Okkervil River: I Am Very Far [2011]

So it’s been a while. Hi there. I’ve been pretty busy, but not busy enough to justify such a long absence – I’m supposed to be doing one of these bastards a day! It’s been several. I’m aware of this.

So I’ve never heard of Okkervil River. Neither do I know what kind of music they play, really. I just selected them from Spotify’s homepage, making me a) lazy as fuck and b) exactly the kind of listener this band wants. Having paid for the privilege of being in the ‘featured’ section of Spotify, this band clearly want lazy, inattentive people like me to listen to their music. This sounds, on the first listen, rather generic, but in an overblown way. They were clearly going for the adrenaline-jab injection of pomp and circumstance that, in recent years, have propelled bands such as Muse, My Chemical Romance and Greenday from obscurity or from the fading light of their careers (in the case of Greenday) into what industry insiders refer to as ‘the big time’.

Big miss. This band seems neither established nor distinctive enough to try this little wheeze. The bands referred to before (who were, it must be stressed, just off the top of my head) broke into, or back into, the ‘big time’ with albums that defined them by over-exaggeration. Muse: Absolution. They then began a process of ensuring each album became more and more exaggerated until they now resemble little more than a mockery of themselves. My Chemical Romance : The Black Parade. The band were so terrified of the implications of such bombasticity that they attempted to tour as The Black Parade, seriously considered breaking up for good, and are currently dragging their heels over releasing a new album, obviously (and rightly) worried that people will be listening out for the same bombast that catapulted them from half-in-half-out fame to international renown and status. Greenday’s: American Idiot is a slightly different example, for this was a band seeking to redefine their sound into something befitting the huge stadiums they were playing, but not filling. The follow-up was a similarly theatrical affair that many regard as being lacklustre. This was untrue, as the album was no less grandiose, just less of a jump from before. And I suppose this is my point. If you’re going to go so over-the-top in the hope of breaking in, or back into, the big time, you better be damn sure it’s the right decision.

Problem is, this band’s shit compared to the examples above. There’s no defining sound, and the bombast (which seems to be my word of the day) is useless due to the paucity of genuinely stirring music. This sounds, if I’m pushed, a little like a Diet version of the Killers. Imagine that.

‘The Valley’ starts off the album, and is probably the best song on there. The valley referred to is of broken rock dreams. This would be a poignant image were it not peddled by a band that is so blind to the irony of what they are singing. Good music and a pretty racy start move this song away from this problem though. There’s nothing really of note until ‘We Need a Myth’ – more power, more like the Killers, more of a shame. This band clearly has a lot of misdirected talent. Shame. A good finale redeems the song.

Next of note is, I suppose, ‘Your Past Life As a Blast’. This is not the best song on the album, but it’s probably the one I’d listen to again. It’s very atmospheric, and the vocals are genuinely, interestingly, good-sounding and well-written, much like the one after it, ‘Wake And Be Fine’. The last song is ‘The Rise’ and it’s quite an intriguing listen. Brandon Flowers still seems to be balls deep in this man’s anus, but there’s hints of the band as they were in here which stand cheek-by-jowl with dreadful, unforgivable, howlers. Clearly intended to be a bittersweet, dreamy last song, it comes out as a self-indulgent mess.

So. Not a fan, really. Although I may give Spoitify’s ‘featured’ section a try again though. It’s fun getting this annoyed.

The Mars Volta: De-loused in the Comatorium [2003]

I thought I’d give The Mars Volta’s Deloused in the Comatorium a go due to the fact that someone played me a song of theirs  once when I was about 16 and I hated it. Since then, I’ve avoided the band like they’re some kind of  rare tropical disease. Things (after the rather strange intro) are kicked off with ‘Inertiatic ESP’ – a pretty middle-of-the-road sounding song from an emo band. I’m reminded of The Used here – hopefully this album’ll yield some greater fruit. ‘Roulette Dares (The Haunts Of)’ puts me straight though. It’s a twisting, noodling epic at nine and a half minutes long. As you’d expect it from a song of such length, it goes through many phases, and I’m being struck by the singer’s versatility. His quieter singing is as competent as his belting, and the band support him in ways that are paradoxically familiar-sounding and new-sounding. It feels like these guys think they’re doing something new, but aren’t, essentially.

There’s a haunting sound to the beginning of the next one, ‘Tira Me A Las Aranas’ which after about a minute of strange pings and echoes turns into what is actually a pretty good song, ‘Drunkship of Lanterns’. The singer’s cries of ‘NoboDIEEEESSSSSS heard’ are suitably ethereal to press some buttons. Again, the man’s ably supported by his band, who manage to consistently surprise the listener with some odd wrong-sounding riffage that fits the tone well. There’s some great guitar support at the end of the song, punchy, ace. Which, unfortunately, descends into weirdness once again.

‘Eriataka’ is a slower-starting song that is a real buildup to some further, more lovely-sounding and fast-paced weirdness. There’s a lovely guitar bit in this one, justifies the song to me completely. The vocalist and the guitar player really work together fantastically on this one, being lilting and dreamy one minute, urgent and frustrated the next. To quote Alan Partridge, this is ‘lovely stuff’. There’s a sense of the apocalyptic about this one that I like a lot.

There’s another long’un on the way, in  the form of ‘Cicatriz ESP’. Nearly thirteen minutes long. I mean, I’m all for epic-length stuff a la Metallica’s ‘Battery’. But it has to feel justified, and while this track has its moments, this just doesn’t seem worth it.’This Apparatus Must Be Unearthed’ is next, with some pretty unsettling-sounding guitars and a generally generically The Mars Volta sound. The addition of the singer wailing through a can is unlikely to pull me in. THe hook is good, though: ‘waiting for soooo long waiting for soooomeone to’ etc. I’m bored. There. I said it. This album’s been fine so far but they always seem to go back to the exact same sound, one that I’ve heard many times before in the 90s and from No Doubt.

The last two track I can’t be arsed with. Sorry The Mars Volta, you had you chance, but if you’ve saved the best for last, I’ll never know. Goodbye, and long may you push the overhyped cart of your ‘blue print for the future’ (Kerrang Magazine. They gave the album five K’s. I’d have taken a step back and demanded that firstly a half-K be invented and then that it be added to the three K’s I’d have given this album.

Trouble: Manic Frustration [1992]

Absolutely amazing album. For the sake of decency, I’ll go one, but I’ve fallen for this band hard. They market themselves (or are marketed) as stoner rock, but they’re actually a pretty good metal/rock band.

The opener, ‘Touch the Sky’ is classic rawk fare, but it’s the second track that got me. A hugely sarcastic ‘apology’ for for the band’s behaviour, ”Scuse Me’ is a total triumph. Love it. I’m smiling so much listening to this, like some kind of pirate abortionist at a Halloween party. You know. He has a hook. Etc.

‘The Sleeper’ deserves to stand next to any famous metal track one might name – ‘Master of Puppets’, ‘The Trooper’, ‘Rock and Roll (Part 2)’ Etc. So they bear comparison to Metallica, Iron Maiden and Gary Glitter. Which is fine, right? I demand anyone that reads this to listen to this album if you’re remotely into metal. Honestly, give it a go. What harm could it do?

The next one, ‘Fear’, is pretty generic to be quite honest (other than some great dand-la-dan-la-da-dadaaaaa guitar), but it’s really the next track you want to watch. ‘Rain’ shows the band’s softer side, and, to my ears, better side. As in (as will be LOVED later, ‘Breathe’) the band take a load off, and just gel slightly better than they do as a metal ensemble, If I have a quibble, it’s too cheesy. Again, superb guitar-playing.

Look essentially everything else is either metal (ie tracks one and two) or not ( ie the previous track). It’s the last song, though that makes me sweat from my willy.

‘Breathe’ is the last song on the album, and it throws in such a shocker it’s unbelievable. What starts out as a terrible Billy Idol song-ish kind of sound morphs towards what I consider the greatest words in music. They are by Donovan. Trouble gives us, the lucky listener, a full two minutes of the best bit from his famous song ‘Atlantis’. “WAY DOWWWWWWWN/ BELOOOOOWWWWW THE OCEAAAAAANNNN/ WHEEEEEEEEERE I WAANNNNNNA BE/ SHE MAY BEEEEEE/ DOOOOOWN BELOWWW THE OCEANAAAAAANN etc etc.

Look, it’s good, ok.

Promise.

Chase and Status: No More Idols [2011]

I liked this a lot, despite assuming I wouldn’t. I’ve been gradually releasing that, alongside my experimental listenings becoming increasingly generic, I haven’t exactly been pushing myself recently. So here we go, here’s my take on ‘No More Idols’.

The first song, ‘No Problem’ is a really listenable one. Brilliantly put together around the hook ‘It’s no problem for me, it’s a problem for YOU’, it got me into the album brilliantly and gently offering me a foretaste of the attitude and general sound of the band. It’s good that whoever’s singing is taking a back seat too. The drops on the second track, ‘Fire In Your Eyes’ are astounding. Rushy build-ups and sheer drops are in brilliant contrast to the slow and relatively stripped-down bit in the middle that serves to reinforce the coming breakdown. I like this track and can imagine having a good stomp around to it!

An initially different, sing-y, slower-sounding beginning sets up the gradual speed-up of the beat until this is a full-blown ‘song’. It’s kind of annoying, the man singing on the top, to be honest. I like this song far less that the other two – if feels lazier lyrically and musically than the others. Quite an achievement, considering the first track’s consisted of one sentence. The next one, too, has a guest singer that feels like he doesn’t belong there. ‘Hypest Hype’ seems symptomatic of what I think the problem’s going to be with his album. The guest singer, in this case someone called Tempa T., always makes his or her presence felt, and it wrecks the music. The first song on the album, ‘No Problem’ i loved due to it being just Chase and Status. That can’t be said of any other track on this album other than ‘Hocus Pocus’, which is my personal favourite. Ok complaint over – the end of ‘Hypest Hype’ is actually quite good once they’ve got rid of the the ‘Soul Sistah’ that keeps trying to get involved.

‘Hitz’ is immediately likeable, although the assistance of Tinie Tempah adds a lot too. It’s an adrenaline-inducing number, another that I can imagine getting jiggy to. Lovely morsel of a lyric fron Mr. Tempah here: ‘She called me a chauvinist but she can’t even’t spell it’. ‘Heavy (Chase and Status vs. Dizzee Rascal)’ is perhaps the best fusion of talent on this album. Dizzee’s rapping actually makes the song so much better, but there’s still not enough Chase and Status in there. I want more power!

Those songs where C&S go in a more reggae direction, as in ‘Brixton Briefcase’ are really good too. More for the chilling, this one, but it has its whammier poundier moments. Another brilliant marriage of styles, with Cee Loo Green’s contribution bringing some reggae-soul influence to the table.

‘Hocus Pocus’, the only remaining C&S-only song on the album, is a corker. Rushy, bassy, and by far the standout for dubstep fans, it’s making me long to crank up the volume! Again, based around very few words, but with some really cool musical bells and whistles that work together in a pretty exhilarating way. It’s good, very good. Actual guitars start the next one, ‘Flashing Lights’, feat. Sub Focus and Takura Tendayi is as mediocre as fuck. The thing that I’ve decided I like about this album is that on most of the songs there’s a big ‘payoff moment’ – a drop, a breakdown, whatever. But on this one there isn’t one that’s good enough to justify the other bollocks on the track.. So it doesn’t count as a good song. That said, the payoff’s nearly good enough on this one.

The lads team up with White Lies on thisnext attempt, ‘Embrace’, and it sounds exactly like you’d expect it to. Not a good combination and NO PAYOFF. On a side note, this album can’t end quickly enough for me. I’m sick of it. I love the tracks ‘No Problem’ and ‘Hocus Pocus’ so far, and Dizz. and Temp. did ok, but this one’s shit. Feels like filler, and probably is. You can say the same about the next two songs, ‘Time’ (annoying collaboration from some rent-a-sassy bitch ‘singer’) and ‘Midnight Caller’ (slightly more arty version of same, with the word ‘lover’ pronounced lur-hur-vah).

The last one, though, is rather a rather interesting collaboration with Plan B. Bit more C&S than Plan B in this one, but then it turns out Plan B can perform in a supporting role pretty well. I think the difference is that they’re actually a good band. (Ignore all similar remarks in future).

So yeah, really good. Could have done with a few less songs – I bored of this quickly, despite the genuinely interesting mix of collaborations. Stoner rock review tomorrow.

Color Haze: All [2008]

Right then. The rather confusingly-named All by the world of stoner rock’s best kept secrets, Colour Haze, is nothing short of a triumph.

The form is perfect – almost mathematical adherence to structure – but there is a just a flavour of 60s and 70s-inspired hippy-ness in there too. The tempo is pleasingly downbeat, the guitars are heavy but slow, though yield to more acoustic sounds when the situation/mood demands. I recommend this to anyone chilling with a spliff. You know who you are.

It’s hard to say who this band’s inspired by. Kyuss/QOTSA, certainly. But also Led Zep, the Beatles, Creedence, My Morning Jacket… I could go on. But I probably won’t.

The whole album just lends itself to kicking back with a chilled beverage of your choice and immersing yourself in the peculiar sound that they seem to be going for. Driving, melodic, lilting at times but with a constant thrusting combination of a bassist and a drummer who seem to know each other inside out. It’s a great experience.

It’s hard to describe standout songs, due to the fact that (as I’ve mentioned concerning previous reviews) this album just works so well as an album. It’s hard to imagine anyone selecting a single to release, for example. Each song seems to meld into the next and somehow makes it’s presence felt in that next song. As I’ve said, hard to describe. Worth a listen though, if you’ve got an hour or so to spare and feel like losing yourself for a bit.

Apologies for the lack of reviewage – once again, things have caught up with me and I’ve been unavailable in the eventide, which is when I do most of these reviews.

Ta ta.

Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels Sountrack [1999]

Right then! It’s been a while, then, right? Apologies for the delay, essay deadlines and subsequent messiness slighly impinged on the whole ‘write something every day’ remit. Sorry.

Anyway, I thought I’d start with this: i loved the film and this soundtrack when I heard it absolutely blew me away. It’s so modern, but so classic at the same time. Think the Pulp Fiction soundtrack, but in melting-pot London. It’s just amazing. The phrase ‘reminiscent of a bygone era’ is bandied around too frquently at the moment, but this is a true classic –it does what is (to me) difficult. It makes London cool.

‘Hundred Mile High City’ is the opener, and what a song. Dirty, fun and thoroughly raucous throughout. Bit it’s the other songs on the album that really mark it out as a classic to me. ‘Walk This Land’ by the EZ Rollers was great, as were ‘Spooky’ by Dusty Springfield and, of course, ‘I Wanna Be Your Dog’ by the Stooges. All brilliant though.

What made the album perfect for me was the random insertions of lines from the film. Example: "A shit! I’ve been shot!" (other gangster) "I don’t fucking believe this. Can everyone please stop getting shot!"

Genius.

A Quick Update…

Hi there guys, sorry I haven’t posted in a while, but I’m balls deep in an essay nightmare that refuses to end. My final papers are in on the 26th of April. On which day I will be getting drunk. Very drunk, as it’s the day my final student loan also arrives.

I’ll try and post a few updates before the 26th, but I’m making no promises – this just isn’t a good time for me to be typing anything other than my essays. ‘Representations of Opium Addiction’ (8000wds), ‘The Problem of the Colour-line in the 20th-Century’ (8000wds), ‘The Influence of Laurence Sterne on Salman Rushdie’ (8000wds) and another, as yet unchosen, question on Sterne (4000wds). If you’re interested.

This is what my laptop looks like to me now:

Pulled Apart By Horses: Pulled Apart By Horses [2010]

As you might be able to make out from the album art (I can’t), this band’s called Pulled Apart By Horses. They’re very similar to the last album I did, ‘Call Me Dragon’. However, they’re not as experimental and have a better sense of humour musically. It probably comes from the apparent fact that they don’t seem to take themselves or their audience very seriously. Good thing they’re talented, really.

‘Back To The Fuck Yeah’ is a good opener, and it tells you pretty much all you need to know about the band. Heavy riffs, shouty (rather than screamy) lyrics. Oh and breakdowns, awesome awesome breakdowns. ‘The Crapsons’ follows this blueprint too, but it’s in ‘High Five, Swan Dive, Nose Dive’ that one can get a true sense of the band’s agenda. All the song is is someone screaming ‘High five, swan dive, nose dive’ and then asking ‘don’t you know that my balls on fire?’. All this over a crunchy, powerful riff. But it’s at the end of the song that you begin to get these guys. There’s a repeated riff with accompanying accelerating drum beat that is a brilliant buildup to a drop. When it comes, it’s like being hit by a truck. EXCEPT AWESOME.

There’s a bit more of the same in ‘Yeah Buddy’, but this is a more radio-friendly kind of music somehow. The band pull out all the stops in ‘I Punched A Lion In The Throat’. Not only is the title everything that appeals to me as a man, but it actually carries over into the music. The shouted ‘I punched a lion in the throat, punched a lion in the throat, punched a lion in the throat, punched a lion in theeeeee’ makes me feel like I can punch my way through a housing estate. The random insertions of the phrase ‘ultimate pow-eeeerr, maximum bite’ is funny too. I’m just gonna put the lyrics here. This should be compulsory listening for every man during the Great Festival of Manuary.

One man’s adventure ends
Where another man’s adventure begins
With the wind in his hair and the strength of ten bears
He bites whatever the future brings
The mountain range beckoned his pride
A kingdom with mysteries inside
The beasts paved the way for the victor day
As our hero began one last fight
I punched a lion in the throat
Ultimate power!
Maximum life!

I love this band. The next one, ‘I’ve Got A Guest Pass To Rory O’Hara’s Suicide’, makes me chuckle too. There’s something life-affirming about having a man scream ‘DON’T PAY TAX’ repeatedly at you for almost all of a song. ‘Get Off My Ghost Train’ is the same. There’s brilliant, anarchic attitude that really comes out in this band’s music. The next two, ‘Meat Balloon’ and ‘Moonlit Talon’ are very much more of the same, with the notably anthemic chorus of the latter:

Everybody said the fall will break your leeeeeegs
What’s left now is another man’s dreeeeeeeegs
‘Cause everybody’s telling you you’ve gone insane!
No-one ever thought you’d end up this waaaaaay

Perfect. A great breakdown at the end of the song seals the deal. ‘The Lighthouse’ has a great foundation riff that makes me want to get in a moshpit somewhere and break something. ‘Den Horn’ has a great, chugging bassline that drives the song forwards well, which is good considering the song is over seven minutes long.

The last one, ‘E = MC Hammer’ is a fittingly testosterone-fuelled closing song. It’s hyperactive, powerful (in terms of voltage rather than emotion) and anthemic. This is just such a great band, I’m thrilled I found them. Although the next band I listen to is going to to have to be something that pushes my boundaries a little more – this is the exact kind of music I love, and I knew it before listening. Nice for a break though

These Monsters: Call Me Dragon [2010]

So… Basically I typed "You have to call me dragon" into Google because I was looking for something to do with a Stepbrothers quote. This album came up at the bottom and I thought I simply had to give them a listen.

This is an incredibly varied sound. I’ve tagged it as Rock, Metal, and Hardcore, but it doesn’t feel as if it is exclusively any of them. It’s incredibly listenable – quite dark, trippy at times, but with some amazing hooks and riffs. These guys are great guitar players, and they all jam together brilliantly.

The first song, ‘Call Me Dragon’, is an incredibly varied, vaulting number that goes through several phases. There’s no singing other than some screaming. By this I mean genuine shrieks and wails over the music – not some bender screamo-ing about his feelings, but a visceral howl that is deployed at fitting moments. Brilliant. The music is very riff-driven, and is quite a heavy sound given that the bassist knows how to make the guitarist’s sound stand out by going ‘bwaam’ at appropriate times. It’s a good, textured song, this, and somewhere along the twists and turns of the connected-up riffs I think I might have decided I love this band.

I love the lack of regard for having a vocalist. It’s quite an independent thing to do in their line of music, and I’m sure it’s held them back, but to be honest I don’t think they mind. Stubborn bastards. The second track, ‘Dirty Messages’ is a bit more of a private detective-style sound due to the addition, crazily, of a saxophone. It works fantastically as an idea – I’ve never heard the saxophone deployed in such a way before and it’s a pretty unique sound. Slightly reminiscent of some of the ska-punk that we all heard in the nineties, but heavier. Much heavier. And with no singer other than the hint of a scream occasionally – the man’s practically been mixed out. An argument with the band, perhaps? There’s a great ‘chorus’ in this song – any kid with a guitar would want to write something like this. It’s not overly showy, though, and doesn’t rely on a singer, but still manages to be a brilliant demonstration of how far good writing can get you. It reminds me, kinda, of a song performed by The Desert Sessions (you know, Josh Homme of QOTSA et al + drugs + desert. Result: album). In the song, entitled ‘Shepherd’s Pie’, they create an incredibly complex song through the singing of the phrase ‘shepherd’s pie’. There’s no instruments in it apart from a gently strummed guitar, but it works pretty well as a song – one person singing the ‘guitar’ part, one the ‘bass’ etc. It’s sort of the opposite to this music, where the guitars, and in this case, sax, eliminate the need for a singer.

The following song, ‘Who Is This Tall Sick Man’, starts with a scream and the wham of bassy guitars. Much darker, this one, but with a ferocious energy that I really like. There’s a great bit where all the instruments hold a note while the drums speed up further and further, injecting yet more energy. God this is a cool song. Actually, I’ve stumbled across a good way of describing the sound of this band. ‘Cool’. You hear it and, if you have roughly the same taste in music as me, you raise your eyebrows after being slapped in the face with a riff, and you say ‘…cool’.

‘Biggie and Tupac’ comes next, and is, predictably, no more concerning them than the last one was about a tall sick man. There’s an impressive, creepy use of samples – a TV documentary, a girl talking and a strange sort of echo all drift in and out over an apocalyptic drum beat. Good song, wish it was longer than 1:04 though! ‘Harry Patton’ is next, with a really distinctive sound. They’ve really made excellent use of the sax here, it adds a kind of smoky jazz-club vibe to their balls-out metal riffs. Could be a soundtrack to a spoof film about an East End of London gangster. Sort of like violent Pink Panther. The suspicious, ponderous basslines add to this effect.

The next one opens with some screeching static that is, somehow, harnessed by the band to create different tunes. There’s more violent Pink Panther in this one, ‘Space Ritual’ too, with quite a chaotic vibe coming from the sax and guitars. I like this one, but it could feel a little claustrophobic if not listened to without having got the vibe of the band by listening to all the tracks leading up to it – it might feel a little cluttered, out of context. Luckily this isn’t a problem for me! The sax really comes into its own on this song, even being allowed a semi-solo that adds heaps od atmosphere to the song before a suitably metal-tinged refrain that could be the sound of Satan’s blacksmith. A bit of screaming rounds it off nicely. Not a phrase I’ll often use.

‘Deaf Machine’ is a total corker. This is a totally new sound to me. The sax and guitars are integrated in such a brilliant way – this might be the future. It’s old and contemporary at the same time, and total genius. I don’t know whose idea it was to incorporate a saxophone into a hardcore/metal/rock band, but they deserve a clap on the back. It’s important to note, as well, that the sax never feels overdone – partly due to the fact that it’s not playing constantly. It’s this restraint that I think I like best about the band’s style.

Love, love, love.

Rob Dougan: Furious Angels [2001]

Apologies for the lack of reviews for a few day – I’ve been sweating my way through final essays and the prospect of writing an album review at the end of a frantic, terrified day has been a pretty upsetting concept for me. This is an album recommended to me by my friend Roz, same one that recommended I do Syriana’s Road To Damascus. We were discussing the Matrix Soundtrack and I mentioned I like ‘Clubbed To Death’ on it, when she said to give the source album a listen.

If you’ve heard ‘Clubbed To Death’, then much of this album will be pretty familiar-sounding to you – classical-tinged, dramatic, bassy techno that is a good deal more intelligent than others in the genre. The first song on the album, other than the introduction, is ‘Furious Angels’. It’s really interesting, it has lots of different phases and layers that all kind of melt into one another to form a rich, textured sound that sounds a little dramatic, a little melodramatic. The next song, ‘Will You Follow Me’, bears out this description, although there is far less techno in this one, leaving me to wonder if the Mr. Dougan isn’t just a classical artist in disguise. I don’t like the music, to be honest, when there’s not real evidence of him doing something with the classical side of his sound.

‘Left Me For Dead’ is a cool song though. A simple bassline, some soaring strings and some growled vocals all get involved and create a really moody, introspective sound that, while being quite gloomy, is raised by the passion that Dougan inserts into his singing, as well as the echoes that he occasionally chucks in. There’s some thing about the way he sings ‘You left me for dead’ and the echo goes ‘for dead, for dead, left me for dead’. The song simmers along for a few verse, and then really catches fire with the addition of a piano and some slightly more intense mixing. It’s really cool, I can imagine it in a film – anything other than The Matrix would be a bit of a push though. ‘I’m Not Driving Anymore’ is really similar to the previous one, with the addition of some ‘Clubbed To Death’-style staccato strings that add a kind of frantic hopelessness to the sound which I liked very much. It looks like, at this point, that ‘Will You Follow Me’ is a bit of a blip in Dougan’s music – he seems to like the combination of techno and classical more than just classical, which means he can be counted as me-friendly.

‘Clubbed To Death (Kuyaramino Version)’ is next, and although Spotify in their infinite wisdom made the track unavailable, I managed to track it down on my computer, so all is well. The addition of a woman singing ‘wo-eh-o-wah-a-ee’ in a high voice at the chorus brings some class to the already classy song. This song is ameliorated significantly by the frequent breakdowns and introduction of other instruments and sounds. The bassline and the drums act as a very useful anchor to this kind of experimentation. That said, the song is rigidly structured and feels incredibly tight.

The next one, ‘There’s Only Me’ returns to the introspective feel of the earlier songs, being a really rather melodramatic and moody version of ‘Will You Follow Me’, whereas the one after that, ‘Instrumental’, predictably irritates me. It’s not that the music isn’t well-written, it’s more that I’d just like this guy to pick a fucking side. Don’t give me music I really enjoy in the form of ‘Clubbed To Death’ and then follow it up with two pieces that are completely and utterly removed from the tone, style, origin, emotion etc of that song. They just feel like they’ve been surgically inserted like a pair of silicon knockers. I mean why create a hybrid classical-techno vibe only to spoil it by cramming the album full of classical which, frankly, makes me think of the film ‘Bambi’.

Thankfully, Mr Dougan finally starts singing again in ‘Nothing At All’. This is good, because I was about to lose patience with him completely. You may have noticed. I really liked ‘Nothing At All’. It’s got nothing much in common with anything I’ve heard before, although it feels faintly contemporary. A gently cascading piano instils a great sense of calm. ‘Adult contemporary’ is probably how some unimaginative record-label manager has labelled the song. This, and the song after, ‘Born Yesterday’ are my two favourites on the album.

‘Speed Towards Death’ is, in my mind, the best example of what Dougan is going for. Racy violins, dramatic use of lyrics and bassline and a good bit of classical singing at the end. They could have used this one in The Matrix, it would have fitted perfectly. The penultimate ‘full’ song, ‘Drinking Song’ evokes some Tom Waits-esque melancholy that is rich in a kind of, believe it or not, ‘sing-when-drunk-ability’. It would really be something to hear a whole football stadium sing this song – not so much because it’s anthemic, it’s just got a great, almost Irish sense of what is good in a drinking song. Sadness and hope. Nice.

There then comes a sort of musical break/intro to the last song, ‘Pause’. It’s pretty much just a sort of classical warm-up to ‘The One and the Same’, which is the final track on what’s been an interesting album. It’s pretty much like most of the others, to be honest, but it merits a listen because it absolutely oozes class that borders on the artificial. I mean, it’s so tight and polished, it sort of feels like a sad boyband song. I know, it’s a bit of a headfuck to be honest.