Local Showcase: Laura M Stevenson

Pegged by a number of local and influential DJs as a promising and 'haunting' vocalist/pianist, Laura Stevenson is certainly a Belfast star to watch out for.
Very much in the vein of Sarah Mclachlan, Duke Special and Juliette Turner, the latter of whom she supported in Downpatrick and Co.Meath, Laura is an incredibly promising talent within the local scene and something of a rarity in her originality and style. Recently featured on Slicethepie.com as a 'showcase', she unfortunately didn't make it as the winning entry to have her record financed and released, but I would say that it's only a matter of time before big record labels start taking notice of this goldmine of a performer and sign her up.
Having recently interviewed her for another magazine, I got to watch Laura perform first hand and I must say I was truly impressed. She covered the famous 'The First Cut Is The Deepest' by Yusef Islam/Cat Stevens and brought an entirely new haunting and delicately powerful form to this amazing song.
A must see for anyone travelling through Belfast, Laura Stevenson has got a natural talent for making chills run up the spine with her melodic and wrenching track 'Down' which is available to listen at her MySpace
Laura manages to retain the local accent while singing, something that many smalltown performers will know is hard to do considering the trend for English and American bands in the West, yet Laura is remeniscent of Duke Special in her grass roots style and makes no allusions or pretentious assumptions about her music. In this regard she is definetely an artist to be respected for her humble attitude to her growing recognition within Northern Ireland and the UK, not letting the exposure get to her ego as many local artists have tended to do.
It would be a shame to see such a stunning talent wasted, and I can only hope that the likes of Virgin and EMI or Universal begin to open their ears and take notice of what so many people need to hear: A fully funded and produced album from Laura.
So we wish Laura all the very best luck in the world for 2008 and know that it's only a matter of time before she's donning the radio slots of any DJ worth his broadcast salt.

NIN, A Step Forwards?

Right, so Reznor's officially released his last stuio album, 'Year Zero Remixed'.
But WAIT! That doesn't mean he's stopped releasing music, oh no, he's just stopped releasing music with his STUDIO, Interscope Records. Nine Inch Nails have taken the medium of music to a whole new level. Realising that the digital revolution is something musiciains should embrace, along with fan interpretation and file sharing, Trent Reznor's gone one step further and given his label the finger by allowing fans to upload and download free remixes from http://remix.nin.com/
althoigh legal difficulties with his label, YouTube, Google and MySpace have postponed the launching of the site for the meantime.
But what does this mean in terms of the bigger picture?
Well for starters it means that Reznor might decide to put physical releases such as LPs and CDs to the wayside and release music the way he's always wanted: Directly to whoever the hell wants to hear it. But I can't see the 'for free!' thing workin for long considering he's already in the red with quitting his label. There is a catch to the remix website, however!
You must be a NIN Spiraller (Paying fan club member) to upload or download any music, but the listening is free!
The remixes on the website, in my humble opinion, are a far cry better than what Reznor's decided to release on the actual 'Remixed' album with such gems as 'We're In This Blurred Line Closer Now' which is a masterpiece of someone with a good ear for disonance and resonation within Reznor's music and lyrics. Multiple remixes of A Warm Place have kept me obsessed with this website for the time being, as I believe it to be the greatest instrumental piece ever conceived (Even if he did nick it from Bowie's 1980 track 'Crystal Japan').
Anyway, the tunes uploaded range from the 'Why isn't Reznor this good?' TO 'Why did someone think this was a god idea?' but I guess tatstes dictate.

Your Gun And Your Pistol - A Puscifer Review

Maynard James Keenan & I have a few things in common. We both live in Arizona & like it. We both appreciate a fine wine. We're both runners. And we'll both shake our ass to some deep beats with a growly melody. Okay, so I don't know about that last part, but I do know that he makes those deep beats with a growly melody that sure as shit get me shaking my ass. And the rest I just know from interviews, so...

I've been discussing Puscifer's debut album, "V" is for Vagina, with others & of note there are no fence-sitters, only lovers & haters. And when I say haters I mean you'd think MJK did something really heinous to their mom, or something. Dudes, it's just an album. I do admit when I caught wind of the Vagina Medley prior to the release I had a thought: wha? vocals all the same? Hmm. But I knew I'd have to listen to each song in its entirety to fully comprehend what was being conveyed. So I did & I am indeed a lover.

Something an online aquaintance mentioned was that V.i.f.V. tells a story. I agree with this sentiment. Anyone who's ever followed Maynard around through his art should pick up on that immediately. But if you'd rather not think, as most are wont not to do, then just be sure to give a listen to the stand-out tracks "Indigo Children", "Drunk With Power", "Vagina Mine", & the softer version of "The Undertaker". Also be sure to grab the Cuntry Boner single for the "World Up My Ass" cover.

If the music doesn't grab you at least pick up V.i.f.V. for the artwork, it's hilarious. But, uh, Maynard, Vagina Air? That's a queef. No matter, I'll still let you show me the difference between your gun & your pistol any time.

-Alison

Why-Empire?

Alright first off: The album isn't that bad. Secondly: It could be a LOT better folks. Tom DeLonge and his power-prog quartet Angels And Airwaves have released their second studio album 'I-Empire'. At first the album rings with promise with upbeat and lighthearted 'Call To Arms' which bridges the gap between albums nicely, retaining the signature AvA epic and reverbed sound but with a stripped down edge. ie: You can hear the slides on the guitars and the actual snare drums being hit. The upbeat edge continues on with the catchy and rather heartwarming 'Everything's Magic', the first single from the album which relies on a snappy rhythm and hooky riff to keep the listener interested before a very delayed and reverbed guitar takes over. Dear, dear, Tom. Looks like we haven't learned our lesson. There's just something about that Americana/Springsteen wannabe attitude of those effects that let the album down and kind of echo with pretentiousness. Power ballads are abound in this album with 'Breathe' following third down the listing. A slow and nauseating drippy piece of power pop running in at just under 6 minutes. Please, Tom. Spare us the love songs and play some rock and roll. Lyrics such as 'I will love you. Until the end of time.' only hamper the promise of this band and leave them leagues behind their contemporaries such as 30 Seconds To Mars and +44 who are winning the race of best newcomers.
Highlights, though, include 'Secret Crowds' which is by far the strongest song on the album and sums up the concept of Tom's ego nicely. 'If I had my own world I'd build you an empire...'
It is the most 'rock and roll' of the pack, similar in ways to 'The War' from their first album, though again the glitchy drum effects and heavy phaser and reverb effects pull the song way down and undermine its potential.
The heavy delays and reverb and echos are to be found in 'True Love' which feels like 'Valkyrie Missile: Part Deux' in structure and tonality. An interesting track on the album, 'Jumping Rooftops' is reminiscent of industrial electro-pop in the vein of Godhead and NIN, though in-keeping with some of Tom's earlier endeavours with Box Car Racer.
The last track in the album, 'Heaven', seems somewhat confused and out of place if both albums are regarded as two parts of one larger story, as it has the air of something ending rather than beginning. In all honesty it wraps both albums up nicely with snippets of 'The Adventure' being heard in the background of the opening synth solo and adds a sense of nostalgia to the track. The lyrics 'If you're curious, please stay' couldn't be more appropriate as an address to critics, fans and the world alike. If you want to see what AvA has to offer, then stick around because all in all this is a pretty decent album, although I have the feeling that Tom is starting to find his ground and move away from his days with Blink and Box Car. If only he could stop with the synths, guitar delays and reverb/echo effects then his work might sound a little less fake and digitised and a little more rock and roll.

Ego-Trip Remixed

Having mentioned Trent Reznor in my previous review, I though it only appropriate that I comment on the big, self-obsessed lug. Now don't get me wrong, in fact Nine Inch Nails are actually my favourite band/concept/whatever and have been since I heard the 2,000 mph drums on 'Mr. Self Destruct' on his masterpiece, 'Downward Spiral', but I'm worried that Trent's going down a path many have trodden and regret: Politics.
Reznor once said in an interview not that long ago, somewhere between seven to five years ago that politics didn't interest him at all, although his latest works and affiliated memorabilia have been nothing more than a foray into anti-war and anti-Bush sentiments that have rattled the cages of NIN fans and Bill O'Reilly alike. His current incarnations are a far cry from his manic depressive days as...a manic depressive actually and lack the raw emotion and blind fury that heralded 'Downward Spiral' and pushed 'Hurt' into the most played lists of iPods, cassettes and pirate radio stations worldwide and instead focus more on heavily synthed and digitised melodies over simulated drumbeats and rhythm machines.
In a little over 2 weeks time Reznor will release the companion to 'Year Zero', entitled 'Y34RZ3R0R3M1X3D' or 'Year Zero Remixed'.
Much like 'Further Down the Spiral', 'Remixed' will feature 14 tracks of Reznor's own work remixed by fans and known music names alike. To be released as a digital, CD/DVD-Rom and vinyl simultaneously, Reznor leaves plenty of ground for fan input with the CD/DVD combo containing the entire Year Zero tracklisting as GarageBand files to be remixed yet again.
Since Reznor's releasing of 'The Hand That Feeds' as a GarageBand file several years ago, literally hundreds of remixes of NIN songs exist out there in cyberspace, but he has handpicked those deemed worthy to appear on 'Remixed'.
It will feature, among others, Saul Williams, veteran open mic poet and hip-hop fusion pioneer and vocal critic of the Iraq war. Also featured will be Olof Dreijer of Icelandic elctro-pop duo The Knife and Liverpudlian synth ensemble 'Ladytron'.
It promises to be an interesting album, being NIN's last with Interscope Records, prompting Reznor to herald the future of his band as a "totally free agent, free of any recording contract with any label", a move that was followed by none other than...Madonna? Yes it appears the pop queen has ditched Warner Bros Records and adopted 'Live Nation', a newly formed record company, for the next ten years.
'Year Zero Remixed' hits shelves, iTunes and vinyl shops everywhere on November 20th.

Angels and Airheads

Although a self-confessed Angels and Airwaves fan myself, I'm finding it hard to share the unshaking belief in the upcoming 'I-Empire' that Tom DeLonge seems to be clinging onto so dearly. It could be the unwavering egoism and pretentiousness of the band itself that's causing me to have my doubts about the new album, or it could be the fact that their debut 'We Don't Need To Whisper' failed to deliver the goods in CD sales and originality and thus broke the former Blink-182 frontman's promise of it being 'the infinite potential of the human being'.
Self-delusion aside, Tom has indeed worked hard to shed the stigma of being 'that guy from Blink' and establish himself and his band as a new force in rock and roll with an epic, stadium sound remeniscent of power ballad bands of the early 90's, though his work falls short of achieving anything beyond self-centred mediocrity.
'We Don't Need To Whisper' was a plethora of anthemic rock tunes that was a world apart from Tom's early days of toilet humour 3 chord wonders in his parent's garage and did manage to establish a small and dedicated cult following of die-hard fans who welcomed the 'Grown upTom', though as regards blowing away the competition, AvA barely managed to make it onto the RADAR screen and was universally panned by critics.
So, having seemingly learned his lesson, Tom has promised us a second album full of the same conceptual, psuedo-spiritual humanist lyrical nonesense, but with a more stripped down production rooted in raw sound rather than flooding each song with overdoing of reverb, delay and echo effects which seemed to hold their debut album down by the ankles and gave it that pretentious edge.
From what we have heard and what has been leaked so far, Tom seems to have made good on his promise with 'Everything's Magic' and 'Secret Crowds'. Still crammed full of the zen drivvel that DeLonge is pedalling as a neo-Jesus figure in modern music, the tracks DO deliver a more bare sound but retaining a catchy tune and decent rhythm.
With barely 24 hours to go before 'I-Empire' is released in the USA, fans and critics alike are waiting fratnically to get their hands on the record to see if Tom has done us proud this time roud, or again has failed by pushing too much thinking into AvA as a 'concept' and not as a standalone band.
In my honest opinion, if Tom lost the new age poppycock that diluted his songs way too much and found some happy medium between his anthemic direction and his earlier ventures of punk rock, he might just be onto a winner.

Everything's Magic Music Video

What the Flux?

Bloc Party, the so called successors of Gang of Four put paid to the thoughts of critics toting them as derivative and cliched indie artists as they storm onto the scene again with new and bewildering track 'Flux'.
The track undoubtedly takes its cues from both old and new school alike, with elements of nu-rave, electro-pop and...Cher? The lack of that signature raw guitar and thumping bass line may lose them a number of hardcore tradionalist indie-fans, although Kele's voice being put through a vocoder on top of what can only be described as a rave anthem might in fact win them a whole new audience of listeners.
Yes it seems that Okereke and the boys have definetely taken a sidestep from their earlier incarnation of spkey guitar riff driven tunes akin to Snow Patrol or Franz Ferdinand and have given the indie scene a bloody nose with this belter of a dance/rave track. Produced by Jacknife Lee, remix veteran and gutarist of early 90's Punk enesmble 'Compulsion', he is quickly becoming the Timbaland of the British Isles, having produced a number of albums with U2, Kasabian, and Bloc Party's most recent 'A Weekend In The City'.
Personally, I can't get enough of 'Flux', though does this move signal a transition away from their days of practising in a basement, Kele roaring out lyrics over an untainted guitar sound? I certainly hope not, although the move has indeed rejuvinated Bloc Party's sound which had become quite stale over the two year break between 'Silent Alarm' and 'Weekend In The City' and might herald a fresh new sound that is seen as welcome by many critics and fans alike.

Bloc Party - Flux mp3