Guest Post - Jim Mackney: The Marshall Mathers LP

They tried to make him a social pariah, they tried to banish him from the airwaves but every missile lobbed at him he caught, rewired it and threw it back so hard it decimated every argument. 


It was the year 2000 and Eminem had just released The Marshall Mathers LP. A scathing, brutal, brilliant rap album that became the fastest-selling solo album in US history. It contained some of the greatest hip-hop songs ever seen on record and Eminem, at this point, was untouchable and his critics hated him for it. 


It is thirteen years later and Eminem is in somewhat of a rut. He is no longer the social barometer for offensive lyrics, his raps have been said to be lacking and he has released three underwhelming albums in a row. ‘Encore’ was patchy to say the least, ‘Relapse’ was a tired attempt to reconnect to his alter-ego Slim Shady and ‘Recovery’ which despite showing a much more consistent flow was shallow lyrically. 


The album opens with ‘Bad Guy’, a seven minute follow-up to ‘Stan’ and it is easily the most astonishing song has released in over a decade. Eminem introduces Matthew (“that’s my little brother man, he’s only six years old") and chronicles Matthew’s long awaited revenge. The song is, weirdly, a way for Eminem to take a shot at himself, as Matthew mimics (“I’m the bad guy who makes fun of people that die/And hey, here’s a sequel to my Mathers LP just to try and get people to buy”) - mimicking and attacking his critics in the opening two verses. A classic Eminem quick punch to the jugular. The song contains deeper self analysis, and knowingly references the double standards he has of being a horrible misogynist in his lyrics and then in the same breath defends his daughters. He understands his own hypocrisies and it makes for wonderful listening. 


The Marshall Mathers LP2 is Eminem’s best album in over a decade. Its links to MMLP1 are explicit, with its rock-rap production and furiously fast flow. Many lines on the album are carefully chosen echoes of the past that both subvert his old lyrics and delightfully play with our expectations. On ‘Asshole’, it’s the altered line “Soul’s escaping through this asshole that is gaping", whilst ‘So Far’ has him again “spittin’ on your onion rings” and the ‘Rap God’s dizzying flow hides references to ‘Kill You’ and ‘My Dad’s Gone Crazy’. 


But the greatest example of messing with our expectations is on Bad Guy where Eminem raps (“It’s just you and the music now, Slim, I hope you hear it; we’re in the car right now – wait, hear comes my favourite lyric!”). Eminem knows exactly what he is doing when he busts out this reference, he is manipulating words he knows are chiseled into the brains of millions of listeners around the world and the effect is as jaw dropping as it is great. 


Apart from the occasional freestyle in the last few years listening to Eminem has felt like chore. Bogged down in average beats, underwhelming lyrics and no genuine surprises. MMLP2 takes this and throws it out the window. He is genuinely funny (‘So Far…’ in particular) and throws everything into making this album a success, even including an unexpected apology to his most hated sparring partner, his mother, on ‘Headlights’, (“I love you Debbie Mathers, oh what a tangled web we have”). Elsewhere ‘Stronger Than I Was’, a five minute ballad that is the first moment on the album where you question Eminem’s judgment. This quickly passes however as he settles into the song and you realise it is an inspired move and those initial reservations are forgotten. The Beastie Boys-inspired ‘Berzerk’ is a particular highlight and the huge Rihanna chorus of ‘The Monster’ proves once again that fusing rap and pop is something Eminem can do better than any other rapper in the game
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MMLP2 contains so many raps that another rapper could probably fill three albums. His machine gun-like delivery is exemplary throughout, consistently making the listener wonder where he will take them next and only at one point, during Survival, did I question his judgment. It is not that Survival is a bad song it is just obviously the weakest, feeling like an unused Recovery track. The only guest spot Eminem offers up on the album is to Kendrick Lamar. After hearing Kendrick’s verse on ‘Control’ it would be interesting to see who comes out on top but MMLP2 itself proves this irrelevant. Kendrick has a long way to go to touch Eminem. 


When I first heard Eminem thirteen years ago, it felt like a whole new world had opened up to me. This world was scary but words themselves had a new meaning and my perception of what you could do with them had changed. Eminem was the biggest rapper in the world at that point and he cemented his success with the brilliant ‘The Eminem Show’ two years later. It may have taken him just over a decade to scale those heights again but with MMLP2 Eminem has once again proved himself as a brilliant, demented genius. MMLP2 is one of the most impressive, enjoyable, and addictive hip-hop albums of the year. 


9/10.

Guest Post: Jim Mackney - Gallows, 'Gallows' Review

I'm very pleased to introduce a good friend of mine and a very talented writer to you, a one Mr Jim Mackney, who is debuting as a guest-writer for When We Were Beautiful with a review of Gallows' latest self-titled offering. Here's to many more!

 
When Gallows released ‘Death Is Birth’ late last year it was a statement of intent from a band written off by some quarters of their fan base and some music journalists who should have known better. Gallows have always been more than the sum of their parts and their parts are making such a wonderful racket on their new eponymously titled third album you’d think that they had concealed a nuclear warhead in every disc. This album is for those people that wrote them off but if not more importantly it sounds like this album is for Gallows. 


The album opens with ‘Victim Culture’, a song that typifies Wade’s performance from the off. A woman’s voice trails off after delivering a solemn series of questions and in comes Wade, screaming at the top of his lungs ‘IN US, WE TRUST’, before launching into a verse so cursive and antagonistic you can almost feel the spittle coming out from the speakers and with that you’re slipping into Gallows’ vice like grip and there’s no way back. 


The latest single ‘Outsider Art’ showcases Wade dictating the momentum of the song with such a galloping pace you can sense the world around you spin that little bit faster, you’re not sure of where you are anymore and the world you’re in is now run by Gallows and they’re showing you the night of your life. The disenchanted and broken world view given over on Grey Britain is still present on this record (if a lot less blatantly) but it is done in such way that that you want to live there, you want this world to envelop your every pore. 


Gallows have presented the world with a snap shot of punk rock history with this release and present is sounds are akin to the snotty British golden age, brutal Eighties hardcore and even some punk’n’roll for good measure. They’ve boiled all these elements down and created a record that is unmistakeably punk rock in 2012. 


Musically on this album Gallows have never sounded tighter. Every guitar line laid down by Steph Carter and Laurent Barnard strikes harder than anything on the previous two albums and perhaps even, every song on this record contains guitar lines as strong and memorable as seen on, ’In The Belly Of A Shark’. The drums are battered and driven in every song to breaking point by Lee Barratt, proving that there are very few better drummers in punk rock right now. 


‘Odessa’ and ‘Depravers’ come in with a shit-kicking fury (one veiled under static, the other brutal from the off) and are arguably the songs that every Gallows fan has wanted them to make. Coming in at a pummelling five minutes and twenty five seconds it contains four guttural verses, two gang vocal choruses that are begging to be performed live and contain drums that drill your head into the nearest wall leaving you wanting the wonderful pain to stop but you know if it did that your life wouldn’t quite be the same again. 


The song that really sets this record apart from any previous Gallows release however is ‘Cross of Lorraine’, the final track on the album. At the point it starts you’ve been listening to the album for twenty nine minutes and eight seconds and you’re done; you’re hanging on the ropes wanting nothing more than for your trainer to throw in the towel but he’s just stood there shaking his head, refusing to let you quit, refusing to see your broken body climb out of the ring, and just as you shout him to do it, he throws your body back into the ring and all you can hear is Wade singing ‘You could never understand what it took for me to be your man’ and the venomous guitar lines return and the nuclear missile drums are dropping around your head once more. During the chorus of ‘GET UP, GET UP, you know it’s true’, you throw a flurry of quick fire punches and as ‘Always waiting for the death of the death of love’ fills your body with a nauseating desire for all this to be over, you realise you can only just about find the strength for one final breath. Wade MacNeil, Steph Carter, Stuart Gili-Ross, Laurent Barnard and Lee Barratt have beaten you to a pulp but you’re still breathing and more importantly they are still breathing. This is Gallows. They’re one of the most important bands around right now and you wrote them off? You deserved the beating.


9/10.

Jim Mackney writes his own blog, which you can enjoy here.

Guest Post - Imogen Reed: Introducing Spector!

Imogen's first guest-post was so successful, we've invited her to do another! This time she's introducing Spector, a five-piece outfit from London. Enjoy! -G

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Spector: Sartorial Sounds

Combining elements of everything that was glorious about pop music from the seventies and eighties (and leaving out everything that was bad) Spector are a five piece indie band from London who have been causing a real stir on the music scene in the last few months. Hotly tipped by the NME and receiving rave reviews for their live performances and sartorial elegance they are tipped for great things this year.

Who Are They?

The band comprises Fred MacPherson on vocals, Christopher Burman on guitar, Thomas Shickle on bass, Jed Cullen on synth and guitar and finally Danny Blandy on drums. MacPherson is something of an indie stalwart (well, as much as you can be when you’re still so young and fresh faced) having been in two other bands - Les Incompetents and Ox.Eagle.Lion.Man both kind of folky, punky, prog rocky outfits (yeah, nice mixture of styles there!). However, MacPherson left the latter along with Burman to form Spector in order to create something completely different.

What Do They Sound Like?

Spector - Never Fade Away

Completely different. Polished. Accomplished. Just a few of the words that spring to mind when hearing them for the first time. Considering they’ve only been together a short time, the sound they produce is nothing short of electric. MacPherson has such an assured and competent vocal – a rich, strong sound that really draws you in. That’s the sort of voice that can only improve over the coming years and it surely will (so long as he stays off the lemonade). As with any new bands comparisons have been drawn with all sorts of other acts – reviewers saying they sound like The Vaccines (MK II) or Franz Ferdinand (again MK II). There are elements of Roxy Music in there, for sure – a slight nod to Brian Ferry here and there in MacPherson’s treatment of the songs, the way he sings certain phrases.

Spector - Chevy Thunder

Chevy Thunder is a real energetic pop stomp, brilliant punchy vocals – powerful synth vibes and it straddles so many genres it’s untrue – hard to know even where to begin with what it alludes and pays homage to. It’s the sort of thing you could imagine picking you up when you felt really bad – a stomping song.

Sartorial Matters

But aside from the music (at the moment, they’re writing and recording a debut album for release later this year) one thing has to be said about their look. In a society that’s becoming more and more obsessed with looks rather than sounds, Spector look the part. Smart Smart Smart. Dressed in sharp suits for their video performances as seen here:

Spector - Grey Shirt and Tie

They’re sharp haircuts and edgy moves just look so good. MacPherson’s geeky glasses make him look like the musical equivalent of Harold Lloyd. They just seem so out of kilter with the rest of the musical world, but in a good way. Sometimes it’s good to be different from the crowd and these guys are. It’s nice to be reminded that it’s cool to dress smartly and look the part as well as sounding the part. You could imagine them in a cliff hanging tense situation in a black and white movie – some sort of bank heist or share dealing scene, in which they’ve got literally moments to save the financial world from collapse and they do it with seconds to spare. And then get the girl. Or something.

Can They Cut It Live?

Oh boy, they can cut it live:

It takes real talent and strength to be able to not only sound good in the studio but to be able to replicate that in front of a live audience. They manage it so well. It’s hard to find a critical angle on them – some bands you see and you think they’re just OK; the singer wasn’t that good– off key, shouted rather than sung or whatever. Here, you’ve got a singer who can definitely hold a tune, not a flat note in the performance – seems so assured on the stage and oozes confidence without being cocky or full of himself. It’s a rare thing, but one to enjoy. Hopefully Spector will keep up the good work with the coming of their debut studio album this year. In the meantime, seriously, do yourself a favour and check these guys out properly. They deserve your time, your ears and your downloading finger.

Guest Post - Imogen Reed: Introducing Lowline!

As I've said before, maintaining the blog has proven a little tricky in my final few months of uni where my workload has shot through the roof...that said I'm very excited to introduce When We Were Beautiful's first Guest Post! Imogen Reed is a great writer who has written an article below on Lowline. Enjoy! - G

Lowline

Probably one of the more exciting new bands to hit the scene in the last couple of years, Lowline are steadily providing a brilliant alternative to much of the sterilised safe pop that’s currently flooding the charts. Still they are yet to get the chart success that they really deserve…

Who Are They?

Hailing from deepest, darkest Manchester (well, Stockport – that’s dark enough) they comprise singer/guitarist Robbie Rush, bassist Mike Hosker, guitarist Andy Hewitt and drummer Sam Clarke. Following in the tradition of other great Mancunian bands they want to make music that reflects the environment they live in, and they’re succeeding really well at doing it. Their self titled debut album released last year on the Deaf Radio label shows a host of amazing influences but still sounds fresh and incredibly unique.  Rehearsed and recorded over a period of eighteen months, you can see how much that has influenced the end result – still an alive and raw sound, but really accomplished. Considering they’re still only in their early twenties, they’re sound is much older (and that’s not a criticism either, that’s a really good thing in many ways – the only way they can take it is forward and keep maturing)

Their Sound

In the best tradition of all the great Northern bands – The Smiths, Joy Division, New Order – but taking inspiration from other genres such as Krautrock – Can, Neu and Kraftwerk they kind of occupy some sort of middle ground which gives them an incredibly rare sound, driving guitar rhythms and hard edged bass-lines which incorporate singer Robbie’s vocal so well. He is sometimes reminiscent of a younger Ian McCullough, a slightly less melancholic version of him, yet he still holds an incredible power that carries the lyrics really well. Their debut single “Monitors” shows a really mature strength and the video kind of matches up to that image:

It was shot at a disused warehouse in Ancoats in the band’s hometown, something which lends an extra edge of rawness to both their sound and appearance.

Also taken from the album, this song:

Lowline - Outside

Which has such a crisp, catchy guitar hook the kind of thing that gets stuck in your head for days on end (in a good way, not a Crazy Frog way…). It just feels so reminiscent of everything that’s great about the Manchester music scene past and present. All Your Scars is another brilliant example of their sound, it’s almost slightly (eeeek) U2ish, but without tipping over into self indulgent, self congratulatory nonsense.

Lowline - All Your Scars

On first listen, you feel like you know all these tracks – that they’re somehow yours. The basslines are catchy, the vocals are accomplished and full of amazing power, but the more you listen the more you find something new in it that keeps grabbing on to you. Maybe it’s the fact that it feels like “coming home” in a strange sort of way,

What Else Have They Done?

Well, they do what other bands don’t. They don’t always take the safe option and play proper organised gigs in proper organised venues. They’ve started a trend for more or less DIY gigs in local places, disused warehouses and stuff, which rather than carrying lots of heavy publicity and expensive advertising has had the effect of their success spreading by word of mouth. It’s also set them up with a really loyal fan-base from the offing, something that you really don’t see that much of these days.

December last year though saw them supporting newly reformed Macclesfield band Marion on their comeback gig at the Academy in Manchester, the gig was critically acclaimed and really well received and won them a lot of praise for their tenacious play and ability to get the crowd going – also it’s seen them in talks to sign with Marion’s new record label Townsend Records, which could be a major step in them achieving the success and riches they deserve and maybe treat their parents to a holiday on one of the Fred Olsen Ships.

Really the only way for this excellent group to go is up, if they keep the standard of their debut going and follow on then success is surely theirs, a much wider audience need to hear how good they are and how they can keep the momentum going.