Pepper - Ohana - Super quick album review

I'd almost forgotten about Hawaiian ska-reggae-punk band Pepper.

It seemed like they had all but disappeared from my life, aside from the odd pointless 'bands in town' demand emails I kept getting over the last few years.

Luckily though, whilst using Spotify's awesome 'discover' feature, I stumbled upon the new Pepper album, Ohana.

I love it.

It's got all of the elements I love Pepper for - with the exception of the departure of their more ska-punky songs.

It's laid back, full of summer vibes, yet still full of bouncing ska/reggae infused energy. The lead vocalist has one of the best voices I've ever heard - when I originally discovered Pepper many years ago I was convinced it was Brad from Sublime doing vocals!

As I said, this review is super quick, but my favourite tracks on Ohana are:

Reckless
Start You Up
Wait
Big Mistake

2008 was their last album 'Pink Crustaceans and Good Vibrations' - and not a great one at that, with a half decent e.p 'Stitches' in 2010. They allegedly released a self titled album in 2013, but I can't find any concrete evidence of this.

Anyhow, Ohana is great, and in perfect time for the summer. 6 out of 7 from me.

Alborosie - Freedom & Fyah - Album Review

Today has been a good day.

It started with finding a fully working 40" Samsung TV. Nice.

Then I got my hair cut. Nice.

Then when I got home, I logged on to Spotify and FINALLY the new Alborosie album Freedom & Fyah was sitting there waiting for my ears.

Having heard the single 'Fly' a couple of days ago and being pretty disappointed with it because of the horrendous overuse of autotune on it, I was actually dreading hearing the new album.

I'm going to talk a bit more about the autotune thing in a minute, but for now I'll let you know what I think about the album as a whole. It's been three years since Alborosie's last album 'Sound the System', which was a corker. Just about every track on the album is great.

Two years before that album came '2 Times Revolution' which was also really good and had a hefty amount of cracking reggae tunes on it, and was a welcomed follow up to 2009's 'Escape from Babylon' which was the first taste I had of Alborosie, and he immediately became one of my favourite contemporary reggae artists, and he is by far the most authentic white reggae artist that I listen to.

Read about him here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alborosie I can't be bothered to tell you about him.

Over the last year or so there have been a few tracks released by Albo, and it kept me in suspense, really excited for the new album which I have listened to three times already today - so that tells you it's good already.

It does lack some of the catchiness that I've become used to from Alborosie, but nevertheless, the album is consistant and has been more or less worth the wait.

My favourite tracks are 'Rich' and 'Poser' which are probably the albums strongest, catchiest tracks.

My biggest criticism of the album, and not just Alborosie's - I'm talking about a lot of current reggae artists here too - there's just way too much autotune used throughout the album. When used sparingly, and well, autotune has its uses and place within music (never thought I'd hear myself say that!) but seriously, it's to the point of overkill here, and that made me a bit sad.

Alborosie can sing, so why not just sing the parts instead of singing them and then murdering them with the autotune? For me, it's honestly enough to shorten my listening span of this album, and although he's used it on pretty much all of his albums to a degree, this one just takes it too far.

The man can sing, and has a great voice, but honestly, if you can't sing a certain melody well, get that person that's featuring on your song to do it!

Anyway, I'll shut up about it now, but reggae artists - please please please put the autotune to rest and leave that to Ke$ha and the other artists who need it in the mainstream charts.

As with all of Alborosie's previous albums, this one is really well produced and mixed - Albo has an incredible knowledge of reggae production and there are some amazing videos on YouTube of him in his studio mixing some tunes and it's hypnotising to watch him do. His dub albums are also great - check out 'Dub of Thrones' your ears will thank me if you like a bit of dub reggae!

The only thing I felt this album was truly missing was the little bit of rocksteady/ska that he usually manages to squeeze in on at least one track, the song 'Goodbye' featuring Nina Zilli on his last album is an ear worm for sure.

All in all, my ears were most pleased with 'Freedom & Fyah' but as with all of the albums I've been waiting for that have come out this year, I just hope the wait for another one isn't too long.

I'm giving this album 5 out of 7, it might've got a 6 if it wasn't for the autotune overkill.

The Cat Empire - Rising With The Sun (Album Review)

I was first introduced to the Cat Empire back in 2006-2007.

Back then my band was at the height of its "success", and the guys that told us all about them (an awesome trio called Toupe) had said that we'd love them.

They billed them as a ska infused hip-hop band, and that's exactly how I found them.

But since then, the Cat Empire have evolved and grown and morphed and completely changed.

I saw them live in London in 2008, and they were one of the most incredible bands I've ever seen live. They are so much more than a ska infused hip-hop band. They are an entity.

To see them play with a full orchestra (although my idea of a full orchestra is like, anything beyound a normal brass section and accompanying string instruments!) was out of this world.

Yes, I'd had a "bit" to drink that day, but still, they blew me away. No, I won't be posting pictures of the state of me after that gig.

Anyway, a couple of days ago they released their 7th (?) album, Rising With The Sun.

It's... different.

But actually, it's different in a good way.

So basically, you've got two main vocalists... one who sounds like a less annoying version of the bloke from the Slackers, and the other that sounds like an Australian hitch hiker. One does more melodic singing, the other does more rappy vocals.

Up until album number five (Cinema - which is awesome) the formula was pretty much always; grab a pot, throw a bit of hip-hop in there with some jazz, some ska, some reggae and occasionally some orchestral shizzle in there for good measure, and you've got a Cat Empire album.

Can't go wrong with that, after all, they are one of the best bands I've ever seen live... so much energy, so much soul, so much party (and not your typically stereotyped teenagers-drinking-underage-jumping-in-a-pool-rich-kids-copping-off-with-anything-that-moves type party that you hear in so much music these days) nope, I'm talking proper burning-man "this BBQ where we all randomly appeared at this evening is the best party ever because we're all connected and peace and love n all that shit" type of party.

Yeah.

You might need to re-read those last couple of sentences.

Anyway, I've been looking forward to a new CE album for ages... three years. Well, six actually because the album before this one 'Steal The Light' I didn't particularly like. But I might do now they are back on my radar and my ears are open to them again...

It's a good album, but fans who dropped away after 2010s 'Cinema' might think they aren't worth giving them play time now. I disagree, this album is nice and has most of the elements I like about CE.

No hip-hop flavours in this one though....? Hmm. That's the biggest shame for me, as it's one of the reasons I enjoyed them so much 10 years ago.

TEN YEARS?! Oh my god.

Yes, it's just hit me.

When a ten year time span crops up in your memories as if it was yesterday, it's a shock to the system.

Cat Empire created and hold many happy memories for me. This album is... great, but when I think about how they could/should have evolved in the horrifying ten years that have passed since my ears adopted them, I'm left a little saddened because this new one isn't amazing and really, I wouldn't recommend a noob to listen to this one as their first taste of Cat Empire Awesomeness.

'Midnight', 'Bulls' and 'Wolves' (the latter 2 being released earlier this year as singles) are the best tracks on the album, and had filled me with hope that the rest of the songs might be as good or better - alas, not really.

It's all just kinda... meh after the first three tracks. But somehow, still great, probably just because it's new Cat Empire tracks. I think I feel like "yeah, nice, now hurry up and get a PROPER album out" and all will be fine. But I think that about most bands I've loved and followed every time they bring out a new album.

Maybe I'm just too hard to please.

'Rising With The Sun' (like my boner does) - I give it a (just about) 3 out of 7

Want to read more about the Cat Empire? Here's the wiki page - BOOM

Weezer - the White Album (review)

I love Weezer.

They have to be one of the bands I've had on constant rotation over the last 18 years or so, and I rarely get tired of hearing anything by them.

Apart from 'Death To False Metal' (whatever that album was meant to be I have no idea).

A few weeks ago my friend and fellow Mashed Potato Hed Mat (also a big Weezer fan) brought two new singles to my attention, 'King of the World' and 'California Kids' - and this was great news to me as it was beginning to feel like it had been a while since there was any new Weezer in my life...

I listened to the songs, and... well, in all honesty, I wasn't very impressed by what I was hearing and having not known a new album was on it's way so imminently, started to dread what it might be like.

Then last week it appeared on Spotify - the White Album.

I was worried and happy all at once and as soon as I spotted it (I can't think of a decent Spotify pun right now, sorry!) I gave it a listen through. I wasn't impressed. In fact, my exact words to Mat were; "Flicked through, it's boring as fuck."

I was sad.

But me being me, the eternal hoper, gave it another listen... this time with louder volume whilst I was working on some of my monster illustrations. The album finished (it is a super short album, with most tracks barely hitting or overhanging the 3 minute mark) and even though it hadn't had my full attention I felt like I'd just listened to a really nice album.

Every single Weezer album has it's own "thing" that I can't quite put my finger on, but I guess I'll just call it "Weezerness". In fact, Weezer could quite easily be a singles band, but there's something about listening to an entire album of theirs that leaves me satisfied, despite the occassional 'WTF is this?!' moment that has happened on probably most of their albums over the last few years, at least the albums since the Green Album. I listened again, and louder.

It's a grower. I'm not sure what the band were aiming to do calling it the White Album, because by the Beatles standards, it's definitely not their best album, and won't be their most memorable, BUT it is actually a fine piece of work that is really consistent in Weezerness. But old skool Weezerness, which has been lacking for a while. It has it's Pinkerton moments - albeit a bit subdued, with tracks like the King of the World single and Wind in our Sails - and it also has some Blue/Green/Make Believe moments. In fact, the thing the White Album is missing is the cheesey moments we've become used to over the last decade, there's no 'Pork And Beans', there's no '(If You're Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To', and there's definitely no 'Buddy Holly'. But that's actually a nice breather for a change, and it actually lends to show just how great a song writer lead singer Rivers Cuomo is - as if I needed to even say that.

The White Album is solid, and takes us back (in a weird way) to a more mature sounding Weezer. That's why I feel that it's got some Pinkerton about it.

Each track has the typical Rivers Cuomo trademark sound, which to me is the minor chord twists he puts in to every happy sounding song which to me is exactly how this band have manged to stay unique and memorable without becoming an embarrasing old man boy band. The nerdcore element is still in there, you just have to listen for it, perhaps with a bit more effort nowadays, but as I said, Weezer might just have grown up now. Which isn't a bad thing at all, as I'd love to be able to still be listening to this band when I'm 60 (if my ears still work!) without thinking they got too poppy or ran out of good songs.

This album is still growing on me, and it's so short I have to keep playing it, but that doesn't stop the chorus lines getting stuck in my humming glands, and although initially I'd have given it a terrible 3 out of 7, at least 5 plays later I'm giving it a 5.5 and I expect it to hit a 6 within the next few days... it won't hit a 7, but hopefully that means Weezer will keep trying for many years to come.

Summary:

Stinks of Pinkerton, feels a bit like Blue Album with sprinklings of the others, but most importantly, it still sounds like Weezer, and IS Weezer.

Album review: Nerf Herder 'Rockingham'

I've been waiting for a new Nerf Herder album for what feels like forever.

But it's only actually been eight years. ONLY.

If you're not familiar with the work of the 90s nerd-core pop-punk band, or perhaps only know them from their theme song for Buffy the Vampire, then first of all slap yourself, and then go and listen to all of their albums in order - immediately.

Nerf Herder are one of my favourite bands of all time, and one of the first live bands I ever saw. I was lucky enough to chat with some of them after they supported No Use For A Name (another of my all-time favourite bands) in Portsmouth way back in 1999/2000 and I still have a ticket for that show with various band members squiggles on.

Anyway, yesterday saw the release of their fifth full length album, Rockingham.

This album was crowdfunded, and seems to have been a long time in the making. Alas, I was not one of the people to donate towards the album because I'm way too skint to do such things, and am a struggling artist myself, however, they'll get enough online plays and plugs from me to cover the cost of any donation I'd have given if I was able to.

So was it worth the wait?

Well... yes. I have to say straight off the bat that it's not their best album, but having only listened to it twice before writing this review, and blasting it as I write, I have to say it's a grower and one thing that is a good sign is that when I woke up this morning I had at least two hooks from the album running through my head. Having said that, it's not their worst album either, because... well... in my opinion they don't have a bad album, which is a big achievement in my book as most bands end up squirging out some shit at some point in their careers. Luckily, or perhaps cleverly in this case, Nerf Herder haven't done that yet. I'd say this album is as good as 2002s 'American Cheese' which admittedly took me a while to get used to as it seemed quite different to the the albums prior to this release, but was actually a nice development of their pop-punk sound, adding synths and keyboards, which then really came into their own on the Nerf Herder IV album.

I really like all of their previous work, and my favourite, and in my opinion their strongest album is the aforementioned Nerf Herder IV released in 2008. The songs on Rockingham are laced with Nerf Herder's typical catchy chorus lines and funny lyrics, but I feel that the subject matter of the new album falls slightly short of the mark in terms of the silliness and down right bizarreness of their previous stuff.

It almost shows a more grown up Nerf Herder, with slightly more rocky, slower numbers, like a middle-age man reminiscing about the old days. The band are all in their mid 40s now after all.

That being said, they still know how to make some great songs, with 'We Opened for Weezer' being one of my favourites from the album 
and this was one of the songs stuck in my brain this morning! There's plenty of geeky goodness which fans have come to expect from Nerf Herder on the Rockingham album, covering all the usual Sci-Fi bases, with Star Wars and Doctor Who references, and a song about blaming Bill Murray for a proper Ghostbusters 3 film never happening. Speaking of Ghostbusters, I'll write a seperate post about the new film and my views on it soon.

Anyway, Rockingham is over way too quickly, and maybe it's just because it's been so long a wait for new songs from Nerf Herder that I'm left wanting more and at the same time not feeling completely full up by what Rockingham has to offer (in a good way because I want more, MORE DAMMIT!) and I can only hope that this is the start of a pick up in momentum for the band and that this release is proactive and means that there is more to come and not something that was only done because the fans made them do it (if that makes sense?!).

A year or two ago I honestly thought I'd never get to see Nerf Herder at a show ever again, and I hope this fear can now be removed from my worried mind and that they'll finally come back to the UK before either I die, or one of them does. 2016 is being unrelenting in it's taking away of awesome people, so I hope both they and myself can dodge it's evil claws long enough to be able to be in the same venue as each other one more time!

Anyway, to sum up, Nerf Herder have so far done no wrong with their output, and although the new album is not an immediate classic, I know it's going to reveal more to my ears as I give it more listens, and if I can't shake the choruses from my brain for the next few days then I know it's earned it's place in my 'What My Ears Liked in 2016' playlist.

I'm giving Rockingham 5 out of 7. I don't care what anybody else thinks.

Listen to Rockingham by Nerf Herder on Spotify here: