Ok, I know I missed the boat on this one too but I've been listening to another album over and over for the last few weeks, it's called "Feed The Animals" by "Girl Talk" and I think it rules!
Feed The Animals is the fourth album from Pittsburgh, PA's Gregg Gillis under the name Girl Talk and it's a sample-fest of the highest order! Think Osymyso's classic Intro Inspection (or Intro Expansion series) vs ColdCut's seminal 70 Minutes of Madness. With everything from Avril Lavigne and Big Country to Rod Steweart and everything in between! Roughly centring around hip-hop most of the mix has that kind of feel, but the beats range from 80's cheese and disco right up to the latest pop hits. This mixtape is a great example of sampling and how to generate "flow" in a cut and paste style mix, it manages to blend a huge number of in some cases just the tinyest snippets of tunes into one, without feeling choppy or overly disparate, a great example of how a mix can be more than just the sum of it's parts.
Interestingly Girl Talk have done "the Radiohead thing" and released the album on a name-your-price principal, but the difference is the more you pay the more you get, so whilst you can have 320kbps MP3's for free (or pay whatever you like), if you pay $5 you can have it in high quality FLAC glory, make it a tenner and you get it on CD and as one file too. I think this is a great way of releasing music and I highly recommend you head over to http://www.illegalart.net to have a listen, right now!
Click Here for the YouTube original.
Hey hey, you you!
I know my last post was about the Jyrojets single "Dead On Arrival" and that I'm a couple of days late with the review, which in itself isn't as comprehensive as I'd have liked due to time constraints... but... the self titled album that they took that excellent single is out on download NOW (and physical media next week), and I suggest you check it out!
Putting the music aside for a minute I'm a big fan of what the band have done with their album release, sure, you can buy it on iTunes, where it'll count for the charts and yadda yadda but you can also buy it direct from the band, and here's the clever bit, in DRM-FREE high-quality (192kbps) MP3 format! Good on you guys. I'm a big fan of digital music, but not a great fan of DRM. It's good to see a band trusting their audience and embracing fair use with a proper commercial release.
The album itself is a mix of catchy guitar driven indie pop and I really like it. Given the nature of the record it's hard not to draw parallels with other artists, I'm sure the band hate being compared to fellow Scots the Fratellis but I gonna do it anyway. I don't know if there's a big scene up in Scotland making this same style of tune, but there are tunes here that certainly wouldn't be out of place at a Fratellis gig. One other obvious comparison is to the Stereophonics, back when they were really good. The gruff "I gargle gravel for breakfast every morning" vocals on "Holywood Hold On" (a great anthemic rock moment) and "Favourite Thing About Jane" really do it for me.
That's far from all the Jyrojets offer though, there's some great poppy tunes here, I found myself singing along to "All The Rage", "Rocksinger" and "Sandcastle Girl" even after just a few listens! "Wishing You Well" shows a more mellow side of the band but I can just see the light show going from dim backfill into blinding the crowd for that chorus. A little reminiscent of The Departure "Little Sister" is a great rock tune complete with feedback, crashing intro and an excellent singalong chorus.
This is the first new album for a while that's stayed in my CD changer for more than a few days and I can honestly say I've had it in the car since I got it a few weeks ago and it seems to get better and better.
A great album, and even better considering it's a début, this record has the kind of depth you don't expect from an upcoming band and shows that Jyrojets clearly offer a lot more for the future.
As I posted last time they've got a MySpace and a Bebo and their official site contains loads of information, audio, video and information on how to buy both this album and their previous releases
available at http://www.jyrojets.com
Jyrojets - Favourite Thing About Jane
Click Here for the YouTube original.
We're out drinking it the citaaaayyyy!!
I've just been tipped off about another new release that took my fancy, this Monday the Inverness band "Jyrojets" will release their third single "Dead on Arrival" on Songphonic records.
I think this is a great tune!
With a great guitar riff, a proper singalong chorus and the best use of reverse delay I've heard for a while they've spent the past couple of years touring the world with shows as diverse as Moscow, SXSW in Austin TX, Radio1 sessions and even a slot at Rockness, I strongly encourage you to check them out as I think they're gonna be big very soon!
Their debut album follows on the 16th June (review coming soon) but for now you'll have to cope with downloading the single from 7 Digital or iTunes.
As ever they've got a MySpace and a Bebo and their official site contains loads of information, audio, video and information on how to buy their previous releases available at http://www.jyrojets.com
Jyrojets - Dead on Arrival
Click Here for the YouTube original.
... but I'm paranoid
A bunch of us went to The Jam House in Birmingham last night for Paul from work's birthday.
Guest list entries and excellent door staff (enforcing their reasonably smart dress code) whisked us straight past the queue and into the downstairs bar, a refreshing change to see Labbatts on sale in stead of the ubiquitous Carling, along with a great selection of Spirits, Wines and Champagne.
Split on three levels the Jam House is in some ways a strange venue, from the entrance on St Peters Square you enter straight into the quiet(er) bar, with a few high tables and a bit of dancing room. The middle level houses the large stage and a spacious dance floor, along with quite a number of tables arranged in rows. A flight of stairs leads up to the third floor restaurant, with it's excellent views of the performers.
We spent most of our evening on the busy middle level dance floor with the knowledgable crowd, I got the impression The Jam House is not an easy venue to play as a performer, with a crowd ranging from those who have seen and done it all to wide eye'd teenagers going to their first proper venue. First on was a piano and drum duo who were just finishing up their set as we arrived, the applause from the crowd led me to believe they were probably very good!
The main act were house band, Up With The Down Stroke, who were excellent and the DJ playing in between the band's sets was reasonable. Disco classics and floor fillers to get the punters in the mood for the band's return to the stage. My only real comment on the band was that although the musicianship was excellent and they were impressively tight the sound sometimes came across as a little muddy and busy, this I think was partly due to the fact they sported no less than four lead singers, all of whom were excellent, although maybe a little more separation between them may have helped them smooth the overall sound. Nevertheless their snappy rhythm section and soulfull sound made for an enjoyable evening, in great surroundings, with great people.
A slightly more 'grown up' change from the usual 'clubbing in town' night out and an excellent one at that, a really enjoyable night, well recommended.
