No Ten Out of Ten I'm Afraid... - #46 Paulo Nutini - Sunny Side Up

Right, here we go. Procrastination is no longer upon us. What is upon us is a hell of an effort to look at 15 albums by Monday.

First up... Scotland's very own Mr Nutini.

Now my main problem with this album is that Paulo seems to use up all of his fun-song making skills on track one. Now I've got no issues with getting things off to a 'flying start', which Ten Out of Ten certainly does, but it just seems that he gave us the wrong impression somewhat by starting things with such a fun, upbeat song.

And that's obviously not to take anything away from Ten Out of Ten. It's a great track. His vocals combine with the beat and the, in my opinion, criminally under used brass section to make a fantastic song to sing and dance along to. Have I got a video for you? Yeah, of course I have.

The thing is really about this album is that Paulo kind of lets himself down after that song. Almost all of the rest of the album is a disappointment after that track. Not quite all of it, but almost.

Pencil Full of Lead is another song that is absolutely jam-packed with fun and optimism. Our favourite Scot, well actually he's not mine, Frightened Rabbit are my favourite Scottish band, but here he just sounds happy about life in general. He has a pencil full of lead, and a whole host of other things that young men like.

After that though, I'm struggling to find many more tracks that I like. He might be a good looking young chap, and almost look as if Julian Casablanca's brother has escaped from a Strokes tribute band, but in my opinion, he has spoiled himself by popping these two fantastic tracks in.

Some of the other songs are that bad, but while music that isn't that bad is bearable, it doesn't make me want to miss some other fantastic act to take the time out to see Mr Nutini. If he wasn't billed so highly, I certainly would have considered it, but sorry Paulo, not this time. Maybe the next time I'm here, yes?

This wasn't very long was it? Sorry about that. Short, but not particuarly sweet.

Hopefully something a little more entertaining will be up next.

Special Guest Number Three - #45 Pendulum - In Silico

Morning all. So yesterday we had two entries on the challenge, and that's something that's going to have to run all the way up to the festival if I'm going to get this whole thing done.

With that in mind, I offered this album up to Twitter, see if I could get a guest reviewer to do it for me. Not being lazy, I just wanted someone who likes Pendulum to write it. So a big thanks goes to Paul Smiles find him on Twitter here for stepping forward and taking it on. 

Anyway, enough of me muttering on. Here we go...

When your first album is titled Hold Your Colour, it's a statement of intent and it bleeds dedication. Laying roots exclusively in the ever evolving animal that is drum and bass, Pendulum announced themselves to be people capible of rocking their beats.  

In May 2008 the band had the huge task of making the dreaded second album. When Pendulum were charged with task they chose not for adaptation but evolution. Taking their insane tempo and jaw breaking beats from their original album and force feeding it a blend of rock and symph. The name is a tip of the hat to Nirvana's In Utero. The hardcore amoung the fans may not look favouribly at the new offering but their inclination for change helped break them into a much bigger audiance and on release of their second single from In Silico which was aptly titled Propane Nightmares this is the perfect example of how the inlflux of a new sound can help the band produce a more refined record. 

Picked up and pimped from everything from movies to computer games the song shattered charts and people preconceptions on drum and bass. The songs now hard a guitar edge other than the heavy drum and bass, it allowed them onto festival stages to share their songs. 

The songs on this album are born festival winners. Fans get injected with energy and the music gets movement in even the most jaded of viewer.  Still present though on songs like Granite, Visions and The Other Side these songs still have in their DNA the origins of what brought them to the dance. These songs beats are so heavy with the right earphones you can do some serious damage. Its a true homage to their origins and shows that no matter how different hardcore fans believe the second album to be its still a drum and bass record. 

The album starts at a blistering pace with opeing track Showdown as the track starts one can be forgiven to think it isnt a simple extension of the first album. Fast and relentless we only catch breath at track 5 which is Midnight Runner only to be hammered all the way until the final track The Tempest. All tracks have incredible tempo and even the "slow" songs are not that slow.

Propane Nightmares is the jewel in the crown and is incredible live(trust me) it reached number 9 in the UK top 40 and the album scaled all the way to number 2 in the Album charts. The album celebrated a commercial success for the band and every band no matter how anti-media or main stream they are need commercial success. Check it out here.

This release not only put a little known niche drum and bass Australian group called Pendulum on the map, it made them the damn map.

Sex, Drugs and on the Dole - #44 The Streets - Original Pirate Material

It's hard to think that it is a full nine years since Mike Skinner, aka The Streets, released his debut album. Many a song has come and go inbetween, he's flirted with chart success, become a megastar in his own right and guested on countless artist's work (and had a part in Doctor Who), but as a Streets fan from the start, I am firmly of the opinion that Mr Skinner was at the peak of his powers here, on Original Pirate Material.

I honestly couldn't stand Has It Come To This? the first few times that I heard it, and I remember it vividly, despite it being such a long time ago. Although, saying that, I remember not liking the song at all, but can't think why.

However, it didn't take long for my views to change on Mr Skinner and his unique style of, urm, well, rap? Garage? Urban dance? I honestly have no idea what genre it 'officially' falls under. It could even be performance poetry of a sort I suppose? Sod it, I don't know. Ask Mr Skinner.

So onto the album. It kicks off with Turn the Page, which is an absolute tune. I can't tell you why, but it really conjures up images of Gladiator for me. I might just be swayed by the line "I'm 45th generation Roman". I am quite easily influenced. I think it's the music in the background. It has an 'epic' feel to it, and builds and builds throughout the track.

And then we come to Has It Come to This? The song that I couldn't stand. For the record, that no longer applies. As I've got older, it seems that I have come to appreciate the lyrics more. Ok, so it might be about living life smoking weed and driving crappy souped up cars, but at the time, it seems that's what Skinner was into. It's pretty much a theme that runs throughout the entire album. Weed, paying for weed, selling people weed. It actually sounds a little cliched now, but rather than be a slur on Original Pirate Material, it is infact praise, as it indicates how many acts have been influenced by Mr Skinner. You have to remember how long this album has been around.

Track three is probably the most popular on here, Let's Push Things Forward. Can't remember how it goes? Check it out here. Again, it's all about being a shady youngster in London, but is catchy as hell and is blessed with a throughly confident swagger.

Not every track on here really shines though to be honest. Sharp Darts is a bit of a bore, and there is only so many tracks that you can actually make about the same thing. Being an agressive twat on a night out might seem like a good idea for a song, but by the third, it gets a bit dull. Same Old Thing and Geezers Need Excitement are a case in point. It seems to be Mr Skinner in an 'I'm such a wrong 'un' mood. Not a big fan.

Thankfully there are two more magnificent tracks on here to drag it back around. Don't Mug Yourself tells the story of Mike being told by his mates that he shouldn't go chasing after a girl he likes. Yes it's really laddish, but it's good fun throughout.

The second, and in my opinion by far the best track on here is The Irony of It All. It's basically two blokes talking one after the other. One is a heavy-drinking lout who loves fighting, but is essentially not a criminal. The other is a softly-spoken, weed-smoking graduate, wouldn't hurt a fly but is the one in the wrong in the eyes of the law. It's a really, really good listen, very clever and a lot of fun. I've even dug this one out for you too. Click here for it.

And that's me done for Original Pirate Material. It really was a pleasure to listen back to this album. It reminded me of how great the Streets were, before Dry Your Eyes became a song that reminded me of England mediocre football team on every listen.

There's a lot to love, and although it isn't hit after hit, it is more than worth buying/digging out.

Ok, with only a week and a bit to go until the festival, these are going to be coming thick and fast, so please check back for some more musical goodness tomorrow. Ta.

"Your father cracks a joke, and in the usual way empties the room...." No.43: Morrissey - Vauxhall And I

Guest reviewer: Steven T. Askew

In recent years Morrissey has taken to reissuing his back-catalogue albums. The repackaging of a couple of mid-1990s efforts has seen him radically alter cover art, reorder track listings (in some cases leaving originally included songs off altogether) and adding single b-sides and previously unreleased curios. All very nice for the completist, of course - but a bit of a pedantic course of action from a man purported to be happy enough in his own skin in recent years to let the past lay as it fell.

There's no getting away from the fact that 1997's Maladjusted - perfectly perfunctory but a tad uninspired - was, at that time, an exasperating let-down. It is far too late for the perverted act of dropping a couple of songs almost fifteen years hence to change general perception.

Similarly, reordering the track listing of 1995's Southpaw Grammar and adding a couple of outtakes could never disguise the fact that it had to do the hardest job of any album Morrissey has ever - or will ever - release.

It had to bear the weight of following 1994's Vauxhall And I.

V&I is such a self-contained record that it lives almost entirely outside of Morrissey's entire canon. It's not as commercial as any other Morrissey record, for a start, but it really doesn't sound like any other Morrissey record, and it doesn't read like any other Morrissey record. It's not that it's a musically odd album - far from it - but it has a uniqueness of sonic tone, emotional tone, a maturity and self-analysis that none of his other albums could ever hold a candle to.

It's my belief that it is the only album he has released which IS Morrissey. That's Morrissey the man, not Morrissey the cartoon.

It was born in a time when Morrissey was still preoccupied with bruisers, boxers, black-and-white movies, books, the ephemera of a passed England... which, of course, had gotten him into trouble with the popular music press, and set up the psychological watershed of what followed...

V&I came from a time before the smash-and-grab of Britpop had been breach-born, when England was still under Conservative rule. You can feel the tiredness, the greyness, the dissatisfaction, the atrophy, the complete dulling of the senses and the squeezing of the skull - and the romantic strive to make one last stand against the numbness of having lived through Thatcher's socially, psychologically, diminishing rule. It was rumoured - a rumour occasionally furthered by the man himself - that this was to be Morrissey's final album.

At the relevant point in time, Morrissey was living in Camden. The title of the album is a direct reference to Bruce Robinson's Withnail And I, the story of two down-at-heel London actors barely co-existing there in an inter-dependant and mutually self-destructive blur of vague psychoses and neuroses, alcohol, drugs, squalor and unfulfilled promise in the late 1960s: "Indeed we are drifting in the arena of the unwell"...

It has hinted that Morrissey was engaged in a similar kind of cloistered, intense and consuming relationship as that portrayed in the film, and here romanticised it onto vinyl. Perhaps not explicitly - perhaps it is only there around the edges, a mood, an oblique reference here and there, a provocative nod. But maybe this album was Morrissey finally coming out with the truth - or the truth as he chose to tell it, filtered through that entirely charming but peculiar self-regard. V&I almost lays Morrissey's private life utterly bare without actually saying the thing that dare not speak its name, taunting you into using that word, then roundly chastising you for having the temerity to even think it, to even presume a single thing.

Beautifully crafted songs seem like intensely private diary entries, portraying - and in some cases betraying - deep-held feelings and thoughts. On this record, which seems to have been written entirely for himself and is all the better for it, Morrissey doesn't shy away from the murk of depression, hypocrisy, the ache of lust, love, sorrow, satire, hate, anger, ageing, regret, humour.
It's all here, lyrically - in Morrissey's own strange way of course - with producer Steve Lillywhite's instinctive and painterly ambience perfectly creating a tangible and complementary mood and tension which has often been absent from the more visceral production of other Morrissey records. From the off, we're let know that this time, this once, this was something different.

Opener Now My Heart Is Full begins with a wash of melancholic guitars fashioning previously uncharted sonic territory, exploring deeper textures and moods. I'm reluctant to use the word "filmic", but a film is what the first few seconds evoke, and the rest of the album is entirely elevated to the status of the cinematic.

Blue-eyed, sensible-quiffed, geometric cheek-boned Morrissey stares out from the cover in a beautifully lit portrait which strongly evokes 1950s cinema matinee idols, before delivering a prosaic Coronation Street killer opening line in deep and rich velvet tones: "There's gonna be some trouble..."

Blurry-eyed late-night gin-soaked trudges through rained-on brickwork back-streets are precisely located in a London that exists, really, only in Morrissey's mind, all slate-grey skies, lamplight reflecting in puddles, 1960s suits, tattoos and slicked-back hair - and the danger of a knife. References to Graham Greene's Brighton Rock add further layers to the romance of crime, the romance of grime, the threat and the thrill. The passing of crime and all of its times.

The song shares a moment of mood with the rush to danger of the bond forged in the mask-theft scene in Breakfast At Tiffany's, as if now fully committed, with no turning back. It is perhaps no accident that Morrissey recorded that film's Moon River as an addendum b-side to one of Vauxhall's singles.

No other Morrissey song has sounded so enormously melancholic as Now My Heart Is Full. Scarcely believable that he should be redeemed and completed. Really? Or, of course, is he nodding back to the Northernisms of Weatherfield again, with "full" meaning sorrowful..? There's gonna be some trouble...

Spring-Heeled Jim begins with a bass throb and distorted guitar wail that expand on the darkness of those London alleyways, suggesting the danger of a killer, a Jack The Ripper, even. But it turns out to be an observational, mournfully wry, take on the diminishing process of getting older, the demise of everything that self-defines a chancer, a wide-boy, a womaniser. Time passes, chances fade - all fades as self slows. The passing of time and all of its crimes.

Two minute thrash Billy Budd - title taken from Herman Melville - vaguely recalls The Smiths' London, and seems to mischievously throw references to Johnny Marr into the legend: "Twelve years on since I took up with you...". But who really knows? The fact it's followed by Hold On To Your Friends does, though, add further credence to this theory.

A contemplative ballad that somehow made it out as a single, heavily acoustic Hold On is beautiful. "There are more than enough to fight and oppose, so why waste good time fighting the people you like?". Earnest and open, surprisingly generous, utterly gracious and graceful.

With its arresting couplet "...beware, I bear more grudges than lonely High Court judges", the album's lead-off single The More You Ignore Me The Closer I Get is an exercise in wilful pursuance. Great title and - despite anything Elvis Costello might tell you about Morrissey songs being no more than the sum of their title - a classic song, focused around an attractive guitar motif and lovely vocal melody.

It's about as close as we've ever got to Morrissey acknowledging this album's existence in recent years. It has occasionally cropped up in his set list, and on a surfeit of hits albums. In many ways, being pretty straightforward it is probably the only song from this album that could even be well-served by a live set-up - potential inclusion on the Glastonbury setlist, then.

Why Don't You Find Out For Yourself - the grass is not always greener - is a sturdy riposte to those who, from the safety of sitting in an armchair behind a copy of the NME, have criticised Morrissey's career choices. Paradoxically, to an agreeably radio-friendly acoustic backing, it dissects and displays the hypocrisies, cynicisms and manipulations of the music business in vague but colourful detail, taking wistful and well-aimed potshots at the faceless, nameless, men in suits.

Used To Be A Sweet Boy could just about be the most straightforward song Morrissey has ever written. It puzzles over the "something" that "went wrong" between the "distant land" of childhood, with its "blazer and tie and a bright healthy smile", and the man now. It's a sepia-toned snapshot of a regretful man gazing at a sideboard photograph of himself as a young boy, holding his Dad's hand. Lush, romantic and yearning. No, I just have something in my eye.

I Am Hated For Loving, Lifeguard Sleeping, Girl Drowning and The Lazy Sunbathers deal with lazy misconception, apathy, emotional and actual, and selfishness. Gentle, mournful, slightly Smithsish, none fully prepare us for the tempest to come.

Speedway bitterly addresses the proceedings in a court-room and could therefore be seen as sage and angry comment on Morrissey's own experiences therein.

Following the opening seconds of jaw-dropping direct address to the judge - "When you slam down the hammer, do you see it in your heart?" - the broken plea for human understanding outside of the strict technical confines of the legal process is utterly carved up by a few seconds of silence, then the loud scream of a chainsaw. It's wilfully disturbing.

But the song could also be Morrissey's most explicit Oscar Wilde moment - no longer content to merely reference, this is authorship, art, biography. Morrissey actually inhabits the writer to express the tumult within during the infamous trial which led to his eventual downfall: "You won't rest until this loving mouth is shut, good and proper" / "You won't sleep until the hearse that becomes me, finally has me"... Stirring, trembling, defiant.

During the final couple of minutes the song builds progressively intensely, until release - but not closure - is delivered by a brief and sonically stark drum tumble signifying the final slam of the judge's gavel.

It's been an intense and perfect 39 minutes. Perfect.

A couple of times in a lifetime along comes something that cuts much deeper, darker, more defiant. Something you can disappear into, something that demands of you. There are many reputedly classic albums which are so precisely crafted and drawing-board designed that they fall woefully short of displaying any real insight or personality - or anything substantial of what it means to be alive. Many albums are exercises in creating terrific listens but conclude with you knowing nothing more about yourself or anything or anyone else at the other end, leaving you with merely the aftertaste of a fleetingly enjoyable moment.

Perhaps, in the end, that is all music was ever meant to be..? Perhaps we shouldn't actually be looking for deeper displays or analysis of the human condition from music..? I'm really not, as a rule, but I love them when they come, and I do keep my fingers crossed and sleep with half of one eye open. Tick-tock.

Vauxhall And I is Morrissey's masterpiece. A neat and uncompromisingly brilliantly penned book - but no easy read. In the examining of battle scars and in the laying to rest of old ghosts, it is optimistic, but opens up fresh wounds, fists fly, glass shatters. It's occasionally difficult, but ultimately life-enhancing, poetic and telling - an absolutely essential listen if you have even the slightest interest in circumnavigating the lazy myth of the quiff and the quip and getting straight to the bottom of Morrissey. 

So far, it appears to be the one exception from those devious, truculent and unreliable efforts to repackage and rewrite history. It is to be hoped that Morrissey realises that to give or take a further inch of it would be to demean his work and himself. Listen and marvel, you will never hear the like again.

I Think I'm Getting Old - #42 Crystal Castles – Crystal Castles (II)

There is a term that has started popping up more and more in conversation recently, mainly on Twitter I think, and I love it.

Batshit mental.

A phrase used only to describe the truly crazy. And, by something of a coincidence, exactly the term that I would use for this album.

Now I get the feeling that saying bad things about this album might not make me the most popular person in town, but I would be lying if I said I was a huge fan of it. It's good when it's good, but at times, well, it's batshit mental.

I imagine that it is perfect workout music. It rattles along at a fair old pace and has a booming bassline that would be cracking to run along to. I might test this theory next time I'm out on the push iron. I'll get back to you on that one.

It's definitely one that has tracks on it that would send a rave mad. There are some tracks on here that are just designed for off your head dancing, but at times, it's just a shit load of noise, and very little else. Maybe, as I've alluded to in the title, I'm just getting a bit old for all this. You kids and your boom boom boom. I remember when music had a tune etc etc.

The other thing that I don't understand is how this is going to work live. I've seen the occasional thing about the band's shows, and it seems that they are as off the wall as the music is. I'm pretty sure that on more than one occasion I've read stories about Alice Glass fighting with members of the crowd. A cynic would say that any publicity is good publicity, but I'm not a cynic. Maybe she actually just does have a screw loose.

It's tricky really to try and mention what her voice is like... A lot of this album seems to have been put through a laptop, a lot. Do the stage shows have her going barmy, and a guy with a laptop playing the 'music'? I don't know, maybe they have keyboards, synths and the such. I have no idea. Which is intriguing. But a headline slot for the band means that I'm not likely to find out either.

Celestica is the first real 'tune' on the album, and I could imagine this is the one that DJs up and down the land have been 'dropping' in clubs. But the track that immediately follows it, Doe Deer is just a few minutes of angry sounding noise. Maybe I just don't 'get it'.

Actually, as I type Baptism has just come on. Again, it's all shouty vocals, but the tune is actually a corker. If someone like Fatboy Slim had come up with this, and got a celebrity video to go with it, it would be huge.

Right, I'm going to stop here I think. I'd suggest checking this out, just to see how mad it really is. I'd like to see the band at the festival, just to see what they are like live, but think there are other bands on at the same time that I'd prefer to see...

Sorry for the crap post. I'll be more informed on the next one, promise. It might be something I understand a little better, and not so batshit mental.

Doom Mongers? I Beg to Differ - #41 White Lies - To Lose My Life

One of the pleasures about writing this blog, which inches its way into the final third today, means that every now and then, an album comes up from a band that I have been lucky enough to see live. One of those bands is White Lies.

Two years ago, at Glastonbury 2009, I had heard a lot about the band. They had just released this album, To Lose My Life, and there was a lot of publicity and, dare I say it again, hype, levelled in their direction. But, as anyone who has been to the festival will vouch for, planning to go to see a band and actually making it are two different things. There is so much going on, that sometimes you get dragged away by something else, or are just having such a good time that you forget what you were meant to be doing. I'm gutted to say that I think mine was a combination of the two.

However, I finally made up for it earlier this year when my other half and I took a trip over to Toulouse to see the band on their tour for their second album, Ritual. Now I know that album is newer than the one I'm looking at here, but in my opinion, it isn't as good as this one, and, as I stated in the Rules right at the beginning of this whole thing (click here to have a look), I'm choosing the album that I think they will play most from. At the gig in Toulouse, this album just shaded it in their setlist.

That gig, by the way, was one of the best that I've ever been to. Although Le Bikini wasn't packed to the rafters in the way it was for the Beady Eye gig later that week (which is wrong on a number of levels), the atmosphere was great, we were almost at the front throughout, and the band sounded magnificent. Often accused as being dark and miserable doom mongers, they put on a real show, packed full of songs that had the crowd jumping around, loving each moment. And yes, both I include both myself and the missus there.

So, to the album.

It's not often that track one on an album is arguably its best. I suppose it opens up the opportunity to only listen to that song, before turning it off. Or maybe that doesn't apply at all anymore in the digital age. Anyway, I'm talking crap, no?

Track one on here though is Death. Ok, so it might have a name to add weight to the doom monger theories, but it's not the depressing song that its name suggests. It showcases all that's good about the band. Rather than go on and on about it, I'll just pop up a video. I can't really do it justice by writing about it, but I should say that the song on the album is a little quicker to the version the band play here. See the band playing Death on Later with Jools Holland by clicking here.

Actually, this album is another one of those in which I could go into detail about every song, but I've resisted doing that on all of the other blogs, so I'll do the same here, and just pick out my highlights.

Death is actually my favourite track on here, but Unfinished Business pushes it close. The missus, myself and a friend have been trying to fathom out the storyline of this song for a while. Death has definitely come to collect the character in it, but we can't figure out if his girlfriend killed him or not. If any fans get to read this, and you know the real story behind it, please leave me a comment clearing it up!

Elsewhere? A Place to Hide boasts a huge chorus, Fairwell to the Fairground is the song that most people will recognise the band from, and is, to be fair, first class, and the title track, To Lose My Life is also a belter.

The last song on the album, The Price of Love, is another that tells a story, something that White Lies are very good at. It is about a man trying to raise £1m in a week to save the life of his wife, who has been kidnapped. Surprisingly, it was the gig that the crowd really went mad to at the gig, something that I wasn't expecting, but it was really, really good live.

And that's me about done for White Lies. I'm a bit disappointed that I haven't really got across how much I love this album here, but I'm nursing a monster hangover, and am a day behind on here, so have another to do later. All I will say is you should DEFNITELY check this album out. It is excellent, it really is.

One last word, I found this picture, thought it looked really cool.

Another quick word from me, don't forget that if you liked this, or if you at least bothered to read until the end, you can get all of the other blogs over on the right hand side of the page. All of this month's, and April are over there. Whether you fancy reading about someone you already like, or are curious about a band that are new to you, give them a go, and please, if you do like this, pass it on through the various social media sites out there.

And onwards we go....

It's Who You Are That's Important, Jessie - #40 Jessie J - Who Are You

Hype. It's a funny old thing. It can mean that an act can rocket into the charts with almost no justification, or, like in some cases, it can make a waiting audience sceptical before anything even happens. Thankfully, despite all of the hype, awards and other such stuff, Jessie J has justified all of the publicity, and delivered what is actually a very good album.

I should start by saying that this isn't what I expected it to be at all. Having heard Do It Like a Dude, I expected a fully-blown R&B album here, full of attitude. That didn't sound like anything that would interest me in the slightest. To be honest, the album cover doesn't really do much to dispel that thought.

However, you might be surprised to learn that Jessie actually has an excellent voice. This becomes apparent on the acoustic tracks on here (maybe I've got the bonus edition) – and hearing her live is fascinating. Big White Room is my case in point. Check it out with this link. Would you have expected that? Compared to the Do It Like a Dude, there is a lot of beauty in her voice, and a confidence that justifies that afore-mentioned hype.

When you take into account that she came top in the BBC Sound of 2011 poll, ahead of acts like the Vaccines, James Blake, Warpaint and the magnificent Anna Calvi, that's quite a reputation to fulfill. The thing is, Jessie seems more than capable of filling the huge boots that have been placed in her path.

The comment about her voice doesn't mean that there aren't R&B songs on here. Now I won't even start to pretend to being an expert on the subject, but I can hear why they would be popular (well, they might need a little editing to take over Radio 1). It's that attitude though, and Jessie's 'couldn't give a fuck' persona that makes her so likeable. Coming across like that can go one of two ways really, people will pick up on your confidence and admire you for it, or will take an instant dislike to an seemingly ignorant person. It would be intriguing to see her Twitter feed, as I would put a fairly confident bet on it being a combination of the two. Fans declaring their love, and 'haters', as we seem to call them these days, abusing her for absolutely no reason. For the record Jessie, if you do get to read this by some miraculous coincidence, I really enjoy your music, more than I ever thought I would.

So, highlights? Big White Room as I've already mentioned, and for my money, Who's Laughing Now, which sees Jessie 'sticking it' to all the people that slagged her off when she was younger, then came rushing back as soon as she became famous. It might not be a wholly original idea, but it's got enough in it to keep it fresh, and parts are also pretty funny.

Do It Like a Dude also raises a smile. I'll have to admit, the first time I saw the video, I only noticed in the background somewhere, and didn't really realise that she was taking the piss. Looking back, I'm obviously a bit of a tool. It's catchy as hell (I've been humming it to myself pretty much all day), and it really is hard not to like the lyrics if you listen to them properly. That confidence I was talking about? Never been more apparent than here.

I think that's probably enough from me, I do think you should go and give Jessie J a go, no matter what you think of her before you actually give her a chance. Oh, and did I mention, she's pretty fine too.

Another of my favourite albums tomorrow, stop by and take a look?

For now, if you didn't mind this, then please feel free to pass it on... Or check out one of the older entries down the right hand side. There's 39 more in there.

See ya's later.

A Nice Little Surprise - #39 Noisettes - Wild Young Hearts

So... Elbow is done and dusted, and I have big thanks to give to everyone for making it my second most popular post since I started this whole thing. Over 150 reads is pretty spectacular if you take into account that it only got 'advertised' on my Twitter and Facebook pages. Thanks to everyone who read it, I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

And, with that, we move on to number 39 in the Glasto Challenge, Noisettes' album, Wild Young Hearts.

I must admit to being very pleasantly surprised by this record. Of course, I'd heard Don't Forget the Rythym before, but didn't know that I would be familiar with much more on here. I was wrong, it turns out that I knew most of the words to a couple more songs, and even more still seemed familiar.

I also expected this to be more, urm, dancey than it is. Don't get me wrong, it has some really, really catchy songs, but of course, as I only recognised Don't Upset the Rhythm as being by the band, I had always put them down as some kind of nightclub-filling dance act. I was also wrong about that.

The title track is when the album really gets going (don't fret, you only have to make it as far as track two). With it's catchy "la la la"s, it really is about as summery a song as you will ever hear, and considering the topic of this blog, that's not really a bad thing now, is it?

I'd really like to offer you some kind of comparison for the singer of the band's voice, but I'm stumped. It's quite powerful, but not in a conventional sense. It certainly has a 'cute' aspect to it, but at the same time, the songs are sung with a great confidence. I'm rambling. How about you check it out for yourselves, eh? Wild Young Hearts is right there for you to have a gander at.

The thing about this album is, I don't really dislike any of the songs, but I'm not inclined to rave about it either. It's just good. Interestingly, I don't really rate Don't Upset the Rythym when compared to the rest of the songs on here, and unfortunately, that's probably the song that most people will go and see the band for. To be fair, it's probably quite a sight to see them play it live.

'So what is your favourite song then?' I hear you collectively ask. Well, it's probably the other well-known song, Never Forget You. It's got that old-fashioned feeling to it, and has a certain swagger at the same time. If Lulu was starting out now, she might have come up with this. It has a lot of charm, and for that reason, I'm really rather fond of it.

And that's it from me on Noisettes. If you've only really heard Don't Forget the Rythym, then I would heartily recommend checking this album out, it may not be overly wild, as the title suggests, but it certainly stands up as a good, solid album. Give it a try.

Another quick word from me, don't forget that if you liked this, or if you at least bothered to read until the end, you can get all of the other blogs over on the right hand side of the page. All of this month's, and April are over there. Whether you fancy reading about someone you already like, or are curious about a band that are new to you, give them a go, and please, if you do like this, pass it on through the various social media sites out there.

Thanks very much, next up? Winner of the BBC Sound of 2011. Exciting stuff.

Sit Back and Wallow in the Beauty - #38 Elbow - Build a Rocket Boys!

Oh crap. It's here. The album that I've been looking forward to since I started this whole thing. My favourite album of 2011. Probably one of the best that I've ever heard. How on earth do I do it justice? My clumped together words and a complete lack of knowledge about music journalism might cause me some problems here, and you are more than likely about to read a fair few words muttering on like a lovestruck teenager. Taking that into account, I wouldn't blame you for stopping here, but please, stick with me, and we'll get through this together.

So, first things first, were my first few sentences there a little over the top? Answer? No. As the title of this piece suggests, this album is filled with such beauty that it could make an angel weep. Hmm... Perhaps that one is a going a little too far, but you get the picture. It. Is. Magnificent.

After the outrageous success of the band's previous album, The Seldom Seen Kid, the Manchester five-piece finally emerged from the shadows. Often hailed as an excellent band, they never really embraced the big time, until the Mercury Prize panel rewarded them for what was a fantastic album, and Elbow have never looked back. Touring the country in some if its biggest venues, being second on the billing at a lot of festivals this summer, this album is full of songs which will sound majestic as they float over a Saturday night Pyramid Stage crowd at this year's Glastonbury.

Opener The Birds gently builds up, but posseses a chorus so mighty that it could take over a small country. But that's the beauty of Elbow, and something that isn't a one off on this album. It's music that, when I have on in the house, I much prefer to listen to through headphones. The band produces a sound that is so, well, huge, that through headphones it almost encases you.

Once that behemoth comes Lippy Kids. This was actually a working title for the album for a while, and, according to Mr Guy Garvey himself, is about growing older, but never really wanting to. Realising that you are now part of that crowd who doesn't like gangs of 'hoodies' on the streets. It's the song that includes the album's actual title, but it showcases Mr Garvey and his gang of merry men in a more sombre mood.

Although the next song doesn't exactly crack out the rock and roll, With Love is another quite lovely song, the words could improve any day, and it has an excellent sing-a-long section which is bound to go down a storm at festivals.

Ok, as with the other albums that I've looked at so far, I've promised not to do a track-by-track breakdown, so I'll only mention a couple more, having swooned over the first three there.

Neat Little Rows brings back that huge sound that I was talking about. It's littered with catchy sections, and when the band steps it up a level for the chorus, they make such a grand sound that, on listening to it for the first time, it made the hairs on my arms stand up, and sent a shiver down me. I'm actually not exaggerating.

I'm not sure what my favourite track on here is, which, in my eyes at least, proves the quality of the album as a whole. Not one of these 12 songs dips in quality, and each compliments the next perfectly. If I was forced to choose which I liked best, I'd probably say Open Arms. It's chorus is, and I hate to use this word, epic. Click this link for the video, and go see for yourselves what I mean.

So, that was Elbow, and Build a Rocket Boys! I know that I may seem to have gone a little over the top at times there, but I can assure you I haven't. The band really are right at the top of their game right now, and I personally can not wait to be able to see them live for the first time (I once won tickets to see them, but had five hours to get from France to Newcastle if I was to do so). If they were to just play this album in full, I'd be more than happy, but when you add it anthems such as Grounds For Divorce and One Day Like This, I can't see how they will be anything other than magnificent.

If you won't be joining me at Glastonbury, my advice is try and see the band this summer. Whether it be at a festival, one of their gigs, whatever, just make sure you catch them somewhere, and somehow. I can be almost certain that I'll either be singing along at the top of my voice when they were playing, or shrivelled up in a ball in tears. Whichever it is, I honestly can't wait.

Oh, and if you haven't got this album, get yourself on a music purchasing website, or down to the shops, and buy it right now. A word of warning though, you may end up buying their entire back catalogue afterwards.

Burn Baby Burn - #37 Friendly Fires - Friendly Fires

I'm stumped as what to write for this album. It's been a mainstay in my weekly listening schedule for the last couple of months, but I'm so preoccupied by tomorrow's offering, Elbow's Build a Rocket Boys!, that I'm not sure I'll do Friendly Fires justice here, I'll certainly try my best.

I'm honestly unsure what it is about this album that enjoy so much. It's probably just that it seems like a lot of fun, and has a summertime feel to it. Friendly Fires definitely prefer to do things with a dance and a swagger, and although they have the instruments to be an indie band, they are definitely better placed at the front of a rave than they are a moshpit, although the two may not be entirely mutually exclusive.

After a promising start, the album really comes to life at track three, Paris, where a rattling cowbell is actually the driving force behind the track, and the naturally optimistic lyrics and euphoric chorus really open the album up. If a song like this doesn't improve your mood, there's something a little wrong with you. You can check it out by clicking anywhere on this link. Don't remember to come back though!

The cowbell (a criminally underused instrument) is evident in quite a lot of this album actually, and it's testament to Friendly Fires sense of fun that it is there in the first place, to have it featuring heavily on songs is testament to the confidence that they have in themselves, but also a mental strength not to take themselves too seriously.

I'm tempted to keep this short from now on. Strobe sees the band slow everything down a little, and to be honest, the album is more enjoyable on its more upbeat tracks, but that's not to discredit the slower numbers. It's just easier to imagine being in a small room, dancing like a moron to songs such as Lovesick, that have a catchy beat throughout.

I honestly have no idea how to categorise the band, and it seems wrong to try to pigeonhole them into one genre. Are they an indie band? Possibly. Should we be calling them an electro outfit? You could argue for it, yes.

For now, I'll just let you know that they are a great dance band. From everything that I've read about them, they also put on a fantastic show, and thanks to this album, and their recently-released second LP, Pala, I know that I'll certainly be checking them out.

An afternoon slot in the sun, taking in some dance(ish) music, surrounded by friends and full to brimming with beer sounds like a hell of a day to me.

See you next time, Elbow are up *he says with an excited smirk*.

Yeah, What He Said - #36 Plan B - The Defamation of Strickland Banks

Ah, Mr Benjamin Drew, welcome to the Glastonbury Challenge my friend.

Well, you might know Mr Drew better as Plan B, which incidentally, is the name that he came up with upon realising that rapping about skull-fu*king corpses and raping old women won't get you to the top of the charts. It was out of that realistation, and the need for a something a little different, from which the phenomenon of Plan B, and the chart-topping album, The Defamation of Strickland Banks, was born.

It's probably fair to say that not many people could see a young and angry rapper switching his musical genre from anger-rap to soul, especially when the soul is designed to fill a concept album, but no-one can argue with the fact that Ben Drew pulled it off spectacularly.

This is a genuinely great album, and one that I didn't expect to like. My first experiences of Plan B were seeing him singing She Said live at a number of festivals last year, and I have to admit that he always sounded to be putting the voice on and struggling with it too. Meaning that I never thought he sounded all that good. On the album however, the vocals are more polished, and it really gives him a platform to enjoy a bit of rapping in and among the soulful high notes.

Actually, the chances that he gets to really vent a bit of frustration and showcase a bit of attitude are the best tracks on here. The 'nice' tracks are all well and good, and will no doubt have made a far bigger impression in the charts, but it's when Plan B gets angry that he produces the best tracks.

Stay Too Long has a trademark catchy chorus, but really motors into action when gets the chance to tuck into a really angry-sounding rant. It's top stuff, and a world away from She Said, the song that almost everyone associates with this album, thanks to it topping the UK charts.

I'm not saying that was a bad song, but it certainly suffered from being overplayed on British radio, and I wouldn't be surprised if it got 'retired' for the live shows before long. Much in the same way that MGMT don't play Kids, and even Bruce Springsteen stopped playing Born in the USA, you can't really blame an artist for not wanting to perform a song that they have played 1,000s of times.

It's interesting to think that Drew doesn't even seem to really like this music. When he went back to his record label after this hit the bigtime and said that he wanted to revert back to 'proper hip-hop', he was told that wasn't an option. But rather than tow the line, he launched his own record label, and will do things as he likes in the future.

It will be interesting to see what comes next, as rumours suggest that a reggae album might be on the way, but only after he has returned to his musical roots, and made another rap/hip-hop album first. 

Whatever he chooses to do, there will be plenty of interest from around the world, the only variant is how many of those that rush to listen will like or approve of the direction that he chooses to take next.

For now though, grab a copy of this album, and listen to it all the way through at least twice. It takes both listens to fully appreciate how good it is.

Please, Make Them Stop - #35 Battles - Mirrored

Vermillion. Cheese flan. Quantum Leap. Marjorie. Toenail. Clock face. Grey pube.

So, at this point, someone might care to point out that everything that I wrote there was complete jibberish, and none of the words seemed in anyway connected (unless you believed the stories about the substandard food at the bakery near my student house, that is).

Jibberish is, I'm afraid, the only term that I can come up with for this terrible stain on the history of music. To even release it is an album in the first place is pushing taking the piss to a whole new level in the first place.

I could be nice. I could say it is different, unique or thought-provoking. I won't though, I'll say it's garbage.

It sounds like the result of leaving 30 toddlers in a room filled with things to make sounds with, while one four-year-old sits and pushes every button on a soundboard to a drumbeat. It really is that random, and that unbearable.

I can see why some people would label this as 'interesting', but to me, the complete abandom of structure is just jarring. So much so that this 'fun' album actually makes me unhappy when I listen to it. I've read positive reviews of it all over the web and I just can't figure it out.

If anyone reading this is a fan, please, please get in touch and explain it to me. I fear that, like Wild Beasts before it, I'm probably just not cool enough to understand. In fact, I hope that's the case, as at least it would prove that there is actually something here to understand in the first place.

I think that Atlas went on to be a big dance tune. I'm not convinced. Have a look at it and see what you think. To me, it's just awful. It's a musical equivalent of putting fingers in your ears and shouting 'la la la la la'.

The only redeeming feature that this has is that I'm intrigued as to how they convert this onto the stage. If it's some guy with a laptop playing the tunes, they should be ashamed of themselves. If it is (mostly) done live, then it might be worth going along to see how it comes together.

Until I find out which it is, I'm off to do something a little better with my time. *Fingers go in ears* La la la la la la la la la la la.

Great, Honest Fun - #34 Cage the Elephant - Cage the Elephant

So, after Anna Calvi, where on earth do we go next? To Cage the Elephant land, that's where.

I first heard this album quite a few months ago after considering buying it for months, I heard one track and decided that I had to have it, thankfully, it's a decision that I more than stick by.

After yesterday's example of how to create a haunting sound find Anna Calvi here, this band are more of an exercise in having fun. If I had to compare them to someone, I'd say that they sound like the Arctic Monkeys, only when all they were interested in was making cracking singles, not pissing about in the desert with Josh Homme.

Album opener In One Ear might not be the most original of songs in its subject matter (the band not being interested in critics and their opinions), but at least they have the good sense to actual tell everyone that they know this. The vocals are some kind of semi-rap, and there is definitely a hint of Alex Turner in there, despite the band being from Kentucky.

Thankfully for those listening, that track is excellent, but it's also a sign of things to come. Straight after In One Ear comes James Brown, another excellent indie-rock song that rattles along at a fair old pace. A sing along that begs for a crowd sing-a-long makes this song catchy as any on here, and the guitar solo (yes, they do still exist outside of Muse) really adds a lot to the track.

Which brings us on to Ain't No Rest for the Wicked. The guitars give this one a bit of a county feel, but it has brilliant lyrics and I strongly recommend giving this one a listen. Singer Matt Shultz talks us through a number of scenarios where people are getting hold of cash in less than righteous ways, and it really is a good listen. Unsurprisingly, after a bit of research, it turns out that it's single that's done the best in the UK charts for the band.

I really don't want to go through and talk about every song on here, and I would do, as the next one, Tiny Little Robots, is a cracker too, but I'll refrain. All I will say is that there are AT LEAST another four or five cracking tunes on here, meaning that's about eight out of 11. As Sum41 once (falsely) called an album, it's "All Filler, No Killer".

I'm looking forward to payday ticking by, so I can get the band's second album, if it's anywhere near as good as this, I'll be delighted.

And with that I'll leave you be. Cage the Elephant are a must at the festival, and probably one of the bands that I'm looking forward to seeing the most. If you're lucky enough to be coming too, I suggest you do the same. If you aren't coming, make sure you check out this album, as unfortunately, I can't see the BBC's coverage taking in much of this set.

And just as an after note, if you like this, feel free to have a look at a few of the blogs down the right hand side. There are all the ones for May, and April if you click the dropdown arrow. We covered some good stuff at the beginning, wouldn't want you to miss out.

Next up? Battles. *Sigh*

A Diva for the New Era? - #33 Anna Calvi - Anna Calvi

Oh Anna Calvi, how writing about this album has caused me much concern. If only you had made something simple to talk about, or boring, or something even close to the norm', then I'd be ok. But this, this majestic, atmospheric, moody and frankly baffling album has me stumped. I just don't know how to do you justice, but I'll give it a go.

Far from just hearing about Ms Calvi – and she does certainly now seem to have quite a huge, almost overnight following – I became aware of her when she toured with Interpol. Never one to overlook an Interpol support band (possibly the best gig I've seen was them being supported by Secret Machines in Nottingham). Downloading her album on its day of release (yes, I would prefer to buy it from a proper music shop, but I can't, I'm in France), it quickly became a mainstay in my listening schedule.

However, this is the stage when I really start to struggle to put together the rest of the blog. I'd love to tell you what this sounds like, but my brain falls over itself every time I begin to try. I'm certain that you won't have heard too much like this before. Reviews on Amazon point out influences in Patti Smith and PJ Harvey, but I'm not best placed to comment on that. How about I provide you with a video, and you can make your own mind up? Anna Calvi - Blackout.

Blackout is actually one of the more conventional tracks on the album. It opens up with Rider to the Sea, two and half minutes of gentle and building guitars with a haunting vocal that drifts in and out. No words I might add, just a hint of what we can come to expect.

There is definitely a lot of confidence on show from Ms Calvi, but, 'if you have it, flaunt it', seems as good of a phrase as any to use in this instance. She was part of the BBC Sound 2011 list, and has since gone on to become the headline act on the NME Radar Tour, which has launched more than a few bands into the limelight in its time.

The interesting thing about Anna is that no songs on here, apart from possibly Blackout, really seem like they will fit the bill and become part of the Radio One playlist. Whether this means that she won't get the exposure that she deserves is debatable, but it also means that over-exposure to her music isn't likely. With bands like as the Vaccines being played so much on the radio, or NME TV (MTV Rocks, VH1 etc), there is a very real chance that people have the chance to grow tired of the songs that they originally loved. Just look at Razorlight. There doesn't seem to be that chance here.

Other highlights for me on the album are Desire and The Devil, which sees almost all sounds apart from Anna and her guitar stripped away to showcase her voice.

I shouldn't have gotten so far through this actually without mentioning her voice. It contains such power, but, as The Devil shows, she is more than capable than bringing it down a notch. Her voice has a real haunting sound to it when the song is stripped down to its bare bones, and I imagine that seeing live would send shivers right down the middle of your spine. In the world of cartoons, men would be drawn in by it, spirals in their eyes and wandering aimlessly towards the sound of her voice.

A friend of mine went to see her in concert recently and said that she puts on an amazing show. If I can get anywhere near the stage when she performs at the festival, I'll certainly be happy to find out what he was talking about.

AAAHHH! (Guest blog number two) - #32 Primal Scream - Screamadelica

Remember back when it was U2's turn in the 60 Day Challenge, and I looked at the Joshua Tree (well, ish)? I said at the time that I didn't think I could do it justice. It went down in history as a hugely important album, but personally, I wasn't such a huge fan. I could appreciate that it was good, just not as good as people were making out.

So I called in a ringer, if you like. Steve Askew, U2 fan extraordinaire took the reigns and posted what was his rather magnificent take on it. Have a look on the right hand side if you haven't seen it. It's called Tear Down the Walls.

Anyway, my point is that the same thing has happened again. I know that Screamadelica is meant to be magnificent, and I know that the band will be playing it in full at the festival, and while I do like it, I know someone who is genuinely passionate about it, and would do a lot better job of it than me.

So I hand you over to the lovely Emma (@pollyatrocity - Twitter) to guide you through an album that has, like the Joshua Tree, been showered in praise since its release. I'll warn you now, this isn't my usual guff, this is fantastic.

P.S I'm sorry if the blog won't let you comment. Dunno why that is. You can always get me on Twitter @daninfrance or leave comments on my Facebook page if you like.

They say that if you remember the sixties, you weren’t really there. Similarly, when Danny asked me (unusually politely) if I’d like to write a piece on Screamadelica, I had no idea what he was talking about. Then I got out the shower and saw this. And it all came flooding back.

Cough.


(Ignore the stitches. I had a mole removed. Don’t worry, it was benign.)

That is obviously an exaggeration. But struggling to write a coherent paragraph or two, I was advised to share experiences of gigs and whatnot. I’d love to. But all I remember from most of them is that I went. Probably.

I don’t know many people who go to the trouble of seeing any band as many times as I’ve seen the Scream over the years. And the bottle of Rolling Rock that Andrew Innes bought me still sits proudly on my windowsill.

The first time I saw them, at Shepherds Bush Empire in summer 2000 was probably the best gig I have ever been to. I remember that one unusually distinctly because I was 15 and unitiated. I’m sure those jealous of my placement that I’d arrived unfashionably early to secure right infront of Mani’s amp took great pleasure in (quite possibly) breaking at least several of my ribs.

On another equally memorable occasion, I woke up in a hospital in Tottenham Court Road on a drip and been called a ‘silly bitch’ by one of the nurses, I slurrily dribbled ‘When at Primals, do as the Primals do’.

In my eyes, they’re a supergroup. Bobby Gillespie was briefly in the Jesus and Mary Chain during the Psychocandy period, on drums. He taught himself to play using dustbins and I’m pretty sure Mani was in some band or other before he joined. Duffy was in Felt, but no one remembers them so we’ll skim over that. I first discovered them several months prior to that first gig, when they had recently released Swastika Eyes, and Xtrmntr was on the cards. I was a late starter. But much as, aged seven I happily wore my brother’s acid house tshirt hand-me-downs, actually getting involved was a bit out of my reach. And until a few years later, the closest I’d come to Screamadelica was seeing it in the Nice Price section of Our Price. I probably looked at the cover with as much confused intrigue as most people, whose general consensus is that it looks like an amoeba covered in vomit. But having purchased Xtrmntr and loved it, it was apparently the next step.

And I’ve probably never loved an album as much since.

Screamadelica does not belong on a cd. It CERTAINLY does not belong on a digital file. It’s an album that was made for vinyl and an album very much of two halves, one half to come up, one half to come down. Very little can come close to witnessing Higher than the Sun onstage in all it’s glory. Perhaps the strangest aspect of my love of Screamadelica is that it’s two stand out tracks, for me at least aren’t actually on the album. The 7″ mix of Come Together, which as opposed to the much more well known Weatherall mix, and the piece itself entitled Screamadelica, the final track on the Dixie Narco ep. I will never know why neither were a part of it, but having only discovered either after I had physically worn out my third copy of the album they made a very, very pleasant dessert.

Screamadelica won the first ever Mercury Prize. Primal Scream lost the cheque at the ceremony. It is the first album I play every year when the sun first comes out and I want to sweep away the winter cobwebs. It’s going out music and it’s getting in music. Whereas many albums from the early 90′s now sound horribly dated, Screamadelica sounds ageless. There isn’t a song on there worthy of being skipped. It has soundtracked seminal days and hundreds more that were in no way important but invoke memories that make me smile. It’s pure sensory overload. As soon as you hear the opening bars of Movin’ on up you can smell the smoke, sun cream and sweat. The band may be old, fat and churning out utter rubbish these days, but Screamadelica will always be a wonky primary coloured ray of sunshine. And the only way I’ll forget it is if I emerge from the wrong side of an MRI machine.

Maybe When I Was 15... - #31 Jimmy Eat World - Jimmy Eat World

A bit of a poke around the Internet suggests to me that the first actual rock concert I went to was in 2001. I was a bit of a late starter on the whole gig scene, but like to think that I've more than made up for it since.

I actually remember the whole thing perfectly, which isn't always the case with gigs that I've caught as I've got older. It was the Manchester Evening News Arena, the support bands were A and AFI, and the band in question? The Offspring.

The night was rather excellent too I might add. The band were on top form, as were the supports. All in all, cracking stuff.

But why are you telling us this? I hear you ask. Well that was the time in my life that I associate with bands like Jimmy Eat World.

(sorry for the huge gap, the image has a massive border)

Feel free to tell me that I'm wrong if I am, but I've always lumped them in a pile with bands such as The Offspring, Less Than Jake and Reel Big Fish.

Unfortunately, I just don't think that this album is half as much fun as the above bands. Maybe that's because my categorisation policy is poor, or maybe I'm just correct? There is, after all, a first time for everything.

It's the drums played at a million miles per hour, and thrashy guitars that conjure up the images of the other bands that I've listed. That, and a Green Day(ish) sounding vocalist. Actually, I should have added Green Day to that list a little earlier, shouldn't I?

Now I'm not saying that this is unpleasant to listen to, it certainly isn't, but it's something that I would have enjoyed all those years ago. I think these days, I prefer vocalists to not sound like they are shouting (or at least on the verge of shouting), Songs to have more variety and (sometimes), something a little calmer. I could feel sweaty just listening to this album.

I mean, there are some good songs on here, but it's difficult to tell them apart from the others. Everything is just. so. similar.

I mean, there are some great songs on here, but it's hard to tell them apart from the others. Everything is just. so. similar.

(see what I did there?)

I think I'll leave the rest up to you guys. If thrashy, teen-rock is your kind of thing, then you may well love this, and probably have it already. If you used to like Green Day, before they got whiny and a bit crap, you may well enjoy this a lot, so give it a go. If you like Reel Big Fish, but aren't so keen on the brass instruments, the same applies.

Jimmy Eat World. They may rock your world, but not mine.

Next.

He's Never 'Bin' to Scunthorpe - #30 Tinie Tempah - Disc-Overy

"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime" - Old Chinese proverb.

"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Give a young man a rhyming dictionary, and he will have a best-selling album and border on musical world domination" - New Dan proverb.

Ahh. Mr Tempah. Or Patrick Chukwuemeka Okogw, as his mum probably calls him.

I really don't know what to make of this one. I'd like to say that I can't stand it, as it really isn't something that I'd listen to out of choice, and the young fellow does come across as an arrogant t*** who created an entire album boasting about the fact that he's done alright for himself.

Then again, why shouldn't he? I suppose my main gripe is that, as the first couple of lines of this piece suggest, he does seem to have just grabbed hold of a rhyming dictionary and strung almost anything together, as long as it sounds nice. "I've been Southampton but I've never bin to Scunthorpe" from his hit Pass Out is a prime example of the kind of garbage lyric that features on here, but at the same time, it's something that youngsters lap up, so again, can't really blame him. I even remember a Facebook group being started with the very same title. *sigh – maybe I'm just getting too old*

The singles that came from this album are actually very good. Pass Out might have appalling lyrics, but as a dance tune, it's up there with the best. Written in the Stars is also very, very catchy. Not necesarrily because of Tinie's parts, but the chorus would hook anyone in.

Thankfully (for my brain) - there is some crap on here for me to moan about. The last track, Let Go, is awful, and tells the story of a break-up, I think. I can't concentrate on it, after 12 songs, my head had had just about enough of Tinie.

I have seen him before actually, through coincidence though, rather than choice. Making my way over to the Pyramid Stage at last year's festival to watch Vampire Weekend, I caught the second half of Snoop Dogg's set, featuring special guest Tinie Tempah. I've even dug out the video for you, if you want to see what it sounds like live. Check it out here.

And that's probably enough from me. If hip-hop and rapping aren't your thing, I'd give this a miss. If they aren't, but you like a good club track, give it a go. And if you do like rap and the such, then I've probably not said anything so far that you didn't already know about Mr Tempah (and you'll probably disagree with everything that I just wrote).

Aside from the music on here, with 30 albums down, and 30 to go, I thought I'd share a few stats and such with you, as I am amazed at how many people read this blog each and every time I come on here.

So. The original plan was to reach 1000 views before the festival. Halfway through, and the stat counter is showing almost 1500. Thank you everyone. I've had readers in France, England, America, Spain, Switzerland, Denmark, China, The Philippines, Sweden, Germany, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Singapore and more. I've even had one read in Uruguay. Thank you again. I'm fascinated by how the blog reaches these parts of the globe, so please leave a comment if you are reading from afar.

And that's me done. Halfway home. Still waiting on the fame and glory though...