Album Review: Mark Ronson & The Business Intl – Record Collection

Ok, Mark Ronson may not be the coolest guy after the cover and massacre of that Smiths song and his awful peroxide hair, but ‘Record Collection’ has not left a bad taste in my mouth at all. Predictably Ronson has adopted a more electronic, pop sounding direction, and moved away from his renowned reliance on the trumpets, but this is not necessarily a bad thing. The LP boasts a pretty impressive eclectic mix of collaborations featuring artists such as Boy George to D’angelo, although ‘Bang Bang Bang’ is still arguably the best track on the album (and if you have not heard The Count & Sinden remix of it, you should youtube or Spotify it now.) Mark Ronson, in my eyes, has certainly redeemed himself for ‘Version’.

4 out of 5

Wild Beasts at The Troxy – 16/09/2010

The Troxy is a grand art deco venue in the East End of London, a place of grandeur, a place where something special and momentous should happen. For three nights it was the location for the Campfire Trails, an event celebrating folk music, which over the three days featured performances from bands such as Mumford & Sons, White Rabbits and Adam Green. On the second night I had the pleasure of seeing Wild Beasts.

Wild Beasts have been around for a few years now, but have never really got the commercial coverage they deserve. Two Dancers, their second album, has seen them grow from an ok band with huge potential to an extraordinarily amazing band, and the album has been one of my favourites of the year - one that I just could not stop playing. Personally, I think they were the closest rivals to The xx for the Mercury Music Prize. So, I hoped they would live up to my expectations live. They certainly did not disappoint.

The set opened with ‘The Fun Powder Plot’, the first track on Two Dancers, and the audience were in awe of the presence and charisma of Hayden, the lead singer, and his countertenor voice. This gives Wild Beasts an unusual and unique presence which distinguishes them from other bands. The set continued with the band surrounded by a mist of dry ice which was fittingly eerie for songs such as ‘We Still Got The Taste Dancin’ On Our Tongues’. This spread and covered the audience, almost involving them, and thus encouraging them to erupt into a mass sing-along for songs such as ‘All The King’s Men’ and ‘Hooting and Howling’. As a band they were enticing and exciting to watch, and most certainly more than justified their appearance in a grand venue. They announced to an appreciative and eager audience that they were going into the studio in the following week to begin work on their third album - the future holds something promising and special to look forward to, and perhaps they will then receive the recognition that they more than deserve.

Article from the first issue of Label '10-'11

Published in first Label of the year (end of September)



Welcome freshers! We are Steph & Sam, the Music Sub-Eds, and we’ll be where you need to be coming fortnightly for your music needs, what albums you need to listen to, what you should avoid, and gigs around Loughborough, Leicester and Nottingham that you might have been to. We take the reigns from Jack and Luke, and only hope that we can do them justice!
2010; a new decade has begun, and with that a few early contenders for the next album of the decade, with great albums from Beach House, Arcade Fire’s third offering and Kele’s debut. However, I doubt Diana Vickers or 3Oh!3 are any front runners to threaten them, with their savage attack on our ears. It has been a year that’s provided us with the welcomed reformation of The Libertines, Lady Gaga becoming the most followed person on Twitter, and Justin Bieber continuing to offend our ears, and a collaboration with Kanye West being an even more painful experience. Not because of the music, but because of THAT ego. Anyway, with an album in the pipeline, Kanye will hopefully still pull it out the bag, in a modest fashion, as always. It just has been a year rammed full of quality music, from the big festivals to the massive success of Dub-boro, which is actually continuing as DB Events. The first event is on the 13th October at Echos, and is boasting a pretty impressive line up of Katy B, Scratch Perverts and Mistajam; definitely not a night out to be missed.
So back to this issue, we have a run down of the freshers ball, who’s going to be there and what to expect, a look back to a summer of awesome live music with a report from Reading, and a look forward to what music to look forward to this autumn and winter as the nights draw in, and the work pile begins to grow. So get cosy, try to avoid freshers flu, make sure you check out any bands playing at the union and get involved!