A new Weezer album is a strange proposition in 2014. While there is no denying Rivers Cuomo and co can still bring it on occasion, you can’t hide from the factThe Blue Album feels a long time ago and while those songs still kick ass live, they were recorded twenty years ago. While that was followed by another two amazing albums and a few less amazing but strong in their own way releases, they have also released some trash. With their last few failing to hit the mark. Therefore, Everything Will Be Alright in the End has a bit of pressure on its shoulders, the question has to stand as to whether Weezer still have it?
Heights w/ Echoes, Swallows and Flakes at Classic Grand, Glasgow, 4/10/14
Heights are dead. Not in the sense that Alex Monty and co have actually keeled over and slipped off their mortal coil, but in the sense that the band are saying goodbye. Anyone who has paid attention to my blogs for the last few years, will be well aware that I have a great deal of affection for this band. In a UK where there are more hardcore bands than ever before, they stood out as something a bit special and I am genuinely gutted to see them go. However, the opportunity to go and see them live one last time – they played their last ever show in London last night and were in Glasgow on Saturday – was something I wasn’t going to miss.
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Generic Music
Sometimes you listen to a band and you want to tell the world. You are desperate to have everyone know about them and cannot understand why people greet the mention of their name with blank faces. Other times you hear a band and wonder who actually cares? Who is spending their time and money supporting a band who while maybe not bad, are just so generic, that they are almost inventive through complete lack of invention. A band that very much invoke that feeling inside of me is Godsmack, who this year released 1000hp.
Unlikable Characters in Film
Most people’s favourite movies centre around a character they can relate to, respect or have a feeling of affection for. However, every now and then a movie comes along that is populated by, well, cunts. Which brings us to Maps to the Stars, the latest movie by the brilliant David Cronenberg and a satirical look at the world of Hollywood and the nature of celebrity. It’s a film that will make you laugh, horrify you and which I imagine many will take against (at least a few people walked out of the screening I was in), however, it is also full of thoroughly unlikable characters.
Malcolm Young
Few men will ever define rock and roll in the way that Malcolm Young has. The engine behind AC/DC is responsible for some of the most iconic riffs ever written and the news that has come out in the last few weeks about his retirement from the band, through illness, is one of the most devastating things I have heard as a rock fan. The further confirmation that that illness was dementia and his apparent lose of memory, makes the story all the sadder, as rock will lose one of it’s surest guardians.
Marmozets
Marmozets seem to be the latest buzz word on everyone’s lips and with their debut album, The Weird and Wonderful Marmozets, dropping this week, it looks likely that they are here to stay. Formed of two sets of siblings, Becca, Sam and Josh MacIntyre and Will and Jack Bottomley, Marmozets have been on the live scene for a while. I saw them supporting Feed the Rhino a while back and they impressed me then with their energetic show. Back then their sound was also a lot more mathcore, something that they have by no means lost on this release, but which they have honed and in many ways perfected into some cracking tunes.
Gerard Way
I have little shame in admitting that I, like a lot of other people that grew up in the years I did, first got fully immersed in music through listening to so called, emo. Therefore, it is maybe no surprise that I spent quite a lot of time listening to My Chemical Romance, in fact my first ever gig was to see that very band. Of course to actually call My Chemical Romance emo was always a bit of a stretch, they popularised the visual style that became common with that movement, but their early work had more roots in punk, while later on they moved onto a style that was more reminiscent of Queen than EMBRACE. I can’t say much about the work they did post Black Parade, which is when my own interest faded, but it seemed to mainly be a bit shit.
King 810 w/ Hang the Bastard and Astroid Boys at The Classic Grand, Glasgow, 24/9/2014
King 810 are hitting up the UK for the first time and last night they rolled into Glasgow. With their debut album currently proving polarizing among the metal community, there is an air of expectancy mingled with a sense of interest. A lot of people here are looking to be impressed by King 810 and it feels very much like one of those nights that will make or break the band to that particular audience.
The Binding Of Isaac
Released in 2011, The Binding of Isaac is positively modern by the standards of this blog and with The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth due out in November, a remake of the game, it is actually relevant to talk about as well! Created by Edmund McMillen (one half of Team Meat, the creators of the excellent Super Meat Boy) and Florian Himsel, it’s a blend of dungeon adventure and roguelike.
Sounding like your heroes
It is common in music to have a band ape the sound of those that came before. A lot of debut albums can become a game of spot the influences, as elements of a bands heroes sap into their music. However, there is always a difference between being influenced by and copying and you can spot the bands that are going to be special by the ones that take parts of these legendary bands and make them their own. However, there is another problem with this method. That being, when you take influence from those around you, you often end up with an album that is disjointed and sounds like the work of several bands rather than one. Avenged Sevenfolds’ number one album Hail to the King, is the prime example of this. There are some great tracks on that album, but when you take it as an actual album, it doesn’t hang together.
Ramblings About Wrestling 