A Few Words on... Two Door Cinema Club - Beacon

There's something undeniably catchy regarding Two Door Cinema Club's follow-up to the popular and surprisingly good debut. While never branching out in a new radical direction and keeping it relatively safe.

Muse - The 2nd Law Review

It’s been a strange time to be a Muse fan. The Resistance, for lack of better terms, was too cheesy, its supporting tour lacked surprises and the spontaneity that made their live shows the best in the world and the period went on for a dog’s age.

Needless to say, I’ve been down-trodden by the prospect of The 2nd Law. Survival was initially a slap in the face and a slightly rockier version of Neutron Star Collision that wasn’t what the band needed and the constant quotes of a radical change could either be dismissed as banter (as the band have said this for every album since Origin of Symmetry) or fore-warning for the horrors unfolding.

So, it’s here, it’s certainly different but different doesn’t necessarily mean good.

Animal Collective - Centipede Hz. Review

To say you liked Merriweather Post Pavilion but find the majority of Animal Collective discography, for lack of better terms “difficult” is blasphemy to their very dedicated fanbase. The problem with MPP was Animal Collective managed to create one of the most innovative pop records for the past century, at the expense of the experimentation that made them so endearing and different from your run of the mill “alternative” band.

The Vaccines - The Vaccines Come of Age Review

Hands down my favourite debut album for last year was The Vaccines What Did You Expect from The Vaccines? Hyped to the brink of certain doom, the album was a surprisingly satisfying rock album, heavy on the short but sweet but just as heavy in the entertainment value of the record.

Despite being little over a year, the band have quickly released the dreaded follow-up album, named The Vaccines Come of Age (or simply Come of Age). With only a year after the impressive debut, the question on mine and many others lips was simply; can the band, famous for their addictive, under three minute tunes either replicate it again without diluting it, or possibly take a significant change?

Bloc Party - Four Review

If I could pick one band that served as the backing track to the best years of my life; it would easily be Bloc Party. Whether it was driving for the first time and narrowly avoiding a head-on collision with a Land Rover with Two More Years, having Price of Gas blaring from my car with friends through East London or meeting my girlfriend at a Bloc Party gig (see, not all of them are car related); the foursome have never been far behind with their expansive array of tunes, always ready to fill the void when needed.

Just when it seemed everything was running smoothly and the band had three pretty damn good albums under their belt, they took a break. A very long break; one filled with plenty of trolling at the expense of NME and plenty of solo releases (one of which was reviewed last year...right here). Thankfully, they're back together, ready with a new album in tow.

But the question remains; after a three year leave of absence (or four years since their last album); where does Four of indie rock's darlings now sit in the music landscape with their fourth album which is also called Four?

The Dark Knight Rises Review

With the amount of hype going into Christopher Nolan's final Batman movie, it's easy to loose yourself or easy to think that there's absolutely no way the film can live up to expectation and that the benchmark has been set too high.

You also have to consider that, with The Dark Knight Rises being the third and final piece of a trilogy and that in many instances; it all goes to pot. Heck, as mentioned in the Toy Story 3 review; film trilogies very rarely work, that the time is prime for unusual plot developments, recycling previous themes and failing to increase the escalation of the film's before it.

Frank Ocean - channel ORANGE Review

There was something intensely annoying regarding Frank Ocean’s mixtape nostalgia, ULTRA. The obvious answer was the pretty cheap move of Ocean simply singing over well established songs with lyrics that either didn’t suit them or the fact that singing over something like Hotel California without it being, you know, Hotel California was, well…annoying to the senses.

Needless to say, these instances are absent on Ocean’s channel ORANGE (complete with more stylised lower case-CAPS LOCK lettering) and the album is the perfect showcase of Ocean’s large repertoire of talents.