Album Review: The Killers – Sawdust

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Las Vegas indie rock quartet The Killers release Sawdust , a compilation of tracks from soundtracks and single releases, as well as previously unreleased material from the Sam’s Town and Hot Fuss sessions that boasts plenty of gems for completists.

Kicking off with lead single Tranquilize , the album – which is dedicated to fans – effectively demonstrates the diversity and general
quality of Brandon Flowers, Dave Keuning, Mark Stoermer and Ronnie Vannucci.

It’s a personal compilation that serves as a sobering alternative to the wealth of greatest hits LPs that flood record shelves this time of year – and which, crucially, is capable of appeal to fans and non-fans alike.

Tranquilize , for instance, is a truly great record and a fine way to start the album. The track first made an appearance during sessions for Sam’s Town but was picked up again this summer during a break in the band’s touring schedule.

They subsequently approached former Velvet Underground leader Lou Reed for vocal duties and proceeded to deliver a strikingly moody effort that finds Flowers and Reed working in mesmerising vocal tandem, complete with some intricate instrumental layering and a slow-build mentality that succeeds in building to a terrific crescendo.

It’s followed by their cover version of Joy Division’s Shadowplay , which is lively and a genuinely interesting take on the classic, and then All The Pretty Faces , which begins with a thrusting central guitar riff that gives way into a rousing, impassioned song in its own right.

There’s a playful sense of fun surrounding Leave The Bourbon On The Shelf that’s raw, ragged and totally inspiring – a lovelorn tale of love, loss and alcoholism. It was recorded in Dave’s Apartment and is one of the album highlights.

Elsewhere, Flowers’ wraps some haunted vocals around Where The White Boys Dance that also includes some melancholy piano chords; there’s a ramshackle, rollicking quality surrounding Glamorous Indie Rock And Roll and a feelgood vibe surrounding Who Let You Go? .

I also liked the old-school, Johnny Cash/country vibe surrounding Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love To Town and the beautiful Abbey Road Sessionversion of Sam’s Town (recorded in 2006). It gives way to another gem of a cover version, their moody take on Dire Straits’ classic Romeo & Juliet , that’s beautifully delivered.

The Killers have never been a band to do things the obvious way and that’s evident from the selections on this album. It’s part of what helps to make it such a wonderful addition to any fans’ collection.
Review by Jack Foley

Download These:
MP3 | The Killers ft. Lou Reed – Tranquilize
MP3 | The Killers – Leave The Bourbon On The Shelf
MP3 | The Killers – Shadowplay (Joy Division Cover)

Album Review – Radio 1: Established 1967

On September 30, 1967, the BBC launched a new popular music radio station to compete with the illegal pirate stations that had a monopoly on playing new music.

Since that time, Radio 1 has become a world famous name and to celebrate its 40th anniversary, the station asked 40 of today’s biggest acts to cover 40 tracks from each year of its history. This album is the result.

But while there’s certainly much to admire in the number, diversity and size of the acts that agreed to take part, the ensuing compilation also proves to be something of a hit-and-miss affair.

For everything that’s good, there’s also plenty that’s bad – with some artists seemingly ill-suited to the songs they’ve been asked to cover.

The Streets, for instance, completely murder Elton John’s Your Song, Editors commit a similar crime against The Cure’s Lullaby and Mika and Armand Van Helden deserve a life sentence for the hatchet job they’ve done on The Police’s Can’t Stand Losing You.

But there are positives – and some very strong cover versions among the 40 tracks on offer that just about make it a compilation worth owning, particularly if you’ve been a lifelong fan of the radio station.

Keane’s version of Queen and David Bowie’s Under Pressure stands out as a firm favourite, as does the Kaiser Chiefs’ typically rousing version of The Move’s Flowers In The Rain.

The Raconteurs do justice to John Peel favourite Teenage Kicks (originally by The Undertones) and Girls Aloud, incredibly, deliver a breezy, crowd-pleasing version of Wheatus’ Teenage Dirtbag.

The Fratellis do an admirable job of All Along The Watchtower (by the Jimi Hendrix Experience), even though the guitar work doesn’t match up and Franz Ferdinand excel at David Bowie’s Sound & Vision.

Credit, too, goes to Mutya Buena for her classy cover of Tracy Chapman’s Fast Car and Klaxons surprisingly restrained version of No Diggity, while the Foo Fighters underline their class with a strong cover of Wings’ Band On The Run.

We could go on – The Pigeon Detectives score highly with The Power of Love (by Huey Lewis) but The Gossip miss spectacularly with their take on George Michael’s Careless Whisper.

Kylie makes Roxy Music’s Love Is The Drug her own but McFly balls-up The Jam’s Town Called Malice. Just Jack triumphs with The Cardigans’ Love Fool and The View emerge perfectly suited to The Libertines’ Don’t Look Back Into The Sun.

And, of course, Mark Ronson, brings a touch of his unmistakeable class to Mary J Blige’s You’re All I Need To Get By (the man can do no wrong).That’s not forgetting Amy Winehouse’s typically classy rendition of Cupid and Groove Armada’s fizzing take on Madonna’s Crazy For You (we won’t mention Natasha Bedingfield’s horrid Ray Of Light).

The best thing about Established 1967 is that it does force you to have an opinion and I’m certain opinions will be divided over the merits of just about every track.

So, either as one of this year’s compilation talking points, or to be a part of your favourite radio station’s cool 40th celebrations, it’s certainly worth checking out. Just don’t expect to be convinced with everything on offer (I’d say it’s about a 50/50 split between what works and what doesn’t). [IL]

Download Picks:

MP3 | Kaiser Chiefs – Flowers In The Rain (The Move Cover)

MP3 | The Fratellis – All Along The Watchtower (Jimi Hendrix Cover)

MP3 | Amy Winehouse – Cupid (Johnny Nash Cover)

MP3 | Foo Fighters – Band On The Run (Wings Cover)

MP3 | Kylie Minogue – Love Is The Drug (Roxy Music Cover)

MP3 | Franz Ferdinand – Sound And Vision (David Bowie Cover)

MP3 | Keane – Under Pressure (Queen & David Bowie Cover)

MP3 | Mark Ronson – You’re All I Need To Get By (Method Man & Mary J.Blige Cover)

MP3 | Klaxons – No Diggity (Blackstreet Cover)

MP3 | Corinne Bailey Rae – Steady As She Goes (The Reconteurs Cover)

MP3 | The Feeling – You’re So Vain (Carly Simon Cover)

The Cribs – Don’t You Wanna Be Relevant?

Someone needs to rush The Cribs to a Harley Street neurologist as soon as humanly possible. Lord above knows what they’re suffering from – ‘Kasabian Syndrome’ , at a guess – but the symptoms are horribly clear. Like a stick-thin anorexic who sees a pile of blubber when they look in the mirror, The Cribs are labouring under the misapprehension that they’re forward-thinking visionaries, tap-dancing on the cutting edge while the rest of indiedom struggles to string three chords together. Why else would they criticise the “mainstream attitude of most indie bands” if they weren’t – what was that phrase again? Oh yes – avatars of aheadness?

The dismal truth, of course, is that The Cribs are the epicentre of mediocrity for 2007 – not shameless enough to peddle nerdy trust fund indie like The Hoosiers , not dumb enough to bash out the youth club covers like The View , just earnest and unimaginative and pathologically unable to engage with anything resembling a tune. Fifteen years ago, dreary punk pop of this stripe failed to revolutionize the world when it was lumped together as the New Wave Of New Wave (despite some far superior stabs from the likes of S*M*A*S*H and These Animal Men ), so it’s hardly going to do the trick now. Probably the least relevant single released this year. (DM)

MP3 | The Cribs – Don’t You Wanna Be Relevant?

New Calvin Harris – ‘Colours’

Calvin Harris has started to evolve into a sort of King Midas for the nu-rave generation. While he may look like he’s wandered in after a heavy night on the set of Skins and dress in enough lurid neon clothes to have Klaxons turning their noses up, this hasn’t prevented Kylie and Sophie Ellis-Bextor knocking down his door for a helping hand on their new records. The ginger ‘MySpace sensation’ appears to have his fingers in all the right pies at the moment. All he needs is for Madonna to come knocking and have Paris Hilton fawning over him and he’ll pretty much
have reached the pinnacle of modern celebrity. It’s curious then why Harris has suddenly decided to release new single ‘Colours’, which stutters and shunts its way along without ever greasing itself up into the frenzy that saw previous singles ‘Girls’ and ‘Acceptable in the ’80s’ ram-raid the charts. For a chap who lists the likes of David Bowie, Outkast and Funkadelic as influences, this single is surprisingly bland and predictable. It’s funkless, soulless and
lacking in panache and pizazz. Its synths sound like they’ve been dragged through a sewer and the bleeps and beats are straight out of a dodgy Amiga computer game. Maybe Harris needs to stop playing the good Samaritan for the pop community and start issuing some quality control
on his own work. (AF)

MP3 | Calvin Harris – Colours

Craig David Samples David Bowie on ‘Hot Stuff’

It would be a cold-hearted individual who didn’t feel a little bit sorry for Craig David. The guy went from the ‘Next Big Thing’ to a public laughing stock in the blink of an eye. It looked for a while like the funny-haired garage sensation was going to be forced to spend the rest of his life being mocked with cat-calls of ‘Where’s Kes?’ and ‘Craaaaaaig David’ while working down his local Pizza Hut in Southampton. But fear not, fans of the beanie hat-wearing slicker-than-the-average popster, because he’s back. And blow us if he hasn’t got a hit on his hands.

OK, we admit the main reason this tune’s got us flexing our limbs around the dancefloor is the stupendous David Bowie ‘Let’s Dance’ sample. But hey, if Kanye West is allowed to nick his beats from forgotten ’80s gems, why can’t our Craig? And yes, there is an unfortunate breakdown, where Craig slips in one of his trademark croons that leaves your bum-cheeks clenching for dear life, but if you can sit through that, you’ll find yourself nodding along to what should be his biggest hit since ‘Seven Days’. It’s almost enough to make you forgot about his big plastic face on Bo Selecta . Almost. (AF)

MP3 | Craig David – Hot Stuff

MP3 | Craig David ft. 50 Cent – Hot Stuff (Ayo Technology Remix)

Album Review: Alicia Keys – As I Am

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From the moment Alicia Keys dropped onto the music scene in 2001, one thing was clear, the girl could write a killer hook. With a few simple words stretched out to blasting piano underscored intensity, “I keep on fallin, in and out of love with you,” Alicia Keys roared onto radio with an album (“Songs in A Minor”) that would garner her both critical praise and a slew of awards. It also seems to be the only real lyrical idea she will ever write, but that’s not as bad as it sounds.

With 2004’s follow up “The Diary of Alicia Keys,” we saw the singer amp up her game enlisting some of the hottest producers to bring her musical vision to life. A prodigious piano player, all the songs acted as a showcase for her searing, raw vocals, and roaming hands.
With so much time spent at the piano, it seems like Key’s has been able to experience little other than love, as is evidenced in the thirty (roughly) songs she has written to date.

Next week brings the release of her eagerly anticipated album “As I Am,” and it’s both strikingly different than her past two albums and strikingly similar. Those seeking out more of Keys’ piano driven ballads about heartbreak, newfound love, and euphoric romance will be pleased to know that Keys has delivered fourteen songs with her signature killer hooks that seem radio friendly and original at the same time.

Fortunately, for her slightly repetitive songwriting skills, Keys is blessed with one of the best voices in the pop/R&B world. Anyone who has heard the incredible first single, “No One,” where Keys practically screams her devotion to a man that will never be matched, you realize that even when she’s pushing the limits of her vocal range (which she is doing to beautiful effect in this single) she’s fully in command.

What makes her music accessible is the simple stream of emotions that she writes with. Her choruses often consist of a string of three or four words, repeated with different notes and they send shivers through your body. It doesn’t seem to matter that she employs slews of clichés because the way she performs them is breathtaking and she fully commits. This is most true on “Sure Looks Good To Me” which finds her singing with defiance, “Don’t rain on my parade.” There’s nothing lyrically original in this statement, but through some magic she makes it feel like you are hearing it for the first time.

At other places on the CD, she is more lyrically successful. The absolutely stellar “Lesson Learned,” about a tumultuous relationship which she finally put an end to, is an incredible collaboration between her and fellow singer/songwriter John Mayer. He croons “It’s
alright, it’s alright, it’s alright,” over slamming drums while Keys laments that “yes, I was burned, but I called it a lesson learned.” It’s a slow building explosion of a song that evokes a
soulful feeling of some of Keys’ influences. At its most scorching moment Keys wails out that “You don’t know what the struggles for/ Falling down ain’t falling down if you don’t cry when you hit the floor/ It’s called a past/ because I’m getting past/ and I ain’t nothing like I was before/ You oughtta see me now.”

Of course this song is sandwiched between the songs “I Need You,” and “Wreckless Love,” which seem to be the antithesis to “Lesson Learned.” It’s all about love with Keys but this time the key (pun not intended but I’ll take it) difference is the production of the album. On “Diary,” the only drum driven song was the Timbaland produced “Heartburn” but this album finds pulsing and invigorating drums pounding throughout.

Even though I would love to see Keys branch out into uncharted territory with her subject matter, there’s no denying that what she does, she does well. Clichéd? At times, yes. Enjoyable? Always. Pick up her album when it hits stores next Tuesday. Review by Matthew Murphy

MP3 | Alicia Keys – Superwoman

MP3 | Alicia Keys- Like You’ll Never See Me Again

MP3 | Alicia Keys – The Thing About Love

MP3 | Alicia Keys ft. John Mayer – Lesson Learned

Album Review: LCD Soundsystem – 45:33 EP

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You’re probably thinking James Murphy is a bit on the tubby side to be promoting Nike. It’s a bit like Ricky Gervais writing a comedy skit on rock climbing. Or Simon Pegg starring in a film directed by one of Friends about a fat bloke who runs a fictious marathon across Lond– oh, hang on.

Despite Murphy’s sick note from his mum, the suits behind the Swoosh felt that taking a vast wad of cash they’d saved by having all their overpriced running shoes made by toddlers in China and handing it over to the pasty wheezebag would be a good thing. In return, they got 45
minutes and 33 seconds of LCD Soundsystem essentially trialling what would become this year’s chuffing spectacular post-punk disco funk orgy ‘Sound Of Silver’.

So what is it? A ‘work out mix’, it says here. Previously iTunes-only but now on a shiny physical disc, ‘45:33’ is about the time it takes to get a proper sweat on, or something. When probed about it, Murphy admitted that it was just a chance for him to get all Kraftwerk on our asses. Which this isn’t even. Not until near the end, before it sounds like the sprinkling of pixie dust, by which point NN would have given up on the running and nipped into the nearby newsagents for a Mars bar. Instead, it’s almost mock Motown tomfoolery followed by a rough cut of current single ‘Someone Great’.

What those who have already downloaded this don’t have are the three extra tracks, beginning with ‘Freak Out/Starry Eyes’, a meandering two-part loose groove that would have Happy Mondays swapping whatever pipes they usually play with for trumpets and bongos. Cowbells included, naturally.

You also get a quelchy reworking of ‘North American Scum’, which save the cheerleader chant sounds not a jot like the original. Meanwhile, ‘Hippie Priest Bum-Out’ flops about like a stoned
chubster on his way down to the corner shop to buy Rizlas and munchies. Probably wearing a Nike tracksuit. Not run of the mill, mind. (JM)

Download These
LCD Soundsystem – Someone Great (from Sound of Silver, inspired by
45:33)

LCD Soundsystem – Hippie Priest Bum Out

Album Review – Angels and Airwaves – I-Empire

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It’s interesting watching a big band break up and seeing the results of the individual member’s solo efforts. A lot of bands break up with the stars convinced that when they do a solo album, they’ll leave the losers they’ve been feuding with behind, and that they alone will be revealed as the true greatness behind the band. Often though, they wind up making records that sound like only half, or less than half, of a greater equation. So wrapped up were they in their own talents, they lost sight of what their bandmates’ talents brought to their music.

That certainly seemed to be the case for former Blink-182 frontman Tom DeLonge’s new band, Angels & Airwaves. Tiring of Blink-182′s million selling toilet humor pop-punk formula, he broke off to record his “mature” record We Don’t Need To Whisper under the Angels and Airwaves moniker, enthusiastically describing it as the “best music in 20 years”.

The hype led up to an inevitable let-down. Blink-182′s drummer Travis Barker had played a big role in structuring Blink’s songs and keeping them tight and to the point. “Fourth Member” Jerry Finn had helped with the arrangements, and bassist Hoppus had helped with the hooks. Without them, DeLonge’s music sounded directionless. There was actually a pretty good album buried in WDNTW, but it was difficult to find. The songs were bloated, over 5 minutes each, with endless build ups and a lack of big, deal-clinching hooks. Never before had a album so long and tedious sounded so unfinished. Some began to speculate that DeLonge’s melodies might be best suited for 2 and a half minute sugar-pop punk ditties about breakups, and nothing greater.

It’s with some surprise, then, that I can report that Delonge’s new Angels and Airwaves record, I-Empire, is great, and arguably DeLonge’s best work. He’s grown into the mature style power pop that he’s been honing since the last self-titled Blink 182 album, and finally fond the sweet spot between pouring his heart out, and delivering the hooks his music needs to stick with an audience.

I read that this album would be “stripped down”, and that he would be doing acoustic sets. Actually “I-Empire” is as excessive as ever musically, packed with synthesizers and electronic bells and whistles. In fact, there are several 80s-esque, keyboard assisted pop dirges, and the band it most reminds me of is (+44), his Delonge’s former bandmate’s new project. It almost sounds like he deliberately did some songs on here in response to theirs, to beat them at their own game. On several (“Sirens” being a good example), he succeeds. Hoppus and Barker have a good sound with (+44), but DeLonge is the better songwriter, and he gets more mileage out of it.

The stripping down appears to be in the song structure. I-Empire delivers punch after punch with every track, and even the longer songs don’t overstay their welcome. When I first heard it I listened to the whole thing without skipping through a single track. Even with repeated listening there are few songs I pass on.

Will Angels and Airwaves ever be as big as Blink-182 is? I doubt it. While this album
gets to the point a lot faster than the last one did, the songs still take a while to swell into full form and deliver, and larger audiences might not warm to it. But If you listen to a lot of music and tire of the same old 3 power chords, you’ll appreciate the build-up and craftsmanship.

This is a great album, and DeLonge has finally proven that following his muse and developing this new style was worth the risk. Hats off to him. (jf)

Key Tracks:
MP3 | Angels & Airwaves – Secret Crowds [via]

MP3 | Angels & Airwaves – Call to Arms [via]

MP3 | Angels & Airwaves – Sirens [via]

The Killers – ‘Tranquilize’

Because Andrew Eldritch from the Sisters Of Mercy was busy, one can only presume, Lou Reed said he wouldn’t mind stepping in. As an explanation, that’s no more outlandish than the reality that’s on offer here. Make no mistake, this is the strangest thing that either Lou Reed or The Killers have ever been involved in.

It starts with a “Venus In Furs”-style guitar shimmer, just so we all know what we’re dealing with here. Then it progresses through several shades of Hollywood goth, from Rose Of Avalanche through to The Sisters themselves, before taking on a hint of sea shanty and a chorus that’s first overwrought, then like a hugging circle of mates at the end of an emotional night.

At one point, Lou drawls “Money talks when people need shoes and socks” – later Brandon Flowers declares, maniacally, “I still hear the children playing.” It’s only after the nightmares have subsided that the true horror presents itself. This is the goth “Bohemian Rhapsody”. And as such, it is a work of cracked genius and utter folly. Pray that we never hear its like again. (DM)

MP3 | The Killers – “Tranquilize”

Live vide of Tranquilize:

Album Review: Grizzly Bear- Friend EP

The evolution of music today is, so far, quite disappointing. So much so that the best new bands are making everything old new again. The Black Lips bring Bud-soaked rockabilly back to the ATL (that’s Atlanta to anyone who isn’t a frequent flier, a hipster, or a rapper). And Devendra Banhart brings psyched-out folk and bobby socks into the 21st century. Grizzly Bear, however, looks a little closer to home for new material, reverting to their archives and hard drives to pull out their fourth EP and second sonic devolution, Friend.

For those unfamiliar with Grizzly Bear, the bands’ experimentation and background in laptop electronica, free jazz and Williamsburg, Brooklyn hipster-chic is apparent in their habit of mixing and remixing recently-crafted classics and fan favorites. Untouched, their music is evocative of a 21st century frontiersman – a bit of a space cowboy. The brilliance of their first album, 2004’s Horn of Plenty, is overshadowed in their discography only by the remixes of those same songs, reworked and released shortly after with the help of preeminent electronica outfits Efterklang and Soft Pink Truth, among others. The band’s subsequent fall from grace, thanks to 2006’s virtually unacknowledged Sorry for the Delay, was short-lived, as the stellar Yellow House was released and readily embraced by critics that same year.

With such a successful past, no wonder the band is reluctant to charge ahead with a completely new roster of compositions. Grizzly Bear seems to have realized that revisiting past work with new collaborators turns tracks that have started to collect dust into gold. As such, Friend consists of only three new songs interspersed with an amalgam of alternate versions and endings to the ever-unfinished, individual opuses on Horn of Plenty and Yellow House. Of the other seven tracks, four are covers of Grizzly Bear’s past work and three are alternate versions performed by the band, the resulting product a mixed bag of hits and misses.

Ill-conceived covers drag the otherwise tolerable album into the gutter: both new versions of “Plans” positively butcher the most haunting track off Yellow House, with buzz-group Band of Horses contributing an especially heinous and nauseatingly unoriginal hack-job to the mix. However, the two covers of “Knife” will be refreshing to fans who’ve had Grizzly Bear’s original version of the genius Yellow House hit on constant repeat for the past year. Interestingly, Brazilian dance troupe CSS provides one of the covers of “Knife,” and it is the most pleasantly surprising track on Friend, bringing to mind the ridiculous decadence of ’80s-era Miami Vice and the staid, jaded attitude of a John Hughes character.

Grizzly Bear’s own alternate song versions are acceptable, but pale in comparison to the originals. This time around, however, “Alligator,” off Horn of Plenty, is a pleasure: extended to four times its original length and crafted with a more lumbering and primitive lilt as its namesake demands, and the band’s newly-enhanced, haunting chorales and melodies make the song’s sado-masochistic allegory of love and its tortured protagonist, the human heart, psychosomatically palpable.

From the new songs, and indeed the album as a whole, two songs stand out and stand on-par with the masterful works from Horn of Plenty. “He Hit Me” is the instrumental incarnate of waltzing with an elephant, its vocals reminiscent of one-time-tour-mate Feist’s cover of Ron Sexsmith’s “Secret Heart.” Infused with Lithium-inspired diffidence and flourishes of affected darkness, the song is most comparable to an alternate universe’s version of Gladys Knight and the Pips, with a lovers’ quarrel chorus sure to get stuck in any listener’s head. Similarly, “Deep Blue Sea” is cleanly crafted, sounding very much like a Yellow House outtake: equal parts tearful and wistful, filled with melancholic meandering, yet vibrating with hope and an offbeat je ne sais quoi feeling. Much like Friend as a whole, the song has an accidental quality to it: the music disappears for about 30 seconds before breaking into a manic, running-of-the-bulls Castillian climax.

Overall a disjointed and jarring collection, Friend is more a gift to Grizzly Bear fans, as any chance of winning new admirers with this album is slim to none. Hopefully, this release is just that: something to tide fans over until the band births its new brainchild – a more cohesive and worthy addition to their discography. Review By Hilary Crowe

MP3 | Grizzly Bear – On a Neck on a Spit

MP3 | Grizzly Bear – Alligator (Choir Version)

MP3 | Grizzly Bear vs. The Nife – Knife/Heartbeats

MP3 | Grizzly Bear – He Hit Me