Category Archives: music

New Track From City and Colour ‘Thirst’

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I do miss Alexisonfire. The albums were good. The live shows, sadly I missed out on, but I heard good things about too.

cityandcolour

Luckily, singer Dallas Green has graced us with his solo project, City and Colour. The music is as beautiful as the name suggests. I think my favourite, though more than a little depressing, has to be the album ‘Bring Me Your Love’ . There’s some new music from the boy coming soon though, and I’m pleased to hear this little taster of it..

‘Thirst’ is more electronica, but not quite pop in the sense of Owl City. Its much more low-key and relaxed, without losing any of the heartfelt emotion that goes into each track.

Have a listen here..

RC xx

 

New Music Monday – Escape The Fate ‘You’re Insane’

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It’s a bit of a late one tonight, oops! Guess I’ve been having too much fun this bank holiday weekend..
You’d be forgiven for thinking this next track sounds more than a little bit like Papa Roach’s ‘Scars’, with a bigger dose of anger thrown in. I’m not arguing, but this song gets my approval for the awesome guitar solo. Also the irrelevant snake at the beginning. (Honestly, there’s a reason I’ll never move to the desert!).

Luckily, Escape The Fate don’t seem too phased by the scaly reptiles, or the heat blasting out. Which is surprising seeing as they’re definitely not dressed for it. Anyway, it doesn’t stop them rocking out like the best of them!

Check out the new single ‘You’re Insane’ below. It’s out now..

For those of you who don’t know, Escape The Fate are a five piece metal band hailing from the sands of Las Vegas. Their new album ‘Ungrateful’ is out May 14 and they’ll be touring the USA from mid-April. Uk folks,  you can catch them at Download!

RC xx

Friday Classic – Marilyn Manson ‘mOBSCENE’

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Before the likes of Black Veil Brides and Aiden (but not so far back that we stray into KISS territory..), there was one name that was synonymous with the white face paint, sharply cut black clothing  and a penchant for girls in latex. Marilyn Manson (real name: Brian Warner) reportedly formed the band after a growing dissatisfaction with the music scene he inhabited in his days as a music journalist.

It was a venture that paid off, with Manson becoming one of the iconic figureheads of the early 00s rock music scene. The songs ‘Tainted Love’, ‘Personal Jesus’ and ‘Beautiful People’ were on the playlists at all the best rock clubs, his stickers were attached to everyone’s backpacks, he even became a national hate figure after the school shooting at Columbine, when it was discovered that the killers were fans. (If you’ve ever watched Bowling For Columbine, you’ll have seen how eloquently and succinctly Manson responded to this).

There may have been a few hurdles along the way, a short-lived marriage to burlesque performer Dita Von Teese, followed by a relationship with actress Evan Rachel Wood. The failure of Manson’s protegees Jack Off Jill. But that hasn’t stopped the band, who have a tour lined up with Alice Cooper starting in June. Dates on the band’s website.

 

RC xx

Yeah Yeah Yeahs New Video ‘Sacrilege’

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I’ve really missed the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. They probably haven’t even been away that long, but it always feels like forever. I guess they’re not always the most public of bands and, for me at least, their best work was by far ‘Maps’ which sums up just about every crush I’ve ever had. Not to mention their fan-made video for ‘Cheating Hearts’, which features my hometown in it (briefly).

‘Sacrilege’, the band’s new single continues their indie dance party leanings and pushes it into a more electro sphere (basically, it adds a disco ball). The eerie video features  model / actress Lily Cole, looking very disturbed, but actually says a lot about women in society, if you dig deep enough. As a hint, I’m pretty sure the timeline is backwards.

If you, like me, have yet to see the band live, I suggest you check them out on their upcoming US / UK / Europe tour this Spring. As per usual, dates are available on their Facebook page here. Tell you what, if you go, I’ll go? Is that fair?

Anyway, ‘Sacrilege’ is the first single from the band’s upcoming album ‘Mosquito’, out on April 15. Let’s hope the rest of the songs are this good!

RC xx

Single Review: Lauri Ylonen ‘She’s A Bomb’

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So for anyone who’s been reading this blog for a while, you’ll be aware of my undying (and slightly embarrassing) love of Finnish rockers The Rasmus. So I’m always keen to check out what the band members are up to with solo projects and such.

Lead singer Lauri Ylonen‘s first attempt at a solo career seemed pretty good. His first album ‘New World’ was a bit more tech-influenced, carrying an theme of escapism and fantasy through the tracks and videos. It was different, but it was listenable, just as catchy as The Rasmus’ music and fell under the genre of ‘dark electro pop’.

Unfortunately, ‘She’s A Bomb’ isn’t quite the same. It’s still catchy, in a Tiga-esque way (repetitive words instead of the lyrical stories that I would’ve expected). The video though, which I’ve decided not to include just to keep this blog PG13 is downright weird. It feels like a joke that I’m not a part of. Maybe a take on society, but its not poignant enough to make any kind of statement.

I’m quite disappointed by this. I’ve stuck by this band through the bottling at Reading, the several-years-long absence from the UK, even finding out about the slightly bizarre fashion choices of their youth. This though, will be one piece of music that I don’t think I’ll be buying.

Make your own mind up below:

RC xx

Friday Classic: Death Cab For Cutie

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I remember reading a feature on Death Cab For Cutie a few years back, when they stated that the band’s most memorable song (in my opinion anyway), ‘Transatlanticism’ had been quoted on everyone’s Livejournal at least once. I can see why. It’s probably the best summary of the pains of a long distance relationship that I’ve ever heard.

I guess you might be asking why I haven’t chosen that song for this post. Its partly for the video – the constant travelling really sums up the way I seem to spend my entire life on trains. It’s also the song though. Its much more optimistic, almost in a desperate way, but who hasn’t felt like that?

Oh, plus I love a good intro. This one comes with the extended, four minute (I’m not counting exactly) intro which was, naturally, cut for radio. It’s a bit of a shame really, because I think that four minutes of instrumental is better than some of the music that actually does get played..

RC xx

Funeral For A Friend ‘Nails’

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Well I featured them as my Friday Classic last week, but now there’s some new music from my favourite Welsh rockers. Funeral For A Friend‘s new single is a return to their heavier style of old, with an inventive (and colourful) video. If you always love a video that features the band members equally, then this one won’t fail to please.

‘Nails’ launches straight in with a powerful shudder, frontman Matt Tuck’s voice echoing through the chords. Its a simple song that’s over far too soon, but that’s not to say it isn’t effective. Its not one that’s going to be stuck in your head, but if you give it a chance, it gets better with every listen.

Funeral For A Friend’s new album ‘Conduit’ is out now.

RC xx

Man Overboard ‘White Lies’

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I WISH I’d heard this song during my teen years. It pretty much sums up my socially awkward attempts at friendships / relationships. (I’m much better now, I promise..)

Man Overboard are a pretty heavy dose of pop-punk, hailing from the depths of Williamstown, New Jersey. The band’s third full-length album, ‘Heart Attack’, featuring the new single ‘White Lies’ is out May 28th on Rise Records.

Have a listen below..

RC xx

New Music Monday: Inherit The Stars

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A confession: I always judge bands by their name. Then I judge them by the genre they categorise themselves by. Things like ‘pop punk, indie rock, metal’ are pretty acceptable, weird abstract concepts a bit less, unless the music really does sound like Bon Jovi riding an atom bomb through space. I don’t know if anyone’s used that term yet, but if not please feel free. You don’t have to credit me, just make your music representative of it.

Inherit The Stars

Listening to Inherit The Stars, I read the tags as ‘alternative metal pop rock sci-fi screamo UK’. Can’t say I’ve heard pop yet, but I’d like to throw electro into that mix. Not quite in an Enter Shikari, dub-step kind of way. More of a scream-heavy chords-quick disco-back to screaming kind of way. It sounds like the soundtrack to a shooting game, set on a spaceship in the distant future. Its quite refreshingly different.

The Sheffield 3-piece are planning their debut album release (untitled as far as I can tell) this May. For now, listen to the below and go check them out on facebook.com/inheritthestarsofficial

RC xx

Rolo Tomassi new video ‘Howl’

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I don’t feel like I champion enough women in rock to be honest, despite the blog name. That’s why it makes me happy when I can feature something like this, where it has nothing to do with the gender of the lead singer, its just simply great music.

I’ve loved Rolo Tomassi for a long time. I’d heard whispers of great things about them, which lead me to their show at the Radio 1 tent at Reading Festival a few years back. I was blown away. The energy of their performance. The fact that singer Eva Spence can walk onstage looking like that, and then produce a sound like THAT. This is one female that can rock it with the best of them:

Rolo Tomassi’s new album ‘Astraea’, featuring ‘Howl’ is out now.

RC xx