Dani's thoughts on...

French Wives – Feel Safe Small

Danielle Rowley — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 21:19:15 +0000

‘Happy indie pop’ best describes French Wives‘ new EP, Feel Safe Small.

The Glasgow band kicks off the EP with Big Brave Boy, an upbeat track containing clapping and a decent rhythm; the sound is a bit like being on holiday. The vocals may seem slightly irritating at points of this song, but fear not, it doesn’t last. Moving on to Purple Hell, the vocals are a lot stronger and are reminiscent of an early Maxïmo Park. This poppy, summertime sound continues in Covered In Grace, a tune that could be played at indie discos across the country.

The EP is saved from being trite indie pop by the final track. Wrapping up the record is a sweet, melodic ballad, Confidence, the EP’s strongest track. The violin, harmonies and atmosphere show the band’s potential; the song seems to have more depth and originality than the others.

The EP overall is definitely worth a listen, but isn’t groundbreaking. The array of music instruments is enjoyable; however, the violin is sometimes too dominant, although this may be down to production.

Although the whole sound is a bit too much like what has been floating about the indie scene for the last few years, the band show promise overall.

The Vaccines – Post Break-Up Sex

Danielle Rowley — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 22:47:53 +0000

On the first listen, I took The Vaccines to be an indie rock band with a retro sound who were just a copy of all the bands around last year. But after hearing ‘Post Brea-up Sex’ I have reached the conclusion that they are actually quite good and do have some unique qualities and sounds. Sure, it’s never going to be anyones favorite song of all time or win any awards, but it puts you in a good mood and the lyrics are funny.

I can’t post a video like I usually would on a short post due to YouTube sucking and not letting you embed videos anymore But definitely give it a check out here!

Best songs of 2010

Danielle Rowley — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 03:37:56 +0000

2010 has been quite a funny year for music. No genre has dominated the charts as much as usual; there has been a really wide mix of good and bad making it onto our radios and into our ears. I dont think there have been as many brilliant tunes as previous years, which made it slightly more challenging than usual to find 10 songs that I think deserve to be listened to alot. But I took on the challange anyway, and found some gems.

1. The Drums – Lets Go Surfing

This song from New York band The Drums is my song of 2010. It was released in 2009, charting at 107, and even this year only charted at 63! Whats with that? I couldn’t get enough of this energetic retro indie pop tune this year, and was ridiculously disappointed when they didn’t have it in their set at Leeds Festival! However, I will forgive them for making such a brilliant track and a very good album.

2. Darwin Deez- Radar Detector

If there was an award for best guy of the year, it should go to Darwin Deez. Radar Detector is the most fun, dancey, feel-good, indie anthem of this year without a doubt. Its got cute lyrics, a fast beat and never fails to cheer oneself up!

3. Arcade Fire – Ready to Start

What a year it has been for Arcade Fire, and don’t they deserve it. A brilliant new album, a headline slot at Reading/Leeds festival and a hugely successful UK tour. It was quite hard to choose what single from this year to pick. However I feel Ready to Start has that extra emotion, extra atmosphere and deserved a place on my top 10. However if I had my way, there would be tons of lists with Arcade Fire tracks on.

4. Vampire Weekend – Giving up the Gun

My favorite song off ‘Contra’ has to be Giving up the Gun. And not just for the lovely video in which you can drool over Jake Gyllenhaal playing tennis, it’s a cracking tune too! In typical Vampire Weekend fashion this infectious track gets lodged in your head until you’re singing it everywhere without realising.

5. B.O.B feat Hayley Williams – Airplanes

You might think this one is a bit of a sell out, not very good and not one of the best songs of the year. Obviously I disagree. B.O.B has worked with some great people this year; Bruno Mars, Rivers Cuomo etc. But I think teaming up with Paramore’s Hayley Williams was definitely a wise move. With clever lyrics, a catchy melody and a great atmosphere; Airplanes was a song that could get you emotional, or fill a dance floor.

6. Bombay Bicycle Club – Ivy and Gold

A beautifully brilliant example of ‘plinky plonky’ indie, one of my favourite genres. This track is taken from the bands second album, ‘Flaws’. A brilliant acoustic chilled out but not boring album. This was a great summer time song that you could listen to in any kind of mood. If you havent heard this one deffo get checking it out!

7. Iyaz – Replay

No matter where you were this summer, someone was singing “SHORTAAAYSS LIKE A MELODY IN MAAA HEAD”. This song caught on faster than the plague and struck down more victims. Even I – a lover of good music- had to dance to this one every time it was played. Replay is a typical summer song that I can see being played every time our thermometers hit 20° here in the UK. So, not the most musically brilliant song around 2010, but definitely one of the catchiest.

8. Mark Ronson & Business intl – Bang Bang Bang

So Mark Ronson has a new name and is writing his own songs. My personal favorite from the album ‘Record Collection’ is ‘The Bike Song’. However I don’t feel that it was such a big song this year. But if there was one song you couldn’t escape from, it was Bang Bang Bang. At first it really annoyed me, but now I have a bit of a love affair with the track. From the start when Spank Rock says “turn it up a little bit” to the french vibe, it’s a really good song. Musically, lyrically and it has a great dance-ability rating.

9. Miike Snow – Silvia

I fell in love with a Swedish band this year, their whole album is brilliant and explores blues, indie, electro and more. The best song from the album (in my humble opinion) and one of the best songs of the year is Silvia. The lyrics are beautiful and the vocals are capable of taking you into a trance you may never fully get out of. I am in love with this song, and you should be too. If you havent heard it you are 100% missing out.

10. Chiddy Bang – Opposite of Adults

Alt hip-hop band Chiddy Bang made it big in the UK this year with their single Opposite of Adults. Fans of the bands they sample, Radiohead for example, often get offended by the bands use of samples. However I think they struck gold when they sampled ‘Kids’ by MGMT. The rap is clever, the tune is even more infectious than in ‘Kids’ and it’s just in general a better song. It’s hard when using such a recent and big song not to get compared, but in this case I don’t think there is much of a comparison. If you’re a fan of Opposite of Adults, check out the rest of the EP – ‘The Preview’.

Arcade Fire – Glasgow SECC, 12/12/10

Danielle Rowley — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 18:37:35 +0000

I was blown away by their performance at Leeds Festival, calling it the best live performance I had ever witnessed. Was this about to change, were they about to out-do themselves? Was ‘Best Gigs Ever’ list about to be dominated by Arcade Fire?

After being stuck in traffic for hours in the freezing cold, I trudged my way into the giant hall of the SECC feeling exhausted yet excited.

Anticipation had been building since the stage crew started setting up the massive billboard and floodlight, creating the suburbs stage setting. The adoring cries ricocheted off the walls as the band jumped their way on stage.

The band started with a very aptly named Ready to start. Before playing it, frontman Win Butler tells the seated part of the audience to stand up. An invitation that was accepted with great enthusiasm. Moving along the setlist was the most weak song of the night Month of May,not that it was played badly, it’s just my least favorite song.

The set was a good mix of songs from ‘Funeral’ and ‘The Suburbs’, with a few good tracks thrown in from ‘Neon Bible’. There wasn’t one song that stood out amongst them, but the best performed and most electric songs were Neighborhood 1 (Tunnels), We used to wait, Wake up and Rebellion (lies). The main set finished on Rebellion, the band walked off stage to their song being echoed back by the audience. The gap before the encore was alive with “oooo ooo oooo”s from the crowd, still seeming to be in the last song. Speculation was spreading through the crowd about what the encore tracks would be, everyone was sure Wake Up would be there, but not many people had expected what was to come, Intervention.

It was a phenomenal performance from start to finish. The crowd didn’t seem to want to leave, even when the lights came up and the band were making their way off stage. But before they left they threw as much as they could give away into the very grateful audience. I loved seeing Richard (Reed-Parry) high fiving all the roadies and backstage team before he waved to the crowd and departed the stage.

Just another supergroup?

Danielle Rowley — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 19:08:35 +0000

It seems like everyone’s been getting together to form ‘supergroups’ lately. But I think the latest collaboration is something a bit special.

Carl Barat, Matt Helders (Arctic Monkeys drummer), Drew McConnell (Babyshambles bassist) and Gruff Rhys (Super Furry Animals ) have teamed up to record an album for Brazilian, African and UK charities.

The name of the band is The Bottletop Band and it features many other artists, like an indie supergroup Band Aid. Contributing acts are; Eliza Doolittle, Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly, Sam Sparro, Tim Burgess, Reverend And The Makers, VV Brown and Fink .

‘Fall Of Rome’ is the first single, out on download from Thebottletopband.com on December 10. However if you love them you have quite a wait till the album is released. ‘Dream Service’, will be out April 11!Watch footage of the band recording ‘Fall Of Rome’ in the studio by clicking below.

I will be having a listen to the single tomorrow, so far im rather excited!

Jay- Z The Hits vol.1

Danielle Rowley — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 11:49:05 +0000

Jay-Z (AKA Sean Carter) yesterday released his first ‘best of’ album – Hits Vol. 1.

The rapper from Brooklyn released his first album; ‘Reasonable Doubt’ in 1996. He has since then released 11 studio albums and sold more than 40 million records. He has broken records, won 10 Grammy Awards , became CEO of Def Jam Records, has a successful clothing brand and has 4 Billboard Top 100 number ones! He is massive here in the UK too, there was a lot of controversy when he was announced to headline Glastonbury Festival.

‘Hits Collection Vol.1′ collects all his best works and puts them together making the record arguably one of the best hip hop albums ever. From old school rap to collaborations with Beyoncé and Alicia Keys, the album shows how versatile Jay-Z can be. I rushed out to buy it and would definitely recommend it to anyone, even if you’re not a big fan!

Check out the video to my favorite track – Hard Knock Life (warning – sweary words!)

Track Listing -

1. Public Service Announcement
2. Run This Town
3. 03′ Bonnie And Clyde
4. Encore
5. I Just Wanna Love U (Give It 2 Me)
6. Izzo (HOVA)
7. DOA (Death Of Auto Tune)
8. 99 Problems
9. Empire State Of Mind
10. Dirt Off Your Shoulder
11. Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)
12. Show Me What You Got
13. Roc Boys (And The Winner Is)
14. Big Pimpin’

Batman 3

Danielle Rowley — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 10:06:07 +0000

If you’re a batman fan like me, you will be delighted that some announcements have been made regarding the next movie!

Director Christopher Nolan has broken his silence about the forthcoming Dark Knight sequel! Hurrah! He has revealed that the title for the movie will be ‘The Dark Knight Rises’. Not bad, in my opinion. ruling out a character who, up until this point, was thought to be frontrunner for the villain of the piece. He has also said – in an interview with Hero Complex that the villain won’t be The Riddler! This comes as quite a surprise as everyone thought it was a given, there have also been a few actors thought to be in line to play the part of the classic villan! Inception stars and chums of Nola – Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy. Although it has been confirmed that Tom Hardy will be in there somewhere.

These announcements leave me wondering who the villan will be, Catwoman perhaps? According to Moviehole – “Several young (“Late 20′s, early 30′s”) ladies are meeting with the Caped Crusader’s resuscitator this week to talk about the new film. Interestingly enough, quite a few of the ladies don’t actually know what role they’re being asked to read for/meet Nolan about (yep, security is tighter on this thing than the department store Jonathan Switcher worked at in “Mannequin” – Okay, maybe a bit tighter than that) they’ve just accepted an offer to “meet” with the filmmaker. Presumably, they’ll leave the meeting knowing quite a bit more.”

However, im pretty sure not many could be as good a villan as Heath Ledger’s Joker!

iTunes 10

Danielle Rowley — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 22:55:32 +0000

I decided to install the new iTunes since my out dated version kept freezing – bad idea.

On first look I was a bit disappointed with the new logo (although they removed the disk because iTunes is about more than CDs now). Secondly, it took ages to install. For around 10 minutes it kept saying it was copying files – I was soon to find out why. iTunes had decided to copy all my music files to a separate folder. Since I have over 9GB of music this took ages and takes up totally unnecessary space on my laptop! It also won’t play the songs I have on playlists because it ‘cannot locate the files’ – but it was them who moved the blasted files! I now have 498 missing files on my iTunes, and the ‘find missing files’ tool isn’t working!

However, I was slightly impressed with the new righthand side bar – Ping – iTunes social networking gimmick. Although Spotify beat iTunes to this a rather long time ago, I thought I would sign in and see what was what. Firstly, it recommended me 3 songs from artists that I hate. I generously gave a nudge in the right direction and looked up some artists I did like to add to my profile. But to my dismay and surprise, my search for ‘Biffy Clyro’ returned no results. I continued to search for my favorite bands, Vampire Weekend, The Drums, Arcade Fire – none of them being found on this ‘music social network’. Apart from these problems, the general interface isn’t any more snazzy than the last, there aren’t many improvements that I have been able to enjoy so far.

I usually give myself a week or two to get used to and warm to new layouts or updates, but I really don’t see myself ever liking the new iTunes + Ping. However I am no expert, this is just a music lovers opinion.

I have for the present retreated to my safe place – Spotify

Edit: I have received a comment saying someone was able to find all the bands I couldn’t on Ping. Just to prove I’m not lying, here are some screen shots of me searching those bands. And a screen shot of me searching for someone more popular to show I’m not doing it wrong!

Hi Steve,

My hairs came in quite well from the last lot of chemo so il have more than you. Don’t worry, ive never forget how to have a drink with the lads. It would be wonderful if we could have a catch up at some point in future. Miss your fantastic company, you always knew how to make me laugh. Im looking forward to seeing our Steven when he comes up, im glad you are both still such good friends. Glad to see your still enjoying living in asia and everythings going well for you. Hows the family doing?
It was really good to hear from you, a nice pleasant surprise.

Steven will fill the gaps when he comes up, hope to see you soon,

Love Mo x

The Drums – Down by the water

Danielle Rowley — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 12:43:39 +0000

A lovely offering from The Drums, with an equally lovely black and white 80′s style video – mmm tasty!

‘Down by The Water’ is the type of song you would see big haired teens smooching to at a disco on a classic 80′s movie. I think it has become one of my favorite smoochy songs, which is quite an achievement since I am a helpless romantic and have many.

The video is a classic simple Drums style video, with a retro vibe. Give it a watch and a listen, see if you fall as in-love with it as I am!

James Blake – Limit To Your Love

Danielle Rowley — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 19:57:22 +0000

I was pleasantly surprised on Wednesday when listening to Zane Lowe on Radio 1. A song came on that made me stop what I was doing, sit down and dedicate my focus to it.

The song was by James Blake and it was a cover of Feist’s ‘Limit To Your Love’. The 22-year-old producer from London has transformed the song into a masterpiece that captures you and steals you away from the normal world. I like it because it’s really quite different from whats out there at the moment. I cant wait to check out the James Blake ‘Klavierwerke EP’, out October 10.

Give it a listen on Zane’s Radio 1 blog.