Kasabian – 48:13

Since being announced as one of this years Glastonbury headliners, the pressure is on for Kasabian to deliver something that is worthy of such a privilege. After a few listens to their fifth album, 48:13, named after the total running time and due for release on the 9th June, I would argue that they have succeeded in doing so.

The first single from the album ‘Eez-eh’, is a great, upbeat track and I’m pleased to say that it’s only one of many from this LP that I can imagine going down well at such a festival. Other standout tracks include ‘Bumblebeee’, with it’s chant provoking repeats of “I’m in ecstasy” alongside ‘Stevie,’ and ‘Doomsday’, with the band insisting “What you see is what you get with me”, fitting with what Sergio recently said about how they had aimed to be more direct and honest with this album.

It is clear that Kasabian wanted to do something different this time around, with much less emphasis on their guitars and an increasing amount of indie disco style music creeping in to what before was more traditional rock.

Contrasting with the range of upbeat tracks however are those such as ‘Glass’, which starts off with a more mournful tone – with pleads of “save me from this world” and ending with a young persons spoken words that question where life is leading us with lyrics like “Are you running around in a circle, going nowhere fast? Cause when you look at the man in the mirror, he’s made of nothing but glass.”

Explodes, despite the title is another of the slower tracks. It has the potential for some excitement to kick in in places but it just doesn’t happen, the trippy sounds build up, but then bam, it’s back to more of the same, resulting in an ironically unexplosive track.

Ending the album is another risk taken by the band, which certainly pays off. S.P.S is an Oasis-esque ballad which would be the perfect addition to their encore, as Serge sings “Didn’t we all have such a good time? Didn’t we all have the greatest night, even though we know its wrong, I know there’s time for one more song.”

 

Foxes live review (Sheffield Leadmill 23/05/14)

Last night Sheffield’s iconic music venue The Leadmill played host to the latest of the UK’s female pop singers to storm the charts – Louisa Rose Allen, known to most as Foxes.

After an energetic set by Glasgow based band Prides (who are definitely worth checking out), Foxes took to the stage looking as beautiful as ever, to a huge reception of screams from the crowd which consisting of males and females of all ages.

‘White coats’, the first real sing a long of the night, really portrayed how powerful her voice is – easily comparable to acts like Florence and La Roux who both show off similar tones and stage setups.

Another track which really stood out to me was ‘Beauty Queen’ – a balled consisting of powerfully belted out lyrics that question people’s judgement based on looks.

Halfway through the show we were treated to an acoustic cover of Pharell’s ‘Happy’ which soon kicked in to the livelier version we all know, and despite my initial disappointment that we weren’t hearing her Eminem cover of ‘Monster’, I was impressed.

One downside I think to the show is Foxes lack of communication with the crowd – but she can be forgiven for feeling slightly intimidated due to the massive success she has experienced in such a short space of time.

In saying this however she certainly makes up for it with her energy on stage! In ‘Youth’ Foxes sings, “don’t tell me our youth is running out” and whilst she dances around the stage and is clearly not running out of youth anytime soon, the crowd in the main were stood still. I don’t doubt for a second that they weren’t enjoying the show, it just wasn’t very lively as they simply watched, most likely in awe of her stunning voice.

Ending the evening on a high with the two most well known tracks – Zedd’s Grammy winning Clarity and her recent top 10 hit ‘Let go for tonight’ the audience finally joined Foxes in doing so; going crazy with appreciation for her brilliant performance.

Lea Michele – Louder album review

Since she started as lead character ‘ Rachel Berry’ in Glee, it was only a matter of time before Lea Michele released an album and 5 years on, the time has finally arrived with her debut: ‘Louder’.

When speaking about opening track cannonball, a song co-written by Australian star Sia, Lea said it described her feelings about the past year perfectly, telling the story of her grief but how she is ready to open new doors and carry on with her life as she knew Cory would want her to.

‘Louder’ then goes on to portray a mixture of emotions, with standout songs such as the passionate burn with you and ballad Battlefield, which speaks of her experiences of love. 

The album definitely contains its fair share of catchy pop numbers too however, with songs like the Kelly Clarkson-esque On My Way and title track Louder, both having upbeat choruses that you’ll struggle to get out of your head after a few listens!

Overall ‘Louder’ does well to prove her undeniable talent, especially in Thousand Needles; a darker track which allows Lea to showcase her vocals and you can really feel her emotion coming through in the chorus.

Closing with If You Say So; a very personal song which speaks directly about Cory and was too co-written by Sia, the album (despite ending with a tear jerker) still manages to portray the feelings of someone who is staying as positive as possible and knows it is all about the future now, so I look forward to what is to come for Lea.  

Tom Odell – Long Way Down

After first hearing of Tom Odell when he won the Critics’ choice award at the BRITs earlier this year, I just had to have a listen to the few songs he had released because if the past few winners are anything to go by, they get majorly successful in a very short space of time. Think the likes of Adele, Jessie J and Emile Sande…

Now that his album is out I think Tom Odell is set to do exactly the same. His debut album ‘Long Way Down’ was initially set for release in April, but he made the decision to delay it until June 24th. This decision was said to prevent it leaking with Tom having said “These days having different release dates would mean the album may end up getting leaked which is not fair on all of you who paid for it,” denying claims that it was because his single ‘Hold Me’ failed to make it to the top 40. Whatever the reason though; it certainly paid off because it’s been announced today that it made number 1.

And in my opinion it’s a thoroughly well deserved chart position. His latest single ‘Another love’ did much better too, reaching number 10 in the single charts. So it seems he is well on his way to gaining the recognition he deserves, especially after a brilliant performance at Glastonbury earlier today too which was shown on BBC and will soon be online at BBC Glastonbury.

The album itself has faced some tough criticism from the likes of NME – who rated it a measly 0/10 and described it as bland, resulting in an angry Mr Odell calling up the magazine to defend his son. Personally, I disagree with the criticism. I’m a big fan of emotional ballad style songs and this album certainly didn’t disappoint in the way of those.

It’s definitely one of those albums where with every listen it gets better. The more angsty tracks such as ‘Hold me’, are sure to make you feel his emotion in a totally different way to those such as ‘Supposed to be,’ one of my other personal favourites from the album; which is much slower and tells the story of a broken heart.

‘Grow Old With Me’, has been described by some as a very Chris Martin-esque style track, but that can only be seen as a complement surely? It’s a great opener for the album and sets the mood from the get go, starting off as a near acapella ballad to showcase his voice (and piano playing skills) and gradually building up the pace throughout. Followed by ‘Hold Me’ where we see another side to his voice in a more upbeat and passion filled track. In the next track which is his latest single ‘Another love’, Odell manages to let his emotion come through without the dramatics, the intensity but simplicity of the video alongside it helping it to do so.

All in all it might not be the most lively album you’ll ever hear, but when you just want to relax with a decent easy listening album by an undeniably talented vocalist, you really can’t go wrong with ‘Long Way Down’.

Tom Odell’s tour of the UK this October is on sale now – so grab tickets while you can, and while they’re at a bargain price of just £13.