Category: Buzz Chart

Newcastle four piece ‘The Sound Explosion’ continue their assault on the airwaves with ‘Apollo‘ – the first offering from their much anticipated second album. Produced by The Stokes mastermind Gordon Raphael, this is high octane, punchy track that is the perfect taster into what looks like being a solid second album.

With over 100 live dates under their belt, The Sound Explosion live up to their name as one of the most explosive live acts on the circuit, and trying to bottle the energy spinning off them on stage proves a difficult challenge. From the onset it’s a punch to the face, drum lines pounding under your skin.

Frontman Kit Endean belts out lines, his voice ragged in parts, trading vocals with guitarist Glen Roughead.

The change in tempo throughout keep attention fixed, as it sways and thrashes through the track, the direction chopping and changing. The momentum builds up throughout the track until the rugs pulled from beneath your feet and you’re left in freefall, only for the bass to kick in below again. ‘Apollo‘ peaks with an intoxicating barrage of guitars and it’s almost worth the wait. I say almost……because this stunner of a track that leaves you hungry for more, roll on that second album, we can’t wait to get our hands on it.

Dee Massey

If you’ve recently fallen for the loveable post-everything-core noise of hip London trio Test Icicles, then get ready to fall in love all over again because ‘Justamustache‘ is probably your favourite record. You just don’t know it yet.

Thunderbirds Are Now! are brought to you by the kind people at French Kiss Records (otherwise known as fab art-punks Les Savy Fav) and deliver catchy, high energy dance-fused rock that draws on the frantic power of At The Drive-In alongside the deranged shronk rock of their aforementioned label bosses. That said, they never stray to far left of centre for the mainstream to understand and successfully walk the line between art and commerce with ease. Watch these Thunderbirds go!

James Sherry

Rise Above Records have been responsible for some incredible releases over the last few months. New albums by Taint and Capricorns are about to put ground-breaking UK metal back on the map, whilst Circulus and Witchcraft released records so steeped in seventies folk and rock you start to question what decade you’re actually in! Next up, here comes Sheavy.

‘Republic?’ is the bands fourth album for Rise Above and it’s business as usual in the Sheavy camp. Here you get eleven slabs (yes, this one goes to eleven) of Black Sabbath inspired stoner/doom rock that is packed with fuzz and distortion and vocals that sound more like Ozzy than Ozzy himself!

A few years back you couldn’t swing a bong around without spilling rancid bong water all over a stoner rock band, but it seems that the majority of the bands have finally smoked too much and can’t do anything but sit down and drool. Not Sheavy – these guys are still waving their freak flag high and long may they continue to do so.

James Sherry

Public Enemy have always been seen as one of the godfathers of hip hop. Their classic albums “It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back” and “Fear Of A Black Planet” brought their plight of the underprivileged to the plate and smashed a home run against oppression.

Chuck D and Flav are back with their first studio album in 3 years, and from the off its like they’d never been away with the heavy drums of “New Whirl Odor“.

Chuck D’s angry and punchy flow gives every track that hardcore snap that we’re used to with Public Enemy, and Flav is the perfect compliment to him, as ever. The use of strings on “MKLVFKWR” and guitars in “What A Fool Believes” provide a nice detour from the usual boom bap but its during “Bring That Beat Back“, that you remember just how influential their sound was.

Public Enemy are back with a voice as loud and justified as it has ever been, don’t sleep on it.

Sam Hesketh

Take one of the most talked about producers of the year and throw him alongside one of the most productive emcees in the underground.

Now mix that up with a cartoon that has taken the States by storm, and you have Dangerdoom. Danger Mouse, of Gorillaz and Grey Album fame laces a great diversity of beats for MF Doom [Madvillain] to rap over.

The upbeat tracks like “Benzi Box“, “Old School” and “Vats Of Urine” leave you bopping and head nodding, whilst the down tuned sounding tracks such as “Bada Bing” and “Mince Meat” are more like Doom’s solo stuff, which makes the listener sway in acknowledgement. All these are helped with guest spots from Wu Tang’s Ghostface, Talib Kweli and Cee-Lo.

A lot of the time, super group type deals don’t work, falling under the hype that precedes them, but not this time. As the masked villain says, and delivers…..he makes mince meat outta that beat Mouse.

Sam Hesketh

10 years ago Richard and Stefanie Reines started an independent, punk rock label in California called Drive-Thru Records. Now in 2005, the label has the luxury of issuing a full compilation of the best tracks from various artists from the roster and deliver it to you just in time for xmas!

Yep, this compilation features 16 hit tracks from the labels 10 successful acts including New Found Glory, The Starting Line, Something Corporate, Finch, Senses Fail, Midtown, Fenix TX, The Early November, Allister, Hellogoodbye and Spanish Fly meaning that this will be hard to beat this year if you are into alternative punk and rock scenes. The compilation is released in the UK on November 28th check out the Finch video on this page and go to the competition page on this site to win one of 5 copies before it’s out! Click here!

Oh yes, this could be one of the finest records in the history of skateboarding and music! Someone somewhere in Germany came up with the idea of having the cheesiest skateboard tunes EVER on one disc and released it! I guess that the tunes on this CD from the 70’s are the roots of what made skate rock in the 80’s but obviously with a completely different flavour, but what is totally unbelievable is the fact that every tune on this compilation is as camp as Little Britain and makes you wanna actually go into the shed to find your 70’s roller skates and be totally gay in the street! With a mix of classic 70’s funk, disco and surf flavoured Beach Boys style songs on every track you are not gonna be disappointed whatsoever if you have a sense of humour..

85% of the track names start with the word Skateboard such as Skateboard Racer, Skateboard Boogie, Shuffle, Saturday, Queen and so on featuring acts such as The Carvels from the UK, Sneakers and Lace, Daffy Duck and even Marc Bolan’s T.Rex appear with a track at the end of the record! Yeah, and guess what it’s called? “Skateboard!“…this is a must have for pure fun value. It’s the CD you will be picking out of your collection when you get back from the pub with a handful of drunken mates and dance round the table until you collapse with laughter. Expect to hear this on skate DVD’s and web clips for many years to come. It really sounds like someone is seriously taking the piss and is worth every penny.

There is a limited edition double gatefold vinyl pack on sale to, go get one from Diggler and try it for yourself or just buy it direct from herehere.

So, here we are again, Damon Albarn and his team of cool-ass chimps are back with a fresh slice of twisted beats going by the name of Dirty Harry and believe me when i say that this weapon is not carrying a silencer, because this is a sure fire hit and one of the best tunes on the Demon Days album. With Dangermouse on the production and Albarns futuristic songwriting skills, the Gorillaz have stated their intention to dominate the music charts and have followed it through to match the success of the debut album back in 2002.

The track features a lively, low-slung flavour retrofitted with electro flourishes and featuring an explosive stream of consciousness rap from guest performer Bootie Brown of the Pharcyde. The video is another groundbreaking Gorillaz production which sees the entire band, plus Bootie Brown and the San Fernandez Youth Chorus, relocated to the desert around Swakopmund, Namibia. Directors Jamie Hewlett and Pete Candeland, along with animation director Heath Kenny, have once again produced the perfect visual complement for the music; a startling mixture of live action with CG and 2D animation that follows the band’s attempt to rescue the children’s choir from the unforgiving south-west African desert.

This is the first Gorillaz video to be shot on location, and features an armoured personnel carrier borrowed from the Namibian military, plus an authentic WW2 uniform modelled by Bootie Brown, who found himself buried in the sand for take after take… and didn’t complain once.

B-sides include new tracks Hongkongaton and Murdoc Is God, plus an exclusive live performance of album track All Alone and the Chopper remix of Dirty Harry. Formats are as follows:

CD 1: Dirty Harry / All Alone (Live)
CD 2: Dirty Harry / Hongkongaton / Dirty Harry ‘Chopper Remix’
DVD: Dirty Harry Video / Murdoc Is God / Dirty Harry Instrumental / Dirty Harry video animatic

Dirty Harry is released by Parlophone on Monday 21st November. Go grab it!

The Pacific Northwest of United States is a hot bed for melodic, rhythmic indie rock. The likes of Death Cab for Cutie and Hot Hot Heat have put a nice twist on the music in this region. When you think of the demographics of the country you can understand why some sounds are allowed to nurture without mainstream crud being shoved down their throat.

Seattle, Washington’s, The Pale Pacific fit nicely within this sound and their second release of 2005, Urgency finds this quartet pushing its boundary. It’s wrong to say they are a mixture of Death Cab and Sunny Day Real Estate, but for a first time listener you’d be forgiven; it’s much poppier than Death Cab and not as “emo” as Sunny Day.

I found myself repeatedly listening to the second track of Urgency, Sucker Punch. It’s one of those songs that slowly progresses, the tempo builds up and when it ends you feel as if you were robbed, you didn’t get enough so you hit back on the player for another turn. The album is so full of little gems that it requires many listens. We could be hearing big things from this band in 2006 as it’s just one of those records!

(BH)

Fusing rock, reggae and ska, Canada’s Bedouin Soundclash have created a truly refreshing and uplifting sound that holds the spirit of The Clash true to it’s heart, whilst drawing inspiration from Bob Marley’s combination of pop song-writing skills and roots reggae. Produced by legendary Bad Brains bassist Darryl Jennifer, ‘When The Night Feels My Song’ is one of the many gems from their ‘Sounding a Mosaic’ album that will appeal to fans of classic punk-reggae hybrids like The Ruts, The Police and Still Little Fingers, harking back to the days when the first generation of punks found much they could relate to in reggae. Bedouin Soundclash are guaranteed to lift your spirits through these cold, dark winter months. We need this now more than ever!

January UK TOUR 2006!

14 Aldershot Westend Centre
15 Portsmouth Wedgewood Rooms
16 Brighton Concorde 2
17 Oxford Zodiac
18 Bristol Fleece
19 Newcastle University
20 Glasgow Tuts
21 Manchester Academy
22 Birmingham Academy
23 Liverpool Barfly
24 London Meanfiddler