Category: Music

I’ve got a thing against bands that have really long song titles. It’s pretentious, it’s annoying and they never follow up with a decent song, you only have to look at Panic! At The Disco for proof of that. I also have a thing against admitting there are exceptions to my rules, but I’m going to bite the sour-tasting bullet of truth and admit it with The Ghost Frequency.

I had heard the band’s name thrown around and read various things about them online but had never delved into their music until a couple of weeks ago when I watched the video to their single, the track you can hear above, Never Before Have I Seen A Man Alive That Looks So Exactly Like A Skeleton.

The soft hand claps of the intro lead into a short wall of noise before the verse kicks in and the song takes shape. It’s a foot stamping track which has one of the most catchy choruses I’ve heard in a good while, a chorus which I’ve annoyed Crossfire HQ members and other friends with non-stop for over a week. The off-kilter breakdown two-thirds of the way through gives a nice change to proceedings before kicking back into the hip shaking vocals.

Put simply, it’s well good blud.

Abjekt.

When Daft Punk released Human After All back in 2005, the rocking robotic duo from Paris seemed to be utilising the title of said album almost as an excuse as to why, you know, it wasn’t very good.

OK, don’t get me wrong, I liked it, but it was undoubtedly not in the same league as the juggernaut white knuckle ride that was their debut, Homework, or the spaced out funk odyssey of Discovery. There was something missing; the French touch had disappeared, and we were left with washed up beats stuck in the relegation zone, with a couple of tracks kind of seeming a bit out of place (Technologic anyone? Bit too good for that album perhaps?).

Either way, it thrust the state of Daft Punk’s career into a bit of a ooo-err, if you know what I mean. If you know what I mean then you’re probably also aware of the overwhelming surge of french electronic artists who are dropping beats like a ludicrously well timed Nike basketball advert, if you know what I mean. If you know what I mean then you probably won’t be surprised that those pyramid lurking robots are back to show everyone who the fucking daddies are.

Alive 2007 is a melee of everything fantastic about these illustrious producers. A non-stop barrage of head banging funk, which sees Bangalter and the other fellow with the absurdly long name, tweak those tunes we are so familiar with into a totally new experience. Songs that may have sounded unfinished on Human After All, are amplified to the extent we knew they were capable of, and old classics like the relentless head nodder, feet tapper deluxe, Da Funk, sound timeless amongst an array of perfectly mixed samples and beats.

This is where the duo belong, pounding their fists like a disgruntled judge on top of their neon thrones. The crowd love it. I love it. And you should to. In the player is a mind blowing mash up of Around The World and Harder Better Faster Stronger. What was that you said Kanye? Bow down in the presence of greatness? Gobble up your own words boy and proceed to do so. Suckerrrrrrrr.

Joe Moynihan

Internal Riot is the brand new album from the legendary UK outfit, Subhumans… yes legendary… who are still playing as hard today.

The lyrical themes are very much of the times, with a consistent anti-War message, but also some wry comment on media overkill, the ever increasing power of major supermarkets and the pressure people are under to attain that “average” weight… “pressure to change to fit the size that sells the shit they advertise”.

The band as whole is really tight, and in the 20-odd years since they last stuck out a studio record the lads have honed their musicianship … nothing too flashy, but as clever and effective as they’ve ever been.

Pete Craven

From Raleigh, North Carolina – Double Negative thrash like fuck, recalling vintage COC with the economic punch of DRI and raging abandon of early Massappeal… no shit – this album is essential!

Punk Pickers will note that drumming for DN is underground illustrator, and veteran stickman, Brian Walsby – he’s the guy that drew the 7SECONDS “Walk Together, Rock Together” record sleeve, and used to beat the skins in Mystic band Scared Straight back in the early Eighties.

Pete Craven