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.

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.

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.

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.

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…

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.

The album begins on a bit of an odd note for myself with the excellent Magdalen Bridge. The first half of which probably takes a little too long to get going, this is more than made up for by the excellent second half of the song however. This is perhaps the weakest track on the album precisely because of this slow start. I know gentle introductions can be nice, but it just takes too long to build. Additionally I found it a little disorienting at first as the song appears on Jonquil’s album Lions, albeit in a different form. As I’d heard that version first it took a few listens to re-adjust.

The next big point of contention for myself was the guitar at the beginning of The Last Night Of The Proms which was again a little odd at first. A few listens revealed it to be pleasing however. As a song it’s really interesting, it does achieve the remarkable feat of sounding like The Last Night Of The Proms while being an endearing and genuinely enthralling pop song.  That it can pull this off is largely due to the trumpet, which gives the feel of The Last Night without compromising any of the other instruments, or the composition generally.

Cannulae is an interesting case study, it’s the song on the album where the influence of Steve Reich is most obvious. This stripped down minimalist song has a fairly consistent guitar riff with fairly interesting percussion playing over the top of it. The song also ends with a pleasing refrain of “Rattle, snakes, snakes snakes.” Which is whispered wonderously.

If Cannulae was minimalist in terms of music, If You’d Seen A Battlefield does the same with lyrics. There are very few lyrics in the song, but a fair amount of singing. That this doesn’t seem overly repetitious is a neat trick to be able to pull off. If You’d Seen A Battlefield could easily be seen as the centerpiece of the album. It’s a pulsating song, and pulls off that particular Youthmovies trick of moving through a number of different sections but still remaining an extemely cohesive whole.

Something For The Ghosts has a habit of washing over me, it’s a very comforting song much like the album generally. With many interesting layers and again it’s a relatively song with a number of distinct, but related, sections. I always seem to pay attention as the song build to its climax and Andrew Mears can be heard singing “Motorway barriers make me feel like we’re going to crash.” The song seems to rouse from its slumber at this point and kick into a higher gear. Really from there the album never slows down.

The penultimate track; Archive It Everywhere was one of four I was familiar with before the album. However hearing the album version was a real treat. It’s another wonderuflly layered and sectioned song. With the ultimate for myself coming with the chanty vocals (it’s a recurring theme in songs I like) after a particularly dynamic section of singing from Andrew Mears. It’s such a delicate track generally, so melodic and with lots of wonderful little details. Yet being melodic doesn’t doesn’t mean songs lack punch, indeed Yotuhmovies land many more hits than any of their contemporaries.

I’ve not looked at every track here, and that’s definitely not my intention. I just wanted to highlight a few bits and pieces about the album. But more generally what makes Youthmovies so important is that they definitely don’t fit neatly into a genre. They deal with largely melodic music and more than a touch of the unusual and bizarre on terms of song structure. They have a good sense of dynamics more than anything, they know when a song needs to change volume, or pace to keep things interesting. Things march inexorably onwards, building towards a climx which never dissapoints.  They’re not post-rock, they’re not pure pop, they’re not indie. They just make good music, that this music is so beautiful and fragile while also being punchy and substantial is a remarkable feat. Good Nature is easily one of my favourite albums of the decade so far, it’s a wonderful little gem which will sadly probably be overlooked by many not willing to give it a chance.