The Weakerthans – Reunion Tour
The Weakerthans are a Canadian four-piece Indie Rock band with elements of both Punk and Folk also present in their sound. The band actually formed in 1997, and over the past ten years have come out with three albums including this latest effort ‘Reunion Tour’. Their 2003 release ‘Reconstruction Site’ is perhaps their best album to date, however none of the three could by any means be considered to be at all bad. Signed to Epitaph Records, it is no surprise that The Weakerthans have had the success that they have done, and they fully deserve the fan base that they have built up for themselves over the years. Although by no means massive, the bands intelligent and introspective lyrics have proven to be more than enough to win over countless crowds of people throughout their ten year history.
‘Reunion Tour’ gets off to a start with an interesting little number in the form of ‘Civil Twilight’. The track opens the album well and has you eagerly wishing to listen on and see what the band has to provide you with in this latest album. There is something strangely hypnotic about this one, and the more times I have listened to it the more I have begun to appreciate and enjoy listening to it. It is a track that I have liked ever since the first listen, but as time has gone by have found myself listening back to ‘Civil Twilight’ increasingly more so; a definite grower of a track. This could actually be said about the album as a whole, as even if you don’t ‘get’ it the first time you listen, the chances are that by the third or forth time of listening the album will have you well and truly hooked. From ‘Civil Twilight’, the band progress on well and move into the fantastic track ‘Hymn of the Medical Oddity’, the track I would consider to be the best of the album. Right from the opening guitar riff this one had me hooked, and as the vocals begin and drums start beating the track grows and flourishes into something really rather special. It is perhaps one of the best Indie tracks I have heard all year actually; one I would rank amongst other favourite tracks of mine of the sort such as Death Cab For Cutie’s ‘Sound Of Settling’, and Spoon’s ‘The Way We Get By’.
As the album progresses, The Weakerthans more than prove their worth and come forth with a number of decent offerings that provide some great listening enjoyment such as the skilfully executed ‘Tournament Of Hearts’, and the ever exciting ‘Night Windows’. Both tracks are perfectly structured pop tracks oozing with appeal, laden with huge guitar hooks and the most meticulous of choruses. Unfortunately however, the vast majority of this album is distinctly lacking in stand out tracks and for the most part meanders along and never really leaves much of a lasting impression. Most of the eleven tracks are really quite forgettable, and although ‘Reunion Tour’ can provide you with the perfect background sound to relax and de stress yourself, the majority of the tracks are likely merely to wash over you. Having said this, the band do provide more than enough entertainment on this record to keep your full attention throughout the duration of the listen and is therefore by no means a failure. It may be true that it is lacking in excitement, but it’s certainly not a bad album and will most likely put a smile on the face of the majority of its listeners at one stage or another.
A bad thing about The Weakerthans I have always found is that after a while, the singers voice really begins to grate on me. I do not find this if I listen to tracks singularly, however when I listen to the bands albums as a whole, the voice of front man John Samson can get thoroughly irritating. I’m not too sure what it is about the man’s vocals, but the only way I can think to put it is that the sound of his voice is at times reminiscent of Tom Green in ‘Road Trip’ during his performance of the ‘Tiny Salmon’ song. If you’re not sure what I mean there then I suggest perhaps that you look it up on YouTube or somewhere like that, then you’ll get a general idea of where I’m coming from. The vocals can sound strained, and at times even comical. The lyrics are always intelligently written, however the way that they are pulled off vocally is not always so strong.
Although this latest album from The Weakerthans breaks no new ground, it is still not a bad album. The harsh reality of it all however is that it’s just not as good as their previous offerings. Whilst the music the band are creating is still tender and heartfelt, it lacks that immediacy it possessed in previous albums. Newcomers to the band will surely be impressed with what they find here, however long term fans are likely to be left disappointed. Unfortunately for the band, in this album The Weakerthans can at times comes across as the perfect band for the OC soundtrack; uninspired Indie stalwarts. The tracks often sound ‘nice’, however often definitely border on bland. This album is certainly not their best, however I still feel that it is still worth a listen. If you’ve not listened to The Weakerthans before then the chances are that you’ll perhaps be quite impressed with what you find here as in truth it is a pretty decent Indie album, but when you’ve been spoilt by hearing their first two albums; ‘Reunion Tour’ just doesn’t compare.
Label: Epitaph
Release Date: 29th October 2007
Rating:
Enter Shikari – The Zone
Having formed in the suburban area of St. Albans back in 2003, Enter Shikari are one of the most hard working UK bands in existence. To date the band have performed well over 650 live shows, and characterised by their bricolage of glow sticks and mosh pits are a joy to behold. In the November of 2006, Enter Shikari became the second unsigned band in history to have played a sold out show at the London Astoria; the first band to have achieved this having been The Darkness. Enter Shikari have achieved great success for themselves over the past 12 months and they need not thank anyone for that but themselves. For their hard work and dedication Enter Shikari were approached by a number of large record companies, however turned down these offers and their début album ‘Take To The Skies’ was thus released through their own Ambush Reality label, and once more they have chosen to release their material themselves with this Mini Album ‘The Zone’. Comprising of eight tracks this is basically a collection of B-Sides and Rarities from the band and although their album has sold over 100 000 copies to date and has therefore been certified ‘Gold’, this latest release from Enter Shikari is unlikely to achieve anywhere near this amount of success.
Kicking off with ‘The Feast (demo)’, if you’re a fan of the band listening to this one then even at this early stage you’ll already be beginning to pose the question as to what exactly the band are playing at in releasing this Mini-Album. The quality of this track is astoundingly poor, the drums in particular being extremely badly recorded and providing a sound that is tinny and distant. It’s not a promising start to the CD whatsoever, and as the Mini Album progresses things just seem to go from bad to worse. Three of the tracks here are Demo’s so are obviously not going to be exceptionally well recorded, whilst another is from a BBC Live Session with Zane Lowe which has not been pulled off particularly well, one is a poorly executed remix, and the remaining four are all B-Side’s that should rightly have remained so. Together these eight tracks seem to offer up a recipe for disaster, a sure fire compilation of eight tracks that were never truly destined to be packaged together and sold.
It’s difficult to draw positives from a CD of tracks that basically never cut the mustard in the first place. One track I do feel faired well in its outing here however is the Mini Album’s seventh track ‘Mothership’. Originally released in August 2006 as a download only single, the track impressed me back then and still impresses now. It is a finely crafted song, however even the inclusion of this track on the release is really of little use or appeal to fans of the band given that the track was finely tuned and properly mastered for inclusion on their ‘Take To The Skies’ album. A re-issue of a Demo track we’ve since been provided with a finished version of is as far as I’m concerned entirely unnecessary, even for the most hardcore of Enter Shikari fans (the majority of whom will most likely have downloaded the Demo when it was digitally released anyway).
I hate to say it, but ‘The Zone’ for me seems to serve no other purpose other than to make a few extra pounds by putting out a release that never should have happened. Usually this would be the point where I’d point the finger at the major label for cashing in on a band and trying to squeeze as much out of them as possible, however given that the band themselves are the ones that own and run their record label; there is no one to blame here other than Enter Shikari themselves. I did not see this release coming from the band, nor do I feel that fans of theirs should humour them in purchasing this scrappy mess of a Mini Album. At a price of £4.99; ‘The Zone’ is grossly overpriced for what it is and is a CD I strongly suggest you avoid the purchase of. By all means however check out the bands ‘Take To The Skies’ album as it is a terrifically strong release and I am sure that you will be impressed with what you will find there. There is currently no talk of an album number two in the woodwork, but mark my words; if and when it does indeed surface for release, I can guarantee that it will make for a highly explosive listening experience.
Label: Ambush Reality
Release Date: 12th November 2007
Rating:
The Hives – The Black and White Album
It had been three years since we last heard new material from The Hives having released their critically acclaimed ‘Tyrannosaurus Hives’ album back in 2004, however the band are now back with a bang and have released a brand new studio album in the form of ‘The Black and White Album’. Whereas in the past, the tracks that the band have put on their albums has been the only material written – this time around The Hives chose to take a different approach, coming up with a large number of tracks and then narrowing it down to those they deemed to be the best of the bunch. They have thus come up with fifteen tracks which together make up ‘The Black and White Album’, and I have to say that in doing so they have come up with their best album yet.
Kicking off with ‘Tick Tick Boom’, the sound here is extremely familiar and it is clear that the band are in no rush to change their style in the slightest. I for one am glad to hear it; I’ve been a massive fan of The Hives music since first hearing their ‘Your new Favourite Band’ album back in 2001, and it seems that as time goes by they are continually growing in strength and stature. Having said that the sound is very much what we’ve come accustom to hearing from The Hives, there are in fact some interesting little surprises encased in this album also. Eight track ‘T.H.E.H.I.V.E.S.’ for instance was produced by Pharrell Williams and his influence is extremely apparent here. The track is fun and funky, with a large amount of slap bass protruding through. It works extremely well at the albums centre point, breaking the record up nicely with a welcomed change of pace.
Fans of the band will no doubt be massively impressed with what they hear in this latest album from The Hives; it has everything that you want and expect from a Hives record and more. Every single one of the fifteen tracks here are infectiously catchy and massively memorable. Tracks such as ‘Fall Is Just Something Grown-Ups Invented’ and ‘You Got It All… Wrong’ shine through massively so, speeding past in typical Hives style and leaving you with a huge smile across your face. At no point in this album do the band fail to impress and even on track ‘Giddy Up!’ which I wasn’t massively keen on the sound of; the band redeem themselves with some amusing sexually charged lyrics.
With lyrics such as “We rule the world, this is our world”, it is at times hard to tell whether they’ve got tongue firmly in cheek, or whether they truly do think so much of themselves. I’ve never taken such lyrics seriously however, and for me it is all just fun and games on their behalf. The music is high octane fun, and the tracks are pulled off with a great deal of skill and are of strong profession. There is never a dull moment with The Hives and their music will always order your full undivided attention.
Having travelled the globe in order to record this album with a number of different producers such as Dennis Herring, Pharrell Williams, and Garret ‘Jacknife’ Lee; it is clear that The Hives have come up trumps here, and all contributing parties have thus contributed to the bands best album yet. I’m not so sure that the band possess a great enough deal of diversity to become ‘Your New Favourite Band’, however they are certainly good at what they do and pull off their brand of garage rock with an apparent ease. Having been around since 1993; I can see a few more years left in this band yet, and although it could quite fairly be argued that The Hives are merely one trick ponies, their one trick is certainly a good one. They have never been the most original of bands, however their music is catchy as hell and it is this that makes them stand out from the pack. ‘The Black and White Album’ is without a doubt the bands strongest release to date, and is one that I recommend all to give a listen to.
Label: Polydor
Release Date: 15th October 2007
Rating:
