First Release From Humbug

Arctic Monkeys have announced that the first single from upcoming third album Humbug will be Crying Lightning. The single is due out on August 17, a week before the album on August 24.

The single will receive its first play on Zane Lowe's show on 6th July.

The artwork:

Music News Time!

The Killers have announced plans to record an album of covers by the end of 2009, for release in early 2010. Each band member will choose three tracks to form a twelve-track album.

Friendly Fires have announced they will release a new single, Kiss Of Life, in August.

Arcade Fire are halfway through writing their third album.

Arctic Monkeys may announce the first single from their upcoming third album, Humbug. It is rumoured to be Secret Door or Cornerstone.

Barney Rubble Release Pushed Back

The release date for The Twang's new single, Barney Rubble, is now 27th July. It is unknown whether this affects the original album release date of 20th July. If it does, the album will most likely be released on the 3rd August.

Album Artwork For Humbug

This is the album artwork for Arctic Monkey's third album, Humbug, which will be released on 24th August.

Single Review: Bloc Party - One More Chance

Single: One More Chance
Artist: Bloc Party

You never know where Bloc Party's sound is going. One minute it's raw guitar-heavy anthemic masterpieces, and before you know it they've gone extremely electronic. But one thing that has remained the same is their capacity for creating fantastic songs. On this one-off single, One More Chance, they have changed their sound once again, as can be heard from the piano that runs through the song. The chorus is huge, bringing back memories of their fantastic third album Intimacy, and will sound great live. However, the band seem to have forgotten that their drummer, Matt Tong, is an absolute god when it comes to drumming. (See drumming on One Month Off and Flux - insane!) It seems quite one-dimensional here. But all in all, a great song.

7/10

Klaxons Album For 2010

Klaxons have pushed back the release of their highly anticipated second album back into early 2010. Sad news.

Album Review: Enter Shikari - Common Dreads

Album: Common Dreads
Artist: Enter Shikari
Singles: Antwerpen (free download), Juggernauts

Enter Shikari's new album is not as good as their first, but still has its defining moments. It has plenty of references to the first album as well - which I'll point out below. Anyway, the album sounds great in general. Just not as good as Take To The Skies.

Common Dreads
We open with a typical Enter Shikari skit, just like on their first album. A dark and spooky voice reads out a poem, with children's voices joining in, before people saying "we must unite" in several languages. Then back with the spooky voice: "And we must let the floodgates open." OK. The oddities are over. Now comes the line, "Here tonight, I clock a thousand heads, here to unite, through common dreads!"

Solidarity
The last line of the previous track leads into a powerful and fast electric song, that really gets you going. After a powerful opening, it goes into some weird electronic sounds with drumming intervals. Quite odd. Then comes the third part of the song, which sounds like a hands-in-the-air moment for live shows. Here comes our first Take To The Skies reference, as a choir sing "and still we will be here, standing like statues" (which was sung in three songs on the bands' debut) It is amazing how they can fit three different parts of a song into just over three minutes, but it is a fantastic start to the album.

Step Up
Straight after this, electronic sounds come in to segue into this equally as fast song. It is a much more head-banging song from the band (not without precedent) but still good. The chorus sounds great too. A sure crowd-pleaser.

Juggernauts
The brilliant opening single with Mike Skinner-esque vocals as "Now, don't get me wrong, I love what you've done with the place" is sung. It's a minute longer than the single as well. They have extended the middle bit and we get another round of "I'm not saying that we could do better..." and the "Imagine... imagine..." bit fades out leaving the background playing. The other change is the ending. We get a few more lines there as well. It hasn't changed the wonders of this song.

Wall
We start to calm down now with a calm verse where it sounds like they're singing about calling people walls... wait, what? I'm sure there's some symbolism in there somewhere. Never mind that, this sounds really good, and has a superb buildup to the chorus, which in turn, changes the song as "It's glorious outside" is shouted over the catchy background.

Zzzonked
Hmm... sounds really like Hadouken!, only a lot heavier. The song doesn't change that much until some electronic sounds round it off. I'm not too keen on this song, but it does grow after a few listens.

Havoc A
"The lions are at the door," opens this electronically based song. Heard on the teaser for Common Dreads. Then before it sounds like it's going to get going, we realise it's only a skit. Damn. Oh well, there's a Havoc B! Oh, and there's a reference to the first album (well, a B-side from it - an awesome B-side though), as we get "Just another day in the acid nation"

No Sleep Tonight
Another reference to the first album: "You and me, we're going to take to the skies." That aside, this is a fantastic song, the chorus being a highlight, as Rou screams "You're not... getting any sleep tonight," one of the best from this album.

Gap In The Fence
A slow ballad, we start with a buildup to a great mixture of voices and some light drums, before the song welcomes in a chant of "Whoa...oh, oh, oh!" with some fantastic electronic background noises. More brilliance.

Havoc B
As you can guess, the sequel to Havoc A. But the sequel never tends to be as good as the first. As is the case here. Oh and "the lions are at the door" again. This ends with what sounds like a protest or a demonstration: "Shut down the war machines! All this killing is obscene!"

Antwerpen
The free download. It's heavy and powerful, particularly at about a minute in, when the song gives way to a mix of electronics and guitar. Good stuff.

The Jester
Once you get past the boring, light-hearted music at the front, you get some screaming in Enter Shikari fashion, before the song wanders off and goes very electronic, which will have keep the crowds happy live. Then we get the light-hearted music again at the end. Odd combination.

Halcyon
Just a little jingly skit to prelude Hectic.

Hectic
Fantastic. After the powerful intro, we get some piano, then the song goes into its chorus, before launching in some fantastic sounds that Enter Shikari seem to be producing on this album.

Fanfare For The Conscious Man
Not a great way to end the album. I'm not very keen on this one either. It's just a load of political arguments with some music in the background. But when it gets going, it gets going really well. It makes you want to sing along when the lyrics "We'll be together against this..." come in.

In general, different and not as good as Take To The Skies, but still shows that Enter Shikari are still great.

For the record, their previous albums: Take To The Skies (9/10)

A New Bloc Party Single

Bloc Party will release a new non-album single on 10th August, entitled One More Chance.

The track was recorded in April.

It will be played on Zane Lowe's Radio 1 show on Thursday. (18th June)

The Cribs - Album Name And Tracklist

The band's fourth album will be called Ignore The Ignorant. It will be released on the 7th September, and will be preceded by the single Cheat On Me on the 31st August.

The track list is as follows:
01. We Were Aborted
02. Cheat On Me
03. We Share The Same Skies
04. The City Of Bugs
05. Hari Kari
06. Last Year's Snow
07. Emasculate Me
08. Ignore The Ignorant
09. Save Your Secrets
10. Nothing
11. Victim Of Mass Production
12. Stick To Yr Guns

OneRepublic Album Title

Apparently, the band's second album will be called "Today" and will feature songs such as "All The Right Moves", "The Other Side" and "Missing Persons 1 & 2"

Some More News

Klaxons have renamed previously announced song "Valley of the Calm Trees" to "The Parhelion." They have also announced a new song: "Marble Fields And The Hydrolight Head Of Delusion." The re-recorded album is intended to be released in autumn.

The Twang say the artwork for their second album, Jewellery Quarter, has been finalised.

Hadouken! have announced a new song will be released in July, and their album has been finished.

Klaxons Song Titles

Two new ones for their second album:
Echoes
Venus

To go along with:
Valley Of The Calm Trees
Moonhead
In Silver Forest
Imaginary Pleasures

4 New Editors Song Titles

Bricks And Mortar
The Big Exit
Eat Raw Meat = Blood Drool
Papillon

As disturbing as it sounds, I love the title "Eat Raw Meat = Blood Drool."

Anyway, these were debuted at the Caribana festival in Switzerland.
It is likely they will all end up on the album.

Some Odd Editors Info

First, an incredulous statement: There is no guitar on the third album? THERE IS NO GUITAR ON THE THIRD ALBUM? You must be kidding me. Oh well, hopefully it will sound great...

Anyway, some song names: Bird Of Prey, In This Light And On This Evening, No Sound But The Wind, This House Is Full Of Noise.

First Single From New TSU Album?

It is unconfirmed, but there are rumours that Coming To Save You will be the first single, released on 21st September. If this is true, the album will most likely follow a week or two afterwards.

Title For Arctic Monkeys' New Album

Their third album will be called:

Humbug.

Slightly disappointing to me, considering they had two fantastic album titles previously (Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not & Favourite Worst Nightmare)

Oh well, the album itself should be good.

Album Review: Kasabian - West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum

Album: West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum
Artist: Kasabian
Singles: Vlad The Impaler (free download), Fire

It's finally here! After what seems like forever, the new album by Kasabian has finally seen the light of day. And it doesn't disappoint. So, we begin with...

Underdog
A brilliant opener to the album, with a great riff throughout. Electric and powerful, this sums up the brilliance of this album. In my opinion, the best of the album. And possibly, the best of Kasabian.

Where Did All The Love Go?
A quick segue from the end of Underdog leads into another great song. It's immediately catchy, with a sing-along chorus that will sound fantastic live. Then it breaks down into some psychedelic solo, which makes the song damn near perfect for me.

Swarfiga
Oh dear. I cannot see the point of this song, and it doesn't sound great either. Two minutes of pointless spooky sounding nonsense. Oh well, at least it's the only bad song on the album. Back to the good ones, starting with...

Fast Fuse
A reworked version, by the sounds of it. I never particularly liked the heavy guitar intro, but once we're past that, we're into Kasabian at their most fantastic. Very good.

Take Aim
A slow intro gives way to a dark guitar sound with some deep vocals, before that gives in to a Spanish-sounding song with a powerful, catchy drumbeat, with an awesome chorus.

Thick As Thieves
A bouncy track, reworked from the 2007 EP. It is one of the catchiest on the album, with another great chorus: "Hey ho, where did it go?" Fantastic. This and the last two tracks almost make up for the horrors of Swarfiga. Almost.

West Ryder Silver Bullet
A duet with Rosario Dawson is what this was labelled as. However, she's more a backing singer here than anything else. A good backing singer, mind you. Anyway, a really weird spoken word intro gives way to a slow, deep song, with some fantastic guitar, leading into a powerful and beautiful singing part, followed by a psychedelic yet awesome breakdown, before starting again and repeating the fantastic formula. Then comes some really powerful drums that show this song off in style.

Vlad The Impaler
I admit this song has grown on me a lot. I gave it 6/10 in the first review. It's much more 8 or 9 now. Nevertheless, it sounds completely out of place on the album. Oh well, it's not as bad as Swarfiga. (You may have noticed, I really don't like that song.) Anyway, great song, but out of place on this album.

Ladies And Gentlemen (Roll The Dice)
A slow yet brilliant song, although there are no defining qualities of it I can really talk about. I'll leave that to professional reviewers.

Secret Alphabets
A psychedelic intro leads us into an electric-sounding piece with a catchy little guitar riff heard in certain parts. But again, nothing absolutely jaw-dropping. Just good.

Fire
Odd, seeing the first proper single at second-to-last on the album. Like Vlad The Impaler, it has grown on me since I reviewed it last (7/10) but I still think it sounds so much better live. Oh well, it bounces along as a nice slow track before bursting into its chorus where the "I'm on fire" bits prevent us from hearing what Tom Meighan is singing in the background. Oh well, it's good.

Happiness
A beautiful, slow closer to the album. After hearing this song, the album seems as though it has been made complete perfectly. Just ignore Swarfiga (Had to get one more "don't like Swarfiga" reference in) and you have a perfect Kasabian album.

In general, a fantastic Kasabian album. Definitely their best. Blame Swarfiga for the loss of one point here.

For the record, their previous albums: Kasabian (8/10), Empire (8/10)

Listen To Enter Shikari's New Album

You can hear it right here.

First impressions: awesome. Not as good as Take To The Skies, though.

The Cribs - Song Titles For Album 4

The band's fourth, currently untitled album will feature 12 tracks, including:

Last Year's Snow
Cheat On Me
Serve Your Secrets
Stick To Your Guns
Ignore The Ignorant
We Were Aborted
We Share The Same Skies

Arctic Monkeys: Album Tracklisting

Here is the tracklisting for Arctic Monkeys' third album.

01. My Propeller
02. Crying Lightning
03. Dangerous Animals
04. Secret Door
05. Potion Approaching
06. Fire And The Thud
07. Cornerstone
08. Dance Little Liar
09. Pretty Visitors
10. The Jeweller's Hands

The album will be out August 24th, just four days before they headline Leeds and Reading festivals.

The first single will most likely be either Secret Door or Cornerstone, but that could be changed as it has not been finalised.

Editors' Third Album Title

Editors have announced their third album will be called In This Light & On This Evening. Their preview video shown two months ago had the initials ITL&OTE at the end of it.

The album is set to come out in September.