Monthly Archives: April 2013

Some bands follow me on Twitter…

 

And I finally got round to looking them all up. Here follows a quick summery of each band. I don’t necessarily like all of them but they might appeal to you so go check them out.

 

Dark Stares

www.darkstares.com

Facebook – Dark Stares

Twitter – @Dark_Stares

YouTube – Darkstares

Soundcloud – Dark Stares

A group from St. Albans, UK

The songs I’ve heard on their YouTube and Soundcloud pages are quite good with a fair bit of instrumental stuff. There are some live videos on the YouTube channel and they don’t seem too bad live. I’m not sure about the singer’s voice; it’s not bad but it would grate on me if I had to listen to it for too long.

The overall sound is not unlike ‘Queens of the Stone Age’.

 

 

Paper Tigers

Facebook – wearepapertigers

Twitter – @PaperTigersUK

YouTube – papertigersofficial

All their tracks are on Spotify, don’t get them confused with a Danish band of the same name who are also on Spotify and Facebook.

 

A group from Staffordshire, UK

They’re really good. I prefer them to Dark Stares. Their sound reminds me a bit of ‘Young Guns’, although I don’t like any of their songs as much as I like ‘Bones’. This band is competing for a place on the Red Bull stage at Download this year. If they win I wouldn’t object to going to see their set. I listened to their EP on Spotify and was quite impressed by it.

 

Avelyn

Facebook – Avelyn Band

YouTube – Avelyn Band

Their facebook page is in German, which isn’t surprising as this band is from Stuttgart in Germany, but I can’t read German so I have no idea what it says about them. I watched the videos they had on their YouTube channel instead. There were only two; the tracks weren’t bad but I don’t think I could listen to them all day.

 

Call Off The Search

Facebook – Call off the search

Twitter – @Calloffcalloff

http://calloffthesearch.bandcamp.com

Called it a day in February and went their separate ways, until recently when three of them got back together and formed

 

The Reason I Failed History

Facebook – The Reason I Failed History

http://thereasonifailedhistory.bandcamp.com

Described as ‘post-hardcore emo’ or as they so poetically put it in their Facebook genre description ‘Emo ya dad used to listen to’. They remind me a lot of really early My Chemical Romance, which isn’t exactly a surprise I suppose.

They’re alright.

 

Crash Midnight

Twitter – @CrashMidnight

www.crashmidnight.com

Describe themselves as ‘Boston’s bastard sons of rock and roll’.

I couldn’t actually listen to any of their music because their website is so awkward. Their debut album is supposed to be out this year; if it goes on Spotify I’ll try to listen to it.

 

Throw The Fight

Facebook – Throw The Fight

Twitter – @throwthefightMN

www.throwthefight.com

They also have Tumblr, Instagram etc, it’s all on their Facebook info page.

‘What doesn’t kill us’ (2012) and ‘The Vault’ (2013) are available on Spotify

These gentlemen describe what they do as metal-edged hard rock. They also have the most helpful Facebook page I’ve found so far. I listened to a few of the tracks from ‘What doesn’t kill us’ and all of ‘The Vault’ and I really like this band. They’re good. ‘Not so Hollywood’ is a very catchy tune; I can see what all the fuss on Twitter was about last summer. I think they sound very similar to Avenged Sevenfold.

 

Ready, Set, Fall!

Facebook – ready set fall

Twitter – @ReadySetFall

YouTube – readysetfallchannel

An ‘Alternative/Melodic Death Metal’ outfit from Genova, Italy.

Err, right, for a start I generally don’t go in for this end of the metal spectrum, I prefer songs to have more singing than shouting, but out of fairness I decided to give them a chance to prove me wrong about death metal and I listened to a few songs. Some of them were okay, but were all an awful lot like most of the genre that I’ve heard. If that’s your things, they might appeal. I’ll leave it to those with a greater knowledge of the genre to say whether they are any good or not.

 

Mercians

Facebook – wearemercians

Twitter – @mercians

www.wearemercians.com

www.reverbnation.com/mercians

YouTube – wearemercians (not to be confused with the Australian band also called Mercians – they sound quite different)

http://wearemercians.tumblr.com

 

 

A new addition to the list of my followers (I still can’t work out why people do that, I’m really not very interesting), this quintet formed last year in Staffordshire (so they really are from Mercia). They have all been in other bands. They describe the genre of their music as ‘Alternative rock, heavy rock, ambient rock’. They have an EP available for free download on their website until the beginning of May.

I listened to a couple of their tracks and they’re not bad at all. The tracks I heard on reverbnation were quite accomplished. The singer is capable and the rest of the band seems to know what they are about. The videos of their live performance in Birmingham last month on their YouTube channel certainly suggest they are quite good live although I did think the singer’s voice is weaker than I expected from the tracks I’d listened to. They definitely have something and considering how popular some of their influences are getting they should do well. They sound a bit like Don Broco, who they list as one of their influences.

 

And that concludes the tour of the random bands that follow my Twitter account.

 

Bye!

 

Rose

 

Review: ‘Irenicon’ by Aiden Harte

Irenicon

The Wave Trilogy Book 1

Aiden Harte

2012

Jo Fletcher Books

Sofia Scaligeri is Contessa of Rasenna, or she will be when she turns seventeen. If she lives that long. Her inheritance, the once great city of Rasenna, is divided. It is divided by jealousy, petty rivalries and old vendettas. It is also divided by the Irenicon, an unnatural river blasted through the city when the Engineers of the Concordian Empire sent the Wave to pacify the fractious city. Divided and weak, the people of Rasenna have retreated to their towers, leaving only to send raids into enemy streets.

When a young Concordian Engineer is sent to Rasenna to bridge the Irenicon the locals are suspicious, and the habitual violence blossoms into the opening stages of a civil war.  Opposing Towers circle each other, probing for weaknesses and delaying the bridges construction.

But the bridge must be built or the city will be destroyed once and for all when the Twelfth Legion arrives at the end of summer. Somehow Sofia, Giovanni the Engineer, and the Small People of Rasenna must find a way to unite the city before that happens. They are hampered by the suspicion and violence that inhabits the hearts of their people. They must have Faith in a world of Reason in order to succeed. Victory has it’s price and they will all have to pay it; Rasenna, and all of Etruria will have to change. But everyone has their secrets and not even love might be able to save them.

It took me a while to get in to this book, but once I got past the first dozen or so pages and managed to make sense of what was going on I couldn’t put it down. Sofia’s story of self discovery and personal evolution – from thug being given orders by her guardian to self-aware leader, and Rasenna’s concurrent transformation from divided, poor, violence ravaged, once-great city into a peaceful, wealthy and united community, is an interesting study in politics. There’s something of the polemic to this novel – we can only make things better if we build bridges and end violence; but ignore that if you want and enjoy the story. The characters are well written and sympathetic; their growth as characters explained sensibly, and the story line is good. A mix of historical adventure and fantasy, and an AU reworking of the Middle Ages where Rome was defeated by another Empire and Jesus died during Herod’s Massacre of the Innocents leaving the distraught Mary to pass on the message, and the water has it’s own consciousness.  This novel entertains and provokes thought. 3/5

The next part ‘The Warring States: Book 2 of the Wave trilogy’ is out this month; the library is ordering it for me. I’ll let you knoiw what I think.

Record Store Day

Today is/has been Record Store Day, an international event that started in America to promote independent record shops. In these days of large corporations/chain stores, online shops and downloads, record shops are becoming rarer. It seems like a sensible idea to have a promotional day to help these small businesses.

I’m ashamed to admit I’ve never been in to one. I have three fairly good reasons for this.
a) I only developed an interest in music 18 months ago so I completely missed the stage most normal people seem to go through in their teens where they discover music and all that surrounds it, b) I’m painfully shy so even if I knew where there was a decent music shop locally I would be too scared to go in, and
c) I live as far from the centre of culture and civilisation as it’s possible to get, metaphorically speaking, while still being on Earth. I’m exaggerating, it only feels like I live in a wasteland of chavs and ignorance.

I had a look on the Record Store Day website, thinking I’d use today to get over one of my fears (or at least reduce it a bit), maybe see if there was anything I liked, and found the nearest record shops are 30+ miles away (less if I were prepared to go to Hull *shudder*). That’s either a fair bit of petrol or a bus or train fare depending on where I’m going. I may have mentioned this already, but I’m a bit skint at the minute. So not happening. Drat.

Maybe next year.

Completely separate from my main nonsense tonight; I haven’t been able to post the entry I was going to put up about the random bands that follow my Twitter, because I was at a party at my sister’s and she banned me from using her wifi as I was meant to be being sociable. I don’t see why I can’t be sociably antisocial?

I got my manky feet out and scared people with them as revenge and also told my little sister I was planning to get a massive tattoo on my back and dye my hair multicoloured for Download.

As soon as I get to a wifi connection I’ll post the blog entry I wrote yesterday. It’s really frustrating not having the internet at home right now.

Rose

What I spent my afternoon doing…

I have Twitter, you may or may not know this, but I do. Occasionally I get new followers, can’t imagine why, and sometimes they are bands drumming up support. Usually I don’t take much notice, which is very rude of me, I know, but I’m still a bit weird about the whole concept. However I was at a loose end this afternoon and started looking through my list of Twitter followers at the bands on there.

I started looking them up, listening to a few songs and looking at their websites, social network pages, YouTube channels etc. The blog post I have written with my summaries is too long to do on my phone, so I’m going to type it up on the laptop and when I get to a wifi connection tomorrow I’ll post it.

Bye, have a good weekend,

Rose

[Edit: I was banned from using the internet at my sister’s house as it was a party. Apparently that means I have to be sociable *sigh* As a result I can’t get the planned blog post up just yet. Normal service will be resumed just as soon as I can persuade someone to let me use their wifi connection. 20/4/2013]

Band from Grimsby, Hollow Days, not bad

My cousin shared this band’s Facebook page on his, and of course I had to go and have a listen. They have a couple of videos on the their page and this one track on SoundCloud. I quite like them, who know the locals could produce decent music? (I swear I’m joking, nobody from Lincolnshire/Yorkshire/the Humber lynch me )

Rose

Review: Ben Aaronovitch ‘Whispers Under Ground’

Review: Ben Aaronovitch ‘Whispers Under Ground’
2012
Gollancz

Ben Aaronovitch returns with his third DC Peter Grant novel. And what a return! It’s much more enjoyable than the second novel in the series, ‘Moon Over Soho’, although you really do have to read all three to pick up some of the long running story lines. The novel is narrated, as always, by DC Grant as he attempts to solve the murder of an American senator’s son, in London studying art and living with a half-fae with an inability to tell the truth when asked a direct question. Obviously there’s something a bit weird about the murder – like how on earth the deceased got where he did – so the Folly is called in to help the Murder Squad investigate. More precisely, DC Grant and PC Lesley May (unofficially officially).

It starts with a body on the underground, Baker Street appropriately enough, just before Christmas. It ends with an arrest just after Christmas. In between there is magic, sewer luge, rivers holding illegal raves, geek humour, an underground pig-powered pottery works, and a perplexed FBI agent. This is a very enjoyable book; a mix of the ever popular murder mystery, police procedural and supernatural mystery genres. It’s done exceedingly well; the story moves forward at a good pace, the characters are well rounded and realistic, and the dénouement is suitably surprising/sensible. There’s no deus ex machine here, despite the fact that two of the investigation officers are trainee wizards and one of the suspects is only slightly human.

Five out of five from me

Rose

Question…

I’m currently reading a book I’m reviewing for Book Hub Inc, and it’s sending me batty. I’ve never reviewed books for other people before; I generally read something because it’s taken my interest and then write about it. But I thought I’d give it a go.

I chose a non-fiction book that the title and blurb suggested was scientific in nature. I’m about a third of the way through it, and I want to slap the author. No, really I do. My question is, when I write my review how blunt am I allowed to be? Is, say, a variation on ‘the author is ignorant and talking out of their arse’ too much? My ‘I don’t like misinformation’ sense is screaming, thus the itchy palms.

I might be forced to write two reviews, the polite version for the company I’m reviewing for, and the blunt version for here. They’ll both say the same thing, just with different words.

Right, back to it.

Rose

Review: Fall Out Boy ‘Save Rock and Roll’

Fall Out Boy
Save Rock and Roll
Island Records
Producer: Butch Walker
Released: 15th April 2013 (UK), 16th April 2013 (USA)

After disappearing for four years to have a rest from each other and work on other projects (including other bands, solo albums and novels) Fall Out Boy return with their 5th studio album.

Clearly they were having a laugh when they named the new album ‘Save Rock and Roll’; which is fine because they were also clearly having fun when they made this album. The time apart has been good for them; they have made an album which clearly sits in the tradition they established with their other albums – catchy pop punk with electronic influences. Very obvious pop and electronica influences in this case; it has a tendency to drown out the guitars and drums. But this fusion of genres works for them. It suits their lyrical and vocal style.

The lyrics are occasionally corny – see ‘Just One Yesterday’ for a fine example. I’m not too sure about some of the collaborations – I can’t like ‘Rat a Tat’ no matter how much I try, sorry. My favourite songs are ‘The Phoenix’, ‘ My songs know what you did in the dark (Light ’em up), ‘Young Volcanoes’ and ‘Save Rock and Roll’. None of the songs are quite up to the standards they set with ‘This ain’t a scene, it’s an arms race’ and ‘Tnks fr th mmrs’, although the title track gets close. I can definitely see it being popular live; the line ‘No, No, we won’t go, we don’t know how to quit oh, oh’ could really get a crowd going.

They aren’t going to save rock and roll, but they might improve pop music a bit (besides, it doesn’t need saving, being very much alive and well) but this album is a catchy addition to the pop punk canon. It’s good to see them back.

And that’s my review,

Rose

I just realised something…

I still can’t get hold of Sacred Mother Tongue’s new album. I have realised however, after looking up details of the new album, that the EP I bought last month is made up of four of the songs from the new album. This realisation, and looking at videos on their youTube channel, has made my day.

The album review will have to wait but I can give my initial opinion based on the EP.

If the EP is representative of the whole album they I think I’ll have to get it. I really like the tracks I’ve heard; the singer is competent and the guitarist is spectacular. I saw them live, they’re really quite good.

It’s metal but I like it 😀 there’s next to no shouting. Which is always a good thing. I listened to their first album, I don’t like it nearly as much. They have definitely improved in the last couple of years.

Going now, busy watching dodgy vampire films, good night,

Rose

The frustrations of being broke

I really like my Spotify account. All that music, just waiting to be played. And all completely legally as well. It’s great.

Well, except for the slight problem that when I’m waiting for new albums to drop I have to wait just a bit longer. If I could afford it I’d buy hard copies of most of the albums I would like; but I can’t and Spotify gets me round that problem. I buy very few physical copies of albums, which is usually fine, an arrangement I’m happy with because I don’t have a huge amount of space and some stuff is difficult to get hold of.

But not right now, right now I really want to hear the new Fall Out Boy and Sacred Mother Tongue albums.

And I can’t.

Because Spotify doesn’t have them yet. They’re on iTunes already, and it’s not long past midnight. I shall check again later today, but it’s very frustrating all this waiting.

Rose

[Edit: I’ve just thought of something else that frustrates me about being broke; I have no internet connection, which leaves me relying on friends and family for the use of their wifi, which I hate. 20/04/2013]