different man other than himself. this pleases me immensely, i am so glad that the worlds most misunderstood misery has come to the conclusion that love is not always a passage of hardship and can at times be rather fun. the other factor with the album is the use of tony visconti as producer, and ennio morricone for string arrangements. this has brought in a new found love for epic orchestrations, kid choirs and glam guitars. full review once i have had chance to get into the album a little more, but initial listens reveal that there are couple of classics as well as a few filler tracks, but the album revolves around the amazing finale, in which morrissey declares loud and proud, 'at last i am born'.

welcome to your new world, morrissey. i hope you enjoy your stay.

yeah yeah yeahs - show your bones

first up - never fell for any of the hype around the first ep/album. something about the haircut-centric karen o scared the living daylights out of me, and their minimal drum+guitar sound really made my skin crawl. all that manufactured cool and devotional excess. so why oh why do i actually find myself enjoying the difficult second album? maybe the involvement of  studio craftsman alan moulder has something to do with it, maybe it's the fact that the band have decided to drop all the scenster crap and just write some cracking tunes. of course, this means that fans of the last album will probably hate this as its being hailed as a proper grown up rock album, and in some ways i guess it is. proper song structures, fleshed out instrumentation make the album like some bastard mutation of indie noise, post punk and proper pop music. good stuff.

 

more tomorrow

mark e

ireallylovemusic