Nick Harrison – Oi Rude Boy

Heavily influenced by the sound of ska, Nick Harrison is a solo artist from Folkestone, and ‘Oi Rude Boy’ his debut single. A very chilled out, relaxing track to listen to; ‘Oi Rude Boy’ sounds incredibly refreshing, and it’s hard to listen to Nick Harrison’s fine sound without resisting the urge to dance.

There’s an indie edge about the vocals here, but both lyrically and instrumentally the ska sound is let loose, providing for a very entertaining piece of music that is incredibly enjoyable to listen to.

Nick Harrison is a mighty talented solo artist, and as ‘Oi Rude Boy’ is available for free download; I thoroughly suggest that you see about obtaining this one as soon as possible.

Download ‘Oi Rude Boy’ right now, and prepare to be impressed.

Label: A&M Records
Release Date: August 25th 2008

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Weezer – Troublemaker

The second single released from Weezer’s Red Album, ‘Troublemaker’ is perhaps one of the most repetitive pieces of music you’re ever likely to come across. Both vocally and instrumentally also there is very little variation here, and the track therefore becomes quite tiresome incredibly quickly.

Weezer has written some fantastic tracks throughout the years, ‘Troublemaker’ is certainly not one of them though, and this is by no means a shining example of Weezer’s finest work.

The guitar riff is fun at first, it soon grows old though, and the chorus just isn’t strong enough for me. In places the track has potential, it never quite bursts out of the blocks though, and ‘Troublemaker’ instead just plods along without ever really doing too much to please.

I’ve always had quite a fondness for simplistic songwriting skill of quirky Rivers Cuomo, what’s displayed here with ‘Troublemaker’ just doesn’t impress me though, and Weezer can quite frankly just do so much better than this.

Label: Geffen
Release Date: November 24th 2008

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The All-American Rejects – Gives You Hell

With Oklahoma’s All-American Rejects, you always know that bouncy pop rock is going to be guaranteed. The All-American Rejects has to date released three studio albums, and ever since the band burst onto the scene with ‘Swing, Swing’ back in 2003, always the music has had a lot to offer.

The All-American Rejects is most certainly a band that knows how to write a catchy pop song, and for pure singability, ‘Gives You Hell’ definitely doesn’t disappoint. The lyrics are a little dark, the track is sung out as sweetly as ever by the band’s lead vocalist Tyson Ritter though, and the fun nature of the music is just absolutely fantastic to find.

‘Gives You Hell’ is a strongly structured pop song, and whilst the band probably won’t win any awards for originality, as a piece of pop rock music the track works well, and the infectious nature of the music provides for a very entertaining overall listening experience.

If you’re a bit of a music snob then you probably won’t like ‘Gives You Hell’, if however you like light-hearted music that makes you smile, then there’s a strong probability that you’ll like what The All-American Rejects has to offer here.

‘Gives You Hell’ is a high quality piece of pop, and once again The All-American Rejects has pulled it off in putting to record a cheery sounding pop rock song which is fun to sing and dance along to.

Label: Polydor
Release Date: February 2nd 2009

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Rise Against – Audience of One

Rise Against really set the bar high with first three albums ‘The Unraveling’, ‘Revolutions per Minute’, and ‘Siren Song of the Counter Culture’. Putting to record some incredibly intelligent pieces of music; Rise Against won fans all around the world, impressing many with their finely worked material.

It’s a shame, but the band that was once full of passion, bite, and enthusiasm now seems a little limp. ‘Audience of One’ is an okay track, nothing hugely special though, and certainly not evidence of Rise Against at its very best. The songwriting just doesn’t seem to be of the same level as it once was; Tim McIlrath’s heart seemingly isn’t in it in the same way, and the track lacks fire.

With ‘Audience of One’ it sounds as though Rise Against isn’t enjoying creating music anymore, the life has been sucked out of the music, and the band just sounds a little bored with it all.

Hopefully Rise Against can bounce back from this, with time the passion will perhaps return, and maybe then the band will once more release an album that will blow all away that listen to it. On the evidence of ‘Audience of One’, Rise Against has hit a bad patch right now though, and one can only hope that the passion will return in the future.

Label: Interscope
Release Date: March 3rd 2009

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