The Pretenders - Break Up The Concrete

I was seven when The Pretenders released their first album. Of course I grew up knowing who they were, but until ‘Break Up The Concrete’, the bands ninth album, I hadn’t owned any of thier music. And I’m okay with that. There is only so much looking back you can do musically. Like when someone says “I have heaps of music, we should share” and then you never listen to any of it. No reason to. It was like that with me and Chrissy Hynde. And I’m sure she’s okay with that too.

I picked up this album because October seems to be the month of ‘don’t forget us, we used to be great - remember?’ (Acca, Metallica, The Cure, The Verve, Primal Scream, Sugarland and heaps more.) And based on ‘Concrete’, The Pretenders must have been great, because this is a great album. It is a mix of rockabilly, rock ‘n roll and country western, but better than that sounds - I promise.

Album opener ‘Boots of Chinese Plastic’ sets the pace and tone of the album. It opens wih Chrissy counting in a beat that I’m sure came from an Elvis movie. And that’s about the only indication of this bands age. They reference the familiar constantly, but it sounds fresh and contemporary, with lyrics that are dense, acerbic and terse delivered with the Hynde snarl. 

The drumming of Jim Keltner is simply sublime throughout the album, and turns the otherwise ordinary ‘Rosalee’ into a pounding ode to a lost love. ‘Break Up The Concrete’ brings the album full circle with another Elvis moment. All in all I can highly recommend this album to fans and noobs (like me) alike.

THINK: Rockabilly ‘n’ Country Roll
WATCH: Boots of Chinese Plastic
READ: Their Homepage
BUY: Break Up The Concrete on Amazon

Sneaky Sound System - When We Were Young (G.L.O.V.E.S. rmx)

Local banger to get your weekend started.

AC/DC - BLACK ICE

For those who continue to rock - we salute you!

Being relevant is a poison chalice. Those who seek it lose themselves on their journey. Take Metallica for instance (bear with me), they struggled with the demons within (anyone?) and tried to return to their roots to remain relevant. In the process they released an album of shredding sans songs. Oh, and they released it on a playstation game. Relevant? Riiiight. 

AC/DC on the other hand haven’t tried to recapture anything. They used to make kick arse rock and roll albums. This year they made a kick arse rock and roll album. And you can’t buy the tracks individually, so it remains an album. Sure, AE/DC ( little chord progression gag for you there folks!) could be dismissed as an old dog with an old trick. But fans will surely reply ‘So?’. 

Dacca write straight up rock songs about drinkin’, rootin’ and fightin’. Don’t get fooled by the song titles on Black Ice. ‘Skies on Fire’ , ‘Stormy May Day’ and ‘War Machine’ could lead you to believe that maybe global warming or America’s spiralling war has crossed their lyrical horizon. Fret not (second guitar gag – woohoo!) I’m pretty sure the machine in ‘war machine’ is, like, your love piston.

I could get all high falootin’ on you with the ‘less is more’ argument. That it takes great skill to write a rock song that relies on tried and tested structure. Anyone can be original, but try doing the same thing for decades and still get kids to pay for it.  But I wont.

Brendan O’Brien has delivered an album that will make every AC/DC fan remember why they love the Dacca. In an era when not only musical instruments have been forsaken, but also melody, maybe a fifty-something yr old man in school shorts still has a lesson or two to teach. 

THINK: Vintage AC/DC. The good stuff
READ: The above
BUY: Black Ice at JBI HiFi Now (why wait?)

EDIT: Black Ice has topped the album charts in 29 countries!

32_Borrowed_Beats_October_08_Edition - Spring Beats

The October Long Weekend is the unofficial start of summer. What started out as a cruisey mix for headphone space on the beach quickly disintegrated into big tunes of the summer. This edition didn’t follow the script at all, and the play list developed on the fly. I think it went pretty well except for that one mix-in towards the end. But I’m sure you’ll forgive me that, eh?

Enjoy,

G

David Holmes - The Holy Pictures

David Holmes returns with an album about his life in Belfast. (For our American friends, that’s in Northern Ireland) Since the release of ’Lets get Killed’ in 1997, Holmes has concentrated mostly on scoring movies. He’s probably most famous for the Oceans series. Not surprisingly then that ‘The Holy Pictures’ has a distinct soundtrack feel. 

Lush atmospherics swirl around heavily distorted guitars. Standard Holmes affair apart from the fact that Holmes also contributes lead vocals. Album opener, and first single ‘I heard wonders’ could be a Primal Scream track, and that’s not a bad innings for this first time vocalist.

David Holmes has always had a special place in my heart. The cool-as-fuck Irishman penned one of my favourite albums of all time in ‘Lets get killed’ so I had big hopes for ‘The Holy Pictures’. While it hasn’t made it on to the ‘must have’ page, ‘The Holy Pictures’ is a solid album, bespite being a touch inconsistant at times. You could blame that on the 10 years plus gestation period Holmes cites in interviews, or maybe driving basslines and cinematic scores are uncomfortable bedfellows. 

THINK: OST to a Soderbergh movie about Belfast
READ: Holmes Myspace
WATCH: I heard Wonders
BUY: The Holy Pictures at Amazon