LOCAL CD REVIEW: The Big Bang - Shoot the Freak

The Big Bang are well known in Birmingham and have built up a strong live following on the gig curcuit. Many of these songs have been around for several years on demos and downloads but this is their first official album release.

Taking in their live favourites and throwing in a few less familiar tracks they manage to speed through 10 songs in only 34 minutes - no self indulgent guitar solos here.

For the unintitated, The Big Bang are the kind of rock n roll band that most parents would disapprove of. Loud dirty guitars, screaming and swearing are all par for the course. Think the menacing base lines of QOTSA or the sinister vocal style of Guy McKnight (80s Matchbox b-line disaster) - this band fit in the same dark and deviant category.

Highlights are the songs from their live sets: "Sugar Daddy", "Love Bug" and "If I'm a Liar" are reminiscent of many a drunken night out. But the fact this CD has been years in the making has obviously been time well spent as I couldn't pick out a dodgy filler track amongst them.

"Shoot the Freak" is loud, seedy, rock n roll fun and is the perfect soundtrack to a drunken night out or a sleezy night in. Hopefully it won't take them so long to make album number two - I'm looking forward to it already.

Sample some tracks and buy from: www.myspace.com/thebigbangrocks

GIG REVIEW:Shady Bard/Little Dipper/Falling and Laughing/Chinook@Yardbird 8/7/07

This weekly Sunday night gig at the Yardbird, is a venture from ‘This Is Tomorrow’ (who have put together some blisteringly good gigs in Birmingham over the last 6 months or so.) It is the perfect end to a weekend and best of all, it’s free!

Chinook kicked off with his trademark magical acoustic guitar twiddling. He demands your attention without saying a word. He exceeds the Government Recommended Number of Words per Lyric Line by 1000%, at a pace reminiscent of the work of Scatman John and still manages to fashion it into the most serene and beautiful music you ever heard. Birmingham’s Eighth Wonder. I, like many others, watched in awe.

Falling and Laughing are a new local phenomenon. They like the word twee-core, yet are entirely unconvinced that it accurately describes their sound. Think the raw energy and chaos of The Wedding Present. Think the warm faux innocence of Death Cab. Think the comedic cheeky charm of Chas and Dave. This acoustic set was a nice contrast from their usual louder electrical sound, giving a gentle and warm edge to their interesting and creative rhythmical arrangements. Fuelled by incessant drums and pretty harmonies, they seem at their best at the extremes, for example the wistful ‘Lights Out Birmingham’ or else belting hell out of their instruments for a finale. Recommended.

Little Dipper, usually a solo act, was joined by bass and drums. A wise move, as this really brought a new strength to the songs and is a format I hope to see used in the future.

Finally, Shady Bard took to stage. Many technical false starts left an exasperated Shady Bard seeming distinctly unhappy but then sunshine, sugar and smiles is not really their thing at the best of times.
Their series of London and other city gigs this year, building up to their recent album release, has obviously left them polished and primed. Singer Lawrence has totally mastered the wailing angst that he has always seemed to strive for in his vocals and indeed it really is their distinctive quality. Over strings, guitar, keyboards and horn, his voice commandingly soars above it all and overwhelms in a pleasingly suffocating manner before abating, like the calm after the storm.

LOCAL CD REVIEW: Men In Caves - Lost at Sea EP

Available from http://www.myspace.com/menincaves £4

This Leamington/Cov three piece like muddy holes, hidden temples, teashops, cats and ringing each other pretending to be important members of the record industry. I guess Cov people have to amuse themselves somehow ;)
Lead Singer Tom Brindle has a beautiful and strong voice, frequently angst filled and emotion saturated. The accompanying band strike up a bold grungy rock sound, which is well structured and highly polished.
Stand out tracks for me are ‘Am I The One?’ which is a bluesesque yet jazzy toe tapper and ‘Why Did You Bring Me Here?’ for its slowly increasing tension to a head bashing climax before dropping away into meak exhausted heap. Great finisher

LOCAL CD REVIEW: Captain Polaroid - Other Short Stories and Better Works of Fiction

Available from http://www.myspace.com/captainpolaroid £7.

This is the Birmingham based Captain’s second album, on label 'Filthy Little Angels.' He has blended a magical formula of lyrics to spark discussion, fragile yet earnest and demanding vocals and fuzzy guitar melodies to sway your head to. The result is a thought-provoking lo-fi gem crammed full of playful poppy tunes.
Personal highlights include ‘Wintertime Ending,’ direct from the school of Conor Oberst, graduating with honours and ‘Better Works of Fiction’, tongue-in-cheek blasphemy filtering through to offer a more light-hearted edge to the underlying religious subject matter. Further investigation thoroughly recommended.

What's Hot and What's Not

Fern Britton: Fern looks and acts like she could have stepped straight off a saucy British seaside postcard - her infectious giggle and magnificent breasts make her our favourite celebrity mom.

West Midlands Safari Park: Firstly it's a quasi outdoors activity that actually requires no exercise, but most importantly the new cubs on White Tiger Ridge are enough to make any pro fox hunter join the WWF.

Choc o'clock: 3pm in our office is choc o'clock. We've discovered by giving a set time and name to being unashamedly, publicly gluttonous you can indulge without the slightest hint of Dr Gillian McKeith guilt.



Socialising with colleagues: Never blur the line between a work colleague and a friend and if the lines have become blurred you've been in your job too long. When I tell my colleagues the reason why I'm declining after work drinks on a Friday is because I'd rather meet my real friends they think I'm joking.

Bowling: I fail to see they entertainment value of paying to wear clown shoes and spending an evening feeling like I'm in an episode of Sweet Valley High. The colours of the décor are garish and the best food choice on offer is chicken in a basket.

Self-induced Halitosis: People who for no medical reason think it's perfectly acceptable for them to interact with other human beings despite the fact their breath is so toxic, that even at 9am, it could peel your skin and hair off leaving you looking like a survivor of Hiroshima.

Day-glo: Enough with the day-glo face paints already! They were mildy entertaining for about one micro-second last year but even on the hottest young thing once mixed with a bit of sweat it just looks like someone's had a fight with their highlighter pens and lost!