It’s that time of year again when the music business gets back on its feet after the excesses of the holidays and the end-of-year parties. What better way to get over those hangovers, get rid of the excesses and feel a little bit better than a spot of dance / electro from the kings of all things electronic in Norway, Röyksopp.

The duo, known to their friends as Svein Berge and Torbjørn Brundtland, are about to release their third album, Junior, on 23rd March, and along with their usual mainstream-friendly anthems they’ve added a few very famous guest singers in the shape of the gorgeous Lykke Li and Robyn.

As a special taster, they’re giving away a free MP3 they made about their birthday (below).

MP3: Röyksopp: Happy Birthday

The 11 track CD is out in just over two months, but expect a fair bit more about this duo from us soon - whilst it took me a while to come across their first album, once I had it was one of those “oh, that song’s by them too!” moments. Their second album (The Understanding) whilst not as commercially successful was still amazing, and one that has a special place in my collection.

Side image comes from Roboppy’s flickr stream under the Creative Commons License.

Tom Morello is probably known by nearly every respectable guitarist for his unique tone and amazing use of effects. The guitarist from Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave is not famous for his gentle acoustic guitar playing and singing but that it all about to change.

Going under the name of  The Nightwatchman, Tom Morello has already released one album “One man Revolutin” which was far from revolution and in my opinion it was a bit of a dissapointment with “The Road I Must Travel” being the only song worth talking about.

The new album “Fabled City” is a big improvement. Tracks including “Saint Isabelle” and “The lights are on in spider town” shows Tom’s acoustic talent with some inspirational playing but I think there is no doubt that Tom Morello’s singing is not the best. It seems to sound unatural and the some of the tracks sound like your average campfire song.

For me the record is hard to get through and although the songs vary in style, they all seem to have the same acoustic tone and sound. However, If you haven’t heard The Nightwatchman then don’t let this put you off as it seems that fans are strongly divided on the album.

There is no question that quality of  this record is up to debate as many people seem to love his vocals. It seems whatever he does it is always successful, but I am not satisfied yet. The creative sound needs credit though and  although the barking vocals are hard to take the lyrics are powerful and I am sure people will be captivated by this album.

Many of the bands that have been featured here on There Goes The Fear have been largely English or American. Therefore our first German band, Get Well Soon, offers something rather different to all the other artists we’ve featured so far.

Konstantin Gropper is the mastermind behind “Get Well Soon”, and recorded and produced his debut album, ‘Rest Now, Weary Head! You Will Get Well Soon’ in his flat and played most of the instruments including cello, piano and guitar.

Konstantin was raised in the countryside at the very southwest of Germany, his father is a classical music teacher and has had a great influence on Konstantin’s work. He won the prestigious Erich Fried Prize in Germany for setting one of Fried’s poems to music. He moved to Dublin in 2005 before finally settling in Berlin.

The tracks manage to sound like everything you’ve heard before, whilst being completely different - much like the Go! Team’s first album, you simply can’t tell that it’s the brain child and produced by just one person, such is the multi-layered vibrancy of the tracks.

The only downside? From listening to some promo tracks, there’s not that much consistency - all the tracks sound so completely different to each other they sound like they’re all from a different band. This is great, as it’s not easy to pigeon-hole Konstantin, however you wouldn’t be able to immediately recognise a track like you might with, say, Coldplay or Bloc Party.

Download the free MP3, have a listen to the Myspace and fall in love.

MP3: Get Well Soon - Prelude

You may well have guessed that I love Idlewild. The Scottish rockers have been around for almost as many years as I have, and have just announced details of their seventh studio album to be released next summer hopefully.

Following in the footsteps of the likes of Bloc Party, Radiohead and others, they’re doing something a bit more unique and offering fans a chance to see behind the scenes of the recording of the album early next year. All you have to do is go over to their website and sign up and pay £16.50, for which you’ll get:

• A limited edition CD album (with free download version) in exclusive packaging & including at least one bonus track. This will be shipped within weeks of completion & before any standard release.
• You can get your name to appear in the CD booklet with the album and on a roll-call on the web site.
• Access to download 15 free tracks from live recordings at the King Tuts “album by album” shows In December ‘08 & access to a members only section of the web site with album progress updates, exclusive photo and video content from the recording and preproduction process with diaries/blogs by individual band members and lots more.
• Signing up will also automatically enter you into draws for special prizes, which include:
  • Get two 5 night passes for the King Tuts “album by album” shows. (Closing date - December 10th, 2008)
  • Receive special prints of the album cover, signed by all the band.
  • Have your special edition album signed by the band.
  • Get a special set of screen printed posters for each night of the King Tuts shows.
  • Get admission for 2 to sound check at any choice of gig on a forthcoming tour with passes to remain in the venue for the show.
  • Stand on stage with Idlewild’s guitar tech for a prime view of the show at any choice of gig on our own tour dates (2 tickets included).

Sounds good? Well, if this is the future of the music business, then I’m all for it - it’s always fascinating to see how bands work behind the scenes. By paying a bit more for the album you’re paying money direct to the band and getting to see far more than you normally would.

With influeneces that span from hardcore originators Gorilla Biscuits, to Florida’s pop punks New Found Glory, this Massachusetts five-piece have taken thier favourite sounds from pop punk harmonies to hardcore riffing and melded them into one hell of a bruising music formula.

The band are definitely for fans of Fall Out Boy and in fact Four Year Strong are signed to Pete Wentz’s record label, Decaydance. The songs on the latest album are all worthy of high chart positions in my mind and the one that stands out has to be “Bada Bing Wit’ A Pipe”. Its catchy vocals are hard to dislike and the up tempo melodies add fantastic spice to the track.

It must be noted that the band members have a great range of talent with a tremendous range of sounds. Some of their tunes are poptastic while others like “Beatdown in the Key of Happy” thrive with heavy guitar riffs that could fit in with a Trivium track. The album never pauses, not even for a second. The slowest song is “Catastrophe,” and even on that song, the band has only taken the speed down about half a notch.

Listening to Four Year Strong makes me tired. You might think that’s a negative thing to say about a band. In this case however, it’s a compliment. I get tired because I imagine all the mosh pits, gang choruses, and synchronized handclaps that a Four Year Strong show must be full of.

Head over to thier myspace and have your ears perplexed!

With the release of The Bronx’s third album (thoughtfully entitled “The Bronx III”) the punk scene definitely has a new titan on the block. The hardcore sound produced by growling guitar riffs and vocals full of aggression has actually seen the band tone down. Earlier records produced by the band were truly wild while this latest addition has an element of control to it.

Of course, there’s still plenty of aggressive punk to be found on the disk. The majority of the record still carries most of the raw intensity of their debut album, and songs like “Digital Leash” show that the band still contains the same energy that drove them the first time around. Other tracks such as “Young Bloods” almost sound like pop compared to more blunt tunes like “Inveigh”.

The album definitely fits the classic Bronx sound but at the same time the guys seemed to have matured their approach with great variety. Singer Matt Caughthran’s trademark gruff yell is sometimes replaced with a mellow croon which brings a nice depth and break from the bands typical sound. The album seems to be a genuine improvement for the band but it also seems that the LA punks can develop even more for their next release. The more commercial sound should turn a lot of heads but it is not one to play to your grandmothers.

The big question is where does the band go from here?

See details on their MySpace for a free track to download!

This post appeared originally on the brilliant Four Oh Five, and is one in our continuing series of guest blogs from their capable team of authors.

Its exam time, and I’ve been looking for any reason to procrastinate. Normally this involves a lot of unnecessary movie watching, video game playing, and cleaning and tidying. This semester it has also involved a lot of unnecessary listening to ‘Such Fun’ by Annuals.

It’s not that ‘Such Fun’ is a bad album; it’s just not a particularly interesting one. On first listen it sounds like the sort of album that requires a bit of attention to understand, however after many listens it’s clear that this isn’t the case. The songs are well-written and thought out, most often making use of multiple layers of melody, percussion and harmonies to build up to what should be an emotive crescendo. But despite this, most songs here feel hollow and calculated. While there may be instrumental depth, the music doesn’t convey any tangible sentiment significant enough to sink your teeth into. ‘Such Fun’ sounds like indie music by numbers.

The music isn’t done a disservice by the vocals, either. On tracks like ‘Down the Mountain’ and first single ‘Confessor’, singer Adam Baker eloquently espouses disenchantment and hopelessness that should contrast well with the upbeat musical backing. And while it’s true that the album doesn’t make any attempt to fit within genre boundaries, this isn’t its main fault either. ‘Such Fun’ just sounds polished to the point of meaninglessness. Listening to it, you constantly feel like it should be a good album, that you must be missing something. But despite its complex big-band sound and strong lyricism, ‘Such Fun’ left me feeling somewhat cold, and somewhat confused.

“We’re better than Oasis” boasted Kaiser Chiefs‘ Ricky Wilson earlier this year, words he may have to eat. As critics warm to “Dig Out Your Soul,” some have already shown disappointment with “Off With Their Heads.”

With a solid two albums behind them, and new production from Mark Ronson, it would be fair to assume that we would hear something different and better from the Leeds rockers. Instead, to the listeners disdain, it’s much of the same, and worse still at a much lower standard.

Lyrics were never the bands strong point, but the rambling on lead single “Never Miss A Beat” hits an all time low as front man Wilson sings; “Why don’t you run away?/Are you kidding?/What is the golden rule?/I don’t know.”

Being green is great, but this recycling of already sub-par guitars and dreary vocals is going a bit too far…The band can be excused for their lack of innovation on “Yours Truly, Angry Mob,” but a third album of the same is unforgivable. The musical progression from “Employment” is still at zero, and tracks like the appalling “Addicted to Drugs” do little to help their cause.

Despite this, the album, like its predecessors, will no doubt go down a treat at Elland Road and festivals next summer. That however is the only plus point on this frankly dismal effort, if Ricky Wilson wants to come close to the Gallaghers, Albarn or any other Britpop legends, he needs to pull off something miles better than this.

4.5/10

Fresh of headlining a host of UK festivals, the Followill clan release their latest effort; “Only By The Night.” Since the release of their last album, a lot’s changed, they’ve become one of the biggest acts in the world today and some would argue they are one of the defining bands of their generation.

This album takes a strong turn from previous efforts, the tracks are still stadium-friendly, but aside from the leading single “Sex on Fire” and the infectious “Crawl” the rest of the album is slower paced and at times synth-clad (”Closer”).

The ever distorted effects and guitar solos are still in full force, and Jared Followill’s bass is yet again a pleasure. A particular highlight is “Manhattan” which is the best display of the band in tune both lyrically and musically throughout the album.

Now that I’ve gotten over the heavy southern accent which at first put me off this band, I can pay more attention to the lyrics, which are one of the points on which Only By The Night progresses from previous efforts. There is stability throughout the album and the vocals are done with a sense of passion similar to no other.

Whilst the album is one of the finest releases of the year and will no doubt let the Southern rockers continue indulging in their newly found status, there are not enough typically garage rock tracks as one has come to expect from this band. A listen to “17″ will leave a listener extremely satisfied yet craving for more, which is unfortunately a running theme throughout the album.

7.5/10

MP3: Kings of Leon - Sex on Fire

Since Scouting For Girls exploded out of radio speakers with the likes of ‘Elvis Ain’t dead’ and ‘She’s So Lovely’ the piano has experienced a new found fame in the pop world. The way Roy Stride uses the piano as though it was an extension of his very person is what makes each track so very infectious. There is no way one can remain seated in the presence of such energetic reliance on the keys to accentuate his happy, slightly rasping lyrical delivery; add that to the sumptuous strumming of Greg Churchouse on the bass and the oh so hungry domination of the drums by Peter Ellard and you have a recipe for musical addiction.

Once it is understood that the band’s aim is to get you addicted you realise that variety is not necessarily essential rather; repetitive, recitable rhyming sets are vital, once you have that all you need is for the instrumental delivery to be fuelled by an unparalleled hunger and the masses will bow down, and bow down they did. Each and every single is an infectious blend of key-fingering, capable bass handling and dominating drum delivery, unfortunately they all sound very similar. Not necessarily the same but the formulaic set of ingredients does not allow for deviation and so the pop trio don’t even try to test the waters, but hey if it isn’t broken, what’s there to fix?

Ultimately if you are seeking out the next best driving album, this one should definitely be part of the selection, your muscles itch to jump and run around as though you’ve scored the winning England goal. With the sour state of affairs at the minute, such an album is not only a breath of fresh air but a canister of the stuff, ready to deliver each and every time on each and every track. You can slap this CD and spin around the front room with your Nan and know it won’t offend, similarly you can leave the album on while your 3 year old does their colouring and know they won’t be reciting any questionable lyrics.

It’s not an album that is all about the diction, nor is it all about the music, it appears to be all about the delivery and they get it right every time, perhaps this is why some have slated the group, their overload on happiness even when the words being sung should be tugging at your heart strings, the guitar strings just won’t let you lose that smile. The ‘ooh whee ‘ backing vocals on started on ‘She’s So Lovely’ forcing your mind back to the days of Cliff Richard and the Beach Boys and summers ‘On the Busses’, continues through onto ‘It’s Not About You’ and you know what it doesn’t get tiring, unless of course you are trying to sit in staunch seriousness.

All in all this album like a few other pop sensations at the minute, not taking itself too seriously and by doing so they have been able to approach the creative process with a carefree nature which reverberates throughout the songs and continues to do so throughout ones senses whether they want them to or not. There should be a warning on the CD’s case about the addictive nature of the contents within, that it should be played with caution as once you have succumbed you will not be able to get the tunes out of your head and lord forgive you if you don’t know the lyrics as humming and ‘dum dum dee-ing’ will no doubt get you some funny and no doubt annoyed looks!