8. Ladyhawke - Ladyhawke

First up, my apologies for the intense lack of posts over the last two weeks. I've been mildly busy some of the time, but me 'ceebing' has also had a lot to do with it. However, my listening desires have been reinvigorated, so I'm hoping I can get the one-per-day routine up and running again.

Today it was the turn of the talented singer and multi-instrumentalist Ladyhawke to attempt to wow me, with her debut self-titled album. And she did. Sort of.

Now, I wasn't very clued up on who she actually was before hearing it. For anyone not in the know, her's is a very 80s influenced synth-pop album. But chances are about 40 seconds into the opening track Magic, you'll realise you've heard it before, as I did.

The album was a strange one. There's nothing outstanding on it, and yet all the tracks stand out. Each one tends to go down the catchy-but-repetitive chorus route, meaning they're all memorable if a bit samey. Despite this, I enjoyed the album from start to finish, which is the most important thing.

3.5/5 - Enjoyable and consistent electro-pop stuff, but could do with some more variation.

7. Nine Inch Nails - The Slip

So I've been wanting to get into Nine Inch Nails for a while now, and since their latest album is available for free off their official website, I decided to fill my boots. I don't think I've heard anything like it before.

There's a strong distorted feel to the whole album, guitars and the insdustrial-sounding synths in particular, which complement the powerful basslines and raw drum beats. Trent Reznor's vocals I find very unique, in that he can scream and keep perfect control of his voice, giving them an energetic yet melodic quality. I also hadn't realised he was the only official member of NIN, holy crap the man is talented.

The album itself gets progressively quieter, more downtempo and atmospheric as it goes on. The quick-paced 1,000,000 and Letting You are probably the tracks that stand out most, but the rest are still great to chill out to, especially Corona Radiata and The Four Of Us Are Dying, which form a 12-minute build up to the album's climax Demon Seed. This follows the soft, piano-led Lights In The Sky, so plenty of variation.

3.5/5 - Diverse and original, I'll certainly be exploring more of NIN's back catalogue in future.

6. The Prodigy - The Fat Of The Land

Okay so I know it looks like I've completely dingied this idea, but fear not, I've just had a busy week. So I intend to make up for that with a beastly 7 [SEVEN] albums today. Yeah... we'll see how that goes.

I have listened to one though, and that is The Fat Of The Land by The Prodigy, from when they were at the peak of their power. And I'd be surprised if any of the next six can top it.

Obviously I'd heard Smack My Bitch Up, Breathe and Firestarter before - three of the band's greatest songs. I won't dwell too much on them, they're awesome and that's all you really need to know. Great examples of The Prodigy's most punk-influenced phase, with Maxim Reality's gnarly vocals leading the latter two.

That's not to say it's all punk and random samples though. There are some atmospheric synths reminiscent of their early rave days (such as on Climbatize), a style advanced by the eerie female vocals in Smack My Bitch Up and the choral singing in 9-minute epic Narayan. Indeed, there's also an obvious drum 'n' bass influence in the fast-paced finale Fuel My Fire, to complement the band's traditional breakbeats.

4.5/5 - Possibly the band's best moment. I highly recommend it.

5. Röyksopp - Melody A.M.

I was in the mood for something quiet tonight. Nothing that would require any effort to take in, just something I could lie on the sofa and relax to. Melody A.M. turned out to be just that and, luckily, it's also bloody good.

It's a lot less bouncy-synth-pop-ish than Junior, their most recent album, which has the brilliant Happy Up Here, the song which got me into Röyksopp. In fact, it's so relaxing for the most part that it would probably have put me to sleep if it weren't so compelling.

The more ambient style means that few of the tracks stand out on there own, but listening to the album in full is a rather rewarding and beautiful experience. The tracks compliment each other nicely when played together, and whether it's the blippy, almost dreamy synth rhythm of Eple, the ominous and exhilarating climax of Röyksopp's Night Out, or the album's ghostly conclusion 40 Years Back Come, there's plenty of variation.

4/5 - Can't really find a lot of fault with this. Not groundbreaking, but still a greatly diverse and compelling listen.

4. Deadmau5 - For Lack Of A Better Name

Well I've got 16 minutes left to keep this thing going, so I'll keep it quick. Having predictably come across Deadmau5 through Ghosts 'N' Stuff, which features Rob Swire of Pendulum on vocals, I gave probably his most well-known album, For Lack Of A Better Name, a listen tonight.

I wasn't quite sure what I'd make of it, not having had much experience of house music, but I quite enjoyed it. It began with some intruiging wobbly basslines on FML, before the interesting Moar Ghosts 'N' Stuff leads into the rather brilliant Ghosts 'N' Stuff. If you've never heard it, go and hear it now. A brilliant feel-good tune.

That's about as mainstream as the album goes, and the rest is filled with blippy synths and that traditional continuous house drum-beat. It's all good chill out stuff, if unmemorable. The epic ten minute finale Strobe is probably the only standout from the album's second half.

3/5 - A couple of belters on here. House probably isn't my favourite genre of dance, but this ain't half bad.

3. Stone Sour - Come What(ever) May

Having never really found the little I've heard of Slipknot to be to my taste, I thought it might be worth checking out vocalist Corey Taylor's other band, Stone Sour, to see if I fared any better. And I did.

I still wasn't overly impressed with Come What(ever) May, but there are a few gems on there. Through Glass, though I had heard it before, was by far my personal highlight, although the somewhat out of place, almost piano-ballad-like Zzyzx Rd showed that the band can still convey their emotion in an accessible manner, minus the security of their grungey riffs.

That might suggest that I wasn't impressed with the rest of the album, and to a certain degree that is the case. It's not so much that I disliked the post-grunge, alternative-metal sound, but I can't help thinking there are artists out there that do it better. For the most part, it felt like once I'd heard one song on the album, I'd heard them all.

The exceptions to that, as well as the two I mentioned above, are the highly listenable Made Of Scars, as well as Hell & Consequences and Your God, which bring some nice distorted guitar solos into the equation, something I'd have liked to have heard more of on the album.

2.5/5 - A slightly samey album, on which the few moments of diversity provide the only real stand-outs.

2. Bullet For My Valentine - Fever

So I thought I'd go a little heavier today. After listening to Fever, I'd say it was a choice well made.

Metal is a genre I've never been particularly opposed to, but for some reason I tend to just listen to a few well known songs - Metallica classics, mostly - rather than ever exploring the depths of the genre. So having heard great things about Bullet For My Valentine's latest album, I decided it would make a good starting point. And I was very impressed.

This is an extremely listenable album, feauturing a full range of vocal styles - with screaming and even whispering (in Your Betrayal, easily the best track). I find Matt Tuck to be very skilled at getting emotion across in his voice, and not just anger; there's plenty of lust, regret and desperation thrown in there, too, often within a single track (Bittersweet Memories and A Place Where You Belong).

If anything, I'd have actually preferred some more all out anger-filled tracks, like Your Betrayal, which kick-starts the album. As it is, despite the rest of the album being very consistent, for me nothing on the album's latter half quite betters the opening track, although its climax, Pretty On The Outside, does come close.

4/5 - A very listenable, consistent heavy metal album. Second half isn't quite as good as the first, but I will definitely be sampling some more Bullet in future.

Update: This has since become my first CD purchase as a direct consequence of this blog. £3 at HMV - knock yourselves out.

1. The Coral - Butterfly House

Well, that's one day over, one rather enjoyable indie-rock album to tick off the list.

I'd only sampled a few early hits from The Coral before I listened to this. As is the case for most people, radio play of Dreaming Of You and Pass It On were about the extent of my experience of the band. I do own their first album, but I've never given it a full run through yet.

Having heard Butterfly House today (which is an upbeat yet relaxing collection of indie-rock tunes) however, I'm wondering why on earth that is the case.

After what you might call a 'safe but unspectacular' start, featuring some nice, upbeat acoustic guitar work, there's plenty of variation in both vocals and guitars as the album progresses.

Although it keeps a consistent tempo throughout most of the tracks, there are a couple of quieter songs (Falling All Around You, one of the album's highlights, being one of them) and some more powerful riffs and solos thrown in every now again, such as in stand-out tracks Butterfly House and Two Faces, and the finale North Parade.

3.5/5 - Would definitely recommend you give it a listen on Spotify, great album to chill out to. Thanks to Liam for suggesting!

Listen Up

Let me explain what's going on here.

From tomorrow onwards I'll listening to one album from any genre per day, that I've never heard before. I'll be reporting back on each, offering my take on the audio therein, and giving a tasty star rating out of five, because I like stats like that.

The plan is to discover new genres and sample styles of music I have as of yet never come across. This could be literally anything, and by the end I hope to have broadened my relatively limited knowledge of music into previously unreached territory.

I may occasionally blog on a specific song, artist or even an album I've been listening to and enjoying for some time already (which means you might see that album cover below again in future). Just to break things up a bit.

I'm always looking for assistance, so if you know of a particular masterpiece, then be sure to tell me about it. Maybe you'll be encouraged to try an album based on what you've read on here. And maybe you'll think it's crap. But whatever you think, please do leave a comment and say so.

Stick around, I'll be here all year.