Diamond in the Rough

I'm sitting in my Living room after wasting an evening watching "The Inbetweeners"(meh). Now, on the other hand, I'm enjoying the musical work of "Marina and the Diamonds".
The style of music is strange. Its a blend of interesting piano and string arrangements infused with an electronic feel and weird sounds. If you want to hear what I mean, you can check out the first single from the "Crown Jewels EP" here.
This isn't her first foray into singles, however, having released a single called "Obsessions/Mowgli's Road" earlier this year.

I came across this little gem(If you'll pardon the expression) while at home watching the NME tv station.
As Loathe as I am to watch/listen to the NME, I was very pleasantly surprised to come across "I am not a Robot" on TV. I was enthralled. Not just by the music video, but by the startling range of "Marina". Just so we're clear, Marina does not have a band called "The Diamonds". This is merely the stage name of Marina Diamandis, solo. Kinda like "Get Cape.Wear Cape.Fly.".

But getting back to my initial point...her range is amazing. She can hit incredibly classically high notes but then drop it by about an octave and a half. She is a great, great singer. I find she does suffer a little bit though in her ballads. While she can still sing, nothing wrong there, she just doesn't capture the attention the way she does during her more upbeat songs. Again, they're good songs, they just could be so much more.

Anyway, I hope that I've managed to introduce you to a new artist who will hopefully be around longer than all the other NME trendy wannabe musicians. I'm looking at you, arctic monkeys.

Her Album should be available later this year.

Modest Mouse, Excited Crowd

The Word on the street, my friends, is that Modest Mouse are playing Dolan's Warehouse in Limerick on December 5th of this year. This is more or less confirmed due to the myspace page of the supporting band "Frightened Rabbit"(Modest Mouse and Frightened Rabbit?). If you would like to verify this amazing news for yourself, you can find it here.


Now, I for one am extremely excited about this news as a long time fan of Modest Mouse. Tickets for the event are not on sale yet but as soon as they are I'm getting one! Modest Mouse are also playing in Galway and Dublin(Or so say the rumours), so if you can't get to Limerick then by the sounds of things its no big deal.

Modest Mouse saw their popularity rise with the release of their last album "We were Dead before the Ship even Sank" which featured the single "King Rat". This was helped by the fact that the music video for the aforementioned single was directed by the late Heath Ledger.
This was also a huge album for fans of The Smiths as the album featured the guitar work of Johnny Marr. Marr joined the band in 2006 and after the "Mouse" released the album "Ship" faded away again only to appear again in the Lineup of "The Cribs"(who?...I know).

So, Marr probably won't feature in the live show, but Fuck it. Modest Mouse are Legends. With classics like "Dashboard", "3rd Planet" and "Float On", you'd be a fool to pass up the opportunity to see these guys Live.

As soon as tickets go on sale I will let you guys know.

But I get mine first.

White Lies are Good Lies

A band that has caught my attention of late is the talented White Lies. Where they're from, I don't know, but its not essential to enjoy the music(Obviously). However, it would be interesting to know in order to decipher the musical background.
I'm going to take a guess and say that they're english. Influences I hear are The Smiths, Joy Division and the more recent Editors. If you like these bands its a safe bet that you'll like White Lies.
What made me sit up and take notice was the incredibly named radio single "Death". Now, I say incredibly named because...well, its not the kind of song title you'd normally expect a DJ to reach for. "And Next up we have DEATH!" Though that wouldn't be out of place on a death metal radio station who play alot of the band "Death"...But I digress...
The song "Death" is truly exceptional. Lyrically and musically. They make an extremely happy sounding song from extremely depressing subject matter. That is, contemplating mortality. The Chorus is Epic with the singer(Whose name I don't know) Cries out "This Fears' got a hold on Me!" while the chorus swells with major chords. Truly brilliant. Literally. If that sound was physical, it would be shiny.
Another song that caught me was "From the Stars". This song (and, indeed, the entire album come to that, which is unsurprising considering the influences I described previously) is thematically similar. It also deals with death but this song is different. It literally deals with death. the opening line is "I saw a friend that I once knew at a funeral, he took the time out to be seen". The heavy toms then kick in to keep a beat.
But these are just two tracks I have described. Throughout, the songwriting is superb. The lyrics create images that anyone with half an imagination can see. The music suits everything, creating suspense, building to a crescendo or just working unnoticed in the back while the lyrics work their magic. Awesome listening.
White Lies album "To Lose my Life" is recommended listening and is available now. If you can get your hands on a copy, DO IT!

What about 99 red ballons?

Currently, I'm listening to alot of Electro-pop.At least, thats what I call it. Mainly, I'm listening to a band called Freezepop(Who are excellent within the genre) and they call themselves "Synth-Pop".
Is this to distinguish their calibre of avant-garde esque electronic trickery from the likes of Lady Gaga?To be fair, if I were in their shoes I would probably do the same.
Thats not to say that I don't appreciate that type of Electro-pop. I do like a tune or two from Gaga, Iglu and Hartly and, guiltily, the odd Ashlee Simpson song(In her electronic phase). As a result of this saturation of non-instrumentalism, I've started moving back through the annals of music history to uncover the Fine Young Cannibals(Of "She Drives me Crazy" fame), Don Henley("Who composed the wonderful "Boys of Summer") and Depeche Mode.
Does anyone think that Daft Punk would qualify to be under the Electro(Synth?) pop heading? Or would they be the accursed "Dance" or "Techno"?
Personally I think that Daft Punk are far too musically gifted. Commonly, they use real instruments midi'd directly into a sounddesk to create alot of samples and patches for their songs. That means that the guitar and drums you would hear on the likes of "Aerodynamic" or indeed "Robot Rock" are actual guitar and drums played by the french duo themselves. True Musicianship.
Also, If it has struck you as odd that I've decided to discuss music at random, there is a simple response. I've decided to turn this blog into a "Music, Art and Cinema" Blog (As if there wasn't enough). This means that I'll hopefully have far more to blog about in the near future. I've recently attained the new Muse album and will review shortly. Movies...I'll be going from classics up to modern day, I don't discriminate. Art, will mainly be "Street-art" and photography. It still counts.

So yeah. New Format, new subject (Thats far more interesting than the previous subject) and I might look into a new name/layout. But I don;t imagone the name getting cleverer than the current.