New (rather whiny) Dashboard Confessional cover...

I learned this song at the start of uni, it's pretty fun to sing but I'm suffering from an unknown illness (which is refusing to be cured by antibiotics) so the vocals are kinda whiny. Oh well. Have a listen here.

Some (very brief) mini reviews...

I've been catching up on reading Rock Sound, scoured the new music section for some likely looking artists; here's the verdict:

On Off Switch: female-fronted synth-rock. This is edgy pop, reminiscent of Cobra Starship.

Goodtime Boys: high-energy visceral hardcore punk, with some insane guitarwork and equally epic drumming. This is absolutely wonderful stuff, if you're a fan of Gallows, The Ghost of a Thousand or anything like that then this is definitely one to check out.

Wounds: Interesting, heavy sounds, but the vocals on one track are a bit too droney and don't really tie in well with the music. The vocals on the other track are more expressive and work really well.

(I need to stop using hyphenated words quite so much...)

In terms of photos, I've finished processing all the night walk photos and gradually adding these to Flickr. Here's a couple:



More here.

A Selection of Recent Work

Quick update: Not been doing much on the music review front, due to exams (which I got the results for last week, ended my first year of uni with a 1st, somehow!)

Music
I've been on a bit of a Britney/Alexisonfire splurge. Curious mix, but Britney's self-titled album is packed with excellent pop tunes. Alexisonfire are an incredibly skilled band, it's quite enlightening to see how their sound has developed over the years. I've just ordered a copy of vocalist Dallas Green's album, under the name City and Colour. It should be good. I've had the City and Colour track "Confessions" on repeat a lot too, beautiful stuff.

Photos
I have been processing piles of photos in the past week; I've still got a couple of hundred to finish off, but here are a few shots from the last three months or so...

Night Walk with Alex

This is back from the start of summer term; I wanted a light painted shot of the word "PLAY" for Helicon, the uni arts magazine (the theme for the issue was 'play') so Alex and I went on a wander around Bristol. I was pleased with this shot in particular since it's got all three of the lights on, achieved with a long exposure.

Photosoc Tea Social

I was just sitting and musing with a cup of tea when I caught a glimpse of Matt through Alex's glasses. Not very well executed; perhaps I'll follow it up with something properly staged at some point.

Visit to Bath

Visited Bath for half a day. It rained on us. Luckily we were able to seek refuge in a coffee shop, but we had a look around the Abbey and it was phenomenal.

Durdhambury

A lot of my coursemates were at Durdham Hall and they had a festival a couple of weeks ago. This is a shot of Jon from Null Pointer Exception. If I'm honest I think it's just his awesome hairstyle that makes the shot.

Photo Walk featuring Tom Sturdy

Alex and I organised another night walk, which was unfortunately poorly attended. We took Tom (a non-photographer) along with us and played around with lighting arrangements. This particular shot was Alex's idea. Tom held a flash, providing the light on his face. To be fair, a torch would have been more ideal; this way we had to take a whole bunch of shots and hope one of them captured the moment the flash went off. Unfortunately Alex's shot vanished from his CF card and was unrecoverable, but I've still got mine, and here it is.

As always, many, many more photos up here

Ash at O2 Academy Bristol 30.04.10

I was intending to write a review of this gig, but unfortunately I have been fairly ill and had to get coursework extensions so I never got round to it. I was actually meant to be interviewing the band for Burst, but I had a huge pile of work to finish and was barely able to stand for a week, so I unfortunately was unable to do so. ):

Ash played a phenomenal amount of songs and the new tracks sound excellent live.
Here are some photos:





More: click.

I'm currently on a Reuben kick...just got through 'Very Fast Very Dangerous' and I've put 'In Nothing We Trust' (which for some reason isn't on Spotify) on now. I learnt 'Moving to Blackwater' on guitar, pretty fun to play. No idea how Jamie Lenman manages it singing at the same time though. Skills.

Four Year Strong - Wasting Time (Eternal Summer)

Four Year Strong – Wasting Time (Eternal Summer)

While it isn’t as heavy as some of the other songs on the latest Four Year Strong album, ‘Wasting Time’ is a momentum-filled pop punk anthem that has a strong melodic line. This incredibly catchy track is an excellent song for the summer.

Cancer Bats - Bears, Mayors, Scraps & Bones

Review is up on Intuition:
http://www.intuition-online.co.uk/article.php?id=1238

The Dillinger Escape Plan - Option Paralysis

Review is up on Intuition: Clicky click.

Foals - Spanish Sahara

Foals – Spanish Sahara

‘Spanish Saraha’ is a crescendoing whirl of abstract music, with a fresh atmosphere. Foals have paired beautiful electronic sounds with a gentle vocal line, which melts into a rougher guitar riff. While this may not be single material, it is a superb piece of music that has many layers of instrumentation.

I have also edited my photos from Lostprophets:

(Single decent shot of Sharks...sadly Kids In Glass Houses had mental lighting that my camera could not cope with, no pictures of them.)





More here!

LA Shark - A Weapon

LA Shark – A Weapon

‘A Weapon’ is a decent indie-pop single. Whilst the vocal technique isn’t brilliant, the group vocals meld with the 80s beats and throwback bass riff. The structure of the song is a bit random, with sudden loud sections, but this works quite well.

The B-side isn’t as enjoyable, featuring a strange accompaniment that sounds rather like and electronic harpsichord, which jars with the standard rock drumming. The vocals are a bit tuneless in places, which detracts from the fairly catchy refrain.

We Are Scientists, Ash and more...

Some new reviews...I do write these every week, so I'm going to make more effort to get links/text up on here.

Ash - War With Me
The keyboard introduction to this song is rather difficult to listen to,
sounding somewhat like an eight year old's attempt to play the
piano. The vocals seem a bit too languid and don't fit well with the
deep tones of the piano. The chorus is slightly more listenable that the
verse, with a laid back guitar riff that melds well with the vocals. It
seems that Ash would probably have been better off creating an album in
the conventional style, rather than rushing to record a collection of
sub-standard singles.

We Are Scientists - Rules Don't Stop
This is a funky, catchy track that shows the New York band haven't
dropped their game. It maintains the more relaxed atmosphere present on
second album Brain Thrust Mastery, but is as catchy as debut single Nobody
Move Nobody Get Hurt. Even after five years, We Are Scientists are
continuing to produce quality material.

And now some links to reviews I've written online in the past few weeks:
Straight Lines - Persistence In This Game
Owl City - Ocean Eyes

I went to see Errors on Saturday, they were absolutely phenomenal. The venue was a bit strange; the "stage" was absolutely tiny. It's one thing listening to their records at home, but they really excelled themselves live and it was great fun to watch.

I also (finally) saw Lostprophets last weekend, that was epic and wonderful, which is all I have to say about it. (:

Band Of Skulls – Baby Darling Doll Face Honey

Band Of Skulls – Baby Darling Doll Face Honey

Baby Darling Doll Face Honey is a laid back, retro-esque album which is a strong debut. Guitars are used well melodically, especially on the first track, ‘Light Of The Morning’, where the guitar line runs in parallel with the vocals. The jagged, bluesy timbre of the instrumentation adds character to the songs, turning them from folk music tunes into more expressive pop masterpieces. Highlights include ‘Patterns’ and ‘Blood’, which are both full of attitude. The combination of male and female vocals is something that makes this album stand out, especially on ‘I Know What I Am’, which is incredible catchy. While a few of the tracks are just pleasant background music, overall, this is a record that really captures the spirit of alternative rock music in an accessible way.

Hadouken! - For The Masses

I know it has been a while, but I have actually been writing all this time! Here is a review of the new Hadouken! album:

Hadouken – For The Masses
The latest offering from crossover band Hadouken! is quite simply not up to the same standard as debut Music For An Accelerated Culture. Album opener ‘Rebirth’ displays the band’s attempt to step up their game, including a choir and Prodigy-esque electronic tones. Unfortunately, this falls flat and sounds fairly hyperbolic. Having set the tone for the rest of the album, the songs that follow are incredibly repetitive and the lyrics lack any of the social cynicism that made Hadouken!’s debut stand out. The pedestrian nature of lyricist James Smith’s words meets the turgid instrumentation in an entirely underwhelming amalgamation.

While some of the tracks could pass for club music, when compared to older material such as first single ‘That Boy That Girl, they pale in comparison. The intelligence and social commentary that was a major part of the band’s older songs is clearly missing, with tracks like ‘Evil’ and ‘Mic Check’ merely sounding like attempts to emulate Dizzee Rascal. The youthful energy of the band is still there, with a darker, more atmospheric edge to many of the songs. Despite the lack of direction in the lyrics, the band members display technical competence and their effort should be admired. They may have improved as musicians, but is remains a shame that there is nothing with the same wit and tenacity of songs like ‘Liquid Lives’ to make For The Masses a record worth buying.


I also did a spot of gig photography last week:




Lots more here:
Clicky!