Duran Duran - All You Need Is Now

If I had a pound for every time Duran Duran’s newest album All You Need Is Now is ‘the next Rio’, I’d be a millionaire. But, the thing is, it really is. Not since that marvellous, seminal album have the band sounded quite this good. And not just that, for Duran have released plenty of good tracks since then (though quite how many is rather debatable, depending on how big of a fan you are) – but on this album, they sound energetic, re-invigorated, and most importantly – fun.

2004’s Astronaut was an amazing album, but in many ways, it did not sound like Duran Duran. It was futuristic in the extreme, consistent to the extreme and packed full of immaculately produced pop-rock classics. 2007’s Red Carpet Massacre was a miss-step, a rash grasp at ever-changing musical trends, the band latching onto man of the moment, Timbaland. The result was a jarring and rushed sounding end-product that just didn’t grab you the way you wanted it to. The singles were in place, but the makings of a good album were not.

Perhaps this is why All You Need Is Now comes as such a breath of fresh air then. It’s got that classic, Duran Duran youthful charm to it; that killer element that have kept them alive and innovative when so many other bands of their era have long since fallen. The title track is a brilliant introduction to the album, a cracking blend of old and new – something that defines this album. You’ll hear hints of instruments and sounds that you would swear came straight from Rio.

There’s contemporary touches here too, with producer Mark Ronson at the helm. Important note though: those coming to the album expecting a re-hash of Ronson’s Verion album, all horns and Zutons covers, will be surprised. He’s kept his touches on the band’s sound minimal, serving instead to pull everything together, a commanding force to better ensure the continuity of the final album. Oh, and there’s brilliant guest vocals from the Scissor Sister’s Ana Matronic and Kelis. The latter’s contribution is especially impressive on the epic, hypnotic, irresistible pull of The Man Who Stole A Leopard. It’s easily the band’s best ballad since Ordinary World.

Girl Panic!  is another favourite of mine, harking back to the likes of Careless Memories, displaying an aggressiveness the band haven’t played to in years. Most importantly, as an album, All You Need Is Now is a firm reminder that a band never comes with a sell by date. For Duran to be putting an album this good out 13 LP’s into their career is astounding. And judging by the top 10 position the album surged to on iTunes stores across the globe in its release week, the public tend to agree. Stunning, wonderful stuff.

INTERVIEW - Sunday Girl

The music video for your song Stop Hey is very stylish and you were also named Vogue.com’s ‘one to watch’ - is the visual aspect of your music important to you?

I love looking stylish and dressing up so the video was great fun to film.  I like coming up with cool visual themes to go along with my music, so for this video I went with the idea of ‘superstition’ and had lots of umbrellas open indoors.

Are the 80s a big influence on you?  You covered Laura Branigan’s big 1984 hit Self Control.

I wouldn’t say so in particular, it’s just a song I always really enjoy playing live – I do a cover of Ke$ha’s Tik Tok too and they both get a great response from the crowd!

There are a lot of strong, female singers around at the moment; did you feel you consciously had to make your own stamp on the scene?

You’ve got to be unique – Everyone’s the same otherwise and it’s boring. I’m just myself.

You played a load of festivals over the summer; how does that compare to the smaller, more intimate venues you’ve played on Ellie Goulding’s tour?

I prefer smaller venues like this as it’s dark and more atmospheric.  It really ties in well with my music and I think the audience get a sense of that too.  You get a really great vibe going.

You have an internet blog that you post updates on – Do you think it’s important to keep in contact with your fans in this way?

Definitely!  It’s great to get feedback from fans and I really enjoy doing the blog.  I haven’t had as much of a chance recently because of being so busy with the tour, but I’ve got loads of stuff to add to it now, which will be fun!

Do you feel having a career in music has changed you in any way as a person?

I feel more confident as an artist; a lot braver.  I’ve got a motto that is ‘If you don’t try, you don’t get’, and it’s true.  You’ve just got to keep trying and you get more and more confident in yourself, especially when you’re doing something you enjoy.  In your dreams, you can do anything you want, so why shouldn’t this be true in real life too.

In this age of downloads and people cherry-picking individual songs, is it still important to put a consistent album together as a complete body of work?

I still love listening to albums as a whole – I think it really gets the artist’s message across in a way individual songs can’t do as much.

Is there one song in the history of music that you wish you had written yourself?

Hmmm, that’s a tough one!  I think something by Beyonce, Kelis or Kanye West – I love them!  Whenever I listen to their tracks I just think wow!

Stop Hey is released January 11^th 2011.

Ellie Goulding - Live at the Reading Hexagon

Ellie Goulding

26^th November 2010

Reading Hexagon

Ellie Goulding really is the success story of the year and tonight’s gig is the affirmation of that success.  “We love you Ellie!” scream various members of the crowd, working themselves into a frenzy as the cheery, young songstress works her way through the hits of her brilliant No. 1 album Lights.  Pounding out a drum beat herself to the opening bars of the dancey, seductive Under The Sheets, Ellie even manages to work in a little dancing too.

There’s a real sense of a bond between singer and audience here, playing off each-other’s energy.  For many of the songs Ellie plays acoustic guitar, and her vocals are always note perfect.  Her talent is undeniable, and even better, she comes with bucketloads of charm too – between songs Ellie chats to the audience, almost not quite able to believe everyone in the room is there for her.  From the sweet balladry of The Writer to her fantastic cover of Elton John’s Your Song, (currently doing the rounds on John Lewis TV adverts) all eyes are on her.

Come the gig’s triumphant finale, the crowd’s voices fill the Hexagon, singing along to the dreamy Starry Eyed as Ellie cries “I’m feeling sexy, let’s move!”  All this contributes to a new, more glossy, more confident Ellie Goulding.  When I saw her play the Shepherd’s Bush Empire back in the summer, her fame was still very much in the ascendency – she was the rising star.  But now, coming to the end of a full UK tour, we have the complete, fully fledged star.  And she’s amazing.

Kilto Take

Kilto Take are one of those new artists that have you hooked from the off, the skill and musicianship of this three-piece evident right away as you dive into the dark, glossy immaculateness of their music. Tracks like the brilliant Retrogress see them at their best; high-tempo, frenetic guitars, a brilliant chorus and an atmospheric production gloss that immediately impresses.

Imagine a perfect blend of early 80s post-punk with the modern innovation of its successors like White Lies and Interpol. It’s intelligent music for an audience bored of the endless cheap Libertines clones of a few years ago. And Kilto Take’s killer edge? They deliver every time. Ava is another brilliant slice of the band’s sound, razor sharp guitar solos painting pictures of grim, urban landscapes on a cinematic scale.

Lead singer Jon Crosby’s vocals ring clear and true above the immaculate guitar lines. Bringing to mind touches of Spandau Ballet’s Tony Hadley and Muse’s Matt Bellamy, they capture that same awe-inspiring theatrical edge, adding an epic quality to the band’s tracks. There’s a luxurious power to these songs that simply isn’t present in so many up and coming rock bands. Kilto Take are a band for who wear their ambition clearly on their sleeve, and the music is all the stronger for it.

Check out the band's music on their MySpace page here.

You can download their debut EP on iTunes here.

Candidate23 - One For You

Hailing from Runcorn on the outskirts of Liverpool and with their band name a reference to post-punk legends Joy Division, this teenage five-piece mix youthful energy with a keen sense of melody on their feisty debut single One For You.  Lead singer Will Hayes’ vocals are full of emotion; lines like “Never look back” and “Put your past away” surely striking a chord with all of us.  So often song lyrics seem cheap and disposable, a cheesy mish-mash of clichés; but here, we’re made to feel every word.   And then there’s the guitar hooks that bands twice their age would be proud of.  All the ingredients for a brilliant song are here and One For You represents a stellar beginning for the band.  They even have a fascinating link to pop royalty; drummer Jono Tringham is the cousin of Girls Aloud’s very own Nicola Roberts. Talent clearly runs in the family.

The band describe their sound as a blend between Oasis and the Stereophonics, and it’s a pretty spot-on comparison – Candidate23 carry that same boyish swagger paired with the intelligence and lyrical skill to mark them out as more than just the next bunch if indie clones.  In a world where young rock groups are ten-a-penny, Candidate23 have the skill and musicianship to lift them a cut above the rest, their songs playing loud and clear to the masses.

Linkin Park - Live at the O2 Arena

Linkin Park

11^th November 2011

O2 Arena, London

London’s O2 Arena was made for bands like Linkin Park.  50 million albums sold worldwide, two Grammy Awards... the list of accolades racked up by the band since their ground-breaking debut album Hybrid Theory hit the shelves back in 2000 goes on and on.  And now, ten years on, they remain as big as ever; an international music giant centred around the dynamic duo that lies at the band’s heart - Enter Mike Shinoda and Chester Bennington, the former’s lightning-quick raps paired with the latter’s impassioned vocals and guttural screams making for a combo that rocks the venue to its core.  Where their contemporaries have long since fallen by the wayside, Linkin Park remain, standing tall.   And judging by the packed out O2 arena, they still command just as much attention now as when Hybrid Theory went four-times platinum a decade ago.

The set consists mainly of tracks from the band’s two most recent albums; ‘concept’ works that see the band exploring themes of nuclear apocalypse and war, moving away from their rap-metal beginnings to a more traditional alternative-rock sound.  It was a move that alienated many fans, but it gave the band scope to expand their repertoire into previously unexplored areas, whether it be the emotive balladry of Shadow of the Day or the rough and ready punkiness of Given Up.

Most importantly though, despite the shift in the band’s musical direction, the quality of their songs remains; still possessing that unique ‘Linkin Park’ sound, still focused around brilliant melodies and heartfelt lyrics.   It is the band’s earliest material that gets the crowd going the most though, classic singles like In the End and One Step Closer filled with seemingly endless levels of energy, the audience breaking out into miniature mosh-pits, bodies colliding against each-other with wild abandon as the songs’ reach their climax.

The staging is refreshingly minimal – most acts, taking to a venue as large as the O2 Arena, would lavish thousands of pounds on immense lightshows and props– but Linkin Park are content to let the music do the talking, packed tightly onto a small stage that if anything, serves only to emphasise the band’s enthusiasm all the more.  Scattered throughout the show are grainy, distorted videos dug up from the archives of American history, including Oppenheimer’s famous “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds” quote.   It’s minimalistic and chilling touches like this, that when mixed into Linkin Park’s music, hold more power than any amount of flames, fireworks and lasers ever could.

McFly - Shine A Light

One song I’m particular loving at the moment is McFly’s brilliant new single Shine A Light. Ever since the band went all electro with the boundless energy of Party Girl, I’ve had a newfound respect for the boys. They’ve kept the youthful spirit of their early days, but combined it with a new ‘knowing’, a new intelligent and some absolutely cracking melodies.

Shine A Light illustrates this perfectly. And even better, it’s got Taio Cruz on it too. Now, when i first heard Party Girl, its sound struck me as very ‘Taio’, so it seems only right McFly are now working with him. And together these two stalwarts of British pop music have come up with a pure winner of a track. Its strength comes in its relative simplicity, the track is very ‘clean’, all breezy and light – in many ways a breath of fresh air in a world of music where tracks have become so production heavy you often feel like you’re drowning in them.

The chorus is sublime, the melody moving and powerful in equal measure. And then there’s delicate little touches like the echoing guitar hook that bookends the song, or the twinkling piano that plays gently over the end of the track. It’s things like this that revitalise McFly, shooting them out as a force that is very much still to be reckoned with.