Top 50 of 2012: No.35: Social Suicide - A Genetic Hoax (Unknown)

For a lot of bands the replacement of a singer can be their death knell, especially as the first Social Suicide album was so well received by critics, luckily for them, they’ve got the tunes and if anything an even better vocalist to sidestep such an early demise. It must be something they put in the water over in Norway but Social Suicide reel out the hardcore with a viciousness to rival early JR Ewing, and with country mates Kvelertak could well lead a Norweigan revolution. Songs like ‘The Ghost Returns’ and ‘Heavens Only Hope’ are full of rage but with enough melody and exuberance to rise them above generic hardcore and into something special indeed. There’s a ton of amazing bands coming from Europe at the moment and Social Suicide could very easily be leading the pack.

8.5/10

Buy here: http://www.nordicmission.net/ds_product_info.php?products_id=2629

Top 50 of 2012: No.36: Pulled Apart By Horses - Tough Love (Transgressive)



Another example of a band that showed early promise and have gone on to become bigger and better, Pulled Apart By Horses were supposed to be a small noisy Jesus Lizardesque band, not a band that match Nirvana at their fevered Territorial Pissings peak, but they’re from Leeds so of course they managed it. Tough Love is not only a step up for them, it’s a step up for rock music in general, it’s the sound of a band going full throttle, and it shows how working hard as a band and constant touring pays off. There are many things I love about this album, the songs like ‘Wolf Hand’, ‘Night Of The Living’ tear it up beyond belief and opener ‘V.E.N.O.M.’ sets the tone perfectly, and it does what a lot of albums these days don’t, it makes you want more when it’s finished, luckily Pulled Apart By Horses were prepared for this and there’s the Tough Love Sessions release with a whole shedload of bonus tracks. So for up and coming bands out there, take note, Pulled Apart By Horses are showing you how to do it.

8.5/10

buy here: http://www.transgressive.co.uk/release/toughlove

Future Of The Left - Love Songs For Our Husbands (Prescriptions)

Unlike most dicks who seem to spend way too much on rateyourmusic, I will be writing this review with no reference to the ‘m’ word, mostly because Future Of The Left have accomplished enough and been their own band for 6 bloody years, respec people, Respec! Not sure if this is a precursor to the forthcoming pledge album, or a standalone release, knowing FOTL it’s likely to just be a one off as they do seem to be quite the prolific bunch, but if it’s any indication of what to expect then I can’t wait for my fanboy signed copy of the new album. Kicking off (literally) with ‘The Male Gaze’ it’s FOTL at there best, all angular rhythms and sarcastically spat vocals. Second track ‘Perpetual Motives’ is the first time I’ve ever heard them sound like another band entirely, the track has such an Undertones feel it’s eerie, again knowing FOTL this is highly likely to have been on purpose. ‘The Bisexuality Of Distance’ returns to form and stands up as one of their best, and while closer ‘An Idiot’s Idea Of Ireland’ is again brilliant it’s entirely too short and should have been made into something much bigger. So after 10 minutes of frenetic rock FOTL are spent, readying for their next attack, as the band themselves have put it, It is about TEN MINUTES in length. It is GOOD. If you don’t like it you can FUCK OFF.

8/10

buy here: http://prescriptionsmusic.com/

Top 50 of 2012: No.37: Pigs - You Ruin Everything (Solar Flare)

This album should come with a warning, if already pissed off do not listen, could cause tendencies to become homicidal, that is how brutal this album really is, not so much in heaviness as I’ve heard much heavier but in pure grimness. You just to have to look at the sleeve alone (which by the way easily makes my album sleeve of the year), everything about this album screams grim, from the constant bass noise assault to bleak lyrics. You really wouldn’t expect anything different from members of Unsane, and this album definitely wouldn’t have been out of place in classic era Amphetamine Reptile everything about it is just an assault to the senses, you almost need to wash the hatred off you after each listen. Obviously this kind of music isn’t to everyone’s taste, but sometimes when you’re pissed off, you just need someone else to agree with you, PIGS are your friend!!! #grimrock (you heard it here first)

8/10

buy here: http://solarflarerds.bigcartel.com/

Top 50 of 2012: No.38: The Men - Open Your Heart (Sacred Bones)

There’s a fine line between showing your influences and plagiarism, The Men have just shat all over that line, opening track ‘Turn It Around’ kicks off with a very familiar Stiff Little Fingers riff and throughout the album, there are huge nods to the Buzzcocks, Rolling Stones, Spritiualized, Sonic Youth and more, is this a bad thing? Not really it just sounds like the greatest mixtape ever made, and while elements are extremely similar, The Men do not simply re-hash another bands songs, rather they just slam it into their own music and create something of their own with it. It’s an argument I’ve had with friends before, what would you prefer? A band who sound completely original but the songs are awful, or a band that wears it’s influences on its sleeve but have great songs, I know which side I go with and that’s why The Men make the Top 50 this year. So go listen to your Alt-J or whatever, I’ll be happily rocking out to the fuzzed up multi-layered infliarism of The Men. #infliarism (you heard it here first)

8/10

buy here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Open-Your-Heart-Men/dp/B006WAF14M/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1372930609&sr=1-1&keywords=open+your+heart

Live Review: The Wildhearts / Eureka Machines / Baby Godzilla - Leeds O2 Academy 30.06.2013

As with anything I write I try to make sure it’s from a personal perspective, otherwise it’s not a blog it’s just a music news and reviews page, So to start this update I’d like to give a shout out to Leeds Academy for doing their bit to make sure people aren’t too hammered at gigs these days by charging £4.50 a pint!!! You are robbing fucking bastards!!! Rant over, onto the review of the concert.

First up is one of my personal favourite new bands Baby Godzilla, not a band for everyone’s tastes as the best description really is the aural equivalent of a baseball bat to the head but they sure do put on one hell of a show. As usual they spend as much time in the crowd as on stage (or in tonight’s case climbing around it), we’re also treated to a stupendously long ‘Powerboat Disaster’ ending with an acapella rendition of the sea shanty screamed microphoneless in the middle of the crowd. They also played a new song which shows that we can expect much more riffage in future, and closer ‘Three Legged Race.ist’ sounded great, my ears were literally numb for a while following this performance.

Second up to entertain us, literally, was Leeds own Eureka Machines, as far away from the sound of Baby Godzilla as you can get, the closest band they remind me of is Honeycrack, probably because of the sugar sweet pop that runs through their music. Opener ‘Champion The Underdog’ kicks things off in true style and it’s great to see this band getting the warm reception they deserve, I have a feeling throughout this tour they’ll have picked up a number of new fans, and well deserved as well. Chris Catalyst is a born performer on stage, bouncing around like he’s possessed and keeping the crowd entertained with some cracking between song banter. They run through all the best tunes like ‘Pop Star’, ‘Affluenza’ and an awesome version ‘(I’m) Wasting My Time (Yet Again)’, Welcome home the heroes indeed.

The first time I saw The Wildhearts live was back in October 1995, at the very same venue, except it was called Leeds Town & Country Club back then (still is according to Chris Catalyst) and I’d managed to persuade a school teacher to drive me and a bunch of other 15 year olds to see a band I liked, 18 years on I still like this band. Now they’d already played the Earth Vs Wildhearts anniversary tour in April and I was gutted to not make it to the Manchester show, so when they announced another 6 dates ending in Leeds I was appeased. Now most bands who play anniversary shows will run through the album and offer a sort of best of set to go with it or a smattering of other hits, however The Wildhearts aren’t most bands so instead they offer an even longer set than the album and the crowd get to choose which songs they’d prefer to hear (mostly). What makes seeing The Wildhearts so amazing isn’t just the band themselves it’s also the crowd, You will rarely attend a show where the crowd has such a passion for the band as this, with almost every person singing along not just to the planned section of the show but also to the unplanned, the fact that all 23 songs played tonight are catchy as fuck helps a little also. Ginger & co. get straight to business and smash through the first 3 songs without a word, and what’s immediately apparent is that this is the tightest live the band have ever been, and in over 20 years, that’s some accomplishment. I used to listen to this album repeatedly and I mean till the tape barely worked anymore, but still, hearing it live is a real treat, especially ‘News Of The World’ one of my favourite songs which rarely gets a hearing live. So after listening to in my opinion the best album of 1993 live in its entirety, what could possibly beat that? Well a smattering of songs from the majority of their career might give it a try, 2 songs are offered to the crowd each time and the one that gets the loudest cheer gets played and a few slightly iffy decisions aside the audience got exactly what they wanted plus some. Highlights for me were ‘Hate The World Day’ which is a real rarity treat, or the mass sing-along to ‘Geordie In Wonderland’ the heavy as fuck ‘Urge’ or the most recognised b-side by any bands fans that they might as well have released it as a single ’29 x The Pain’. At the end of the day when all is said and done, that is what makes The Wildhearts great, the fact that they can throw in b-sides which are just as popular as the singles, they’re the Oasis of the rock world in essence, and after a 2 hour set they still leave you wanting more. This was by far the best concert I’ve ever seen, and wherever the future leads be it Ginger Wildheart Band or The Wildhearts, we can only expect bigger and better things to come.

Setlist:

Greetings from Shitsville
TV Tan
Everlone
Shame on Me
Loveshit
The Miles Away Girl
My Baby Is a Headfuck
Suckerpunch
News of the World
Drinking About Life
Love U Til I Don't
Nothing Ever Changes but the Shoes
(vs I Wanna Go Where The People Go)
Just in Lust
(vs Got It On Tuesday)
Urge
(vs Dangerlust)
Hate the World Day
(vs Two-Way Idiot Mirror)
Caffeine Bomb
(vs Weekend (5 Long Days))
Weekend (5 Long Days)
(Played in error. Choices were … Red Light - Green Light or Beautiful Thing You)
Red Light - Green Light
(Winner of previous choice)
Vanilla Radio
(vs Sick Of Drugs)
Someone That Won't Let Me Go
(vs There's Only One Hell)
Geordie in Wonderland
(vs Mazel Tov Cocktail)
Dangerlust
(extra song due to Lynn Vaughan's)
29 x the Pain
(vs The Revolution Will Be Televised)

Top 50 of 2012: No.39: Kevin Tihista's Red Terror - On This Dark Street (Broken Horse)

2012 does seem to have been the year of the comeback, and none more surprising than Kevin Tihista who seemed to have disappeared off the face of the earth 7 years ago, yet suddenly he’s back and in true witty style. 10 brilliant new songs kicking off with the self-destructive tale ‘Taking It To The Streets (Again)’ with my favourite lyric of the year “Now there's a million reasons why she is leaving / number one she hates the fact I am breathing" and throughout the rest of the album he barely takes a step wrong. This is easily my favourite KT album since ‘Don’t Breathe A Word’, because like that album it contains songs brimming with upbeat heartbreak that only Kevin can write, no other song writer manages to put a smile on your face while being so intricate in detail about their life falling apart. I really can’t recommend this album or indeed this artist enough, and amazingly he already has a new album due out, which I have just received and plan to listen to shortly, giddy.

8/10

buy here: http://www.brokenhorse.co.uk/brokenhorse2.html