rleedham has written the following articles:
When you’re mining misery for its absolute rock bottom, who’s to tell when you’re already there?»
The 2 Bears show no concern for what critical narrative or end of year pantheon they sit in so why should you?»
With the hype maelstrom surrounding Lana, Emeli and the other ones now entering forgettable levels, we thought it would be a good idea to discover the worst possible way to launch a new artist. That’s right, we analysed the ‘next big flops’ of recent memory and most noticeable chart trends of last year to deliver our verdict on how not be a popstar in 2012.»
The overriding impression left by Cheri MacNeil’s latest record is that she’s created a sprawling web of allegories to skirt around any uncertainty she’s not yet willing to address on acetate.»
Welcome to the final DiS Does Pop of 2011 and in Smash Hits style we’ve made this one a bumper edition. Should you cast your eyes below, you’ll find the DiS Does Pop Awards, our Christmas Gift Guide, a preview of the festive Number 1 contenders, a playlist of our favourite tracks from the year gone by and a pleasantly surprising Straight To TV. So go on and gorge yourself on some pop goodness, we won’t tell anyone.»
In the days before Spotify, this album could have qualified as a pretty decent starting point for anyone looking to bridge the gap between ‘Friday I’m In Love’ and ‘Primary’. Now you can just arrange the studio polished tracks into a playlist, this kind of release is demoted to the status of fan favourite.»
Though few would have predicted this unlikely pairing and even less would have actively willed it to happen, the fact is that Smith & Burrows have forged a handsome partnership.»
The charm of listening to something ‘quite good’, which with a little less exuberant knob-twiddling could be ‘very good’, frays and dissolves into ambivalence after a handful of spins.»
Welcome back to another addition of DiS Does Pop, the Top 40 column aimed at music fans with a taste for both Madonna and My Bloody Valentine. After last month’s Sugababes extravaganza we’re going to take a look at Global Radio’s battle against JLS, rate and/or slate this week’s UK Top 40 and salute Westlife's departure from Saturday night TV.»
While it's hard to critique The Vision for its scattershot successes, as a whole the album is just too erratic to have any sort of lasting impact on formerly ardent fans or casual admirers.»
DiS' Robert Leedham munches a burger and watches Katy Perry... As you’d expect for a production engineered to please countless thousands, the California Dreams tour was something of an extravagant affair. From a stage adorned with candy cane to the constant stream of adoring tweets splashed over the O2’s TV screens, the scene was set for a whimsical journey through the greatest hits of a Capital FM mainstay.»
The Hazey Janes are both classic and they rock.»
Here's the first edition of a new column from Drowned In Sound which aims to delve into the world of pop music with a steady measure of snark and celebration. We consider it a duty and a privilege to wade through the Top 40, Olly Murs and all, plucking out everything that’s worth pausing your Antlers record for in the process...»
The Rapture's Gabriel 'Gabe' Andruzzi has been stuck in the middle of a turf war between singers Luke Jenner and Matt Safer, Gabe was a constant figure during the third album recording sessions which saw half the band quit at various junctures. Here, the dance-funk pioneers’ keyboard player took some time out to chat with Drowned In Sound about In The Grace Of Your Love’s turbulent gestation, the perils of being ‘hugely influential’ and growing up in Washington DC.»
While Humor Risk less instantly memorable than Wit’s End, it’s a lot easier to digest and is probably the record you’ll end up spinning most out of the two. Placed together, the pair stand as a neat assessment of Cass McCombs’ silky talent to combine gloom with old country glamour.»
Essentially then, there’s a whole lot that’s good about Givers. Enough to make you think this debut record won’t be their best by quite some distance.»
The signs are that Chazwick Bundick will outlast most of the hyperbolic blogs that first brought him to attention and that is an overwhelmingly good thing. »
Time for the Dum Dum Girls to join our sordid reality rather than swoon at it from afar. »
Nearly every track is catchy enough but for an act in the business of cheap, good time thrills, most fall too far from the bountiful tree of old.»
Despite running at a funereal pace, none of the eight featured songs ever come off as slight or underwhelming.»
You don’t have to be shitfaced to appreciate some of Playing In The Shadows. But to grasp its entire armoury of formulaic geezer-rap, several WKD Blues wouldn’t go amiss.»
A Different Kind Of Fix is an evolution of baby steps for Bombay Bicycle Club and one which will leave you wondering if Jack Steadman and co are ever going to burst into full bloom.»
If ‘maturity’ sounds like bland overarching lyrics and cavernous arena-ready guitar lines then Kids in Glass Houses’s third album certainly has it by the bucketful.»
ugust is a bleak month for albums, at least December has a new Greatest Hits record out every week. In that spirit welcome to the first, and quite possibly last, DiS pop albums round-up bonanza 2011, which is going to do abide by the Ronseal mantra of doing things. If you want an opinion on a record which hasn’t been spun to death on Capital FM, then you’re going to find it slim pickings here. If you’re desperate to get a seven month old verdict on the Bruno Mars record, you’ve come to the right place.»
Given their 12 track record is a mere 19 minutes in length, the amount of time Cerebral Ballzy dedicate to the cause of ludicrous posturing is frankly astounding but ultimately it’s what endears them most.»
Despite being something of a ‘big deal’, Iceage are also breathlessly brilliant.»
The overriding impression left by The Lateness Of The Hour is that Alex Clare is a fairly gifted gentleman. But here his talents have been squandered on a collection of songs that fail to establish him as either a dance-pop titan or an emotive warbler.»
An achievement as futile as an Amy Winehouse comeback tour itinerary.»
In a perverse way, Panic Of Girls is a definite return to form for Blondie after an eight year recording hiatus. The kind of form that has seen them scraping by on a mix of charm and a smattering of tunes since Autoamerican but still, a form of sorts.»
Even in the context of what is turning out to be a stonking year for electro-pop, YACHT have concocted a record to match their peers.»
