Not Many Experts

Magnetic Man’s debut came out on Monday, an event of course overshadowed by my review of it being unveiled on the same day on The Line Of Best Fit. To be concise, it’s conclusion was lukewarm to the point where I can’t see it troubling the upper echelons of mine, or indeed anybody else’s, end of year album lists. Nevertheless, it’s worth a look if you’re seriously into the overblown wobble sound (I am not), but Skream’s “Outside The Box” (released earlier this year) is a much better example of major label “dubstep”. Better still, be controversially two-years-behind and download Benga’s “Diaries of an Afro Warrior” or Burial’s “Untrue”. If I haven’t put you off enough, you can read the original here or peruse it below.

“Despite there being nothing more annoying than a trust-funded, Topman covered, squat-posing hipster babbling that “dubstep is the future” based on the evidence of Katy B’s new single, these particular brainless bandwagon humpers are probably right. A whole generation of youth are eschewing guitar lessons to familiarise themselves with Ableton or Logic, and given the increasingly technological-centric nature of society within the past decade or so, this trend is fairly inevitable. Yet this alone cannot be counted as an argument in favour of Magnetic Man’s debut album; unfortunately for them, their pasts as Skream, Benga and Artwork bring enormous expectations and the question to be asked is whether they’ve done themselves justice, or whether they’ve thrown together generic radio fodder and laughed all the way to their next Radio 1 session.

Well… the answer isn’t quite as straightforward as the question. Without a doubt, the trio have nothing to be embarrassed about; next single ‘Perfect Stranger’ is going to propel them once more chartwards via its scattering beats and a vocal from woman of the minute (hopefully literally) Katy B, whilst ‘The Bug’ brings a darker and more refined sound to proceedings that will satisfy cynical dubstep connoisseurs. Admittedly, there are isolated mistakes.’Box Of Ghosts’ fails to go anywhere remotely interesting, but it’s ‘Fire’ that is particularly disastrous, though this is undoubtedly down to Ms Dynamite’s laptop-smashingly irritating nasal vocal delivery. It sounds particularly weak following the unexpected wrong-footing of album opener ‘Flying Into Tokyo’ on which they resist the urge to drop straight into towering beats, and instead carefully conduct violins and glockenspiels, creating a beautifully unconventional opening track.

This, though, is where their foray into the unconventional ends, which, given their intimidating skills, could be seen as a wasted opportunity. But it shouldn’t be. Never was this supposed to be an album that dragged dubstep forwards. Their union with Columbia was (and they have gladly admitted it themselves) to all intents and purposes a contrived effort to bring dubstep to the masses, to have it headlining festivals and dominating clubs. In this respect, undoubtedly they have succeeded, though to name a track ‘Anthemic’ is trying slightly too hard, despite its accuracy. ‘I Need Air’ has already quietly become a bellowing animal of lurching dubstep that is regularly tearing apart clubs, and there are plenty more album tracks like ‘Mad’ and ‘Crossover’ which are more than capable of shaking foundations and rupturing ears like Magnetic Man intended.

Their success, of course, will bring detractors. There will be those who talk of the beauty of dubstep being its underground, counter-cultural and sinister roots. Undoubtedly, these people are desperately trying to stick a label on a cultural phenomenon that is impossible to define; the word “dubstep” itself has already become a meaningless term. In actual fact, Magnetic Man draw on garage, UK funky and drum and bass as much as they do sub bass. This obsession with the term “dubstep” is superficial – it’s this season’s musical fashion and on those grounds it must be ignored for Magnetic Man’s ability to craft terrifying, buoyant electronic music with a tangible sense of emotion transcends genre boundaries. Despite this, the rise of this genre of music to ubiquity is irrepressible, whether we feel the need to call it “dubstep” or not, and if Magnetic Man are the trio who ring in this change, well, we could do a lot worse.”

Magnetic Man – Karma Crazy by NotManyExperts

Everything Everything have only made one blatant mistake on “Man Alive”; it wasn’t released in 2006. Sitting in 2010’s strange stable of musical fads, and without a chill waves or lo-fi in sight, you could be forgiven for seeing them as slightly out of place. But you shouldn’t do. Undoubtedly they’re not the most fashionable of bands. Radio 1 like them far too much. They’re signed to a major label. Their gigs probably contain more than one attractive teenage girl, which, as you will all know, is one too many for the pretentious and discerning muso. But “Man Alive”, for all its staunch refusal to conform to these fashions, is a gloriously conventional record. That they chose to open with “MY KZ UR BF” is as much a clear statement of intent as you’re likely to get from them; “Man Alive” is packed with hooks, and unless you are amongst the most pretentious of music fans then this can hardly be seen as a problem.

Elsewhere they are far more restrained, however, and its this restraint that saves “Man Alive” from the same fate as so many indie rock bands. “Tin (The Manhole)” is the finest piece of music on the album, a starry-eyed paean to, apparently, a fox. We won’t question their motives. Most surprisingly, although the album is more accessible than a scouse woman after half a bottle of vodka, it would be a challenge to pick another single after those that they’ve already released. They’ve got the balance between big pop songs and the more introverted lyric-driven tracks absolutely right, and the album is far more interesting and unselfconscious as a result.

Year of release aside, the only enormous complaint to be made is of portentous album closer “Weights” which sounds just as embarrassingly earnest as it did as the closer to their live set, although the lyric of “I can tell you how this ends” after 5 directionless minutes takes on a satisfying new vein of irony with repeated plays. They’re easily forgiven though, as the rest of “Man Alive”, without managing to be ambitious, is an enormously fun album that the posturing muso in all of us can quietly enjoy in the knowledge that it has just enough depressing songs to not even be a guilty pleasure. Whether or not “Man Alive” will slowly turn Everything Everything into the platinum-selling band that the BBC Sound of 2010 and their record label envisaged, I could not possibly say, but neither would I want to – “Man Alive” has enough quirky twists and turns to keep us interested whilst they slowly work out where they’re going.

Everything Everything – Tin (The Manhole) by NotManyExperts

Everything Everything – MY KZ UR BF

Nobody asked the Mystery Jets to redefine our perceptions of music with third album “Serotonin”, and they haven’t. In a way, “Serotonin” is predictably accessible, slightly left-field art-pop that should be leapt upon like the drug itself by owners of skinny jeans and emotions. Yet the middle third of the album is a heart tearing bicep of a musical centre that contains, without a doubt, some of their best material yet. Around the edges, things threaten to slip into familiar hazed 80s pop, but are saved by the bands’ slightly dyspraxic twitchings and irresistible melodies. The label’s changed, but the game’s the same; Mystery Jets continue to, if not redefine music, then shift the margins of quality in British guitar music with this fine return.

Mystery Jets – Serotonin by NotManyExperts