Hole-Celebrity Skin

When Hole burst onto the grunge/alternative scene in 1994, with their breakthrough album "Live Through This", their success was overshadowed by tragedy.
Many believed that singer Courtney Love was succeeding off both her marriage to Nirvana vocalist Kurt Cobain and his tragic suicide just days before the release of "Live Through This".
Since then, both Love and Hole have gone through a massive transformation.
The opening track, "Celebrity Skin" is a good representation of the album's overall sound, with it's sleek production and hooky chorus. 
Next comes "Awful", a catchy pop-rock tune and "Malibu", with fabulous jangly guitars. 
Stand-out tracks also include "Reasons to be Beautiful", an angry song reflecting Love's time in Hollywood ('Miles and miles of perfect skin, I swear I do I fit right in') and the beautiful "Northern Star", clearly about Love's late husband ('And I knew, I 'd cherish all my misery alone').
Celebrity Skin may have heralded many to claim that Hole are now 'sellouts', but while the album is no "Live Through This", its shows an evolution of Hole's sound and the maturity of songwriting, particularly between Love and guitarist Eric Erlandson.

Celebrity Skin is strongly recommended to anyone who is a Hole-beginner.

Angelica- The end of a beautiful career by A.

They are Angelica, an all girl indie four piece from Lancaster. They have humour, guitars, and harmonies. They do a quite excellent cover version of Vanilla Ice’s “Ice Ice Baby” (though that slice of pure funk has unfortunately not made it on here). Every time they are mentioned so are Kenickie (remember them?), and this review won’t be any different. C’mon, you know you love it…

The first track on this, Angelica’s debut, albeit mini, album, seems only to confirm this most superficial and lazy of labels- Angelica, the new Kenickie. The song, All I Can See, seemingly picks up where the Sunderland glamour girls left off, with its sparkling feel-good indie-pop. The following track however, Bring Back Her Head, kicks all such Kenickie sniping right in its lazy fat face. This gorgeous slice of almost Mogwai-esque guitars and xylophone, coupled with lead vocalist Holly Ross’s nursery rhyme singing displays Angelica in a new light, giving them and their sound a whole new dimension. It is with this song, and the others like it such as Sea Shanty and Fireflies that Angelica gloriously shrug off any preconceived notions of them and come into their own as a great band in their own right. Dark and distorted, but never losing their clear, lovely vocal stylings and sense of melody, Angelica become much more intriguing and beguiling then you may have first thought.

They don’t lose all their sense of fun though, with up-beat poppy numbers like Why Did You Let My Kitten Die sprinkling a touch of fairy dust on the proceedings. However, even these more conventional indie tracks aren’t as straightforward as they may seem, with the lyrics, such as on the spite filled Concubine Blues (“sometimes I wish you’d never touch me again”), betraying an altogether angrier and generally more pissed off side of Angelica then the music might suggest. Angelica then- beautifully venomous.

8/10

by

A.

Smashing Pumpkins MACHINA/ the machines of God

When Billy Corgan and co. created their own little musical genre with 'Siamese Dream' and 'Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness' they became legends. Their pure grunge style mixed with deep, soul searching lyrics and pretty little orchestral sections, changed a lot of peoples opinions on alternative music. The Pumpkins showed it could be beautiful as well as angry and painful and bitter all at the same time. As a result, the band gained a huge following. 

Then came 'Adore.' After quite a long break, they returned and their new effort was slated. Apart from the minor pop hit 'Perfect,' the album was pretty dull and insignificant. Now they are back again. 'MACHINA' opens with 'The Everlasting Gaze,' which can only be described as post-industrial. It is quite similar to some of the ideas in old-skool Pumpkins more angry songs and has a small, snarly, unaccomponied line which is pretty cool. Next up is 'Rain Drops & Sun Showers,' where the sensitive side of Billy's voice can be heard. 

The single which was recently released 'Stand Inside your love' is probably the highlight of the album and is an all round great song. Who says the Smashing Pumpkins died after 'Mellon Collie...'? However, despite the impressive opening, the album does have some rather weak tracks; 'Heavy Metal Machine' is bizarre and uninteresting (I don't really undersand the idea behind this one) and 'Glass & The Ghost Children' is also strange. Then again, how many perfect albums have been released in the last few years? Don't get me started on the state on music these days! 'With Every Light' is quite a pretty and gentle song, but is also fairly happy (is this possible from miserable old Billy Corgan?) Overall, 'MACHINA' is more like the Pumpkins original style and if the rumours that they might be splitting after they have finished their current world tour are true, then it is good they will be remembered for this.

Le Tigre by Le Tigre

After Bikini Kill split up in 1998, the member some what disappeared for a while, probably to do very different things and go very different places.  However, Kathleen Hanna, the lead singer of the group, worked with Atari Teenage Riot and had her own 'Julia Ruin' project and has now been brought into the spotlight once again with her latest band.

Le Tigre are a lot more 'together' than Bikini Kill ever were and it is clear that Hanna has developed greatly since she first entered the music scene.  Along with Hanna there is Sadie Benning and Johanna Fateman and they have created a very fresh and individual sound.  There is still quite a riotous theme to the music and definitely hints of Bikini Kill in some of the songs, particularly from the 'Reject All American' album.  One of the most obvious continuations of the Bikini Kill sound, is Hanna's trademark vocals and the biggest difference is the use of a drum machine, mixing and samples. 

'Deceptacon' opens the album, setting off a real retro set to modern beats.  This is repeated in the more upbeat songs on the album, 'My My Metrocard' is a perfect example of this.  'Hot Topic,'  which has had a lot of play on Radio 1's Evening Session, is a tribute to the band's heroes and a salute to grrrls they feel have beat the sexism battle.  'Eau d'Bedroom Dancing' is a quiter 'chill-out' type of tune and 'Les and Ray' a cheerful song for a sunny day.  My persoanl favourite track is 'The The Empty,' with the catchy bridge line 'All that glitters is not gold.'  

The album is definitely worth exchanging your cash for and it looks as though Le Tigre are going to make it big on the underground if nothing else.  See them live at Reading and Leeds Festival this year.   

Want to review a CD ? It doesnt have to be new just so long as its grrl.