Wednesday 20 January 2010

Cliffy Byro.. or... whatever.

Named as the Best British Band of 2009 by many (and who's to argue) was the astonishing Cliffy Byro.. Oh, wait, no sorry, Biffy Clyro. (We can forgive the name for the talent)


Mix the soaring climaxes of Kings Of Leon with the melodic, but yet incredibly gritty rock riffs and choruses of Foo Fighters, and make them Scottish.

Voila.

Simon Neil, Ben Johnston and James Johnston, (Lead, Drums and Bass respectively) were united at the age of 12 by their love of grunge, metal, punk and Pearl Jam's "Black" from the 1991 album Ten (the defining underground record apart from Nirvana's Nevermind) and formed a band as a result. Simple enough.

But, as the best band story often goes, this wasn't an overnight success. They realeased their debut single in 1999. A decade ago.


Despite everything you immediately assume, Biffy Clyro are not some kind of puritan Rock/Metal/Hardcore band.


They embrace the Pop. (You see the resemblance to the Foo's?)



The way they mix the kick-ass riffs with some nice melodies made the long path to the mainstream charts just a little bit shorter.


They kicked out the 8-minute tracks with some shorter, straighter songs complete with some softer songs(Many of Horrors, for instance, simplistic but beautiful) and released the album Only Revolutions. Yes, there are the few people, unsurprisingly that say Biffy have Changed "in a bad way". But, really, if they hadn't changed their sound just a little bit they might not have gained the popularity they now indeed have. Because sometimes change is good, and not everyone wants to listen to 8-minute songs...



Whether its the incredibly sweet, piano power of "Mountains" or the slightly strange "Pause It and Turn It Up" (No, it isn't just you, the song IS 25 minutes long. FACT), There is something there worth listening to, because secretly, everyone likes a good pop melody, whether or not it is diguised by the "Rock Star" cover.



Embrace the pop, people.



Peace, Love, Empathy.

Album Highlights: That Golden Rule, Cloud Of Stink, Many of Horror

Monday 18 January 2010

Saturday 16 January 2010

Sound of 2010. Inspiring.


As we are getting more and more into the year (already), I thought it's the time when I should probably should make a list/deduction on the music that's going to happen in this year. "Happen" meaning room you should make in your music collection for...

Note: This post may be a tad influenced by my own musical tastes and Q Magazine's " The 10 Best New Acts" [...]

Enjoy.



1) TIFFANY PAGE




Guitar-laden, growling, 21st century Courtney Love. She's fierce.


Check Out song "Walk Away Slow" and Cover of Muse's "Supermassive Black Hole" on MySpace.




2) THE DRUMS




Post-Punk New-Yorkers on a Indie Path to success.


Described as : ""One of the best indie pop debuts of the year" - Rolling Stone and "New York's official Coolest New Band... the most contagiously energetic NYC band of the past 10 years." -- NME. Check out song "Let's Go Surfing"




3) THE SOFT PACK



Minimalistic Indie and Californian surf guitar band with a habit to sound like The Strokes.


Check out: "Answer to yourself" .Featured on "The Ten Best New Acts of 2010" in Q.
Debut Album out in February.



4) I BLAME COCO



Sting's Daughter. Need I Say More? Yes.
ska/pop/electro-punk band. Cool Attitude. Sex-Pistols inspired at the age of four.
Debut Single from the band: "Caesar" released on 20 January.
"Forget my dad, you need to hear my band."

Listen to their music. And be surprised. Cause this is 2010 now, y'know...

Peace, Love, Empathy.

Friday 8 January 2010

This is what Pop Theory does to you..

Well here we go. I'm writing a blog. This may become quite tedious, but the aim of this blog is to update my whole audience with the exciting wonders, and sometimes scary, of the music pop/rock world.

As a budding young music journalist, I religiously study Q Magazine monthly and increase my pop-music knowledge with all within. I write essays on musical acts that have changed the world of pop music and at the moment, amd have written about 10 so far as part of my pop theory course with London College of Music.

I could even start a music journalism career right here if so be it, but that's highly unlikely.

Why yes, its a broad subject. But this is just a bit of fun, you see?

I will start a new decade with a new blog full of stuff that may or may not interest you, considering how high your 'digestion' for this sort of stuff is.

So, yeah. Thanks. Here goes.

Ah. I almost forgot.

My title? It may or may not have anything to do with the content of my blog posts, but we shall see.

I'll keep you guessing.




....

I couldn't end without posting a picture of one of my favourite guys, and 'the nicest guy in rock', could I?


Peace, love, empathy.