Name: Nathalie BARBOSA
Age: 32
Profession: civil servant
Years in Luxembourg: 32 years, I was born here

Currently listening to / tip for the future : Album from a local band called THE FLASH! Amazing!

Best gig in Luxembourg? Michael Jackson in Bettembourg!

Best gig ever? AC/DC at Stade de France 

Concert most looking forward to? Hugh Laurie at the Atelier and Green Day in London

Preferred venue? Rockhal and Stade de France

Classic Album of all time? Thriller from Michael Jackson and Nevermind from Nirvana

Format - CD, MP3, Vinyl? MP3

What was the best decade for music? 1960’s: Beatles, Rolling stones, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin… I would have loved to see them on stage.

What song would make you turn the radio off in disgust? all kinds of Céline Dion songs

If you were in a band what would you do? I would be playing the drums! I’ve got a weakness for drummers

First music crush... Eddie Cochran “summertime blues”

The best thing about Ara City Radio is... all the English irony you use!

Tuning In - Listener Profile

Name: Éric Termens
Age :42
Profession: Accountant
Years in Luxembourg : 12
*****************************************************
Currently listening to / tip for the future: Mumford & Sons, Jake Jugg,Vampire Weekend,

Best gig in Luxembourg? MORRISSEY

Best gig ever? -M- @ Metz, U2, Black Keys

Concert most looking forward to? The Killers

Preferred venue? den Atelier

Classic Album of all time? The Smiths (pick yours...)/ The Cure the head on the door

Format - CD, MP3, Vinyl? CD

What was the best decade for music? 80's

What song would make you turn the radio off in disgust? Michael Jackson

If you were in a band what would you do? Rock'n roll tours

First music crush...????

The best thing about Ara City Radio is...friendly with a large range of music

TUNING IN - Listener Profile

Name: Kirsty Sutherland
Age: 19
Profession: Student
Years in Luxembourg: 19
****************************************************
Currently listening to / tip for the future: Bastille, The 1975, Disclosure, Bloc Party, Chase & Status, Biffy Clyro, TDCC, Hurts

Best gig in Luxembourg? Biffy Clyro at Den Atelier or Slash at Rockhal

Best gig ever? Can't narrow it down to one gig so chose a festival, Rock Werchter 2012 although 2013 looks immense

Concert most looking forward to? Alt-J or Paramore

Preferred venue? Den Atelier

Classic Album of all time? Meteora by Linkin Park but I was raised to Crowded House, AC/DC and Rolling Stones so their discography would be up there too

Format - CD, MP3, Vinyl? MP3

What was the best decade for music? Depends on the genre really but I'd like to think that the 90's and 00's have been good for the indie rock genre and post hardcore

What song would make you turn the radio off in disgust? Gangnam Style

If you were in a band what would you do? Be absolutely thrilled that I could play an instrument for starters. I'd love to play the drums.

First music crush... Kylie Minogue or (cringe) Beyond Pink

The best thing about Ara City Radio is... Freedom to play what listeners want to hear and the banter

Ahead of the band's showcase gig at Rockhal tonight (Tuesday)FICTION have offered us quite a sweet deal and as such we are delighted to offer our listeners said swag.
Two bundles of merch are on offer, which include CD, t-shirt, poster and a bag.
James Howard, erstwhile leader of this melodic quintet had a 'beery epiphany' recently and came up with the following nugget: "I had an idea, which might just sound good because I'm hungover. Last time I was on the mainland, I ordered a pizza and there was a fly on it; I've been trying to think of a punchline ever since..."

It is up to you good listeners of ACR to find THAT punchline. Text your best to Sam Steen's Freshly Squeezed show from 6am: 64 111 (type ARA and leave a space before your message - please include full name).

http://www.fictionlondon.com/
http:/www.rockhal.lu 

Name: Michi Mentgen
Age: 19
Profession:  Drummer for Seed to Tree
Years in Luxembourg: All of them!

• Currently listening to / tip for the future: 
  I’m currently listening to a lot of different music, favourites are certainly Kasabian, Arctic Monkeys, and the Black Keys who are definitely a band to keep an eye on,  as well as the Lumineers, or Mumford and Sons!
• Best Gig in Lux: 
  The best gig in Luxembourg was our EP release for sure ;)
• Best Gig Ever:
  The best gig I’ve ever been to was a Beatsteaks concert with Eternal Tango as support.

• Concert most looking forward to:
  There is no specific concert, but I’m looking forward to have the honour of supporting any great band with my own band.
• Classic Album:
  The Classic Album which made my youth is Nevermind from Nirvana!

• Format - CD, MP3, Vinyl? 
  I prefer CD’s a lot! It is not only about music, but the whole artwork, including the design, drawings, maybe photographs… after all, there is much more to appreciate than on a MP3 file!
• What was the best decade for music? 
  Regrettably, I haven’t lived through many decades yet, but I’d say that 21^st century music is great as the number of different styles is as big as never before. And of course variety is one of the most important characteristic of music.
• If you were in a band what would you do?
  I am in a band, Seed to Tree, and “What Would You Do?” is out latest single, what a coincidence! ;-)
• First Music Crush: 
  My first music Crush was Nirvana. I’ve bought every CD and I’m really sad that I will never see them live.
• The best thing about Ara City Radio is... 
  The great interview with Sam...  And I am quite impressed about how fast he is able to speak English! ;-) Oh, and a great mix of music too!

Tuning in: Morning
Name: Mikey P
Age: 33
Profession: Banking
Years in Luxembourg: 33

Currently listening to / tip for the future
Poliça

Best gig in Luxembourg?
Wolfmother

Best gig ever?
Beastie Boys

Concert most looking forward to?
The Joy Formidable

Preferred venue?
Den Atelier

Classic Album of all time?
Siamese Dream by The Smashing Pumpkins.

Format - CD, MP3, Vinyl?
CD

What was the best decade for music?
90's

What song would make you turn the radio off in disgust?
Whats going on. Four Non Blondes.

If you were in a band what would you do?
Bass Player.

First music crush...
Kim Wilde.

The best thing about Ara City Radio is...
The selection of new music, better than other stations.

Why does it always rain/snow on me?

Having a bad day? Running late? Can you spare a few seconds to think about something? Is it – the delay – really all about you? Is it?

There is no more lonely a day than the bad day. When the worm turns and decides he hates your face and that you’re done for, there’s truly nothing worse! Maybe being sicked on, that's horrid, but the emotional scars run shallow.

It’ll start inauspiciously enough. A forgotten key/wallet/pass-card. An uncharged phone. Odd socks. Something small. It’ll lurk. It will be patient. And only when you can do nothing about it, it’ll happen. Smack, bang, wallop.

The law of things happening in threes. A not so magic number.

Though you may not think of this at the time, remember, you are not alone.

It’s the same unfortunate paradigm as when an individual will assume that they are singular and not collective: ‘me, it’s all me. ME. ME. ME. I tell ya!’

It’s why commuters will curse their rotten luck when stuck in traffic. Beating their bastard steering wheels until their veins pop and shirt buttons burst through windscreens.

‘Why me? Why, oh why does this only ever happen to me?’ they bleat. Oblivious to the one thousand or so other gridlocked vehicles/tuna packed train passengers/departure lounge hostages. Faces turned skyward, necks craning to seek help from an uncaring, diffident god – one that perhaps has seen his flock increasingly absent from his/her/its prayer meets of late – so that he (or she) may lip read the freshest dose of self importance.

If there were such a thing/person/entity, would a God, the creator, really give a hoot about your number crunching powwow, your delta team think tank, or your systems test? But you’ll ask for help anyway. You REALLY need this life-sized Rubik’s Cube to be solved. Kissing an invisible ass.

As such, the once popular God has become shy and reserved, timid to the point of crying at the Secret Saviour Of Man TV show he(or she)’s Sky+ed just that very evening. All misty eyed and emotional, he (or she) casts his (or her) eyes down to Cheryl from accounts, to John from filing, Chris on his way to a promotion and little Jimmy jumpsuit away to meet his sweet heart – better late than never, right? And with a fierce swelling beside his eyeballs and an impotent rage boiling in his chest, the God braces for an assault ‘I’ll show you!’ he (or she) cries to no one in particular. ‘I’ll remind you of my powers. You’ll be sorry, you’ll wish you’d prayed to me long before.’ Then the adverts finish and his (or her) show’s back on. Slumping back into his (or her) DFS sofa cloud, he blubs uncontrollably like a kid who’s discovered the biscuit tin has been placed on a higher shelf.

These tears, perhaps forming the very rain that plummets from the sky so mercilessly, like a lazer-guided missile, lock on to its target and, as it descends, cascading onto a lonely soul, the subtle attack is done. Drenching them through. Spoiling the immaculately coiffured ‘do. Ruining the neatly pressed man-made fibres. Putting a right old dampener on the day.

Seeing this as a metaphorical and literal practical joke on the puny human race, the God then has a good old belly rumble of laughter. We simpletons take this as thunder rolling from the skies, instead of the amplified mocking of a fed up overlord. ‘Feeble, sacks of offal, look how I smite thee…’ he (or she) chortles and then, as he (or she)’s playing a bit of overzealous hacky-sack with supernovas – that’s just what Gods do, trust me - he tips slightly off balance and smashes a lamp from the coffee table. With a flash and a fizz, the lights go out.

Eureka! Lightning.

And the God, what do you think he (or she) says at this point?

‘WHY ME?’

These days, people are so ensconced in what is them they forget what is not. When one sees itself as ‘all’ and the rest as ‘nothing but obstacles’ in their way, one tends to ignore others…Don’t believe me? Go to a social network site, there’s all the proof you need. As Watterson’s Calvin once said; “I hate my life and wish I were dead!” A beat, a smile, a correction “No, I wish everyone else were dead.”

People post the most oblique of online statements (I’ve done it, so don’t pretend you haven’t):

What a shit day.

FML

Why don’t people just say things to my face instead of behind my back? Ars3hol3s!

All these are posted to illicit a response. A benchmark from which to quantify and qualify your/their life. Individual not collective.

‘Why me?’

So, in answer to the question, as unfortunate as it is infuriating it’s simply a matter of timing.

If that most malicious of fabled Chinese butterflies had only flipped instead of flapped, you’d be drier than a beached mermaid’s purse.

It didn’t and you got wet.

Shit happens. Deal with it and move on.

If not, bring a brolly.

Mark The Welder

Barry Norman (no, not that one)

Tuning in:

Name: Barry Norman

Age: 31

Profession: Architect

Years in Luxembourg: - 1.5 

• Currently listening to / tip for the future:
Currently listening to Bob Marley vs Lee Scratch Perry (The Best of The Upsetter Years), Groove Armada (White Light)....and as for tip for the future, thats why I listen to Ara City.

• Best gig in Luxembourg?
Some dodgy fella with a guitar in a dive of a bar in Lenningen, only thing Ive been to in Lux where there was actually live music therefore loosely qualifying it as a gig

• Best gig ever?
U2 - Slane Castle, Ireland, 2001, lost all my mates and joined up with a soon to be concussed Spaniard and a group of people in similar situations who had lost girlfriends, wives, boyfriends, children. Was a great night!

• Concert most looking forward to?
The Black Keys in Germany next month (last year, now...Steps) if I can actually find the time to get there.

• Preferred venue?
Stradbally Hall, where Electric Picnic is held. Lots of great little stages and its always a great weekend.

• Classic Album of all time?
That is an impossible question to answer!

• Format - CD, MP3, Vinyl?
Cd and Vinyl! Love the dedication to work on an album cover and the feeling that music is a tangible thing.....as opposed to an inanimate file on a pc/Mac.

• What was the best decade for music?
The 90's or the 70s.

• What song would make you turn the radio off in disgust?
That B-Roads song (by The Milk – Steps).....hate that song with a passion. Its appalling!

• If you were in a band what would you do?
Go on a general intoxicated rampage and get in a fight with Bono, theres not enough of that these days. Also not enough musicians dying from choking on their own vomit.....Maybe Justin Bieber or all those X Factor products, just a thought.

• First music crush...
Probably Kylie ......

• The best thing about Ara City Radio is...
Its a great distraction from the dreary doom and gloom that is local radio in Germany.

Nicolas Przeor

Tuning in:
Name: Nicolas Przeor
Age: 30
Profession: Musician (guitarist of Mutiny On The Bounty)
Years in Luxembourg: Born and raised here!

• Currently listening to / tip for the future:
Brasstronaut, Tall Ships, Wild Nothings, PVT, Work Drugs, Adebisi Shank

• Best gig in Luxembourg?
First Mogwai gig at the Atelier back in 2002

• Best gig ever?
Tough to say, I’ve seen too many. But I'd say Mogwai as well then...

• Concert most looking forward to?
PVT if they come around here, was looking forward to the Breton gig in December too

• Preferred venue?
Ancienne Belgique (Brussels), Kulturfabrik (Luxembourg)

• Classic Album of all time?
My classic album would be Crooked Crooked Rain by Pavement

• Format - CD, MP3, Vinyl?
MP3 for the car vinyl at home

• What was the best decade for music?
My personal favourite is late nineties up to 2007 or something like that.

• What song would make you turn the radio off in disgust?
Believe by Cher

• If you were in a band what would you do?
I actually am, but I'd love to be a better singer or drummer as well

• First music crush...The Smashing Pumpkins

The best thing about Ara City Radio is….diversity in music styles, ability to play underground music, support of local bands

A look back at the year gone by

2012 the year the world went ‘meh!’
Stephen Steps Lowe

Adele, K-Pop and now James Arthur aside, 2012 has been considered as a bit of a dud. High hopes were there for the returns of Mumford & Sons, Muse, Green Day, Two Door, Black Keys and all underwhelmed on release….even the doyenne of the pop world, Lana del Rey was like a fart in a biscuit tin. All bluster and no substance.It was a year that saw an even greater divide in what constitutes the hip and the hipster, where the need to tour over sales became ever more obvious and internet memes were the new version of Mogwai’s infamous ‘blur is shite’ tee.

It was a year for mix-tapes (Bastille, The Weeknd, Azealea Banks, Charli XCX) and appearing with your all your pals as often as possible (Jessie J, Ed Sheeran, Labrinth, Example Will.i.am etc etc) and generally making sure that if you were somewhere, a toilet, a freezing hell-hole or pseudo paradise then those that were elsewhere needed to know about it #howcoolamI?.

It was also the year that social media kicked up a gear, with online spats becoming a daily occurrence, trolling is as trolling does after all, but it’s one thing when star attacks star but even more odd when stars attack fans…

2012 was a year when the London Olympics restored some credibility to the UK scene (pairing Orbital, Underworld and Stephen Hawkings, we’ll forgive Russell Brand and the Kaiser Chief’s scooters), Coldplay lit up the stage(s) and stadia, holograms brought heroes back to life and long defunct acts got back together for the ‘impossible show’.

Such is the rush for finding the NEXT BIG thing, journos, musos, beardos fall about themselves like demented shoppers trolley-dashing the first day of sales. It means that true modern classics are a rare breed. The shelf life of tracks, bands, brands and artists become ever-decreasing circles in the great sketch book of the music industry. For every Jake Bugg there’s a dozen other nameless nearly-rans a gnat’s scrotum from oblivion.

Streaming sites offer pre-release opps for hearing if the album is as good as the A&R spun platitude suggests and in a sense, whilst building and releasing buzz & excitement, offers potential buyers an ‘out’. Yes, this move is aimed to cut out illegal downloads (made available by wankers who have their foot on the throat of struggling musicians) but is it any wonder that physical sales are down? Even the surge in popularity of the vinyl release can’t outweigh the click, drag, drop of modern consumption.There were many stars shuffling off their mortal coil in 2012, each having left an indelible mark on the industry they left behind; Robin Gibb, Donna Summer, Whitney Houston, Adam Yauch, Davy Jones, Etta James, Ravi Shankar and many more…

It’s rare for DJ’s to agree on music in every instance, rarer for it happened regularly, you only need check out our weekly chart podcast to see the lines drawn in sand. It’s been fun and it has been a challenge; we’ve scoured lists, profiles, reviews, demos, promos, press runs, magazines, blogs and our very souls to bring you new music. We stand proud of our choices, of ability to beat the bleating followers and stand apart from the shuffling corporate crowd. One thing we could all agree on, was that 2012 was an incredibly tough year to choose just two standout records

Sam Steen – Freshly Squeezed from 6am – 9am
At the time of going to press Mr. Steen was unavailable for comment. We were informed by his PR office that this was due to contractual requirements concerning the upcoming One Direction European tour; “Sam is on standby in case any 1D member falls sick or becomes injured prior to the opening date on the tour.” Sam was last seen with some duct-tape and a jar of chloroform.

Ben Andrews – The Morning Social 9am-12noon
“There were plenty of ‘good’ albums in 2012 but Alt-J’s stood out by a country mile, in my opinion. Though other records contained string tracks none felt as complete as the British Mercury Music Prize winner making it easy for a standout but tough on the next best things.”

Stephen Steps Lowe – The Lunchtime Low(e)down 12noon-2pm then online till 4pm
www.aracityradio.com
“Having fallen in love with Alt-J at the tail of 2011, and being faithful ever since, it was an easy call for me. There are still no records that I go back to with such regularity (and my kids love em), and though the last few months have thrown up some genuine moments (Gallops, Brasstronaut, Public Service Broadcast, Maserati) I found the so-called big hitters missed the mark.”

JoBeth Leon - Joyride with Joey from 4pm-6pm
www.aracityradio.com
“This year brought us a nice mix of the old and the new. We started hearing a new electronic influence on music (Django Django, Polica) that at times seemed a little overwhelming (Dubstep). However, to balance it out, there were many new artists with old souls who brought back the sounds of many years ago (Alabama Shakes, Gary Clark Jr.) There were also many come-backs from musicians that were almost forgotten about. Some were welcomed back with open arms (Cat Power, Muse) but others should have thought twice before making their return (Green Day, The Ting Tings).”

Alt-J - An Awesome Wave (the awards hoover)
If we were in the habit of giving awards ourselves then this would be the recipient. Playful, smart and mysterious An Awesome Wave was the clear choice. Download the album here.

Monophona – The Spy (the local vocals + beats that done good)
Recalling prime Massive Attack and the more quirky ranges of Frou Frou. A real find. Download the album here.

Band Of Skulls – Sweet Sour (the blues rock choice)
Lurching boy/girl trade-offs and heavy riffage counter-balance the power with a softer side.
Download the album here.

Alabama Shakes – Boys & Girls (southern styles meet AOR audience)
Or the one where the voice meets the grind.
Download the album here.

Django Django – Django Django (leftfield art alchemists)
Proto agit-pop with more ideas than humanly possible, a vital recording. Download the album here.

Tame Impala – Lonerism (Aussie psych rock)
Media darlings, yes but fully-fledged big-hitters on sophomore release. Download the album here.

Polica – Give You The Ghost (ethereal dark-indie pop)
AKA how to use Auto-Tune properly, a dark and unsettling masterpiece. Download the album here.

The Winter Olympics – Profit & Loss (well-connected crisp fetishists)
London based indie rock bands, bringing some life back to the scene. Download the album here.

Honourable mentions: Plan B – iLL Manors, TEED - , Sigur Ros – Valtari, Paul Banks – Banks, Brasstroanut – Mean Sun, Jessie Ware – Devotion, Four Tet – Pink, Flying Lotus - Until The Quiet Comes, Lianne La Havas – Is Your Love Big Enough?, Josephine - Portrait, Gallops – Yours Sincerely, Dr. Hardcore, Melody’s Echo Chamber – Melody’s Echo Chamber , Daphni – Jialong, Michael Kiwanuka – Home Again, xx – Coexist, Jack White – Blunderbuss and we expect there are a whole lot more besides

Do YOU feel that 2012 has been a decent, terrific or rather fallow year for all things audio? Send your comments to studio @aracityradio.com

Listen to our END OF YEAR podcast here

Buy the albums from our list on 7digital here

Tips for 2013: Biffy Clyro – Opposites (double album), The Staves, Haim, JAWS, PEACE, the new LP from FOALS, Alvin & Lyle’s full-length, Antibalas, Public Service Broadcast, Savages, CHVRCHES, Aluna George, Angel Haze, Bondax, Luke Sital-Singh, Placebo return.

Sarah Schaub

Tuning in

Name: Sarah
Age: 27
Profession: Jr. Label & Promotions Manager at 7digital
Years in Luxembourg: 5
Currently listening to / tip for the future: Breton
Best gig in Luxembourg? Bon Iver at the Neumünster Abbaye.
Best gig ever? Bon Iver at the Neumünster Abbaye.
Concert most looking forward to? Nothing really exciting so far...
Preferred venue? The Neumünster Abbaye
Classic Album of all time? The Rolling Stones – Let It Bleed
Format - CD, MP3, Vinyl? MP3 (+ nice headphones to listen to my favorite music everywhere)
What was the best decade for music? Every decade brought    something different.
What song would make you turn the radio off in disgust Any song with too much Autotune....
If you were in a band what would you do? Play the drums
First music crush... Silverchair
The best thing about Ara City Radio is... Hearing some really good   
artists for the first time!

Gallops - Yours Sincerely, Dr. Hardcore

Release date: Out Now

Label: Blood & Biscuits

Rating: 4.5/5

Reviewer: Stephen Steps Lowe

************************************************************************

When 2 + 2 = 7.36, the result is one part mystifying and two parts exhilarating. Not for the average pop fan maybe but a powerful blast of math-rock to feed both the brain and the soul.

Coming some two years after their eponymous EP caused a minor commotion in UK A&R suites, Gallops meld 80s synths, math-rock and grooved out electronica on this stunning long player.

Imagine, if you will, the Northern Welsh administrative centre of Wrexham (the town from which the quartet reside) coming under attack from a giant lizard king and the only hope that remains is a giddy post-modern soundtrack with which a portly plumber of central European nationality can win back his lost princess. That 8-bit sonic splash would result in one of two actions: the amphibian scourge will be forced to cut some rug and dance till he can dance no more, or his face will sheer melt off in the barrage of ideas, skill and way with a tricksy tune. 

They may not have scored too well on a recent ACR Chart Podcast, truth be told, but the track reviewed was released nearly two years ago. On this new collection of tunes Gallops figuratively throw in all but the kitchen sink on their writhing, discordant, technically ambitious glitch-rock.

Criminally described as a 'laptop' band, Gallops deal in the kind of hypnotic and energetic genre hopping that should appeal to smaller masses i.e; those that tread carefully in the thorny garden that is dance, post-rock, metal and electro. And, like when spinning plates, it is in danger of crashing down at any given second. Yet it is this perilous free-wheeling that makes Yours…so engaging. From the off, Astaroth’s spectral percussion and brassy synths build to a feral squall and with barely a moment to pause for breath, Jeff Leopard’s taught rampaging riffs threaten to kick your teeth in.

Progressive music can often become quickly woolly, and as you would not want to use a woollen umbrella whilst out in torrential rain, you don’t want things to become formulaic, and here Gallops play their trump card: take Hongliday’s looped vocoder and swirling licks, lurching into a full-scale, discordant breakdown and the orchestral flow displayed on Rhythm Is A Misery and argue that they sound alike.

Sure, there's a point at around 10 minute opus Crutches’ midpoint where if you played it to your mum and dad they'd look at you as if you’d just handed them an omelette served on a kitten's freshly skinned pelt. That is to say that Gallops offer a challenge and require a bit of effort.

If you put the time in, Yours....opens a wonderful sonic environment, one where gut punches come thick and fast and barely a second is wasted: I actually pressed play in a German supermarket, took in the whole running time, and started all over again. I hate food shopping – this record changed that feeling wholesale. Put that on the cover! 

It's the sort of stuff you could imagine sound-tracking a 'reimagining' of a John Carpenter movie....John's got a son you say? And he makes movies too? Well ain't that something.

For fans of: Battles, Four Tet, Mutiny On The Bounty, Caspian, Foals, Minus The Bear, Mount Stealth, Mogwai, Cougar, Collapse Under The Empire, Polinksi, Godspeed You Black Emperor, Errors, 65Daysofstatic

Key Tracks: Jeff Leopard, Rhythm Is A Misery, Lasers, Bromden

Buy Yours Sincerely, Dr. Hardcore from 7digital

Visit Gallops on Bandcamp

Free download of G Is For Gaile here

Your Station - Your Call

Here at AraCity we pride ourselves on our playlists, song choice and general know-how. We may not be the slickest outfit but we are the first to know what's what, and that's a fact Jack (other names are available).

We'd be nothing without our listeners though and, as we need to ensure that we hit the correct notes, we want to know more about you. So, instead of going through your bins, or tapping your phones, we ask you to let us know what makes you tick.

In a new feature we want to profile our listeners - as the title suggests - and give you a chance to show what you know and where you heard it.

All we need are some answers to a few questions and a decent (hi-res) pic of your good selves and we'll post it right here on our site (plus social media pages).

The best responses will get a nice ickle prize to boot.

It's a veritable 'win, win, er...win'!

So here are the questions, there's no hidden agenda (at least I think so). Send your answers to studio@aracityradio.com and watch this space:

Cheers

• Tuning in:
  Name
  Age
  Profession
• Years in Luxembourg
• Currently listening to / tip for the future
• Best gig in Luxembourg?
• Best gig ever?
• Concert most looking forward to?
• Preferred venue?
• Classic Album of all time?
• Format - CD, MP3, Vinyl?
• What was the best decade for music?
• What song would make you turn the radio off in disgust?
• If you were in a band what would you do?
• First music crush...
• The best thing about Ara City Radio is...

ADAM DENNIS

·    TTUNING IN

Name: Adam Dennis
Age: Far too old for this new-fangled technology lark
Profession: Agent provocateur (no, not the underwear)

• Years in Luxembourg:
25, in Feb next year (gulp!)

• Currently listening to / tip for the future:
Porcupine Tree

• Best gig in Luxembourg?
Fête de la musique, Dudelange, 1997 - Ezio followed by Fish

• Best gig ever?
Magazine, 1980

• Concert most looking forward to?
Foo Fighters - but when, oh when?!

• Preferred venue?
Not familiar with too many locally, but it would have to be the Kaiserthermen in Trier

• Classic Album of all time?
Tropical Brainstorm by Kirsty MacColl

• Format - CD, MP3, Vinyl?
CD - old (new) habits die hard

• What was the best decade for music?
Hmmm... 1990's?

• What song would make you turn the radio off in disgust?
Too many to mention - oh, OK then: Mull of Kintyre, just off the top of my head

• If you were in a band what would you do?
Write the songs

• First music crush...
Hot Gossip dancing to 'Satisfaction' on the Kenny Everett Show

• The best thing about Ara City Radio is...

What, you mean apart from the DJs (at least, the current ones)? ;-) Has to be the stream of new stuff to get your teeth into - in marked contrast to those stations which play "golden oldies" non-stop, because we didn't hear enough of them first time around...

Brasstronaut - Mean Sun

Brasstronaut - Mean Sun

Release Date: Out now

Reviewer: Stephen Steps Lowe

Rating: 4.5/5

**********************************************************************************

It may have everything but the kitchen sink but Brasstronaut's sophomore release is a thing of rare beauty.

Brasstronaut are a Vancouver based sextet who, whilst creating new and exciting soundscapes, tread the boards oft-walked by the likes of Bellowhead, Elbow, The Blackheart Procession and The Whitest Boy Alive.

Produced by sometime New Pornographer, Colin Stewart, Mean Sun is not the blissed-out jazz free-for-all that the band name might suggest. Album opener Bounce builds layer upon layer in reaching for its crescendo and on Franciso, nominal frontman Edo Van Breeman's louche, almost whispered vocals, merge effortlessly with the lounge rhythms and almost tropical beats. Mean Sun, having recently featured strongly on Ara City's recent chart podcast, sets the stall out well; murky, nightmarish, baroque-pop, delivered under a laudanum haze.

Amongst the ten tracks on this full-length release guitar licks, heavy with reverb, collide with trumpet, clarinet and trombone (mostly supplied by founding member Bryan Davis). Tinkering ivories merge with collapsing melodies and floating harmonies. It’s a sound that is expansive and sure to have been expensive .Perhaps it is, then, worth mentioning that this record cost just $15,000 – secured primarily through fan funding.

There is the danger that, like Radiohead, Brasstroanut are too clever for their own good, perhaps alienating potential fans with smarty pants time signatures. There are moments when you can imagine the sextet as an overly earnest schoolchild presenting their latest well-intentioned yet ever-so slightly odd project to teacher and being told "that's wonderful Charlie, what is it?"

Mean Sun is not all plain sailing, there are the occasional missteps (Fossils is a little too one-note and Moonwalker hangs around longer than it needs to) but it hits more often than it misses. 'So why such a high score then?' you may well ask. There are few albums these days that set out to create a unique atmosphere that stands aside from the clamour call of the shuffle button. With Mean Sun, Brasstroanut try to reclaim the album as a concept not as a conceit.

Brasstronaut recently had to cancel a European stint, not due to a lack of support but the fact that they needed a promoter able to handle a larger tour. If all this points in the right direction then it's been a path set since their astonishing 2010 debut, Mount Chimera, which won the Polaris Music Prize (The Canadian equivalent of the Mercury Prize), announcing a critical if not commercially approved talent.

Besides which, if an endorsement from this writer fails to 'tickle your boat', then perhaps you'll heed the advice of Nicolas Przeor from rising local stars Mutiny On The Bounty who has picked this crazy bunch of Canadians as ones to watch. And with Schalltot now booking the newest instalment of their Out Of Crowd festival, what price of some brass appearing in Luxembourg, sometime in 2013?

Key tracks: Bounce, Francisco, Mixtape, Falklands, Mean Sun, The Grove

For fans of: The Whitest Boy Alive, Elbow, Bellowhead, The Postal Service, Wu Lyf, Death Cab For Cutie, The Jesus And Mary Chain, BRMC, Kings Of Convenience, Broken Social Scene, The Maccabees, Radiohead

Buy Mean Sun on 7digital here

Watch the video to Mean Sun on Vimeo

Listen to the podcast featuring Brasstronaut here

Visit the band's homepage here

The Canadian music scene is not one that first leaps to your attention in regards to being at the vanguard of forward thinking styles. Yet for each, largely overlooked, ensemble out there (Broken Social Scene, Tokyo Police Club, Wolf Parade, Wintersleep) there's a few that sneak through the cracks. For a country that unleashed Bryan Adams, Celine Dion and Nickleback on the world, the least we should do is pay heed to the lesser known names.

LOUISE DOUGLAS

Tuning in:

Name: Louise Andrée Douglas

Age: A lady never tells!

Profession: Dancer/Actress/Magician/Voice of ACR Jingles

• Years in Luxembourg - 0! I'm an international listener!

• Currently listening to: Frank Ocean , Usher , Josh Osho

• Tip for the future: ' JUKE ' cool London neo soul group who are going to be big in 2013 and Mike Hough - east London RnB singer- 'the new Justin Timberlake'

• Best gig in Luxembourg? I've yet to go to a gig in Luxembourg! I may just have to enter one of ARA City Radio's competitions!

• Best gig ever? Kanye West at Edinburgh Festival! It was a small, intimate gig but amazing!

• Concert most looking forward to? Rihanna world tour.

• Preferred venue? It doesn't matter! If the music is good and I can dance I'm not bothered :)

• Classic Album of all time? Usher 8701 

• Format - CD, MP3, Vinyl? MP3 - iTunes is my best friend! 

• What was the best decade for music? This decade because music is so easily accessible and we can listen to any genre of music from any period of time at the click of a button!

• What song would make you turn the radio off in disgust? Anything techno or hard trance!

• If you were in a band what would you do? Sing and dance :)

• First music crush...Westlife! Haha

• The best thing about Ara City Radio is... Stephen Steps Lowe! ;-)

Monophona - The Spy

Monophona - The Spy

Label: Self-released

Release Date: 24th November

Rating: 4/5

Reviewer: Stephen Steps Lowe

********************************************************************************

Have you heard the joke about a band from Luxembourg that could be the real BIG deal? No? Here’s hoping.

Luxembourg’s music scene has had an upsurge of late. For a number of years, say a decade, the talent pool had, how can we put this delicately, little going for it. True, there were any number of bands willing to rehearse, jam and perhaps even cobble together a CD back in the day, yet few merited comment outside of the Grand Duchy; Eternal Tango, Versus You, Miaow Miaow, Hal Flavin, Natas Loves You and Mutiny On The Bounty were the exception to the rule.

In the last five years or so, government initiatives, workshops, established venues offering support and, of course, an increased exposure to different genres and sounds has seen a ripple effect in the ‘burg. Instead of shonky, angsty rock/metal by numbers there are artists keen to push the envelope and explore avenues yet to be discovered. For the first time, in a very long time, the music scene in Luxembourg is exciting, innovative and, crucially, interesting – Mutiny On The Bounty have signed to European labels, Mount Stealth’s debut EP promises a rich future, Hal Flavin are gearing up for a splendid new release, while Sun Glitters and Alvin & Lyle continue to receive ‘big ups’ from global media. To that list we can now add Monophona – they might not yet sit atop the throne but they have every right to size it up…perhaps even accessorize a bit.

A trio, comprising Claudine Muno, Chook and Jorsch, Monophona are one of those bands that just fit right. Like a toddler’s jigsaw the pieces came together very easily even when on paper it really should not work. Muno, of course, found reasonable fame with Claudine Muno and The Lunaboots, Chook was better known as D&B artist/DJ Full Force or simply DJ Chook, Jorsch meanwhile quietly went about his skills, presumably waiting for ‘that’ feeling. With the release this week of their debut album, Monophona’s immediate and long term future seems set.

Right from the off, the listener is drawn into the frayed world of The Spy, with the gentle peel that is album opener Cracks. Muno’s ethereal, elfin vocals dovetailing wonderful with the sparse yet richly layered sonics. Lead single Give Up further develops this pattern but it’s on stand out moments Shades Of Grey and the title track that Monophona finally show their hand. Not only do these structures work within the album as a whole but in all likelihood Shades is a track, with its stabbing synths and nagging bass, that’ll win a fair few remixes and with it international recognition.

There’s no escaping that by looking back at the murkier days of trip-hop’s breakout period (mid 90s to early noughties) Monophona have stumbled upon a sound that hints at both a future-scape yet to be discovered and the days spent diving beneath a duvet casting out the demons of the night hard travelled.

That factor is also perhaps The Spy’s hardest sell: the murky underworld you imagine this record to soundtrack is hardly redolent of a city, nee country, famed for its burgeoning riches and competitive cost of living. That being said, with strong hints of a Mezzanine era Massive Attack and more prescient tones of Burial, Flying Lotus and Emilliana Torrini, Monophona have created a sound that is theirs to call their own. Having opened for the likes of Rodrigo y Gabriela, Nostalgia77 and Fink who said of his ‘support’; "Monophona are one of the best bands we've met while out on the road and this (Give Up) is a really nice single: lovely vocals, great atmosphere.” While some fans will miss the folky whimsy of Muno and her Lunaboots, this project appears to be where she feels most comfortable.

At thirteen tracks and over 75 minutes in length it could have been trimmed to lose some excess fat but the lilting guitars colliding with bubbling synth and gurgling bass make for a heady mix.

There's also vested interest from with the towers of Ara City Radio, with our very own Ben Andrews (host of The Morning Social 9am – noon) being part of the creative team Radar, on hand to create the visuals found in the videos for Shades Of Grey and Give Up.

Monophona are less a ‘local’ act rising above the confines of a prescribed 'local'-sound and more that of a soon to be internationally successful group who happen to come from Luxembourg.Let's see what happens when they really stretch their legs.

Key Tracks: Shades Of Grey, Give Up, Warrior, The Spy

For Fans of: Massive Attack, Tricky, Hint, Aim, Thievery Corporation, Emiliana Torrini, Bjork, Bonobo, Frou Frou, Phantogram, Hidden Orchestra, Submotion Orchestra, Cinematic Orchestra, anything Orchestra

Buy The Spy here

Watch the video to Shades Of Grey here

Watch the video for Give Up here

Visit Monophona’s homepage here

Image copyright Joël Nepper

TUNING IN - LISTENER PROFILE

Tuning in:

Name: Michael Doyle

Age: 38

Profession: Independent Financial Planner

Years in Luxembourg: 4 years

• Currently listening to / tip for the future:

Ara City Radio of course!!  In the car, it has to be Chase & Status – great driving music.

 • Best gig in Luxembourg?

Strangely I loved The Brand New Heavies at Den Atelier.

 • Best gig ever? 

The first gig I ever attended holds fond memories, The Black Crowes at The Barrowlands Glasgow

 • Concert most looking forward to?

The Killers in March (if I can arrange a babysitter).

 • Preferred venue?

The Barrowlands Glasgow, but in Luxembourg, Den Atelier

 • Classic Album of all time?

Slowhand – Eric Clapton

 • Format - CD, MP3, Vinyl?  MP3

 • What was the best decade for music?

I loved the 90’s (fond memories of being in my 20’s)

 • What song would make you turn the radio off in disgust?

Anything by Fairground Attraction!

 • If you were in a band what would you do?

Most likely smash up some hotel rooms.

 • First music crush...

Wendy James from Transvision Vamp

 •The best thing about Ara City Radio is...

the diverse range of music played, great DJ’s and family feel the station has.

Download LEATHERS for free here

View the album trailer here

Visit Deftones homepage

ROXANA MIRONESCU

TUNING IN

Name: Roxana Mironescu 

Age: 23 

Profession: Intern Journalist at ARA City Radio

Time in Luxembourg: 2 months

Currently listening to: Mumford &Sons - I Will Wait / Van She - Jamaica / Magnetic Man- I Need Air

Best gig in Luxembourg: None yet

Best gig ever: I can’t name one. There were many great gigs that I have been to. While studying in Scotland I used to go to a place called The Lemon Tree to see many local artists perform live. I spent many great nights there.

Concert most looking forward to: Florence + the Machine.

Preferred venue: Intimate pub gigs. I also like outdoor venues in summer.

Classic Album of all time: Queen- News of the World (1977)

Format - CD, MP3, Vinyl? I like MP3 for being so practical, but I also appreciate vinyl for its sound quality.

What was the best decade for music? The 1970s and 1980s.

What song would make you turn the radio off in disgust?

Anything by Justin Bieber, Nicki Minaj and most often heavy metal.

If you were in a band what would you do? I  would be constantly touring, travelling the world, meeting fans, etc.

First Music Crush?
Michael Jackson- I was so crazy about him back in the 1990s.

The best thing about ARA City Radio:
Great music, friendly voices, DJs who know music all the way through and an outstanding team in the back office- this is what makes ARA City Radio the best in town. 

Herbaliser - There Were Seven

The Herbaliser – There Were Seven

Label: Kudos Records

Release Date: Out Now

Rating: 4.5/5

Reviewer: Stephen Steps Lowe

**********************************************************************************

Almost two-decades into an underrated career The Herbaliser prove there’s more to life than being tarred with the Trip-Hop brush.

Jake Wherry and Ollie Teeba are back with their seventh LP – the clue is in the obvious title – and are still finding tremendous form with their unique splicing of funk, soul and hip-hop. Lazily grouped into the mid-90s trend for all things sample heavy (see DJ Shadow, Massive Attack and Portishead for similar treatment), The Herbaliser have always been an unknown quantity. That being said, such is the strength of the writing skills on display here, it is surprising that they aren’t more well-known.

Split between instrumental and funk(ish) vocally driven cuts, There Were Seven continues the thread of Quincy Jones-esque fluttery jazz, rich tones, insistent beats and more hooks than a mega-tackle and bait shop. There may even be pan pipes involved too, which under any normal circumstance would consign any musician(s) to the 7th realm of hades.

Guest vocalists include Canadian hippity-hoppers Twin Peaks and London based whippersnapper George The Poet and anyone who cares to recall the careers of other such contributing parties may well be guided toward Roots Manuva, Coldcut and DJ Food.Stand outs are myriad but a killer touch is evident on Danny Glover’s “I'm so wise, I won't forget this/Like Danny Glover, I'm getting too old for this shit” indicating that the duo know exactly where they are in the grander scheme of things.  At 15 tracks it may prove too much for new arrivals to take in over just one sitting but the good time vibe and laid-back feel ensures a goofy smile and unselfish tap of the foot is never too far away.

Intelligent, engrossing, life-enriching AND interesting. Not wanting to get a soap box out or a sepia-tinged photo of a record sale, but The Were Seven does smack of a bye-gone era. One where beats were filled not filed, samples were hokey not re-sung by a will this do artists du jour, and rhymes were spat with wit and technique not venom aimed solely to court controversy.

In attempting to cover as many bases as possible, Wherry and Teeba do run the risk of stretching  themselves a touch too far, but this is an album that, when you slip it on, is guaranteed to have folk asking ‘who is it?’, you can smile and choose whether to pass the info on or keep it for yourself…

Be nice, now.

Essential tracks: A Sad State Of Affairs, The Lost Boy, Mother Dove, Take ‘Em On, Setting Up

For fans of: Mo Wax, Ninja Tune, The Heavy, DJ Format, Wax Tailor, Blockhead, Coldcut, UNKLE

Herbaliser's homepage

Buy There Were Seven on 7digital

Buy Herbaliser's back catalogue on 7digital

Watch the video to The Lost Boy

Download an album sampler for free HERE

Gareth Clarke

Tuning in:
Name - Gareth Clarke
Age - 39
Profession - Brand Licensing Manager
Years in Luxembourg - 7 months

Currently listening to / tip for the future
Winter Olympics (thanks to you)

Best gig in Luxembourg? None yet

Best gig ever?
Joint 1st prize to Stone Roses - Heaton Park this summer & Electric Soft Parade (promoting 1st Album) in Fibbers, York

Concert most looking forward to?
Seeing Winter Olympics in Luxembourg!

Preferred venue?
Pub Gigs, intimate, sweaty, real beer, involuntary dancing etc...

Classic Album of all time?
Stone Roses, Stone Roses

Format - CD, MP3, Vinyl?
All 3!!! (CD for keepers, MP3s for 'trying out' and vinyl for Classics)

What was the best decade for music?
Generally 1967 - 1977, but for me personally 1987 - 1997 (The Smiths - Louder than Bombs to Radiohead, OK Computer and everything in between...)

What song would make you turn the radio off in disgust?
Anything by X Factor drop outs, Justin Bieber or any other 'music as a
commodity' acts..

If you were in a band what would you do?
Be enigmatic and inspirational whilst rocking my chops off!

First music crush...
Robert Smith (The Cure) circa. 1986

The best thing about Ara City Radio is...
When I was 15 I would spend hours trawling through record shops for the latest thing - now I haven't got time/opportunity (worst luck) but feel that there a few guys out there doing it for me...like a mate saying "what do you think of these guys then...?" - Friendly voices playing relevant music in what could otherwise be a strange land....

Paul Banks - Banks

Paul Banks - Banks

Label: Matador

Release date: Out Now

Reviewer: Stephen Steps Lowe

Rating: 4/5

****************************************************************
Erst-while Interpol frontman ditches Plenti on second solo record and, while there are no major shifts from the 'day job', comes up trumps.

For every fan Interpol gained for their glacial, cucumber cool and suited-up rhythmic throb, there were two crying foul. Interpol were a band that formed quick, were loved by the critics quicker, and fashionistas were soon carping for all their worth that their latest secret had been given to the masses.

This new found glory never cut well with Paul Banks, thrust from the darkened rooms in which they recorded their debut, ironically enough entitled Turn On The Bright Lights and into the limelight. They may have sounded effortlessly cool and world-weary, but in reality they were shitting bricks. Not enough to build a house, but more than enough to hide behind.

Some years later and that legacy continues on with the likes of Editors, White Lies et al, it's not a sound for everyone, sure. But then, that sure does sounds like hell soundtracked by Psy or David Guetta.

Essentially, and perhaps unsurprisingly, this is an Interpol record by any other name, but one that is such a deft stab at straddling the doom laden sonics of the acclaimed NYC band and Banks' own more playful personality, first outed under the guise of Julian Plenti.

There's an undercurrent of anger that permeates the record. It's not entirely subtle, check a few of the titles as evidence; Over My Shoulder, I'll Sue You, Paid for That. Each track takes in the thought of past demons, failed relationships, spurned lovers, nearby enemies. That's not to say that Banks is a pessimistic or even downbeat album. No, you'd perhaps describe it as you would a friend who is... how shall we put it, not the most attractive, as having a great sense of humour to a would be suitor. That is to say that Banks is atmospheric and only reveals itself to be pretty the better you get to know it.

As the industry flips toward one man, one guitar (Jake Bugg, The Tallest Man On Earth etc) and increasingly taught levels of sub wub, it is hard to figure out exactly where Paul Banks fits in. For those that adore Interpol, however, there is much to enjoy, admire and a whole lot more to love. Listen to the gentle swell of Arise, Awake and the near instrumental Lisbon for proof that Banks the record sees Banks the musician stretching his legs.

Even if Interpol have hung up their suits, fans can dodge dabbing at their kohl heavy eyes for this is the logical progression for an artist searching for his place in the world.

For fans of: Joy Division, Television, Magazine, Editors, White Lies, Grizzly Bear.

Essential tracks: Over My Shoulder, I'll Sue You, The Base, Lisbon

Buy Banks on 7digital

Visit Paul Banks homepage

Watch the video to Young Again

Download The Base for free here

Click the links to previous ACR AOTW: Lianne La Havas, Clock Opera, Bloc Party, Mumford & Sons, Muse, Tame Impala

Tame Impala - Lonerism

Tame Impala - Lonerism
Label: Modular
Release Date: Out Now
Reviewer: Stephen Steps Lowe
Rating: 5/5

***************************************************************

The Beatles' Revolver may be an obvious touchstone but Tame Impala stand out from the (over)crowded hipster run off.

Tame Impala's second record arrives to a chorus of hand-ringing, a sound so loud, the reverb almost put Felix Baumgartner's orbital hopscotch out of kilter.*

Could an album recorded in Perth, under the fug of a plentiful supply of 'jazz cigarettes' really cut the mustard? Would the talent and ambition of mainman Kevin Parker be lost in pastiche rather than form a sonic rebirth? Would it be listenable, likeable and relatable? Would it be finished? Would anyone care? Lonerism answers those questions without breaking a sweat, only pausing for thought in regard to what happens on record number three. Strawberry fields forever indeed.

A few years back this reviewer had the pleasure of sharing a chat with Serge and Tom of Kasabian, asking them which bands we should be checking out we were told, pretty bluntly, that Rolo Tomassi were 'the shit' and that Tame Impala were something 'extraordinary'.

2010 saw the release of TI's debut album Innerspeaker and with it came a murky, My Bloody Valentine-esque wall of sound so dense, lush and multi-layered that it could not conceivably be the work of just one man. It was, and the outfit as we know it still is. Australian multi-instrumentalist Kevin Parker kicks things off pretty ominously on 'Be Above It', whispering a defensive coda: “And I know that I gotta be above it now / And I know that I can’t let them bring me down” as if mentally preparing for the fallout.

To be fair, Lonerism isn't going to grab you immediately, and it is highly unlikely you'll be forced to wipe spilled jägerbombs from your chest as the dancefloor herd suddenly swells to the DJ dropping 'Nothing That Has Happened....', but as many truly great records do, it'll sneak up on you. First it will have you looking one way, peering into the misty psychadelia of some distant realm, before planting a great big smacker of a kiss on your brain box. Lonerism's hooks are stealthy and they are numerous.

Come the epic middle section that includes ’Music To Walk Home By’, ’Why Won’t They Talk To Me’, ’Feels Like We Only Go Backwards’and ’Keep On Lying’, you'll find a hot streak missing since vinyl became disc and no one flipped sides anymore. Drum patterns drift in and out, guitars chime and collide with barely there multi-tracked harmonies, while loops repeat and roll around echoing, far off chants. It's what Bilbo and Gandalf would be listening to when kicking back on the shire, if iPods ever made it to Middle-Earth.

You suspect that Parker may not be the easiest cat to be around, creative types rarely are, but as his mind billows with the ideas he farms out to other projects (Melody's Echo Chamber with French partner Melody Prochet, Pond, Canyons etc), his is a well yet to be tapped.

All in all, without any of the usual jargon and monkey business associated with bands that critics are in agreement about, Lonerism is sure to be on the top ten lists come end of year.

You wait an age for a yellow subamarine, then three come along at once.

Just don't call it arrested development.

Key tracks: Feels Like We Only Go Backwards, Mind Mischief, Elephant, Why Won't They Talk To Me?

For fans of: ELO, Kinks, Doors, Pond, Grizzly Bear, Beatles, MGMT, Oh Montreal, The Horrors, Ty Segall, TOY, Pink Floyd, DIIV.

Buy Lonerism from 7digital

Free download of Apocalypse Dreams here

Artist Homepage

MUSE - THE 2nd LAW

Muse - The 2nd Law 

Label: Warner Bros

Release date: Out Now

Reviewer: Stephen Steps Lowe

Rating: 4/5

*****************************************************************

As the Teignmouth space-rock-opera trio embrace R&B, wub-step and pop the question remains whether they've disappeared up their own ambition.

First a caveat. The Olympics deserved a better song than the one offered by Muse. It really did. Even before the UK went temporarily cod-patriotic it was clear that non Muse fans were as equally nonplussed by Matt Bellamy, Chris Wostenholme and Dominic Howard's high camp ode to victory.

The good news is that not only does Survival work better within the context of the album, but The 2nd Law is a triumph in itself. Coming as the band's 6th LP, The 2nd Law finds Muse in a strange hinterland, and one they don't much like. Seen as outsiders through puberty and later in 'the industry', Muse were a band that music lovers and those that listen from time to time, actually bothered to respect. It was their sonic bravery and 'out there' approach that won over even the most hardened souls. Their journey from early-Radiohead wannabes (debut album Showbiz) to that Oxford band's peers was not a day-return to the city. As the band's profile grew, so did the need to, in Spinal Tap parlance, turn it up to11.

Nominal front man, Matt Bellamy has always found it tough going; in quelling his ego/ambition and by the time The Resistance was finished in 2009, ego and intra-band pressure had won out. It was no surprise, then, that the album was a comparative commercial and critical flop. The audience wanted the riffs from Origin Of Symmetry and the groove of Absolution/Blackholes, yes the stellar live shows were terrific but the music had, in some ways become soulless. Like a shark playing the banjo, it was interesting and ridiculous.

Instead of a more consistent tone and structure, they (the fans) got the sense that even the band weren't taking it seriously anymore; such was the subletting of the cheek to the tongue.

Not that Muse are going 'straight', Bellamy still wants to perform via a zeppelin after all, but there is a serious side to all this would-be piffle; the name 'The 2nd Law' references the Second law of thermodynamics, that suggests that the human race cannot continue to grow and consume at the rate which it is without serious fall out. Lofty (Phillip K. Dick or Issac Asimov) ideals, you might think, but it beats Gangnam Style for socio-economic comment doesn't it?

The 2nd Law is bonkers, at times blistering rock, sultry and sexy the next. Instead of being rushed and unfocussed there's a flow to the opening salvo (Supremacy, Madness and Panic Station) that suggests the swagger has been found down the back of the sofa. Within the first fifteen minutes the listener is bombarded by the full Muse box of tricks: monster riffs, soaring strings, choral flourishes and hummingbird falsetto.

Indeed, second track Madness sounds like George Michael fronting Queen, and having just written that down, this writer cant attest it's nowhere near as horrible as that thought sounds. Elsewhere, Follow Me and Animals merge the newly found love for the dub-pedal and Muse's unmistakable sturm und drang, while Wolstenholme (newly recovered from alcoholism) pens and sings on two tracks - the genteel and a touch obvious Save Me and the harder riffing psuedo-Pendulum, Liquid State. Both serve out the record just fine but have a touch of the B-side about them. Leaving the closing suite of The 2nd Law to a dub-step hybrid and a Mike Oldfield ambient trip to round things up.

Does The 2nd Law really need the out and out dub-wubiness (sic) of Unsustainable? Probably not. Yet the noise that comes out of the speaker box is not the sound of pie-eyed microchips munching on the genre du jour, but three self-confessed geeks playing around in the studio trying to innovate rather than replicate electronically constructed lo-end with a human touch (see also the iPad guitars on Madness). Given the hyperbole surrounding The 2nd Law's themes, it's a clever nod.

Sure; there's the ever present threat of parody becoming unfunny but Muse are so arch that you really need to give them their dues.

Having missed out (allegedly) on recording the theme for Skyfall; the band never submitted a track but did suggest Supremacy suited the spec, Muse can breathe a sigh of relief.

The 2nd Law corrects the disappointments wrung by the miss-steps of The Resistance while still using their own unmistakable template. It is doubtful new fans will be found on the back of this but at least there'll be far less of a haemorrhage than before.

Muse homepage

Buy The 2nd Law from 7digital

<cite class="kv">Watch the video to Madness here
</cite>
For fans of: Led Zepplin, Queen, The Darkness, Conspiracy Theories, Pendulum, Robots, The Ozone, Nero, Radiohead

Download: Supremacy, Animals, Follow Me, Unsustainable

Mumford & Sons - Babel

Label: Island/Glassnote/V2
Release Date: Out Now (inc. special ed.)
Reviewer: Stephen Steps Lowe
Rating: 3.5/5

************************************************************

There’s a fair amount of Babel-bashing going in the music press, but with business as usual for the tweed addled folksters, Ara City wonder what all the fuss is about.

Mumford & Sons have a hard task ahead them for the end of 2012 and the beginning of 2013. The knives were out a long time back, even before Sigh No More but this time the vitriol is so fierce as to render the use of stabbing weapons impotent. A lesson the governments of the world may want to take heed of.

Take the album title as a case in point. Babel or rather the tower of, essentially suggests that humans don’t overstep the mark: the proverbial line in the sand as drawn by the gods. Moreover Babel represents the frustrations with failing to communicate properly. Recent outbursts from the band and their growing profile (the pros and the cons) indicate that the recording of this record was not the most comfortable of times. Despite high hopes for the multi-platinum selling debut, none expected the digits that were returned from the Europe, let alone those from across the pond.

It is then no great surprise that Mumford & Sons have decided against throwing the baby out with the bath water and have delivered another LP of yearning folk footstompers. Designed to make men develop man-crushes and for women to go gooey-eyed in festival surroundings the world over.

That Babel sounds so much more like Sigh No More part.2 is no mistake. The band are happy with the music, that much is clear, but there is a sense that they’ve been handed some golden handcuffs here; make it bigger, but make it catchy, came the instruction. And Babel is introduced by the lead single I Will Wait, a track so defintively Mumford it may as well be the frozen embryo by which future tracks will be gene spliced. It is also, it must be said, barnstormingly brilliant, Winston Marshall's banjo and Marcus' throaty declarations building to a suitably hoary hoe-down.

Mumford and Sons make this shit look easy, and as any musician will tell you, that is no easy task. It's evident that Mumford adore the live circuit and Babel is built for the great outdoors.

Babel's producer Markus Dravs (Arcade Fire, Coldplay) returns to his post and elevates his charges to somewhere between the stomp and urgency of Arcade Fire and Coldplay's panoramic everyman schtick. 

Fans of M&S (not the department store) will find much to love here; essentially Babel is Mumford to the power of 7. The choruses are bigger (Lover Of The Light), the quieter moments are lent an increased portion of faux sincerity, and the whole thing sounds like it would be the best fire-side knees up you’ve ever been to.

There’ll always be a naysayer to spam/troll the message boards (the relationship with Laura Marling, the links to Noah & The Whale, Johnny Flynn, Jay Jay Pistolet nee The Vaccines & Carey Mulligan), but as long as there’s a 7pm festival slot to attract masses of inebriated folk desperate to holler at the skies above, whether they be laden with rain/urine/portents of doom, then there’s a place for Mumford & Sons.

They may have dodged the bullet on the ‘tricky second album’TM but there is the hope that on album number three that they shoot for the moon and get further than their comfort zone.

Buy Babel  from  7digital.com
Standard Edition

Deluxe Edition

Artist homepage: www.mumfordandsons.com 
For fans of: Waistcoats, sing-a-longs, posh festivals, Furr, Blitzen Trapper, The Avett Brothers, Campfire Ok

Download: Babel, I Will Wait, Lover Of The Light, Hopeless Wanderer

Click here to watch the video to I Will Wait http://youtu.be/rGKfrgqWcv0

CLOCK OPERA - WAYS TO FORGET

Label: Island/Moshi Moshi through V2

Release Date: Out now international - Mid September for Benelux

Reviewer: Stephen Steps Lowe

Rating: 4/5

*******************************************************

A surfeit of ideas outweighs the initial barrage of sounds.

Some way back in the dim and distant realms of 2009 computer keys were getting furiously clickety-clacked as music writers looked for the sound that would define the coming decade. In amongst the typesetting sprint and the formatting upload rush were two words and two names: Guy Connelly (a polymath musician) and Clock Opera (his 'project').

Such was the demand for a full release from the band that was a man, it is interesting that in the 36 months since giddy bloggers proclaimed a new hero to champion, there's been little news to follow. 

Released in April 2012 in most territories, Ways To Forget was treated by snooty reviewers (hello The NME) as too little too late. With many of the larger publishers distancing themselves from their own early hyperbolic sycophancy: in short - 'we liked it then, when no one else did, so it is ipso facto rubbish now that others like it too.'

Chop Pop they called it - Clock Opera's MO, noting the perma-shifting soundscapes and continual inventiveness on display. Perhaps attention spans can no longer cope with nothing more than two chords and a middle eight.

Propulsive drums and overlaying drama add to the menace of Lesson No.7, whereas Belongings builds from its opening pitter-patter to a blistering finale. 2010 curio A Piece of String, meanwhile, leaps about like the proverbial cat on a hot tin roof.  

Ways To Forget may yet be too glacial for some, the distance between the human and the machine providing a synthetic barrier of electronic pulse and the beats of a heart, but Connelly achieves more in a mere intro then many others manage in a four album career, and for that he should be applauded. Don't believe the anti-hype.

It's not going to be remembered as Guy's best outing, heck it may be the only Clock Opera release, but as a polymath's want, his eye, his mind and, yes, his mind's eye are dreaming up something that'll no doubt blow your mind.

One way or the other.

Clock Opera homepage

Watch the album sampler here

Buy WAYS TO FORGET from 7DIGITAL

For fans of: Everything Everything, Delphic, Miike Snow, Coldplay

Download - A Piece Of String, Lesson No.7, Lost Buoys

BLOC PARTY - FOUR

 Much heralded debut from Streatham songstress

"If it’s good enough for Prince, it’s good enough for us."

Is Your Love Big Enough? The debut LP from rising South London star Lianne La Havas has been shortlisted as tent pole release for UK soul/pop music. It’s easy to see why! Timing is everything.

Amy Winehouse died a year ago, Adele’s up the duff and Duffy…well, poor Duffy is yesterday’s news.

Photogenic, talented, young and good for a quote, La Havas has got a bit of an advantage coming into the home straight – the record is out this week - something the marketing men couldn’t have wished for. Not for all the think tanks in the world. La Havas released an EP last year called Lost & Found, on it was a genteel ditty known as Age. Detailing La Havas’, how shall we say, ‘healthy’ interest in the older male, it pricked the ears of a certain purple tinged popstar. Hooked by the velvety vocals and convinced Age to be about him (despite the pair having never before crossed paths) La Havas was soon the recipient of a Prince sized endorsement. While that musician is diminutive in stature, his legend is (cough) huge. The blogosphere then decided that if it’s good enough for Prince, it’s good enough for us.

As critics fall over themselves in muddle of limbs, battling to cram La Havas into a handy one-size-fits-all pigeonhole, it’s easy to forget that this girl can sing. Like, really sing! Check out the deluxe edition of the record and visit the live versions of the recorded tracks on offer here. When it’s simply La Havas, a guitar and a rapt audience the results are pretty special. It’s not that the record proper is weak, not at all, but it is far too clean. Any of the edges to the tracks (Don’t Wake Me Up, Tease Me) have been smoothed away, like a once jagged stone turned in the surf until a shiny pebble is washed ashore, suggesting La Havas will be marketed to the Saturday afternoon supermarket crowd. La Havas deserved better.

This much heralded debut has a lot to offer but ultimately disappoints…

Like so-called contemporaries, Corrine Bailey Rae, Paloma Faith and, heaven forbid, Leona Lewis, a great deal of the misses on this LP are the result of the producers. In this case Matt Hales of Aqualung, whose main success came from a track soundtracking a car commercial (Strange & Beautiful). There are a few moments of stark beauty and some imaginative pop flourishes but they’ve not taken any risks, terrified of fluffing this release and ironically cocking it up all the same.

La Havas has enough talent to take on the big-hitters and will, in time, find a more singular voice with which to head out to the battlefield. Is Your Love Big Enough? looks set to chart highly in the UK this weekend, and so it should, but, unfortunately a couple of home runs aside, They Could Be Wrong and au Cinema, long time fans will have heard most of the record via the EPs that preceded this debut.

Predictably the ‘cool’ music press is dismissing La Havas quicker than a staunch carnivore baulks at Tofu, crying ‘flash in a pan’ and ‘latest industry backed star’ headlines. But when you ready such class hits as the incredible Forget, the deft title track and the sparse duet with Willy Mason on No Room For Doubt you can afford to relax the throttle a touch.

As far as expectations of this debut go IYLBE? falls significantly short of the instant classic the early hype heralded.

Too often the spiky and interesting arrangements return to the safety of the warm ballad cuddle.

So close, yet so far.

ON REPEAT:

Is Your Love Big Enough?, Forget, Au Cinema, Age.

Click here to buy Is Your Love Big Enough? from 7Digital

Click here to download a free LIVE EP.

Click here to visit Lianne's official site.

Image copyright Warners Music.