The most hotly anticipated album of the year is another step closer as Radiohead have released the first single off their as yet untitled ninth album. ‘Burn The Witch’ opts for a mesmerising yet sinister orchestral sound which is a marked departure from the electronica of their previous album The King of Limbs. The music video features a stop-motion retelling of The Wicker Man. Prior to it’s release the band teased fans with snippets of the video, leaflets in the post, and by deleting content from their social media. Only time will tell if the album lives up to expectations.
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Song. Bond Song.
Despite it’s mixed reception, Sam Smith’s ‘Writing’s on the Wall’, the theme for the latest James Bond Film Spectre, has made history by becoming the first Bond theme to reach number 1 in the charts. The prestigious honour of performing a track for a Bond film isn’t given to just anyone, but the end results have always been a bit hit-and-miss even with the big name stars. So who would be best suited then to perform the song for the next instalment? Who can match Smith’s chart success and yet find the universal acclaim that ‘Writing’s on the Wall’ has been missing? Continue reading
Must Own Albums: Alternative Rock
R.E.M – Automatic for the People
After the band’s breakthrough album ‘Out of Time’ launched them straight into the public eye, the band decided to make their next release bigger and better. Their plan to make a heavy rock album didn’t get off the ground, but thankfully instead they created this melancholic masterpiece. It is about as haunting and beautiful as music gets and is one of the greatest albums of the 90s. It’s also thought to be the last album that Kurt Cobain ever listened to.
Radiohead – OK Computer
Even though their previous two releases were hardly what you’d call conventional, OK Computer is when Radiohead really started to experiment. Fiercely political and anti-capitalist, the dark dystopian tone was well received. It has been compared to Sgt. Pepper and Dark Side of the Moon for it’s dense layering and sonic innovation. It’s hailed as one of the greatest, most influential and most important albums ever made.
The White Stripes – Elephant
The White Stripes were the pinnacle of rock music in the noughties. The bare-bones approach, the furious blend of blues and punk, and their striking and mysterious aesthetic all added up to them being one of the last great rock bands and influencing all Garage bands that followed. Elephant is the band at their creative peak, featuring ‘Ball and Biscuit’, ‘The Hardest Button to Button’ and of course ‘Seven Nation Army’.
Red Hot Chilli Peppers – Blood Sugar Sex Magik
This album was the one that both defined RHCP and brought them into the mainstream. It drew together all their now famous traits; the funky bass, the psychedelic guitar, sex, drugs and plenty of tongue in cheek lyrics. The band blossomed into unique and energizing force in music, most notably in the hit singles ‘Under the Bridge’ and ‘Give it Away’.
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