TRACK OF THE DAY: Wolf Alice "Giant Peach"

After endless stunning singles and EPs, Wolf Alice are releasing their debut album ‘My Love Is Cool’ at last on June 22^nd.

With a tracklist graced by the band’s classics such as the garage cascade of ‘Fluffy’, the winsome ‘Bros’ and their new feral single, ‘Giant Peach’. They even released a 500-copy limited edition 7’’ for ‘Giant Peach’ to celebrate the new chapter of ‘My Love Is Cool’, including a B-side of the stunning ‘I Saw You (In A Corridor)’. It was snapped up very quickly, selling out in a couple of days – we’ll hear about that later on!

The new track ‘Giant Peach’ flares with abrasive energy from the first second of the long, fuzzy intro; of course in true Wolf Alice fashion, the energy stays at peak level and never dips once. Frontwoman Ellie Rowsell screams rebellion and defiance in her lyrics “I don’t tell lies no more, you know, I just don’t tell the truth” with layers of echoes and sultry whispers. It then quickly drops to a lingering bassline as Roswell delivers a crescendo of desperation, “what the hell keeps me here?”. The tension cracks suddenly into grungy, psychedelic twangs from guitarist Joff Oddie as Rowsell repetitively moans “I’m dark and pretty down” until she bursts into a snarling scream and the track continues into a feral whirlpool of distortion and raunchy riffs.

The video for the track is a sight to behold itself; being a tongue-in-cheek approach with Tony Gardner as the bands absolutely crap tour manager at the centrefold. It features sleaze, gyrating, smashed bottles and a murder as Ellie Rowsell explains:

“Here we are trying out our questionable acting skills once again. It’s almost a sequel to our video ‘Fluffy’ and a look into the future of Wolf Alice – featuring lots of leather, hip thrusting, murder and a very naughty manager. Special thank you to Tony Gardner for being a hero.”

‘I Saw You (In A Corridor)’ follows on the ‘Giant Peach’ vinyl as a B-side; however it reduces to a bare yet beautiful minimum of Rowsell’s dulcetly touching vocals, a metronome and an acoustic guitar. It’s a complete juxtaposition to the previous hurricane with a simple, stunningly mellifluous waterfall of hope in lyrics such as “I should tell you I adore you” and “I want nothing more, nothing different”.

‘Giant Peach’ seems to be highly reminiscent of The Joy Formidable’s ‘A Heavy Abacus’ and has tones of Brighton rock duo Blood Red Shoes. The London four-piece start their 14-date UK headline tour on Monday, starting in Glasgow and finishing in Cambridge; clearly 2015 is brimming with hope for Wolf Alice so watch this space.

TRACK OF THE DAY: Wolf Alice "Giant Peach"

LIVE REVIEW: Muse - Manchester Academy - 22/03/2015

I last saw Muse in 2010 at Wembley Stadium from about 500 feet away alongside 90,000 other people, with Lilly Allen as a support act.

That’s when I realised: stadium gigs just aren’t for me. I’m just not okay with waiting around outside a venue an entire day in advance just to guarantee any kind of decent view. If I’m honest, I struggle to patiently wait for a microwave meal. That’s not to mention the worst punishment of arriving fashionably late – watching the entire performance via a big screen TV. Should I just have waited until the live DVD came out? The entire occasion only leaves you questioning your own integrity when you later tell people that you’ve ‘seen’ Muse.

But having learned my lesson after seeing Muse at Wembley Stadium (well, it could have been anyone considering how far away I was) I jumped at the chance to see them minus the binoculars at the otherwise cosy Manchester Academy. This was easily up there as one of the best decisions of my life, only second to the time that two chocolate bars came out of the vending machine at once. Yes readers, my life is rather blessed.

As Muse entered the stage and exploded into the monstrous riffs of ‘Psycho’, it became immediately clear that my ass was now property of Matt Bellamy (something which I don’t have any particular objections to). With Chris Wolstenholme‘s bass lit up like a Christmas tree and Dominic Howard slamming the skins as though he was still in Wembley Stadium, Muse’s setlist hosted a selection of tracks that gave even the most die-hard of Muse fans a run for their money.

In a move almost as unexpected as Kanye West headlining Glastonbury, Muse threw the ‘The Groove’ into the ring, a rare b-side that hasn’t had been played live since 2008. With circle pits now in full swing, the phenomenal classic ‘Bliss’ followed alongside massive confetti-filled-balloons which rebounded off the ceiling of Manchester Academy. Matt Bellamy of course couldn’t resist demolishing a few balloons himself with the headstock of his guitar, right before bursting into ‘Dead Star’, a track plucked straight from 2002. Nostalgia quickly leapt into the year 2003 (a year when wearing a tracksuit out in public was not only acceptable, but fashionable) as ‘Time Is Running Out’, ‘Interlude’, ‘Hysteria’ and ‘Stockholm Syndrome’ were consecutively ripped straight out of ‘Absolution’.

Fan favourite ‘Hyper Music’ was followed by the futuristic refrains of ‘Starlight’, ‘Supermassive Black Hole’ and ‘Uprising’, successfully cramming all the intensity of Wembley Stadium into a 2,600 person venue. After introducing Manchester to the exhilarating ‘Reapers’ from forthcoming album ‘Drones‘, Muse parted the stage before returning with the underdog anthem that is ‘Fury’.

After a journey back in time courtesy of the legendary ‘Plug In Baby’, complete with frantic improvised guitar solos, Chris Wolstenholme’s spooky harmonica intro of Ennio Morricone’s ‘Man With A Harmonica’ marked the beginning of the end. Muse finally pulled the trigger with the explosive refrains of ‘Knights Of Cydonia‘ that went out with several bangs.

It was a rare pleasure to see Muse up close and personal, without the gratuitous lighting, effects and bizarre floating UFOs to distract from their offensively epic musicianship. Heavily armed with an arsenal of songs from past and present, Muse demonstrated that even without their usual bag of tricks, they undoubtedly pack a punch that you won’t soon forget.

Muse’s setlist at Manchester Academy:

1. 
   
   Psycho
   
   


2. 
   
   The Groove (First full performance since 2004)
   
   


3. 
   
   Bliss (w/ Hullaballoons; Extended)
   
   


4. 
   
   Dead Star (Killing In The Name outro + Riff outro)
   
   


5. 
   
   Time Is Running Out (Jeff Buckley’s Grace intro;… more )
   
   


6. 
   
   Interlude
   
   


7. 
   
   Hysteria
   
   


8. 
   
   Stockholm Syndrome (Micro Cuts Outro)
   
   


9. 
   
   Hyper Music (Come on you Reds/Voodoo Child riff outro)
   
   


10. 
    
    Starlight
    
    


11. 
    
    Supermassive Black Hole (Burning Bridges intro)
    
    


12. 
    
    Uprising (Extended outro)
    
    


13. 
    
    Reapers
    
    


14. 
    
    Fury
    
    


15. 
    
    Plug In Baby
    
    


16. 
    
    Knights of Cydonia (Ennio Morricone’s Man With a Harmonica Intro)
    
    

LIVE REVIEW: Muse - Manchester Academy - 22/03/2015

TRACK OF THE DAY: Muse "Dead Inside"

Having only just recovered from seeing Muse live at Manchester Academy, Muse unveiled ‘Dead Inside‘, a track that has more twists and turns than your average helter-skelter.

Matt Bellamy describes this track as “where the story of the album begins, where the protagonist loses hope and becomes ‘Dead Inside’, therefore vulnerable to the dark forces introduced in ‘Psycho‘”. Whilst I may need to assume the crash position upon hearing the phrase ‘concept album’, I’ve undoubtedly succumb to the dark forces of ‘Dead Inside’ already.

Sporting a beat that initially sounds like a HAIM record, robotic bass and Matt Bellamy’s vocal acrobatics are all that’s needed to drive this hard hitting, musical wake-up call. With a wailing guitar interlude right after the first chorus, ‘Dead Inside’ takes no prisoners in its clinical execution.

With an outro more uplifting than a Wonderbra, Matt Bellamy’s voice soars over a flurry of frantic guitar chords, clean basslines and relentless percussion. With Matt Bellamy promising that our protagonist will be “defecting, revolting and overcoming these dark forces later in the story”, it’s difficult to not to wonder what lies ahead on ‘Drones‘. If ‘Dead Inside’ is anything to go by, I think they might just pull it off.

TRACK OF THE DAY: Muse "Dead Inside"

Bloc Party working on fifth album & preview new track "Exes"

In an interview with Australian radio station Triple J, Kele Okereke confirmed that Bloc Party are working onto their currently untitled fifth studio album, and shared an acoustic preview of new track ‘Exes’. Listen here.

Kele Okereke is currently touring his sophomore solo album trick in Australia, but revealed that Bloc Party are currently at the “writing/recording phase” with “about 18 ideas” for potential songs that will be recorded over the next few months.

“It’s sounding like nothing that I think we’ve ever done before… but that’s what everyone always says! We’ve always been fans of lots of different sorts of things and I feel that maybe in the past we tried to recreate kind of… different, separate worlds or sounds. I feel that this record is an evolution of where we were. So far, there’s nothing really that I can compare it to really, in terms of other musicians, where as in the past I always could… we were always trying to reference something else. I feel that this is very much our own record.”


Listen to Kele Okereke’s short acoustic preview of new track ‘Exes’ below:

TRACK OF THE DAY: Tame Impala "Let It Happen"

In the early rise of 2015, Tame Impala announced the release of their muchly-anticipated new album; after the psychedelic hurricane that was 2012’s ‘Lonerism’.

With ‘Lonerism’ featuring tracks such as the hungover, baggy vibes of ‘Mind Mischief’ and the anthemic watercolour splashes of ‘Feels Like We Only Go Backwards’, the new release has something to live up to. Yet as always, the Aussie outfit have pulled it out of the bag with the waterfall meraki that is ‘Let It Happen’.

Not long ago, the band’s Keyboardist Jay Watson stated that the new album will be “less rock and more electronic’” it’s certainly clear in ‘Let It Happen’ that this is the case. With the distinctive lack of lead guitar yet charming charisma of crescendoing synths and the old other-worldly vocoder, the track is an absolute success. There comes flair alongside a band that can strip away any complexity and fill 8 minutes with orphic yet kaleidoscopic simplicity. The Aussie outfit have sprung back with a track that showcases what is thought to be a gateway into a new platform for Tame Impala. ‘Let It Happen’ seems to be their attempt to flaunt a simple taster of what’s yet to be developed and if this is only the introduction, I wonder what the climax is going to be!

The band has a reputation for eleutheromania; they want freedom and diffidence in their work hence the song’s motif “let it happen, just let it happen”. They seek out some sort of natural solitude that beckons you in with a breeze, only to be graced with the aroma of pine and pure earth. ‘Let It Happen’ is almost cosmic and seemingly unadulterated, peaceful isolation. As Parker croons “all this running around, trying to cover my shadow”, the lyrics seem to speak of a need for independency and finding happiness in spending time alone; it’s a topic that I don’t believe is pushed enough, hence why bands alike Tame Impala seem to strive when we look for our more adventurous side.

Laced in 1960’s/1970’s psychedelic-rock revivalism, ‘Let It Happen’ is sure to be a luxurious detox of a crowd-pleaser at future UK dates such as End of the Road Fest, Bestival and the (sadly) few dates scattered in Liverpool and Glasgow. Hopefully we’ll hear more of the new album in the near future – how about a full UK tour soon, eh?

TRACK OF THE DAY: Tame Impala "Let It Happen"

LISTEN: Sleeping With Sirens "Better Off Dead"

Ahead of the release of their fourth forthcoming studio album, Sleeping with Sirens have unveiled the storming track ‘Better Off Dead‘.

Sleeping With Siren’s latest track ‘Better Off Dead’ features on their forthcoming album ‘Madness’, released in the UK on March the 16th. The UK leg of their world tour with Pierce The Veil commences on the 29th of March, 2015 at Norwich UEA LCR.

• March 29th – Norwich LCR UEA


• March 30th – Portsmouth Guildhall


• March 31st – Bristol O2 Academy


• April 2nd – Manchester Academy


• April 3rd – Leeds O2 Academy


• April 4th – Glasgow O2 Academy


• April 6th – Newcastle O2 Academy


• April 7th – Nottingham Rock City


• April 8th – Birmingham O2 Academy


• April 10th – London Kentish Town Forum


• April 11th – London Kentish Town Forum

LISTEN: Sleeping With Sirens "Better Off Dead"