Larrikin Love
Happy As Annie

Going to see em friday in Brimingham Barfly?
I like this, but not as much as Six Queens, which is so ace, I think I want to have sex with it.

Did I just say I wanted to have sex with six queens? um.. yeah.

everything wrong with DIS. You loved Larrikin when they released their nediocre-singles earlier in the year as the relatively unknown london four piece. Though now that they have a little mainstream attention you claim that, easily their best single, is "superficial ska-pop". IDIOT. aaahhhhhhh
Larrikin love are so much more than the libertines legacy and snobs such as DIS are threatening and ruining the flourishing career of this promising band simply because they are too-lazy to find originality in a band still using a chorus. They have nothing to do with "the death of the libertines" and all this reveiw highlights is that this site is becoming increasingly like the NME it apparently despises so much...

This is a piece penned by a different reviewer - the 9/10 score that came LL's way for Downing St. Kindling was based on the opinion fo another writer.

There is no 'you', with regard to DiS being a single-minded entity. This review isn't snobbish, nor is it likely to threaten the band's blossoming career: they've the backing - the absolute backing - of enough movers and shakers in the music press as it is.

This, to my mind, is a dose of reality: it's another viewpoint, an alternative opinion, and one that's certain to find similar-minded individuals in agreement. That you disagree with the review is fine - after all, one man's opinion is but that, a single opinion - but to suggest that this is 'everythingt hat's wrong with DiS'...?

I, frankly, don't understand what you mean by that. We're wrong because we don't kiss the arse of every band whose PR company sends us a compact disc? We're wrong because we publish a view that's not parallel to that of, say, the NME this week? We're wrong because - oh my gosh! - we're not reliant upon advertising revenue from labels/etc and therefore don't allow any bias whatsoever to infect our critical articles?

'This site is becoming increasingly like the NME'...? How so? Is the print coming off on your fingers? Are we running massive double-page spreads on The Killers today, or better still running news on the fact that one of the band's members saw A LIZARD in their hotel room while shooting their last video? Look here:
http://www.nme.com/news/the-killers/24254

Must've been a slower news day than today, I presume.

I'm all for constructive criticism of reviewers, and for debate and arguments, but when a post like the above is made it's done with no thought whatsoever. There's nothing to back any of your points up.

Nothing.

And if we were becoming more like NME, wouldn't we have a more focused editorial stance on particular acts? Wouldn't we avoid giving acts we've already 'loved' poor reviews, to sustain a suggestion, to drive home a recommendation?

What this review proves above everything else is that we're not becoming like anyone or anything. Sorry your favourite band was on the receiving end of lashing, but hell, it's not like anyone died is it.

Give it a rest.

but really.. the punky part of the chorus sounds like Creeping Up The Backstairs. really. theres very little fiddle in that bit. just guitars. guitars that make it sound like The Fratellis. see where i'm going with this?

and yes, i found this annoying. but if a band releases three singles and i like none of them, that's not bias, that's still just an opinion.

and here is a link to the page with my review of Larrikin Love at Reading, when i praise them:

http://www.drownedinsound.com/content/view/1109536

incidentally, i just saw a frog in the road outside. i'm off to tell the NME.

but 'annoying' wasn't a last resort, just a conclusion to be drawn. one word which sums up perfectly why i felt i couldn't give it the high score which so many probably feel it deserves.

i do get the feeling i'm about to be subjected to a dressing down at the hands of a loyal fanbase right about.. now.

1-1 I guess now then!

..Of hearing British bands singing about Britain. Its been done for YEARS now since the blodey Smith. Isnt there any new ideas? Plus its really gettin boring hearing all of these songs that sound as if they are by law to be within a specific RPM you dont hear a slow song anymore. Thats why it seamed so glorious when Sigur Ros started to bring their heads above the water. But the review is spot on. I say boycott all of these bands. But american music isnt much better

I'm not sure you can blame The Smiths for British bands talking about Britain in their lyrics. And why is that such a bad thing anyway? 'London Calling' probably wouldn't have had the same impact had the title been 'Non-specific Generic Landscape Calling' would it? And what was that The Beatles mentioned about "1,000 holes in Blackburn, Lancashire"?

To then add to what you were saying with "American music isnt much better" seems rather strange too; is it because they all sing about America?? To be honest if you want to boycott all the bands who sing about their experiences of living in their home country, you'll most probably be sitting in silence for a good while. Or listening to classical music (although i'm sure Beethoven, for example, might have made a radically different body of work had he been brought up in Basingstoke).

There's plenty of music out there that you'd struggle to class as boring (although i'm actually in agreement with you in the labelling of that term for Larrikin Love), and half the fun is going out there to find it. Get down to your local venue, listen to some of the bands mentioned on here, and i'm sure that you'll soon find bands that have songs that don't "sound as though they are by law to be within a specific RPM".

Cheer up eh?