Matrix and Futurebound - Universal Truth

Matrix and Futurebound – Universal Truth

In April, 2007, Drum and Bass artists Matrix and Futurebound collaborated to create a breathtaking electronic album. The album received small small-scale positive recognition; however, I personally believe this album was completely overlooked as the drum and bass classic it is.

Today, Matrix and Futurebound are still collaborating and creating tracks; most recently with names such as ‘Shanghai Surprise’ and ‘Reflection’, which have been moderately successful within the drum and bass scene. ‘Universal Truth’, in 2007, was an album of progressive drum and bass, with futuristic and ambient samples, placing the audience into an audible state of utopia; making the album superbly suited for summer road trips.

The opening track ‘Universal Truth’ builds up to an intense ride, before breaking into ‘Knite Riderz’ featuring MC Spyda, adding to the suitability of this album for anyone on the road. ‘Skyscraper’ and ‘All Born Angels’ set a clearly urban tone to the album, with the track titles, heavy bass and furthermore, the interestingly thoughtful lyrics by Mister Who through out ‘All Born Angels’. The middle set of tracks fail to displease with their less intense progressive sounds, however very deep melodic undertones. The American Beauty VIP gives the formerly emotionally deep track an electronic re-vamp, adding to the depth and indubitable valour of the album. ‘Coast to Coast’, the final track on the album really sets the tone and concludes the album perfectly. The final track ultimately ties up the album as a memorable journey through drum and bass, with this beautiful electronic track condoning the use of violins and futuristic samples in order to conclude in an up-beat and very satisfying manner.

‘Universal Truth’ is one of few electronic albums that are enjoyable from start to finish. The album has points of simplicity that constantly build up to classics of complexity. Matrix and Futurebound have created an undoubtedly creative album, of which I believe may be looked back on over the years.

Review by James Murray

The Ghost of a Thousand – New Hopes, New Demonstrations

The Ghost of a Thousand – New Hopes, New Demonstrations

The Ghost of a Thousand have produced an album that will leave previous fans in amazement, with an aggressive, dark follow up album to the debut ‘This is Where the Fight Begins’. With the position of this band, within the hardcore category, being noticed can be a problem; with The Gallows new album ‘Grey Britain’ arguably somewhat pushing other hardcore artists aside. Nevertheless, despite tough competition, previous fans will without a doubt be satisfied with the vibes of this fantastic new album.

The album has a really dark and heavy feel, as described by lead vocalist Tom Lacey; for the main part strong in sound and vocals from start to conclusion. In contrast, however, the mid-album track ‘Split the Atom’ slackens the intensity briefly, creating a melodic, although similarly sombre break from the action. The album has a heavier all round feel, however also offering a deeper, gloomier experience compared to the debut. The Opening track ‘Moved as Mountains…’ really sets the tone, with a spectacularly deep opening track, followed by the brilliant riffs of ‘Bright Lights’. The album finishes with an epic crafting of instrumentals, leaving the listener knowing well that they have reached the end of an intense, enjoyable journey.

The Ghost of a Thousand more than likely won’t receive the attention or the recognition that they deserve for this album, however, for those lucky enough to experience it, it’s highly probable that the listener will be left in a state of affection or hate.

Review by James Murray

Enter Shikari – Take To the Skies

With the release of ‘Take to the Skies’ in March 2007, Enter Shikari brought music listeners a combination of hardcore music, from both rock and electro music, in order to produce a post-hardcore, trance-esque album.

The album reached number 4 in the UK albums charts, selling over 60,000 copies, a great start for the debut album. The vocals throughout the album are based on a transition from heavier, hardcore vocals, to more melodic softer vocals, meanwhile the instrumentals follow the same pattern, with heavy riffs transcending into soft trance melodies such as throughout ‘Sorry You’re Not a Winner’. Critics argue that Roughton’s (Rou’s) vocals are ineffective, and that his scream voice, ‘of a better word, is terrible’.[1]My opinion on the vocals tend to be that Rou’s hardcore characteristics are strong enough to create a good track, however when used in collaboration with more melodic vocals tend to produce a more appealing overall product.

Enter Shikari receive a lot of positive feedback and recognition due to their live and festival performances: ‘Put it in on your stereo – loud – and it begins to come clear. But you probably need to picture the festival scene...’[2]. The beauty of Enter Shikari’s live performances is their diversity, which can be executed and displayed on stage. Pre – ‘Take to the Skies’ material was lacking some of the electro, synth based elements of the debut album; furthermore, the forthcoming follow up album ‘Common Dreads’ promises a fresh, although still highly energetic sound. When performing an array of material on-stage Enter Shikari seem to be able to create an entertaining up-beat atmosphere, sometimes unattainable with many bands of today. I’ll be able to judge for myself this summer, as they continue their UK tour and proceed towards this summer’s festivals.

Review by James Murray

[1]http://www.sputnikmusic.com/album.php?albumid=16837
[2]http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/jcp2/

The Presets - Apocalypso

The Presets – Apocalypso

Australian dance music is as big as ever at the moment, with bands like Cut Copy, Midnight Juggernauts and Pnau getting international recognition and success. The Presets; formed of Julian Hamilton and Kim Moyes have sold out shows across the globe, including some of the world’s biggest festivals.

In 2005 The Presets debut album ‘Beams’ was released, including songs such as ‘This Boy’s In Love’ and ‘Are You The One?’, with their electro-gothic undertones, bringing a taste of something truly unique to the table. The release of ‘Apocalypso’ in 2008 didn’t fail to impress, nor bring something new to the Australian electronic scene for the second time. The album has no ‘filler’ tracks; every track produced impeccably with a unique twist. The album opens with the gothic electro style somewhat familiar to ‘Beams’ with ‘Kicking and Screaming’, however, the album concludes with the euphoric trance track ‘Anywhere’, a classic that would get anybody moving towards the dance floor.

The lyrics are catchy and powerful; Hamilton’s voice is projected effectively in every song, cleanly, a sound familiar to that of Tom Smith’s strong vocals. Every song is crafted beautifully, whether it’s through the clean sound of Hamilton’s vocals or through choppy, fast paced samples. This album is highly entertaining and refreshing - certainly worth a lot of attention; hopefully The Presets will continue to create great music and gain the identity and attention they deserve.

Review By James Murray

Rage Against The Machine

Rage Against The Machine

Following the hype of generated by the 1991 release of the Rage Against The Machine demo tape, critics were preparing for big things from the band. They were not dissapointed.

Rage Against The Machine is 52 minutes of pure aggresion. A winning combination of Zach De La Rocha's politcal lyrics, Tom Morello's mix of traditional rock elements and experimental sounds, Tim Commerford's simplistic but effective bass lines and Brad Wilk's complimentary drumming all add to this highly acclaimed album's appeal; the album often appears in lists of 'albums to hear before you die, including Rolling Stone.

Every track offers something different and each add to the album's. The album kicks off with Bombtrack with Morello and Commerford playing riffs in unison, a common theme on the album. Killing In The Name, the first single from the album, is perhaps RATM's best known songs, featuring on Guitar Hero 2 amongst other things. Take The Power Back follows up, with some fantastic guitar work. Settle For Nothing shows the bands softer side for the most part, intertwined with bursts of De La Rocha screaming his lyrics with emotion and feeling. Bullet In The Head begins with Morello showing his full repetoir of effects for the first half, before becoming a hard rocker at half way. Know Your Enemy, with Maynard James Keenan of 'Tool' fame on vocals and Stephen Perkins from 'Jane's Addiction's on percussion during the bridge section, is possibly the most pungent indicator of the bands political motives, with the line "All of which are American dreams" repeated 8 times on the outro, even after the band has stopped. Wake Up, which was used in 'The Matrix', showcases more of Tom Morello's unorthodox techniques, the intro effect created by de-tuning and tuning his G-string (not a euphamism). The song is a direct criticism of the American governments dealing of the Vietnam War. Fistful Of Steel again shows Morello's mastery of different techniques and DJ-sound emulation. Township Rebellion characterises RATM's message with the repeated line "Fight the war, F**k the norm". The album closes with Freedom, with multiple tempo changes and an ending lengthened by the sound of the band trashing their instruments.

All in all, Rage Against The Machine paved the way for the bands success, although not much of it commercial. The 2008 comeback tour showed what a strong fan base they had built for themselves. The fact that they have only released 4 albums to date, including 1 cover album, adds to the standing of this album. The follow-up, Evil Empire, took 4 years to materialise after the release of Rage Against The Machine and the quality of the first only added to the anticipation of the second. For those who haven't given it a listen, you've missed a treat.

Review by medrummer

The Prodigy - Invaders Must Die

The Prodigy – Invaders Must Die

The Prodigy’s fifth and latest album ‘Invaders Must Die’ adequately targets a wide rave audience including the older listeners; with old school tracks such as ‘Take Me to The Hospital’ with a helium vocal breakdown, similarly to their 1992 hit, ‘Out of Space’. As well as targeting the older audience, the younger generation won’t be dissatisfied by the energetic fast-tempo sounds, riffs and drums throughout tracks such as ‘Omen’ and the drum and bass influenced ‘Warriors Dance’. With an influx of rave into the rock genre and an increasingly present influx of bands performing a rock-rave crossover such as Pendulum’s latest album In-Silico. With minor genres such as dubstep and drum and bass flourishing in numbers and popularity, it's no surprise that The Prodigy have followed the trend by pushing out the boundaries of electronic music.

The fifth album is certainly a mix of The Prodigy’s old-school roots, along with their rock tendencies and a clear, expansive use of electronic dance elements. It seems the band have got this album right, for all audiences. The album specifically references previous albums, with tracks such as ‘Thunder’, containing the reggae vocal familiar once again to ‘Out of Space’. ‘Piranha’, the penultimate album track brings something new to The Prodigy’s sound, with a rock riff containing sci-fi sound effects, similar to Pendulum’s most recent work. The closing track on the album, ‘Stand Up’, would be the perfect ending to any intense album, slowing down the tempo, introducing cheerful drums and trumpets to give the album a heroic finale.

The Prodigy have already savoured great success with ‘Invaders Must Die’, and all singles released as of present – they’re mid-way through a UK tour with very positive reception and are prepared to hit big UK festivals this year such as Download festival and Reading and Leeds.

Review by James Murray, Acid Nation

White Lies – To Lose My Life

Greatly acclaimed London band, White Lies, released their debut album ‘To Lose My Life’ on the 19^th earlier this month. Pressure may have been on the three-piece band, with high hopes and expectations due to much hype and media interest; but it must be expressed that this band has reached all expectations with a stunning debut album. Although the album sound in its self is not too original, with similarities to a Hot Fuss / Editors sound; McVeigh’s strong vocals along with a synth-rock mood and catchy choruses creates a powerful album. The dynamicity of McVeigh’s voice allows great expression of the at times rather grim yet powerful lyrics throughout the album – “let’s grow old together, and die at the same time” the dark lyrics throughout the album are a major asset to the album structure – building up to the vocal pinnacle of ‘Nothing to Give’ where the development of emotion within the lyrics are unleashed by McVeigh “But as you said goodbye, I almost died”.

Despite being labelled as unoriginal in their musical similarities to the Killers, White Lies surely have the potential of becoming a huge band in the UK and beyond. This summer’s UK festivals are seven months away and personally, I’d say a chance of White Lies being high up the list for some of the major festivals is a strong possibility. The album is certainly worth a purchase if you enjoy general indie, strong lyrics or 80’s influenced sounds especially, however, I would recommend this album to any audience. Brilliant.