Dead Like Harry, Know the Joy of Good Living - Pre-Release, Pre-Gig

As you may or may not be aware Doozr and I are big fans of finding new music; particularly local or unsigned bands. So it is a happy coincidence that my work colleague Bill moonlights as a radio DJ for Vixen 101 in Market Weighton. Bill presents Fox's Den on Friday evenings, showcasing local & unsigned bands. He regularly lets me take a dive into his bag of sample CDs sent from bands who want to be played on his show.

At the end of last year I came across the 2008 EP 'When We Were 17' by Sheffield band Dead Like Harry. The tracks caught my attention immediately and I was drawn to the catchy melodies, beautiful lyrics and stunning vocal. They have an almost indie folk/country feel with hints of pop and rock thrown in for good measure.

Because I liked it so much, Doozr surprised me at Christmas with a limited, signed and numbered copy of their yet-to-be-released first album, 'Know the Joy of Good Living'. The story behind this album is inspiring to any up and coming band and shows sheer determination to get their sound out there. With so many songs ready to record but no one willing to produce an album, they quite inventively approached Alan Smyth (Pulp, Arctic Monkeys). They asked him to produce the album in return for 3 months of labouring on the building site of his new studio.

The album was made available as a limited edition pre-release, including 2 extra tracks, before the official release on the 15th of February. It's available at gigs or for purchase on their website. There's also a free download containing just the MP3s of the album, EP and the new single, 'Fight'. To coincide with the release of 'Know the Joy of Good Living', Dead Like Harry are touring the UK. Saturday 27th February sees the band playing to a home crowd at The Plug here in Sheffield. And guess who has tickets? A gig review is inevitable! :)

We Are The Void streamable now

Dark Tranquillity have made their upcoming album We Are The Void available in full on their MySpace page for a limited time only. If you just can't wait one more week to hear what's in store, head over there.

If you want to pre-order the CD, HMV are doing the CD+DVD digipak edition for a mere £8.99 including postage. There are rumours that some people have received their copies early. Hope I'm one of the lucky ones.

Northern Oak Charity Gig - Corporation, 13th Feb 2010

Sheffield based folk metal collective Northern Oak played the Corporation, Sheffield's premier dank, smelly dive, for a charity gig supporting the British Heart Foundation last Saturday night. Always up for supporting local talent, 23inertia and I donned our blackest clothes and headed out for an evening of metal with tanzeelat, our resident metal guru. And for 3 quid, why not?

Northern Oak were not alone in this bit of charity. Nottingham based doom/groove/stoner/sludge metal band The Engines Of Armageddon played a set, as well as Sheffield's own Viperous, an extreme metal assortment of misfits.

After the obligatory swift half in the Devonshire Cat, we arrived at the gig just in time to see The Engines Of Argmageddon finish up their set. I can't quite put my finger on it, but I get the impression they're really not big fans of RFID chips. It's all just a bit too subtle for me.

Viperous were up next. Well, they certainly made a noise. Much retreating to the smoking area took place and eardrums were abused, but the band seemed to have a good time. Some people seemed to like it, but it wasn't our cup of tea.

Finally Northern Oak, the band we'd actually gone to see, took to the stage and played a peculiar variety of growly folky metal. Not at all unpleasant, although 23inertia, not being a fan of the cookie monster vocal, preferred the musical interludes. And pleasing they were.

Sporting an uncanny resemblance to Rory Bremner doing an impression of Tony Blair, but thankfully not sounding anything like, frontman Martin Collins guided us through the set. And what more can you expect from Sheffield's finest purveyors of folk metal and waistcoats than, well, exactly that. Verging toward a black metal style, but (thankfully) with none of the obnoxious attitude problems, the band seemed like a genuinely lovely bunch of people. Which is good, because it makes them easier to support.

I picked up the new self-titled demo for a pound (hand numbered 10 of 20, so there!) so I'll give it a listen and see if it takes my fancy. It's not quite the strident, intricate wall of sound used by other folk metal bands like Eluveite, and has the distinct tone of a small local band finding their way in the world. Definitely more folky than metal, with the strained grunting of Mr. Collins nicely contrasting the airy flute melody.

Quite a pleasant evening, all told, and I got a demo CD and a t-shirt out of it. Tanzeelat got The Engines Of Armageddon t-shirt and CD deal, too, so we can listen to them a bit and see what other political statements they can make using only F-bombs. And of course, the Dev Cat was the only possible port of call after the gig finished.

Lacuna Coil, Shallow Life Tour - Manchester Academy, 31st Jan 2010

On January 31st 2010 Doozr and I headed to Manchester for my first official 'metal' gig; Lacuna Coil's Shallow Life Tour. Originally the show was scheduled to be at Manchester Academy 2 but was promoted to Academy 1 at the last minute. Admittedly, Shallow Life is their most commercial release to date but having only recently embraced the whole metal genre, this was to be a real treat for me.

We booked a hotel seeing as Manchester is over an hours drive from home and figured we could enjoy a few drinks at the venue and make an evening of it. I also had to acquire a new outfit - how could I possibly go to a metal gig in my usual gig clothes? (any excuse!) Taking advice from Doozr I decided to plump for a black and silver under bust corset from Corsets-UK with a black gypsy top, black skin tight jeans and the most amazing Pleaser boots. I also purchased a beautiful gothic style jacket from The Gothic Shop. I was to be all dressed up with somewhere seriously exciting to go.

Due to the venue change the doors opening time was also altered. This meant that we arrived much later into the support acts than we would have liked. We only managed to only catch the end of Dirty Little Rabbits. They were an 'interesting' band to say the least. Lead singer Stella Soleil clearly forgot to get dressed and appeared to be performing in her nightdress. Still, they had the desired effect on the audience and the place was full of excitement and anticipation. It was the most amazing experience to stand in the middle of the crowd and soak up that atmosphere.

As you may have previously read there were a couple of standout tracks for me from the Shallow Life album and seeing those tracks live was breathtaking. They opened with Survive and I could feel my heart pounding as the track started. To be honest my heart didn't stop pounding throughout the entire show. Standouts for me were Fragments of Faith, Tight Rope, Wide Awake, Enjoy the Silence and their final track Our Truth.

The band were energetic and note perfect, the visuals were impressive, the venue was well organised, the acoustics were amazingly good quality and the crowd were a joy to stand in. Often at gigs you find yourself being pushed about my morons, have people push past you to get to the bar or you get covered in somebody's stray beer that somehow managed to get thrown up into the air. Not at this gig. The crowd not only respected the artists on stage, but also each other. Most notably they remained in their place for the entire show, not a single person pushed past me to get anywhere; the show was just too good to walk away from.

The visual element of the show is apparently something new and never before used for a Lacuna Coil gig. It fitted perfectly into the background of the stage, with the performances from the group and with the tracks they were playing. Cristina Scabbia had at least 5 costume changes throughout the show. She is an amazingly beautiful woman and her presence on stage had me mesmerised.



The added bonus to the evening was at the merc stand where I purchased the Deluxe Tour Edition of Shallow Life which included a bonus disk and was hand signed by the entire band. The bonus disk includes live tracks, tracks recorded for radio and a couple of never before released tracks.  Doozr also scored a very stylish Lacuna Coil t-shirt.  It was a perfect way to end an amazing evening.

Dark Tranquillity - Shadow In Our Blood Video

In preparation for the March 1st release of We Are The Void, the 9th album from Swedish death metallers Dark Tranquillity, a video of Shadow In Our Blood has been released for your (and my) watching and listening pleasure. Containing perhaps the creepiest chorus riff in any DT song ever, coupled with quite a creepy visual, it's further proof that they are perhaps the finest death metal band on the planet. It just gets better every time I watch.

Decent Internet Radio ... quite a rarity!

I've been listening to Dutch radio station Kink.fm all day today, and I'm so far very impressed with their selection of music. Put it this way: songs from 4 of my top 10 albums of 2009 were featured in one day of listening, and another 5 or 6 that I own were played too. That puts them squarely in the "music that doozr likes" category, and they don't spend too much time nattering between tracks. Good stuff!

Doozr's Very Musical 2009 In Review

What is more traditional at the end of the year than the obligatory music roundup? 2009 has been quite a year, musically speaking. A year of discovery, of rediscovery, and of continued enthusiasm.

Top 10 Albums of 2009

Narrowing down all that I have heard in 2009 was an arduous task but I have finally managed it, only 2 days into the new year. Using a combination of memory, last.fm charts, manually browsing my pile of CDs and sitting quietly with a beer in contemplation, I have composed the following list. Here are my top 10 in no particular order:

• Placebo - Battle For The Sun a good mix of hard rock riffs, heavy basslines and lyrics that are easy to sing along to. 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.
• Editors - In This Light And On This Evening is a world apart from previous albums, taking on a more industrial synth feel rather than the previous guitar-based records. The result is astoundingly good.
• Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes 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.
• Grammatics - Grammatics mixes styles and switches the mood of songs throughout the album, making 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.
• Kasabian - West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum is a distinctly Kasabian album that grows on you the more you listen. From an intially ambivalent response, it's turned into one of my top 10 of 2009. When it speaks to you, in that moment, poetry will be written by everyone, and there will be emus in the zone.
• Doves - Kingdom of Rust is the 4th album from the Manchester band, and refines their sound to produce an album that can be listened to over and again. As noted in a review in the Observer, there is a "dreamy, addictive sadness to proceedings, their customary gruff melancholy now inflated to match the panoramic setting."
• Malakai - Ugly Side of Love is perhaps the strangest album on this list. There is really nothing to compare them to. An album that needs to be heard to be believed.
• Lacuna Coil - Shallow Life represents a further milestone in Lacuna Coil's apparent switch from gothic metal to alternative hard rock. Certainly the most "mainstream" album to date, it's still a solid entry in Lacuna Coil's repertoire.
• Reverend & The Makers - French Kiss In The Chaos is the second outing for the Sheffield based rockers and their outspoken figurehead, the Reverend Jon McClure, with possibly the best album title ever.
• The Decemberists - The Hazards of Love is a rock opera, a concept album, a romance and a tragedy. It's also brilliant.

Honourable Mentions

• Jónsi & Alex - Riceboy Sleeps is the first album produced by Sigur Rós frontman Jónsi Birgisson and his partner Alex Somers. Like an etheral, experimental version of Sigur Rós, this icelandic ambient post-rock will transport you somewhere entirely ... other. A beautiful piece of work.
• Dead Like Harry - Know The Joy of Good Living is the yet-to-be-released debut album of an up-and-coming Sheffield band. Like many of my favourite bands, they make genre defyingly good music the way they want to, with passion and enthusiasm.
• Hello Citizen - Play This At My Funeral is the second album from US based singer/songwriter Ben Wolman. Combining indie guitar with lyrical themes more usually found in the more miserable depths of death metal, this album gets your toes tapping and your brain thinking "WTF!?" And that, my friends, is a very good thing.
• Electric Six - Kill is the brand new, hot off the press release by the Detroit based rock/disco/punk/new wave/metal/garage band. Not really had much chance to listen to it yet, but based on previous releases, how can it not be awesome?
• Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago is the product of one man secluded in a cabin in Wisconsin for three months, producing what is described by 23inertia as the most beautiful music she's ever heard. Although technically released in 2008, this album has a special mention because I heard about and purchased it in 2009, and it's really too good to miss.