Saturday 9 February 2013

What has happened to NME?

Hello all, I haven't posted in a while because I've been extremely busy with coursework but I'm back to talk about what was my favourite music magazine NME

Now 2013 was meant to be a a year of great music and great artist and to me (even though we're only two months in) it has but apparently, NME doesn't think so. I don't know if others agree but I'd say a good review from NME is 8/10 but NME have been a bit picky with those and aren't handing them out very often this year. 

My first issue was review of Pure Love's album "Anthems" which they gave a measly 1/10. The writer of this particular review Tom Howard said the album "consisted of 11 tracks of unimaginative pub rock" which to me is a bit harsh because, all though Frank Carter was previously the singer of Gallows and Jim Carroll was once the guitarist of Hope Conspiracy, Pure Love are a new band and this is their debut album it's not going to be The White Album and also my understanding is that NME write about Indie music with ultimately is pub rock, no? Mr Howard then went on to say that "Ultimately it just proves that all Carter did in Gallows was sing." which may have been the case but I've listened to the album and the album may not be perfect but it's still very good for a new band's debut and if you ask me has some catchy songs. Reactions to the review weren't very good I must admit but the point is still the same, a 1/10 is basically saying that it isn't worthy of existence and I don't think any album deserves that and definitely not this one.

Secondly, there is Fionn Regan's "The Bunkhouse Vol 1: Anchor Black Tattoo" which Kevin EG Perry gave a 5/10 because he recorded it himself with a mic and four-track instead of a big studio. Is it just me asking whether or not NME have forgotten what kind of bands they write about? Regan has independently recorded and released his own album and by the looks of things is doing quite well in the great scheme of things, Spotify like it - it's all over there so how could it be bad? I think it's a lovely album which has a nice relaxed feel to it and I would just like to add "reciting his careful poetry while flicking at the strings as if trying to dislodge a piece of chewing gum." is called finger picking and is a well known guitar technique.

The last album I'm going to mention is one I'm annoyed by simply because I love the band so much. Dan Stubbs gave Biffy Clyro's album "Opposites" a 7/10, which to me is a shock straight away but then when you read what he didn't like about the album it goes beyond ridiculous. Stubbs writes "A pained atmosphere hangs over CD1, broken only by the bit in 'The Joke's On Us' when 'our souls' sounds like 'arseholes'" which is not only very immature but also quite offensive, it is like he's saying "Hahaha, their Scottish... Hilarious!". To me it's fairly obvious that Mr Stubbs here listened to the album once as I'll even admit that after my first listen I didn't really get what Biffy were getting at with the album after all, there are 20 tracks on the new album so it's a lot to take in at first but after a few listens you do start to get it and it becomes clear they have pulled off the double album.

If you ask me NMEs review writing has become a bit bitchy and desperate to cause controversy but it brings down the standard of the magazine completely. To be honest, if NME want to regain the respect of their readers they need to listen to the album more than once and write more than a paragraph on the album. This is meant to be a well established music magazine, they need to start acting like it again.





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