Steven Mooner Usher

So, Jason Mraz has finally had his arm twisted and planned a release I’m Yours as a single, the only problem is, he allowed his nan to knit it a woolly jumper before giving it to the radio stations.

I’ve known about the song for some time now, and along with I’m At Peace by Justin Nozuka, and Use Somebody by Kings of Leon, is one of my girlfriends and I’s songs. Call me soppy, but every couple has them!

The original version of I’m Yours is a prepossessing love song, with delicately stretched vocals permeating a sincerity that both his adversaries and his very own redraft fail to deliver.

The same version that sweeps me in to a hazy delirium each and every time it projects my beautiful girlfriends face on to the canvas of my mind, was stripped down to a naked inflection of purity, just Jason Mraz, his classical guitar, and the veracity of the persona that oozes from his words.

Now, the problem Mr Mraz faces, forgetting the impossible-to-avoid questions regarding the pronunciation of his surname, is that in re-writing and subsequently releasing I’m Yours with such a cutesy, wishy-washy backing track, he has cornered himself in to a market that contains just Jack Johnson and himself (there are others of course, but not on such a commercial scale), and I have a feeling I’m far from the only person that’s grown a little tired of Mr Johnson’s perfect little life with his perfect little wife. I can imagine him tumbling down a flight of stairs only to land on a cushion his telepathic wife had laid down to mitigate his fall…made of platinum…with the cure for AIDS accidentally sewn in to the seam…by Elvis.

Its not a jealousy thing, my life is good, and I’m extremely happy with my lot, but do you know the guys at the first day of University who tell you all about their “Twin-Turbo Super Car with an amazing sound system with sub-waffles blah blah blah”, their model girlfriend, and the fact their dad came first in 15-to-1 ten years ago? Well, that was probably Jack Johnson’s modest cousin.

Now, back to Jason Mraz, and more to the point, his single I’m Yours. I do wonder what my opinion would be if I hadn’t of heard the original before, or if it hadn’t struck such a romantic chord with my girlfriend and myself, but ultimately, I believe the song has been weakened in trying to reach a wider audience, and perhaps, if he hadn’t taken assumptions about the wider audiences intelligence, they too would have preferred to buy the original.

I love the song, in both formats, but the revision and addition of generic drums etc has been detrimental to the overall ‘feel’ of the song. Whereas with the original you felt like you were a voyeur, sneaking through his garden bushes to watch him serenade his girlfriend, now it just feels like you’re watching him play a gig at a festival, with no girlfriend in sight, and his PR boss telling him to pull his jeans up.

Kings Of Leon have always held a large appeal for me, from their first album proper Youth And Young Manhood, they set out a sonic intent to engineer beautiful music that although largely radio-friendly, also had the ability to polarise opinion instantaneously. This can be accredited to a quirky, off-par public persona, both from the sounds they created and the image they portrayed. One memory I have of their early months in the public domain is of the band adorning their once trademark long hair and Nirvana t-shirts. The first single, Mollys Chambers, from their debut 5-song EP Holy Roller Novocaine, achieved some considerable airplay given the age of the band and the nature of their sound. Commercial success was a distant second to the sound at that point, which adds weight to the argument that their new album, Only By The Night, has been engineered to line their wallets rather than maintain and please the staunch set of fans they’ve accumulated over the years.

I could go in to a discography and break down the bands rise to their current status, but I think we’re all getting a little tired of hearing about the band in general, all we really want to know is ‘how good is this album?’, and the answer depends, ironically, on where you have come from to be with the band right now. As only a part-time follower for the last 5-6 years, I can listen to Only By The Night without thinking Kings Of Leon have let me down. The band owe me nothing, they don’t have a debt to feed my musical taste.

But what for those that have followed the bad since day one? I fear they may reflect upon the album as a failure, a departure from their original sound too drastic to justify a natural progression of their sound.

That said sound is glorious, it’s coated, it will stroke you to sleep and occasionally slap you back out of your slumber for 3 minutes of fun, as with Sex On Fire, which, to the contrary, 3 minutes would not an On Fire Sex make. Thats talking from experience.

The opener, Closer, starts the album off as it means to go on. A delicate gem of a track that oozes confidence in their ability to put together sounds, as is the prerequisite for any band entertaining thought of longevity. A soft, dreamy intro, that I cant work out whether its played through an FX pedal, or a keyboard, either way, its delicious, and sucks you straight in. And once you’re in, there’s little chance of getting out as soon as Caleb Followills’ (full band line-up below) visceral vocals tear a strip out of your ears.

Full Band Line-Up

• Caleb Followill (lead singer, rhythm guitar)
• Nathan Followill (drums)
• Jared Followill (bass)
• Matthew Followill (lead guitar)

Caleb’s voice has the unique quality of sounding like a grit-coated ten-pin bowling ball, even in the bands most delicate moments, of which Closer is certainly one of them.

The second track, Crawl, is unfortunately the albums weakest, and would have been better served as an anonymous track placed somewhere about 9th in order, so I wont waste any more time on it, but its worth mentioning that if this had appeared on, say, a Razorlight album, it would be a stand-out track, its just hard to be a stand-out track in an album already bursting at the seams with them.

Never fear, however, as the next track that steams your way is the arresting Sex On Fire. A track that eventually proved to be the launch pad for the current lofty perches they assume in the musical landscape. This is one of those ‘instant’ success songs, a song that has no patience for the hard-to-please, so it decides instead to rip their face off and spit pure pop brilliance in to the bleeding cavity.

Unless you’ve got a psychotic Austrian father with a penchant for basements, you have no excuse for not being aware of this track already.

And the same applies to Use Somebody, the track that I think everyone will consider one of their favourites of the year, and will surpass Sex On Fire for appeal, if it hasn’t already. On a personal note, it is one of my girlfriend and I’s songs, so it will always have a great amount of fondness in my eyes.

Audibly when I hear Manhattan I hear Closer, which is not to say its not a fantastic track, but here is the point in the album that the lack of diversity and eclecticism in the delivery rears its minimal head. A decent track, a nice bass line, but sonically akin to eating white bread, on a monday morning, in Runcorn.

Lets surge through the album now and find ourself at Be Somebody, as I feel this track offers us the greatest clue as to the bands aspirations as they sat in that recording studio in 2007 devising their world domination. I can almost hear the dialogue now, as they dissect those bands that have resurfaced stronger, more polished, finely tuned and ready for an assault on the ‘big-time’.

I can guarantee one band name popped-up more than any other, the Red Hot Chilli Peppers. The way the Chilli’s, and perhaps more notably the Foo Fighters have made themselves relevant in an age of younger, tighter, more beautiful bands is to be admired, and in Kings Of Leon’s case, replicated.

The sound is not too dissimilar, but in particular on Be Somebody, with the almost tribal style drum intro, there are clear signs that this rise to the top has been crafted, and not thrust upon them.

That is not a derogatory stab at the band. It is my personal opinion that if the guys wish to make their bank balances correlate to their talent, then good luck to them. They deserve commercial success, if only for the years spent around the periphery constantly pushing quality music to limited reception.

The Kaiser Chiefs new single, Never Miss A Beat, has me somewhat angry with myself. I want to write a scathing review of a band exercising a relentless demise, and on first listen that is exactly what I would have written. But the beauty of music is that, at least with bands of any credibility, the sound is layered, textured, and armoured to last more than one listen, delivering a slightly different bullet every time the gun is fired.

Never Miss A Beat will adagio sneak in to your ears, infiltrate your brain, hold it hostage, and demand that you repeatedly sing to yourself “why didn’t you go to school? … I don’t know-oh!”. I am not a fan of Kaiser Chiefs, so this review has genuine integrity in its praise, as I really did want to slate them, to verbally lacerate everything they stand for and pour critical salt deep in to each and every weeping abrasion, but in truth, the song is catchy, if childish, and the repeated riff of the chorus would be quite sublime were it used by a band of the nature of Sunny Day Real Estate, Mineral, or perhaps even Placebo.

One thing troubles me though…are the Kaiser Chiefs scorning youth culture or celebrating it? The fact is, with a front-man of Ricky Wilson’s ridiculous proclivity to soak himself in the light of the lime, it is just too hard to tell. If they are ridiculing a generation of insubordinate, hoody-wearing, knife-wielding little shits then I salute them, but in my heart I just can’t believe that is the message.

The following lyrics could be taken in either way:

“What did you learn today? (I learned nothing)
What did you do today? (I did nothing)
What did you learn at school? (I didn’t go)
Why didn’t you go to school? (I don’t know)

Take a look, take a look, take a look at the
Kids on the street
No they never miss a beat
No they never miss a beat
Never miss a beat
Never miss a beat-beat, beat-beat
Take a look at the kids on the street
No they never miss a beat
No they never miss a beat
Never miss a beat
Never miss a
Never miss a beat
Never miss a beat”

Is this glorification of the disobedient adolescent we have to endure today? The very same group of teens that stab, spit, and generally run amok in a degenerating society that is not powerless to control them, but chooses to be politically correct and encourages them to express their vile disregard? If so, I abhor the band, and in particular Ricky Wilson, so here’s hoping that in fact the song is a sarcastic jab, and their intention is, other than making a single for commercial ends, to bring this problem to the public fore.

As a song it works, and is pleasing in many regards, but I implore you to wait until the message is clear before buying the single in any of its formats, and therefore endorsing their principles.

iTunes, the proprietary digital media media player from Apple, was first released in 2001, performing mainly as an organiser and player of music. Now, I resisted the temptation to get involved with the Apple love-in that had started perhaps 5 or 6 years ago, that was, until, this year.

I have never owned a iPod, and don’t suspect I ever will, but I have reverted to an iMac for work, and no doubt I’ll be buying my iHouse soon with my iMortgage, and relaxing with an iPint at my iLocal. I digress, my point is this: I have no allegiance to Apple or any of their products, so it was with entirely equitable eyes that I came to love iTunes.

As a side-note for those that are interested, the ‘i’ in their branding originated with the iMac, which was released at just about the time the internet started to truly spread its appeal, and thus stood for ‘internet’, as it was an ‘out-of-the-box’ ready-to-go machine for web-surfing (among other purposes of course). Now it holds no meaning, but does tie their products together nicely, and has proven to be a hugely successful branding.

Having used iTunes now for 6 months, I can safely say I am a fan. Over the past month or so I have started exploring its features, and much to my delight I now get the Adam and Joe podcasts updated automatically for my listening pleasure, I can tune in to an eclectic choice of radio stations, from rock and metal, classical and jazz, to sports and comedy. Even when I add my own music to the library, it manipulates the files in to m4a’s, which require less memory, and can be transported to any portable media playing device of any worth.

The navigation is superb, and even the most laymen of….men, will always understand what action their iTunes is performing, and how to get to their desired area should they not be there. A simple, clean design, very much in keeping with Apple’s virtues of design.

It’s to my detriment that I was too lazy to try the various functions available, and as a comparison to its main rival, WMP (Windows Media Player), it simply blows it away. I’m sure there are areas of performance that WMP out-wits iTunes, but I won’t be the one to find that out, as I am now married to iTunes, and have no intention of changing my election in the foreseeable future.

WMP serves it purpose as a music player, but iTunes has endeavored to unite your media playing needs in to one extremely simple interface, and boy did they succeed. Available to download for free from the Apple website, with versions for all major operating systems, there’s no reason not to let Apple massage your ears.

Think of some of the greatest things associated with England. Fish and chips, cups of tea, Winston Churchill, and teenage pregnancy are to name but a few. Now, if you collected the worth and impact of all of these icons of the Queens land you’d still be nowhere near the levels of magnificence that were achieved by a band of such untainted musical zest that citrus fruits have been known to call them up for ideas.

Reuben, an English institution to those that knew them, sadly split earlier this year, although officially on ‘hiatus’, it is not expected that they will return in their original capacity, though it is expected that they will return individually under new guises.

The band had spent a decade perfecting their sound, with a small rotation of members, but infinite grasp of their craft. So lets take a look at the history of Reuben, a biography of Reuben if you will:

The Early Reuben Days As ‘Angel’

Sometime in 1998, longtime friends Jamie Lenman and bassist Jon Pearce realised that the tunes rocking out from their garages were unfathomably awesome, and along with the long-departed Jason Wilcock formed the earliest Reuben monster, Angel. They quickly got touring a thriving local music scene and supported, or were supported by, many bands who also came to bare greater fruits, including early formations of bands such as Hundred Reasons, Vex Red, and Garrison. They spent a couple of years producing self-recorded demo’s and releasing these themselves, one of which, Betrayed, was made available on the bands official website, though it has since been taken down.

Getting To The Known And Loved Line-Up

In March 2000, they parted ways with Jason, and Mark Lawton joined as drummer, with whom they wrote and recorded the Pilot EP, which was released in January 2001 on the Badmusic label after they changed their name to Reuben. The group decided to go ahead with recording the EP after they had won a battle of the bands in Bookham, Surrey. The final day of mixing’s £100 fee was paid for entirely in £1 coins. Following the release of Pilot EP, Mark left and was replaced by current drummer Guy Davis. The new line-up toured heavily around the UK and were the subject of a 2 hour special on Zane Lowe’s XFM Radio Show, despite not yet releasing a full-length album.

Racecar Is Racecar Backwards

The long-awaited debut full-length album Racecar Is Racecar Backwards was released in June 2004. Over 10,000 sales since the release of the album sparked off the success that everyone knew was on Reuben’s horizon, spawned the chart-bothering singles “Freddy Kreuger” and “Moving To Blackwater” and led to their nomination for a Kerrang! Award for Best British Newcomer. They have gained a very loyal fanbase with their numerous singles, which were popular on the underground music scene, receiving much airplay on MTV2.

Very Fast Very Dangerous

2005 saw the release of the band’s second album, Very Fast Very Dangerous, spawning a further three singles, including the download-only “Blamethrower”. This album received some doubt from early fans due to a distinct change in sound - replacing the quick twists, turns and time-signatures heard on their first album with a simpler sound. Despite this, the album received reasonable reviews, and many of the songs featured on this album have proven popular at live shows.

In September 2005, the band played a three-song live set on the Zane Lowe show on Radio 1 in support of the then-upcoming album. The set featured a cover of the popular Gorillaz song “Feel Good Inc.” as well as two songs from the second album, “Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em” and then upcoming single “Keep it to Yourself”.

In September 2006 the band toured around the UK and Europe with Canadian punk band Billy Talent. This was the first time Reuben played in Europe.

Los Skeletos - Thier ‘Secret’ Alias

In 2005, a band under the name of Los Skeletos appeared on MySpace featuring alternative recordings of Reuben songs on their music player. Los Skeletos played a string of gigs in the same year, promoted as “Playing the hits of Reuben”. In a recent interview posted on rockmidgets.com, Jon explains the idea behind the mysterious band:
“ We wanted to play some new songs - we had a whole album’s worth, and it’s always rubbish to go and see your favourite band and them not play the hits, so we called ourselves Los Skeletos and played a couple of shows. It meant there were no Reuben fans there waiting to hear Freddy Kreuger or any of the other singles - they got to see a brand new band playing brand new songs.

In Nothing We Trust

In Nothing We Trust, released 20th November 2006, was produced by Sean Genockey with Jack Rushton (who have previously produced albums by Engerica and Smother) in Livingstone Studios, London. The album features three confirmed guest vocalists, Frank Turner, Hannah Clark (Singer from Hampshire Band Arthur and Paul Townsend (formerly of Hundred Reasons). Throughout recording the band uploaded short videos on YouTube for each day in the studio. The album was released on 25 June 2007 via Hideous Records.

Reuben were also featured on the Print Is Dead Vol. 1 project by the UK band Yourcodenameis:milo on the track “Captain of Lies”.

The band released their first DVD, a double-disc offering named What Happens in Aldershot Stays in Aldershot, on 19 March 2007, with advance copies available on the February 2007 tour. The DVD features both a documentary of life in the band and a full recording of the band’s show at London’s Mean Fiddler on April 27, 2006 (including an audio commentary) and contains all the album 3 diaries currently on YouTube plus a number of other extras and short films.

On 13 January 2007, Reuben announced that they would be running their own label, Hideous Records in order to have more control over future releases… and although lack of backing and mainstream support could have held them back, they are instead experiencing the most attention from fans and media outlets alike, of all their burgeoning career.

The video for the first single from their next album, “Blood, Bunny, Larkhall” was posted on their website on 7 May 2007. It was released on 18 June 2007, in digital format and as a limited pressing of 1000 CDs.

Their third album, In Nothing We Trust was released to critical acclaim, receiving 9/10 from Rocksound, 4/5 from Kerrang! and Q magazine and 8/10 from Hotpress.

The second single from the album, “Deadly Lethal Ninja Assassin” (featuring Frank Turner of Million Dead fame) was released on the 24th of September.

The band released a new track Christmas Is Awesome for download on December 17th in an attempt to make Christmas #1 but due to an error the wrong song was registered for chart inclusion and therefore the song was disqualified from chart entry.

The third and final song to be released from the album, “Cities On Fire” was released in March 2008 as a part of the TwoByThree EP. The EP also featured the bands Baddies and The Ghost of a Thousand both of whom accompanied Reuben on a nationwide tour in support of the EP. 500 copies were made available to purchase via record shops and the internet and a further 1000 copies were available for purchase on the accompanying tour. This was Reuben’s first release on their Hideous Records label to feature other bands.

The Unwelcome And Unexpected Reuben Hiatus

On 4th June 2008, this email was issued by Barney, the band’s manager, to all mailing list members:

“I regret to announce that Reuben are unable to play their slot on the 2000 Trees Festival in July, but they would still urge people to go anyway - it should be a great weekend. They are very sorry to disappoint fans who have already bought tickets, as you can imagine Reuben hate cancelling shows. The band are all in good health but the culmination of several pressures just makes it impossible for Jamie to go ahead with it. The band are not planning any more gigs or releases for the foreseeable future - I should make it clear that the band members are all on amicable terms and are supportive of the need to call a halt. This seems like a good time to thank everyone who has helped and encouraged Reuben along the way; some of you have been there from the start, others from last week, some are within the music industry, others are simply fans - it doesn’t matter which, you are all important and have given great strength to all concerned. Thank you so much, Barney Geronimo! Management”

So where does this all leave us? It leaves us with a chasm that will unlikely be filled by any of the current crop of band, English or otherwise. Reuben provided the music scene with a sincere and much-needed punch in the balls, reacting to the stale indisposition that tit had found itself in with the deluge of mediocre-at-best ‘emo’ bands that had swamped not just the underground scene, but had found themselves bothering charts and kids bedrooms everywhere.

In much the same way Nirvana kicked their way in to recognition on a global scale, Reuben excelled at being every fans mate, an average-joe band that might build your garden fence by day, and rip your face off with blistering riffs by night.

I, and many others, will mourn the loss of this great British band, so let’s hope that this hiatus doesn’t turn in to a permanent exile, because without them, it could be our kids that end up listening to the next Hawthorne Heights, instead of picking up a guitar and learning Blamethrower by Reuben, in a damp cold garage, somewhere in a council estate, with a bunch of good friends, the very English way.

Source

I’m ashamed to admit that Justin Nozuka first came on to my radar only this spring through a friend of mine, who always seems to be first in queue when artists of his nature appear. Blending a warm sound of neo-soul, acoustic pop, and a touch of good-old melancholic balladry, he should perhaps appeal more to the female half of our population, but he carries a sincerity, if a little too sickeningly sweet at times, that infuses each song with the integrity of someone that has loved.

There are plenty of artists out there of a similar vain, but few have his melodies, his voice, or his simplistic brilliance. ‘After Tonight’, a US hit as a single, is a quite brilliant love-song that will have you singing even if you’re a body-building meat-head that likes to frequent Miami Beach greased-up like a thanksgiving turkey, but even this gets surpassed by the solicitously beautiful ‘I’m At Peace’.

‘I’m At Peace’ is Nozuka’s greatest achievement from the marvelous album “Holly”, an 11-track tour of his heart, soul, and mind. A gentle man through his songs, I would dearly love to have 5 minutes with the man behind the music to find out truly what sort of character he is. It’s impossible to imagine someone can write the lyrics below to be anything other than genuinely affable and sincere.

I’m In Peace

(Verse 1)
It always occurs to me, how lovely you look today
Just how you smile that way, makes my heart melt
Seemed like just yesterday, when you stole my breath away
You walked into my life, you completed my soul
When you walked into my life, you completed my soul

(Chorus)
I’m in peace,
I’m in peace,
I’m in peace when I am with you
You set me free; you’re all I need,
Lift me off my feet, beauty queen

(Verse 2)
Where did you find that soul of yours
You must have traveled through heaven, and searched through the garden of love
I swear there’s a light, when your eyes touch me
It’s like the sun reaching down from the sky
When you touch me with your eyes,
it’s like the sun from the sky

(Chorus)
(Bridge)
Your whispering,
it’s uplifting,
Sink into my body while I’m drifting
When you kiss me, really truly kiss me
Connected by our hearts, we are one

(Chorus)

Justin Nozuka is half Japanese, half American. Raised by his single mother in Toronto, following a brief stay in New York at the start of his life. He is the sixth of seven children, five of whom are boys, and his four brothers all carry an artistic flair of some variety.

Still a young developing career, he has toured with Ziggy Marley, Xavier Rudd, John Cale, and Crowded House among others, but it will surely not be long before he is the main attraction to the future Nozukas supporting act.

The following snapshots of critiques are taken from his website, which freely gives you the opportunity to listen to four tracks, two of which are the aforementioned ‘After Tonight’, and ‘I’m At Peace’.

“In his debut album “Holly”, Justin Nozuka has created eleven impressive pieces of thoughtful acoustic-soul. Filled with understated melodies, minimal production and an interesting, sometimes dark take on song-craft…4 Stars.” — BBC

“Superior acoustic soul. .4 Stars.” — Q Magazine, UK

“…Nozuka is producing material that is unlike any other singer songwriters - and consequently is beyond genre definition. Largely, it is one man and his faithful guitar - but with a voice like his, there really is no need for any other instrumentation. In truth it would only get in the way. 4 Stars.” — Belfast Daily Telegraph

“Nozuka seemed very modest, but there was absolutely no reason. He had every eye on him and it was nearly impossible to look away. Every song seemed to outdo the one before it, and when he quietly walked off, we were all aching for more.” –Chartattack.com

There are very few artists that truly slap me around the face these days, with so much diluted, synthesised, mumbled, messy hip-hop orientated bile polluting the industry (Theres a rant for another day!), but Justin Nozuka is one man, no, one sound that has wrapped me up and sold me 100% on its offerings. If you’re a fan of Jon Mayer, or even Dashboard Confessional, I implore you to go to his website and listen to the available songs, and if you’re not convinced after that, you need to check your pulse.