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.)

Nine Inch Nails - Pretty Hate Machine (Review: Dan)

OK, Where to start with this album? It was produced in 1989 so obviously the production isn't really close to that of more recent releases. I also think the chief hit the nail on the head when he said you can tell it was made in the 80s. It has a really funk-y sound underneath the typical Nine Inch Nails industrial style.

For a debut release it's impressive, and it's a great taster of what was to come from Trent Reznor. Pretty Hate Machine has some pretty good tracks on it, such as 'Something I Can Never Have' which I think is a really emotional and at times an angry song, but at the same time one of, if not the slowest songs on the record. There are a few songs which I don't really like, such as Terrible Lie, which I find irritating. This is mostly down to Reznor's vocal performance, which has never been NIN's strongest feature, but in a few songs on PHM I find it intolerable.

I think my favourite thing about this album is that it grabbed the attention of the music audience of it's generation, and ultimately lead to the creation of The Downward Spiral, which is one hundred times better than this. And the fact that he made this in his spare time as a Janitor at a recording studio makes it a bit more impressive.

Pretty Hate Machine is a mixed bag for me. It has a few songs which have gone into my Nine Inch Nails playlist, but it also has a lot of songs that don't have as much of an impact like most tracks on TDS do. Overall I'm going to give Pretty Hate Machine a 3/5. I think it's a nice debut album, and I'm sure if I was alive when this was released I'd appreciate it a lot more. However, it's just about the last Nine Inch Nails album I've heard, and all the others feel like such an improvement. I'd also like to point out that this is one of the worst album covers ever. Still, it's miles ahead of Radiohead's 'The Bends'.

Standout Tracks:
Down In It
Something I Can Never Have
Sin

Dan

Streetlight Manifesto - Somewhere In The Between (2007)

I'm not sure if anyone has listened to this yet, but after Funeral For A Friend's sound fucked up at Reading this year, this band seemed to get a good response. Watching this band at Reading was one of the most fun moments I had all weekend, and hopefully this album will explain why. Streetlight Manifesto are one of the leading bands in the Ska-Punk genre. I realise the phrase 'Ska-Punk' is liable to immediately put people off. With it comes connotations of 15 year old girls with dreadlocks trying desperately to reject every convention society has put in front of them - including music which sells well, based largely on the fact that it's popular. But this album displays none of that: it's really just a bit cheeky (for lack of a better word) and I hope you all enjoy it.

Alex x

Biffy Clyro - Blackened Sky (2002)

I was always planning to put this album before AlbumSwap's untimely demis and so thought it only right to do so now that is has been re-born. 'Blackened Sky' is Biffy's debut album and has a much more raw sound to it than more recent offerings 'Puzzle' and the soon to be released 'Only Revolutions'. It's got some of my favourite Biffy tracks on it including the incredible '57' and it set the foundations for one of the best rock bands around at the moment in my opinion. Everyone seemed to enjoy 'Puzzle' so hopefully this gets a similar reaction.

"Joy. Discovery. Invention" – 3:38
"27" – 3:27
"Justboy" – 4:22
"Kill the Old, Torture Their Young" – 6:12
"The Go-Slow" – 3:59
"Christopher's River" – 4:09
"Convex, Concave" – 4:28
"57" – 3:21
"Hero Management" – 4:46
"Solution Devices" – 3:18
"Stress on the Sky" – 4:14
"Scary Mary" (Simon Neil/Martin Scott) - 3:05

The Ghost of a Thousand - New Hopes, New Demonstrations (2009)

The Ghost of a Thousand are a band that fellow ASer MattJ first introduced me to after the release of their debut album, and I absolutely loved them. This album really sees them mature in my opinion, and the glowing reviews it received seem to agree with me. They were the first real band I saw at Reading Festival and what a start it proved to be, easily one of the finest bands I've ever seen live. Tom Lacey is an immense frontman, both live and on the album, and inspires the belief that you can be cool despite being a lanky ginger weirdo. I'm optimistic about this one, and hope you all enjoy it as much as I did, and still do.

You can download it here: http://rapidshare.com/files/239190969/The_Ghost_Of_A_Thousand-New_Hopes_New_Demonstrations-2009-ApoLLo.rar

Nine Inch Nails - Pretty Hate Machine (1989)

This is an album which I know Dan has been waiting to hear and I'm very pleased to finally get it up here. This is without a doubt NIN's most agressive album and Reznor's anger and angst are clear from the start. It is also his most raw album and the production is not as good it is on later releases but still I think this adds to the general feel of the album. Another thing I'd like to say about PHM is that you can definitely tell that it was made in the 80s - take from that what you will. Anyway I hope you all enjoy this becuase I know I certainly did.

1. "Head Like a Hole" 4:59
2. "Terrible Lie" 4:38
3. "Down in It" 3:46
4. "Sanctified" 5:48
5. "Something I Can Never Have" 5:54
6. "Kinda I Want To" 4:33
7. "Sin" 4:06
8. "That's What I Get" 4:30
9. "The Only Time" 4:47
10. "Ringfinger" 5:40

Have a lovely link because I'm nice like that:
http://rapidshare.com/files/18355771/Nine_Incha_Nails_-_Pretty_Hate_Machine.rar

65daysofstatic - The Fall of Math (2004)

It's good to be back doing AlbumSwap. I've got plenty of new albums to post up for all of you, but for the first week I'm going to post the 65daysofstatic debut album. I'd never heard of 65days until Reading this year when Matt asked if anyone would go and watch them with him. Alex and I took up the offer, and it is fair to say that all of us were blown away by the performance. 65days are a Post-Rock band, and they make a lot of interesting noises that no band in my itunes library offers me. So to me, The Fall of Math is a genius record. By listening, you can tell they are incredible in a live environment, and I think this album will certainly be good for myself, Matt and Alex as we are seeing them later in November. Hopefully some more of you will enjoy the album and buy a ticket and come with us - you wouldn't regret it!

Track Listing:
[1]Another Code Against the Gone
[2]Install a Break in the Heart that Clucks Time in Arabic
[3]Retreat! Retreat!
[4]Default This
[5]I Swallowed Hard, Like I Understood
[6]The Fall of Math
[7]This Cat is a Landmine
[8]The Last Home Recording
[9]Hole
[10]Fix the Sky a Little
[11]Aren't We Running?

Download it Here: http://rapidshare.com/files/164182183/_2004__The_Fall_Of_Math.rar

Dan

Back up in this motherfucker

Hello, me and Dan have decided that its about time we brought back the greatest blog ever known to man. With most of our members scattered across the country I thought AS would be a good way of keeping in touch with everyone and start sharing our(my) immense music with not only each other but with our eager reader.
I will be e-mailing all our old authors to see if they are up for it and if we can get everyone back then we'll all get together and decide on how to run things. But to kick things off Dan and I are going to out up an album each just to get the ball rolling. Enjoy, I know you all will.

Matt

Albumswap Over

As I'm sure you've noticed, Albumswap has died. Matt and I would like to thank everyone for their input, and it was good while it lasted.

For anyone interested, though, Matt and I have started a new blog. In the new blog, we will be reviewing any music that we choose too, and by reviewing it we are recommending it to others. This way, people are not being forced to listen to albums. The new blog is called Ear Blinks. It can be found here
Ear Blinks will feature reviews on any album that an author wants to review, and will also contain live reviews and music news.

If anyone would like to be an author on the new blog, and contribute to the site, then drop me or Matt message and we'll sort it out.
This defeats the 'only 4 people get to post an album and everyone has to review it all in a week' problem we had on this site. Now, authors can choose to review what they want, when they want, hopefully providing a constant stream of posts.

Thanks again, and hopefully we'll see you over at Ear Blinks.