New Manic Street Preachers - Underdogs

"This one's for the freaks" apparently. The Manic Street Preachers have returned with a preview of their new material from forthcoming new album 'Send Away The Tigers'. I must confess I'm very unfamiliar with much of the Manics work but their new track 'Underdogs' is a bit more Green Day than I expected from the Welsh veterans. I'm probably doing it a great disservice so I'll let Nicky Wire fill you in on the details:

"All out punk metal - Alice Cooper - Stooges guitar outro. Could have been on Generation Terrorist. A celebration of the unique, a post 'Everything Must Go' address to the fans 10 years after the first time we did it. In a Britain dominated by generic, one diametrical multi branding, let us embrace the difference - the downtrodden - the losers and the opposition. Let us fall in love with individuality again" - Nicky Wire, Manic Street Preachers

The new single 'Your Love Alone Is Not Enough' is completely different and a bit more of what I expected from the Manics. Except it has Nina Persson of The Cardigans on vocals! LOVE ME, LOVE ME, SAY THAT YOU LOVE ME. Not as good as the Victoria Bergstrom and Peter, Bjorn and John combo but not bad, maybe a bit too radio friendly? Judge for yourselves:



Manic Street Preachers - Underdogs

The new album 'Send Away The Tigers' is released on May 7th preceded by a single 'Your Love Alone Is Not Enough' on April 30th.

Sign up to their mailing list [link] to get the artwork/lyrics to accompany the download.
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Have the Manics been carried by an overenthusiastic fanbase reliving the supposed glorydays? Were their respective solo outfits better? Is Richey Edwards still alive? Answers on a postcard/comment.

New Arctic Monkeys (albeit live) tracks

Salutations, I know everyone's turned into a music snob and now hates the Arctic Monkeys (it doesn't help that they seem to act like complete twats everytime they appear in the media a lá Lily Allen) but I've found some live versions of tracks that will be appearing on their new album 'Favourite Worst Nightmare'.

Obviously with the live recordings, the sound quality leaves a lot to be desired so it'd be unfair to judge the new material until better recordings appear. Nonetheless, first impressions seem to have already made the melodic 'Fluorescent Adolescent' a fan favourite with its catchy chorus. The stomping 'D Is For Dangerous' has the same energy 'Fake Tales Of San Francisco' did and the first single from the album, 'Brianstorm' is like the bastard child of Klaxons (producer James Ford's influence perhaps?) and Muse.

Arctic Monkeys - Fluorescent Adolescent (Live) // Sendspace download link
Arctic Monkeys - D Is For Dangerous (Live) // Sendspace link
Arctic Monkeys - Brianstorm (Live At The Morecambe Dome) // Sendspace link

So far, so good I'd say.
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A couple of other new tracks I've come across are from the interesting new electro side project of The Wombats and MC Lars. The new MC Lars track comes courtesy of Live105 [link] and although nowhere near as great as his past material, still shows off some of his post-punk laptop rap skill. Perhaps a bit tongue in cheek but 2 Many JDs show they can not only produce brilliant indie pop as part of The Wombats but also bang out an impressive electro tunes. Good times.

MC Lars - White Kids Aren't Hyphy // Sendspace link
2 Many JDs - Intertwined // Sendspace link
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Oh and if you haven't already, hot foot it over to the Los Campesinos! website to download their new single. For free. How awesome of them. Relive my interview with them [link].

Bloc Party unreleased track - Vision Of Heaven

Is it sick and wrong that I really like the new Snow Patrol and The Fray singles? Probably. Lucky for you this post is about Bloc Party. Or unlucky for you, seeing as they truly are the flavour of the month. Although understandably seeing as their second album 'A Weekend In The City' has finally been released - on first few listens, I think it's a good effort and I'm absolutely loving 'Waiting For The 7.18', reminiscent of the more anthemic nature of the debut record.



Thanks to Purevolume.com [link], here's an unreleased Bloc Party track called 'Vision Of Heaven'. Quite probably future b-side material, it reminds me a bit of The Cure. It's simple and melodic, even with the slightly spazzed out-ness towards the end, 'Vision Of Heaven' remains an easy listen. A bit sub-So Here We Are, yet still pleasant and perfectly acceptable output from one of the finest British bands of the last few years.

And here's your tenuous link for the day - one of the lyrics is about throwing "my mobile phone into the sea" and guess what? 30 fans had their phones nicked at a recent Bloc gig [link], although thankfully the perpetrator was caught and the phones returned.

Bloc Party - Vision Of Heaven

p.s Is it me or does the new BP site [link] look a bit similiar to The Rakes' site [link]?