Category: Buzz Chart

The untimely death of super-producer J-Dilla earlier this year hit the hip hop community hard. His influence spread throughout the hip hop world and his laid back beats inspired many great groups, including The Pharcyde who said at their last London show that if it wasn’t for Jay Dee, they wouldn’t be doing what they’re doing right now. High praise indeed.

All proceeds of the record Fan-Tas-Tic Vol 1 will go to the fund established by Jay Dee’s mother during his illness and it is an album that all Slum Village and Jay Dee fans will love. The typically smooth beats surround the vocals with that evening vibe that was always their sound, and provides the backdrop to the 24 tracks [which includes some remixes].

Kick back and chill, this one goes out to James Yancey. RIP.

It’s so easy to get bored with black metal these days. What with its overflowing pot of lustrous Cradle wannabes, you sometimes wonder where the hell, the grittiness and out and out fucking evilness of it all went. Until now. Enter Norwegen two piece Satyricon. They’ve come to beat you round the ears with their new album Now, Diabolical which is actually a bit of a grower.

It’s the first release since signing to Roadrunner Records but having been around for nigh on 13 years, this could well be their most successful album since 1996’s Nemesis Divina and the one that possibly catapults them more into the mainstream. Eight tracks of your typical black metal fare but with a brain throttling doominess, that will leave you quaking in your New Rocks.

The opening two tracks Now, Diobolical and K.I.N.G are the stars of the album and encompass the full blooded evilness that Satyricon have pulled off. Swaddled in gloom and teamed with such phenomenal drums, you will not want to switch it off. After a few spins you will get past the low budget production which granted most black metal albums have, and begin to appreciate an album worth shelling out a few quid for. Even if you are not a fan of black metal, give it a go and you just might be surprised. Obviously if you play this while you gran is round, you’re gonna scare the bejesus out of her and she may well pee her pants in fear. But, on your own head be it.

Jane Hawkes

After almost 5 years of waiting the truly unique and inspirational Tool return with new album ‘10,000 Days’. A 77-minute, 11-song prog-metal odyssey, ‘10,000 Days’ is packed with plenty of eight minute-plus twisted riff-a-thons, odd-tempo polyrhythms and Tool’s trademark eerie interludes.

Lead single ‘Vicarious‘ is no exception, boasting the epic melodies and powerful vocal harmonies that grace any and all current Tool classics.

The band hit UK shores in June for a headline appearance at the Download Festival, with several select regional headline shows lined-up thereafter.

With a slinky combination of ska, jazz and salsa, Pe’z are not your bog-standard every day band.

Formed in Tokyo by mainman Ohyama Wataru in 1999, the five-piece have since garnered legendary status in their Japanese homeland thanks to their energetic and unpredictable live performances. The band have played every major festival possible in the region, as well as headline shows in front of audiences beyond the 3000 mark, and have even made a collaborative TV appearance with Cyndi Lauper.

With 2005’s ‘Tsu Ku Shi N Bow’ receiving its long-awaited UK release, chances are that whether you like it or not, Pe’z will have you skanking your legs off in 2006.

Having spent the last decade singing about boobies, your mom and making out with your best friend’s sister, Tom DeLonge‘s new creation, ‘Angels and Airwaves’ couldn’t be more different. Bringing together the unfathomable talents of Ryan Siller (ex bassist of The Distillers), David Kennedy (Boxcar Racer) and Atom Willard (ex Offspring) on drums , DeLonge has created a superband.

If you’re expecting the same same tongue in cheek saccharine sweet pop punk – then you’re in for a pleasant surprise. Debut single ‘The Adventure‘ is just that – an adventure into a new sound. Tinkering percussion and an extended introduction gives way to swirling guitars, a bright classical sound intertwined with magical synths and electronics. Levels shift with new intensity and Delonge’s wonderfully familiar vocals are stronger and more commanding than his Blink 182 days. With Angels and Airwaves he has become a frontman in his own right, and as he puts it so aptly ‘ it’s no holds barred now’.

The Adventure is an enchanting, atmospheric introduction to a band who are set to dominate the airwaves this year and is out on May 15th with the album dropping on May 22nd.

If you have heard the single Steady as She Goes it gives you a fairly good idea of what to expect from The Raconteurs debut album. Jack White and Brendan Benson team up with The Green Horns rhythm section to produce a very competent blues rock throwback to the seventies album.

Both White and Benson are of course prolific songwriters and here each trade songs and vocals on all 10 tracks. Whites distinctive wide eyed blues howl has been toned down and sometimes its hard to work out who’s actually singing, but on the fabulously bluesy Blue Veins, complete with backwards samples, or the grunge funk of Level, there’s no confusing his vocal touch or too his incendiary guitar playing, when required, especially on the rollicking Store Brought Bones or Hands.

All in all it’s not a Jack White album but a joint effort and a worthy one at that, it’ll probably be a massive hit due to Whites connection and I’d recommend it as a nice alternative soundtrack to the summer

Nelson Bibb

OK, let’s get down right dirty and fucked up here, welcome to the crazy world of Polysics where technology has fist fights with art and punk. Yep, you guessed it, only the Japanese can produce the very best in your worst ever LSD relapse, so get ready to hold on to your hat to get to to the end of Now Is The Time. If you thought Devo were stange then just skip the rest of this review and go back to your nice warm indie music as this can be your worst nightmare or your sunniest memory in one wild ride!

The four piece have visited London a few times, recently as guest of Kaiser Chiefs as frontman Ricky Wilson is a big fan of these 4 fine examples of futuristic splendour, but what does he see in them, what are they like? Well Polysics merge surf rock, punk rock and prog with a dirty techno edge that in no way forms this marriage as dance music. Think Butthole Surfers in 2020, think Brainiac if they had kept going, think of Cornelius on PCP and every cartoon soundtrack you ever heard on mescaline and then think about how it was all produced by Gang of Four’s Andy Gill in Tokyo, London and Los Angeles.

If you have energy to burn, get this album as it’s out this week and it’s er…bananas!

Chuck Bangers

If it is sunny outside or even if it’s raining, this debut album from Scott Matthews should fit the bill regardless. Deciding to do it the independent route, Matthews has put together a full album that will simply melt in your mouth from start to finish and why? Because talent this good comes once in a blue moon and if you miss it, you end up being one of those people that discovers classic records in later years and misses out on the growth of something completely special.

You see, this Birmingham based singer/songwriter has taken simplicity and turned it on its head allowing his music to bury his desires deeply into your own. There are influences in here alright, like any new record and they come from greats such as Jeff Buckley for starters, but if you add the dark side of Radiohead, the light side of Lewis Taylor, and the laid back and deeply meaningful rays of Jose Gonzales you are barking at the right road sign. His voice is something you just want more of but the musicianship across all 17 tracks on Passing Stranger is something else, it just all fits.

Buckley left the world a massive gap to fill and although this man is influenced, he has taken beautifully crafted songwriting to another level that could easily sit in absolutely anyone’s record collection who loves music, period. This track Elusive you can stream on this page is just one offering, one side of the coin, so do not judge this record on one track, as the entire record has so many doors. I bet you my bottom dollar that in the future you will hear this album everywhere and will have to submit to buying it at some stage if this review is not convincing enough.

Simply delicious….

Coldcut are back in a big way, with the single True Skool which features the ever lovable and utterly distinctive tones of Roots Manuva providing the lyrical content. The eastern tabla beat pounds away under a catchy-as-hell vocal sample as Rootsva tells you to “stamp your footsie” and “wiggle your tootsie”, you can’t really go wrong with words like that now can you?

As well as this original edit, which is, as the chorus tells us “cooler than cool”, you get 4 remixes, all of which have their moments. The two that will garner most interest will be Sway‘s remix and Spank Rock’s. Sway was apparently so excited by the prospect of remixing this track that he submitted two, and the one that made it is a typical fuzzy Sway beat with the London MC getting some rapping time for himself. The Spank Rock remix is again typical of their style with a booming electro bass line which is just begging to be rinsed in a club.

With an awesome drum n bass remix also ready to make you break out the moves, its clear that if you aren’t feeling Coldcut, then its you that needs to get right back to skool!