Streetlight Manifesto - Somewhere in the Between (Review: Dan)

Somewhere in the Between is a great album. It's fun, it's exciting, and it radiates genius.
I recognized Streetlight Manifesto's name on the Lock-Up stage line up for Reading 2009 but didn't care enough to go and see them. I was more content to watch the awful Funeral for a Friend. However, once we were hiding under a hog roast in the pissing rain and silence, we went to the lock-up tent, where a few of our friends already were. Anyway, I've just told a story that's already been told. Inside the lock up tent, you could literally see fun, excitement and genius. So, when Alex posted this album that's exactly what I expected, and it is exactly what was delivered. I first heard this album when Matt was listening to it, I walked into his room and it was on. I believe I said "This sounds fun."

I do agree with what the cheif said, about it being very similar but not getting bored of it. But that does make it hard to find a favourite track. The two that immediately jump out at me are possibly Watch it Crash or Down, Down, Down to Mephisto's Cafe.

Tomas Kalnoky has a very gravely and punk-sounding voice. It reminds me a lot of Anti-Flag's Justin Sane (obviously not his real name). I don't really like it, but it fits the music unusually well, and I love the quick delivery of his lyrics. I'm also lead to believe that Kalnoky writes all of the musical parts for each album and then the band just play their respective roles. That's impressive, and I have a lot of admiration for his dedication.

So overall, a good release from Streetlight Manifesto. I don't think that I would make an effort to listen to any of their older works though, simply because I feel that I already have plenty, and it is fairly samey.
I will look forward to '99 Songs of Revolution', though, as from what I've read I'm expecting it to have 99 tracks. Seeing as there are 8 discs I don't think that's too much to ask.

Great album, only slightly let down by the vocals, but overall a beatiful introduction. 4.564829/5

Joking... (4.5/5)

Dan

I suppose I'm going to have to review Biffy Clyro aswell now...

Streetlight Manifesto - Somewhere in the Between (Review: The Chief)

I was going to kick off my comeback review by doing The Fall of Math but it seems that that has been done enough and Ben has said a lot of what I was going to say and I wouldn't want to make you read the same thing twice. Therefore I have chosen to do Streetlight Manifesto as I missed them at Reading due to seeing A Place to Bury Strangers (who were fantastic and you should all check them out). I've come to see what all the hype is about.

As this album is actually still downloading I'll write about 65dos a bit. I agree completely with Ben in that the emotion in the songs is quite remarkable but I feel they pull this off much better in their later album The Destruction of Small Ideas. With the exception of Retreat! Retreat! I feel that every track on TDoSI is better than those on Fall of Math. They are executed and produced a lot more professionally and feel a lot deeper to me. One thing I would disagree with Ben and Matt on though is that I do not think that 65days need a vocalist, in fact I think its the last thing they need. What I love about this band is that I can put my own little thoughts as to what the song is about without being told by the lyrics, it makes me think more and my thoughts change everytime - in my opinion this band is perfect at what it does.

OK Streetlight Manifesto has finally finished downloading so we can now get down to business. Now the only 'ska' I've experienced is what the internet calls ska-punk and that makes me think of Less Than Jake, which makes me sad. Also there's Madness of course, I like Madness but they're a bit cheesy. I won't let these two bands cloud my judgement however. I'm actually very excited to be listening to this band.

The first thing that I have to say about this album is that its a lot of fun, bouncy and wholly original. I love the combination of horns and what we call your standard rock instruments, I'm really surprised by how well it works and all fits together. I feel that this is due to Streetlight just being fantastic musicians and I admire them for having the vision to make this kind of music. Another brilliant factor is that this sounds like a genuine genre rather than just a gimmick, which was my major problem with Skindred.

I've found the album to be very consistent, perhaps a bit too consistent as many of the songs sound incredibly similar. Despite this I can't say that its boring at all, which confuses me as I've always considered songs sounding the same a massive let down and gotten quickly bored and I'm sure most of you will agree with me. But SM managed to keep me interested throughout and I find them just a very enjoyable band.

One small thing that I'm not a fan of is the lead vocalist. While I don't mind him I think they could do with one who's somewhat less gravely. His voice seemed to grate on me after a while but luckily I still have the music to enjoy. While I didn't find the lyrics bad or below average I still didn't find them to be the most attention grabbing but I still found that they go well with the music.

Overall this is a very good album that deserved the hype my fellow authors gave it after Reading and now. I was really impressed by the band's originality and musicianship and while I wasn't a big fan of the vocalist the positive aspects outweigh the negative. 4/5

65daysofstatic - The Fall of Math (Review: Ben)

If pushed to say what I feel is the most integral part of any band or album, I'd have to think hard before probably answering vocals or lyrics. For me, vocals are the icing on the cake and make something which could be a bit dull come to life and have so much more meaning and feel to it. All of my favourite bands have frontmen who are incredibly important to the sound of the band and without these frontmen I'm not sure I'd bother listening to the band anymore. Take Alex Turner away from Arctic Monkeys, Dave McPherson from InMe or Simon Neil from Biffy Clyro and you're left with just a small part of what that band were. So, trying to dispell preconceptions about music not containing any vocals, I was extremely interested to hear what 65daysofstatic had to offer with 'The Fall of Math'.

I had imagined that this would be the sort of album that would pass me by without leaving any real impression. That the sound would simply wash over me and leave me with a sense of unfulfilment and a lack of desire to listen again. I couldn't have been more wrong. The first two tracks left me feeling ignorant about my assumption that this album would be empty and devoid of any emotion. I was stunned at how powerful music can be within this genre without vocals. It felt almost as if 65DOS didn't have the distraction of vocals and so could focus fully on writing the best music they can. So many times I've listened to bands who have had so much focus on the frontman that the actual music is boring and generic and could be anyone else in the world. 65DOS avoid this by creating their own sound which is encapsulating in itself and stand on its own without the need for a vocal. Sure, they're not the greatest musicians in the world and if Matt Bellamy, Dave Grohl etc got together and did a similar project the results would probably be much more enjoyable, but something about the raw sound of 65DOS makes them different and appealing in a way I've not found in a band before.

Moving on with the actual album, 'Retreat! Retreat!' and 'Swallowed Hard Like I Understood' are both absolutely outstanding tracks. They showcase the bands full potential fantastically well and sound as if the band are just enjoying making music which in the right context and arena could potentially be epic. Other highlights include 'The Fall of Math' and 'Hole' and I'd go as far to say that there isn't a single track I'd regard as a 'filler' track on the album. For me there is nothing worse than buying an album from a band and there being 4 outstanding tracks and 6 or 7 tracks where the band just amble through a song and you can tell it was nowhere near them at their best. 65DOS have produced an album which starts out brilliantly and raises the bar with every song.

However, despite how good I think this album is musically, I can't help but wonder what they could be with a vocalist. Our ideology of 'rock' music - for want of a better term - is that you have a drummer, a bassist, one or two lead guitarists and a vocalist. Without one of these integral pieces, it will always feel like there is a vital piece of the puzzle missing and I can't seem to shake that desire to hear what 65daysofstatic could produce with a vocalist added to their sound. For that reason I'm going to score this album as 8.5/10 but I will definitely continue to listen to their stuff and hope to seem them live in the not so distant future as well.

Ben

The Ghost of a Thousand - New Hopes, New Demonstrations (Review: Dan)

I've always moaned about Ghost of a Thousand because I said they sounded like Gallows. Upon listening I've since learned that's not really true.
I'm torn with GOAT. Musically it's pretty good, it's fast, it's agressive and it's a good listen all the way through. Vocally it's a different story though. Tom Lacey has an unusual vocal style. His screaming is like a slightly less gravel-y and a higher-pitched Frank Carter (Gallows). In fact I'd say he's like the exact midpoint between Carter and Joel O'Keefe (Airbourne). Ocassionally on the record there are vocal parts that are sung. I'm curious as to whether or not this is the same man, because it sounds a lot like Morrissey...

Moved By Mountains, Dreamt of by the Sea is a great album opener; it displays exactly what to expect from the album. The energy throughout the album is maintained pretty much all the way through, and they're one of those bands you can tell would put on a good live show. They didn't do what most hardcore/post-hardcore bands do these days, which is have a load of fast songs, and then throw in a few softer, slower ones. It's almost as if it's the rule to do this (see Alexisonfire). Speaking of Alexisonfire, the guitar-work is very similar in the two bands, but where AOF can't seem to stick to one rythm, constantly slowing songs down, chucking solos about and doing the same with the vocals, GOAT succeed. GOAT keep things simple and consistent and it's effective in it's execution.

My only problem is that I found myself bored on the third listen. I've never liked the vocal style that GOAT have gone with, which was always going to be a problem. One of the main reasons I've enjoyed post-hardcore bands is because there is always a Dallas Green to keep me hooked. GOAT don't really offer me that, it's just a full-on assault from start to finish. NH,ND is a good album...I just don't really like it. Also, I don't know whether it's the fault of Matt's provided link or the production of the album but it doesn't sound very good. The vocals are much quieter than the music, and a lot of the time is sounds quite muffled. Canyons of Static also annoys me, as I'm sure you can guess from the title, they seem to have thrown some annoying static sounds in there, which does nothing but ruin the music.

This is the second album I'm going to give 3/5 to this week, because it's pretty mixed, but more good than it is bad. And I don't really like it...An interesting listen though, I'd certainly recommend it to fans of the genre.

Standout Tracks:
Moved as Moutains, Dreamt of by the Sea
Running on Empty
Fed to the Ocean

Dan

65daysofstatic - The Fall of Math (Review: Matt)

Imagine, if you will, a football team without a striker. Sure, they might have the best midfielders in the world and create beautiful attacking moves, but they just won’t ever score. They are lacking that cutting edge, and no matter how nice the football they play may be, they won’t ever win. I’m sure you can see what I’m getting at with this.

A quick glance at the Top 40 Singles and you will notice that the bands that make an appearance right now are Cobra Starship, Foo Fighters, Lostprophets, Kings of Leon and The Editors. One thing all of these bands have in common is a stand-out front man. Radiohead, Coldplay and the Arctic Monkeys are probably the three most successful British bands around right now, and in each of their case only the diehard fans know of anyone but the lead singers.

A front man gives a voice and face to the music, and I’m finding it extremely difficult to listen to a band without one. The music lacks direction, and whilst 65daysofstatic’s members aren’t awful musicians, they aren’t particularly outstanding either. I was expecting an industrial sound, and have no idea why. During the first track it seemed like I was going to get one, but it soon moves on to become mediocre rock that could, depending on the style of an added vocalist, pretty much be categorised as anything. Add a Thom Yorke and you’d have to call them alternative rock, add a screamer and they’d be called post-hardcore. But as it stands they are, well, nothing.

After earlier reviewing a band with a vocalist that demanded attention, I can treat this album with nothing other than contempt. It sounds unfinished, and does nothing to capture my imagination. I don’t think I’ll be delving into the murky waters of ‘rock music without vocals’ again.

I’m giving this album a stupendous 15%, solely because the first minute of Default This is quite nice.

Streetlight Manifesto - Somewhere In The Between (Review: Matt)

It was a miserable day in Reading when this band first caught my attention. I was busy eating lunch to the awful (and soon to be nonexistent) sound of Funeral for a Friend, when the skies opened and led me to run for cover. After spending about 10 minutes watching the rain, it was decided that this was a good opportunity to go and see a band we had not heard much about, but mainly for the purpose of taking cover. What I saw was amazing.

So with this in mind I had high expectations of this album, the most recent effort by the New Jersey outfit, and I was not to be disappointed. It would be fair to say that I’m not the most practised listener of Ska music, and prior to the addition of this album the only ska that I had experienced was Madness, but from what I can tell, this album must be a very good attempt at it.

I am, first and foremost, impressed by its originality. I’m unsure if this is due to my naivety on the genre, or if what the band has created is a unique sound, but either way I like it. Tomas Kalnoky’s vocals are delivered with passion, and his sound demands attention, but with so much else going on behind the vocals it’s hard to give him your undivided attention. With two wind instruments, two brass instruments, percussion, guitar and six vocalists, the sound Streetlight create is highly layered. For this reason alone the album requires multiple listens, and since ‘obtaining’ the album just 48 hours ago I have listened to it four times, which must be a record breaker for me.

With regret, there’s not really a lot more I can say. I was completely blown away by a truly stunning album, but with nothing to really compare it to there’s not much more I can comment on. I will go back and listen to the previous releases of Streetlight Manifesto, and probably spend a long time – its due “before the end of this decade” – looking forward to 99 Songs Of Revolution.

Thanks to Alex for introducing me to the absolutely brilliant sound of Streetlight Manifesto.

95% (likely to be improved once I have something to compare it to.)