The View - Bread And Circuses [Album Review]

Click here or read below for my album review of Bread And Circuses by The View. It was published on Pure Grain Audio.

Rating: 6/10

The View were heralded as the "next big thing" back in 2007 when the Scots released their debut album, Hats Off To The Buskers. The record shot to number one in the British album chart and the singles faired well too. Twenty-five months later their sophomore effort Which Bitch? was unveiled and it was invariably a flop. Alcohol and booze had began to rule the band and consequently the music suffered.

The View made a conscious decision to start putting the music first again and started working on album number three, Bread And Circuses. The result is a superior effort to Which Bitch?, but the band still appear to be lacking a bit of real class. "Tragic Magic", "Friend", "Blondie" and "Sunday" all contain infectious melodies and typical surf-rock harmonies, but fighting through the surrounding nine worthless songs is irritating.

With Bread And Circuses chart success even further down on Which Bitch? it becomes apparent that The View have failed to claw back the fans they lost after their second record. At this rate it will not be long before they disappear into indie obscurity alongside The Automatic and The Enemy.

written by Will Lyon

Run Time: 50:10
Release Date: March 22, 2011

Track Listing:

01. Grace
02. Underneath The Lights
03. Tragic Magic
04. Girl
05. Life
06. Friend
07. Beautiful
08. Blondie
09. Sunday
10. Walls
11. Happy
12. Best Lasts Forever
13. Witches

Check out the song: "Grace"

The Naked And Famous - Passive Me, Aggressive You [Album Review]

Click here or read below for my album review of Passive Me, Aggressive You by The Naked And Famous. It was published on Pure Grain Audio.

Rating: 7/10

Whatever your opinions of synth-pop are, one thing for certain is that there is still plenty of life left in the genre. There are a lot of bands on the musical landscape still mucking about with synthesisers and generally the quality has been surprisingly good. The Naked And Famous are continuing this trend. Although Passive Me, Aggressive You has been available in their native land of New Zealand for a while, it has finally been shipped around the world and the feedback has been very positive.

“Punching In A Dream” and "Young Blood" have some incredibly infectious electronic riffs which would bring chaos to dancefloors in clubs. The beats are loud and the tremendous Cyndi Lauper-esq voice of Alisa Xayalith shrills through the listener. However, the album is not all get-up-and-go. There are slower efforts, some of which are a bit weird and sadly a sharp drop in quality from the singles.

In truth, the album is a long, winding journey. From the dancefloor, to the chill out-tastic "The Ends" and then the hard rock of "A Wolf In Geek's Clothing", The Naked And Famous have nailed a really interesting and captivating record.

written by Will Lyon

Run Time: 49:13
Release Date: March 15, 2011

Track Listing:

01. All Of This
02. Punching In A Dream
03. Frayed
04. The Source
05. The Sun
06. Eyes
07. Young Blood
08. No Way
09. Spank
10. Jilted Lovers
11. A Wolf In A Geek's Clothing
12. The Ends
13. Girls Like You

Check out the song: "Young Blood"

The Naked And Famous - Girls Like You [Song Review]

Click here or read below for my review of the latest single by The Naked And Famous. It was published on Pure Grain Audio.

Rating: 7 / 10

“Girls Like You” is the third single from The Naked And Famous début album, Passive Me, Aggressive You. The single is actually about two minutes shorter than the album version, but that does not particularly matter. The 126 extra seconds on the album is basically some unnecessary weird noises and slowly descending feedback.

The song, musically, is quite enjoyable. It is a mixture of shoegaze and electropop with a very infectious chorus. The track builds up to a nice climax, followed by a much improved twenty seconds of feedback and noise, compared to the album format. However, the main downside is that after a few spins, the listener realises that the originally infectious chorus of “don’t you know people write songs about girls like you?” becomes a little repetitive.

written by Will Lyon

Run Time: 3:59

Release Date: 06.06.2011