Tag Archives: Imperial Goddess Of Mercy

Fixers – We’ll Be The Moon

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One of my most anticipated albums of the year, Fixers‘ debut full length We’ll Be The Moon, has finally dropped. Well actually it’s currently being streamed online for a limited time by various sources (NME Magazine, Clash Magazine, CMU Music Network, Under The Radar, This Is Fake DIY, In The Riff to name a few) with the physical and digital releases available to buy next month.

The reason this album is so anticipated, and not just by me I can assure you, is that Fixers have spent the last couple of years releasing excellent singles such as ‘Majesties Ranch’, ‘Swimmhaus Johannesburg’ and ‘Iron Deer Dream’, as well as treating us to two brilliant EP releases in the form of Here Come 2001 So Let’s All Head For The Sun and Imperial Goddess Of Mercy. The quality of these releases is undeniable, and with We’ll Be The Moon featuring all of the previous noted singles as well as some tracks from the aforementioned EPs and some new tracks, fervour for the album was bubbling away. Could Fixers replicate the sunshine laced magic of their previous releases, and amalgamate their best work into one shining new body of work?

The answer, as if could have been anything, is a resounding yes. YES. In capitals. Just like I’ve written. Because if you think of connotations of the word ‘yes’, you could probably take many of them and apply them to this glorious release. We’ll Be The Moon is everything great about Fixers, and then some. With their sun soaked tunes and summer vibes abounding all over the album like rays of golden light, this could be a modern day classic. Opening with the jangling and bright ‘Majesties Ranch’ was a wise move, as it sets the tone for the album, almost like the announcement of summer itself.  This tune went down a treat when released earlier as a single, so it’s no surprise to see it here. Songs that the band have releases before, such as ‘Swimmhaus Johannesburg’, ‘Crystals’ and ‘Iron Deer Dream’ were all terrific on their first release and pleasingly have lost none of their appeal, slotting nicely into the running order of the album.

The album, and by extension the band, really excel with the new tunes that comprise the rest of the album. It could have been easy to just stick together all the previous single and EP releases as one disc and put that out, but Fixers aren’t the kind of band to do that. They’ve not sat back on their laurels and have written some utterly cracking new tunes that complement the old favourites well. Fusing their own brand of psychedelia with Beach Boy pop sensibilities, marrying synthesizer driven beats with jangling guitars, tunes like ‘Floating Up’, ‘Pink Light’ and ‘Dais Flowers’ are surely destined to become instant fan favourites, whilst the floating, ethereal ‘World Of Beauty’ is possibly one of the best tracks they’ve ever written, with a trippy and space-age vibe running through the very seam of the song. Elsewhere the slow burn majesty of ‘Amsterdam’ is like a comedown, but an enjoyable one, before halfway through the song you take another hit, and you’re off again. ‘Really Great World’ sums up my mood when listening to this album, as it indeed seems that everything is bloody brilliant and nothing is wrong when you play this track, so soothing and cheerful it is. Closing track ‘Good Night’ is aptly named, and a perfect closer, acting as the lullaby to the party that has preceded it.

We’ll Be The Moon has been well worth the wait. Album of the year contender already. Amazing.

8/10

Stuart Manson

Fixers – Iron Deer Dream

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Ah Fixers. They’re fast becoming favourites here at Aberdeen Student Radio. And with good reason, that reason being that they’re utterly ace. They make such happy, joyous music that is just fantastic and so different to the usual ‘look at me’ or ‘I’m so hard’ nonsense you see cluttering the charts these days*. Fixers are quite simply a tremendous, fun band who make amazing music, and I for one am most thankful.

*This may be a bit of an exaggeration used to further demonstrate the brilliance of Fixers by making other bands seem crap. Although they are crap. Other bands that is. Not Fixers. They’re brilliant, as we’ve just established.

Anyway, Fixers return to bring yet more virtuosity to our ears in the form of this excellent new single, ‘Iron Deer Dream’, a taster for their forthcoming debut album We’ll Be The Moon. ‘Iron Deer Dream’, like many Fixers songs, starts out slowly like someone awaking from a great dream on a sunny day (there are actually such sound effects at the start, in the form of bird noises, the kind they make in the morning on a glorious day), and gradually picks up pace, adding more and more textures to the song. Drums are layered on top of synth, bass is layered on top of that, keyboards are added, handclaps are thrown in, even louder synth is put on top of that, guitars are added to the mix and some driving bass tops it all off. It’s magnificent, lulling only a for a brief moment in the middle, before sprinting to the finish, breathlessly making every moment of aural joy wash over the listener. The lyrics with Fixers are almost at times inconsequential, sometimes merging into one another and often not making sense. Here we get the following refrain;

“You’re homicidal, you’re a beached up sea

Like the Berlin Wall and the Waikiki”

Well at least that’s what I thought they said! The point being clumsily made here is that the lyrics, despite often seemingly making no sense and at times being hard to decipher, simply add to the experience that listening to Fixers provides. The unhinged lyrical stylings fit right in with the ethos of the band, and they’re all the better for it.

Fixers at their best are life affirming, and this song is among their best. The first release for their debut album, it bodes very well. If the rest of the songs on We’ll Be The Moon are as good as this, then it will be one of the albums of the year. Previous EP, Imperial Goddess Of Mercy, was also fantastic, so all signs are pointing towards a release that will blow everyone away. Here’s hoping!

‘Iron Deer Dream’ is out on the 14th of March via download from the usual sites. We’ll Be The Moon is scheduled to be released on the 14th of May.

Stuart Manson

Top 10 Albums Of 2011

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So, with 2011 slowly fading away in the abyss of your memory as it becomes ‘yesteryear’, now seems like a good time to look back on it and reflect. No, not like a mirror, but like a person who is ‘deep’, something which I can pretend to be. Without further ado and further words added only to make up my word count, here are my top 10 albums of 2011:

10. Fixers – Imperial Goddess Of Mercy

Ok, so it’s technically an EP, but it’s my list so I can choose what I want. Basically a precursor to their full length album due out this year, IGOM is a fantastic release that is almost a showcase for the band, letting them display the vibrancy and colour of their sound. ‘Majesties Ranch’ (previously reviewed by an devilishly handsome ASR reviewer) is the opener and EP highlight, bringing to mind good times and summer evenings when it seems the sun will never set. The EP is crammed with other tunes that show off the range of influences and styles Fixers posses. ‘Selinah’ sees them veering into almost psychadelic territory, whilst ‘Evil Carbs’ sees a firm focus on Beach Boys style melody. This is more than a solid release; this is a cracking EP that bodes very well for the forthcoming full length, and could very well see Fixers appear once more on an end of year ‘best of’ album list.

9. Foo Fighters – Wasting Light

Since the release of the brilliant and very underrated ‘One By One’, Foo Fighters have been threatening an album like ‘Wasting Light’. Songs such as ‘The Pretender’, ‘Let It Die’ and ‘Hell’ hinted at them unleashing a harder sound. No one expected them to make what is at times a full on heavy metal album. ‘Wasting Light’ is that, often leaving their more melodic sounds relegated to the odd appearance, and it was one that took everyone by surprise. And it’s truly epic. The opening refrain of ‘Rope’ will surely be timeless, and the song itself is the masterpiece of the album, punctuated with snarling guitars and mental drumming. ‘White Limo’ is simply the heaviest song Foo Fighters have ever put to record, and any song that has a video of that includes Lemmy driving the eponymous vehicle off a cliff is a winner. And of course we can’t forget that the whole thing was recorded in Dave Grohl’s garage. Fantastic.

8. Mazes – A Thousand Heys

A band many won’t have heard of, and indeed one I hadn’t heard of until a ravishing young reviewer from ASR reviewed their awesome single ‘Most Days’, Mazes have delivered a mentally fun slice of sunshine glistening madness with ‘A Thousand Heys’, their debut album. Right from the off the atmosphere of a carefree summer is set, with opener ‘Go Between’ delivering what could be the opening scene music from a film that starts with young people waking up on a hot summer’s day. The almost lazy pace does pick up on many tracks, such as the whirring, twirling spontaneity of songs like ‘Wait Anyway’ and ‘Til I’m Dead’. Most of the songs here are short, clocking in around or under 3 minutes, and this fits in with the ethos of the album. You feel that Mazes would get bored holding a chord or beat for longer than a few seconds, such is the frenetic pace many of the songs set, juxtaposed with the ‘can’t be arsed’ glory of the slower paced songs. Don’t think that’s a slur; it’s not, as those songs are just as good, and this album is immense. Oh, and it was recorded on a boat. Seriously.

7. Friendly Fires – Pala

Friendly Fires’ debut album was a thing of beauty and one the best debut albums in a long, long time. The follow up would be hard pushed to reach such heights, but it certainly gives it a try. In feel, ‘Pala’ is more laid back than it’s predecessor, but that doesn’t mean it lacks in quality. Indeed this album is riddled with fantastic songs and some truly astonishing melodies. Lead single ‘Hawaiian Air’ is of course utterly brilliant and the sort of song the band are now known for, i.e. one that combines a massively catchy refrain with a collection of instruments and some blinding melodies that are harder to shake off than a sexual disease. Not that you’d want to shake them off (the melodies, not the sexual diseases). It would be no bad thing to walk about humming the tune from songs such as ‘Live Those Days Tonight’ or ‘Running Away’. There’s a seam of catchiness that runs throughout the album, and when it clashes with the more relaxed vibe of songs, you get such lovely tunes as ‘Helpless’ and ‘Hurting’ as well as the excellent ‘Blue Cassette’. This album is markedly different in feel to their first, but it’s definitely on a par with it, and is a terrific album full of lush soundscapes.

6. Coldplay – Mylo Xyloto

Yes, that right’s; Coldplay. Oh shut up. I’m being serious. But let me reassure you that I too have found much of their work to be risible. Coldplay’s debut album, ‘Parachutes’, is actually one of my favourite albums, yet subsequent releases have left me colder than being naked with Margaret Thatcher in a snowstorm in the Arctic. This culminated with the truly awful ‘Viva La Vida’ truly one of the most wretched albums I’ve ever heard, and one that set new records in ‘up their arse-ery’. So that’s what makes Mylo Xyloto all the more remarkable. It seems that they have (mostly) left pretension at the door, and just concentrated on making fantastic songs. The biggest tune is clearly the massive ‘Paradise’, an utterly immense song who’s chorus is a soaring tsunami of joy. The band seem to have spent a lot of time careful crafting the choruses to sound as big and powerful as possible, with the aforementioned ‘Paradise’ and with tunes such as ‘Hurts Like Heaven’ and ‘Charlie Brown’. They still have some slower, more downbeat and melancholic numbers, best displayed on ‘Princess Of China’ on which Rhianna guests, as well as the almost lounge like ‘Up In Flames’. The album highlight for me however is the stunning ‘Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall’, a tune that smashes the anchors of the heart and lets it soar. That’s how good this album is; it moves me to write such things, even though my hate cells scream with horror at the thought of such thoughts being expressed.

Let’s hope Coldplay can stay out of their own arses then and keep producing such brilliant music.

5. Nero – Welcome Reality

Whilst some of the tunes on ‘Welcome Reality’ had been floating around for a while, to have them all on the same piece of work along with many new tracks was a glorious prospect. And so it proved. Old favourites such as ‘Innocence’ and ‘Me And You’ sat comfortably alongside new tracks, and indeed didn’t feel out of place as if they’d just been placed onto the album for the sake of it. They fit in with the feel of the album, and once you play it through they seem to have their spots well picked out and complement the other tracks and vice versa. Anyway, Nero unleashed this majestic and magical piece of work at just the right time, just as the new wave of electro and drum ‘n’ bass style of music was reaching something of a nadir. It was a smash hit, reaching number on the album chart, and with such a collection of amazing songs, you can see why. The towering ‘Me And You’, already a fan favourite, is simply breathtakingly amazing; a truly epic tune that sends a shiver down the spine. ‘Scorpions’ is an otherworldly tune that  grips you, ‘Crush On You’ is like speed in music form, ‘Angst’ actually at times feels like a song you should be scared of and is exhilarating as result and ‘Fugue State’ actually feels like a musical representation of it’s title. Well I imagine it does, as I’ve never been in one. Nero have set the bar with ‘Welcome Reality’ and it’s going to take a monumental effort to even equal the sheer excitement and enjoyability of this record. Ace.

4. Mastodon – The Hunter

Ah Mastodon. You know them; hairy and loud, like heavy metal should be. Yet some balked when they heard that this album was to have more traditional, shorter songs. Their previous efforts had songs that came in at 5,6 or more minutes often, yet The Hunter is replete with songs that are 3 minutes or 4 minutes long. Anathema! some shouted! Yet when this album dropped, they were soon quietened. Quite why anyone with functioning ears would have questioned the mighty Mastodon is somewhat of a mystery to me, as if I heard that they were releasing an album of 80’s New Romantics covers, I’d still rush out and buy it. The Hunter is a crushing shining jewel, and is in my opinion THE heavy metal album of the year. The songs are sharp and rounded, many even having a chorus, such as the amazing ‘Curl Of The Burl’, a truly awesome song that is made all the better for it’s opening line of “I killed a man cause he killed my goat”. The album is replete with such songs, like the opener ‘Black Tongue’ and ‘Blasteroid’, whilst the tendency to be batshit mental remains, and indeed shines through like some glorious mental breakdown, with ‘Bedazzled Fingernails’ and ‘Octopus Has No Friends’ being clear displays of this. The heaviness the band are famed for is here in force, and indeed has been turned up, feeling crushingly heavy, like trying to juggle the planets Jupiter and Saturn. Face melting riffs abound, so much in fact that I had to get numerous face transplants during the first listening of it, and their technical mastery is evident throughout the album. This is a challenge to all metal bands, and since it’s release, no one has been able to step up. Stunning.

 

 3. Ankit Love – Forever

The first thing you’ll most likely be thinking is “Who?!”. Indeed I too had no idea who this guy was until some witty and urbane chap from ASR reviewed his debut album, ‘Forever’, the same album that takes the number 3 spot on my top 10 albums of 2011. Ankit Love is based in California, via India, and is very much a funky monk type of guy. If you get the reference, then you’ll know how many of his tunes sound, and indeed opening track ‘People Are My Favourite Things’ could very well sit comfortably on ‘Blood Sugar Sex Magik’. The lyrical mastery is a thing of beauty on ‘Forever’, with tunes like ‘Spill The Milky Way’, ‘It Is What It Is’ and ‘Unite+Funk’ bending the mind and opening new synaptic pathways. The seam of funk that runs through the album is glorious, and it brilliantly complements the rock, soul and hip hop elements that permeate throughout. The album is an amazing, beautiful release, perfectly melding the spirituality of India with the sunshine of California, and would be so even without it’s masterpiece, ‘Beethoven Burst’. But ‘Beethoven Burst’ is on the album, and this tune just makes it all the better. It’s truly magnificent, and one of the best tunes I’ve heard in a long time. You simply have to give it a spin. Oh, and the album. It’s rather fantastic!

 

 2. The Vaccines – What Did You Expect From The Vaccines

The Vaccines burst onto the scene with this, their debut album. Hype for it was everywhere, but unlike most hype it was more than justified. Put simply, ‘What Did You Expect From The Vaccines’ is amazing. It’s pretty much a punk record, yet is full of pop songs, but not ‘pop-punk’ that bands such as Blink 182 or Sum41 peddle. These songs have the ethos and sound of a punk band, yet are somehow exceptionally catchy and often with massive sing along choruses. And most are under 3 minutes in length (only 5 of the 11 tracks here are over 3 minutes). Opening track ‘Wreckin’ Bar (Ra Ra Ra) is just 1.24 in length, yet in that time manages to pack in an insanely catchy refrain and a great riff. Indeed great riffs abound on the album, with ‘If You Wanna’, ‘Under Your Thumb’ and ‘Norgaard’ showcasing this best. Most of the songs deliver in a punchy, sharp manner, erupting through the speakers and instantly taking attention of your ears, all the while managing to remain incredibly tuneful. You see The Vaccines have a great knack for creating a great tune. Listen to ‘Post Break Up Sex’ or ‘All In White’ and you can see that they aren’t all about short, jagged songs. These tunes also show that the band are accomplished songwriters, using humour and reality in a fantastic musical mix. But it’s the massive choruses and the fun of it all that really make this album. Try to refrain from singing along to the chorus of ‘If You Wanna’ or loudly shouting ‘Eleanor’ during ‘Under Your Thumb’, or try stop that massive smile splitting your face when listening to tracks that are as fun as ‘Norgaard’ or ‘Wetsuit’. It seems like a lot of contemporary music simply isn’t fun anymore, instead concentrating on being serious and trying to act hard.’ What Did You Expect From The Vaccines’ simply concentrates on having a good time and making fantastic pop songs, which it does exceptionally well, leaving the poseurs gurning and raging in the rear-view mirror. There‘s a reason that this was the biggest selling debut album of 2011.

1. The Joy Formidable – The Big Roar

In keeping with the theme of debut albums (5 of the 10 here are debut albums), the number one spot here also goes to a debut album. The Joy Formidable, a Welsh 3 piece, were again yet another band that I had never heard of, until some cutting edge young reviewer here at ASR reviewed the first two singles from this album, ‘A Heavy Abacus’ and ‘Cradle’, both of which are exceptional tunes. As the vast majority of the tunes on this album are. In fact they’re so good, some would say it’s the album of 2011….

Opening with a song that is 7.44 in length is a brave move, but The Joy Formidable don’t care for convention, which is why the move pays off, as ‘The Everchanging Spectrum Of A Lie’ is a glorious introduction, a swirling wall of sound that assails the listener and ensures your attention is held until the last note of the album closer, the momentous ‘The Greatest Light Is The Greatest Shade’, an emotive and soaring tune.  The album is crammed with fantastic hits, some of which fans will know from being live favourites or from being on their previous EP, ‘A Balloon Called Moaning’. You could say they were struggling for material, but you’d be wrong, and when songs are as good as ‘The Greatest Light Is The Greatest Shade’, ‘Cradle’, ‘Austere’ and ‘Whirring’, you simply can’t leave them out. ‘Austere’ is a brilliant song, utilising the wall of noise style the band use all over this album, but done in a gradual manner, building up to it throughout, making it a whirlwind of a song. Other tunes, such as ‘Buoy’, ‘I Don’t Want To See You Like This’ and ‘Chapter 2’ use the same style to great effect, nay, amazing effect. Listening to these tunes is a fantastic experience, and something not many bands can offer. The best is placed right in the middle of the album though, with the stupendous genius of ‘Whirring’, a 6.47 tune that simply blows the listener away. Words cannot do it justice, so you’ll just have to go and listen to it. Right now.

This album is so good that the band appeared on a string of festivals in 2011, including Reading and Leeds, Glastonbury and Lollapalooza. This album is so good that the band were asked to appear on ‘The Late Show With David Letterman’ in America. This album is so good that the Foo Fighters personally asked them to be the opening act for the Foos 2011 Autumn/Winter tour. Need I go on? Quite simply this is a stunning album, a work of utter genius, and that’s why it’s the number 1 album of 2011.

 

Stuart Manson

Fixers – Majesties Ranch

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So…the clocks have went back. It’s darker earlier and earlier. It’s darker more. Daylight comes later and later. It’s getting colder. Somewhere up above us, a huge vat of ice and snow is being prepared, ready to drop on us very soon and cover everything in a white, slidey blanket. Polar bears are slowly making their way here. Possibly. What can be done to stave this ice ridden nightmare off?!

Well I’ll tell you what can be done! Play ‘Majesties Ranch’, the new single by Fixers. And play it a lot. For this is pure summer nostalgia, and will surely invoke memories of bright sunny days spent on the beach, at a festival or just plain lazing around. In the sun. When it was warm.

But enough of such allusions. Let’s get down to it. First, here’s what you need to know. ‘Majesties Ranch’ is the lead single from Fixers’ forthcoming EP Imperial Goddess Of Mercy, released on the 5th of December. ‘Majesties Ranch’ is available now to download from either the band’s website or Facebook page (check the links at the bottom) as well as the usual online retails. With the essentials out of the way, what about the track itself? My slaverings above have kind of hinted that it’s really rather fantastic, but I’m not sure that will do. As I said, listening to the song will surely bring back happy, sun kissed memories, and that’s because it’s a gloriously uplifting tune. It’s soaring, majestic, and downright brilliant. It’s a keyboard driven piece of awesomeness with a bass riff constantly buzzing underneath, the drums relegated to the background but still there to whip the song along and many little effects that all add up to make for a stunning backdrop for the breathlessly exhaled lyrics. Think of bands like Passion Pit and you’ll be close to what we’re talking about here. It’s simply fantastic, uplifting music to stir even the sourest of souls. If you don’t love this song, you don’t have a soul, and I (and Mr T) pity you. This isn’t just an opinion shared by me however, as the song was Zane Lowe’s ‘Hottest Record In The World’ recently. And rightly so. The world needs more music like ‘Majesties Ranch’. And since you’re part of this world, that includes you. Play it. And love it.

 

http://fixerstheband.com/

http://www.facebook.com/#!/Fixers

Stuart Manson