New Releases 8/21 - The Darkness

The Darkness

Hot Cakes

Label: Wind-Up Records
Released: 8/21
Genre: Glam Rock, Hard Rock

The Darkness broke up in 2006 when Justin Hawkins left the band, after only 6 years. They reformed in 2011 with all the original members. This album is pure glam rock. It could have been written and recorded in the late 1970s, that's how authentically Glam this is. The only thing marking it as recent is the production quality, which is definitely modern (though they are not participating in the loudness wars).

From the opening track (which is fantastically rock'n'roll) all the to the end there's nothing but very silly, but very seriously done, cuts. Aside from their fantastic execution of the sound, the songs aren't very stand out. The best track here is a cover of Radiohead's Street Spirit (Fade Out). Which is a fantastically awesome cover that sounds like it came off an Iron Maiden album from the mid-80s.

While nothing here is going to win a Grammy as a single, the whole album feels right. Nothing dips below in quality, even if nothing rises above I like that fact. It's also a short album, 11 songs coming in at 40 minutes, making all of them solid pop-rock length, good for big stadium anthems and radio play alike - they don't get stuck in their own playing.

Definitely an album worth adding if you like glam-rock.

West 4th New Music Collective

Cellophilia

Label: none (http://www.w4newmusic.com/)
Released: August 2012
Genre: Modern Classical

This isn't actually a new release - it's not even available to the public. But, I wanted to hi-light the music collective. I participated in a Kickstarter to get this concert off the ground, a download of the concert recording was a bonus. From their website: West 4th promotes the work of emerging composers and performers in New York City.

So, if you're in, or around, NYC, you can attend their concerts. I'm not, I'm all the way out here in November so I've limited ability to support them. The music from the Cellophilia concert ranged from outright amazing to the kind of screeching only a stringed instrument can create (that I hate a little bit). It's definitely a group willing to experiment with sound, composition, and songs. Which I do like a lot. They have several concerts coming up at the end of September and beginning of October.

So, hopefully, with enough encouragement, we'll see more public recordings from this group that anyone get their hands on. Either way, if you're so inclined check out their website and see what they're all about.