Logitech X-540 - 5.1 surround for the masses

A short while ago, I wrote a short post on my speaker buying adventure before Christmas. I eventually settled on the new Logitech X-540 5.1 speakers and promised a review. This is that review.

The X-540s are a pretty standard set of PC speakers. A 25W sub-woofer, four 7.4W satellites and a single 15.4W centre speaker make up the set. These aren't perhaps the most powerful speakers out there, but they are certainly enough for most tasks. The satellites and centre speakers each have two 2" drivers with something Logitech like to call FDD2 (Frequency Directed Dual Driver) that ensures uniform sound reproduction rather than "hotspots" of sound produced by other speaker systems. This works well in practice, and I have found that the sound is consistently good anywhere in the room.

The sub-woofer is downward firing, which means that, like the satellites, the sound is not directional. The driver is not enormous at 5.25", but at 25W it kicks out enough power to add a good bass to the sound, and the sound reproduction is much better than in most PC speaker setups I've tried.

Logitech have been thoughtful enough to add some niceties to the system to help it fit in with its intended environment. The satellite bases swivel to become wall mounts, and the centre speaker base unhinges to become a clip to attach to the top of a monitor or, in my case, a flat-panel TV. It isn't a clip in the most common sense of the word, and is actually more of a hook, but it sits in place securely and ensures that the centre channel comes from the right place rather than just whereever you could find room to put it.

All the controls are on a wired remote that can be positioned anywhere you like (within the limits of the not-very-long cable), thus allowing power, volume and the individual bass control and the all important Matrix Mode button to be up front and convenient. In reality I have it right on top of the sub, but it could be positioned under the monitor for easy access.

Of course, all this talk of hardware is well and good, but what does it sound like? I'm not much of an audiophile, but I know what I like, and I like these. The bass is very good, not intrusive as in many PC speakers, and has good sound reproduction rather than the "dull, thumping noise" of many others. The treble is handled very well, too, with a good range and clear reproduction of music and sound effects (explosions et al) with no distortion at all. It's nice to be able to listen to music and appreciate all the sublties of it, from the percussion to the rhythm to the vocal, without any of it being overwhelmed by lacklustre treble or over-enthusiastic bass.

The piece de resistence of these speakers that sets them ahead of previous Logitech offerings is the aforementioned Matrix Mode. This is a clever bit of electronic gimmickry that converts a standard 2 channel stereo input into full 5.1 channel output. I've not been able to find details of how this works, but from my experiments it seems to push more bass to the sub and mid-range to the centre speaker, making it a bit "meatier", and then pushing high-end to the rear speakers enhancing the ambience and giving a fuller sound. Of course, turning off the Matrix Mode makes them act like any other 2.1 speakers and, frankly, I can't imagine why anyone would do that.

Overall, then, and if you couldn't tell, I'm very happy with this purchase. I would recommend them to anyone looking for general purpose speakers for music and film, even if you only have standard stereo output. Turn on the Matrix Mode and the only way you could possibly upgrade is to listen to everything in true 5.1 surround, and given that most music doesn't come in that format yet anyway, this is the best you're going to get, at a very reasonable price.

Up!

Pixar's Up has been the most hyped 3D animated movie of 2009. Billed as a children's movie, an Animated Adventure Comedy according to IMDB, I didn't really know what to expect except a film about a house with balloons on it. I honestly didn't think it would be that great. How much mileage could they get out of that one gimmick? But I was wrong. Very, very wrong.

Underlying the child-like elements (adventure, talking dogs, a house with balloons on it) lies a tragedy. A story of loss, eviction, fallen heroes and unfulfilled ambition. The opening montage had me tearing up, and the sadness underpinning the entire rest of the movie is well played and poignant. Though I laughed at the comedy, I felt a terrible heartache at the same time as I watched a widower, lonely and angry at the world, battle to make up for a life of disappointment, to finally do what he had always planned with his first love, his wife Ellie, who he still talks to even as the urban developers threaten his home and his life.

Of course, the comedy is excellent as can be expected from a studio like Pixar. From slapstick to in-jokes, from set pieces to subtle, knowing observations on life, this film has it all. As an action adventure, it works well, with the laws of physics suitably ignored to provide an entertaining romp across South America.

Kids will love this film for the jokes, the slapstick comedy and the action sequences. Adults will enjoy it too, but will appreciate the reality of the story, and the ultimate redemption of Carl Fredricksen as he finds his place in the modern world. And true to style, the sentimental ending, unseen by the characters but appreciated by the audience, ends the film on a high note.

This film deserves every accolade afforded it, and is definitely worth watching. 10 helium balloons out of 10.

On the quest for better sound

When I got my current set of 2.1 speakers I was pretty skint so picked up a random set, some G-Star SS-2180s, from Maplin. If I were to review these speakers, I would have to be harsh. A smudgy, distorted bass, no mid-range and treble to rival any pair of 99p headphones. Noticing that my JVC earphones sound better was the final nail in the coffin of these speakers.

So I went on the hunt for something to replace them. Living, as I do, in a tiny little studio flat (read: bedsit), I didn't think I really needed anything too amazing. A second consideration was that my primary source of music is my iPod Classic, which is stereo only, so I didn't think it really important to look into 5.1 surround systems.

Bearing the iPod in mind, I thought it would be a good idea to get one of the many iPod docks that are so popular these days. I had a look around and was quite disappointed in what I found. They are massively more expensive than ordinary speaker sets, the primary function being iPod control more than sound quality.

However, I happened upon the Logic3 i-Station Studio at HMV. It was a snip at a mere £49.99, half the RRP for this unit. Sounded like an ideal solution. A small speaker solution that could charge my iPod and be remotely controlled for little more than an ordinary set of 2.1 speakers.

Unfortunately, HMV have long since sold out of these devices. Everywhere else is selling them for £80 or more, so the shine of the price was taken off. Reviews didn't sound too promising either, most of them avoiding the subject of sound quality altogether and focussing on the remote control and iPod dock features. Couple with the fact that there are no satellites, I wasn't filled with confidence and so I decided to look elsewhere.

Next port of call were stalwarts of the PC speaker market, Logitech. They do a wide range of speakers to suit every pocket, so seemed like a good target. After browsing their wares for a while, I happened upon the new X-240 speakers. The X range are highly regarded, from what I've read, and these ones include an MP3 player dock that, they claim, allows you to charge and sync your iPod or Zune while you play music.

Unfortunately, these claims all turned out to be marketing hype. Reading reviews and looking deeper, I discovered that the MP3 dock does not, in fact, include any sync or charging facilities. Rather, it has a little hole under the device so you can plug in your existing charger or sync cable. To play music, you still have to plug a 3.5mm stereo jack into the earphone socket. Not nearly so cool. Add to that the reviews, which hilight the complete lack of mid-range, and I wondered if getting these speakers would just be replacing my current ones like for like, with the addition of a little shelf.

At this point I figured that I really should be looking a bit more up-market. Staying with the Logitech theme, and on 23inertia's recommendation, I switched over to looking at the X-540. No pretence of iPod dock here. No focus on extras to detract from the lousy sound.

The X-540s are a relatively recent addition to the range, replacing the X-530s. They are basically the same speakers with the addition of a little electronic gizmo that sits in the front. The main thing that appeals is the new "matrix mode", which will magically convert a stereo input to fill the 5.1 surround output. Even the little clip on the central speaker so you can attach it to your TFT monitor or telly makes it fit nicely in my flat.

So a set of Logitech X-540s are on their way to me even as I type this post. I will set them all up and post a follow-up when I figure out if this was a good decision, or a mild disappointment. Based purely on the reviews, I'm pretty convinced that they will be brilliant, and I can't see how they can possibly be worse than what I already have.

Grammatics

I first heard of Grammatics when I went to Bloc Party's Bloctober tour here in sunny Sheffield. They were the only support for the night, and I honestly had no idea what to expect. In general, I find that support acts either wow me immediately, or they simply fail to strike a chord.  Grammatics are most certainly the former. So much so, in fact, that I bought the album from the merchandise stand during the set.

Although billed as "indie rock", the influences and styles throughout the self-titled debut album are as diverse as you could possibly imagine.  Citing a list of influences as long as your arm, the band manage to pull off a multitude of styles, even within a single song. Lead singer Owen Brinley heads up the band on guitar, with Rory O'Hara on bass and James Field on drums. Unusually for indie rock, the band also includes Emilia Ergin on cello.

The band have been moderately successful on the gigging circuit for a couple of years now, and released 3 singles and an EP prior to recording the full length album. Many of these tracks made it onto the album, along with a host of new material. The album is highly rated by almost all reviewers, having a Metacritic score of 73, comprising 5 scores of 80 and one of 40.

The album opens with an ethereal intro to Shadow Committee, a song that in itself makes good use of the band's repertoire. Jazz-rock guitar, cello interludes and a combination of guitar noodling, strong drums and a complex bassline. Swinging up a gear into D.I.L.E.M.M.A, the band opt for an almost dance style, incorporating electronic effects and synths into the mix. Also new in this track are female backing vocals from Ergin. Building up from gentle beginnings, the track builds up into a heavier, bass-driven song.

The album continues in this vein throughout, mixing styles and switching the mood of songs make each one a unique listening experience. From the conventional rock of Murderer, the prog stylings of The Vague Archive, the heavy rock anthemics of Broken Wing or the astoundingly diverse Relentless Fours, there is little in the way of filler here.

The latter tracks settle down a little, each having a more conventional down-tempo feel, and the album becomes a lot more mellow, with Cruel Tricks of the Light being the most relaxed song on the album. This is all blown apart again by Swan Song, an apt name for a final track if ever there was one. Starting out forlorn and introspective, it soon picks up a pace and becomes a jolly romp through indie rock territory. More twists and turns in style occur throughout, including darker, grittier moments, culminating with a post-rock/jazz finish.

Some reviews have said that, while the album is technically competent, it is more an exercise in what the musicians can do. I would disagree with this viewpoint. The music is immersive, and no two tracks sound alike. You can get lost in the album, and after a few listens, find yourself anticipating the next break, impatient for more. I have found myself drifting into the music while writing this review, only to suddenly realise that entire tracks have gone by and I've written nothing. This is music to listen to on headphones when you just want to shut out the world.

A new single, Double Negative, has been released to coincide with their current UK tour with Bloc Party. I look forward to hearing it properly, and purchasing the album it is eventually released as part of.

Grammatics home page
Grammatics at MySpace

Stargate Universe

Having been a massive fan of Stargate SG-1 since 2001 and sadly disappointed by the 2004 spin off Stargate Atlantis (SGA), I only allowed myself to become quietly excited about the announcement that they were adding a new series to the franchise; Stargate Universe (SGU).

The idea behind SGU was put to the SY FY channel back in 2007, but due to the writers’ strikes and ongoing issues with the SG-1 films and SGA, it wasn’t until the latter part of 2008 that SGU was finally confirmed.  It aired in America on 2nd October 2009 and will be premiering on Sky One in the UK on 6th October 2009.  Producers Brad Wright and Robert C. Cooper conceived Stargate Universe as "a completely separate, third entity" in the live-action Stargate franchise.  They wanted to produce something completely different from the previous offerings and give the show a more serious and mature feel.

The casting of completely new characters and the decision to not use any characters from SG-1 or SGA on a regular basis was not unexpected, although the obvious crossover with characters such as Samantha Carter, Jack O’Neil and Daniel Jackson from SG-1 was indeed essential. 

Their decision to cast Robert Carlyle (Dr. Nicholas Rush) in a leading role was one which both excited and puzzled me and I have to admit to not being sure how someone who played Francis Begbie so perfectly would fit into such an iconic series.  Another familiar face was that of Lou Diamond Phillips who plays Colonel David Telford, although his role as a permanent or recurring character is left unclear.

The series opens with characters arriving to an unknown place through the Stargate; they are arriving quickly and appear to be running from something.  The story jolts backwards and forwards in time and attempts to explain why these people have arrived here and where they came from.  As the episode progresses we find that these people are from earth and were escaping an attack on their off world base.  They have found themselves aboard an Ancient ship called ‘Destiny’ an old and damaged vessel whose life support system is failing.  They are billions of light years from Earth and unable to establish a wormhole connection to escape through the Stargate.

According to Robert C. Cooper, the essence of the story is "that sort of fear and terror of a tragedy combined with the sense that there is hope for us in the basic ways in which human beings survive".

Although the writers are looking to make this a more serious science fiction series, the inclusion of the character Eli Wallace makes me believe that the traditional tongue in cheek humour will be subtly balanced against the increased levels of drama.

So, without giving too many spoilers, what did I really think?  Honestly?  I loved it.  SGU looks to be more gritty, darker and not as predictable or repetitive as previous Stargate series while still retaining that ‘Stargate’ feel.  Okay, so it isn’t my beloved Stargate SG-1 but then, what would be?  I hope that this becomes a more suitable replacement than Stargate Atlantis ever was and that the series grows and develops into a long standing, successful member of the Stargate franchise.

Stargate Universe on Wikipedia

Stargate Universe official MGM website

Fleet Foxes

I picked up Fleet Foxes' self-titled debut during one of my frequent trips to the HMV "two for ten" section. They had been recommended to me by last.fm after listening to bands like Mostly Autumn and Bon Iver, and I can see why. I will readily admit that when I bought the CD I had absolutely no idea what to expect, and what I heard was very much a pleasant surprise.

The music is a gentle blend of alt-rock guitar, folk melody and soothing 5-part harmonies with the reverb knob turned up to full. The result is a dreamy sound that captures the imagination and makes you take notice, all the while being lulled into a day-dream state. The lyrics are definitely folk-inspired, ambiguously poetic and evoking romanticised imagery of more innocent times.

The cover art is a particular point of interest for me. The outer cover is detail from a painting called Netherlandish Proverbs, by Pieter Bruegel the Elder in 1559. The picture contains many small scenes enacting literal representations of Flemish proverbs of the day. It is one of those wonderfully deep pictures that, at first glance, appears to be little more than a picture of 16th century village life, but on close inspection contains some wonderfully intricate detail.

The album cover itself shuns the jewel case, and is instead a card sleeve with the painting around it. Tucked into the front is a slip of paper containing the liner notes, but is actually more a letter to the listener by lead singer Robin Pecknold. It describes the band's desire to create music that transports the listener to a particular time or place.

The letter details the singer's feeling as he discovered, upon seeing photos of his own childhood, that his own most treasured memories were fabrications of his imagination after seeing these photographs at an earlier, unremembered time and integrating them into his own self image. I always enjoy looking at the little book included with many albums, but despite their simplicity, these are now my favourite to date. Like the music and the lyrics, these simple notes have a melancholic romance about them that appeals to me and gives me the impression that these musicians care deeply about how their listeners respond to the work they have created.

From humble beginnings to one of 2008's "must hear" bands, Fleet Foxes have come a long way in a very short time. Before they ever released a track, they got over quarter of a million listens on their MySpace page from word-of-mouth recommendation alone. Their debut album is an absolute pleasure to listen to, and it's very difficult to pinpoint favourites within its humble 39 minute play time.

White Winter Hymnal is one of my personal high points of the album, with an upbeat tempo and folk harmonies that are easy to listen to and have a definite feel good element. Another is Your Protector, an altogether more sombre song with a distinctly military feel. The song's meaning is not clear from the lyrics, but it conjours up the image of the girl left behind, from the perspective of the soldier at war, not expecting to return.

Every track has some aspect that arouses some emotion. By the end of the final track, the almost a capella tragedy of Oliver James, it's easy to feel that the band don't want the album to end, almost as much as the listener. An amazing album.

Fleet Foxes at MySpace
Fleet Foxes at Wikipedia

Lacuna Coil - Shallow Life

Having tried (and failed) to filter out the metal from Doozr's music collection, I decided to admit defeat and when he purchased the new Lacuna Coil album I thought I should embrace my inner metal chick and give it a listen.

Lacuna Coil have had five studio albums to date and Shallow Life marks the band moving their sound from gothic metal to more straight-forward alternative hard rock. I have very limited knowledge of their previous offerings and have just started listening to their 2006 release Karmacode.

On my first listen to Shallow Life, I was surprised how much I liked the overall sound to the album. It has a distinct mainstream metal feel and I can't help but compare tracks such as 'I'm Not Afraid' with artists such as Linkin Park. Throughout the album there are a number of really strong choruses and catchy guitar riffs that epitomise producer Don Gilmore's style (Avril Lavigne, Linkin Park, Pearl Jam) and I can understand why long standing Lacuna Coil fans might find the change too far removed from their previous gothic sound.

Cristina Scabbia states: "Shallow Life is a natural metamorphosis from within the band; we explored different musical territories while maintaining our own style. A mix of old and new, fast and slow and light and dark. The album production is incredibly powerful and has a beautiful purity to it. Shallow Life has forced us to challenge ourselves. It represents the way we see ourselves in the days we live in through truth, love and lies."

I have come to adore this album. All of the tracks have something about them that sends a shiver down my spine and as the album progresses, the volume gets louder and louder. However, standout tracks for me are Survive, I Like It and Wide Awake.

I don't know yet if their previous releases will appeal to me in the same way as Shallow Life has and I am not sure how existing Lacuna Coil fans will feel about the direction they have taken their music. However, Shallow Life as a stand alone album is without a doubt the most excited I have been about new music for a long time.

Lacuna Coil home page

Shallow Life on Wikipedia

Mac OS X 10.6 - Snow Leopard

On August 28th 2009, Apple released the new version of Mac OS X, 10.6 "Snow Leopard". This is an interesting release, because it doesn't actually do very much over and above its predecessor, 10.5 "Leopard". Indeed, the subtely different name indicates that it's just a more refined version of the same thing.

The main question with this refinement, really, is whether it is worth it. Having used it for a couple of weeks now, I can give a resounding "yes". It's smoother, more polished, and generally a wonderful improvement on an already excellent operating system.

Installation

To celebrate this new release, 23inertia and I had a little "install party" to update our respective Macbooks to the latest and greatest incarnation of the Mac OS. My 32-bit Macbook was being upgraded from 10.4 Tiger, so I have the Mac Box Set. This includes iLife '09 and iWork '09, which I shall review later. 23inertia's 64-bit 2nd generation Macbook was being upgraded from 10.5 Leopard, so used the generously priced £25 upgrade version of the installer.

The installation itself was about as simple as you can get, and involved inserting the disk, double-clicking the installer, and clicking "continue" a few times. A little while later, the machine reboots itself and you're sat at the Snow Leopard login screen.

A small glitch in the installer did manifest itself, though. On 23inertia's machine, it rebooted into the installer proper, or at least, tried to. Maybe the disk didn't spin up in the drive fast enough, or maybe a setting got lost, but the result was that it didn't actually boot the installer, but went back into Leopard. Oops! Fortunately, restarting the installer worked perfectly the second time. Strange little bug, and I've not seen mention of it elsewhere.

Under The Hood

Many of the new features do not manifest at the UI level. Rather, they sit in the guts of the OS and allow it to take advantage of computer technology in a much more effective way. It's 64-bit throughout now, and thanks to Apple magic, also works perfectly on 32-bit machines. That's particularly handy because my ageing Macbook has a 32-bit CoreDuo processor.

Some new functionality that assists well on the processing front are Grand Central Dispatch and OpenCL. GCD is a thread pooling technology that lets applications hand over concurrency issues to the OS to handle, allowing better utilisation of multiple cores on suitable machines. That includes all generation 1 Macbooks or higher, so pretty much the entire Mac lineup. I think only one edition of the Mac Mini was released without at least 2 cores.

OpenCL is a clever bit of trickery that, on a suitably equipped machine (read: not mine) will use the processor and memory of the graphics card to handle some of the actual heavy lifting involved with rendering the shiny user interface of OS X. This will take the load away from the main processor, freeing it up to do more useful things via the magic of Grand Central Dispatch.

On The Desktop

Once you log in, the desktop is noticeably more lovely as soon as you start using it. Part of this is due to Apple's decision to raise the default gamma level to 2.2 from 1.8. The brings it in line with PCs and normal televisions. The advantage of this is that the colours are much more vivid. This comes at the expense of contrast range, however, so some detail may be lost. Most people will just appreciate the improved display, but others might want to revert to 1.8. This is easily achieved through the Displays page in System Preferences, by created a custom calibrated colour profile.

The Finder is more responsive thanks to being completely rewritten to be exactly the same, and the dock responds even more fluidly to mouse events. This makes managing the desktop even less effort than it already was. Handling logging in to remote machines is much improved, allowing user credentials to be saved for quick access to services published over Bonjour. I did have to do a bit of hacking with Avahi and Netatalk to get my Debian box to show up, though.

As well as the Finder and Dock having performance improvements, other more functional improvements have been added to Exposé. Gone is the rather random, haphazard arrangment of windows when invoking Exposé. Instead, the windows are arranged into a grid, with a highlight border indicating your current selection and window titles annotating the scaled window previews.

Parts of Exposé are also built into the Dock. Clicking and holding on an open program icon doesn't just bring up the Dock item menu, as in previous versions. Instead, the single program version of Exposé activates, bringing all active windows for that app together so you can easily switch between them. A secondary little menu allows you to set Dock item properties, so no functionality is lost.

The interface to Spaces has been generally improved. I never used Spaces in Leopard so I'm not entirely sure what is new and what is not, but it is lovely and easy to use now. Pressing ctrl and a number jumps straight to a numbered desktop, ctrl and an arrow to move in the requested direction to the next desktop, and F8 to bring up an overview of all spaces. The overview mode is very nice, allowing you to drag windows or entire applications (by holding shift while dragging any window) to different spaces.

Finally, Dock folders have had a much needed overhaul. New features this time include the ability to scroll the Grid view, and navigate the folder structure within the same fly-out window. This saves opening and navigating a full blown finder if all you want to do is open a document or program.

Application Enhancements

As well as all these lovely improvements that make the system nicer to use, there are a bundle of nice little additions to built-in apps and the system in general. One of these is a faster "wake up" process which, compared to waking Tiger from sleep, is like lightning. I open the lid, and as soon as the screen appears, so does the login dialog. No more waiting a few seconds to get round to it. I unlock the screen, and I'm already connected to the WiFi network and everything is immediately back up to speed.

Other improvements include the acquisition and viewing of image files. The Image Capture application has had a thorough overhaul, giving it an interface rather more consistent with the rest of the OS. There are still some clunky bits, like the default button downloading ALL photos on a particular camera even if you have selected only a few (there is a second button to only download the selection), but on the whole the app is vastly improved.

Preview is similarly improved, with little additions such as a preview sheet for quickly scanning and jumping to different pages based on thumbnails, and nicer annotation and editing tools for quickly rotating, cropping and drawing on images. The magical selection tool from PDFs that tries to follow the columns of text in a document (rather than selecting across the full width of the page) also works incredibly well.

The user interface to Quicktime has completely changes for this release. Gone are the ugly grey window borders and iTunes-esque play button at the bottom. Instead, the window is borderless and the controls float above the video when required. This takes a bit of getting used to, though, and at the moment I keep wondering if I can have my old interface back. That being said, Quicktime can now better save movies, and can record directly from the camera or by taking a video of the screen, screencast style. This is further enhanced by a "trim" tool that lets you crop rubbish bits off the beginning and end of a video.

Some other little odds and sods that you might not notice include:

•    Disk eject now tells you what process is preventing a disk from ejecting
•    You can tell Spaces to always open a particular app on a particular space
•    Files can be restored to their original location from the Trash
•    Terminal can now split panes
•    A few new fonts to play with
•    The Airport menubar item animates while searching for a network

Summary

This has been a somewhat lightning tour of Snow Leopard, just highlighting some of the improvements that I've seen while using it. I'm sure there are more little improvements all over the place that I shall keep uncovering, but on the whole I am very pleased with this upgrade. It has made even my 3 year old machine snappier and more responsive, and look better to boot. 23inertia is similarly impressed, although she says it's just because it's shinier. So, if you want to put your aging Tiger out to pasture, or make your existing Leopard even shinier, get Snow Leopard. You know you want to!

Kasabian - West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum

Alternative rockers Kasabian have returned to the studio to produce their 3rd album, and their second #1 after Empire. The tongue-twistingly named West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum, referencing a mental institution near Wakefield, is very much a Kasabian album, with the same rough sound and heavy beats present in their earlier work.  

The album art is a strange piece. It shows the band dressed up for a "party in the asylum", wearing all manner of strange costumes. It took me a moment to realise what I was supposed to be looking at in the shop. From a distance it just looked like a splodge of colour with human faces. Of course, that might just be my eyes. 

The album itself is a fairly standard rock offering. The songs all do have distinctive sounds, but they are all recognisably Kasabian. A few tracks stand out, including Fast Fuse, Vlad The Impaler and Ladies And Gentlemen (Roll The Dice). Another one that stands out is West Ryder Silver Bullet, which starts with a very peculiar narrative about a maniac (presumably in the titular asylum) who draws electronic graffiti. When his language speaks to you, in that moment, poetry will be made by everyone, and there will be emus in the zone. So now you know. 

Perhaps after a few more listens it will strike more of a chord with me, but at the moment my summary would have to be good, but ultimately forgettable. It is certainly a good listen, so I'll keep it in the collection for the future, and won't complain if it comes up on shuffle.


Addendum: After listening to this album around 15 times, it's actually starting to grow on me. I've taken a liking to Where Did All The Love Go and Fast Fuse, and find myself humming them to myself. So I'm changing my verdict: good, but you have to let it grow on you. Don't give up on it too soon!

Kasabian home page 

West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum on Wikipedia

Placebo - Battle For The Sun

Sometimes it's possible to get into a band completely at random, even if they've been around longer than you've been a music listener. This happened recently for me, when I happened across Placebo's cover of "Running Up That Hill" in the trailer for the movie Daybreakers. After finding the full track and enjoying it, I sought out more from this mystery band that I'd somehow missed, despite them being around since I was just 14 years old. 
 
Battle For The Sun is the band's 6th studio album, and the first with the new drummer Steve Forrest. The album sees the band take another step forward, away from the sparse musical style of their first albums. Here, they experiment with new instruments, and tie the album together with a coherent theme running through all the tracks. According to lead singer Brian Molko, the album is more positive in its outlook than previous offerings. In an interview with NME, he said:

"We've made a record about choosing life, and choosing to live, about stepping out of the darkness and into the light. Not necessarily turning your back on the darkness because it's there, it's essential; it's a part of who you are, but more about the choice of standing in the sunlight instead." - Brian Molko

I got the special edition of the album from Amazon, which comes in a very nice book-style package. In the front cover is the CD itself, and a documentary DVD is tucked into the back. The pages contain the liner notes, all lyrics and some photographs and artwork of the band. It's a very nicely presented package and I took great pleasure in looking through it while listening to the music. 


The music itself is a good mix of hard rock riffs, heavy basslines and lyrics that are easy to sing along to. By and large, every track delivers although there are a couple of relatively uninteresting bits. The opening track, Kitty Litter, while being a good solid rock song, doesn't quite hook into the brain the way some of the others do.


Other tracks have unusual parts that leave some reviewers cold, and others enthused. The hard repetition in the title track is strange to listen to at first, but soon grows on you and is actually a very good track. The bizarre inclusion of a toy piano's built-in melody right in the middle of For What It's Worth is another moment that is a bit of a surprise. 


It's hard to pick out a few favourites, but the ones I find myself playing to myself in my head are, in no particular order:

• Ashtray Heart After the band's original name, this is a straight up catchy rock song.
• Battle for the Sun Strange on first listen, but actually very good
• For What It's Worth Solid rock song with a strange toy piano bit in the middle.
• Devil In The Details Good song that captures the ethos of the album.

There has been a lot of nay-saying about this album. Some say it deviates too far from Placebo's roots. Some say it's just not good enough to qualify in the current market. Some say that only hardcore fans will like it. I would say that perhaps they're looking for too much meaning behing their choice in music. It's a good rock album that bears repeat listening, and will have you humming the tunes to yourself after the first couple of listens.


Placebo website 
Battle for the Sun on Wikipedia