Recensioni Musica - Three Monkeys Online

Groovetronics from Ellee Ven

Ellee Ven, the stage-name for one Jessica Kunin, has a specific significance, and one that is telling on her music. Pronounce it straight through, and you'll come up close to a two-digit number that, for Ven, symbolises "two equals in perfect union".

Many artists come up with a name on a hunch, a wing and a prayer, and in the succesful cases - like U2 - manage to make it work. In the worst case scenario, the band get's sunk by a name that just doesn't fit. It's rare, though, to find a...

Dreamy mood music from London Based mega project

Identity Crisis is the well-chosen title of London Based Iambic Dream Project's first album. Well chosen because it highlights both the strengths and weaknesses of this rich and eclectic album.

While we're at it, the brainchild of producers Wael K. & Raz Kennedy, The Iambic Dream Project is itself well titled, as the common elements uniting all the songs on offer here are poetics and vision. This is highly crafted, top of the range mood music - it's not going to get you dancing...

Mood swinging brilliant folk from Iceland

Rarely as a reviewer will you give a new artist the time of day, let alone the benefit of the doubt - something usually reserved for close and drunken friends, or Nick Cave. Sometimes, though, something happens, momentarily freezing the cruel instinct to turn a tune off. Perhaps it was the sheer effrontery of it - daring to sing 'Oh my darling Clementine' in the first line of a song, and expecting to be taken seriously. Perhaps it was the curiousity, as outside of the Sugarcubes and Bjork my...

Scary stuff from a self-mythologising Californian Goth

Do you remember the first time you heard Marilyn Manson? Probably not, because, as interesting an artist as he maybe, for most of his shocks he's relied heavily on visuals outlining a simple truth - rock music rarely provokes fear or apprehension, regardless of its pretensions to do so. Kiss, Alice Cooper etc the list goes on and on of horror merchants whose music would be hard pushed to make all but the most fragile of hearts race.

It is, then, rare to put on a ...

Overtones of the Everly Brothers on a bitter-sweet breakup album

You could easily describe singer-songwriter John Haydon's brand of folk/singer-songwriter rock as 'no frills', on first listen. But that's not exactly true - the songs are simple, and shorn of fancy production (something which in itself is excellent production, done, as it is here, properly) but there are plenty of moments when something a little extra is added to the song to lift it out of the ordinary.

One of those moments is on Blue Van, a lilting melanchol...

Sweet country music from North Carolina singer-songwriter April Cope

I was in my mid-twenties before I discovered that it was possible to listen to a song with pedal-steel guitar, fiddles, and drawn out vocals without suffering a severe bout of aural indigestion. The truth is that there's so much bad country music out there, that the masters of the form, the people who can present a song that is both within and yet deeper than the traditional boundaries, are hard to find.

For me, the pivotal moment, ...

Louisville Kentucky band Anton Mink combine simple elements to come up with something innovative and catchy to boot

Read reviews for Louisville Kentucky band Anton Mink, and the point of reference is almost universally cited is Gwen Stefani of No Doubt. It's not hard to see why, given that there are three guys in the band, and a blonde singer. Lazy, lazy, lazy, though - as that's where the similarities end, at least on the strength of the four songs on display here. There's blues, metal, jazz, and soul all thrashed into a simple, effective and thoroughly unique sound. I'm hooked.

Yabba

Brilliant, demented, and dirty - but what would you expect from a trio of spanish session musicians after dark

Sweet jesus, what is this man singing about??? Supersize is one of the most immediate, in-your-face, slices of dirty rock-funk that's been slapped (like a red and raw herring) in my face this side of ever, and I'm hooked. I'm also damned if I've the faintest idea what these demented spaniards are on about. I know they're not happy with consumer culture, and they play like demons - and when the chorus hits in, it's like Ministry colliding with Electric Six, to interesting effect. Put me...

Toronto band, From Other Planes, make Phil Murphy listen twice with Halls of Love

You need to be either brave or foolhardy to list Stone Temple Pilots as one of your main influences, at least on this side of the Atlantic. Now, I'm not going to be a bollox about it, primarily because while 'serious' critics were dismissing Weiland and co. as the manafactured dross that ruined what Grunge could have become, I was actually enjoying some of their great tunes. From Other Planes, based in Toronto Canada, will, no-doubt face a certain amount of the same snootiness, given that the...

The Monkesy tap their feet drunkenly to this punk-celt band, but remain unmoved the morning after.

Transplanted Mayo band, The Mighty Regis, who now find themselves in Los Angeles rail against all the stereotypes associated with being Irish in Real Deal Irish, despite indulging themselves lavishly in plenty of 'alternative' versions. You can forgive them, though, for clangers like "In days of old these lads were bold A crime was how they vented", because all is dealt with a certain amount of tongue in cheek, and, most importantly they have good tunes to back up their far-from-ori...

Michè Fambro, one-man performer, gifted guitarist, and all-round soul-man melts the cynicism from P.M's hardened ears.

Ralph Waldo Emerson famously said 'a cynic can chill and dishearten with a single word' - an opinion, listening to hope, that one imagines Michè Fambro shares. "I don't stew in a cynical view, I'll tell you why, I've got hope", he sings, which in itself would usually be enough for this hardened cynic (I'm a repeat offender) to turn off. Luckily for me, though, Fambro, has a voice well worth listening to, and between the gaps the hardened voice of experience speaks - hope is as ...

Superior crafted rock from Michigan band Bear Lake

How do you get that breakthrough as a new band? How do you manage to get exposure on a national/international level? The standard wisdom is to find some kind of marketing hook - something that makes you stand out from the pack before a reviewer even gets to listen to your music. Bear Lake, from Michigan (in the US, folks), fall down at the first hurdle - at least as far as the recieved wisdom goes. They've a name that neither grabs attention, nor makes you grimace. They've a bio that's notabl...

Earnest American indie-rock fails to impress the harsh-eared Mr Murphy

Years ago a friend of mine went for an interview to join the British Royal Navy. Hepped up with excitement he met the recruiting officer in Belfast, and soldiered his way (if that's the right term) through the interview. At one point the Sergeant-Major-type interviewing him bellowed 'where are you from? You've an accent from nowhere'. It was presumably the deciding factor for his failure to boldly go where the Mountbatten's of this world had gone before (although responding 'drinking' when as...

Sixth album from Dave Grohl's Foo Fighters

The word coming out from the Foo Fighters camp about this, their sixth album, was that it would be a mellow thing influenced in particular by Steely Dan. Rolling Stone magazine got an advance copy and informed its readers that there were large dollops of '70s rock, Led Zeppelin, and late era Beatles influences apparent. To this listener, though, the main influence shining through Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace are the Foo Fighters.

Now, that's not necessarily a bad ...

Yet another triumphant return to form for Bruce Springsteen and the E-STreet Band, but not the safe retreat advertised.

As sure as the weather (once was), Bruce Springsteen's triumphant 'return to form' albums come with astonishing regularity. For 'return to form', one could substitute returns to base, to a sound that is classic, solid, and - thanks to good songwriting - a crucial step away from being merely formulaic.

The last of these spring-like albums was 2002's The Rising, an album that bravely confronted the nightmare of September 11th, seeking closure on the terror. It was an album that, ...

'50s inspired record of the moment from the female 'Pete Doherty'.

Amy Winehouse is the new black, in more ways than one. Each season long-nailed vampires in the fashion industry spend inordinate amounts of money and time convincing the frail and fickle amongst the clothes buying public that, for example, a sickly looking brown is the 'new black'.

There's a certain amount of this type of repackaging going on with Winehouse - trying to convince us that this deep-voiced and frequently-foul-mouthed chanteuse is both innovative, f...

Live albums are usually a bad idea - Damien Dempsey's live at the Olympia is the exception to the rule.

Live albums , with very rare exceptions, are a shite idea. They are usually either a validation exercise for the musicians in question, proving that they can cut it live (even if sly overdubs are helpfully added), or a cynical contract-fulfilling grab at fans hard earned cash. There is a tacit agreement between artist, record company, and fan that these albums are both (paradoxically) a must have, and at the same time of limited interest.

Damien Dempsey's Live at the Olympia i...

Bloc Party's second album, veering close to being a concept album, but in this case, that's not such a bad thing.

We've come to presume that for bands to be important they should be energetic, edgy, and above all else confident. Sure, many of the world's most important artists have been shy and maladjusted when not performing - Jimi Hendrix being just one explosive example - but when performing, to be considered important, indecision and hesitation needs to be banished to the wings.

So it's refreshing to listen through Bloc Party's second album A Weekend in the City, a record that is fille...

Art Disco Punk from Sao Paolo band whose name translated apparently means 'tired of being sexy'. Indeed.

Examine, if you will, Meeting Paris Hilton from Cansei de Ser Sexy (CSS). Do you remember those cheap keyboards with pre-programmed drum beats that sounded as convincing as crisp wrappers bursting? Well, on a musical level that's where we're at. Lyrically we're offered this snippet of post-modern cool:

"I went to the beach
The bitch was so hot
She came to me and said
"do you like the beach, bitch?"
I said "back!
I wanna take you home, bitch<...

Former MK Ultra frontman, and studio wizard John Vanderslice with his fourth solo album. Mixing lush sounds with songs about torture, drugs, and the family.

Like most great artists, listening to John Vanderslice one is unsure as to whether he is a madman or a genius. He's certainly pushing the boundaries of what's acceptable in song-writing. There are precious few, if any, songs willing to include references to Guantanamo's detention centres, let alone to carry lines like "I'm a guard in Guantanamo, I bring the prisoners in, the hoods come off and the torture slowly begins". And it's not for shock value - the lines are rythmic, menacing and counterp...

Mercury prize nominated album of duets, written by Isobell Campbell, one-time member of Belle and Sebastian, with Mark Lannegan.

Some have expressed surprise at the pairing of Isobel Campbell, the sweet voiced sometime-singer with Belle and Sebastian and now relatively succesful solo artist in her own right, with Mark Lannegan, one-time singer with the now defunct Screaming Trees as well as collaborator with the likes of The Queens of the Stone Age and Twighlight Singer's Greg Dulli. In truth few combinations sound so natural or have produced songs of such balance and grace.

It's not a new idea. Indeed, when Cam...

Iron and Wine's Sam Beam brings sevent tunes to alt-americana group Calexico for collaboration. The results are stunning.

There's something immensely well judged about this collaboration between Calexico and Iron and Wine, In the Reins. Labelled an e.pIn the Reins is in reality an album without fillers. What a wonderful world it would be if all bands focussed on quality rather than quantity, but that's an argument for another day. Each track a joy to listen to, created by artists pushing each other on into new places. Country, blues, folk, jazz - you'll find hints of each creeping in.

The ...

Third solo album from sheffield's Richard Hawley, one time guitarist with both the Longpigs and Pulp.

"Mmmm, Romantic", purred this music critic's favourite Three Monkeys writer, la Rita Balla, when I played her tracks from Richard Hawley's new album Cole's Corner. And it is indeed that. Luscious songs, down at heel lyrics, and a voice that has the velvet texture of Johnny Cash's larynx coated in creamy Guinness. And all from a Yorkshire lad who's finally reached the point where he's not "worried about being cool".

Hawley is a music industry veteran, who first came to prominence...

Third album from Manchester trio I am Kloot, with more than a passing echo to George Harrison's elegant guitarwork.

I am Kloot were always a good band. On their first two albums they displayed a talent for tunes and lyrics that made them a band 'to watch'. The promise has come through on their third album, Gods and Monsters. To explain the qualititave leap forward that the Manchester trio have made, let's step back into the annals of popular music, back to 1932 and the sage words of Duke Ellington and Irving Miller:

"What good is melody, what good is music
If it ain't possessin' som...

Best of from indie-rock 'supergroup' Luna. Seventeen tracks spanning 1992-2004.

Being a virgin traveller in the Luna field, I am placed in many intriguing situations. Fascinating prospects pop up all around me, materialising in the shape of Dean Wareham's slickly intimate compositions. Now that he has thrown his cards on the table, should I surrender my Newcastle Brown Ale wall of defence and allow myself to be reeled in by his crew of timid shoe-gazers? The pendulum could swing either way, and with bands like Luna there is no quarter shown to fence sitters. Love 'e...

Timely box-set released by Rhino Records.

When Ingram Cecil Connor III or Gram Parsons as later became his favoured nom de plume, shuffled his mortal coil on September 19th, 1973 in one of the most notoriously celebrated Rock N' Roll burn outs, a gigantic void appeared, ripping a gaping hole through the horizon of "Cosmic American Music". It would be another 24 years before his north south east and west, Emmylou Harris, would venture towards his final earthly battlefield, the Joshua Tree Inn, accompanied by her daughter a...

The fastest selling debut album in history. Sheffield's Arctic Monkeys bring tales of bent bouncers, prostitutes, and underage drinking to the Top 40.

It’s chilly outside. Well I’d imagine it is most of the time in Sheffield. It’s also known for the mass production of steel, a soccer club adorned by the name of a weekday and more recently the shenanigans of a few men stripping for a living were brought to life in the box office hit that was The Full Monty. Now emerge the Arctic Monkeys. Just in case we might have confused them with their American predecessors who pranced about on a gimmicky TV show while making third rate pop musi...

Long forgotten album from the Beach Boys' Denis Wilson. Pacific Ocean Blue was first rleased in 1977, six years before Wilson drowned in the Ocean off Marina del Ray, California.

Two words. ‘Brian’ and ‘Wilson’. It seems that we can't move a square inch [that's right, I'm not a Europhile] these days without encountering the great man. Don't get me wrong, I love Brian from the bottom of my heart, but there is a sense of ubiquitousness currently hovering around him that has become alarming, and now calls the shots instead of his artistic output.

It was during a hasty retreat from this omnipresent blur that I discovered there is more than one genius in th...

Third album from Ireland's Bell X1, former band-mates of Damien Rice - though don't let that put you off.

"If there was a God, then why is my arse The perfect height for kicking?"(Rocky Took a Lover).

The beauty of Flock, BellX1's third album, is that in among a record that strands a diverse spectrum of frustration, anger, longing and romance, out comes a line of razor sharp wit. It's a throwback to their previous album, Music in Mouth;

"I'm a little all over the shop
Like those souvenirs from Knock
...

Debut album from Montreal based multi-instrumentalists Arcade Fire.

It was a Friday evening about to be lost to the onset of nightfall and the encroachment of slumber. The telly buzzed away in the corner but I had lost consciousness of it. Another uneventful week of work, sleep, work, sleep. Something awakened me. Jools Holland was doing his usual camera pan around the BBC2 studio, babbling some inaudible niceties about the Foo Fighters before rising to an excited tone - ‘ARCADE FIRE’. I slumped in my chair and began to open troubled eyelids. Six minutes ...

Sufjan Stevens' second album as part of his 50 great states project. Illinoise is, dare we say it, a 'concept' album.

The concept album should always be approached with caution. Sufjan Stevens' Illinoise comes wrapped up in the most ambitious, and, perhaps, foolhardy concept since Rick Wakeman bloatedly approached the six wives of Henry VIII in 1973 (as if the ladies in question hadn't suffered enough during their brief span on this earth). Illinoise is Stevens' second album as part of his 50 States project, the first having been

Album #6 from Oasis, not counting live albums and b-side compilations.

"The old paradigm," Naomi Klein, author of No Logo, points out, "had it that all marketing was selling a product. In the new model, however, the product always takes a back seat to the real product, the brand." While the world of manafacturing struggled in the '80s and '90s to get to grips with a world where the logo was more important than the shirt it was stitched onto, where a jeans logo could ultimately sell a bottle of perfume, rock n' roll has never had such problems. Elvis' sneer a...

Moby's follow up to the hugely succesful album Play.

Back in the last century, the world’s favourite vegan released PLAY, an album that caught the zeitgeist and shifted millions of copies. It was and remains an excellent album blending old blues samples with Moby’s haunting lyrical delivery and impressive musicianship. However, to those people in the music industry who consider it a crime to download music for free from the internet, could I just ask is it not also a crime to get people to pay for an album and then sell every tra...

Debut album from Kristen Hersh's latest musical incarnation, 50ft Wave.

A few months ago I attended a gig in The Village venue in Dublin by a new American band called 50ft Wave, the latest musical outlet for the prodigious talents of indie heroine Kristin Hersh. The audience was mostly comprised of fans of her previous work, be that the intricate and unsettling Throwing Muses or her quieter and marginally more serene solo releases. What we got was rather unexpected. Along with ex-Muses bassist Bernard Georges and Rob Ahlers on drums, she treated us to an hou...

Debut album from the Mercury Prize winning Scottish Band.

I recently read an interview with Beck discussing his new album and promoting the idea that he was always trying to do something different every time he released a record. His parting shot was along the lines of “[…] I was listening to the radio on the way to this interview when I heard the 500^th band to sound like the Strokes – who wants that?”. Well in response to that rhetorical question I can only quote the well known Irish proverb – ‘five million flies can’t be wron...

Debut album from Scunthorpe singer-songwriter Stephen Fretwell. It's a smile free zone, but with classic tunes.

Emily by Stephen Fretwell, proves the slightly dubious theory that the seventh song on any given album is the best track*. Simple, like most of the album; rythmic lyrics, like most of the album; sung in an accent that’s both musical and authentic, like most of the album (though one wonders, is it as annoying to folk in Fretwell’s native Scunthorpe as Damien Dempsey’s is to Dubliners?), Emily triumphs by having the best tune on an album that’s filled with brilliant hooks. <...

Ireland's self-styled 'dark prince of pop' Niall James Holohan.

The prospect of yet another Irish singer songwriter might be enough to instil terror into the hearts of many but Niall James Holohan, Dublin’s self-proclaimed ‘Dark Prince of Pop’, promises to stand out from the crowd. Describing himself as “a formidable live performer, and a gentleman and scholar to boot” he is also astonishingly prolific with some 15 DIY releases already under his belt. He has been equally busy on the gigging front, having played shows everywhere from the SXSW fest...

The notoriously 'difficult' second album, from the Kings of Leon, falls under the critical watch of the Monkeys.

There’s a compelling argument to suggest that the traditional album format is rapidly approaching its end. The boom in music downloading, be it legal or illegal, coupled with heavy marketing budgets for i-pods etc. may well signal the death of the album, to be replaced by the short attention span friendly single, and the home made compilation. This of course will resolve the notorious ‘difficult second album’ problem for many bands. A scant consolation for The Kings of Leon, who present th...

Smooth, strident, bold and beautiful. Three Monkeys like the debut album from Nellie McKay.

Forget about pretty waif like creatures singing gentle soft glow lullabies at a piano, a la Norah Jones. This debut from Nellie McKay, while predominantly piano driven, is loud, strident, smooth, and about as self confident as it’s possible to be without being a pain in the arse. Here’s someone who’s not afraid to experiment, to speak boldly, to stir it up, but thankfully never at the expense of a tune.

Opening track David is jaunty, and wordy – almost to the point o...

The 11th studio album from U2, How to Dismantle and Atomic Bomb has already debuted at #1 in charts around the world, but is it any good?

How to dismantle an atomic bomb, an interesting choice of title for U2’s 11^th studio album. A fitting aspiration for pacifists worldwide, but, when put in the context of a rock n’roll band (and of late U2 are at pains to remind us constantly that that’s what they are) it goes right against the grain. Rock n’Roll bands, if they dare to use nuclear energy in their titles, generally go in favour of explosions (or if you’re on the same planet as George Clinton Atomic D...

Second Album from the California obsessed Irish band.

I really like this, the second album from The Thrills, which no doubt bodes ill for their career, judging from the fact that I was massively irritated by their debut So Much for the City. It wasn’t so much that their debut was bad, indeed the singles were impossible not to warm to, even for a curmudgeon such as myself, it was just that it was too...(choose – arrogant, clichéd, in debt to the Beach Boys). As someone who resolutely refuses to grant ‘classic’ status to Pet Sound...

Debut album from Austin Texas songwriter Sarah Sharp. Produced by Dan Workman of Destiny's Child and ZZ Top fame!

This is one for all those out there who cringe when they hear the phrase singer-songwriter. Sarah Sharp’s debut album, produced by Dan Workman (ZZ Top, Destiny’s Child and Beyonce), avoids over the top introspection in favour of sharp hooks and wordplay.

Hailing from Austin, Texas, Sharp, a graduate of Berklee College of Music in Boston, first took to performing when in London. One night, so the story goes, she was enticed to sing at an open mic session in a blues bar in Soho. She di...

Enthusastic compilation from Colchester Recordings.

Yeah, It’s Supposed to Sound Like That…Vol. II is the second compilation release from independent record label Colchester Recordings. Describing themselves as “a tiny shoestring set up” who are run on “enthusiasm in lieu of cash”, this English-based operation boasts an eclectic roster of artists from such far flung regions as Australia and the USA. Colchester Recordings espouse a strictly independent ethos and as such the compilations are not created for the purpose of court...

Debut e.p from highly regarded Dublin instrumentalists.

Whether it's as a direct reaction to the current crop of lyrically overwrought singer-songwriters/bands, or as an expression of something new and artistically refreshing, a new wave of instrumental music is taking hold in Dublin.

Amongst the better practitioners of this difficult genre are Steerage, who have just released their debut e.p -Smash them all to bits

I say 'difficult' genre, because, like it or not, rock music has to a large extent always been based around ...

Encouraging signs of life, albeit from a 2001 show, from Evan Dando of the Lemonheads fame. Recorded live in Cambridge,Massachusetts.

This two disc opus of Evan Dando (former lead singer and one time drummer with the Lemonheads) dates from 2001 and while it isn’t freely available in your average record store, you would really have to wonder why.

The first disc is a live solo acoustic recording from the Brattle Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts – a sort of homecoming for Evan and certainly the warmth of the audience reception shines through here. But what also shines through is that sense of longing and loss that co...

New York Film Noir, Vaudeville Rock 'n' Roll of a Friday night!

“Sweet Jesus” I thought to myself, not another New York band, with more hype than hip, selling a jaded new-wave pastiche in the wake of devils incarnate “The Strokes”. Life is too short.

But what I got was an eclectic, imaginative clash between American Rock and European gypsy music, via Vaudeville, Tango, Strip-show tunes. Hallelujah, there is a God!

I don’t know what a klezmer is, but it’s amongst the instruments thrown into the heady mix, along with bazouki and ca...

Acoustic folk from one of Australia's most successful independent bands.

First things first, if you don’t like Folk/Acoustic music, you ain’t going to like this one. There’s no two ways about it.. There’s acoustic guitars, vocal harmonies, and god forbid – harmonica’s , aplenty. They come highly recommended though, having toured with Mr Dylan himself.

The Waifs are a trio from Australia, who could be a piss puller’s dream for a hippie folk band. Two sisters, daughters of a fisherman, teach themselves guitar and head off around Australia in a cam...

Rock/Metal from Wales. Hyped as the next big thing Stateside.

The lads from the valleys are back and how. Lostprophets return to the airway with the follow to the “Fake Sound of Progress Album” “Start Something”

Thankfully there is more to Wales then sheep, rugby and Tom Jones and this album sets out to prove it

It’s hard to find an album in this day and age which doesn’t contain at least one bad track but the ‘prophets have managed to just that. Each track screams “play me again, play me again”

The first single ...

The Frames are one of Ireland's most loved, and succesful bands on a national level. This live album was recorded partly because of a demand from their Irish fans, and partly as a handy introduction for a worldwide audience.

The Frames – Set List

When I heard the Frames were releasing Set List, I was very sceptical, for two reasons. Firstly, would it be another horribly over-produced live album, and secondly, if not, how the hell would they capture the incredible atmosphere that is a Frames gig? Well, I was pleasantly surprised on both counts. They have kept it really simple and pure, and it’s almost as good as being there….almost!

The opening track is “Revelate”, probably the...

Foo Fighters Dave Grohl assembles a metal all-star cast..

So has Dave Grohl done it again with Probot? The simple answer is yes. The longer more convoluted answer is available by sending ten milk bottle tops and a SAE to the editor. Taking some of the biggest (and oldest) names in metal Dave has turned what could have been a greatest hits album into one which can slug it out with the big boys.

Probot offers us new material from the likes of Cronos (Venom), Max Cavalera (Sepultura, Soulfly), Lee Dorian (Cathedral, Napalm Death), Snake (Voivod...