Album Review – Battle for the Sun by Placebo

Battle for the Sun by Placebo

I almost didn’t review this album. I should begin by declaring my interest. No, I’m not Brian Molko – I’m just a huge fan and Placebo are probably damn close to being my favourite band. That said, I really haven’t enjoyed their previous two albums all that much. I have definitely preferred their earlier stuff.

So, all that disclosure brings us to Battle for the Sun. I have to say, I actually really like this album. A lot. I feel it takes them back to Without You I’m Nothing days in terms of accessibility and quality. I’d go as far as saying that this album will probably rank pretty highly amongst their back catalogue when the guys have hung up their instruments and removed the eyeliner. The tracks feel ‘classic’ or ‘old-school’ but that doesn’t do justice to the complex layering of instrumentation that accompanies Molko’s vocals. The more you listen to the album, the more you pick out as being actually rather quirky. See what you can spot

Alright, call me a Placebo Fan Boy if you like but I simply can’t give this anything other than very high praise indeed. I honestly believe all tracks stand up fine on the album but I have to give special mention to a few so I’d draw attention to Kitty Litter, Devil In The Details and Speak In Tongues.

Superb album – 9/10.

Album Review – Manners by Passion Pit

Manners by Passion Pit

Passion Pit’s previous EP, the precursor to this debut studio album, was called Chunk of Change and was simply fantastic. Tracks such as Sleepyhead and Better Things blew me away and, considering it had all been done on a laptop without any real instrumentation, it was a great piece of work.

So, I approached listening to this album with a little trepidation. I knew the guys had gone into the studio and introduced real instruments. Would it still work? I think it does, although it also seems to lose something. Judging by other reviews I might be alone in that view though. I can handle it

Sleepyhead also appears on this album and is still my favourite track. Other notable tracks are Make Light, The Reeling and Seaweed Song.

Overall, I still like what I hear. I just miss the excessive falsetto parts and the bedroom production feel. 7/10

Album Review – Music For Men by Gossip

Music For Men by Gossip

I remember when hype first started to surround Gossip. Until then, they had gone about their business not really giving a damn about whether they achieved mainstream recognition or not. They had a loyal underground following and their bootleg live CDs were in demand. Personally, I was quite taken with Beth Ditto’s voice and liked how she could effortlessly move between singing touching ballads or shouting over the top of a cacophony of seemingly disjointed instrumentation.

Music For Men is the latest offering and features the production expertise of a certain Rick Rubin. For me, I think that is where the problem occurs. Sure, it’s a slickly produced album that holds together well but that is almost the antithesis of what Gossip previously represented. The appeal for many of us was the ramshackle feel that performances had and the energy that went into them. It now sounds like Ditto has become somewhat akin to Pat Benatar surrounded by synths. That is perhaps a tad unfair as I definitely don’t hate this album – I just don’t feel any passion in it. If I had to pick out a couple of tracks I’d go for Heavy Cross, a track that retains some punch, and Pop Goes The World, a track that is unashamedly ‘pop’ but actually seems to work. Overall – 6.5/10.

Album Review – Waxing Gibbous by Malcolm Middleton

Waxing Gibbous by Malcolm Middleton

Away from Arab Strap, Malcolm Middleton has been a busy boy since 2007 – having just released his 3rd solo album in 3 years. Cynics might say the punishing release schedule is to capitalize on his mini-fame following the campaign to make We’re All Going To Die a UK Christmas number one in 2007. Regardless of the reasoning behind his output, he is a vocalist I have a lot of time for. He retains the miserable overtones of Arab Strap but looks at the tragedies of life with more of a wry smile than a world-weary sigh.

The latest album demonstrates that Middleton is continuing to improve his songwriting with another accomplished bunch of verses. Rightly or wrongly though, I still feel his 2007 release, A Brighter Beat, hasn’t been surpassed yet. The new album contains plenty to be enthusiastic about (Red Travellin’ Socks is an immense song that I defy you to listen to without grinning, Shadows is well structured and Subset of the World is perfect for pondering life to) but it just doesn’t seem to all pull together quite as well as A Brighter Beat. By no means a poor album though – 7/10 from me.