Album Review: The Twang - Jewellery Quarter

Album: Jewellery Quarter
Artist: The Twang
Singles: Another Bus (free download), Barney Rubble

The Twang's first album, Love It When I Feel Like This, was good, but far from perfect. Catchy songs such as Either Way and Two Lovers were standout tracks, but there were bad songs such as The Neighbour and Loosely Dancing. Here, unfortunately, is pretty much the same story. But that is not to say the band have completely flunked their second album.

Took The Fun
Maracas launch the second album. It's less than epic, but this first song is catchy enough, with a good piano accompaniment. It makes you want to sing along with the "la-la-la-la-lo..." bit.

Barney Rubble
Whilst it's not the best track on the album, it was a good choice for first single. It's catchy despite its simple guitar part, and it grows on you after a few listens.

Twit Twoo
The Twang and synths, if you asked me before I heard this, would not work. I'm glad to see I was wrong. Powerful drums join the synth opening before a soft "oooh..." joins the fray. The chorus keeps up the catchiness of the start of this album.

Put It On The Dancefloor
"Ah..." begins the song, before a good rhythm begins. They seem to like to abandon lyrics in favour of ahs and ohs etc. Never mind, it's great. This song should be a single in future.

May I Suggest
Ah, that's where the brilliant, dare I say beautiful, songs like Two Lovers from album one went. This is another great track, slower than most on this album, but wonderful nonetheless.

Encouraging Sign
A quick, catchy guitar part leads this song in. The chorus is one of the best things on this album.

Got No Interest
At this point, after six great tracks, you expect a seventh. Unfortunately, this is where the album begins to sag a bit. This one's not very memorable.

Back Where We Started
This one is another bad one. The chorus isn't as catchy as others on the album, and they've copied their Either Way trick of talking in their song. Difference is, on Either Way, it worked.

Answer My Call
And now, my least favourite. An attempt to slowly build up to a great ending fails. You can hear the build up, but the song seems too much like filler on this album. It drags on for too long as well. At least the previous tracks knew to stop before four minutes.

Live The Life
Placing the worst track before the best track (this one) just makes this even better. Another simple yet great guitar part opens this song, before some more great drums and a brooding bassline. These all lead up to the greatest chorus of the album: "So live the life you love, and your life will love you..." Immensely catchy.

Williamsburg
I don't know what to make of this track. It sounds good when I'm listening to it, but afterwards I don't feel as though it was good. It has grown on me a bit, though, but it's certainly not the best.

Another Bus
Well, at least after a generally bad second half (save for Live The Life) the band close with another beautiful ending, released as a free download in May. A suitable closer.

Well, in general, this is about as good as their debut. Two differences, though; firstly, on Love It When I Feel Like This, the bad tracks were spread out (The Neighbour at #3, Loosely Dancing at #7 and Got Me Sussed at #10) whereas here they're all next to each other, which can take away some of the greatness built up in the first half.
Secondly, there is not much that you want to play over and over again (for me, only Barney Rubble and Live The Life) whereas their debut had me listening to Ice Cream Sundae, Either Way, Two Lovers and Cloudy Room over and over. Still, it's not better than their debut but not worse. So I'll give it the same score.

I'm assuming you can guess I gave their debut 7/10 as well.

A New Single From Muse

Uprising, the first single and opening track from Muse's upcoming fifth album, The Resistance, will get its first play on Zane Lowe's Radio 1 show on August 3.

The single is out 7th September, and the album is out the following week.

OneRepublic News

The band's second album, rumoured to be called Today, will be released around September or October. It will feature 9 or 10 songs, possibly including the following five songs:

• All The Right Moves
• The Other Side
• Missing Persons 1 & 2
• Today
• Secrets

First Single From Editors Album

The first single from Editors' third album, In This Light And On This Evening, has been confirmed to be Papillon.

Biffy Clyro - Fifth Album

Biffy Clyro's fifth album, "Only Revolutions", will be released 26th October. It will be preceded by the single "That Golden Rule".

Listen To The Twang's New Album

From Monday, we7.com will be streaming Jewellery Quarter in full, a week before release.

Arctic Monkeys Web Transmission

On the 30th July at 21:00 (GMT) the band will play a live set of songs from their new album in a broadcasted event through their website. The event will be braodcasted from the Chapel Studios in London.

In This Light And On This Evening Tracklisting

Editors' third album, In This Light And On This Evening, will be released on 12th October. Here is the tracklisting:

01. In This Light And On This Evening
02. Bricks And Mortar
03. Papillon
04. You Don’t Know Love
05. The Big Exit
06. The Boxer
07. Like Treasure
08. Eat Raw Meat = Blood Drool
09. Walk the Fleet Road

And some info:

• "Papillon" is suspected to be the first single.
• "Papillon", "Bricks And Mortar", "Eat Raw Meat = Blood Drool", and "The Big Exit" have been played at recent Editors gigs.
• "Walk The Fleet Road" may be older song "No Sound But The Wind" but renamed. The older version has been played live. EDIT: This is wrong.
• "Like Treasure" has been played to NME.
• Since there are only nine tracks, the songs may be longer than normal. EDIT: All tracks bar the final track are over four minutes. The longest is Bricks and Mortar at six minutes.

Ignore The Ignorant Artwork

The standard edition will look like this:

And the limited edition will look like this:

The album is out 7th September.

Single Review: Friendly Fires - Kiss Of Life

Single: Kiss Of Life
Artist: Friendly Fires

Whilst the crazy drums and Brazilian theme the band have taken for this one-off single are quite catchy, it is nothing absolutely outstanding. It is not bad, but I just find it hard to get into, and it hasn't grown on me.

5/10

It Is With Great Sadness...

...that I announce Editors' third album, In This Light And On This Evening, will be released three weeks later than expected. It is now due out on 12th October.

Jewellery Quarter Previews

You can hear 30 seconds of all Jewellery Quarter tracks on iTunes now.
The album will be released on August 3.

Opening Track From Jewellery Quarter

The Twang have released the first song from Jewellery Quarter onto their their MySpace page. It is called "Took The Fun". It's quite catchy - their second album's set to be great.

And what's more... there'll be new tracks each Monday until the release of the album on 3rd August. This means two new songs on the 20th and the 27th.

Little Man Tate Split

Little Man Tate have announced they will split up. The band had two albums, About What You Know and Nothing Worth Having Comes Easy.

New Friendly Fires Song On Radio

Tune in to Zane Lowe's Radio 1 show tomorrow at about 19:30 to hear "Kiss Of Life", a new single from Friendly Fires.

Let The Countdown Begin

Editors have put two countdowns on their official website. One seems to be for Wednesday 15th July, at 12:30 (if my maths is correct). I am assuming this will be a single announcement / first play, or might be something as simple (yet oddly exciting) as the album artwork or tracklisting.
Who knows, there might even be a free download. (Fingers crossed)

The other countdown is for 12th October, at midnight. Unfortunately, I think this means the album has been pushed pack three weeks. But it could mean that's when the single's set to drop. But it's more likely to be the album's date changing.

Oh well, I'm looking forward to Wednesday.

Single Review: The Cribs - Cheat On Me

Single: Cheat On Me
Artist: The Cribs
Album: Ignore The Ignorant

It's good to have the Cribs back, particularly when they have a new member, and that member was one of The Smiths. Johnny Marr is making his presence known with his great guitar work, and Ryan Jarman's voice rules the song as always, and the sheer power of his voice when he sings "cheat on me, cheat on me" sounds great.

7/10

Single Review: Biffy Clyro - That Golden Rule

Single: That Golden Rule
Artist: Biffy Clyro

Wow. From the heavy start that is incredibly catchy to the insane mix of guitar and strings at the end, this song is amazing. The vocals are catchy, as is the tune in general. Will definitely be brilliant live. Having only discovered Biffy Clyro from the Puzzle era (and loving it, by the way), I can't comment on how this compares to any of their other work, but ultimately it sounds as good as anything on Puzzle (and even better). Good expectations for the album.

9/10

Free Cribs Track

You can download "We Were Aborted", the first track from the Cribs' fourth album (Ignore The Ignorant) from the band's official website.

Single Review: Arctic Monkeys - Crying Lightning

Single: Crying Lightning
Artist: Arctic Monkeys
Album: Humbug

At first listen, it sounds a bit too different from typical Arctic Monkeys songs to be instantly likeable, but after three or four listens, you begin to truly appreciate this song. The lyrics are quite odd, with a first verse about Pic 'n' Mix, gobstoppers and strawberry lace, but the chorus however ("Your pastimes consisted of the strange, and twisted and deranged, and I hate that little game you had called crying lightning") is for some reason instantly memorable, and makes you want to sing along. In general, it's not the typical Arctic Monkeys single I told myself this would be, but, as a new direction for the band, it is fantastic nonetheless.

8/10

First Plays

These will be played at roughly 19:30 this week on Zane Lowe's Radio 1 show.

Monday 6th - Arctic Monkeys - Crying Lightning
Wednesday 8th - Biffy Clyro - That Golden Rule
Thursday 9th - The Cribs - Cheat On Me

New OneRepublic Single For Summer

OneRepublic are hoping to get a single out this summer to precede their upcoming sophomore album, rumoured to be called Today, to be released in autumn.

The Resistance Tracklisting

1. Uprising
2. Resistance
3. Undisclosed Desires
4. United States of Eurasia / Collateral Damage
5. Guiding Light
6. Unnatural Selection
7. MK Ultra
8. I Belong To You / Mon Coeur S'Ouvre A Ta Voix
9. Exogenesis Symphony: Part I: Overture
10. Exogenesis Symphony: Part II: Cross Pollination
11. Exogenesis Symphony: Part III: Redemption

Lots Of One Night Only Song Titles

For their second album, which should be out late 2009 or early 2010.

A Little Scare
I See People
Rocky Road
Out Go The Lights
Strangled With My Love
Tired Of Waiting Around
A Thousand Dreams
Marble Arch Man
Shattered In The Headlights
Touch The Sky
Katie
My Pride

These add on to originally known songs:
Tonight
Day Dream
Live It Up
Intention
This Is A Hurricane

Jewellery Quarter Info

The Twang's second album has indeed been pushed back to a new release date of 3rd August. It will be preceded by Barney Rubble on the 27th July.

But now, the good news. I have the tracklisting and the artwork...



TRACKLISTING
01. Took The Fun
02. Barney Rubble
03. Twit Twoo
04. Put It On The Dancefloor
05. May I Suggest
06. Encouraging Sign
07. Got No Interest
08. Back Where We Started
09. Answer My Call
10. Live The Life
11. Williamsburg
12. Another Bus

ARTWORK

If You Really Can't Wait That Long...

You can hear a thirty seconds preview of Crying Lightning by Arctic Monkeys here. It sounds good.

If you can wait, the single is out 17th August, but will receive its first airplay on 6th July, and be released as a digital download at around midnight on the same day.