Gym Class Heroes juvenile

Originally published by the Saturday Star, 23 June 2007
Gym Class Heroes
As Cruel As School Children
2/5
I started out really enjoying this album. It’s predominantly a hip-hop album that includes elements of indie-rock, R&B and funk, and it features no gangster references, which makes for refreshing listening at first. This is the second album from American act Gym Class Heroes and it includes the mainstream radio hit jingle Cupid’s Chokehold. The album generally deals with youthful themes, with a “positive” sub-text throughout. At first listen it’s fun, witty, and charming, but unfortunately what appeals at first, begins to grate after a few listens. To highlight an example, track three, titled 3rd period: New Friend Request tackles issues surrounding online romance, specifically MySpace relationships, and while it’s humorous at first, it becomes gimmicky after a few repeats. Many tracks suffer the same consequence, so though this band might flirt with pseudo depth in their take on addressing adolescent issues, I find they might not carry enough credibility to make the necessary positive impression on young minds.

Loaded with hits

Originally published by the Saturday Star, 23 June 2007
Various Artists
Lock and Load III
3/5
The Lock and Load series promotes a harder, edgier type of mainstream rock available today. Though the release caters to audiences who probably enjoy a harder flavour of rock, it is interesting to note how many of the artists featured enjoy commercial success. The release includes tracks from big names such as, among others, Fall Out Boy, who are due to tour South Africa soon, Nickelback, P.O.D, System of a Down, Placebo and the Goo Goo Dolls. However, it also incorporates lesser known, yet equally enjoyable, acts such as Billy Talent and Hawthorne Heights. Another interesting element to this release is that it includes two tracks from each of the power groups that emerged from the Blink 182 separation. Former Blink 182 bassist Mark Hoppus and drummer Travis Barker’s +44 offering is available to compare directly with guitarist Tom Delonge’s Angels and Airwaves on one disc. All in all, this a good value release.

They came from another planet

Originally published in the Saturday Star, 13 June 2007
Yourcodenameis:milo
They Came From the Sun
1/5
They Came From the Sun is the second official album from the British rock act Yourcodenameis:milo. It’s an attempt at being more radio-friendly than their debut release, which received quite a bit of criticism for being too complex. The band have strayed away from those complexities weaving their sound across a tapestry of different rock nuances. There are traces of Brit-pop, indie-rock and grunge to more hardcore guitar thrashing passages interspersed throughout this album. Unfortunately, the combination doesn’t help to provide this album with anything that would help classify it as being not boring. From their debut to this, Yourcodenameis:milo has traversed from one end of the spectrum to the other. Songs are long and repetitive, and lyrics are quite hackneyed at times. This production is quite professional, but I just don’t foresee it creating much of a storm locally.

Soulsavers saving soul

Originally published in the Saturday Star, 6 June 2007
Soulsavers
It’s Not How Far You Fall, It’s The Way You Land
3/5
It’s not often that you come across an electronic album that carries with it a lot of soul. Production and remix team Rich Machin and Ian Glover, Soulsavers, have collaborated their talents with tortured soul and former lead vocalist of the grunge act Screaming Trees, Mark Lanegan, to release an album that offers very much towards what some might call redemption. This is the second release from Soulsavers and the collaboration offers great depth to a genre of music that has often been stereotyped as shallow. Grizzly-voiced Lanegan has co-written five of the tracks on this release, diversifying the British duo’s sound to include rock, country, hip-hop, soul and gospel. The compositions are excellent. The album also includes a superb cover of the Rolling Stones’ No Expectations and another by Neil Young, Through My Sails. This is not a party album. It can be more likened to Portishead or Death By Vegas style electronica, to be enjoyed when feeling slightly more introspective.

Star rating

The Saturday Star has asked me to now include a star rating, out of five, to my reviews. On this blog I’ll indicate them as a 1/5 up to a 5/5, with 1/5 being ‘avoid at all costs’ and 5/5 being ‘go out there and buy this album now because your life is not complete without it’. If in future you wish to see CD reviews that fall within a particular category, you can simply run a search on 1/5 or 2/5 or 3/5 etc. This will only be applicable to reviews published from now onwards.

Miss Potter score enchants

Originally published in the Saturday Star, 28 April 2007
Miss Potter
Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Soundtracks have a unique musical quality to them, especially one such as this which is actually a scored accompaniment to the film. A soundtrack adds to the storytelling ability of a film by, among others, perhaps implying certain undercurrents of emotions that are not obvious to the eye or accentuating a whimsical quality to a comedic moment. Listening to a soundtrack without the pictorial elements allows the imagination to envision its own accompaniment, which is where this soundtrack works well. As a stand-alone piece of work, the soundtrack is very emotive, and typical of what might be associated to Beatrix Potter’s enchanting mind and world of characters, that it allows you to contextualise and visualise the backdrop which may have inspired them. Musically, it’s mostly a classical score set in the Victorian era, as is the film. Katie Melua’s performance of When You Taught Me to Dance is included in this package.

Blink of BC Camplight

Originally published by the Saturday Star, 28 April 2007
BC Camplight
Blink of a Nihilist
BC Camplight is a 25-year-old singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist whose life has been a mixture of highs and lows, which includes a spell of mental illness. This might help us understand the thoughts behind the release of his second album, Blink of a Nihilist. Anchored on pretty pop songs, BC Camplight recounts the tales of people suffering severe psychological pain, which he himself researched by talking to people in a New Jersey jail and various mental hospitals. BC Camplight has admitted to being a fan of Burt Bacharach and Brian Wilson and listening to his music you would think it to be harmless, yet there is a macabre twist beneath the surface of its sugary exterior. Lyrics such as ‘That sucker had little girls on their knees in alleys with no lights’ are punctuated by shoo-bee-dos and do-wops. It makes for an interesting comment on modern society, but it’s difficult to enjoy the syrupy melodies without feeling creeped-out.

Lisa Gerrard retrospective

Originally published in the Saturday Star, 28 April 2007
Lisa Gerrard
Lisa Gerrard
Lisa Gerrard is a founding member of the group Dead Can Dance and is also acknowledged and heralded by the industry through Grammy, Oscar and Golden Globe nominations as a soundtrack composer. In addition to her work with Dead Can Dance and her solo material, Gerrard has composed and performed, vocally and instrumentally, music for the movies Gladiator, The Insider, Ali and Whale Rider. This album is a career-spanning retrospective of her 15-year involvement in an art form she so giftedly contributes to. Selected by Gerrard herself, it highlights releases from her period with Dead Can Dance, her solo material and some soundtrack contributions. Gerrard’s music is of a meditative nature, more inclined to lead the listener on an introspective journey rather than entertain. Her talents are difficult to classify as they would appeal to connoisseurs of classical, new age, or Goth-opera, but it is worthy to note though as this release is of exceptionally high quality.