GregHorrorShow: The Music Of 2012

2012 has been a pretty stellar year for music and a wealth of new bands have broken through. With streaming on Spotify (among others) blossoming, there has never been an easier way to uncover great, new music.

Here’s my pick of the best albums from 2012:

• M.Ward – ‘A Wasteland Companion’
• Lana Del Rey – ‘Born To Die’
• Jake Bugg – ‘Jake Bugg’
• Frank Ocean – ‘Channel Orange’
• Ellie Goulding – ‘Halcyon’
• Of Monsters And Men – ‘My Head Is An Animal’
• Niki And The Dove - ’Instinct’
• Ladyhawke – ‘Anxiety’
• Citizens! – ‘Here We Are’
• Gaggle – ‘From The Mouth Of The Cave’

I don’t think I could pick one favourite if I’m honest. M.Ward ‘A Wasteland Companion’ is a truly superb piece of work. Of Monsters And Men delivered a great set of tracks with an album that grabs you immediately.

‘Channel Orange‘, for me, is the best R&B album in years – this was one of the albums that soundtracked my summer in 2012. For something totally fresh and out of leftfield give the Gaggle album a spin. I saw them live earlier in the year and it was a great gig. The album does it’s best to convey that ‘live’ vibe and it’s a cool bunch of tracks.

Many have said it’s over-produced but I loved the Lana Del Rey album, it’s pure pop and very well written. Jake Bugg is a stunning talent and still so young. He is getting the recognition he deserves and his album is one you should definitely check out.

Albums that didn’t make the top ten but deserve an honorable mention would be Django Django‘s ‘Django Django’ (wonderful Hot Chip-esque pop), The Maccabees ‘Given To The Wild’, Cast Of Cheers ‘Family’, Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs ‘Trouble’ (worth checking out even if you don’t like electronic stuff), 2:54 ’2:54′, ‘Give You Ghost’ Policia, Theme Park ‘Theme Park’ (I dare you to listen to this and not wish it was summer!), Two Door Cinema Club ‘Beacon’, Soundgarden ‘Been Away Too Long’ (a real return to form in my opinion) and Kindness ‘Kindness’ (barring a poor cover choice of ‘Anyone Can Fall In Love’ this is great).

It would be remiss of me, given the gaming content on this blog, not to mention a couple of outstanding game scores from 2012. I would highly recommend checking out Health‘s ‘Max Payne 3′ score (here) and also the awesome ‘Drive’-inspired ‘Hotline Miami‘ soundtrack (here). High quality stuff.

Once again I’ve collated my favourite tracks into a Spotify playlist which can be found here if you’re interested:

My tracks of 2012 (in no order) are as follows:

• ‘Family’ – Cast Of Cheers
• ‘National Anthem’ – Lana Del Rey
• ‘Black, White and Blue’ – Ladyhawke
• ‘True Romance’ – Citizens!
• ‘To Be The Best’ – Tenacious D
• ‘Lightning Bolt’ – Jake Bugg
• ‘Me and My Shadow’ – M.Ward
• ‘Little Talks’ – Of Monsters and Men
• ‘Somebody’ – Niki And The Dove
• ‘American Dream Pt II’ – Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs
• ‘Boy’ (Hostage Remix) – Nina Nesbitt
• ‘Default’ – Django Django
• ‘Dark Star’ – Policia
• ‘Super Rich Kids’ – Frank Ocean
• ‘Jamaica’ – Theme Park
• ‘Lovers Of The Light’ – Mumford And Sons
• ‘Sleep Alone’ – Two Door Cinema Club
• ‘Figure 8′ – Ellie Goulding
• ‘House Of Balloons’ – Weeknd
• ’212′ – Azealia Banks
• ‘Pickup Truck’ – Willy Mason

It’s even more difficult to pick your favourite track than it is album but the one that has bought me the most joy this year is definitely ‘Me and My Shadow‘ by M.Ward. It’s just such a great song – nice structure and the introduction of the female vocal in the chorus is a great touch.

I saw some really good gigs this year. I already mentioned Gaggle above and I was lucky enough to see Nina Nesbitt at Dingwall’s in Camden, I suspect she’ll have a big year ahead in 2013.

Some of my other favourites were Of Monsters And Men at Scala, which was brilliantly intimate and M.Ward who had a great, tight band with him and put on a great show at Koko.

I enjoyed Michael Kiwanuka at Sheperd’s Bush Empire but that night was stolen by support act Jake Bugg, who was the best artist I saw live in 2012. The sheer effortlessness of Bugg’s performance was insane as he rocketed his way the set. Amazing stuff.

So there we go – check out the playlist (link here again) and let me know what you think – and what you’ve been listening to/loving in 2012 – in the comments below.

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7 x 7 Link Award

I have been bestowed with the honour of receiving the 7×7 Link Award from the lovely The Warning Sign.

I don’t often get involved with this type of thing but as a break from the reviews I’ve been putting up recently – here goes!

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THE RULES:

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1. Tell everyone something that no one else knows about you.

2. Link to one of the posts that I personally think best fits the following categories: Most Beautiful Piece, Most Helpful Piece, Most Popular Piece, Most Controversial Piece, Most Surprisingly Successful Piece, Most Underrated Piece, and Most Pride-Worthy Piece.

3. Pass the award on to seven other bloggers.

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PART ONE:

In my younger days I once played a full 62 lap race on a Formula 1 game in one sitting – my knees literally cracked when I went to get out of the chair. Not a healthy attitude to gaming, although it was a one off!

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PART TWO:

1) Most Beautiful Piece: In terms of content I would say my Great Game Openings piece – some of those are stunningly gorgeous.

2) Most Helpful Piece: My Top 50 Single Player Games remains very popular and hopefully is still helpful to people looking to pick up some games for offline action.

3) Most Popular Piece: My Killzone 2 review went down really well and still gets plenty of views to this day.

4) Most Controversial Piece: Not a specific piece but any ‘Top’ lists usually garner some feedback on what people felt should’ve been in the list. Certainly not a bad thing.

5) Most Surprisingly Successful Piece: My review of Dante’s Inferno – the original prose as opposed to the game. Up there among my most viewed posts – still surprised by that everytime it pops up!

6) Most Underrated Piece: Sad to see that my end of year Music round up from 2011 has only had a handful of views, although it’s not a great surprise as I’m mainly a gaming blog.

7) Most Pride-Worthy Piece: Thankfully my most pride worthy was also a popular one! I really worked hard on my Top 100 Games ever articles.

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PART THREE:

Pass the award on to seven other bloggers: some of these guys haven’t blogged in a while so I’m hoping this might give them a little kick start

1) Beyond The D-Pad

2) Stacey Storey

3) renxkyoko’s space

4) What Now?

5) That’s Just Me

6) Liam’s Lions Outlook

7) Action Flick Chick.

GregHorrorShow: The Music of 2011

2011 has been a bumper year for music with lots of strong albums and plenty of great tracks.

Here are my recommendations:

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ALBUMS

• ‘Circuital’ – My Morning Jacket
• ‘A Creature I Don’t Know’ – Laura Marling
• ‘Yuck’ – Yuck
• ‘On A Mission’ – Katy B
• ‘Welcome Reality’ – Nero
• ‘Volume 2′ – She and Him
• ‘A Different Type Of Fix’ – Bombay Bicycle Club

Katy B, who had one of my singles of last year, dropped her album early in the year and what a great one it was. Like taking a trip back to my younger days And that trend of old skool 90′s style tunage continued with Nero – although they added a huge dubstep influence as well.

Laura Marling returned again with ‘A Creature I Don’t Know’ which is another wonderful slice of folk. She and Him ‘Volume 2′ arrived last year but I only heard it in the summer so it makes my list (and if you’re feeling festive their Christmas album is great as well).

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TRACKS

• ‘DJ Ease My Mind’ – Niki And The Dove
• ‘Goldstar’ – Cashier No.9
• ‘Old Pine’ – Ben Howard
• ‘Blue Eyes’ – Ladyhawke
• ‘Scarlet’ – 2:54
• ‘Be Your Man’ – Willy Moon
• ‘Pelican’ – The Maccabees
• ‘Young Blood’ – Naked And Famous
• ‘L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N.’ – Noah And The Whale
• ‘Holdin’ On To Black Metal’ – My Morning Jacket
• ‘Crush On You’ – Nero
• ‘Down With The Trumpets’ – Rizzle Kicks

Wow so much awesome stuff to get through – where to start? Well while Ladyhawke is poised to return in 2012 I was lucky enough to hear some new tracks with the stand out for me being ‘Blue Eyes’ – check out this link to see a live performance.

Rizzle Kicks, who were astounding live – definitely check them out, had a smash with ‘Down With The Trumpets’ and Naked and Famous ’Young Blood’ was everywhere at one stage. Willy Moon looks like one to watch, with his retro, 50′s sound. And check out his dance moves.

In terms of other new bands I’d recommend both Niki and The Dove and Cashier No.9, along with 2:54. My Morning Jacket struck gold in my opinion with ‘Holdin’ Onto Black Metal’ but at the moment I am loving the new Maccabees track ‘Pelican’.

Like last year I’ve put together as many of these tracks as possible on Spotify, so if you have that then head over HERE to have a listen through.

So there we go some tunes for you to check out, as usual throw any recommendations you have my way in the comments.

GregHorrorShow: The Music of 2010

So it’s time for the musical instalment of my look back at the year.

I’ve broken this down into tracks and albums, with recommendations for each – in no particular order:

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ALBUMS

 

• Ellie Goulding – ‘Lights’
• Laura Marling – ‘I Speak Because I Can’
• Kanye West – ‘My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy’
• The Courteeners – ‘Falcon’
• Johnny Flynn – ‘Been Listening’
• Red Dead Redemption OST
• Mumford And Sons – ‘Sigh No More’
• Detroit Social Club – ‘Existence’

Lots of great albums this year, with Laura Marling and Ellie Goulding being stand outs for me – along of course with the Red Dead Redemption soundtrack. Kanye West makes a late appearance with what could be, in my opinion, his best album yet ‘My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.’ The Courteeners and Detroit Social Club bring a little UK swagger to proceedings, it’s been a great year for UK music overall.

 

TRACKS

 

• Katy B – ‘Katy On A Mission’
• Eminem Feat. Pink – ‘Won’t Back Down’
• Jose Gonzalez – ‘Far Away’
• B.o.B Feat. Hayley Williams – ‘Airplanes’
• Blood Red Shoes – ‘Don’t Ask’
• Ellie Goulding – ‘Starry Eyed’ (Jakwob Remix)
• Taio Cruz – ‘Dynamite’
• Jamie Woon – ‘Night Air’
• Metric – ‘Help, I’m Alive’
• Mumford And Sons – ‘Little Lion Man’
• Fan Death – ‘Phantom Sensation’
• Interpol – ‘Barricade’
• Crystal Castles Feat. Robert Smith – ‘Not In Love’
• Johnny Flynn – ‘Barnacled Warship’
• Chase and Status Feat. Liam Bailey – ‘Blind Faith’
• Detroit Social Club – ‘Kiss The Sun’ 

Again some great stuff out this year but my track of the year has to be Katy B ‘Katy On A Mission.’ Totally reminds me of my younger days listening to dance music and this track presses all the right buttons for me. I’m a Paramore fan anyway so with Hayley Williams featuring on B.o.B’s ‘Airplanes‘ I was always likely to give that a spin.

Eminem was back on form and his track ‘Won’t Back Down’ with Pink was the highlight of his album for me.

Best remix has to go to Jakwob for his huge mix on Ellie Goulding’s ‘Starry Eyed.’ Incidentally Ellie was the best gig I’ve seen this year – at Shepherd’s Bush Empire she put on a great show.

Taio Cruz wouldn’t normally be my first choice but ‘Dynamite’ is a great tune. I know I’m late on Metric as that was last year but I heard it in 2010 and if you haven’t heard any of their stuff check them out – a vastly underated band.

Fan Death could be one to watch, ‘Phantom Sensation’ is a brilliant little track. A touch of genius from Crystal Cstles to get Robert Smith involved – consequently ‘Not In Love’ comes off as a stunning tune.

‘Blind Faith’ by Chase and Status, with the vocal talents of Liam Bailey, is a haunting track with a great sound and likewise ‘Night Air’ by Jamie Woon delivers something different.

Overall a strong mix of genres and tracks have meant 2010 has been another brilliant year for music.

I’ve put together as many of these tracks as possible on Spotify, so if you have that then head over HERE to have a listen through.

Roll on 2011!

So there we go some tunes for you to check out, as usual throw any recommendations you have my way in the comments.

Anvil – Review (Film)

Anvil tells the true story of two hard rocking friends, Steve “Lips” Kudlow and Robb Reiner,who have been in the band Anvil since they were 14.

Despite sharing the stage with Bon Jovi & Whitesnake in 1980′s, and influencing a generation of bands from Metallica to Anthrax, Anvil are the forgotten men of rock.

The film sees the band struggling through a succession of small, badly organized gigs that often end up with them not getting paid.

Anvil really is a story about friendship and hope – Lips believes in the band so much, even after investing 40 odd years in it, that it is always feels like salvation is just around the corner… what they often get is a kick in the balls.

The music is good in my opinion, if you like your rock hard then you’ll enjoy this and I was humming ‘Metal On Metal’ for a few days afterwards.

Anvil is a great film, it does have a positive message and some warm moments but it’s an emotional rollercoaster as much of the film shows the hardship and effect of being on the road for so long with so little success.

It reminds me in many ways of a music based version of The Wrestler. Aging band tries one last ditch attempt at making the big time. On the plus side as this is a true story and not fiction, hopefully the success of the film will bring Anvil the good times they deserve.

Rating: 8/10

GregHorrorShow Music Awards 2009

It’s been a busy year for music, what with the 80′s revival marching on and the re-ermergence of pop here in the UK (though I’m sure some would say it’s never been away )

Without further ado, here are the awards for 2009:

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BEST NEWCOMER

WINNER: La Roux

This was a pretty closely fought one actually, as Florence & The Machine also made a big splash in 2009. But in the end Elly Jackson and co. take the gong.

RUNNERS UP:

Florence & The Machine

Amazing Baby

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BEST VIDEO

WINNER: ‘Warriors Dance’ – The Prodigy

This Corin Hardy directed gem tell the story of three cigarette packets who start a rave in a shop with other packets – cause a fire and then escape leaving the rest of packets to dance in the flames. Brilliant.

RUNNERS UP:

‘Fire’ – Kasabian

‘Bulletproof’ – La Roux

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BEST LIVE PERFORMANCE

WINNER: La Roux (Koko – May 2009)

This was another tight one because Florence and Madeleine Peyroux were such fantastic performers but I had to give it to La Roux for the atmosphere as well as the performance. See my original write up HERE.

RUNNERS UP:

Florence & The Machine (Bloomsbury Ballroom – May 2009)

Madeliene Peyroux (Barbican – April 2009)

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BEST COMPILATION ALBUM

WINNER: ‘Motown 50′ (Motown)

Motown. What a label. It’s not until you sit down and listen to these stunning tracks that you realise just how good these bands were: Diana Ross and The Supremes, The Four Tops, The Temptations, The Commodores and many many more. Most definitely worth checking out.

RUNNERS UP:

‘The Boat That Rocked’ OST (Mercury)

‘Common People – Brit Pop: The Story’ (Universal)

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BEST REMIX

WINNER: ‘In For The Kill’ (Let’s Get Skreamy Remix) – La Roux

Another award for La Roux although the credit here goes solely to Skreamy, who creates a dark electro tinged version of the band’s Top 10 hit ‘In For The Kill’. The entire thing leads to a breakbeat in the last minute which is superb.

RUNNERS UP:

‘Rabbit Heart’ (Jamie T Remix) – Florence & The Machine

‘Starry Eyed’ (Jakwob Remix) – Ellie Goulding

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GREGHORRORSHOW’S ONE TO WATCH FOR 2010

WINNER: Jonathan Jeremiah

Another tough one to choose as the runners up are so good as well. But Jonathan Jeremiah takes it for having a voice the like of which I haven’t heard in a long time. It reminds me of people like Neil Diamond and Jonathan Edwards. Check out his myspace for more.

RUNNERS UP:

Pete Lawrie

Ellie Goulding

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BEST SINGLE

WINNER: ‘Bulletproof’ – La Roux

‘Bulletproof’ is one of those great songs that you just can’t get out of your head. Whether it’s the verse or the chorus, I found it stuck in my cranium more times than I care to remember and the fact that I didn’t mind says a lot about it.

RUNNERS UP:

‘Warriors Dance’ – The Prodigy

‘Daniel’ – Bat For Lashes

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BEST ALBUM

WINNER: ‘La Roux’ – La Roux

Chock full of great tunes and that includes the stuff that hasn’t been released as singles, La Roux’s debut album was one that didn’t leave my car stereo for the majority of the summer. Whether or not La Roux end up being one hit wonders (which I hope doesn’t happen) this is an album that is a fantastic listen.

RUNNERS UP:

‘Invaders Must Die’ – The Prodigy

‘Two Suns’ – Bat For Lashes

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BEST ARTIST

WINNER: La Roux

Couldn’t really be anyone else after taking best single and best album… so La Roux make it a clean sweep, taking the award for best artist of 2009. It takes a lot to win me over so much but a great album, strong singles and a brilliant gig certainly did the trick!

RUNNERS UP:

Florence & The Machine

The Prodigy

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So there we go, music is done and dusted – only the big hitters left: TV, Film and Games!

Music – “Takin’ You Back To The Old Skool”

It’s amazing how music can bridge the gap between the past and now.

Doesn’t matter whether it’s months or years there is a song that ‘takes you back.’

I read a great book called “Your Brain On Music” by Dan Levitin – it explains how music recognition works within the brain and reveals the amazing fact that an imprint of every song you’ve ever heard is in your brain – just waiting to be reactivated.

It is a wonderfully interesting book if you love music and is definitely worth checking out.

But I digress…

I love that feeling, almost like a rush of adrenalin, when you hear a track you haven’t heard for ages and you’re suddenly catapulted back to the past.

For some tracks it’s a specific memory, I recently heard ‘Stop’ by The Spice Girls on TV and I remembered my mate’s Dad driving us home, with that on the radio (it was No.1 at the time I believe), the morning after all night session at another friend’s house.

Others are more generic memories – Bran Van 3000 ‘Drinking In LA’ popped up on random on my ipod a few weeks ago and I was back to the summer it was released. No specific memory, just a feeling of it being sunny and warm.

I remember having ‘Turtle Power’ by Partners In Kryme taped on VHS with loads of other stuff we recorded off the Chart Show on TV. Me and my brother played the video all the time and dancing/messing around. Happy days. I heard it for the first time in years last week and I was transported back.

I also find it amazing that small children can pick up on things so quickly and almost all of them love music. My 2 year old daughter now has her own playlist on Vidzone of stuff she likes. She loves dancing around to it: Abba ‘Mamma Mia’, La Roux ‘In For The Kill’, Prodigy ‘Warrior Dance’ – she sings along with everything.

One of the best musical inventions of recent times is the ipod and the advent of digital music.

I remember having tapes in my walkman on the bus to school and as we got more advanced Cd’s in my discman – but it seems so limited. Especially carrying round 10 cds! It sounds insane.

I have a playlist of stuff I’ve rated 4 or 5 stars – it has almost 3,000 tracks in it. There is nothing better than sticking than playlist on random and seeing what comes up.

Plenty of great old tracks to fire up the synapses and get the memories flowing!

Sharing The Web Love…

As usual I partook in some Follow Friday action on Twitter today, where people suggest other folks who are interesting/worth following and I thought maybe it would be a nice idea to extend this into sharing a handful of great websites I regularly use for info, entertainment etc.

I’m not doing this every week so don’t panic but here are some sites you may or may not have heard of:

 

http://www.gametrailers.com/ – My main source of gaming goodness – best place I’ve found for footage of new games (and it’s not all just trailers).

http://www.curiousonion.com/ – Really good gaming site with plenty of reviews and features.

http://breagrant.com/blog/ – The blog of actress Brea Grant (Heroes/Friday Night Lights) who always come up trumps with music recommendations and plenty more besides.

http://beyondthedpad.wordpress.com/ – A more personal gaming blog, very well written – the reviews are always unbiased and honest.

http://www.ps3vault.com/ – Great source of info for PS3 matters, lots of reviews/features etc.

http://actionflickchick.com/superaction/ – Only recently discovered ActionFlickChick but her reviews are great and she has some really interesting features with stuntmen and the like.

http://zeonmusic.blogspot.com/ – A really good music blog, featuring loads of great tracks and some brilliant cover versions that are hard to find elsewhere.

http://www.aintitcool.com/ – A great source of film info, the original and still one of the best.

http://www.allmusic.com/ – If you need any music questions answered this is a great place to start. Sort of like a music wikipedia.

f*ckofffilm.com/ – *Warning* This site contains very strong language, that’s the point of it. Film reviews peppered with obscenities – my good friend Hollow Snake writes reviews for it.

http://www.gamefaqs.com/ – Stuck on a game? Gamefaqs is the place to head for help. With cheats and walkthroughs galore.

 

So there you go, check ‘em out and let me know if you’ve got any recommendations as well.

La Roux Tear Up Koko

Being a jaded music industry cynic  it’s not often I find myself caught up in the moment – especially at a gig by a new band.

But last night’s brilliant performance by La Roux at Koko gave me goosebumps. Literally.

Now I won’t pretend it was just the band, as awesome as Elly Jackson and her crew were, it was also the crowd reaction.

We’ve all been there – a gig by our favourite artist, they strike up the first notes of a hit record and the place goes wild. Cue goosebumps.

But working in the industry allows me to get the jump on this sometimes and I find myself in that situation with, in the case of La Roux, a band that I’m seeing live for the first time.

When they started ‘In For The Kill’ I thought the roof was gonna come off of Koko. It brings home the effect of music – how a great tune can lift your mood and make the day seem ok.

It’s nice to feel that from a new band. Obviously I’ve been listening to the tracks we’ve had in the office for months so am familiar with them but this isn’t about that as much as it is about feeling that moment – the connection between artist and audience.

As for La Roux, I’ll be interested to see what the full album is like – her voice is astounding and even the tracks I didn’t know sounded good, which bodes well.

La Roux’s debut album is out at the end of June and the latest single ‘Bulletproof’ is out now, so check them out and see what you think.

GregHorrorShow Playlist – April 2009

Well I thought it was about time I put togther some sort of playlist for you guys.

In the end I decided the best way to approach it, rather than a ‘hot new bands’ type of thing would be to put togther the stuff I’ve been listening to the last few weeks and see what you think.

So this includes old and new tracks, songs you’ve probably heard and some you may not have.

I put them into one long mix to try and escape the spectre of piracy – obviously the tracks in here are for you to check out, if you like them get the album off iTunes or get yourself down to a gig.

One last thing to note is I am showcasing great music (in my opinion) in this playlist I cannot ‘mix’ and I’m not a DJ. I’ve just segued the tracks to stop people ripping them off.

Enjoy!

GregHorrorShow April 09 Playlist:

1.  In For The Kill (Skream’s Let Get Ravey Mix) – LA ROUX
2.  You’ve Got The Love – FLORENCE AND THE MACHINE
3.  Sentimental Heart – SHE & HIM
4.  They Say – SCARS ON BROADWAY
5.  Dull Life – YEAH YEAH YEAHS
6.  You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me – DUSTY SPRINGFIELD
7.  Tiger Moutain Peasant Song – FLEET FOXES
8.  One Day Like This – ELBOW
9.  Gasoline – THE AIRBORNE TOXIC EVENT
10. No Pause – GIRL TALK
11. Paris Is Burning – LADYHAWKE
12. That’s The Reason – THE RAKES
13. My Turn – HOOBASTANK
14. Revival – SOULSAVERS

Here is the link to download, the mix is under 55mb and clocks in around 48 minutes:

GREGHORRORSHOW PLAYLIST – APRIL 2009

N..B. You may discover this page long after the link has expired, if you still want a copy of the mix drop me an e-mail at: greg_horror_show@yahoo.co.uk  and I’ll see if I can send it over.