I'll start with a list of my favourite bands so that anyone who won't be interested in my journal doesn't need to spend time going through it :P I'll organise by genre, favourites underlined:
Electronic - Biosphere, Fluke, Basshunter, The Chemical Brothers, Scooter, Mistabishi,
The Qemists,
Pendulum,
Sub Focus,
Crystal Castles, Nero, The Prodigy, Hadouken!, Deadmau5, Calvin Harris, Basement Jaxx
Electropop - Owl City,
The Postal Service, Royksopp
Alternative - The Bloodhound Gang, Coldplay,
Gorillaz, Idiot Pilot,
Kings Of Leon,
MGMT, The Temper Trap, Bloc Party, Florence + The Machine, Kasabian
Rock -
Hollywood Undead, Linkin Park, Green Day, The Darkness, Franz Ferdinand, The Killers, Oasis, Papa Roach,
The Strokes
So essentially, I limit myself to adding one album a week to my library (or at least I try to!) and I intend to use this to introduce people to stuff I find that I enjoy, and that hopefully they will too. This at least ensures that there will be new stuff to talk about each week. I don't know how much time I will have to write genuine reviews, so it will mostly be a "music dumping ground" with my comments, which will be quite opinionated, so don't expect too much professionalism :P
I will initially give you a review of "For The Masses" by Hadouken! - an album I am very fond of! I wrote this a while ago, but what I've said still stands (in my opinion at least!):
Quote:
1. Rebirth
2. Turn The Lights Out
3. M.A.D.
4. Evil
5. House is Falling
6. Mic Check
7. Ugly
8. Bombshock
9. Play The Night
10. Lost
I was introduced to Hadouken! by my friend from college near the beginning of this year. He had picked up a Mix tape, which I took a listen to and decided it might be worth checking out an album, fortunately For The Masses had come out within the last month so I was able to pick up their most recent stuff and check it out. Definitely worth it, their style seems to change from old to new throughout the course of the album, the earlier parts being reminiscant of their first album "Music For An Accelerated Culture." A nice touch.
For The Masses is definitely an album that will take you a while to get into, Hadouken!’s style isn’t one that is instantly easy to pick up and enjoy – but it is very worth it once you’ve given in a chance. A lot of Hadouken’s music is based about repeated lyrical phrases “Won’t go, no I won’t go” in Evil, “You can bang the drum” in M.A.D. and “You left me waiting...” in Lost as a few examples. This gives a certain edge to their music and along with their catchy riffs, it makes a lot of their songs easy to remember and catch in your head. They bring out some serious bass in the majority of the songs, most notably Ugly.
They're definitely somewhere in Grime music. Some tracks have dubby elements, but they rely much more on their lyrics than standard Drum and Bass or Hardcore Electronic groups.
The album begins very grimy, and continues for a reasonable length of time. Rebirth is an excellent intro track, letting you know some of the things Hadouken! are about without being too Heavy. The next three tracks are definitely quite reminiscent of the first album, with large amount of what I can only describe as "Mildly Aggressive talking" as appears to be the lyrical style. As the album develops the album develops it’s anthems. Both House is Falling and Mic Check are huge tunes, as is Ugly that follows. Mic Check is classic Hadouken! I must have spent a week or so with “Check One Check Two One Mic Check” in my head. In the last couple of tracks Hadouken really bring out their other side, Play the Night and Lost are both slightly slower and more melodic than the rest of the album, a sign of thing to come for Hadouken, perhaps? I definitely hope so!
P.S. I would also reccomend the Mic Check EP, if you're into this sort of thing. Most of the remixes are very good.
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So yeah, I hope you enjoy the start to my journal, and please do feel free to message me to talk about anything that I have mentioned, or even stuff that I haven't mentioned that I might like to listen too. I'm always up for new music, within the genres I listen too or even outside it
