Album review: 3OH!3 -- Streets of Gold

WARNING: This album offends life itself
BRASH electro popsters 3OH!3 have delivered an album that’s perfectly polished but ultimately corrosive to the eardrums.
Streets of Gold, the third studio album from Colorado the two-piece, is jammed with loud, obnoxious pop tunes complete with ridiculous, sometimes deliberately confrontational, lyrics that offer less substance than an empty carrier bag.
The pair tell of stories brimmed with youthful confidence – which would be fine if Nathaniel Motte and Sean Foreman both weren’t in their mid to late 20s.
Déjà Vu boasts of drunken misogynistic debauchery as they complain of going to the same bars, chatting to the same girls and getting into the same shenanigans on their, quite clearly, fun-filled nights on the tiles.
The anthemic We Are Young could cause an uprising of trendy angst-ridden teens with lyrics like “we are young, we are young/we drink and fight and we love just because” but they up their song-writing calibre in House Party, chanting “Gonna have a house party in my house”.
For most of Streets of Gold, the listener will question whether if this is serious or a parody, but worryingly it seems as if they are trying to pass this off as plausible music. What's the point of taking the piss if The Lonely Island does it a million times better?
There is a plus side to the album – the synth-heavy backing tracks, with vicious hip-hop snare beats sound current and fresh and have been crafted with style.
The streets may be paved with gold for this platinum-selling duo but this album is a challenge from start to finish.

Album review: Disturbed -- Asylum

ASYLUM, the fifth studio album from US hard rock titans Disturbed, is a record that offers less mobility than a straight jacket.
Disturbed have made a fortune sticking to the formula of David Draiman's ear-shredding vocals over thundering guitar riffs but it's all very much the same here.
Instrumental album opener Remnants maintains a steady pace before Asylum explodes into life with Mike Wengren's machine gun-esque foot drum beat and a thick, rumbling bass line.
But this has to be the album's only high-point as it sinks into a murky pool of mediocrity.
The gruesomely named The Infection starts promisingly with its breathtaking introduction but crumbles away without a whimper and the same can be said for Never Again, despite Draiman's thought-provoking lyrics on the holocaust.
The album's song titles are particularly morbid, such as Sacrifice, Crucified and Another Way To Die, but it all fits in perfectly with the suffocating, gloomy atmosphere the record conjures.
Heavy metal fans should love it but there's very little here for the easier listener to get excited about.

Bands that should have been bigger: Stellastarr*

REJOICE! Luminous Plectrum returns.
DO you, like me, lie awake at night thinking which bands were cruelly denied indie world domination by the likes of The Killers, The Kaiser Chiefs and Kings of Leon? Damn you, NME.
While we're hearing the abomination that is Brandon Flowers' new solo material, it's an ideal time to sit back and remember the forgotten artists circa-2003/2004.
First up - Stellastarr*
Who? The new-wave New Yorkers repackage the excting aspects of Talking Heads and early R.E.M to cook-up a blistering energy that's as enthralling as frontman Shawn Christensen's dazzling vocals.
Their debut self-titled album, released in 2003, picked up relative success but the follow ups, Harmonies for the Haunted (2005) and Civilized (2009), have been largely and criminally ignored this side of the Atlantic.
It's a travesty that such talent should be overshadowed by tepid, watery wank.

Luminous Plectrum does Bestival!

Bestival 2010 is here!
LUMINOUS Plectrum will be quiet for the next few days as it vacates to the sunny Isle of Wight for a weekend of majestic music from an astronomical line-up.
Check back here for all the round-up from arguably the greatest festival on the UK circuit.
Peace and fucking, believe.

Kanye West freaks out on Twitter

IT seems as if Kanye West is having a breakdown on his Twitter account.
Is it him? Has his account been hacked?
Either way, it's intriguing reading!
Click here: http://twitter.com/kanyewest

Morrissey accused of racism again, calls Chinese "subspecies"

THE often controversial former frontman of The Smiths and an icon for millions of adoring fans has put his foot in it again.
Morrissey, according to various media sources this morning, has apparently branded the Chinese race as a "subspecies".
His comments can be found in the Guardian's Weekend magazine interview with Simon Armitage and were in response to the treatment of animals and their welfare.
It's not the first time Mozza has been in this position, and will it be the last?
You can read his comments here.

Listen to Interpol's new self-titled album via Myspace

SETTLE down Interpol fans, NYC's finest are streaming their new album on their Myspace page.
It seems as if they've introduced synths into their songs and the overall consensus on a first, brief listen is that it's very intriguing.
Let's hope it's a typical dark and gloomy affair from one of the best bands around.
Click here to listen.