Mid-May, we warned you [ HERE ] that LADY ANTEBELLUM were a band you needed to know about quick-smart... and then, Lady A gracefully debuted at #1 on the New Zealand albums chart with 'Need You Now'. Despite having been released back in January in the States, the band's second album has also kept a tight grip on the Billboard country albums chart's #1 spot for NINETEEN consecutive weeks.
In the same way that it's ignorant to simply label Taylor Swift as a country-music artist, Lady Antebellum's like-minded pop-hook sensibilities really shine through with universal appeal, with the bonus of back-and-forth vocals between Hillary Scott and Charles Kelley. Personally, I like to think of the 'Need You Now' album as a convenient projection of what Swift fans can expect from the twenty-year old in the future, when she's out-grown her teenage angst.
Lady Antebellum like good times, they fall in and out of love like a best-selling chick-lit novel... and are now widespread embraced as champions of drunk phone calls at 1:15 in the morning - all the perfect essentials for never-ending sing-a-longs.
MUST-LISTEN: 'I Run To You', 'Our Kind Of Love', 'Stars Tonight', 'Perfect Day', 'Lookin' For A Good Time'. HEARTOMETER: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 [ out of 10 ] YOU WILL LIKE, IF YOU LIKE: Taylor Swift, Colbie Caillat, Gloriana, Carrie Underwood, Kellie Pickler, Rascal Flatts, Miranda Lambert... and both the 'Tim McGraw' song and person. THIS COULD HAVE WON US OVER MORE, IF... I'd already seen Lady Antebellum live. They're the kind of songs which grow on you tenfold after experiencing sold-out arena sing-a-longs. C'mon Lady A! Get down under... WATCH:'I Run To You' performed acoustically for a private radio station show.
The new delivery from James Murphy & Co. is as expected, a whole hour of absolutely under-appreciated dance-punk, driven by Murphy's witty (and quite often wry) prose, pitched in the guise of mumbled bitter somethings. 'This Is Happening' deals both a good - and a bad - hand to the world.
LCD SOUNDSYSTEM have bestowed upon the universe fresh new reasons to dance: get-out-of-your-seat inspiration that will remain timeless for aeons to come. But here comes the conventional whine: apparently 'This Is Happening' will be the last LCD Soundsystem album. What a tease you are Murphy, charming us all over again with brilliant one-liners such as "if it helps you fall in love I can change", to "we have a black president and you do not / so shut up, because you don't know shit about where we're from that you didn't get from TV". 'This Is Happening' is truly a stunner and I'm devastated to see the end of an era.
Only one questions remains: WHY IS THIS ALBUM NOT GARGANTUAN ALREADY?
MUST-LISTEN: 'You Wanted A Hit', 'I Can Change', 'Dance Yrself Clean', 'Pow Pow', 'Drunk Girls'. HEARTOMETER: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 + 1/2 [ out of 10 ] YOU WILL LIKE, IF YOU LIKE: Hot Chip, Neon Indian, Yeasayer, !!! (Chk Chk Chk), Sleigh Bells, YACHT, Simian Mobile Disco... and if you've always been wishing for an album that you can dance to, but isn't dance-music per se. THIS COULD HAVE WON US OVER MORE, IF... we weren't so scared to really love something, knowing that it's already leaving us. WATCH:'I Can Change' performed live on 'Later... with Jools Holland'.
Before there was a B.O.B. song featuring the vocals of Paramore's Hayley Williams, powerpop kids were first introduced to Mister Bobby Ray on Cobra Starship's 'The World Will Never Do', from their 'Hot Mess' album. While it might not have been a collaboration that set the world on fire - or that I even remembered, until searching through my iTunes - it serves as proof that B.o.B. is one smart rapper, having successfully mastered the trick of cross-genre collaborations to win over the ears of non-traditional listeners.
I don't pretend to know anything (at all) about rap music. But I know what I like... and I like - no - really like this album. In a way that I could never really get into Kid Cudi, B.o.B. just somehow does it for me: the only track I felt the need to hit the skip button on, being 'Bet I' featuring T.I. and Playboy Tre.
Track seven - 'The Kids' - gave me the greatest surprise I've had all week. B.o.B. featuring (the sublime) Janelle Monae, showcases Bobby Ray getting his Chiddy (Bang) on, sampling Vampire Weekend's 'The Kids Don't Stand A Chance' in a R&B re-interpretation.
B.o.B. is a true-blue kid of '88. We're all-class I tell you, all-class.
MUST-LISTEN: 'The Kids' feat. Janelle Monae, 'Magic' feat. Rivers Cuomo, 'Airplanes' feat. Hayley Williams, 'Nothin' On You', 'Don't Let Me Fall' feat. Bruno Mars, 'Ghost In The Machine'. HEARTOMETER: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 [ out of 10 ] YOU WILL LIKE, IF YOU LIKE: Travie McCoy, Chiddy Bang, Jason Derulo, Kid Cudi, Drake, Lupe Fiasco, Gym Class Heroes... and rappers that wear Ray-Ban sunglasses. THIS COULD HAVE WON US OVER MORE, IF... I wasn't so sceptical of artists that draw upon guest vocalists to make an album, then having to 'cheat' when playing the songs live. Hello Gym Class Heroes: if I can hear Patrick Stump singing over the Vector Arena sound-system, I want to see Stump on-stage singing with you live. Or at the very least, replacement vocals sung by a back-up singer. B.o.B. will show Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch what he's got, this July during The Edge Winter Jam. WATCH:'Nothin' On You' performed live on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.
Before listening to VEARA's album, two things immediately struck me as being interesting. ‘What We Left Behind’ - the first full-length that the four-piece have released through Epitaph - was produced by “pop-mosh” icon Jeremy Mckinnon from A Day To Remember... and the band’s drummer is a girl! Brittany Harrell, I salute you.
‘What We Left Behind’ is catchy, and a solid effort for their label debut. Produced by McKinnon, his influence can be heard throughout the release, providing a few moments which sound like they could easily slot onto a b-side of ADTR’s ‘Homesick'. That being said, overall, ‘What We Left Behind’ sounds more like a record created by the love-child of Set Your Goals and Four Year Strong. The gang-vocals, the breakdowns, the pop-punk influence... Veara have jumped on the “pop-mosh” bandwagon and produced a decent album; however the spark of individuality and something unique, just isn’t there
MUST-LISTEN: ‘Role Model’, ‘Better Off Without You’. HEARTOMETER: 1 2 3 4 5 6 + 1/2 [ out of 10 ] YOU WILL LIKE, IF YOU LIKE: Set Your Goals, Four Year Strong, A Day To Remember... and New Found Glory reminiscing. THIS COULD HAVE WON US OVER MORE, IF... there was an element of difference to sit it apart. WATCH: An audio clip of 'Role Model' by Veara.
OFF WITH THEIR HEADS are a punk-rock band hailing from Minneapolis, signed to legendary label Epitaph. 'In Desolation' - their first Epitaph release - is an honest and admirable release, jam-packed with songs which all wouldn't be amiss if they were included on my Punk-O-Rama Volume 5 compilation from 2000. 'In Desolation' is a definite throwback to the glory days of Epitaph, before the 'scene' referred to guys wearing eyeliner, and before girls wearing a tie and striped socks were in any way considered to be punk.
Vocalist Ryan Youngs' voice is a refreshing shift away from the stereotypical whiny vocals associated with pop-punk, and the band members' collective experience and backgrounds from playing in bands such as Dillinger Four and Banner Pilot, are obvious in their lyrical content and honest, unafraid style. 'In Desolation' may not win any album of the year awards, but it could spark the beginning of an Epitaph revival.
MUST-LISTEN:'Drive' and 'Their Own Medicine'. HEARTOMETER: 1 2 3 4 5 6 [ out of 10 ] YOU WILL LIKE, IF YOU LIKE: Dillinger Four, The Lawrence Arms... and almost any band signed to Epitaph Records in 2002. THIS COULD HAVE WON US OVER MORE, IF... I was fifteen again. Or if it took more than four listens, to start to appreciate it. WATCH: The music video for 'Drive'.
