Radiohead- The King Of Limbs

Is it another masterpiece for the Oxford quintet? Almost...


Well wasn’t that fun? Yes, two weeks ago The Most Important Band In The World (TM) struck again, suddenly announcing the release of their new album, and then releasing it a day early for no good reason other than boredom it seems.

King Of Limbs follows the path of unconventional releases pioneered with Radiohead's previous album- 2008’s In Rainbows. Like that record, it has taken time for the fuss around the surprise to die down, allowing sole focus on the music. King Of Limbs also has the problem of following a genuine masterpiece: In Rainbows marked the point where Thom Yorke and co stopped trying to be machines, and invested in a little human emotion.

Unsurprisingly, this new album doesn’t quite live up to this billing. It’s not a huge step forward sonically- King Of Limbs for once is an exercise of evolution over revolution. It takes many of the ideas found on In Rainbows and develops them into new shapes. In many ways this is similar to what Amnesiac did with Kid A.

What is first noticeable is the absence of Johnny Greenwood’s guitar, an instrument having a renaissance on the last two records- his acoustic work on tracks like Faust Arp being a particular high. Here he’s only really heard front-and-centre on the scattered funk of Morning Mr Magpie, and minor acoustic flourishes on Little By Little and Give Up The Ghost. Even then, he can be tough to spot.

And this represents the only real problem with King Of Limbs: it doesn’t feel like a full-band effort. The man in control is clearly Thom Yorke, and it feels more like a solo piece by him. Feral, for instance, locates Radhiohead taking dubstep elements pioneered by Mr Yorke on his Eraser album. The album as a whole also shies away from more emotional lyrics, back into the absurd and cryptic (closer Separator finds Yorke claiming to be a fish now, for instance).

Two instruments work wonderfully though: Philip Selway’s avant-garde drumming is fresh and exciting, even on the quieter tracks. There’s also some of the band’s most beautiful piano work. Codex takes the framework of Pyramid Song from Amnesiac. It’s utterly involving yet ethereal and other-worldly at the same time. It’s this mood that dominates across the final three tracks. Separator, in particular, carries an almost positive sound not usually associated with Radiohead. Don’t let anyone label them miserablists.

There are other strengths: the spine-shivering brass that descends over Bloom is perfectly judged on a track that starts off a little muddled. It’s also unsurprising that Lotus Flower was the first “single” from King Of Limbs as it’s the only song to feature anything coming close to a chorus. It’s a chorus that soars, Thom Yorke’s sweet falsetto sitting atop a lolloping bassline.

If any other band released this album, it would be declared their masterpiece, and on first listen it carries that feeling. But as you live with the record, a slight sense of dissatisfaction creeps in: you’re left wondering how they took three years to create these 8 tracks- they’ve made better albums. This is a great Radiohead album- just not a life-changing one.

4/5

Best Tracks:
Codex
Seperator
Lotus Flower
Feral

James Blake- James Blake

Extraordinary debut from minimalist mystery man as the post-dubstep era begins

We live in a musical era of bigness: be it the seemingly-endless scale of Muse, or the complex pop of mainstream artists like Lady Gaga. But a quieter way of life is slowly breaking through. Witness last year’s XX Mercury win, and now the critical whispers around James Blake.

What the world knows about him could be written on the back of a 5p piece. He was born in London, he went to Goldsmith’s and he’s 21. But after a short stint as an electronica producer on several heralded EPs, he’s put his own voice down (even if auto-tuned in a Bon Iver sort-of-way) over delicate piano lines, with XX-style delicacy, and whoomping dubstep basslines. Lo-fi doesn’t even begin to cover it.

More than anything though, the spaces on a record have never felt quite so important. There’s one song in particular here, Lindesfarne I, that strips it right down to his emotional vocals (falsetto and filled with sadness, winning comparisons to Jeff Buckley). On top of this whole seconds are left silent. It’s a brave decision that works on an enormously brave debut.

So those expecting 11 tracks like his haunting cover of Feist’s Limit To Your Love that hit the charts earlier in the year may be slightly confused. The rest of the album carries that track’s dislike for flourishes, but first listen will lead you to check that the music player isn’t broken. To start with it feels a very cold record, but after a few listens it will burrow deep beneath your skin and stay there.

It always goes back to the voice: rarely unaffected, but it makes it all the more special when heard in naked form. Piano playing on tracks like Give Me My Month and Why Don’t You Call Me are exceptional.

Words don’t often make an appearance either. This works to astounding effect on I Never Learnt To Share: “My brother and sister don’t speak to me/But I don’t blame them.” That’s it. No explanation, no insight, just those words over and over. It’s a phrase that haunts, and it’s all the more powerful just as it is.

Power also lies on the aforementioned Lindesfarne I, before it brings in quietly plucked guitar to flesh it out on Lindesfarne II. I Mind is perhaps a step too far: simple vocal vowels over a slim piano coda, skipping and jumping all over the place. It sounds like a seriously fucked up vocal warm up. It comes to a beautiful conclusion as Blake endlessly multi-tracks himself for a homemade gospel choir on Measurements. He ebbs and flows through the track, never unmasking fully, but it’s the closest to a big production number, even though it clearly isn’t when you consider it.

Be warned: this is not an easy, immediate listening experience. When so many are after instant gratification, James Blake should be commended for making the audience work a little. Despite this, those who prefer their minimal electronica more straightforward to digest should probably wait for Jamie Woon later in the year.

4/5

Best Tracks:
Measurements
Lindesfarne I
I Never Learnt To Share
Give Me My Month

Ritual- White Lies

Bigger doesn’t always mean better for Ealing miserablists

The emergence of White Lies’ Joy Division-owing gloom was hardly original in 2009. Interpol and Editors had it well covered. But debut album To Lose My Life...’s surprise stint at number one showed that there was something fresh and new about them, something you couldn’t quite put your finger on.

It was a great album filled with memorable hooks and eccentric optimism against the doom. Now they’re back and have done it all over again: just much, much bigger. This leaves a mixed bag.
At times on second album Ritual, they resemble a Ferrari without any wheels. It’s an impressive noise, but there isn’t really much point if it doesn’t move anywhere. Editors suffered a similar fate when they brought in the synths and stadium-aim, and lost something in the process. As well as borrowing their sound, White Lies seem to be on a similar trajectory.

First single Bigger Than Us is a perfect example of this, heavy on grandstanding, whooshing synths and gleaming production. Here it works. But while it shows them focused and onto something that works for them, but it’s a formula they too often stick to.

Opener Is Love is one of the exceptions. As well as the huge McVeigh vocals and swirling guitars, they also frequently stab violently, with a gleeful funk breakdown in the middle. For five minutes, the forward momentum is relentless and genuinely exciting. Ritual’s quality dips in the very next song, Stranger, which is filled with statements like “I’ve got a sense of urgency” and “I’ve got to make this happen” without actually achieving it.

And this is the main problem: it’s a wildly inconsistent record. To Lose My Life... was great for its song writing. Death was a tangible take on fear of flying, and Farewell To The Fairground was a living, breathing nightmare. Only occasional moments of “guilt smeared across your lips” show off the same skill here, and it never manages it for an entire song.

The initial thrill at the size of the beast soon wears off. Unsurprisingly, it’s the more Earth-based moments that stand out. The Power & The Glory still manages to be an epic, but in a more subtle and subdued way, with a backing guitar screech and late-night, skittering percussion. This brings relief from stadium-bait like Holy Ghost and ironically-titled Peace & Quiet. Hushed moments aren’t going to sell records, but they work in White Lies’ favour.

Individual tracks won’t stay with you, neither is the overall feel of the record. What they have got is singer Harry McVeigh. He carries far more detached power than his contempories, but let’s hope on record three they invest a little more human emotion, and remember why they so great to start with.

3/5

Best Tracks:
Is Love
The Power & The Glory
Bigger Than Us

The Joy Formidable, February 1 2011, Bournemouth Old Firestation

Welsh trio bring a riot to the south coast. What rock crisis?


For indie and rock fans of a more mainstream bent, the start of 2011 was overwhelmingly depressing. Very few “proper” rock albums finding a release, Mumford & Sons the only so-called “rock band” in the end of year charts (despite them releasing their album in 2009 and, yknow, being a folk band)- the future looks grim.

So it’s easy to see why The Joy Formidable’s album The Big Roar has been feted so. But far from failing to live up to the hype, their riotous show makes every ounce of it justified. Rather than come out all-guns-blazing, Ritzy Bryan and co build up with seven-minute album opener “Everching Spectrum of a Lie”, just as effective live.

From here, TJF are playing at hurricane force. Ritzy, pixie-like with blonde bob bouncing everywhere, controls it beautifully. After every earthquake riff and solo, she responds with a huge grin. That’s what’s so great about them: they’re here to remind people that music is meant to be fun, and we need that right now.

The cold venue is warmed fast by a responsive crowd, with tracks like “Heavy Abacus”, “Buoy” and “cradle” set off the moshers, all pawing for Bryan’s tiny frame. Every song is like a set climax- not always a good thing, as the set hardly flows. But by the time explosive closer “Whirring” comes around, this just doesn’t matter. Tell the world: rock music is back...

The Joy Formidable- The Big Roar

Loudest riot out of Wales since the miners’ strikes

It doesn’t take me to tell you what a state British rock and indie are in right now. Last year’s end-of-year sales charts showed only one album from either genre in the top 20 (the distinctly folk-flavored Mumford & Sons, whose album was released in 2009 anyway). Though of COURSE no one does it for the fame, it’s still a worrying trend that shows the mainstream just isn’t listening.

One band hoping to break the deadlock is North Wales’ The Joy Formidable, consisting perma-blonde-bobbed Ritzy Bryan, her boyfriend bassist Rhydian Dafydd and drummer Matt Thomas. Since the release of their first bombastic single Cradle in 2008, they’ve at times found themselves unsure of their identity. On their major label debut The Big Roar they’ve found it: and boy, it’s something.

Press around the album has rather lazily labeled it as Celebrity Skin-era Hole, probably because of The Joy Formidable’s bolshie blonde front woman. Whilst there are hints of Courtney Love in the mix, really the spirit is closer to early Feeder (albeit more authentic), or last year’s Dinosaur Pile-Up’s version of hard grunge (but far better at every step).

These are hardly fresh influences, but what their debut shows is a knack for suffusing snarling riffs with clear, catchy pop hooks. The songs themselves make very little sense- and quite what Heavy Abacus refers to (except, y’know, for an abacus that’s heavy) is unclear. But who cares? With Bryan’s vocals a sheer force out to have fun and support sturdy as a girder, it hardly matters.

Opener The Everchanging Spectrum Of A Lie flies out of the speaker after a minute or so or rhythmic balloon bursting, yet this is far from a party pooper. There’s no doubt that The Joy Formidable are at their best when sprinting full pelt, visible on a re-recorded Cradle, The Magnifying Glass and Chapter 2. None pull punches in terms of rhythm or fretwork, carried further by Austere, revealing their indie origins with the addictive “ah-ah-ah-ah”s backing.

Best of the lot of Whirring, with Bryan sounding like she’s singing from the top of Snowdon. It builds and builds before exploding into three minutes of gleeful rock noise, building to a tantilisingly explosive climax. It’s pounding, elemental and full of adrenaline.

Hints of shifts in dynamic and texture feel needed in places then, so it’s disappointing that Llaw=Wall feels a little clumsy with a hushed first half followed by an overbearing second. After nine songs of pure energy and forward momentum, it grinds it all to a half, and so sits as something of a deadweight towards the end. Much better is epic closer The Greatest Light Is The Greatest Shade- combining the two quiet-loud elements in a slightly more thoughtful way. It would make The Pixies proud.

You might not understand what the hell they’re on about half the time, but songwriting and insight can come later, this still being a debut and all. What The Big Roar gives us is the best new rock band to emerge in the last five or so years. Let’s just hope a little loud Welsh blood can infect a few up-and-comers.

4/5

Best Tracks:

Whirring
The Greatest Light Is The Greatest Shade
Austere
Chapter 2

Cee-Lo Green- The Ladykiller

Goodie Mob and Gnarls Barkley renaissance man brings the new-fasioned Hot Buttered Soul...

Ah the contradictory duality of success on Youtube. Pity OK Go’s success with their legendary “treadmills” video to Here It Goes Again. They may work to top viewing figures with every ensuing smart video, but cruicially, no one’s buying the music.

The success of Cee-Lo Green’s video to Fuck You requires no introduction. Two million views in seven days, it was the viral hit of 2010, but thankfully, people liked the actual song enough to go out and buy it, beating the woeful Williams/Barlow Brokeback-fest Shame to number one.

Of course, Fuck You is such a brilliant pop song (even the idea of it as a kiss off brings a smile to the face) that threatens to hang like a proverbial albatross over his third solo album, The Ladykiller. The fact it doesn’t is a testament to the quality of people working with Green, and the authenticity of his update of a classic soul sound.

Lady Killer Theme starts proceedings with tongue firmly in cheek: part Shaft, part Ironside theme. It makes it clear Green wants to have fun. After setting his lot out, Bright Lights Bigger City acts as a curveball- not straight classic soul, but a gleaming modern pop production. Introduced with punchy synth chords, Green is our guide through a Saturday night on the pull, surrounded by beautiful women- but classy; his night isn’t ending in a kebab shop. Bond-theme strings bleed in, swirling it to a heady climax.

It stands as the biggest suprise here, and from this point Green and from this point it’s what you expect- voice located somewhere between Gaye and Hayes, songs a clear pop update of the Temptations at their best- but isn’t that why you bought the entry ticket?

Despite the influences weighing heavy, Cee-Lo is entirely his own man, filled with confidence on confection like It’s OK and Satisfied, or plagued by insecurities on ballads like Bodies and I Want You. It’s obvious that he is the star here, and the album loses a little something when he shares his stage with Lauren Bennett on Love Gun. However, the presence of Earth Wind & Fire’s Philip Bailey on percussion through Fool For You is refreshingly welcome.

Lights are certainly down for the album conclusion: a cover of Band of Horses’ No One’s Gonna Love You. Green wrings every last drop of emotion out of the heartbreaking lyrics. It’s introspective on the verses, and then takes a giant leap on the skyscraping choruses. It’s quite extraordinary, and it’s no suprise it’s produced to ubiquitous pop king Paul Epworth.

What amazes most is the unity of it all, despite the work of over 10 writers and 9 or so producers, certainly more so than either of his other two solo albums. It’s the space Cee-Lo allows his voice that achieves this, and it also allows this clear shot at the mainstream to keep the right side of commercial, never straying to crass or cynical.

4/5

Best Tracks:

Fuck You
No One’s Gonna Love You
Bright Lights Bigger City
Bodies

Top 10 Things To Look Forward To In 2011

All things considered, 2010 wasn't the best year to be a music fan in the UK. Guitar music died a cold death, X Factor tried to fool pop fans with some frankly rubbish autotuning, and R&B crooners who sing their own names at the start of songs kept going to number one.

But as the following feature shows, 2011 is shaping up to be a much better year. Here's the Rockinfreakopotimus! guide to the next twelve months...

10. The Strokes Return (maybe...)

Ok, so the New Yorkers have been promising their new album for since 2008, and has faced delays thanks to at least two returns-to-drawing-board and the altogether more exciting Julian Casablancas solo album. The Strokes also have a lot of work to recover lost work, slipping from THE indie heros of the 00s to a band treading water by 2006's First Impressions Of Earth. Can they pull off their return?
Due: Spring


9. White Lies- Ritual
Their first album, To Lose My Life... found them hitting the ground running with a series of doom-laden, well written insights into death and fear. The critical noise around the follow up Ritual has been overwhelmingly positive and exciting, and if first single Bigger Than Us is anything to go by, this might be one of the first great albums of the year.
Due: 17th January

8. What Did You Expect From The Vaccines?
One of the most best new bands of 2010 and certainly one of the few indie groups to really thrill, The Vaccines have announced today that their new album will be called What Did You Expect From The Vaccines. Opening on the NME tour is often a sign of greatness to follow, and if they can deliver on the promise of the first two singles, Vaccines could put guitar bands back on top.
Due: March


7. The Flaming Lips to play The Soft Bulletin live, in full!
The idea of playing a classic album in full is frequently a quick way for a band to make easy money. That and can you really think of an album you want to hear every track of? The Soft Bulletin might be the exception. The first of their trio of classic albums, the 1999 masterpiece deserves to be brought to wider attention.
Expected: Summer

6. New Radiohead Material
The follow up to 2007's game-changing In Rainbows was expected last year, but the band announced they needed a little more time to get finished in November. What's not yet clear is how we'll recieve the new music, or even what form it will take, with talk even of a classical EP. Whatever and however we get it, expectations are extremely high
Expected: Unknown


5. Sonisphere 2011
Just for the headliners: Metallica, Iron Maiden, Anthrax, Megadeath and Slipknot. Just that alone is enough to ensue that this year's Download is probably going to be very quiet indeed...
Expected: 8th July

4. Build A Rocket Boys- Elbow
Any worries about expectations getting to them were blown away last week with the premiere of new song Lippy Kids. There was a sense with their Mercury Music Prize win of just reward, and the follow up promises to be the same combination of songwriting mastery, and epic intimacy as their very best work.
Expected: March

3. Glastonbury 2011
Glasto last year was a mixed one...true they had Stevie, but as a symbol of the mixed reaction, it was Michael Eavis singing Happy Birthday. Headliners are booked (one of them probably being U2) and it promises to be an exciting year
Expected: 22nd June

2. New music scene?
2010 was completely dead for guitar bands. But through the last few decades repressive Tory governments have bred wonderful and exciting new music. A good tip? Dubstep elements find their way into unusual places...

And at number 1...

Pulp reuinite!
It's been rumoured for years, but finally the Sheffield Britpoppers are returning for a victory lap. A whole new generation are about to be introduced to the wit and wisdom of Jarvis Cocker, and the band are promising a classic show. There's also a gap in their schedule for Glasto...