Melissa Auf der Maur - Meet Me On The Dark Side

Melissa Auf der Maur - Meet Me On The Dark Side

Layered vocals lend an eerie air to the latest single from Melissa Auf der Maur’s second solo album. This ethereal rock track is well worth a listen and typical of Auf der Maur’s mature take on the genre. If you enjoy this, the rest of the album is definitely one to check out.

Listen here.

The Phoenix Foundation - Pot

The Phoenix Foundation - Pot

New Zealand band The Phoenix Foundation return with a new song from their forthcoming album, ‘Buffalo’. ‘Pot’ is a seemingly ordinary slice of folk pop along the lines of Mumford & Sons, with added handclaps. Halfway through, some interesting electronic bleeps kick in, elevating the song from an indie standard to something more innovative.

Check them out here.

The Concretes - WYWH

The Concretes - WYWH

The new album from The Concretes is a dreamy alt-pop affair, which slides into electronic territory at times. Although the press release describes this record as having “added disco shizzle”, that isn’t quite the case, as is evident from the first track. ‘Good Evening’ is a sumptuously spacey song, with delicate vocals. Disco really doesn’t show up at all, though there is a nice electro beat that makes an all-too fleeting appearance. The vocals may not be to everyone’s taste, remaining fairly monotonous throughout the album.

It is difficult to see how an eight-piece can produce quite pedestrian music. There are interesting ideas explored on WYWH, but the band members simply don’t push the boundaries enough. Tracks like ‘All Day’ are relaxingly pleasant pop songs but need an extra edginess to make them worth listening to. ‘What We’ve Become’ does this successfully, the funk-esque guitar chords contrasting perfectly with the bass line. Overall, WYWH is a fairly average record.

Check them out here.

My Chemical Romance - Na Na Na

My Chemical Romance - Na Na Na

The first single from My Chemical Romance’s fourth album is a complete change in direction, taking the relentlessly upbeat mood of songs such as ‘Dead’ and ‘Give ‘Em Hell Kid’ to the next level altogether. The catchy refrain repeated throughout the song makes this a perfect live anthem. Despite being a clear departure from the more pensive ‘The Black Parade’, this song already shows that My Chemical Romance are back on form and set to make an explosive return to the music scene.

Check them out here.

UBU Photosoc Scavenger Hunt

As a member of the UBU Photosoc committee, I had to take a group of members around Bristol to take pictures for 15 different categories, including "What is this?" and "Caught in the act". Here's a few shots I got of my team in action:





I photographed a Mooting Launch for Bristol Law Club earlier this week so I'll put some photos from that up soon. I am currently working on a roll of black and white which I hope to process myself, but that may take a while to appear. I've got a roll of Reala to develop. Goodness only knows what I took pictures of with that, since I started it back in the summer!

Orbital Comedy Night

Back at uni now, in terms of photography I have been rather busy with the UBU Photosoc Events Team, which I jointly manage along with Alex. Here's a couple of shots from a comedy night that Bristol Orbital hosted:


Event Compere Mark Olver


Rob Broderick of hip-hop stand up duo Abandoman

I have also been trying to improve my people photography, which is aided by some willing (and some not so willing...) subjects:

Joe


Jamie - I was trying out a Yashica flash (which came with my film camera) on my Canon. You can't adjust the intensity. This results in manically overexposed photos!

UBU Photosoc hosted a scavenger hunt last night, despite it being incredibly cold we had a good time and managed to get some interesting photos. Some of the themes we had to fit were "FLASH!", "The Most Permanent Thing In Bristol" (our submission was a photo of the old classic, Jason Donnervan) and "What Is This?" which resulted in some rather bizarre interpretations.

Paris

I've finally got round to sorting through my photographs from a family trip to Paris last month! I've still got a lot to go through, but I have started uploading them to Flickr. I didn't bother taking the 40D along, so they're all from Little Canon (Powershot A700) and unedited (mainly because that would take time, and they look fine as they are I reckon).


The sun was just about to set as we got to the Eiffel Tower. By the time we'd ascended to the top, the sun was setting and the views were amazing.


Some lights in a building at Disneyland Paris.

More here.

Funeral for a Friend - The Young and Defenceless EP

Review is up on Hype City.

Welsh rockers Funeral for a Friend return with an incendiary new EP, ‘The Young and Defenceless’, funded by fan contributions via PledgeMusic, a website which describes itself as “a collaboration between modern online marketing and old school music biz know how”. Fans were given the opportunity to ‘pledge’ for various Funeral for a Friend related delights, from a download of the new EP to the opportunity of recording gang vocals on an EP track. The limited edition EP is not going to be available in shops, so those who have not pledged have missed out. This is an incredible shame as these four songs build on the more mature sound of previous album ‘Memory and Humanity’, reintroducing the brutal edge that was present on debut ‘Casually Dressed & Deep in Conversation’.

The ethereal electro-infused introduction of ‘Serpents in Solitude’ quickly builds to an explosion of classic Funeral for a Friend riffage, the guitar line interweaving neatly with the vocals. Right from the first track it is evident that Matt Davies is at his best; an incredibly talented vocalist who has the capability to switch between styles while conveying just the right amount of emotion. ‘Vultures’ features a moody bassline and brutal drums, marking a contrast with the soaring chorus of this ode to the futility of life.

Stepping up the pace, ‘Damned If You Do, Dead If You Don’t’ hits the listener with more insane guitar-playing, reminiscent of B-side ‘Lazarus’, from the ‘Hours’ era, coupled with relentless drumming. Final track ‘Sixteen’ rounds off the EP nicely, with beautiful vocals that are supported by a melodious guitar line.

‘The Young and Defenceless’ is classic Funeral for a Friend; maintaining the band’s established sound and managing to be as fresh as breakthrough single ‘Juneau’ was back in 2003. It is a testament to the band members’ songwriting skills that they can come up with new music that is more or less guaranteed to appeal to existing fans. A new album is currently being recorded and if this EP is anything to go by, it will be another storming record worthy of a place in any rock fan’s collection.

Bournemouth Air Festival and !!!

Mikey's started a new online 'zine and my first review for it, of !!!'s Strange Weather, Isn't It?, is up here. Enjoy.

In photography news, I went to the Bournemouth Air Festival last month, with Alex, who had a lens that was way more appropriate for taking pictures of planes with than my 50mm! It was a fairly miserable day and we got rained on constantly. Some of the planes weren't able to fly due to the weather, which was a shame, but we did see some fantastic stuff. Here's a picture of a Breitling Wingwalker:



I had to borrow Alex's ridiculens to get decent photos. If you ever plan to take photos of planes, make sure you have a lens that goes to 100mm at the very least!



I still haven't got round to looking through my photos from Paris yet, which is rather lazy of me. I shall eventually!

Bristol International Balloon Fiesta and Grammatics

Bristol International Balloon Fiesta
Last week I was in Bristol for the Balloon Fiesta. We walked up to Ashton Court Estate on Thursday to see the Night Glow, which was pretty fantastic. I have to say that I think my photos taken during the walk up were more inspiring, though. We found a skip with an assortment of oddments in and Josh got out a pair of scales. Alex and I spotted a photo opportunity!



Here's a balloon picture:



More here.

Unfortunately the balloon flights were cancelled on a few occassions, but we didn't actually intend to head up to Ashton Court again since it was an hour long walk as Clifton Suspension Bridge is closed during at certain times during the festival.

Grammatics + The Heartbreaks + Kill Cassidy
On Saturday we headed to Start the Bus as Lis wanted to see Grammatics, since it was their farewell tour. I hadn't really listened to Grammatics before so I wasn't sure what to expect.

Kill Cassidy were really excellent; the whole band had a cohesive energy that was infectious. The violent nature of their music worked well in the small venue. Definitely a band to check out live.

As I was expecting more heavy punk-pop, The Heartbreaks were fairly disappointing. Generic, hipster indie rockers, The Heartbreaks' performance was mediocre at best. The drummer was incredibly over the top; it was as if he'd sucked all the energy out of the other band members, as they limply plodded through some uninspiring tracks. At one point the guitarist remarked it was a "tough crowd", which didn't help the atmosphere.

Finally, Grammatics took to the stage with a large dose of disillusionment. The bassist often made pessimistic comments, a detriment to those trying to enjoy the music. Some of the songs were phenomenal, while others weren't nearly as enjoyable. The cello seemed superfluous on a few tracks, but really added a lot to the performance on some of the songs. Vocalist Owen Brinley's somewhat theatrical demeanour added extra zeal to his delivery, which was hampered by the fact the band were crammed onto a tiny stage while the support acts had performed on the dance floor. Grammatics were really quite phenomenal at times, and a more discerning view when choosing the set list would have helped.

Overall ratings:
Kill Cassidy - 7/10
The Heartbreaks - 4/10
Grammatics - 7/10

London & New Lens Photos

Hallo again, I've just got round to processing the photos from the London photowalk I did last month with Sarah, her sister Anna and Lara.

Here's a generic taster:


We did an awful lot more walking than picture taking, but you can see more pictures I've taken in London here.

This next one is some roses in my garden, taken with my 50mm f/1.8. It's a nice lens, especially in low light, and does bokeh magic. Erm.



I was back in Bristol for a (long) weekend and we headed up to the Bristol Balloon Fiesta so I'm going to hurry up and process those soon!

A New Mission Review: 3 Colours Red - Revolt

3 Colours Red - Revolt
Revolt was the second album from UK rock trio 3 Colours Red. It was released over ten years ago and takes the frame of a standard rock record and raises it a level; a number of tracks are tempered with beautiful strings. "This Is My Time" is a modern classic, commencing with a quiet verse, swelling in volume to the epic chorus. It is a shame that the band broke up at their peak, but they created this excellent record and it is worth a listen.

Final verdict: 7/10, not something essential to a record collection, but well worth checking out.

Listen to them here.

More about A New Mission.