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This track has affirmed to me why I hate pop music!

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If you would like to have your music featured in future blog posts then please get in touch; luke@routenote.com or on twitter @monkeyhotel

The first artist to catch my eye this week is the rather excellent female producer and songwriter Dena From The Block. Her music is extremely clever produced and stays firmly on the credible side of pop whilst being fun, catchy and addictive. The two songs below are perfect examples of her songwriting, both building from a minimal musical base that is texturally interesting enough to never become boring.

Finding / Waiting by dfromtheb

And keeping with the theme of European Electro-Pop may I introduce you to the first known demos of the Berlin based outfit Mousefolk? Recently picked out by SoundCloud as their artists of the day, the song below and a few other bits on their SoundCloud page have given me enough reason to believe that this is a band to keep a close eye on.

The Mouse Folk – Paperback by The Mouse Folk

That’s your lot, until next time.

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So, now I suppose your expecting me to gush over some bubblegum, smile-a-thon pop music? You’re wrong. Dot Dot Dot have everything correct on paper. The music is fun, tight, eclectic and follows a perfect formula resulting in energetic and effective highs and lows. The band are trendy, good looking and doubtlessly talented. Big ticks all over place.

Why then have I gone to the bother of explaining why I like pop music before talking about the band in any depth? I did this because despite knowing all the above of pop music and being a large defender and apologist of its obvious flaws, my main complaint with Dot Dot Dot exposes me as a massive hypocrite – I hate the vocals and lyrics for their total lack of depth.
Sweet Lucifer, I’ve never heard such annoying bilge in my entire life and I happily listen to McFly by choice.

The first song ‘Walking In A Straight Line’ is less a victim of the above than other songs on the E.P. Although the vocals are essentially just playing the role of cheerleader for this uptempo fun-fumble, they are not in anyway out of place and in this particular song, chanted counting in to the chorus and easily remembered repeated lines add to the excitement. It’s also nice to hear a mix of male and female vocals.

Sadly things take an immediate turn for the worse when we are confronted with the E.P’s second track ‘Around The World And Back’ (video below). An excellent opening that doesn’t sound dissimilar from The Cure’s ‘Close To Me’ is quickly ruined by some extraordinarily breathy and annoying vocals (think James Blunt with asthma and American). A similar story in the chorus; lovely chord progressions, fun and poppy synth lines completely destroyed by lyrics so heavily littered with the word “love” and little else you won’t be able to stop cringing, retching or self harming.
This song is the biggest victim of the E.P’s tasteless vocal assault, but it’s a repeat offender and sadly every song is to some degree plagued by this nuisance.

Final track ‘Hold You Tonight’ is to my ears the most obvious single on the album and has by far the most catchy lyrics and tune. It is a pretty flawless pop song in which everything is entirely bearable including a guitar solo.

There are plenty of artists that I’ve remained a fan of despite terrible lyrics and vocals, Biffy Clyro and probably being the best example of that. This should have been the case with Dot Dot Dot. I know some people have a better tolerance for these things than me and it’s entirely possible that a lot of you might like this music, so I’ll leave you with a music video to watch and if you like that you can consider buying the E.P by clicking here.

If you would like to be reviewed the please get in touch; luke@routenote.com or on twitter @monkeyhotel

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“I suddenly was surrounded by all this upbeat, fun music and realized that there’s nothing quite like a euphoric pop chorus to really make a night,” he explains in a press release.

“It was like a lightbulb moment where I figured out that’s the type of music that makes you forget any problems and just have an amazing time. Trying to write a chorus like that myself took a little while, but fingers crossed I’ve cracked it.”

Check out their Twitter and Facebook pages.

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I’ve been aware of these two for a long time now and first heard some of the tracks featured on this E.P around 3 years ago. This is actually the source of my only complaint with this record – recycling of very old material, but it shouldn’t affect first time listeners in anyway whatsoever.

Opening the E.P is a song I plugged in a blog earlier this week. ‘Audio Precision’ is a perfect introduction to the band, it’s fun, has a great opening and is superbly produced. When I first heard it I thought it was probably what Lily Allen would sound like if she and her entire band had a car crash with DJ Shadow and his record collection.
It’s actually not that typical stylistically of the rest of the record or from what I’ve heard in live shows the rest of their material, but it’s so damn catchy you’ll probably not be able to stop listening to it for about a week.

Next up is another brilliantly produced number ‘Not The One’. This song has one of the smoothest swing rhythms you’re likely to hear from a British act which is complimented throughout the song by some excellent and perfectly timed tight, rhythmic punches. The verses are possibly a little to full in this song and I would have liked to have heard them stripped down to just bass, drums and piano. Half way through the first verse an organ of some description crashes in with a staccato quaver rhythm that totally drowns out and negates the excellent swing I earlier championed. This is however made up for by some seriously slick musicianship in the second verse.

The standout song is by some distance the E.P’s sign off ‘Come Away With Me’, which feels the most authentic as both a Hip-Hop and Soul track. It’s in this song we best hear the versatility of Ball’s voice, intimately rhyming into our ears in the verses before soaring atop the elegant musical arrangement for the chorus.

This is honestly a great record and I strongly urge you all to listen to it now by scrolling down, then download it for free by clicking here. You can find out everything you need to know about the band by visiting their website. A full album will be released soon and they will be gigging throughout the year.

If you would like to be reviewed then please get in touch; luke@routenote.com or on twitter @monkeyhotel

Jackanory & The Ball by Jackanory and the Ball

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I’m not quite sure where to start with my criticism of Bouverie Mews. I suppose the most obvious offender is the record’s production, which really is mercilessly dreadful. It’s all so badly balanced and hard to decipher. Listening to this E.P is a bit like eating some very stodgy porridge with melted banana and honey thrown in; you can’t quite work out what flavour is coming from where, and you’d really prefer to throw the whole thing in the bin and have something else.

‘When I’m done’ -  the first hurdle we apparently aren’t allowed to crawl under and avoid – opens with that oldest cliche and material generator pop music has to offer; a falling bassline that resolves to the first note of the first verse. Jesus, why didn’t you just call it ‘My first song’ and have done with it? The lyrics describe absolutely nothing, are hard to follow and in no way memorable.
The song’s chorus returns to the falling bassline motif whilst the lyricist sings in the most forced English accent I’ve heard in some time.

The record’s real low point is track 3 ‘Snapshot’. Remember the TV show Britannia High (if not, google it). This song sounds how I imagine the rejected songs from the aforementioned show do. It opens with a bizarre ‘intimate’ vocal over a picked guitar and synth pad. This is for a short period not completely awful to listen to, but then 30 seconds or so in the full band is back with one of the most irritating power chord progressions I’ve ever heard. The singer (I can’t be bothered to find his name) then repeats the line “is it too much to give?” quite a lot.
The song ends on a massively unconvincing ‘rock’ riff before turning into game show theme tune.

The fourth and final song is actually not too bad. When I say not too bad, what I mean is that the first minute or so isn’t completely awful. There are some slightly more convincing riffs that make Moriarti seem slightly more convincing as a rock band.
The first time I heard this song I found myself on the floor with laughter after hearing the guitar solo attempted at around 1:40, and for this reason alone I’ve linked the track at the bottom of this review.

You might be thinking that I’ve quite unfairly attacked a band that have made a self produced, lo-fi record and are just trying to get noticed like all of the other struggling recording artists out there. Well, yes and no. They have released an E.P that they’re expecting people to buy at £3.16, which seems very steep for what is essentially a teenager’s demo, and a bad quality one at that.
I have no problem with lo-fi music, nor do I have a problem with pop-punk. Look at how brilliant Crackout or Mclusky were in the earlier days of their respective careers. The problem I have with Moriarti is that so little thought seems to have gone into any aspect of this record, especially the production. Oh, and the song writing is extremely poor too.
Yes, I have been harsh, maybe unnecessarily so, but this is so, so far from being anywhere near good enough to expect people to pay for, and the fact that they are expecting people to has enraged me.

If you’ve got something wrong with you and would like to buy this record, it can be purchased by clicking here. If you want to listen to the E.P for free (advised) you can hear it on their MySpace page.

If you would like to be reviewed then please get in touch; luke@routenote.com or on twitter @monkeyhotel

One Night At A Time by Moriarti

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A 3 piece consisting of guitar, vocals, bass and alsorts of percussion including tablas.  Musically, we aim for a different type of sound based on merging styles together, so as to have a European edge to our new folk pop genre.  Each member of the band has their own influences which instead of clashing, complement the music.  From Suzanne Vega to Peter Gabriel to Steely Dan.

Our ambition is to go as far as we are able.  We do not have a record label, and yet do not let this hold us back. After much searching for the best distributor we found ‘Routenote’ [ Edit: Thanks Rachel ] and are now awaiting the release of our first album ‘TeaTime Assorted sessions’ in many of the major online stores. (this will be sometime in November).

So far we have travelled up and down the country gigging, and have played many main cities including Edinburgh, London, Manchester, Birmingham, Sheffield, and Leeds.  We have performed on local radio, and were recently included in Manchester’s ‘Chimp’ magazine in the ‘Up for Grabs’ unsigned section, described as ‘a Class act’.

We have included a link to our you tube video of ‘Tick Tock’.  While we feel that the song has a catchy hook with a continental feel, it was filmed in our Northwest countryside featuring Rivington of Horwich, Boltons spooky but marvelous ‘Pigeon Tower’.

Our Myspace page:

http://www.myspace.com/racheljamesandband

Our You Tube music video of ‘Tick Tock’:

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A hot new addition to RouteNote.com this month has been the “eagerly awaited” release of Steph’s ‘Chasing Butterflies’. The catchy, up-beat (strangely familiar) track is mainly recognised from its  radio and TV time for a CSL commercial, which aired in 2008. A release of the song had been insisted on by adoring fans. 

“At last! This song has been stuck in so many people’s heads since it appeared on a certain TV advertisement last summer, and its kind of strange to finally hear the whole song. But worth waiting for. I really hope her other song ‘Beautiful’ appears on iTunes soon.”

“This artist is going to be another huge product of lancashire. I can’t wait for her second song to be released.”

If you like well produced, melodic, modern pop ‘Chasing Butterflies’ comes with high recommendations. 

Check it out on

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For the amateur producers / engineers that haven’t heard the name, Maserati is the ‘genius’ behind hundreds of hip/hop, RnB, pop chart toppers that include Britney Spears, Beyonce, MJB, David Bowie and Jay-Z. Crap tracks? Maybe. But even the most of ‘anti commerce in music’ must appreaciate the level of quality in mix and production of modern pop music. Maserati is hailed as being the principal archetect of the modern New York pop sound and widely respected as one of the worlds most clinical mixing engineers.

Maserati has worked closely with the guys at Waves Audio to front this collection of plug-ins in an attempt replicate his personal engineering, mixing and production styles.

Maserati says “I’ve been using Waves from the beginning. From dynamics and EQs to special effects, most of the tracks I’ve mixed have Waves on them. Waves did an amazing job turning my personal processing chains into custom plug-ins.” 

The Collection includes:

Maserati VX1 Vocal Enhancer 
• Maserati B72 Bass Phattener 
• Maserati ACG Acoustic Guitar Designer 
• Maserati GTi Guitar Toner 
• Maserati DRM Drum Slammer 
• Maserati HMX Harmonics Generator 

Each advertised with high status names, check the waves website for specifics.

Definately worth a look for all kinds of RnB, Hip/hop producers out there and any body else who wants to create a clean, powerful sound.

The Tony Maserati Collection RRPs at around $800 US, but im sure, just like anything else you can torrent the software for free… ooops, did I say that?

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