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Jehst

Dragon of an Ordinary Family
YnR

Waiting six years for an album isn’t ideal and with every passing year, the expectation of being underwhelmed grows tenfold. Such was the trepidation that came with opening the new album from Jehst, the best rapper in the UK bar none, but thankfully the wait was well worth it as this is a serious contender for album of the year.

When it was revealed that he wouldn’t be producing the entire album itself, another seed of doubt was sown, but having heard the album, it’s clear that the beatmakers he’s working with know exactly the style Billy Brimstone needs to work with whether they be upbeat bangers like ‘Thinking Crazy‘ and ‘Old Number 7‘ or the laid back vibes of ‘Camberwell Carrots‘ [shout out to my place of birth!] and ‘The Illest‘. A perfect balance is struck between the two, allowing the rhymes of the MC to take centre stage.

Jehst has always been something of a genius with his words. Not only does he deliver quotables in every line, he raps them in a style that is completely his own, often changing pace or structure mid-line whilst still not missing a beat and this is something that appears in spades on the new album. Whether he is talking about killer rap zombies or introspectively dissecting his feelings, Jehst’s confidence and untouchable delivery exudes brilliance throughout the album.

Standout track ‘England‘ is a real tour-de-force and harks back to his 2001 EP Return of the Drifter, it’s dusty beat laying under his diatribe about the state of the country he lives in, opening with “You gotta stack chips and that’s the way it is yo / living in this city is turning Billy schizo phrenic / it’s a blood money epidemic / kids rock Academiks but they’re not academic” before finishing up with the boldest of all full stops, saying “It’s hardcore but that’s life in England / And it goes for the whole United Kingdom / And I still got love for the place that I’m living / But right now there ain’t nothing Great about Britain“.

Six years is an age to wait for an album, but when it comes as complex, deep and enjoyable as this, it doesn’t seem quite so long.

Abjekt.

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Title Fight

Shed
Side One Dummy

If you’re somebody who grew up listening to the 90’s output of labels like Jade Tree and Polyvinyl, then ‘emo’ won’t be a dirty word for you. You may look back longingly over your collection of Promise Ring and Mineral records and wonder what exactly happened to the genre, but rest assured my kindred emo spirit, all has not been lost and forgotten. For starters, we have Title Fight.

Following on from a slew of EPs, demos and compilations, it seems odd to be calling this Title Fight’s debut album, but that’s how it’s being sold. Now signed to Side One Dummy it’s undoubtedly their biggest release to date, and it both delivers and expands on expectations. While the Kingston, Pennsylvania band have maintained at least some of their breakneck approach to song writing, this is also a far more rounded effort with a range of different styles explored. While initially I was unsure of the band’s noticeable drop in pace, these songs stay with you, and the band’s progression makes for a more complete and diverse debut record.

In saying that, the band still knows when to let rip, and there is still plenty of instant punk gems on offer. Take single ‘27’ (see video below), for example, which is a front runner for my favourite song of the year. As anthemic as any of their earlier work, the signature combination of palm-muted chords and Jamie Rhoden’s rasping vocal is near pop-punk perfection. The sound is pure 90’s yet somehow manages to feel utterly timeless, even alongside its brilliantly nostalgic music video.

Title Fight are over in the UK next month and I, for one, can’t wait to see these songs brought to life. In a year that’s absolutely brimming with exceptional punk and hardcore records, Shed stands up among the very best of them.

Sleekly Lion.

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Zounds

‘The Redemption of…’
Overground Records

Well this was a surprise… I had no idea that Zounds had a new album in the works.

With a legacy that dates all the way back to the early Eighties, and a handful of cracking releases on Rough Trade and Crass, Zounds were strictly on the Anarcho-side of the divide. Never that prolific, theirs, and founder/songwriter Steve Lake’s solo outings, has been a strictly intermittent operation – a less is more situation (if you will). I last saw one of these rare gigs at the tail end of last year, in the close confines of Brighton’s autonomous café The Cowley Club, and they nailed a righteous set that had an enthused crowd of local punkers and agitators jumping and singing in raucous appreciation of the infectious music, and stirring messages.

So, I was keen to hear this album, as I’m sure a few new numbers were aired that night at The Cowley. Jeez, as a result, I’ve been playing this disc end-to-end repeatedly. A total grower. All the key Zounds components are present; sparky guitar lines and sharp melodies to Steve’s passionate and sardonic vocals. The opening number “Cry Genie Cry” and its accompanying Bowie lifted riff, has Steve lamenting that he “still don’t know what he’s supposed to be”… oh I know that feeling, I really (really) will work out one of these days what I want I’m going to do with my life… a quandary I’ve been in for the last… err… 30 years, ack! Elsewhere, Steve interjects on a world consumed by consumerism, civil liberties being squeezed, humanitarian crisis, and war… fuckin’ war, and why we’d be better off making love, man. And that’s Zounds in essence, dreaming of a more peaceful world, I can’t argue with that…fanciful thinking perhaps, but we all need something to hang on to.

A fine piece of work!

Pete Craven

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The Crafty Butchers

Just A Chicken
Self-released

The Crafty Butchers’ ode to being a chicken is two minutes of punky riffs accompanying some genius lyrics from the point of view of a chicken. Yes, a chicken. The three-piece have successfully captured a rather gleeful chicken world view where the subject of the song is in fact looking forward to becoming a pie or other such delicacy.

This is a brilliantly rough-around-the-edges slab of rock and roll which you can imagine comes fully into its own in a live setting, although the band have to date only played one show so let’s hope there are more on the horizon! These guys clearly take their meat seriously, so perhaps not one for the vegetarians out there.

This bit of call and response with lead vocals against gang vocals towards the end of the song is what really makes it –

“I’m just a chiiiiicken”
“He’s just a chiiiicken”

Has to be heard to be believed.

Winegums.

Just A Chicken by The Crafty Butchers

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Dangerous!

Not One Of You
Epitaph Records

A short sharp shock of rock’n’roll swagger, ‘Not One of You’ is the first track to be unveiled from Dangerous!’ forthcoming debut album ‘Teenage Rampage’ which is set to be released on legendary indie Epitaph Records. These Aussie tykes are just starting out but have produced a slab of rocked-up pop with an edge that sets them apart from many other bands out there. It’s kind of hard to typecast them (that’s a good thing) – part glam-rock, part punk-rock, part pure-pop. A veritable melting pot of awesomeness basically.

If this rip-roaring track is anything to go by then Dangerous!’ debut should be one of the most exciting debut albums of the year. Unpretentious, fun and full of tunes is what we’re expecting. And we’re usually right about these sorts of things. The band will be hitting UK shores for the first time ever this June and will be playing the hallowed Download festival amongst other live dates so make sure you follow them and catch the live set whilst they’re here!

Winegums.

Dangerous! – Not One Of You by Epitaph Records

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Pentagram

‘Last Rites’
Metal Blade

Be forewarned, for from the ashes, Pentagram has risen. Doom titans Bobby Liebling and Victor Griffin have finally reunited and again unleashed Pentagram’s classic 70’s doom thunder with Last Rites. Alongside bassist Greg Turley, who played with Pentagram in the 90’s, and drummer Tim Tomaselli of Griffin’s band Place of Skulls, Liebling and Griffin have managed to again set the wheels in motion towards reclaiming their rightful place on the altar of doom after almost two decades in shadows and turbulence.

The first track, Treat Me Right, stands strong as one hell of a launch pad for the album. Albeit with more production and thicker distortion than the likes of the reigning self-titled album—later reissued as Relentless—Griffin stays true and lures you from the get go with a familiar crushing wall of guts and gravel. He cuts out while you’re led by a quick drum build up only to lean straight back in, neck and neck with the classic, demanding, soulful voice of a now sober, crack-less Liebling. It’s definitely a loaded (re) introduction track; a proclamation of their resurrection and return from obscurity.

Call The Man, the second track, emerges with an eerie intro of bends and death clock bass drums, culminating in a march of very heavy, very 70’s doom riffage. The following track, Into The Ground, picks up right where the last left off, plowing on with surging bluesy doom shred.

For those of you who feared, as I did, that the new album would not retain Pentagram’s true form, or that it may not deliver, you can all rest easy. The album is solid, rich, and very well put together; an even balance between re-recorded songs and demos from the 70’s—Call The Man and Walk in Blue Light for example— and new material.
Tracks like 8, Everything’s Turning to Night, and American Dream drive home Griffin’s inherent musical depth and emotion as well as exhibiting a throatier, still flawless Liebling. Together they play with all the force and strength of the band’s golden years.

Each track—even, to some extent, the ballad Windmills and Chimes—continues to stand musically true to form, reeling off more of the Pentagram of old with a slightly more modern, or perhaps “cleaner” edge—if I can get away with that.

The albums Relentless and Be Forewarned will always reign in strength and style. But I take no issue with the newer, thick distortion and sound of Last Rites. It is a triumph.

Shane Herrick

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Little Roy vs Nirvana

littleroy_nirvanaUsually I cringe at people’s versions of classic Nirvana songs but Little Roy has taken the original 7″ of Sliver and Dive and knocked out classic roots reggae versions of both tracks this week that need to be on your stereo.

Nirvana’s ‘Smell Like Teen Spirit‘ was released 20 years ago in September this year so expect more mash ups and versions of these classic tracks to be infiltrating the internet on mix tapes and general releases throughout the summer. I doubt though that any of them will come close to being as good as these.

You can find Little Roy vs Nirvana in your local shop available on a limited edition 7″, June 27th 2011 via Ark Recordings and an album that includes covers of 10 Nirvana tracks in a reggae/dub style will be released soon. Watch this space.

Zac

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Deep Sleep

Turn Me Off

(Grave Mistake)

I bought the debut EP from Maryland’s Deep Sleep, which came out at least 4 years ago; listened to it, liked it, then filed it away, and admit I kinda forgot about it. They’ve released 2 further seven-inches that passed me by. And now their debut LP “Turn Me Off” comes in to my possession. Slipped it in the stereo and had my tiny mind blown to pieces. Wow!

In an age when bands who have barely gigged have an array of recorded material for sale, Deep Sleep prove that what you do in fact is hone your live sound, release a few tracks intermittently, and finally commit yourself to laying down a full albums worth of tracks (in this case – ten). And make it count! With “Turn Me Off” they really have. This is seriously tight music, with barely a second’s gap between songs that are fuelled by chunky hooks and instantly stick-in-your-head snotty choruses.

Really, I can hear so much class influence in this music… there’s a ‘thanks to’ in the credits to Chemical People, Big Drill Car and ALL… well I definitely hear some of BDC’s sharp melodies, but it’s ALL who I’m most reminded of, with the pronounced bass, precision riffage and pounding tub thumping, to the rapido vocal delivery. I’ll throw in some Adolescents too for the harmonies, and BL’AST for the Flag envy! And I’d say this music is most guaranteed to rock the pit of folk who dig Strike Anywhere, Paint it Black, Cloak/Dagger… et al.

Still smarting over the Descendents failure to deliver in London? Screw that, check out Deep Sleep and restore your faith in tight/melodic/hardcore tuneage. One of the best albums I’ve heard this year, oh yeah!

Pete Craven

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Flogging Molly

‘Speed Of Darkness’
(Borstal Beat)

floggingmollyspeedofdarknessIf you’ve ever seen a Flogging Molly show, you’ll most likely agree that they were born to play live; a gloriously ramshackle brew of traditional Irish folk and punk rock that could get a dead horse jigging. It’s been just over a decade since the band released their debut album ‘Swagger’, and although the Celtic folk-punk genre hasn’t really evolved musically since then, it has become more popular – with a fair few bands arming themselves with fiddles and accordions and claiming dubious affinity with the Emerald Isle.

Flogging Molly frontman Dave King, however, has a genuine working-class Dublin background, and his oft-autobiographical style has infused his band’s music with a sense of authenticity and honesty that others lack. Granted, they’ve yet to make a truly amazing record – although 2002’s ‘Drunken Lullabies’ came close – but they are consistently good, and ‘Speed Of Darkness’ is a fine addition to the family.

Whereas previous album ‘Float’ had a largely upbeat tone, the, erm, darker outlook of ‘Speed Of Darkness’ should strike a chord with anyone feeling the pinch of our Coalition government’s cuts. “I’m a working man, without any work,” spits Dave on ‘Revolution’, before railing against the effects of urban decay on ‘Don’t Shut ‘Em Down’ and ‘The Power’ Out’. Yes, he’s pretty pissed off, but the tunes are memorable as ever; with the belter of a title track and ‘Saints And Sinners’ both potential live favourites.

The biggest surprise on offer here is the five-minute ‘The Cradle Of Humankind’, which builds slowly from a simple piano and accordion intro into an anthemic, guitar-laden song that should draw a sing-along from all the but the most churlish of listeners. ‘Speed Of Darkness’ may essentially be Flogging Molly doing what they always do, but they’re still doing it well.

Alex Gosman

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ACDC Live At River Plate DVD

(Columbia/Sony Music)

“We don’t speak very good Spanish, but we speak rock n’ roll pretty good!” screeches vocalist Brian Johnson, to roars of joy from a 65,000-strong Argentinean crowd that have waited thirteen years for AC/DC’s return to Buenos Aires. Cheesy? Clichéd? Oh please, this is AC/DC; a band for whom any idea of musical evolution has long been pushed aside in favour of a seemingly endless (but fruitful) quest for the ultimate riff. They’ve always been masters of musical economy, and if the likes of ‘Shoot To Thrill’ and ‘Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap’ don’t make you dust off your air guitar, you may as well stop reading now.

Pretty much the only surprise on offer here is just how good the band sound after all these years. Long at home in a stadium environment, they know exactly what their audience wants, and following a suitably explosive intro of ‘Rock N’ Roll Train’ (complete with pyro and wrecked locomotive backdrop), the classics come thick and fast. ‘T.N.T.’; ‘You Shook Me All Night Long’; ‘Whole Lotta Rosie’ – all of them sounding twice as monolithic as they do on record. At the centre of it all, of course, is lead guitarist and all-round AC/DC icon Angus Young, and tonight he doesn’t disappoint; be it stripping down to his boxers for the sleazy blues of ‘The Jack’, duckwalking along the ego ramp for ‘Hell’s Bells’ or unleashing an impressive solo finale to ‘Let There Be Rock’.

No small credit is due to the Argentinean fans who, at every step, uphold Latin Americans’ reputation for being among the most enthusiastic and devoted rock/metal fans in the world. A handful of them are interviewed on the otherwise fairly redundant ‘Extras’ section of the disc; among them are folks who sport all manner of AC/DC tattoos and have travelled from all over the continent (and beyond) to witness the show. In the excitement stakes, a kid on Christmas morning has nothing on these guys, and as they howl along deliriously to the iconic riff of ‘Back In Black’, you can’t help but wish you’d been there to soak up the atmosphere.

It’s clear that AC/DC’s knack for gut-level, fist-pumping hard rock anthems has rendered them impervious to such trivialities as musical trends or generation gaps. Whether ‘Live At River Plate’ lives up to the band’s classic ‘Live At Donington’ DVD is a moot point, but it does prove that even though these dinosaurs are getting on a bit, it’s still thrilling to watch them go in for the kill.

Alex Gosman