New Song From Kasabian!

The first single from Kasabian's new album West Rider Pauper Lunatic Asylum will be released on 31st March as a free download for four days. It's called Vlad The Impaler, and the video features Noel Fielding of Mighty Boosh fame. Get it while you can!

Fire, the first physical single from the album, will be released one week before the album, on 1st June.

Album Review: Pet Shop Boys - Yes

Album: Yes
Artist: Pet Shop Boys
Singles: Love Etc, All Over The World

Back for a tenth album. Who'd have thought it?
This album is absolutely wonderful. After the slow decline down to Release (2002), Fundamental was good, but this just goes beyond expectations, back to the wonders of Behaviour and Very, mixing sounds of both, while employing a much more modern sound. Yet they never seem to change their sound, which makes this duo so special.

Love Etc
The first single. It's a great song, extremely bouncy and catchy, with the chants "Don't have to be..." making this sound epic. Moreover, there are plenty of songs that are better than this on the album, although this one seemed suited to the job of first single.

All Over The World
Tchaikovsky meets Pet Shop Boys? I'd never have thought it possible. But they did it, fantastically. Well-deserved second single. Very catchy, great beat.

Beautiful People
Wow. Two great songs, but now we go down a bit in quality. But I emphasise a bit. This album is wonderful, not a bad song on it. But for all this song's great sound, you can't help but feel Neil Tennant was maybe scraping the bottom of the barrel for the chorus lyrics. But that doesn't matter one little bit. Great song.

Did You See Me Coming?
This sounds like a "Very" song with its very own "Yes" makeover. It is great as well, with a memorable chorus and greatness all around. It even has guitar!

Vulnerable
Quite repetitive, it doesn't change much. But it makes five minutes fly by. It is truly amazing how the duo can still surprise me after ten albums. Although to be fair, I only got into them after Nightlife, and to be fair, that and Release were the worst of their albums. Not bad at all, just not their finest hour.

More Than A Dream
A retro-sounding song that sounds like Pet Shop Boys working at their best. The natural high-pitch of Tennant's voice played against his deeper voice ("Live it" and "It's the story of our lives..." played at the same time) is good, and the hands-in-the-air chorus (described as this in a different review, and I thought it described perfectly what I thought)

Building A Wall
Wow. Odd. But excellent. Now we're getting into the greatest part of this album. So, odd parts include Chris and Neil alternating: Protection! Prevention! Detection! Detention! at two parts in the song, and also the weird spoken part where Neil goes on about sand in sandwiches... wait, what? Yes, I did just say that. But who cares? It's wonderful.

King Of Rome
The first truly beautiful song on this album. Five and a half minutes of slow, downbeat, brilliant music. And when the lines "Baby, call me..." just gets to you. It's wonderful.

Pandemonium
In which the greatness goes into overdrive. The best song on the album. A heavy, quick beat, with an opening that sounds a bit like the Doctor Who theme tune, with trumpets, and then dives straight into the epicness of this song. I'm going to use the phrase "hands-in-the-air-chorus" again. It really makes you want to sing along. Or clap along. Or both.

The Way It Used To Be
The second best song on the album. A five minute epic, which just narrates a love long lost, and doesn't pause for a chorus or anything. It gives you goosebumps (good ones), particularly if you're into your music. Neil's vocals soar over this beautiful melody.

Legacy
Ah. Well... I like this song, and understand why it was a last track, but after the greatness of Building A Wall through to The Way It Used To Be, it just doesn't seem to work. Don't get me wrong, it's good, but its placement isn't great, it drags on for a bit, and has a weird fairground sound towards the end where Neil sings in French. Interesting. Good song, but my least favourite.

So, generally, fantastic. Starts off great, goes down into the good tracks and builds up into four songs of sheer brilliance - true Pet Shop Boys - and then, well... I've ranted about Legacy - which I think I like enough to give the album an overall score of:

For the record, their previous albums (this could take a while!): Please (6/10), Actually (9/10), Introspective (5/10), Behaviour (9/10), Very (9/10), Bilingual (8/10), Nightlife (7/10), Release (7/10), Fundamental (10/10) - and if Battleship Potemkin counted: (2/10)

Artwork For The People

This is the artwork for Music For The People, the album by The Enemy, out 27th April. It will be preceded by No Time For Tears. (13th April)

Wordplay

Random wordplay thing I found. Quite clever.

If you take all ten Pet Shop Boys albums (not including the "Disco" series, greatest hits, Battleship Potemkin, etc) you can make this:

Fundamental bilingual release: very introspective nightlife behaviour, actually. Yes please!

For those that are interested:
Please - 1986
Actually - 1987
Introspective - 1988
Behaviour - 1990
Very - 1993
Bilingual - 1996
Nightlife - 1999
Release - 2002
Fundamental - 2006
Yes - 2009

Can YOU See The Light?

The Hours' new album is called "See The Light" and will be released on the 20th April.
Tracklist:
1. Big Black Hole
2. These Days
3. Come On
4. Never See You Again
5. Car Crash
6. Think Again
7. Love Is An Action
8. Cash Cow
9. Wall Of Sound
10. See The Light

Hear opening single Big Black Hole here.

Intimacy Remixed

Bloc Party have announced a remix album to complement their third album, Intimacy. This will be released on 11th May. Tracklist is:

01. Ares – Villains Remix
02. Mercury – Herve is in Disarray Remix
03. Halo – We Have Band Dub
04. Biko – Mogwai Remix
05. Trojan Horse – John B Remix
06. Signs – Armand Van Helden Remix
07. One Month Off – Filthy Dukes Remix
08. Zephyrus – Phase One Remix
09. Talons – Phones RIP Remix
10. Better Than Heaven – No Age Remix
11. Ion Square – Banjo or Freakout Remix
12. Letter To My Son – Gold Panda Remix
13. Your Visits Are Getting Shorter – DoubleD Remix

The Armand Van Helden remix, which will precede the album, can be heard here.
WARNING: This video may not be suitable for minors.

Music For The People gets tracklisting

The Enemy's new album has a track list!

01. Elephant Song
02. No Time For Tears
03. 51st State
04. Sing When You're In Love
05. Last Goodbye
06. Nation Of Checkout Girls
07. Be Somebody
08. Don't Break The Red Tape
09. Keep Losing
10. Silver Spoon

The album is due out on the 27th April, with the preceding single being No Time For Tears, due out on the 13th of the same month. (It's a very good song.)

Kasabian Name New Album

Kasabian's new album will be called West Rider Pauper Lunatic Asylum, and will be released on June 8th.
The opening single will be "Vlad The Impailer", and the opener on the album will be "Underdog."

Yes, lyrics.

I have heard 30-second previews of each song, and here are the lyrics I heard for each of the 11 tracks. If you're interested.

Love Etc
You can probably hear it yourself here.

All Over The World
I hear it all around me everyday
In the music that you play
This is a song
About boys and girls
You hear it
Playing all over the world

Beautiful People
Give like beautiful people
With my beautiful people around
I wanna live like beautiful people
Give like beautiful people
With my beautiful people around

Did You See Me Coming?
Don't have to be a high flyer to catch your slot
The night we met was cold and wet
I needed a drink or two
I saw you standing there, and I knew
I'd like to be loved by you
Did you see me coming?
Was I that obvious?

Vulnerable
... hurt you
I know the assumption is
That I'm tough with who I am
Well, that's enough
Even with friends I have to compete
And try being mean
When we walk down the street
It's not easy, by the by
Just surviving...

More Than A Dream
...could be better news
We can share
Something's coming soon
I hear it everywhere
(Live it) It's the story of our lives
(Don't give it) It's the way we've always been
(Live it) Though the mountains may divide

Building A Wall
More to keep me in
I'm building a wall, a fine wall
Not so much to keep you out
More to keep me in
Back there, on a bomb site
We were spies among the ruins
Such precocious barbarians...

King Of Rome
Inside out, I can tell the tale
Across the sky, the change of time
Last night I...

Pandemonium
I love you really
Though I know no one believes me
There's chaos everytime we meet
Oh no, what have you gone and done?
You're creating pandemonium
That song you sing means everything to me
I'm living in ecstasy
The stars and the sun, dance to your drum
And now - it's pandemonium.

The Way It Used To Be
What is left of love?
Tell me, who will even care?
So much time has passed
I still meet you anywhere
Water under bridge, evening after day
What is left of love?...

Legacy
.. high speed trains take us away
North or south, and back the same day
And you, you get over it, you do, you get over it...

Single Review: The Enemy - No Time For Tears

Title: No Time For Tears
Artist: The Enemy
Album: Music For The People

Again, a song I heard on the radio, but is not due out until 13th April.
You can hear it on Xfm here.

It sounds epic, built for Glastonbury or Leedsfest, or generally live shows. And the chorus of "We're gonna get out the city, we're gonna get out the way, we've got cash in the kitty..." makes it sound even more epic. Four and a half minutes of the Enemy at their peak.

SCORE: 9/10