Signed to Walnut Tree Records, the band have played Download and Sonisphere festivals, and supported the likes of InMe, Kids In Glass Houses and most recently, Funeral For A Friend – must be a Welsh thing. I’m aware that InMe aren’t Welsh, before anybody says anything.  Their EP “Seasons” became available in 2010, a year after “They Don’t Change Under Moonlight,” an album with almost as many interludes as full tracks. There may be a reason behind this – the music that Tiger Please write seems to flow freely, rather than following a set path – the physical content of the music seems less important, and it’s easy to get lost in conversation with Leon Stanford’s broken voice (particularly in City Lights,) somewhat reminiscent of Damien Rice – it’s a tangle of soaring arpeggios, meant-to-be-vocal-harmonies and sharp-edged, no-bollocks, honest production, akin to the likes of Kings of Leon’s Aha Shake Heartbreak.

I’ll be blunt – they tried  too hard. Getting a crowd to not hurl abuse at you is an achievement when you’re a second support band that sound almost nothing like the main event, but to try and get them singing along two songs in a row is a little futile, if you ask me. It’s a shame – musically, the band were fantastic – not something I’d get up and go crazy to, granted, but they were far from out of practice, and during Stanford’s big vocal sections (particularly during Spring And Its Offering,) it’s hard to look away when you’re driven by a voice capable of both beautiful hurt and burning passion. You just – believe every word he says. You just didn’t want to sing along, in this instance. Good band, wrong crowd, and they should have let their music do the talking.

Right now, they’re the nation’s diamond in the sand – a band that are happy to meet their fans and provide a sound that combines the epic and the honest like bacon goes with eggs. I can say, without doubt, it’s only a matter of time until these guys are huge – but until then – enjoy the dirty little secret that is Tiger Please.

“The Plan That Cannot Fail” is a slightly safer bet for London Elektricity, admittedly, but fails to disappoint. A piano richer than a bath of Belgian Chocolate and Honey, an infinite soundscape, a drum break like James Brown’s backup after a 12-pack of redbull and what can only be described as some insane kind of spiritual, euphoric, feel-good, summer’s-here-but-it-isn’t-really-but-it-feels-like-it stellar experience for the soul. Nice.

Both tracks are taken from the forthcoming album “Yikes!” which is coming soon on Hospital Records. Pre-orders are available now.

http://www.hospitalrecords.com/

Watch the video from 18/03/2011 at http://londonelektricity.com/tv/

A year or two ago, this would have been almost unheard of, but it’s there. It’s frantic, the drums roll and the vocal sample catches your ears to the point where you begin to hate yourself. Shine In boasts a sound that is almost probably maybe definitely influenced by Camo & Krooked’s simplicity, Danny Byrd’s soulful percussion and the massive suddenly-stopped-giving-a-crap party vibe that few artists can pull off but everybody tries to anyway. Couple all of this with vocals provided by MOBO award nominee Natalie Williams and baby, you’ve got a stew going.

Whilst Shine In may definitely be a radio and dance floor favorite, it does seem to lack any sort of lead melody, and it seems to be catching the whole 4/4 DnB thing at what I’d consider to be the tail end. Liquid DnB has seen radical changes in the past few years, and whilst I have every intention of blasting this on the way to work tomorrow and probably tripling the speed limit in the process, I’m trying to hum along to it but I just can’t. How much this matters, is down to opinion – regardless, I’d definitely skank it out to this. With an atmosphere that just screams “it’s time to hit a nightclub” and clean, crisp production, Shine In will definitely be hitting the playlists in no time at all.

On a darker tip comes Bleeper, a strange affair of deep dubstep-style bassline (not the warp warp warp’s but the rattles-your-spine bbbbbuuurrrrr’s, fortunately,) some big-ass fucking drums and a series of arpeggios that boggle the mind. With synths roaring like some deranged 2011 Vangelis with a skin condition, Bleeper is definitely Nu:Tone’s Hyde to his Jekyll, and it isn’t afraid to show it. Hospital Records are well known for their sister label Med School, providing a much more warped view of the world, and this track seems to be a sort of inbetween. It’s liquid and bassy, but it’s…odd. The Human Centipede odd. And that’s definitely not such a bad thing, in this case.

I can’t help but think the contrast between sections is a little too high in places, however – notably in the build, where it seems to be that Magnetic Man have supplied 30 seconds of track for no apparent reason. It sort of takes the dark away – they didn’t stop for a cheeky red bull in A Nightmare on Elm Street, so why should this? I’m not saying it’s a bad thing, just a little – peculiar. Bleeper is a maze of fog, fairground rabbit costumes with sharp, bloody teeth, with somebody face down in a drug-induced coma – this just seems like the short cut.

What Nu:Tone definitely shows with this release is his flexibility. The age of the DnB artist, as compared to bloke who plays tunes and rinses it out and stuff, is upon us – and Dan Gresham, as he’s known to others, is definitely answering the call. What’s great to see is that this really doesn’t feel like an A & B side – both tracks are fantastic in their own right, and it looks like Nu:Tune is doing his part to tear open the mind of the Drum N Bass community. Hopefully, metaphorically – or Hospital Records might have chosen their name a little too literally.

Nu:Tone – Shine In / Bleeper is available to buy from the 14th February from the Hospital Records shop on 12″ Vinyl and Digital Download.

Activision just did not understand the product. We live in a strange time – if we disregard the earliest sad attempts to create a computer game, then gaming has been popular since around the mid to late 70′s (I’m talking Pong, Pac-Man, Space Invaders.) That’s 35 years or so of time to develop from a tiny 2-colour seed to a full blown rock extravaganza. Granted, it’s a highly competitive market, but Activision have been around for years themselves. Harmonix simply created the games, Activision put them in the public eye.

When I first really started getting into the series, Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock was just about ready to come out. After that came World Tour, Warriors of Rock, GH5 and half a dozen band-specific games. Aside from a copy of Van Halen I picked up cheap, I owned none of these. The reason is simple – the games preceding GH3 were almost no different, and didn’t require another bloody controller with touch pads and 700 extra buttons and a new mega-uber-turbo whammy bar with inbuilt godknowswhat. You don’t buy a new CD player every 5 or 6 months, nor do you even buy any sort of new Xbox/PS3/PC controller every 5 or 6 months. People ended up shelling out for something that frankly, wasn’t much different, because backwards compatibility was poor and games were a little too expensive. Unless you went completely tits over shoulders for Guitar Hero, on or two was enough.

Compare this to Rock Band’s rather more clever sales ethic, however. Let’s face it – it’s Russia’s Ukraine – the little brother. The songs are unspiring, it’s blocky as fuck and the characters look like they’ve come from a Battle of the Bands somewhere deep in South Devon. Now consider that there have been over 70 million downloads of Rock Band songs, over 2,000 unique songs to choose from, and the game alone has netted over $1bn in sales. How does this happen? Because they sell a format. They are not selling repackaged game after repackaged game after repackaged game – there are a total of 5 Rock Band games, an original trilogy and Beatles and Green Day versions, and every version has seen large updates to the way the game works and instrument support. Rather than having 50 odd songs to choose from, you have their entire library, which is being constantly updated. A couple of quid here and there, buy a few new tracks, and you’ve got what could be considered a tiny iPhone App Store – the custom keeps returning with a small amount of effort, the people are happy. Now there’s a “little brother” title I wouldn’t mind having.

There’s only so many times you can buy the same thing over and over and pretend you’re getting more. Pringles are awesome but sometimes you just want to smash off a bag of Red Sky, and don’t even forget about Chipsticks. The more flavours, the less likely you are to stop trying Pringles early on. Just don’t take the piss and charge 5 quid a tube, that’s all I’m saying. I love snack-based analogies.

So what does the future hold for interactive music games? GH has gone down the pan and eventually, people are likely to get bored of strumming along to some punk hit from yesteryear. I believe, simply, it’s going to be in incorporating music tuition and recording. Attempting to conquer Dragonforce’s Through The Fire And Flames may be something, but as long as it’s kept entertaining, I can say without a shadow of doubt that our next generation of musicians may very well have been trained by a computer game. Chord recognition through a line-in? Not exactly unknown technology. Amp simulators? Easy. Drum multi-tracking through MIDI? It’s been going on for years. Mark my words, it’s only a matter of time.

That said, the chorus in this track is absolutely belting. Rob Swire’s once again got the doubling vocal effect going on, one of the band’s trademarks – and the keyboard, slightly Van Halen in its existence, delivers just what’s needed to bring the track together – a dark, awesome melody, and one that’s no doubt going to reinforce Pendulum’s main aim – to be one gnarly ass live band.

Whilst I’m not one to slate tracks (well, not much anyway,) Crush doesn’t have a whole lot going for it. I’ve no doubt people will enjoy it, but releasing a track with a sound that’s quickly tiring itself out doesn’t sit well with me. It just feels like – album filler.

That said, I’m looking forward to their new material, and hope things get really interesting. You can’t deny they’re doing something very original, and when they lay down a big track, it truly is terrifyingly good.

Okay, I might have badmouthed dubstep once (I’m sure at least a few of you remember this, thanks to 35+ replies calling me a “shit twat” etc) but I was rather naive then. Hey, it’s a new genre, there’s new dubstep artists emerging all the time, and there’s a lot of quality material out now. To these I previously offended, I’m not afraid to admit I was wrong, and I apologise to you.

Sadly, this is not the case for Skream and Example’s, or as I like to call them, Daphne and Celeste’s latest offering “Shot Yourself In The Foot.” For those that were unaware of Example in his early days, he was something of a legend. He was a bug-eyed white rapper with a fetish for parody tracks, and some serious stuff every now and then too, which wasn’t too bad. I’ll never forget his Britney Spears “Your breath’s fuckin’ Toxic,” and quite frankly, he was somewhat respectable. He could make you laugh. You could listen to his album and not tie your hair in knots, fair enough. It’s all gone a bit wrong since Kickstarts, although it did make for a half decent friday night track. This, for me, is Example’s “last straw” record. It’s clear with Shot Yourself In The Foot Again that he’s not going to bother trying to write decent music any more, so, bleh, I’m done. And stop singing through your nose.

Skream has showed huge potential in recent months. As 1/3 of Magnetic Man, arguebly the world’s first big live Dubstep act, he, along with Artwork and Benga have totally smashed dancefloors, selling out gigs around the country and landing headline spots at next year’s festivals, and with good cause. The music’s good, the live element is good, their vocalist is – well, not bad, and it’s great to see a group branching out to new extremes in electronic music. Tracks like Shot Yourself In The Foot make you wonder what exactly Skream contributes to Magnetic Man aside from a couple of  “pewww pewww” sounds, a bell sound not unlike those you find in FruityLoops’ standard setup and an Amen breakbeat.

Sorry guys, but it’s just, you know – Wop wop wop and a couple of bell noises again. It’s got an original vocal, but that doesn’t make it fantastic. The sad state of it is, too, this WILL do well and it WILL be played at every club I fucking go to, because tracks like this make it easier to pretend you like a genre of music. And on that note, I’m off to listen to, I dunno, punch my cat in his annoying keeps-me-awake-at-5am face until he screams to cleanse my ears. Until next time, “enjoy” this clip. Ergh. BLERGH!

Skream & Example – Shot Yourself In The Foot Again

A Very Alternative Xmas (requires Spotify to open.)

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Of all places, Russia is leading the way in chilled DnB/Dubstep hybrid material. What’s even more striking is that as far as Discogs goes, you’ll be hard pressed to find any more than the real names and, if you’re lucky, a 4 word description of the artists on this remix-of-an-original EP. This begs the question; where exactly did they fucking come from? As it happens, this is the result of a remix competition held by Med School Records, Hospital Record’s (see: Liquid Drum N Bass) sister record label. If you’re a music producer, you’ve probably entered something similar at some point. It’s probably a good job you didn’t enter this one – I dare say you would have lost disastrously – but don’t despair yet. This is a good sign – new talent is always emerging, and by the looks of things, big labels are looking to push them. It’s about time to shake off the tired shackles of Jump Up and Wobble Bass, and delve into the realms of the weird, the dark, the original, the artistic, the intense.

Two words sum this 5-tracker up for me, and probably for you too; Soul Food. True power in music is possessing the ability to alter someone’s state of mind, and that’s exactly what this does. I don’t want to drop tired clichés (god knows there’s probably enough of them already,) but just like in the video – wait until night, get in your car, turn it up, and  just drive. It’s something special.

BUY: http://shop.hospitalrecords.com/product/medic19

Bop “Remix Your Mind” EP (Med School Music)
http://www.medschoolmusic.com

No, this isn’t one of those “what’s happened to music? I remember when Jimi Hendrix…” posts.

One of those that complain about the state of modern music, the lack of culture and integrity contained within said music, and a general bitch about how artists like Tempa “TEEMPPPZZZZ!” T and that Bap Bap Americano or whatever it was tune can defecate all over the much-needed artists that seem so rare these days. Actually, it sort of is. Hopefully the last few lines made you laugh so my hypocrisy doesn’t seem so well-deserved.

1) Magnetic Man ft. Katy B – Perfect Stranger

Okay, it’s not massively influential. It uses the Amen break (if you’ve so much as watched Never Mind The Buzzcocks you’ve heard the Amen break, let alone have an active interest in Drum N Bass,) the synths could probably be replicated on a Fisher-Price toy and Katy B is, well…a bit whiny. Sorry. Regardless, the whole point in Magnetic Man is that Skream, Benga and Artwork can play this track, along with the entire album, live. It’s radio friendly, it’s soulful, and you don’t have to pretend you like it because your student mates do and they went to the BangFace Weekender this year instead of Reading or Leeds so they know more about this than you do. Kick back, brock out, don’t feel like a bell end in the process. Win.

2) Stan SB – Tears In Rain

Your tolerance of Pendulum/Owl City style vocals will probably make or break this track for you, but Stan SB, at just 17 years old, has created one of the most beautiful DnB tracks ever written. I want to throw adjectives like Soaring, Euphoric, Unifying etc at you, but the track itself doesn’t require sentences, so it’s better just to say them again. You just listen to it and stare wide-eyed at each other whilst images of things like Oceans and Jetstreams and Aurora Boryalis and Super-Fast Jet Planes flick through your mind.

Stan SB is a 17-year-old producer from Leeds (of all places, the town that gave us Chumbawumba) and represents one thing – a change in tide. His tracks are soul food, the diamond in the sand that defies the odds.

3) Noisia – Machine Gun (16-Bit Remix)

Point one – if you call this “Thugstep” or any other sub-genre-of-a-sub-genre-of-a-sub-genre name, I will hate you forever. That said, it’s pretty ridiculously hard. Harder than the original infact, and for a group that prides themselves on being excessively hard and loud, the hard and loudness, or houdness (as I like to call it) really excels.

I have never been a fan of Dubstep, barring some of the chilled stuff. It sorta bores me – I’ve been to plenty of nights where by the end, I was actually praying someone would just play Dance Wiv Me so there was actually something we could all jump around like a bunch of cretinous teenagers at their first punk-rock gig. Personal preference I’d imagine, but what I can see in 16-Bit is this – I’d go fucking nuts to this. It’s violent, it’s groovy as hell, it’s downright terrifying and it hurts your ears. And your dignity. And the person dancing next to you because you just nutted him in the face by accident. But he understands. He understands.

That said,  it’s no surprise this guy’s debut album has been snapped up by Hospital Records, arguebly the world’s best Liquid Drum ‘n’ Bass record label. What sets him aside from other artists? The basslines he writes blend what can only be described as Burial-esque Dubstep sub-bass with a rhythm that screams funk. Then there’s the piano’s – the delicate licks that set atmosphere, the notation nearly irrelevant. Netsky is an Enigma – things that shouldn’t work do – and that’s something.

The first track I heard of his was “I Refuse.” How did it sound? A little under-produced, in truth. The track itself isn’t much more than a drumloop, a sampled vocal line, a bit of atmosphere and a wobbling bassline. What drove it to the ridiculously positive reviews was one simple thing – soul. Netsky is someone that captures imagination, the music itself a catalyst and not just the bland Jump-Up written for the masses to brock out to. Whoever the vocalist may be, his voice encapsulates pain and hurt. Does this happen often in Drum N Bass? Does it fuck.

Going from strength to strength, Netsky’s production rips most to shreds, and you can’t help but feel that he’s found himself since his earlier tracks. He’s a man with ideas, a shivering breath of fresh air in a world genericism. And, all else failing, there’s a great summery vibe to the majority of his tracks – Everyday especially – and if you can’t appreciate that, then you’ll be the only one not dancing. And that really, really sucks for you.