We said we were going to review stuff............... so here's my first attempt:

When is this genre going to tire out? Apparently not anytime soon, if sales are any gauge of general public demand. The Arctic Monkey's debut cd, Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I Am Not, has been out for about 3 or 4 weeks in the UK and a little less than a week in the US. In this time span it has sales approaching 400,000 copies, which is entirely amazing given the state of the music industry in modern times. These kinds of early sales are in the league of the great (cough) fiddy and (vomit) Mariah Carey.

Not being from England, I have no idea how this album was promoted in that country. I know, for instance, that in the US I've never once heard an Arctic Monkeys song on the radio. But, from what I've read, this band got famous mostly on internet buzz, free downloading, and demo tapes passed out at live shows. And still the music industry insists that downloading hurts the musicians.

The Arctic Monkeys, upon first listen, sound similar to bands such as the Strokes and the Libertines. Yes they have a different singer, and yes the guitars are little more fierce, but is this really a new sound? The answer, of course, is no. But it doesn't matter, because the album is filled with hooks and catchy lyrics that are very friendly upon first listen. In many respects this band is very similar to the Killers and Franz Ferdinand, and it only seems to be a matter of time before they catch on as strongly in the US as they have in the UK.

Take for instance the track "Fake Tales of San Francisco." The bass groove/ drum beat in the background could have come straight out of a Killers album. While it's not as lyrically infectious as something like Mr. Brightside or Somebody Told Me, it still is a great song that demands repeat listens. Artistically it trumps the work of the Killers, but still it is too safe to compare to the level of intensity found on songs from (as an example) The Libertines' Self-titled. But again, this is a debut, so you must remember to be more lenient with regard to matters such as these.

As for the rest of the songs, they have varying degrees of success. I love the opener, The View from the Afternoon. Again, it feels like I've heard this song a dozen different times, but the Arctic Monkeys pull it off well. Pounding drums in the beginning transform into a searing dance punk guitar rhythm backed by Helder pounding the high-hat at a Rapturisk tempo.

Where my view probably differs from a lot of other people is in the second song "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor." I honestly think this song is a totally failure. It really pisses me off when you make a song about a dancefloor and it is totally undanceable. It starts off with some guitar wankery, James Cook showing some skill as he fiddles with his whammy bar. Eventually the song settles down into a quick tempo beat that is catchy. Alex Turner sings "Oh you're an explosion" with a crazed "You're dynomite!" sung in the background. Then suddenly the song changes tempo to an even quicker beat with Turner yelling "Oh I bet that you look good on the dancefloor/I don't know if you looking for romance or/ I don't know what you are lookin' for." This part is fucking impossible to dance to. Go ahead and try it, you won't be able to successfully do it without looking foolish. I can't understand what their goal is here. Do they want a dance song or a mosh pit number? Eventually they resort to that intro guitar solo with Helder's wailing on the drums and finish the song on what most would call (but not me) a rockin note. This song just doesn't fit with the rest of the songs on the album.

Many of the other songs succeed where this song failed. "Dancing Shoes" is a great song as is "You Probably Couldn't See for the Lights But You Were Standing Straight at Me." These songs have true vision and don't go off into an unnecessary guitar/ drum explosion. One of the best songs is number 6, "Still Take You Home," where band keeps the intensity level raised with the best guitar jam yet, drawing you more deeply into the album.

Overall the album is pretty even with maybe only the closer looking like another possible weak point. This song comes off as a little too much of a Libertines impression in my opinion, but it is likely to be pleasing even after repeat listens. Still it isn't the strong closer you'd hope for in a album such as this one. In one respect they win by going out following the winning formula they established with the first 12 songs (minus song 2), but in another respect they fail in that they don't offer anything new and uplifting for the end. More often than not I find myself skipping this final song to put the player back to the beginning of the album.

So, an impressive debut definitely. This band is sure to continue to draw in a legion of fans because they make music to suite the masses. Understandably they live in the shadow of the bands they imitate, but I look forward to seeing if they can clearly break the mold with their next album.

Score: 7/10

Here's a track that isn't on the album, cause I'm sure most of you already have the album.

Arctic Monkeys - Cigarette Smoke

The Appleseed Cast have a new album coming out, Perigrine, which is fucking ace, and you should buy it when it comes out on March 21, or preorder it from their website now. It's big, it's loud, it swaggers all over your face dripping melody and making you just a little bit better of a person for it. It demands to be heard, and really, it has the right to be. Here's a track to sate that hideously unstopable curiosity of yours:

The Appleseed Cast - ....well, fuck. ezarchive is gay sometimes. so here's a link to their myspace instead, and I'll try again later...

In other news, and to continue recent fanboyism, Voxtrot is playing at the Beat Kitchen on friday, so you should go if you live in or near Chicago.

Here are some old old Voxtrot tunes that were recorded before anyone even knew such a band existed. I've been going to shows for 2 or 3 years now, and I have yet to hear these two songs played. Ramesh (the lead singer) told me in an email a few months back that it is unlikely that they'll ever bring these songs back to the live shows. That news is very sad considering how good these two songs are.

Voxtrot - Whiskey and Water

Voxtrot - Angry Mulch

Dr Dog are from Philadelphia in the good ol' US of A. They released an album called 'Easy Beat' in August of 2005. They come across like the bastard love child of Pavement, Wilco and My Morning Jacket, with The Beatles and Talking Heads as godparents, but really sounding nothing like any of them. I suppose you could call it jangley guitar pop, but I just call it good music. Whilst the album is far from perfect, it certainly better than the 4.4 those dorks at Pitchfork gave it.
Give them a try and if you like, BUY IT!

Easy Beat
Wake Up

The Ladies - Black Ceasar/Red Sonja

The Ladies are a collaboration between Rob Crowe (the guitarist from Pinback, also of Goblin Cock IIRC) and Zack Hill (Hella's balls-insane drummer). Rob Crowe contributes the melodic and complex one would expect from Pinback, and Hill, well, Hill does his thing, and by thing you know what I'm talking about if you've listened to any Hella. One might figure that with just the two of them, niether really varying from their regular band's style much, this outing might be somewhat boring if not completely terrible, but the fact is that the sounds manage to mesh and interplay amazingly off of eachother to the extent that the listener never gets bored with just guitar and drums. In all, their new record, They Mean Us is a real entertainer, and should be heard by fans of both bands as well as anyone into challenging rock.

I won't... I shouldn't... I really can't... c'mon, man, get a grip, this pun bloCHRISTMAS SEEMS TO HAVE COME EARLY THIS YEARws... fuck! Goddammit.

Anyways, my buddy Stan McConnel and his cuz Mack are in a band called Santa, and boy do I dig it. You know, dear reader(s), that I, gheejh, wouldn't subject you to just any local rock, but these guys are definetly not just anybody. They're somebody, for sure. Hell, they have a purevolume! Not just anybody can get...ohh, wait. Nevermind. Anyways, take my word for it, these songs are worth it. Trust me. I swear. Oh, god, please, listen:

Santa's Purevolume

(damn straight I didn't bother to host these myself...)

Welcome my minions to my twisted world...enough of that.
Anyhoo, post-rock maestros Mogwai release their latest opus 'Mr Beast' on March 6th. Since coming out in 1997 with their faultless 'Young Team' album, they have released a few solid, if patchy, albums and a few amazing EPs (My Father My Son especially). Last year's 'Government Commissions' live session album grouped together all their best songs and showed what an amazing and Mogwai can be. While their latest release is pretty much more of the same, it's still a worthwhile listen.

Mogwai - We're No Here
Mogwai - Glosgow Mega-Snake
Mogwai - Friend of the Night

The Residents are a band that have been around forever. Some people go as far as to call the one of the greatest band ever. While I don't hold them in such high esteem they do have some very memorable songs.

I just found some songs by them using the handy intitle index of trick :D


The Residents - The Shoe Salesman
The Residents - Harry the Head
The Residents - Weatherman
The Residents - Beekeeper's Daughter

-Chiron

Man these guys are good. They haven't been perfect, but 2003's Dear Catastrophe Waitress and now 2006's The Life Pursuit show a real return to form. This song is one of the best on the album and in my opinion the best one to sing along to. The Life Pursuit was released this past Tuesday (February 7th).

Belle and Sebastian - Funny Little Frog

Well I don't know about you, but I am a big fan of Madonna. I think she makes the best entrance out of any performer, and last nights Grammys were no exception. As for the Gorillaz, Feel Good Inc. was one of my favorite songs last year. I'll try to find a download of this video, but until then you can see it on Yahoo Music.

Yahoo Video - Madonna & The Gorillaz at the Grammys

Is it Neeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeko or Neko like Gecko? I haven't figured it out, but incase you didn't know, Neko Case is the beautiful woman lead vocal (and also background vocal) of the super smash hits the New Pornographers. Before the New Pornographers, she was an aspiring alternative country artist moving up in the rankings and creating quite a following. Her breakthrough was 2002's Blacklisted which brought her much deserved critical acclaim, but it has taken about 4 years for her to release a true followup. Star Witness is a song from her forthcoming "Fox Confessor Bring the Flood" due out on March 7th. The most noticable feature of this song is how beautiful she sounds, something we've come to expect from anything she releases. The second not so notable feature is how hot she is. In fact, you can't notice it at all, and you'd have to download pictures of her to figure that out. But even if you had no pictures, you'd could just assume that this gorgeous voice could not possibly belong to a hideous, fat girl... and yes I know about Aretha Franklin... she's the exception. My answer to her is Star Jones; have you ever heard her sing? Take it from me, she's terrible!

Neko Case - Star Witness

Akron Family - Raising the Sparks

If there was one problem I had with 2005, it was that Akron/Family did not get the attention they deserved. Sure, the people who heard it raved about it, but it is still a shame for thier 2005 output to go out in relative neglect.

Raising the Sparks was the last song on the Akron/Family half of thier split with The Angles of Light, who are essentialy just them plus Micheal Gira, and it nearly overshadows everything else on the disc, if not everything they've ever done. Every second of this song is perfect, from the chunky riff that opens it, to the spot-on harmonies, the ya-da-da-da's, to the crazy gospel breakdown with the footstomping. This song is off the wall, and there are very few who could pull something off like this, but Akron/Family just flat fucking nail it. Who would have thought they had this aggression in them after hearing their debut, earlier in the SAME YEAR. Even aggresive, though, this song is nothing if not strangely uplifting, no matter what sparks they may be referring to...

This song gives me goosebumps, and I can't wait for thier output in '06.

I promise I will actually post something new soon...

Loose Fur is a collaboration of the infinitely talented Jeff Tweedy, his Wilco bandmate and drummer Glenn Kotche, and ex-Sonic Youth band member Jim O'Rourke. Loose Fur released their debut album in 2003, and now have a new album due for release March 21 entitled "Born Again in the U.S.A." Tweedy has recently been playing a track from the upcoming album at his solo shows, and if this track is any clue as to what the rest of the album is like (something I doubt), we can expect something truly genius from Born Again in the U.S.A.(something I have good hopes for).

Linked here is Tweedy playing The Ruling Class on Jan 25, 2006 in Chicago. This is one of those songs that is so simple, yet you wonder how the hell he ever came up with it. The lyrics are playful and fun, the melody is sweet, and the best part of it is how infectious it is upon first listen. Could be a early runner for song of the year, depending on how the studio version came out.

Jeff Tweedy - The Ruling Class

Well, welcome to the new face of the New Rock Review, risen from the ashes of neglect and disrepair into a blazing pheonix alive and on fire with something new! something fresh! something done a hundred thousand times before!

...ohh well, whatever keeps us together.

Anyways, on with the content!

I figure we'll get started with something light, a little song by Tom Vek.

Tom Vek - C-C (You Set The Fire In Me)

C-C (you set the fire in me) occupies a strangely happy niche in the corner of my brain, quietly smoking a pipe and reading a good book next to the veranda I imagine is somewhere near my temple where songs like Dry the Rain go to relax. It's simple, sure: the beat is not all that complex, militaristic even (you should watch the video at Tom Vek's website, or download it in www.goodweatherforairstrikes.com 's unbeleivable Top 65 music videos of 2005 feature) and static, only changing up when the crash symbols pick up thier intensity and for the drum break towards the end, but man, this song grooves. Tom Vek's 2005 debut, "We Have Sound," is thereafter uneven, but this song is more than worth getting into.