Fight Like Apes: Recession Victims?

Hey peeps,

We've finally gotten that review out of the way so it's time to turn our attention towards the future. And by that, i refer to a band that should have released their debut album long, long ago: Fight Like Apes.

From what i remember about a year back, they're really good live and they had that one killer song that i can't think of. But unfortunately for them, their album is going cheap :( They're going to be living on the street (most musicians do this, but they'll be ushered onto a particularly bad one. With traffic perhaps) by the look of things because their debut is going for only €11.99.

€11.99 you say? ZOMG! What a bargain! I would totally pay that if it weren't for the pesky recession. I teh heartZ teh fight like apes!!!1!1!!!

The album managed to beat out Mercury Rev, Jenny Lewis and Seasick Steve (that extortionist wants €21.99 for his :O what an asshole). The new TV on the Radio cost €5 more also, but that had a special 'its TV on the f'n Radio' purchase clause.

While buying lots of consumer goods would be an excellent way to bring an end to the big R, Fight Like Apes is going to have a tough time, what with TVOTR getting everyones monies and all...

Dragonforce!! Teh Rulez??

Dragonforce, the name on everyones tongue, admittedly on some for the wrong reasons. We all know them from the internet videos of kids playing 'Through the Fire and Flames' on Guitar Hero, but does anyone know much about them?

In order to assuage any derogatory comments I decided to review their new album 'Ultra Beatdown' and decide once and for all.

I personally love a bit of power metal, something about the falsetto screams and guitars on speed that make me ecstatic. The first 30 seconds of the album were no letdown for me, and indeed the first 3 songs are fantastic. Although the highlight of the album is in the second last song, 'Inside the Winter Storm' when the solo kicks in, all of this excellence comes at a great cost.


Listening to the album the second time round I was struck by how badly laid out their songs are. Computer game like sounds are thrown into each song, for no discernable reason, and they seem to find it easier to throw stops into songs to designate each section rather than make music to link the sections. By their own admission Dragonforce have tried to take the emphasis away from the guitars and concentrate more on vocals, but this doesnt work either. The backing vocals sound almost weak and suffer from the poor layout of the rest of the 'extras.'

Overall the album was disappointing but did yield some rather interesting insights, what other band has recently had huge overhype for an album, prominently features computer game sounds and have played in my hometown?? Not only this but have carried out acts of violence towards members of the public (see below)? None other than CC. Are Dragonforce the new Crystal Castles?

Big B

New MBV material

Hey peeps,

According to The New York Times. And DrownedinSound. And NME. And Pitchfork too i suppose, My Bloody Valentine are going to be recording two new albums.






For those of you that have caught one of their recent performances, this means that there's a good chance they'll have something else to play instead of 20 minutes of feedback at the end. That or they'll never finish the albums. Probably the latter.

Rec Section Battle....

Hey peeps,


What better way to end a whatever day this is than with a Music store Recommendation Section battle (apart from absolutely everything - stop reading for your own sake).

So after browsing the rec sections of HMV on grafton st and Tower Records on Wicklow St, both shops threw up a couple of the same recs, a couple of really good recs and some downright shameful stuff. The two biggest music stores in Dublin didn't get it quite right, but they did a decent job all the same.


Come with me, won't you, as i bring you on an absolutely over-the-top look at what each had (NB: this is a rough sample. i was late for class after all).

First up: HMV

Yeah, i know. I put an example of a good one and a bad one. What a clever thing to do :)

HMV can have their album recs dropped into three categories:

1.Cool, of-the-moment albums (Metronomy, walkmen, friendly Fires) or albums that should be cool but technically aren't (Ida Maria, Fujiya & Miyagi).


2. Really, really bad albums that are there to show how cool HMV is (Fleet Foxes, thievery corporation, the new, worse,cold war kids and of course, Dragonforce)


3. Albums that bought their way into the recommendations (Chemical Brothers compilation, LL Cool J, the new Ice Cube). I love this group coz they seem so out of place.


The selection is a'ight and therefore gets 8 bronze star outta 10.


8/10


Now for Tower...














Towers Recs can be sorted into two categories on the other hand (i did the good/bad thing again!):

1. Droopy Tom Dunne endorsed alt rock (Wolf Parade, Mercury Rev, The Hold Steady)


2.Hyped to no end Irish acts (lisa Hannigan, Fight Like Apes, The Blizzards).


The one big exception to this is the new TV On The Radio. Overall, Tower's selection is pretty lame, but at least its new stuff (Crystal Castles is soooo April doncha know).

They get 6 bronze stars outta 10.

6/10


Therefore, i can safely say by two whole bronze stars that HMV recommends and shills stuff much better than Tower.


I pray nobody read all of this.

Dragonforce makes HMV Rec Section :O

Hey net homies,

On my way to college, i decided to browse HMV since i hadn't done it in so long. And what did i find in the rec section you ask?





The new Dragonforce album!!!1!

For a band i strongly dislike, they seem to have played an unusually large part in my life over the past few days. I could just blame other people, but i prefer to do it in person and not through the best music blog ever. HMV wrote up a bias, we-think-we're-the-hot-press-news-section piece on it too.



In it, they threaten us the public, saying that Dragonforce are back to give the 'Ultra Beatdown to the unsuspecting public'. Watch your backs readers :O Dragonforce are lurking...

We here at FTCZ (i changed it, i know) will be posting that long promised Dragonforce review soon. I'm sure we'll be back to posting musings on proper music soon too.

Amanda Palmer (Dresdon Dolls girl) album

This album is super good, and leagues better than most of the Dresdon Doll stuff. It's best heard while eating wedges. As strange as that statement is, you'll get so much more out of it (namely wedges).

C.Y.O.A!!!

Peeps!


We interrupt our recent fetish-like interest in Dragonforce to inform you that the band that travel around the world in ice cream vans and who released EP of the year, HeartsRevolution, are coming to Dublin!




We here at FTC assumed the band were simply too poor to ever come here. But it looks like NME pays well, as they're going to be playing The Button Factory on 29th November (saturday).

Note: you may NOT purchase tickets for this gig until your favouritist of bloggers have gotten theirs. In the meantime, get your hands on their unbelievable debut EP.

Our Dragonforce coverage will re-commence shortly...

DRAGONFORCE!!! Teh Rulez??

Wasnt Saturday a terrible day? Not Darfur starving orphan bad, more college student bad. So i tried to cheer myself up the only way I know how, Power Metal!

Dragonforce are playing here soon so they were on my mind, just lurking there having an awesome name. Im sure many of you are more familiar with them from Guitar Hero, and the multitude of Youtube videos of people playing their song, 'A Flame To the Ground Beneath.'

Their new album 'Ultra Beatdown' starts off on that kinda level. The first 30 seconds of 'Heroes of Our Time' cheered me up, there finally were the ball shreddingly fast guitars and heroic sounds I craved all day. The song only gets better, with deep harmonising voices and falsetto main vocals. The second song 'The Fire Still Burns' starts off with some mandatory snyth string sounds, and the synth theme carries on throughout.

Dragonforce mania

Hey internet peeps,

There doesn't seem to be any topic hotter in cork at the moment than Dragonforce. For those of you that don't hate music, it's these assholes:

I hear them mentioned at parties ("have you heard the new dragonforce single?"), in town ("wanna go see dragonforce?"), in restaurants ("my 12 year old cousin is going to that") and outside my front door ("i'm gonna make them sign my guitar hero guitar").

While most of those instances revolved around a single person, it's clear that there is a real buzz about Dragonforce, abeit from one person (Big B himself).They even managed to swing a 71 rating on metacritic (not exactly a 73 like crystal castles/ladyhawke, but still respectable). Not that metacritic is any good, really.

Anyway, due to the overwhelming hype, a review of the new album is coming to FTC in the very near future. It shouldn't be too hard to find someone gullible enough to buy the album. After all, everyone hearts hard rawk (except me).

New Ladyhawke Album

This album is ten fold better than the music press is letting on. Defo give it a try!

Fujiya and Miyagi from last week

Hey peeps,

Heres some sufficiently blurry pics from Fujiya & Miyagi at Cyprus Avenue last Friday. It was a good experience overall (Lessons were learnt - lots of lights means heat). Their set was pretty new-music heavy with the inclusion of a couple of tracks thrown in from their far better first album 'Transparent Things'. The set was about five songs too long, but it was the week of the new album's release, so they might have been a little overexcited.

They weren't as engaging live as i'd hoped. There was no force-fed banter and the bassist clearly disapproved of my colourful t-shirt.

Also, a shout out to the support act 'Project Jenny Project Jan'. They were interesting at the very least. Also an old couple gave us free PJPJ badges so i guess they're ok by us here at FTC (first usage of that acronym - remember this moment).

Heres the blurry pics as promised...

This weeks issue...

Hey net peeps,

NME came in a shiny packet this week so its a must buy. Why the shiny package you ask? The annual students guide, i say :D NME decides to guide us around the UK and Ireland at the start of every college year so that Freshers can feel more secure in knowing they live in a real city.

But uh-oh! Not only is Ireland mis-shapen, but now most of my friends have printed confirmation that they don't go to college in a real place. Where do they go to college you ask? Its hard to say coz its not marked.

As for the magazine itself, its one of the better issues. The guy on the cover is called pink eyes and decided to slice himself with a razor blade than use fake blood (talk about unsafe!). They're a Canadian DIY punk group and from what i've heard, they're the shit live.

As for new albums, Lovvers, Girl Talk and the Walkmen all get iffy reviews (Lovvers deserved better).

The most shocking thing about the magazine this week though is that they almost completely bury a story that could easily merit a cover story. M.I.A. is making a new album! Pitchfork had an article about her coming out of retirement, but NME, in a story about how she's starting a new record label, tag on a paragraph saying that if all goes to plan, the new LP is gonna be out next summer.

Fucked up indeed (zomg @ humour)

Introduction

Hello internet people,

I'll keep it short since none of you have attention spans anywayz. The main jist of this blog is to write meandering, self-indulgent tripe about bargain bin cds you can buy at petrol stations and similar location. But since i'm a little light on those at the moment, i'll post sporadically about what i'm listening to, update you regularly that i'm still listening to the same stuff, talk about how awesome NME is (its so awesome how its always sponsored by Topman AND shockwaves), and give poor quality reviews about any gigs i see.

Also i'm gonna rope that skanky blond engineer i know (Big B) into writing. Perhaps that skanky black haired comm guy (Mr. A) to make the blog more sequential.

Peace out,
Sonic C (lolz)