Posts written by aotw
Album of the week…
Grammatics finally release their eponymous debut on Dance To The Radio and, unsurprisingly, it’s great!
This isn’t going to be a long review as I don’t see the point in repeating what basically every other review has said; this album is a fantastic. If you haven’t heard the band before the live line-up iss boy/girl vocals, guitar, bass, cello and drums; on record however there is all manner of wonderful programming, sound design and extra flourishes. It’s produced really well and sounds epic from opener (and my track of the year 2008) Shadow Committee, to equally epic Relentless Fours in the middle, and onto disjointed Swan Song at the end, taking all manner of experiments in pop in the gaps between.
However, like many new artists Grammatics released four singles prior to this, and these as well as a couple of the B Sides have been put on the album meaning I knew half the tracks before (that is the sole criticism). However, many were re-recorded and if you haven’t heard them before, you get a fresh album. This is not a massive fault with the band though as the songs are fantastic; it’s just a shame I (being a long time fan) didn’t get 12 new tracks served up.
It’s great anyway and I implore you to buy it, if you don’t believe me check out some more of the barrage of praised reviews and more importantly hit the Myspace page and listen for yourselves! www.myspace.com/grammatics
Out today.
9/10
Greg
Album of the week…
Explaining why Klang, the third full-length from the Rakes was recorded in East Berlin, Alan Donohue claimed that the London music scene is “like wading through a swamp of shit.”
Thankfully, the Rakes have managed to drag themselves out of that swamp, and away from the memory of their poorly received second album, with this release. No song outstays it’s welcome – the album clocks in at under thirty minutes and the longest track at less than three and a half.
There are no clumsy attempts to tackle the subject of terrorism here – Instead songs about house parties and warnings that “if you hang around bitchin’ in the kitchen, you’re not gonna have a good time.” Lead-off single 1989 finds Donohue taking inspiration from his new surroundings, visiting cemeteries in East Berlin and “half expecting to catch a sight / of the dead Russian soldiers marching into the night.”
Meanwhile The Light From Your Mac is an art-rock ballad which manages to overcome clumsy references to Apple products to become an album highlight, alongside the preceding track Shackleton and the lead singer’s anguished cries that “we’re all pawns baby, we’re all pawns.”
On album closer The Final Hill, Donohue sings that he’s “just had a revolution.” On Klang, though, his band have stuck to what they do best, and crafted a great collection of indie sing-a-longs, and it’s gratifying that while many of their post-punk contemporaries have fallen by the wayside, Donohue’s gang have succeeded in crafting their best set of songs yet.
7/10
Jed Howlett
PS; This album is actually out next week but with another album filling our March 22nd ‘Album of the week’ slot, and with half decent albums few and far between at the moment, the best you can do is get on amazon and pre-order this instead!
