Archive for the 'review' Category

Minnaars at Drummonds (Aberdeen) 05/03/2010

Published on March 6, 2010 in Music, gig and review. 2 Comments Tags: , .

Minnaars came on to the stage well after midnight, but were clearly looking to have a great time. They bounded onto the stage with youthful enthusiasm and immediately started up with some crowd interaction. This didn’t go down so well however. As it turns out drunk Aberdonian old codgers don’t appreciate English people. This made for an interesting atmosphere for the first half of the gig, though the band had a humorous comeback for anything and everything. This is much to their credit, rarely have I seen a crowd chuckle away so often between songs.

With that note out of the way, on with the important stuff; the music. Minnaars immediately broke out into the excellent Busy Hands. Given that this is what I would consider a genuine dancefloor filler, that’s some statement of intent. Between the pulsating synth, delay-laden, staccato, dueling guitars and dynamic drums and baseline it would be difficult not to dance. The breakdown in the middle with the refrain “I’ve been falling into bits, been like this since the blitz” has always been something I’ve found hypnotically good. This was even more true live. The song has been reworked since it was last put on record and now has an extra bit at the end where a recording of the vocal line has been cut up and placed over new synth lines, before breaking out into an outro. It was a fantastic re-imagining of an already great song. Below is the original version of Busy Hands.

From there the band went on to play a mix of old songs and songs which have been written for their debut LP. This was their first gig since recording some of that album, but you wouldn’t know it from the performance. The band are nearly all extremely dynamic and charismatic performers. Special mention here has to go to the frontman and the two guitarists who were almost always doing something else, different, new, or unexpected. The new material all sounded very interesting, exploring a similar shouty, danceable guitar based area in a number of different ways.

The gig finished with an interesting new song (possibly just an intro for Are Lovers) which had 3 members of the band doing almost nothing but singing at the same time, all over the top of the drums, bass and synth. This led into the fantastic Are Lovers, before the band left having pleased at least a significant subsection of the crowd and it looked like they had fun along the way.

Hopefully their album will come out later this year. In the meantime I’ll make do with the compilation of their work to date “Of Our Delirious Former Loving Hours”.

Borderlands

Published on February 15, 2010 in Gaming, geek and review. 2 Comments Tags: , , , .

Borderlands is a real success story. It could have been so different. It’s not always that a new IP which was heavily delayed – and endured a major change of art style mid-way through development – turns out to be any good. It’s also rare for a developer to take such a risk with genre; whichever way you look at it Gearbox Software either took the FPS and infused it with elements of the dungeon crawler, or vice versa. You get the feeling it was a calculated risk, that Gearbox had total confidence in their unusual idea. They were right to be so confident. Borderlands is easily the most compelling new twist on old genres to come out for many a year and not only that, it’s an intensely satisfying experience from start to finish.

That it is compelling is even more remarkable as the game is given only the barest of story frameworks from which to hang itself. It casts the player as a new arrival on the planet Pandora. A treasure hunter, of sorts, searching for a mythical vault. Fortunately they chose not to labour the point, or even overtly draw attention to the fact that the player is trying to open something which has remained unopened for quite some time, on a planet called Pandora. The rest of the game follows the trials and tribulations of your vault hunter as they search for the vault. Missions are largely handed out as quests by NPCs leading to some questionable MMO comparisons. Rather than it being based on an MMO I see it more in the vein of something like Diablo, minus the random level generation.

While not deep, the story is compelling; largely due to the charismatic band of characters – both friends and enemies – that the player meets along the way. There’s a whimsical style to the portrayal of the character which is really likable. Claptrap in particular is a standout character. The Claptrap robots are found all over and as their name suggests they tend to do all of the talking. They really remind me of Wall-E in a strange way and are always likable. An aspect of their charm probably relates to the fact that you often find them injured and in need of repair by you. In addition to the characters and the natural curiosity felt due to the desire to discover what is contained in the vault, the main driver for the player’s desire to continue through the game is the loot which can be found in crates and on fallen enemies. Loot comes mainly in the form of new guns, but also in the form of grenade mods and also new shields. All of these types of artifact can have various modifiers applied. Some guns reload really quickly, some cause elemental damage, some cause more damage and reload more slowly, some have massively powerful scopes, and for the most part the generation of these weapons and also the equipment is random. This means there’s almost always a shiny new toy hidden on the next enemy or in the next crate. This is really compelling.

The last compeeling aspect is the constant feeling of character progression. The game has an RPG-lite levelling system, with experience points and a skill tree. At level five the player unlocks the skill associated with their class and also starts earning points which can be ploughed into the skill tree. Each class has three distinct branches in its skill tree, though points can be ploughed into any branch at any time. In addition the game allows for the player to re-distribute these points for a cost whenever they desire. Even within one class there are enough different ways to customise your character to make it really interesting. There’s a level cap at 50, so there’s a limited number of skill points and it’s worth really thinking about the way points are spent.

The four classes are really very well differentiated from each other, both visually and in the way they play. The obvious choice for the person playing through it in single player is the Soldier, whose special skill is a deploy-able turret. The other classes are the Hunter; a sniper focused support class whose special skill is a bird of prey (called a Bloodwing) which will kill enemies for the player, the Siren; a weaker class with the ability to phase walk (turn invisible and invulnerable for a period of time, causing damage in an area of effect around the player whenever they go into or come out of the the phase walk state) and the Berserker; a tank like heavy weapons specialist whose special skill is an overdrive mode where they put down their weapons and cause huge amount of damage with their fists. With wildly different appearances, audio cues and play styles, each class feels really well rounded and also rewarding to play as. The Hunter in particular feels quite sadistic with the way he chuckles to himself whenever he kills enemies. Similarly satisfying are the screams of the Berserker in his overdrive more and also the sounds of his swinging punches.

Each class’s skill tree contains some really fantastically though out skills which add further to the entertainment. The soldier in particular has some really interesting abilites such as being able to heal team-mates by shooting at them. This really comes into its own in the multiplayer co-op mode. Indeed the class interaction is fantastic in the co-op setting, with each class feeling essential and really adding to the dynamics of a team.

Once the game has been completed a Second Playthrough opens up where the enemies in each area have increased in level (starting at around the level the player should be by the time they’ve finished their first playthrough), the loot drops also increase in their impressiveness in this second playthrough. This adds yet more longevity to a game which took over 20 hours to playthrough in single player, in addition to the various co-op games I also enjoyed.

While Borderlands is not without its issues such as occasionally nutty / dumb seeming artificial intelligence and a story which could really have been fleshed out a little more, it is easily a top notch game. Its weapons feel weight and accurate, the art style is colourful and unique, visual effects pop and fizz – particularly during intense battles- and the sound design is fantastic. I can’t recommend the game highly enough and look forward to the rumoured and well deserved sequel.

My Favourite 3 Games of 2008

Published on January 14, 2009 in Gaming and review. 0 Comments

For the purposes of this assessment, there are a few games which are certainly in contention for the top places, but that I’ve not had the chance to play yet. These are Fallout 3 and Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts, the former is a vast improvement over the dull Oblivion, the latter is again a vast improvement over the dull Banjo games of the past. I may well later amend this list, but as the year came to an end, my favourite games were as follows.

3. Gears of War 2

Gears of War 2 could actually be counted as my dissapointment of 2008 as well. That certainly explains its lowly position of third; in a year where I only really played 5 or so new games, no less. I had really high hopes for the sequel to one of my favourite games of 2006 and Gears of War 2 eventually failed to live up to its predecessor in several key areas. It all started off very promisingly as a lot of the niggling issues with the controls had been sorted out. For the most part all those occasions where your character would incorrectly clamp on to a piece of cover as you were trying to run, or a piece of scenery which looked like it should be cover, but wasn’t, have been ironed out. 

This makes the failings in the rest of the game’s design all the more galling. The largest of the problems I had with Gears of War 2 was its story. More specifically the focus on Dominic Santiago’s missing wife. Perhaps if his wife had been mentioned more in the first game, or if Dom wasn’t such a complete idiot whenever he mentioned his wife, I could have identified with his issues. As it was that particular section of the story stuck out like a sore thumb and felt really tacked on. This feeling was made much worse by the juxtaposition of Dom’s whining in cutscenes with his ignorance of his wife’s plight as he is murdering hundreds of Locust in the action. Perhaps if more of his incidental speech during the action made mention of his wife, his story would have been more believable. As it was, it was like there was two Doms, the cutscene Dom who cared about his wife and the action Dom who cared about killing Locust. It made Dom a much less believable character and took the focus away from the stronger character of the piece. On that note, Marcus Fenix and Augustus “Cole Train” Cole were easily the standout characters in the first game. The relative lack of good moments involving these characters in the second game was extremely disappointing.

Finally on the Gears of War 2 front is its completely flat and dull difficulty curve. I played both Gears of War and Gears of War 2 on the Hardcore difficulty settings. Gears of War had a really satisfying difficulty curve; which saw the difficult increase steadily, until the game was really challenging near the end. This was topped off by a final boss which actually put up some sort of a fight. In Gears of War 2 you could be forgiven for thinking that the difficulty of the game was going in the opposite direction, getting consistently easier until you reach a pathetic final interaction (I refuse to call holding down the left and right triggers for about 30 seconds a boss). I’ve yet to try Gears 2 on the Insane difficulty level and this may yet redeem it, but it is extremely disappointing nonetheless.

In all; despite the advances in the reliability and responsiveness of certain play mechanics, and the undoubted graphical improvements, Gears of War 2 falls short of its predecessor as an overall package. It’s still a very good game, just a disappointment.

 

2. Burnout Paradise

Burnout Paradise came as something of a surprise to me. The demo felt really bad and it wasn’t just me, nearly everyone I knew was seriously worried about the game after the demo. This actually put me off buying the game for some time. Eventually a few trusted people spoke of how the game was initially disorienting, then they fell in love; so I picked it up. It has to be said that they were correct.

The first few hours I spent in Paradise City (the city in which this racing game is set) were extremely disorienting and frustrating. The open world setting seemed to work against the game and it seemed impossible to learn your way around the city. Suddenly though, everything clicks. There’s a magic moment where you start to learn the routes around the city and then suddenly the entire game makes sense. 

Suddenly you realise that not only do you have the intensity of the previous games, with the no nonsense aggressive racing, but you also have a city which is designed as one giant toy. It quickly becomes a joy to simply drive around the city, not even entering events. In Paradise City, there is so much to see and do it’s a wonder I ever played anything else. 

Burnout Paradise is the perfect example of a revolutionary entry in a franchise, it changed the game in a way which made it a much more compelling experience; if you took the time to fall in love with it. When you add this to the pitch perfect car handling, gloriously brutal crashes and beautiful graphics, you have a very compelling package. That Criterion also supported the game with a number of substantial and free updates, you have a genuinely great game, from a fantastic and forward thinking developer. 

 

1. Rock Band / Rock Band 2

This game is much easier to summarise than all the others. Everybody wants to be a rock star, or at least pretend; just for a little while. With their wide ranging track-listings and plastic instruments, Rock Band can coax nearly anyone into giving it a go, even if only for a short time. Be it your parents playing a classic from their youth, or a friend unleashing their unknown singing talent and passion.

Rock Band / Rock Band 2 is the perfect party game, sober or aided by alcohol. It is the great unifier between gamers and non-gamers, more than that, it is simple pure fun. Gaming at its best then.

Bloc Party – Intimacy

Published on September 3, 2008 in Music and review. 2 Comments Tags: , , , .

With this album, context is important. Silent Alarm put Bloc Party firmly on the map with what at the time soudned like an astonishing record. With time though, the album sounds distinctly two dimensional. It’s a brilliantly focussed record, and one that I love, but the songs just don’t have a lot of depth, or texture. When their second album A Weekend In The City was released, it initially seemed amazing. However with time, the album revealed itself to be a little top heavy and the second half of that album is generally regarded to be below par. A shame, because much of the work in the early half of the album is stunning.

So what expectations can you have when the new album is shock released, prefaced only by Mercury; a song which divided Bloc Party’s fanbase in two. Mercury with it’s mashed up vocals, up front drums, synth noises and brass instruments was the perfect example of a marmite song. It’s tempting to say that your opinion of Mercury is likely to give you an idea of what you think of the album, but that’s not quite true. The focus certainly isn’t exclusively on guitars in this album, though Bloc Party were always quite good at shifting the focus. Inevitably most peoples’ memories of Silent Alarm will be of one of those amazing guitar hooks.

I imagine the siren like guitar hook of Ares may have the alarm bells ringing for many. Particularly when the rest of the track comes on a bit like an awesome version of The Chemical Brothers. It’s an amazing assault of lyrics, squeals, guitar and synth stabs; all anchored by a slightly tinny drum beat. In short, it’s awesome. Similarly Trojan Horse assaults the senses. Sounding like a crazy sonic version of sparklers mixed with the sound effects from a bad science fiction film. Only not quite, somehow under it all it manages to be a guitar led tune, much more in keeping with old Bloc Party than at first apparent. The back end of the song comes on almost like a new take on Postive Tension, a cast iron Bloc classic. One Month Off is in a similar vein to  Trojan Horse, only much more visceral. It’s perhaps the most exciting track vocally from a traditional point of view.

Halo initially seems like it’s harking back to the Silent Alarm era and getting it all wrong. In short, there’s too much distortion. However the classic trick of suddenly breaking it down to guitars and bulding the song back up works its magic. Suddenly that trademark clean guitar sound re-appears, before the drums kick everything towards a scintilating conclusion.

Sandwiched between Halo and Trojan Horse is the song I’m tempted to call the centre-piece of the album. Biko is a very delicate guitar tune, with a focus not only on the main vocals; but also the ones that jump in saying “You’re not doing this alone,” these dance between your speakers, making for a truly interesting effect. By the time the beats drop in, and yes that’s beats, the song already feels magic. It feels like they managed to re-imagine their old delicate songs, but with a spin lifted from Thom Yorke’s The Eraser. Signs is another re-imagining of a slow Bloc Party song and comes with quite simply the most beautiful glockenspiel introduction I have ever heard.

Another song which includes prominent electronics is Zephyrus. It also features that oft used trick of using vocals as an instrument, with a few vocal loops staying throughout the length of the song. It also feature excellent use of a choir, which while almost making it sound like something out of Final Fantasy VIII; also ensures it’s utterly captivating. The choir gives the song a textural depth and emotional weight it wouldn’t otherwise have had. Towards the end of the song the quiet extra vocal trick from Biko re-appears, once again to great effect.

Better Than Heaven and Ion Square probably offer the strongest ending of a Bloc Party album to date. Silent Alarm struggled, stringing Plans and Compliments together where perhaps Compliments could have ended the album and Plans could have been utilised elsewhere in the album. The entrire back half of A Weekend In The City lacks weight, being mostly comprised of ballads. Intimacy doesn’t make this mistake. Better Than Heaven is dark, with an exciting end. Ion Square is a typically uplifting final track. It is worth noting though perhaps, that these two tracks still probably represent the weakest tracks on the album.

That’s not a criticism however, it merely shows the quality of the rest of the album. I can’t wholeheartedly reccomend the album to fans of older Bloc Party off by Mercury. Furthermore the album isn’t as revolutionary as Ares and Mercury suggests. This is not Bloc Party’s Kid A, though it seems evident they intend to evolve their sound to the point where they make that record. Evidently though, they’ve lost a lot of shock value with this album, by already showing they’re going in that direction. The shift will never be as seismic as that between OK Computer and Kid A.

Still, that’s a consideration for another time. This is a fantastic album that I would love to recommend to everybody, though I suspect if you didn’t like Mercury, you’ll find the album as a whole difficult to get in to at first, if you can get in to it at all.

Mass Effect: Revelation

Published on August 27, 2008 in geek and review. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

After thoroughly enjoying both the gameplay and the storytelling in last year’s hit game Mass Effect, I decided to give the prequel novel a try. Several factors affected my decision to do so. I am not normally the sort of person who would enjoy the fiction associated with series spawned in other media. I find that the defining features of a medium generally dictate a certain style of storytelling, this does not always translate well to written fiction. This is perhaps most clearly the case with computer games. Computer games as a medium dicatate a certain focus on action, and interaction, that does not suit written fiction, or indeed any other medium. In this case however I was willing to give Mass Effect: Revelation a shot based on the fact that it was written by the lead writer of the game and also the high quality of the writing in the game itself. Additionally, a recent foray into this sort of literature by way of Peter David’s excellent Babylon 5 novel The Long Night Of Centauri Prime, gave me some faith in this time of accompanying fiction. Again David is an excellent writer, well versed in that source material.

What I found, was pleasantly surprising in some respects; but also entirely what I expected in others. It is fair to say that the plot involves more than its fair share of action, perhaps a necessary evil, but I could have done with a little more story in around some of the action section. The story takes place a number of years before the game and focuses on the Spectre (a kind of intergalactic police man who is almost above the law) Saren and David Anderson, a member of Earth’s Alliance Military. As ever in these stories, we have a united Earth as part of a galactic Council made up of a number of different races. This offers up the standard pot shots at racism that you’d typically expect to find in such a novel. There was also the First Contact War, which involved the humans and Saren’s race; the Turians. Stop me if this is sounding a little too familiar…

For what it’s worth though, the story is quite interesting in parts. It really does set up the game’s plot in a fantastic way, with a lot of foreshadowing, particularly as the book reaches its closing stages. The book starts out with an attack on an Alliance colony and our hero David Anderson just happens to be part of the response team sent in to deal with it. From there we go to alien bars, alien planets, have the odd politics section and finally end up at the part of the story that’s alluded to in the game. David Anderson being considered as a member of Spectre, but being teamed up with Saren. Essentially the mission goes very right for Saren and very wrong for everyone else. Saren then goes on to pin the blame for the incident on Anderson.

In an odd way I’m fairly sure this prequel book is designed to be read after the events of the game have taken place. There’s a lot in the book that wouldn’t make sense without the context of the universe and I’m not sure that the book does enough to establish that universe by itself. The book reads well as something akin to a flashback sequence, filling out the backstory. I suppose that makes it a successful piece of accompanying fiction, but I can’t help but feel the story could have been expanded upon more in this form. I think it was perhaps slightly constricted by the fact it was being written as a prequel to a computer game, rather than a book.

Overall though, it was an enjoyable read. With the context of the events of Mass Effect it’s certainly veyr entertaining and succeeds in its task in revealing more about what happened between Anderson and Saren. It also sets up the events of the game very well, dropping just enough hints at what is to come to make things interesting. I’ll certainly keep an eye out for any future accompanying fiction for Mass Effect.

Apollo Justice DS Review

Published on May 14, 2008 in Gaming and review. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , .

As the fourth in the series, Apollo Justice has a lot to live up to in terms of providing memorable characters, brilliantly devised music and cases with as many twists and turns as the A57. Apollo Justice is the first incarnation of the Phoenix Wright games made exclusively for the DS, not counting the extra case on the original re-issue. As such, it has new features and a new protagonist in Apollo Justice and his side-kick Trucy.

Despite the game being called Apollo Justice as opposed to Phoenix Wright, Phoenix features quite heavily in all four cases, especially the fourth, which delves into his past. The older Phoenix lacks any sort of charisma at first and you often find yourself resenting his appearances and wondering why Capcom didn’t just do away with him altogether. However, as the game progresses you find that he has links with many of the cases which all come together in the fourth and final case. This case sees the player taken back in time ’seven years earlier’ and you become Phoenix Wright in all his youthful glory. To add to the nostalgia here, the graphical syle changes back to a more simple look, and the music from the original game makes a comeback. I found myself a bit too happy to hear it, as Apollo Justice doesn’t really deliver on the musical front the same as the first three games have done. The fact that the addition of the older music seems to show up the new music as being lacklustre, seems to be a failing on Capcom’s side.

Speaking of music though, the third case features a singer called Lamiroir whose song is quite well composed, albeit without any vocals. The graphical capabilities of the DS are also utilised here in the form of a video of the concert you have to watch for clues. Each of the cases are preceded by a more complex FMV which is quite nice and a welcome addition to the Phoenix Wright franchise. The character animations have stayed much the same but this is no bad thing as even the few expressions and actions each character has, are enough to convey their personality and feelings.

The characters and their personalities have always been something that has stood out about Phoenix Wright. In Apollo Justice, there are nowhere near as many great characters, apart from the main protagonists of Apollo and Trucy and the recurring character from the first game on the DS, Ema Skye. Some of the characters in particular were downright annoying. This does seem to be a trend from the previous games though, as the characters can be very hit and miss. Unfortunately, Apollo Justice seems more ‘miss’ than ‘hit’ in terms of original characters.

The unique capabilities of the DS are utilised well in the new investigation techniques which appear in Apollo Justice. You can dust for fingerprints, take casts of footprints and examine evidence more closely with the touchscreen. However, as great as all this is, it features very little in the game and it could have been so much better if it was used more frequently.

Apollo Justice is no doubt a good game, but perhaps one for die hard fans of the series only. The DS exclusive features are definitely a step in the right direction, and I wold hope that if Capcom carry on the story of Apollo, these features will be utilised more frequently and more fully. The game almost feels like a test run on the DS, rather than a full blown touch screen experience of the game.

iLiKETRAiNS Live at Roadhouse, Manchester, April 30th 2008

Published on May 1, 2008 in Music, gig and review. 2 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , .

Seeing as iLiKETRAiNS had scheduled no dates in Scotland for their current tour, I arranged a trip back home to coincide with their Manchester date. I’ve not been to many gigs in Manchester but was impressed by Roadhouse as a venue. It had a cosy feel, and an excellent selection of beers. The stage setup was unusual, as the drums were situated at the back, in a sort of alcove. I thought this was quite nice, and the gig itself felt nice and intimate, which is how a good gig should be.

The first support was supposed to be Laymar, a local band, who sound like they would have been good to hear live. However, they had a technical failure which meant that they couldn’t perform at the gig.

The touring support were Kyte, who I would describe as a British Jeniferever. The vocalist admitted to losing his voice, but still managed to create the right atmosphere for the type of music they played, which I enjoyed. I think I prefer to see more atmospheric bands live, as I find watching where all the different parts to the songs come from fascinating. Also, I think all their songs featured a glockenspiel, which can go a long way to making any song instantly better.

So on to iLiKETRAiNS. They opened with 25 Sins, which has become pretty standard since they started touring the album tracks. I remember when I first heard the song live, as I’d not heard it on record at the time, and it was amazing. That hasn’t changed and I would have been disappointed if 25 Sins was not the opening track. The opening drumstick clacks are just brilliant and really set the song up well. Also the use of a guitar solo sets it apart from most of iLiKETRAiNS’ other songs. After that, the setlist was similar to that which was used when I saw them in Scotland. This is no bad thing, especially as they played Victress. One of the enthusiastic blokes from the side of the stage seemed surprised that they would be playing a B-side, but Dave, the lead singer asked if it was good anyway. I replied that it was fantastic! Which it clearly is. The refrain of ‘all men will be, sailors until the sea shall set them free’ is just brilliant and gives the song that little bit extra.

As this was the ‘We Go Hunting’ tour, they certainly seemed to get more into this particular song and gave it their all. It’s one of the more accessible songs on the album, as its upbeat, and the atmospheric nature of the band and Dave’s voice really make it something special.

we also got treated to a new song, which is still in the writing process. It’s working title is ‘Progress is a Snake’ and it was excellent. I think it may be one of my favourite iLiKETRAiNS songs despite only hearing it once. (Plus the youtube quality version of it) I really liked what Simon did with the drumming at the beginning, and there were 2 synths used which was something a bit different. Overall though it was certainly iLiKETRAiNS, and I thoroughly look forward to the finished product.

I think the gig itself went very well for the TRAiNS guys and they said themselves that they had enjoyed it lots. A minor technical hitch was suffered with the projector which was noticeable through the show. After it showed no signs of recovering, it was swiftly turned off by the expert multi-tasker, Ashley, and the show went on. This was only in the last song anyway, and the truly epic nature of Spencer Perceval meant that nothing was lost from the experience and the show ended on an extremely high note.

During the gig, I shouted to Dave that the band should come back to Scotland again, and he said that they would. Hopefully they will stick by this, as I love seeing them in my favourite gig venue Cabaret Voltaire, as well as King Tut’s as it has an excellent atmosphere.

Tonight is iLiKETRAiNS’ homecoming gig, where there will be films and chess. Unfortunately it is not possible for me to go, but I hope that the band members and fans that can make it have an excellent time. Another upcoming TRAiNS date is the 26th of May, when there will be a cinema screening of Elegies to Lessons Learnt, which will probably be amazing to attend.

¡Forward, Russia! Live at Fat Sams, Dundee, April 17th 2008

Published on April 18, 2008 in Music, gig and review. 2 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , .

I think its fair to say that Fat Sams is quite a different place than King Tuts. While I don’t quite share the opinion that King Tuts is the best live music venue there is, it certainly comes close. Fat Sams? Well, it’s a club. This immediately alters the mood, the bouncers have inflated egos, the atmospher is generally a bit worse. This wasn’t helped by the fact that it’s a club in Dundee. So far as I can tell Dundee doesn’t have quite the same music scene as somewhere like Edinburgh or Glasgow. In Edinburgh and Glasgow people go out to gigs fairly regularly, at least some people do, in Dundee this is not the case. People go to gigs to see local bands in Dundee.

Speaking of which, the local band that opened last night were terrible. I actually had to leave the room a couple of times because the music was so poorly conceived. Indeed as someone I was at the gig pointed out, one of their songs didn’t end. This was not in a good way either, for instance on The Mars Volta’s Amputechre many of the songs are literally amputated, this song however meandered on after it should have finished, then suddenly with no warning they stopped playing. There was no feeling that the song had finished. Then there was the awful pairing of Meg White style drumming to a song which didn’t suit it. I like The White Stripes a lot, but Meg’s drumming suits the style of music they play. When you insert that style of drumming into a song that is not in that style, it does not work.

Moving swiftly onwards and back to Johnny Foreigner. Another excellent set from the best thing to come out of Birmingham in along time. Again they played with an energy, and their songs were so dynamic that you couldn’t help but get really in to the set. The inter song banter continued in the same vein as that in Glasgow. This time it was more outrageous though, at one point they apologised for their lack of organisation and proceeded to talk at length about what to play next. When this got a heckle from the crowd the instant response was: “Could you be quiet, we’re trying to have a conversation here!” I think I’m in love with the song they finish on, excellent set finisher. Suffice to say, I will be getting their album when it’s released. Despite their candid admission that they steal music from the internet, so they can’t expect us to buy it. I certainly will be buying it though.

After the band once more walked on to the sounds of That’s Amore, Tom announced that he was having problems with his throat. It’s to his credit that he soldiered on through the performance, especially as the band had to cancel today’s Newcastle date after a reccomendation from a doctor. The band were on fine form again, once more opening with the excellent Spring Is A Condition. The setlist was largely similar to the Glasgow gig, only this time we did actually get A Prospector Can Dream. Unfortunately the technical problems meant that once more Nineteen wasn’t played. This did however mean that Whiskas dedicated Gravity And Heat to me, which was a really excellent thing for him to do.  Again the set took in the epic Don’t Be A Doctor and finished on Spanish Triangles. Spanish Triangles is easily the best finisher I’ve seen, the opportunity for group vocals at the end during the epic guitar, where Bentley the guitar tech comes on stage to play extra guitar, is immense. I was left once more wanting much more and tempted to go to Newcastle, thankfully for me that was cancelled; preventing me from doing something irresponsible.

¡Forward, Russia! Live at King Tuts 15th of April 2008

Published on April 16, 2008 in Music, gig and review. 3 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

First up a small note on King Tuts itself. This was the first time I’ve been at King Tuts where there was a barrier, and I have to say this disappointed me. Barriers at gigs are always really poorly thought out, I’ve never understood why they don’t pad them. Sure there are practicalities involved with padding them, but it just makes sense. Anybody who has been to a gig will be faimiliar with the idiots who form a mosh pit, and cause general harm to all around. I’ve been in many situations where I’ve been crushed up against a barrier for large parts of gigs, believe me a little padding would go a long way. Anyway, I saved myself the trouble by standing at the front right of the stage, just beyond where the barrier comes to. This gave me a perfect view of the gig, close up but not being crushed and with room to dance.

As always seems to be the case when I visit Glasgow, there was a local band of dubious quality up first. I honestly don’t know how Glasgow generates all these bad local bands, but it does. To be fair top This July, it’s not really that they were bad; mediocre is probably a better description. Beyond the vocals, I couldn’t quite put my finger on what was wrong. To me it just seemed that they played a number of poorly conceived songs, lacking in any real hooks or personality. Again they had the local Glasgow audience lapping up the Glaswegian band, something I find happening only in Glasgow really. At one point between songs I said to my friends: “Please say this is going to be your last song.” Fortunately, this is exactly what the frontman said not 5 seconds later.

On to the main support act and I had plenty of confidence that we were going to be in for more of a treat. Even before Johnny Foreigner came on stage, I was pleased by their cute riff on the ghosts from Pacman accross most of their equipment. To say that I was impressed is an understatement. Their songs were infectious, with excellent interplay between drums, bass, guitar and ocassionally synth. For a band with only three members their sound was full and pleasing, no doubt helped by the boy girl tennis volley vocals. I was sad when their set finished, despite the fact that meant ¡Forward, Russia! would be on soon. Clearly they were good then.

So to ¡Forward, Russia! who had just released their excellent second album Life Processes (review to come later) the day before. This meant they had to tread the careful line between playing the newer songs, and the older ones. Personally I could’ve done with more of the new songs. Particularly when their technical gizmos went on the fritz taking both A Prospector Can Dream and Nineteen out of the setlist. These were replaced by Seven and Nine, two songs I love, but having seen the live so many times I couldn’t feel a little bit upset that the other two couldn’t be played. Opening with Spring Is A Condition was a masterstroke, for so long I can only remember ¡Forward, Russia! starting with Thirteen, even though the eventually migrated away from it, it was still nice to see it placed in the middle with a new perfect opener in place. For me the highlights were very definitely the new songs, in addition to Spring Is A Condition, Don’t Reinvent What You Don’t Understand, Gravity and Heat, and A Shadow Is A Shadow Is A Shadow were awesome to experience live. Gracity and Heat in particular was anthemic and truly felt like as much of an instant classic as Don’t Be A Doctor was.

¡Forward, Russia! are a band who have very much improved in almost every imaginable way since their debut album. Give Me A Wall was an extremely important album to me, but the band as a whole just seem so much more confident now, particularly playing the newer songs. Older songs are re-invigorated as well, which can only be a good thing. While they may be confident playing, Katie did take time to say that she wasn’t sure anybody would turn up. I guess it’s always a worry, but a band of such quality should never have to worry about that. The set finished with the epic Spanish Triangles, which is an even better set finisher than Eleven was back in the Give Me A Wall days. The way the song builds to the oh so singable refrain of “Turn your ships around, we are all armadas now,” truly astounds live. The band have to get credit for being willing to involve guitar tech Bentley in playing on Spanish Triangles, it helps keep it as brilliantly layered as it is on the album. We were even treated to an encore which is a relative rarity for ¡Forward, Russia!, though they may end up playing them more often now them seem to be more popular. Fifteen Part II was the song chosen, which is an excellent song for an encore, though again personally I’d have loved to see something newer. I understand that’s not how encores work though.

So an excellent gig, which left me angry at myself for not having sorted out a way for going to the Aberdeen gig. I would rate ¡Forward, Russia! as being at their absoloute best since I started going to see them live back in 2005, and Johnny Foreigner were an excellent bonus. Still, I have Dundee to look forward to. Though I can’t imagine the acoustics are very good in Fat Sams…

I Was A Cub Scout – I Want You To Know That There Is Always Hope

Published on April 1, 2008 in Music and review. 5 Comments Tags: , , , .

I Was a Cub Scout first came to my attention when they supported Onebrow’s personal favourites, ¡Forward, Russia! at Reading Rooms in Dundee. When a two piece ensemble appeared, wearing skeleton costumes, it was the 31st of October after all, I didn’t quite know what to expect. It is interesting to see what just two people can do with today’s musical technology, which IWACS certainly make good use of. What I experienced was a set that made me want to dance, and which made my ears prick up at the electronic aspects of the music which were certainly interesting, even to someone who is a self confessed musical ignoramus, of sorts anyway.

Seeing as the album, which I promise I will get onto soon, was not scheduled for release until the 18th of February 2008, I downloaded all the singles off iTunes. I could not get enough of the dancey beats of IWACS, especially Pink Squares, which I first heard in TopShop in Manchester of all places. Perhaps the fact that all the singles, apart from the double A side to Pink Squares, Echoes, were upbeat has skewed my opinion of the album slightly. But I shall leave that up to you.

I Want You To Know That There Is Always Hope seems to be a very hit and miss album. Some tracks, IWACS have got absolutely spot on. While others, could have been so much better if they focused less on the complex structure, and more on the catchy goodness of the stronger tracks IWACS manage to make so memorable. One such memorable track is the opener, Save Your Wishes. It is very immediate and the drum beat hits you and makes you sit up and take notice. There is certainly talent shining through from the drummer, William Bowerman, who is actually only twenty. He has a quite a job in a two piece band, especially to stop himself from becoming the next ‘Meg White’. Meg White he certainly is not, but that’s not just because of his gorgeous long  blonde hair, (he has a fan on stage to keep it nice, bless him) it’s because he keeps the drums at the forefront of the music, as well as keeping them deliciously complex and varied. Meg White is a good drummer, in my opinion, because she fits so perfectly with the stripped down style of the White Stripes. Similarly, William is a good drummer because he can keep up with the pace and deliver an interesting style, to complement the extensive use of guitar pedals and synth gadgetry that lead vocalist/guitarist/everything else-ist Todd Marriott employs.

Lucean is the first real break from the dancey IWACS that the singles seemed to suggest. If only because I lack a word that seems to fit so well, I would describe the song as lovely. It has nicely implemented soft piano tones, glockenspiel, which is never a bad thing, and some excellent trumpet playing from Sam Scott of Youthmovies fame. (Nicely linking in to Onebrow’s recent review.) This song does show that IWACS can do slow songs well, but sadly, this isn’t the case for the rest. Especially the last two tracks of the album, which seem to be lacking in something. I cannot seem to put my finger on what, but there is certainly something missing. The more dancey songs from the earlier part of the album are so memorable, especially Our Smallest Adventures and Pink Squares. However, I find myself unable to recall which songs were which when I think of the later songs, and the songs in between the more upbeat offerings.

On a more positive note, the highlight of the album has to be Pink Squares. The more I listen to it, the happier it seems. It has an incredibly catchy bassline running throughout, accompanied by bouncing synth and some more excellent drumming, especially in the bridge. I defy anyone not to dance to this song from the immediacy of the opening to the brilliant guitar shenanigans at the end. Quality stuff, and proof that IWACS are a great band, who can write great songs. They just need to concentrate on the slower stuff in order for it to be able to match the standard of songs like Pink Squares.

Perhaps that is why the slower songs seem to be lacking. Maybe in the context of absolute crackers like Pink Squares, Our Smallest Adventures, Echoes and Lucean, the others just cannot match up. As an album though, IWACS have certainly come up with a good one, and I could never expect it to be an album of Pink Squares’. You can see what the band were trying to do with the last two songs in particular, moving away from the dance beats and closer to a more epic song that is interesting structurally. The structure is interesting, but seemingly at the compromise of other aspects.

Certainly a band to check out if you want something a bit different in this era of bands that all look, and sound the same. I Want You To Know That There Is Always Hope is successful in its attempt at something unique, but on creating a lasting impression, it seems less successful. The standout tracks are overwhelmingly the singles, so if they take your fancy, you can always buy them from iTunes. Alternatively, buy the album, support a band that are trying to make a difference to music, and feel happier having listened to it, maybe even dance a little. A band that encourage dancing are certainly not a band to be overlooked.