We cut through the hype and give the one thing lacking in so many places these days: an honest opinion. We're not going to put something down for the sake of it either. For an honest outlook on music (and other subjects), you're in the right place!
With grime vocals bolted unceremoniously to beats that I can only assume were designed to blow holes in your sub-woofer, this is a classic British slice of rap/hip-hop with a refreshing electronic edge. If this isn’t already blowing away dance floors on underground club nights then there’s something seriously wrong with the world, and if this is your kind of tune then go ask for it!
TWIN ATLANTIC – What Is Light? Where Is Laughter?
Red Bull Records
Twin Atlantic are, quite possibly, one f our discoveries of the year here at Call Upon The Author, their Biffy Clyro meets 30 Seconds To Mars sound is fresh and engaging and this is another example of how well they know their way around a song. Seriously, if you haven’t heard this band yet then you’re missing out, so get googling now!
BLACK SOUL STRANGERS – Lies
Squeek Records
This Irish quartet have taken up residence in London to try and bring their indie tunes to the masses. They aren’t bad either, though this is certainly not groundbreaking stuff. In fact, if I’m honest this is almost a throwback to the latter days of the Britpop era with it’s singalong chorus, good fun then, in a throwaway fashion.
RUFFNECK ‘09 FT. NAVIGATOR – Ctrl Z v Freestylers
Never Say Die
Furious electro punk anarchy is the recipe of the day here. If you pogo’d round the dance floor to early Prodigy you’ll be right at home here. Having been the subject of a master class in Computer Music on how to remix (and of course, featured in a video here at Call Upon The Author), give this a spin and we defy you not to be dancing around the room!
BAD FOR LAZARUS – Old Rats On A New Ship
Shit Chic
Like the grubby rocker stood in a crowd of pristine skinny jean clad indie kids, Bad For Lazarus doesn’t quite fit. Somehow that makes this single all the more endearing. The screeching vocal and stomping beat, all drenched in distortion, hark back to the grunge era. Do yourself a favour if you get this disc and check out the B side too. ‘Kemptown Animals’ comes on like a prowling animal being sound tracked by The Fratellis, and it’s a gorgeous mix!
It’s time, once again for us to peruse the best and brightest videos that have popped up in our inbox over the past week or two. Lets start with Ctrl Z giving us a remixing masterclass as they show how they went about adding their own spin to a Freestylers classic. If you have any interest in creating your own tunes with computer programs, this is well worth a watch!
Next, we’ll change tack and lets check out the viedo for Mumford & Sons new video. Winter Winds is a cracking track and the clip isn’t too bad either!
If you’ve kept an eye on our news updates you’ll have read about the soundtrack for the forthcoming Flip skateboard movie. So, we thought it’s be good to have a peek behind the scenes to watch the likes of Lemmy and Snoop Dogg working on their tracks!
Let’s take a minute to mellow out again now. We reviewed Richard Walters’ new single a couple of weeks back, so we thought you might like to check out the promo clip for it too. So, here’s the video for Weather Song.
So, to the last video for this instalment. Irish indie-rockers Black Soul Strangers are beginning to make waves throughout the music press, so we thought it’d be a good idea to give you a heads up on them. Here’s a video interview for you to check out!
The Freestylers need no introduction and neither does their all time classic ‘Ruffneck’. This Anthem has been re-recorded and hurtled into the future by notorious electronic punks Ctrl Z and has been one of the biggest tunes in the sets of the likes of Stanton Warriors, Krafty Kuts, Freq Nasty, Deekline and of course the ‘Stylers for the past year!
Every time these two acts have met in the past, the results have been devastating. The Ctrl Z remix of The Freestylers & Pendulum track ‘Security’ was one of the highlights of 2007 and their album collab ‘Turn to Dust’ was rock breaks at its very best, so it was natural that the Stylers would turn to the Z to put their take on what is considered by many as the best Freestylers track ever!
This track was the subject of a Computer Music magazine masterclass and when you hear it you’ll see why. Blending the old with the new, Ctrl Z have managed to keep the ‘rough around the edges’ vibe of the Freestylers original, while stamping their monstrous bassline and synth sounds all over it. Now it’s finally getting the release it deserves with remixes to blow your socks off including; the seemingly omnipresent High Rankin, best selling dubsteppers Excision & Datsik, bassline remix kings Pirate Soundsystem and the fast rising crack house wunderkid Rack n Ruin! The vinyl (Original / Excision & Datsik remix) is due out on November the 23rd and all mixes will be available digitally on November 30th. Coming up next year on the label – Foreign Beggars & Noisia, SkisM, Ctrl Z, Losers, Reso and anyone else we can get our grubby little paws on!
