Albums Out This Week: W/C 28th September 2009

Imagine a Gangs of New York type scenario going on. In one block, the Twilight fans, on the other, the Paramore fans. Let's say they're fighting 'cause someone called the vampire dude 'smelly'.

Who do you think would win? Or more importantly, how many twelve year olds with dyed hair could you watch get slaughtered before you say "enough is enough" and decide to get something to eat instead. We're going with 128,531 if we're completely honest. It'd be like Battle Royale, only we wouldn't get all choked up during the lighthouse scene.

Yes, Paramore may be gradually increasing in our estimation, but the fans are still annoying. Twilight seems to be the weakest excuse for vampire lore we've come across. We apparently have Buffy & Angel to blame. Before that romance, they used to just kill each other, although, it did give us "Let the Right One In" as well, so not all bad we guess.

J. Tillman: Year In The Kingdom

Seattle based folk artist Joshua Tillman branches into Blues on Year In The Kingdom, the seventh addition to a discography that only dates back to 2004. A range of Joshua's albums have been self-released, however, the last three have been with Bella Union and they'll be more than happy with the reception this gem receives. 

Ian Brown: My Way

All of Ian Brown's previous five albums have earned reputable chart positions, since The Stone Roses disbanded Mr. Brown has paved a steady road of success ahead of himself. We're not too fond of the material we've heard from My Way so far, but we'd never say so out loud, we'd like to keep our hands.

Port O'Brien: Threadbare

The last record from these American dwelling folk infected the SG workforce like a plague, however this was a plague of beautiful music, so opulent that mother nature herself could not have thought of such sounds. Despite the name, this sophomore album is far from lacking and is packed with intelligent, intricate music and melodies that simply don't age even after a hundred or so listens.

Zero 7: Yeah Ghost

The punchline to many-a-joke about boring music. This downtempo-styled duo decided to enter the music world after studying sound engineering. Which is like deciding to be an author after doing an English exam. Four albums later though, and their popularity shows no signs of abating any.

Paramore: Brand New Eyes

Album number three for Paramore, and they've ceased to be the industry pariahs somewhat. We're not exactly sure why they were so, since they are just another pop-punk band, albeit with a fashion-obsessed front-woman. We'll go for the fans, tweens yelling "you know nothing about music" is always entertaining, which is why we decided to kill so many of them in the introduction to this here article.

Hockey : Mind Chaos

Hockey are the latest indie dance collective to traipse the media spotlight this summer and Mind Chaos has so far accumulated a cornucopia of eager publicity. We caught a Hockey set early this year which left us far from disappointed, although, the music suffers when listened to on record. 

AFI: Crash Love

AFI, known colloquially as "the rich man's - with good taste - Aiden". The black clothes, the gothic undertones, the lyric themes of death and betrayal. Yet through it all, AFI maintain a sophisticated level of charm and charisma. Now, if AFI are the rich man's Aiden, what does that make I Am Ghost? Spoiler warning: the answer is, crap.

Hope Sandoval & the Warm Inventions: Through the Devil Softly

Mazzy Star vocalist Hope Sandoval and My Bloody Valentine bassist Colm Ó Cíosóig have paired up again for the first time in eight years for this sophomore album. The record will undoubtedly promise the finest in folk music, we've been anticipating this album eagerly since we first heard the track listing early this year and on at a glimpse we can assure you that this record was worth the long arduous wait that we've all bared. 

Maps: Turning the Mind

The themes of this album are apparently "mental states" and "chemicals", we doubt he means Calpol. East-Midlander James Chapman has worked on distilling his influences to even greater effect on his second album. Spiritualized, Mogwai and Low: we can't see that that can go wrong, ever.

Lynyrd Skynyrd: God & Guns

Now on their forty-fifth year as a band together, Southern-rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd step into the world of wrestling with their twelfth album. The first single, and album opener, "Still Unbroken" was the official Theme Song of the WWE Breaking Point Pay-Per-View event on September 13th 2009 and will be featured on the Game WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2010. Grab the chair!

Fanfarlo: Reservoir

Headed up by Swedish vocalist Simon Balthazar, the London-based quintet splash out on an even more varied selection of instruments for their début album. The music video for the single "The Walls Are Coming Down" features one of Europe's top escape artists Roslyn Walker performing his version of the 'Hanging Straitjacket Escape', a classic stunt first performed by Harry Houdini in the early 1900s.

Kid Harpoon: Once

Kid Harpoon, known to his friends by the eminently more boring moniker Tom Hull, takes aim on the genres of indie and folk and spears through the brig. With a few well-received E.Ps to his name already, album fever may have reached a high point, happily, this is it.

Circulatory System: Signal Morning

You could technically argue "third album", but we're going for: ...second album from the Georgian (the state, not the country) collective. With the presence of Neutral Milk Hotel's Jeff Mangum now a distant memory, it'll be up to CS to find their own way in their indie psychedelic world. They'll be fine.

Maserati: Passages

Another offering from the state of Georgia. We'd be very pleased, except if you consider all albums to be sandwiches, we'd rather not have a filling of regurgitated offal, ham or pork would do just fine. With that in mind, why do we have a filling of stale remixes filling the centre of this release? Reasons to be glad for MP3 albums...

Endless Boogie: Focus Level

On their 1968 album Living the Blues, Canned Heat set some kind of jam-endurance record with the live 40 -minute track "Refried Hockey Boogie." The New York quartet Endless Boogie go even further — 79 minutes — on their update of electric-blues drone and railroad rhythm, Focus Level. So the boogie does end, eventually.