PackFM - WhatduzFMstand4? (Review: Ben)

It all sounds the same.

OK, so after two quite negative reviews last week, I was determined that this week would be different. If you happen to have seen my review of Cunninlynguists on AlbumSwap (Chief's favourite review ever, I might add) you'll already be aware that I don't really care for rap or hip-hop in general but that I found an exception with that album. Having said that, for some reason I still had the same assumption about this album, that it would not be to my tastes, especially after Matt said it had 'a more mainstream sound'. Somehow this preconception seems to be a recurring theme in my reaction to anything in the rap/hip-hop genre. Most of the time I hate being proved wrong, especially with music, but something about this album made me hope to be drastically wrong and love it.

As with Cunninlynguists, I'd heard snippets of this album coming from the brother's room but never really taken an interest. So, into the content of the album we go. 'The Fuck' is a fantastic opener. It has such a good beat to it and it's lively, something which I tend to find absent from mainstream acts in this genre. Instantly I remembered what it was that I loved so much about Cunninlynguists: the production. I absolutely love the notion of taking the best parts of other songs and sampling them into something totally different and it just always seems to fit so well in this album in particular. 'I Can't Win' is an equally addictive track and I started to find myself really enjoying the tracks on this album at this point. The chorus is brilliant and sums up everything that I love in this genre perfectly.

I found the spray can noises in 'Click Clack & Spray' a little bit annoying but that doesn't detract from what is also a very good song. I don't think this album is as thought provoking lyrically as Cunninlynguists but it still has some real meaning to it, again something I find missing from hip-hop as a whole. 'Lessons' is one of my favourite songs on the album as it has an incredibly good beat and I can actually feel myself nodding along to it. Lyrically it's also a very nice track and I just enjoy listening to it. Whilst not really enjoying casual racism in music (I think it's ridiculous and overused to the point where it doesn't mean anything anymore) I found 'N*gga Pass' really funny and for the first time found myself enjoying an interlude on an album so well played PackFM.

'Stomp' is for me the standout track on the album and sounds like it could be absolutely huge in the mainstream. The production on it is absolutely immense and it's just a brilliant song which I'll definitely be playing over and over again for a long time. Other highlights include 'Free-Esta' again due it's fantastic production and the amazing 'Token Love Song'. I felt that the album tailed off a little towards the end but that didn't really seem to matter when the strength of the rest of the album was such that I couldn't wait to listen again.

I can't really write too much more other than a track by track review as I just feel I'm reiterating points already made in my Cunninlynguists review but this album has once again proved me so badly wrong and apparently I'm actually really into underground rap and hip-hop. I can't really give this album anything other than 5/5 when it's made such an impact that I'm going to seek out more artists from this genre in the near future and I can't wait to hear more from PackFM.

PackFM - whutduzFMstand4? (2006)

PackFM is a Hip-Hop artist on the QN5 label, which brought us past Album Swap success in the shape of Cunninlynguists. PackFM has a much more mainstream sound than most other underground artists and this album is extremely well produced. I hope you treat it with an open mind, and I warn you in advanced that 'all the tracks sound the same' wont cut it here, because they don't. Enjoy, fellas.
Let me know if you need a link, I am currently uploading it as I can't find it anywhere but its taking ages.
Edit:

http://rapidshare.com/files/302380454/whatdoesfmstandfor.rar

Kyuss - Blues for the Red Sun (1992)

Don't judge the genre name, I didn't choose it.

I enjoy this album greatly, I have no idea how I came to hearing this album but at first I decided it was nothing special. Then I listened to it again while very bored and realised that it was a really good, kick-ass album. I think the strongest point of this album are the riffs which I find to be catchy and hard hitting. The songs are a bit long, but like Tool they manage to keep me interested regardless. Also, here's an interesting fact, this is the band that later became Queens of the Stoneage, though they sound nothing like their latest efforts and are really just a million times better.

Enjoy,

the link is still to come, I'm not on my laptop

EDIT: Here we go:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=DMVEC2L1

Biffy Clyro - Blackened Sky (Review: Dan)

It's better than I thought actually.

OK, Blackened Sky is a more raw Biffy, like Ben said (although at the time I didn't really understand what he meant by that. I guess you have to listen to it). Musically it's pretty good, songs like "Convex, Concave" and "Justboy" are really, really powerful tracks.

The thing is with this album, it isn't as good as Puzzle, but it's so similar. Blackened Sky feels like the planning for Puzzle. It's like, they know what they can achieve so they've set out to make the best album possible. But they haven't. Simply because they aren't good enough yet. Listening to this feels like stepping into a time machine, and then if you listen to Puzzle you can see what they were trying to do here. That's not to say this isn't good - it's great. If I listened to this in 2003 when I was meant to I'd love it, it's only due to the fact that I've heard the band that they became that this falls short of the mark. There are even songs where I think "Ooh this sounds like 'Get fucked stud' or whatever".

Simon Neil's voice is also pretty poor on the album, but then again it's never been marvellous. There isn't a lot I can say about the album that isn't just a comparison with this one and Puzzle, and that's starting to frustrate me, so I'll close with this:
Blackened Sky is a great album, and it shows the potential Biffy Clyro had. In 2003. It's got plenty of really good tracks, but doesn't seem particularly relevent now.
3/5

Highlights:
Joy. Discovery. Invention
Convex, Concave
Scary Mary

Dan

Little fun fact I noticed: In all of my reviews for this weeks albums, I complained about the vocals. The album I posted didn't have any vocals.

Rise Against - The Sufferer and the Witness (2006)

Rise Against are one of those bands that a lot of people have heard of but have often not taken the time to actually listen to despite them having 3 very good albums. The Sufferer and the Witness is in my opinion the best of their albums and once you get past the strong political messages it has some incredibly good songs, notably 'Injection', 'Prayer of the Refugee' and 'Drones'. Me and Dan are going to see them at the end of November and I know Jiffy loved them at Reading in the summer so hopefully the rest of you can enjoy this album too.

Ben

Download it: http://rapidshare.com/files/221603498/T-S-A-T-W.rar

Noah and the Whale - The First Days of Spring (2009)

Noah and the Whale are best known for their (s)hit single "5 years time" from their debut album. Knowing this song alone, I intended to go and watch and mock their performance at this year's Reading Festival. When I got there this was a totally different story. I was there alone, and it was amazing. They aren't the band I thought they were at all. They played a very mellow set, and completely excluded their poppy single(s).

When I got back from the festival I went out and purchased their brand new album (this one). I got home and listened to it, and it's an absolutely beatiful album. It's really mellow and fantastic to relax to. Elliott is the only other person who's listened to it and he loves it also. So consider this a double recommendation.

To this day I've still never heard the album that spawned "5 years Time" and I don't intend to. I'm perfectly content. Enjoy, I'm now going to review Biffy Clyro as no one else did last week :(

Download it: http://rapidshare.com/files/275291574/NhTWhl_TFrstDysOfSping.zip

Billy Talent - Live at Brixton Academy (Live Review: Dan)

Last night I saw Billy Talent for the 4th time, and this was the first time it was one of their headline shows.
After a few mess ups on my part regarding the train tickets we eventually arrived at Brixton Academy as the doors were opened. We got in and headed down towards the front, past the mental rail in the middle of the dreadful sloped floor. Pretty soon Canterbury took to the stage. Matt and I have seen this band before, playing somewhere with All Forgotten. I had forgotten how young they all are, I'd probably say they are all around 17 or 18 years old. I think for them to be playing infront of a crowd at Brixton is fantastic at their age, and I felt a little bit jealous. Canterbury actuall put on a really decent show. They weren't brilliant performers but they played their songs well. In any case, it was a nice start to the show.

We were then greeted by the most awful human being on earth. He was probably about 16, but he was pretty big. A lot taller than I am, and pretty chunky too. He was wearing an iron maiden jacket with no sleeves, on top of a black tank top. He already looked like a loser, but it wasn't before Cancer Bats came on stage that he sealed his position as worst person ever.
Speaking of Cancer Bats, they're pretty awful people too. The guitarist looked like a Viking, and the singer was just awful. He had a horrible speaking voice and an even worse "singing" voice. He also had a shit haircut. It's essentially just a mohawk...but not glued. His presence reminded me of Bert McCracken of the Used, in that he was very greasy and slimy.
In terms of their music, I hated it. But I reckon they were probably quite good. I bet their fans loved it, and their wanker of a frontman actually looked like he did his job quite well. The worst person ever, mentioned earlier, liked them though. In support of this he kept raising his fist in the air. That's when it hit us; the stench. Everytime he raised his arm he unleashed the worst B.O smell ever. I think I almost collapsed at one point. I also decided to watch him for a while when he ran like an excited child (which I suppose he sort of was) into a mosh pit. He was throwing his weight around and just bouncing off people. At a point, someone fell down. He looked really angry when people were helping the guy up, and his face said 'why are you helping him? the aim is to kill him'. But anyway, Cancer Bats got through their set and we moved away from him.

After a fairly drawn out moment while we waited for the main event, Billy Talent emerged from backstage. They eased into The Dead Can't Testify from the new album. I thought this was a poor choice for an opening song, simply because it's pretty new and it isn't a single, so there weren't a huge number of fans familiar with it. Then they went straight into Devil in a Midnight Mass, which should have been their opener. The crowd were loving it, and at this point the show really began. Their set is full of brilliant songs, and I forget every time I think about them just how many good songs they have. It was a set full of energy and frontman Ben loves the crowd. Highlight of the show is new single Devil on My Shoulder, which was one of the best live songs I've ever seen. After they end the show on popular single Red Flag, everyone slowly emerges from the venue, with a big grin.
Eventually we made it home. Then my car broke.
A solid 4/5 evening.

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

I have a huge problem with the post-hardcore genre as a whole. I'm yet to find anything original in the genre and find that a lot of bands seem to go with Alexisonfire's patented format of screaming over the top of a heavy riff and just making general noise. Exit Ten are probably the only post-hardcore band that I enjoy and the rest I tend to just clump together as repetitive and boring. However, I'd hoped that after Matt's recommendation, GOAT would offer me the creativity and inventiveness that I think does exist somewhere within post-hardcore music.

I've listened to the album 3 times through now, and I honestly couldn't remember a single song standing out and making me think much more than 'that was ok'. This is my frustration with post-hardcore music. I don't hate it at all - musically I think this album is quite good - but I almost can't seem to make myself care about the album. It all just seems to blend into one wall of noise and aggression. I'm all for screaming and aggressive vocals and music (Machine Head are one of my favourite bands) but this seems to be aggression without any real purpose or point to it.

I can imagine that live there would be a brilliant energy about GOAT. Their music is lively and hard-hitting enough to make people sit-up and take notice but it struggles to hold my attention for more than a few songs. In terms of the actual content of the album, my favourite track was probably 'Canyons of Static' as it had an ever-so slightly different sound to the rest of the album. Having said that, tracks 9-11 could be equally different but I'd lost a lot of interest by this point.

I can't really find too much more to say about this album other than that I didn't really enjoy it and found it quite hard to listen to. I think that perhaps I need to accept that post-hardcore bands will never be to my taste and am going to rate this album as 1.5/5.

Someone please review Biffy :)

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

My previous experience of Ska music is non-existent and other than a quick 10 minute viewing at Reading '09, I'd never heard of Streetlight Manifesto. Their live performance was fun, for want of a better word but I didn't really feel compelled to go and listen to them on record. Anyway, this is what albumswap is all about and so lets see what Somewhere in the Between has to offer.

The first track grabbed me instantly with its' catchy chorus and almost addictive brass music. It was bouncy and enjoyable as a standalone track but whilst enjoying it, I was quietly hoping that the album would have a change of pace and direction somewhere in order to keep me listening.

Tracks 2 and 3 evoked similar feelings to the opener but by the end of 'Watch it Crash' I felt like I'd heard everything Streetlight Manifesto had to offer and was starting to become a bit bored by their sound. I actually though 'Watch it Crash' was the best track on the album and again was a very good song in its' own right, but in amongst a whole album of similar tracks it all just seems to blend into one. I think this is the main issue with Ska music and why it's never been as big as perhaps it should have been. There's simply no diversity in the music and it can all sound very 'samey'. It's a strange feeling as I like the fusion between brass instruments and rock music and even enjoy the music generally, I just don't think it has any longevity to it and I got bored with it extremely quickly.

My other problem with Streetlight Manifesto is the vocalist. It's been said in previous reviews and I can't help but re-iterate what an awful sound this man is making. As I said in my 65DOS review, I love a good frontman but this man's gravelly voice does nothing for me and I actuallly think it detracts from some very good songs.

As a whole, I'm going to give Streetlight Manifesto 2.5/5. I did find the album fun but the novelty wore off much too quickly and I thought it was highly evident as to why Streetlight Manifesto and Ska music as a whole will never be successful.

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