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Thursday, July 24, 2008, 16:11
1) Ida Maria - Fortress Round My Heart: On the fringe of chart success, Norwegian songstress Ida Maria releases her debut album. It's likely you'll have heard several of the 10 album tracks as five of them have already been released - including Oh My God, Drive Away My Heart and the new single I Like You So Much Better When You're Naked.
Ida's voice is soulful but with a rock edge and will set her apart from other female singers out there. If you're looking to draw comparisons, think of Joan As Policewoman crossed with The Distillers' Brody Dalle. This is an accomplished album, but it could have done with another couple of tracks. Rating: 7/10
(Review by Polly Weeks)
2) Alice Cooper - Along Came A Spider: Where once he was scary (in a pantomime sense), now Alice Cooper just sounds creepy. His voice has lost that unearthly power heard on School's Out or Poison, so when he starts talking about killing people and stuffing them in his trunk, it comes across more as the pathetic fantasies of a slightly worrying old man than any Prince of Darkness.
Two tracks here aren't pale imitations of his glory days, but they're hardly an improvement. Killed By Love sounds like The Beatles, while Salvation could have been in the Buffy musical if the Buffy musical was rubbish. Rating: 2/10
(Review by Alex Sarll)
3) Melee - Devils And Angels: Take Keane, mix it up with Maroon 5 and chuck in a pinch of Americana and you have Melee. With the likes of Scouting For Girls and One Night Only still propping up the charts, there's every chance this album will be a success.
However given the number of comparisons you could make, there's a strong feeling of deja vu throughout the album. It's like 13 different remixes of The Fray's single How To Save A Life. Lead singer Chris Cron does have strong vocals, which are highlighted on She's Gonna Find Me Here, but the track sounds like something a contestant on American Idol would have to sing. Rating: 5/10
(Review by Polly Weeks)
4) XX Teens - Welcome To Goon Island: Their Fall-meets-Neu! material is strangely gripping, even if you are left scratching your head at the band's preference for percussive repetition over straightforward tunes. Perhaps this is because their drummer comes across as the most ferocious sticks man since Animal last manned the Muppets band.
Vivid and extroverted, the album is opinionated, innovative, and cheerful as it rumbles and swings along before coming to an end with the swirling psychedelic Sun Comes Up and a eulogy from peace activist Brian Haw. You'll probably find yourself dancing to it in an awkward, homogenised fashion, but then you'll probably forget all about it - resonance is not XX Teens forte. Rating: 6/10
(Review by Mark Cook)
5) Kitty, Daisy And Lewis - Kitty, Daisy And Lewis: Siblings Kitty, Daisy and Lewis Durham are all under the age of 19 and totally obsessed with good old-fashioned rock 'n' roll. The trio are nothing if not authentic - Lewis plays a guitar made in 1958 and limited edition versions of this album have been pressed on 78rpm vinyl. Musically, they're a gifted bunch, packing more energy and passion into their short ditties than many bands can muster on a whole album's worth of material. Current single Going Up The Country is a joy, while Honolulu Rock A Roll A and Mean Son Of A Gun are true gems. Rating: 8/10
(Review by Andy Welch)
6) David Guetta - F*** Me I'm Famous: Volume 2: David Guetta releases a double album full of dance tracks you're bound to hear in Ibiza's finest establishments. Electro-house is the order of the day and if you're after an album to remind you of a hedonistic summer, this could be the one for you.
From the bizarre pairing of Sharam featuring Daniel Bedingfield or the Eric Prydz track Pjanoo, there's something for all sorts of dance music fans. It's no surprise that Felix Da Housecat provides one of the highlights. Rating: 7/10
(Review by Polly Weeks)
7) Gavin DeGraw - Gavin DeGraw: Bouncing, anthemic numbers flow from singer-songwriter Gavin De Graw's self-titled second album. Simple, catchy vocal refrains and a persistently optimistic strumming style reminscent of Maroon 5 make this album a strong, advert-worthy addition to the All-American happy rock canon.
Whether he's singing about the girl who cheated on him, or warning that "substances make you dumb" in Medicate The Kids, DeGraw offers unbridled hope in the form of a catchy riff, upbeat drumming and the all-important soaring chorus. His warm and powerful method of writing and delivering material is his greatest musical strength, but his high-five musical style means this album is not for the easily sickened. But it's all great, summer fun nevertheless. Rating: 7/10
(Review by Sarah O'Meara)
8) Cute Is What We Aim For - Rotation: The ridiculously monikered Cute Is What We Aim For are a four-piece from Buffalo, New York, specialising in the sort of college, radio-friendly, emo-tinged soft rock that'll make you swear the 90s never ended.
If you close your eyes while listening to most of Rotation's contents you can almost see a tuxedo-sporting Freddie Prinz Jnr appearing through the dry ice of a crowded prom ballroom to swoop Jennifer Love Hewitt off her feet and away to a life of apple pie and 2.4 children. It's not that the album is offensive, it's just so outlandishly formulaic and dated that the band deserve a sarcastic slow-hand-clap for their efforts. Rating: 2/10
(Review by Andy Welch)
9) The Blakes - The Blakes: Hailing from Seattle, but eschewing the city's musical heritage, The Blakes plough a similar furrow to fuzzy noiseniks The Brian Jonestown Massacre and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. Opener Two Times sets the scene perfectly with its nagging riff and Garnet Keim's primal howl, Lie Next To Me, apes The Stooges brilliantly. Don't Want That Now and Lint Walk are among other highlights.
It's not all great - Commit, with its jangly guitars and gentle melody sounds oddly out of place, and penultimate track Picture is a plodding mess. Nevertheless, The Blakes have a crafted a solid debut. Rating: 7/10
(Review by Andy Welch)
10) Various - Global Gathering 2008: Timed to coincide with next weekend's legendary dance festival (headliner, rapper Kanye West, has so far failed to generate as many column inches as Jay-Z's appearance at Glastonbury), this beat-driven two-disc compilation is an eclectic selection with plenty of recognisable names offering tracks in radically remixed form.
Disc One opens with Mark Ronson's brass-heavy Stop Me retread and continues with Audio Bully's confrontational Gimme That Punk before climaxing in Dirty South's sublime Doors-sampling The End. Disc two focuses on the big three DJs at this year's festival - Armin van Buuren, Tiesto and Paul Oakenfold. One for the dedicated dance-heads out there. Rating: 6/10
(Review by Patrick Gates)
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