Owl City - Ocean Eyes

With arguably one of the most memorable songs of the last few months, Owl City’s Adam Young seems to have achieved the dream of every aspiring musician. Using his bedroom in his parents basement, and uploading songs on Myspace he gathered a large following. He then exploded onto the scene with the obvious single from this album ‘Fireflies’. The song is catchy. So catchy infact that whenever another song from the album comes on, his distinctive voice makes you want to sing the chorus from the albums obvious winner.

It’s not a bad album, there are some definite good points. The albums first track Cave in is a god upbeat tune, sticking to the formula used in the rest of the album. The lyrics on a couple of tracks seem well thought out, if not a bit like the narration of a childish dream; but it is let down by a few tracks, namely ‘Dental Care’; about going to the dentist.

Overall, if you are a fan of ‘Fireflies’ then give the album a listen on spotify or youtube; but don’t commit to buying before you know that he has definitely heard the saying, “If it’s not broken, don’t fix it”. Let’s wait and see if the next single, ‘Vanilla Twilight’ will chart as high as the first single from the album.


Joe Gibbs

Bombay Bicycle Club

I've always thought of Bombay Bicycle Club as belonging to the Futureheads/ Maximo Park era of music circa 2005. They exude a cooky innocence with odd heavy bass riffs and the typical jingle jangle guitar interludes. Evening/Morning harks back to a 90's grunge-esque sound, with the vocals of a Placebo and the heavyness you'd normally find in something like Alien Ant Farm (ok, so I'm thinking of that one particular AAF M.Jackson cover song, and relating it to only one bass part of this single, so really, they aren't anything like AAF). It's been a long day. I'm indifferent to the world. I AM THE LIZARD QUEEN! This song is good, alright, yes, I like it. I'd listen to it, 5 years ago I would've danced at Kute Klub in the Cooler down on Park Street to it. I would have thrown some bloody shapes and you would have thought it hot.

4/5
LIA MENTAL

Mumford and Sons - The Cave

The Cave is another great release from folk band Mumford and Sons although it appeals to me in the same vein as when I’m on the rag and suddenly feel like Coldplay aren’t such a crap band afterall. I’m not saying The Cave is crap, but it’s likable like a puppy; there’s a piano hammering out awesome power chords, there’s the added choir (with reverb) on the word ‘I’ (ala Take That signature move) in the chorus and the video is shot on a beach with retro vespas and some weird big band wearing converse. I do like this song but I can’t help also ripping it to shreds. It’ll be used at the end of a reality show when the pregnant 12 year old gets her GCSE’s. Bless.

3/5
LIA

Lady Gaga avex Beyonce - Telephone

[OMG. Flesh coloured bra, check, sexksy lab goggles, check, weird FACE MEN?!!! PLUS!!! AWESOME crinkle hair, you cracked out ho!]

Despite Lady GaGa having the world at her heels, her latest single Telephone, seems to confirm my fears. It appears GaGa is rapidly becoming less and less of a music icon and more and more of a mere business model. Her videos are laced with countless product placements, from online betting sites (see Poker Face), to Ukranian vodka (Bad Romance) and her record label has just spat out The Fame Monster.

Telephone is the second single to be released from this mini-album and includes guest vocals from the unstoppable Beyoncé Knowles. Now if you put these two stars together for a song, you would think it would be the song to end all songs right? Wrong. It turns out putting two of the hottest ladies in pop has only lead to a major anti-climax in every sense. Telephone is bland, generic and frankly a poor effort by GaGa/Beyonce, lacking any of the uniqueness that made both girls so successful in the first place. It is clear that the collaboration was in the name of money and not in the name of music. As filming for the video starts this week, my mind wonders not how sexy it will be, but which mobile phone GaGa will be shamelessly promoting.

Ok, I lie. I do wonder a little bit how sexy it will be.

Oliver Wilkie

from The Happy Hour