Magnified Sounds

So this is a difficult time for most of us, exam season approaches (I won't mention the 'E' word again), but this sadly requires attention on my part. Magnified Sounds will be running through a huge series of concerts through Spring/Summer, don't fret. But for the time being, many apologies, I have my priorities, and they lie with me not running my entire fucking life into the ground. Magnified Sounds will return in early August. Expect... things! Here's a photo of me pretending to be a dinosaur to keep you entertained for the next few months of MS' absence. Veryan Leaper. - Founder.

Birmingham LG Arena - Fri. 20th December The Birmingham heavy metallers reunite to play the first of two hometown gigs, topping a triumphant end to their busiest year yet.

Pic: Eliza Kurczewska “Is this the end of the beginning? Or the beginning of the end?” questions Ozzy Osbourne on ‘13’ album opener ‘End Of The Beginning’. No, the legendary rocker isn’t experiencing such vivid senility that he’s now questioning existentialism, and no, before you ask, he’s been sober since the beginning of the year (say no more), it’s quite the opposite in fact; Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler have been given a new lease of life, gaining the motivation to get back in the studio and give us their most up to date, suitably dark, and classically Sabbath style album in ‘13’ - not such an unlucky number after all.

Despite a cancelled 2012 tour given Iommi’s battle with lymphoma (bar two triumphant headline performances at Download and Lollapalooza – giving both sides of the Atlantic a taste of more to come), Ozzy’s now past-tense relapse (clarified back in April via his Facebook feed – having stated that he was “in a very dark place”), and an absent founding member in drummer Bill Ward (replaced for the ‘13’ tour by Tommy Clufetos, who made a name for himself as drummer for Ozzy’s solo career since 2010), Black Sabbath have burst into 2013 in glorious fashion, scoring a number one album on both sides of the Atlantic with a long awaited return to form in the Rick Rubin-produced ‘13’ - a record bringing back every grand power chord, epic vocal line and masterful bass solo we ever missed out from their 18 years of on-record absence, the ‘13’ world tour reviving a worldwide adoration for their brilliant brand of Heavy Metal in the process. The Sabbath has returned, and they’re better than ever.  

As the ‘13’ tour draws to a close with the year of the album’s release, MS venture 200 miles north to celebrate a suitably gloomy festive season at Birmingham’s LG Arena – just under 15 miles from the borough of Aston, where 45 years ago, a band under the name of ‘Earth’ came together, and after dropping a erm… saxophone player and slide guitarist, later became the band we now know as Black Sabbath, and we’re nothing if not obsessives in geographic nostalgia??? But with Ozzy casting a shadow over the year by gracing the NME Christmas cover (Glam Rock dog in tow), sufficient hype has been built up for the first of two sold out nights of real, and we mean REAL Heavy Metal, and on the opening first of the two shows? What a night it’s turned out to be.

Arriving hours before the proverbial masses (War Pigs – ed.) gave us a front row view of Sabbath support act Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats; your similarly shabby looking four-piece, decorated in classy, though raggedy suits and with the lengthy rock hair to match it, their facial expressions? We didn’t see facial expressions at all, only hair, lots and lots of hair.

Metal aesthetic aside, Uncle Acid and co. brought forth their own breed of Sabbath-style technical Heavy Metal, every intricate harmony change – both vocal and instrumental between guitarist Yotam Rubinger and frontman K.R. Starrs (or Uncle Acid, as he is known) is refined down to the finest detail, not one dud note from any guitar solo, not one unsynchronized headbang (points for style), altogether, not a foot placed wrongly; just pure, mechanically perfected music, The Deadbeats tie together a range of blistering rock riffs, from Dean Millar’s bass riffs – finally a bass player that equals the technical ferocity of the rest of the band (just you wait until Geezer gets onstage), to the vocal harmony procession, led by Uncle Acid himself. Surprisingly drummer Itamar Rubinger  (brother to guitarist Yotam) is the least musically full on of the four, laying out some classic AC/DC Rock beats to put the brakes on an otherwise frenetic band. All of which, as awesomely Rock-nostalgia-based as it is, seems somewhat insignificant in the shadow of the band they’re supporting, Acid’s mention of their name alone – “you guys looking forward to Black Sabbath?” – brings about more applause than The Deadbeats mustered during their entire performance, though a great show they put on, and certainly besting Sabbath’s unorthodox, and almost comedic choice of the (dainty, by comparison) Andrew WK for their American leg of the reunion tour.

Any other day Uncle Acid, but move aside and let Grandpa Ozzy take over.

Pic: kerrang 

The show begins with a chorus of sirens as an outstretched shadow is cast onto the black stage curtain that has been hiding everything going on backstage so far. And finally, a sober, enthusiastic legend is revealed to us in the form of one Ozzy Osbourne, magnified in front of a huge three-way screen, surrounded by decorative tree-like reliefs, he shouts “Alright! Let me see your fucking hands!” at an ecstatic crowd as the introduction to ‘War Pigs’ overlaps the sirens. The crowd, gathered in their masses shout back those immortal Sabbath lyrics while Ozzy jumps with pure elation while Tony Iommi knocks out guitar licks with startling precision, and new addition Clufetos leads the slightly inebriated crowd handclaps in between true-to-form animalistic drum fills.

Ozzy makes it an after-song tradition to pour a bottle of water over himself (dehydrated, bless) and occasionally the unsuspecting bodyguard in front of him, whom he got twice, much to the joy of the crowd, Ozzy shows that he is young at heart throughout, running to and from each corner of the stage like a maniac for the first few songs, and then joining the rest of the band in standing like cold, dominating pillars on each of their respective zones, not that we expected cartwheels or anything… After a seasonally-appropriate live classic in ‘Snowblind’ and a revisitation of the eponymous song that started it all; there’s a moment that really secured everyone’s skill in the band to a legendary level; though thoroughly present beforehand, Geezer Butler’s bass skill is highlighted for all to see in the live regular ‘Bassically’ solo that precedes N.I.B – no longer just the man who stands on the sidelines fingerpicking frantically while Ozzy and Iommi take the spotlight, Butler shows himself to be a pivotal cog in the band machine, with as much depth and instrumental class as Iommi, and as much flair and agility as the youthful live addition of Clufetos - fair to say, Butler may have even temporarily stolen the show, where Iommi stayed true to the (albeit brilliant) recorded songs, and Ozzy’s vocals were never going to be on top form – most songs being lowered in key for the sake of sub-par live vocals, Clufetos? Well, the 10 minute drum solo that would have been amazing in the original Sabbath shows was substituted for both inconsistency and keeping an exhausted (and surprisingly docile) crowd enthused in a bit of downtime for the other three band members - less of an epic drum solo, but more of a large conglomerate of varying drum solos, each one more impressive than the next, mind, but if the band have insisted on staying true to the record and their own unique style of trend-setting Heavy Metal thus-far, then your everyday Black Sabbath/Cream style solo is preferable. But no, we won’t knock the more than fluent series of solos that Clufetos put forth (we get it) brilliantly, but where’s Bill Ward when you need him?

But just as a largely over 40 crowd would begin to settle down, Sabbath break out the big guns for the final stretch, ‘Iron Man’ is met with predictable audience uproar, and a crowd singing guitar lines with as much sharply inebriated accuracy as they chant lyrics themselves, Ozzy’s stage presence met with now serious moshing, and the venue becomes the chaotic arena, claimed by the band itself in time for ‘God Is Dead?’, where Ozzy begins the largest instrumental breakdown the band created since 81’s ‘Mob Rules’ in stating “I don’t believe that god is dead”. After an 18 year gap, it almost seems rare that Black Sabbath can still produce top-notch material in ‘13’, and play it live as well as the classics that they reacquaint us with live, but the boys know how to run a show, and the purple confetti and balloons are broken out for crowd favourite ‘Paranoid’, giving both band and crowd a second wind. Ozzy ever the thankful one, having screamed ‘WE LOVE YOU!’ at the end of every song thus far, showing us that nothing has changed, not in terms of inducing pure excitement or showcasing musical skill. The band ingenuity that we all fell in love with in their early albums is shown in ending on the calming, pro-nostalgia ‘13’ filler ‘Zeitgeist’, a seemingly downbeat ending to the evening, but with the crowd still reeling off of the frenzy from ‘Paranoid’, and the commotion of the crowd lives through into the very final moments of the evening, with or without the inclusion of a movie franchise, Black Sabbath have reaffirmed their popularity in their hometown, the crowd having obeyed every command from the most awesome man in Heavy Metal, “Go fucking crazy because it’s Christmas”? Yeah. The craziness happened.

The boys from Black Sabbath have proved to us that age is just a number, and that they of all bands are more relevant today than ever before, in a world where Metal has branched off into many unpreferable areas and genres, but Sabbath have returned to bear a heavy weight, returning in glorious fashion to revive the genre, and this being a weight they carry with ease, from the impeccable effort in Heavy Metal nostalgia that was ’13’, through impeccable tour shirt designs and craftily dealing with missing members, right through to reintroducing themselves with their hometown in style, Sabbath end the year on a high, and this may not be the end of the beginning (or vice versa), but it’s the start of something big. Veryan Leaper 

Setlist:

War Pigs

Into The Void

Under The Sun/Every Day Comes And Goes

Snowblind

Age Of Reason

Black Sabbath

Behind The Wall Of Sleep

'Bassically' – Geezer Butler bass solo

N.I.B.

End Of The Beginning

Fairies Wear Boots

Rat Salad - Tommy Clufetos drum solo

Iron Man

God Is Dead?

Dirty Women

Children of The Grave

Encore:

Sabbath Bloody Sabbath intro

Paranoid

Here's the main single 'Thank You' from Busta Rhymes and Q-Tip's 'The Abstract And The Dragon' Mixtape.

So yesterday we concluded that Kanye West has come out on top in this year’s album battle between himself and Jay Z - their near-decade long recording rivalry always raising the question over who is the real king of Hip-Hop. As far as this year’s releases from both of them go? It was show to be Kanye’s experimentally emotional, but connoisseur crowd-pleasing ‘Yeezus’ that topped Jay’s lackluster performance for ‘Magna Carta… Holy Grail’.

Going by the unequalled brilliance in previous years of Jay Z’s ‘The Blueprint 3’ and Kanye’s ‘My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy’ – previous albums which practically blew the opposition out of the water, you would have naturally assumed that whoever turned out the better album this year would have immediately been given the title of having made Hip-Hop album of the year. Right? Well, we’ll be the one’s to say this first: Wrong, so very, very wrong. So who has produced the greatest Hip-Hop album of the year?  Was it Eminem’s Rubin-tooting, nostalgia revelling return to form in the ‘Marshall Mathers LP II’? Earl Sweatshirt’s mellow, dark, and domineering showstopper ‘Doris’? Or was it A$AP Rocky’s Kanye-support-earning debut ‘Long. Live. A$AP’? Was it even Smif-n-Wessun’s long awaited reggae-influenced ‘Born and Raised’ EP thrasher? Sadly, it’s a no to all the above, though amazing pursuits they are, each one more worthy than the last, and these are just a few listed out of many. Needless to say, Kanye had his work cut out.

But who has given their all this year? Worked to revive a publicly insatiable taste for the genre? Who has won Hip-Hop for 2013? Oh hey Busta Rhymes and Q-Tip! We didn’t see you there. And damn, that’s one mighty fine collaborative mixtape you’ve got going on there. That’s right, as a starting statement, it was an incredibly naïve move for nearly every music publication to put out their annual album lists so prematurely, and in the week prior to the release of ‘The Abstract And The Dragon Mixtape’, no less – a mixtape (still an album!) collaboration between Q-Tip (that’s ‘The Abstract’) and Busta Rhymes (taking his moniker under the ferociously apt name of ‘The Dragon’).

Pic: generationbass The pair gave us a quick musical teaser in November with the seemingly one-off single ‘Thank You’, calling in Lil Wayne and Kanye West to briefly pop over and knock out some hype in favour of the cool, collected Q-Tip and the fearsome, snarling, Busta, who whacks out some double-speed rap technique over a smooth soul sample of the Alicia Myers’ ‘I Want To Thank You’ – a song not requiring the high degree of effects that Kanye sported on ‘Yeezus’; ‘I Want To Thank You’’s sheer sonic simplicity practically does all the work for itself, and who better than two of the most underrated figureheads of the genre to freshen up this 80’s tune and shake up the Rap world in the process. Two weeks after the release of ‘Thank You’, the online stream for ‘The Abstract And The Dragon’ Mixtape appears, and is currently in the midst of blowing away this year’s competition, at least for us at MS.

In the absence of groups like A Tribe Called Quest, artists like Tyler, The Creator and Earl Sweatshirt and other Hip-Hop affiliates for example being given the advantage of receiving the more attention in their awesomely dirty interpretation of the genre, this absence shifting attention onto the new breed rappers and collectives such as Odd Future, but Hip-Hop has forgotten it’s roots, I know… progress, change, etc. but it never hurt to remind us all of the golden days when knowing all the lyrics to ‘Rapper’s Delight’ was something to be praised. Ok maybe not that far back, but we’ll settle for the chronological middle ground, where acts like A Tribe Called Quest rule. It’s become commonplace for artists such as Kid Cudi to make something beautiful and complex in an orthodox manner (even if you do slightly lose it after two albums due to extended affiliations with Odd Future, sorry Scott (Bring on ‘Man On The Moon III’!)); but it’s the subtle details that collectives like A Tribe Called Quest, The Beastie Boys, and De La Soul were able to put to the foreground that put emphasis on the lyrical skill itself – arguably the most important aspect of the genre. ‘Thank You’ for example, showcases this Hip-Hop ideal; the background noise in Busta’s gap-filling… rhymes does alter, though subtly, making way for the grand piano sample and additional soul-inspired handclaps for Q-Tips more stylistic and less brutally delivered verses that inject that underrated complexity into their music – something neglected in today’s modernised and less deliberated Hip-Hop. But nowadays we put it down to the big guns like Kanye and Jay Z, and how they keep their musical style in check with the times, to ease us into the new breed of Hip-Hop coming to the forefront while remaining true to the good old days. But let’s face it, with this year’s unashamedly experimental venture from Kanye, and a minor-scale Hip-Hop-fuck-up from Jay, we have to allow a few more of the legends of the genre through to claim the spotlight.

And so we welcome The Abstract and The Dragon with open arms, like the ‘Marshall Mathers LP II’, the Mixtape is a mind-blowing effort in nostalgia, beginning with a laid-back, bluesy, musically Funkadelic-inspired monologue from Busta – ‘Bringing that real feel-good, boom-bap shit back to life, we gon’ get back to that” – A promise well lived up to, and showing the new school of Rap how it really should be done. But the Mixtape musically begins with a track from A Tribe Called Quest’s legendary ‘Midnight Marauders’ album (having celebrated it’s 20th anniversary in November, along with the Wu-Tang Clan’s ‘Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)’ – two albums that changed the face of the 90’s Hip-Hop scene), the now Busta-including version of ‘God Lives Through’ kicking off an album-long series of remixed classics from both artists. The original collaboration of ‘Steppin’ It Up’ from the Tribe’s ‘The Love Movement’ working as a greatly effective track filler, and the iconic album artwork of ‘The Low End Theory’ providing the inspiration for the essentially green and red dragon on the Mixtape cover, going through to the well-received Q-Tip/Busta original ‘Wild Hot’ – an original contribution to the classic 90’s Hip-Hop culture film ‘Rhyme & Reason’ Soundtrack, which was a huge cornerstone for Busta’s and Q-Tip’s frequent future collaborations, and the Mixtape also paying homage to Q-Tip’s earlier solo pursuits in a new version of his minor-key hustling ‘Renaissance Rap’, now featuring some fresh Lil Wayne and Raekwon lyrical. And among these revamps of the old originals, the pair reacquaint us with a massive capability for creating new music, as well as just lyrical contributions – the title track sees Busta flaring through a dubbed-down, but more thought-over Odd Future-inspired slow jam.

Busta showing that his dynamically vocal wit hasn’t slowed down on ‘We Taking Off’, a laid-back groove-orientated piece working to fly you overseas on Abstract airlines, Busta creating some serious turbulence in lauding some major dominance over the game - “What’s that matter wit’ y’all? Yes I’m talkin’ to y’all, some of y’all frownin’ at me? You said you wish I would fall, you need to stop starin’ at me, you need to look at the wall” – if anything, The Dragon has got some razor sharp teeth, and show-stopping flames in this incendiary summer romper. Naturally, Q-Tip remains on top form too in the self-explanatory ‘Get Down’, effectively hyping his equally large dominance over others, ‘Other brothers ain’t motivated, they can’t do it, not only do I penetrate it, I ram through it” picking off rappers with extremely precise lyrical technique, proving himself as a rapper more relevant today than ever before, and consistently hitting on the younger generation to remind us of the same attitude shown in tracks like the Tribe’s ‘Phony Rappers’, and in this day and age there are plenty of them out there, ones  who do not write nor excite, and you’d better believe that Tip is addressing every last one of them. Not just heralding the return of two of Hip-Hop’s most heralded forefathers, the latter half of the Mixtape mixes in various collaborations (both new and nostalgic) with Pharrell (who really seems to be getting around this year), Talib Kweli, Missy Elliott, Old Big Daddy, and Leaders Of The New School, the Mixtape also paying their respects to Chris Lighty and J Dilla and in the form of light skits; a nice tribute to one of the promoters and one of the godfathers of this ‘boom-bap shit’.

Giving us a break from the mind-altering sonic experience we are currently hearing, there are several interludes that both continue to make a mockery of the rappers of the younger generation (creating a good run up to the now Q-Tip including Busta classic, and aptly named ‘You Can’t Hold The Torch’), Busta having a slight meltdown due to how far the game has fallen - “some of these Rap N****s is BITCH”, a straight-to-the-point summary, as a side effect showing Q-Tip’s hilarious reaction, probably claiming the title of best laugh in Hip-Hop. Another accolade, well done guys. Though it is an awesome Mixtape in it’s originals, remixes, and even interludes, the biggest surprise the pair have to offer is a one minute-long teaser from the sequel to Busta Rhymes’ legendary 1998 ‘Extinction Level Event’ album, Q-Tip additionally being announced for production credit by Busta over a thick background drum beat, whistling wind, and teeny-tiny piano trills, Busta waxing some heavy, reggae-influenced lyrical over it in addition, leaving a lot open to interpretation in terms of direction for ELE II, but whatever it is, Busta has officially peaked our interested until it’s release in 2014.

Pic: generationbass A Tribe Called Quest are said to have played their last show in November supporting (none other than) Kanye at Madison Square Garden, but given their track record of consistent returns in the past (despite a distinct lack of album for 15 years now), and Q-Tip’s recently-rediscovered and unequalled relevance in the game, it shouldn’t be long before the Tribe are kicking it again, fingers crossed, if this Mixtape is anything to go by, it’s that we really can’t afford to lose them. And with Kanye grabbing Q-Tip and Rick Rubin for production honours on his album due next year – hopefully we’ll get back the comically skit-based , ever-serious, always egotistical Kanye we know and love. 2014’s looking to be a great year for Hip-Hop already, albums from Kanye and Busta that are bound to see us bugging out all year long, but seriously, we need the Tribe back and questing.

  Reviving the world’s Hip-Hop sensibilities through the familiar remixes, the old Busta and ATCQ classics have been given a second lift, serving to quench our thirst for more of the mind-blowing material that Busta and Q-Tip so proudly exhibit on the album. The pair have joined forces to create a superhuman modern masterpiece from that of a mere mixtape, resurrecting a world of passion for that 90’s ‘boom-bap’ sound that is so rarified in this day and age; as Q-Tips wisely spouts in ‘You Can’t Hold The Torch’ ‘In retrospect, the game ain’t the same man’, but these two are working to re-establish themselves in Hip-Hop game. But for reintroducing the 2013 masses with the real sound of Hip-Hop, it’s The Abstract and The Dragon, and you’ll find that we’re the ones thanking them.

2013 has been one of those years when everyone with any credit in modern music has put out some form of release – a serious and blissful rarity. This year has ushered in the return of Daft Punk, Queens Of The Stone Age, My Bloody Valentine, Foals, Nick Cave, Arctic Monkeys, Justin Timberlake and many remarkable others. So trust me to start up a music blog at the latter end of what has been one of music’s most triumphant and culturally relevant years. Please note that we will be continuing to review the next year or two of minor musical hangover as a result. Singling down some of the more excitable releases from the past year, we’re choosing to delve into the reaches of this year’s Hip-Hop scene, namely the consecutive releases from the genre’s two biggest purveyors, Kanye West and Jay Z. It’s a massively argued subject within the genre, who would claim the title of Hip-Hop King? Their friendship, and rhetorical rivalry being a constantly argued subject, needless to say that when Jay Z signed a young Kanye West to Roc-A-Fella over ten years ago, the thought of Yeezy building a career that would threaten to top Hova’s would have been a laughable notion, but here he is, battling it out with the living father of Hip-Hop himself. So… who is the real proverbial Rap God between the two now? The real answer? Nobody knows. Where Jay Z’s career is more illustrious and widespread than Kanye’s; ever the underdog, Kanye is catching up on both the quantity and quality side of material - releasing ‘My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy’ in 2010; an experimental, but flawless album that expanded the limits of where Hip-Hop could go, and where Kanye could continue to take it, wiping the floor with the opposition in the process, and reaffirming his own relevance after the wonderuflly experimental, but toned down ‘808’s And Heartbreak’. Jay meanwhile, took a well-earned rest from ‘The Blueprint 3’’s commercial success, building on the Roc-A-Fella name, and settling down as the ever-dedicated family man (Fathers In Paris – Ed.). Ultimately releasing the ‘Watch The Throne’ collaborative album in 2011, the pair have raised the bar for Hip-Hop to an almost unachievable standard. But have they set the bar too high for themselves, to an unreachable level of musical success? They have reached the top as of late, and what goes up must come down. We’ll start with ‘Magna Carta… Holy Grail’, which (and it pains me to say it) has to be Jay Z’s lousiest release to date, you wouldn’t have thought it possible, but it flopped… badly. Contrary to Jay Z’s entire back catalogue to date, the album contains some of the most unimaginative flows and rhymes that just make you tighten your face, shrug your shoulders and go ‘eh’… Needless to say, he has won out best song award (for now) in ‘Picasso Baby’, with that criminally dirty bass groove and some powerful, and one-off actually relative self-aggrandisement in his world of statement. It’s almost surreal to see someone of Jay Z’s stature trip up, especially in light of the triumphant return he showed in Justin Timberlake’s classy funk-brimming ‘Suit & Tie’, but ‘Holy Grail’ sees Jay fail to rekindle that brief magic with JT, as well as trying to rekindle the long gone flame of the bold, primal Frank Ocean ‘Watch The Throne’ collaboration ‘No Church In The Wild’ in the decidedly calm ‘Oceans’, summing up the entire record in failed potential success, made for shockingly disappointing material, only emphasised by the great names he had in production: we’re talking Pharrell Williams, Timbaland, Justin Timberlake, The Dream and more. Let’s just really hope Hova gets his head back in the game.

Pic: NME On the brighter side, Kanye West’s victory in this year’s battle is unanimous, not just on count of Jay Z’s failure, but on Kanye’s return to his long-forgotten, and slightly longed-for experimental side.

‘Yeezus’ was similar to Jay’s poor venture in the principle of self-hype, but we can never expected anything less from Kanye, and I know that ‘oh he’s such a tosser for arguing with people about this, and such an arsehole for saying he’s great at that’, but let’s all just get real. You want to hear the painful truth? It’s that Kanye West is a genius; he’d be an idiot if he wasn’t, but he just is. Without going into this vastly, his statements are justified, though unashamedly immodest; and we wouldn’t recognise his awesomeness without them, he’s the only one in the game arrogant enough to say it, and one of the only ones with the facts to back it. As far as his lack of ticket sales in light of the ‘Yeezus’ tour goes? It’s a damned shame, the visuals look insane, and it speaks words in terms of the artist he declares himself as in interviews. The same goes for his work on the DONDA company – if you meet anyone who creates album covers with such dark, brooding, beautiful simplicity as Lil Wayne’s ‘I Am Not A Human Being II’ or the awesomely equalling simplicity of the ‘Yeezus’ artwork, I would like you to interrupt them, tell them you’ll let them finish, and then read this entire article to them again, and then say something about Beyoncé, I don’t know…

If you filter out the egotistical white noise, Kanye is an artist in more ways than one, and has the potential to become as relevant as he makes himself out to be.

Pic: screeninvasion Arrogant honesty aside, he’s proved himself this year with ‘Yeezus’, the punny, ego-inflating album title speaks for itself; shouting “Ibn diamond, Chi-town shining, Monop’ in this bitch, get a change of climate, hop in this bitch and get the same thing I’m in, until the day I get struck by lightning” King Kanye shouts down at us on the Justin Vernon featuring ‘I Am A God’.

Sampling Nina Simone’s ‘Strange Fruits’ for ‘Blood On The Leaves’ was translated to a live setting amazingly on Jools Holland with minimalist style and flair, making for a heartbreakingly hardcore version of an already beautiful song.

Kanye also bests Jay Z in his mind-blowing producer credits, bringing in the ever elusive and recently revamped Daft Punk for a hardcore, dark-electronica-tinted ‘Black Skinhead’, putting legends like Rick Rubin, Hudson Mohawke and Lupe Fiasco to good use in production as well

As he’s stated before, he spits it so hot we got tanned, but ‘Yeezus’ takes our healthy colour and injected some pallor into proceedings in the return to the experimental minimalism we saw in ‘808’s…’, including the return of the only use of auto-tune we will ever like. But ‘Yeezus’ faces the same problem as ‘808’s…’, it can be difficult to see beyond the experimental beauty portrayed when Kanye can create such vibrant pallets of songwriting that were seen early in his career, but to those who are more familiar with Kanye’s darker side, we can never say no to his experimentation, his both egotistically raunchy and powerfully raw and primitive sides have shown through, and the music is amazing.

Pic: NME But all things said and done, it would be naïve to judge these two albums alone in light of the careers of their creators - if we settled this back in 2008-2009 by comparing Kanye’s ‘808’s and Heartbreak’ to Jay’s ‘The Blue Print 3’, it would have been a whitewash in Jay’s favour.

The tables have turned for the time being, and we can definitely say that this year Kanye plays the David to Jay Z’s Goliath, and he’s won this battle. Want to know the best bit though? As far as creating the best Hip-Hop album of 2013 goes? Kanye hasn’t won the war.

Plymouth University - Sat. October 30th.

The latest radar hopefuls bring both underground rock vibes and awesome support to Plymouth.


Pic: officialpalmaviolets If you’re an inductee into the fictional school of musical radar knowledge, you’ll already know who the Palma Violets are, and you’ll already be familiar with their rise to prominence through the massive fan base, the constant media hype, and the rip-roaring Rough Trade-released ‘180’ debut - a record that worked to bring the underground UK garage rock scene to the masses, scoring themselves a top 20 debut in the process.
 They’ve shown themselves as a band to be reckoned with, but all record-based praise aside, the excitement surrounding the Palma Violets live shows has been unrivalled.


So what better way to debut Magnified Sounds Live than by experiencing the Rattlesnake Rodeo Tour. We braved the sea of alcohol, make-up and varied bodily fluids to see if one of the most celebrated bands of 2013 could live up to expectations, and so we cram our opinion into a severely overstocked hype machine in the process. 20 minutes before the first support act, the rock presence was already being felt in the form of Harry Violent - the Palma’s mascot and merchandise promoter, seen ambling through the building crowd, like a lost woodland critter; shouting drunken nonsense throughout. An entertaining start, and the show hasn’t even begun yet.

The musical entertainment, on the other hand, gets off to a dismal start with Telegram, a four-piece that channel ethereal rock melodies on record, but fall short of remotely entertaining a barely inebriated live crowd. To the worryingly addled one-man Ramone Oli-Paget Moon, slapping your bass will not make things better, nor make the live nightmare end any quicker.
 Telegram’s saving grace being guitarist and potential Wes Anderson extra Matt Wood’s sublimity in guitar effects - a partially redeeming touch to an awkwardly unenthusiastic support band. Interludes being made all the more exciting with Harry Violent’s continued inter-crowd banter; what was once the general drunken slurring of a madman soon blossomed into merch-promoting poetry (or both at the very least). We would recall it if we could, but his words were pretty mystifying, and sadly more entertaining than the actual music so far.


Second support act Childhood break out the big guns though, having just shared the ‘Young Britannia’ cover with the Palma’s in October, they rock some damn amazing effects that threaten to outdo the Palma’s already raucous presence; vocalist Ben Romans Hopcraft kicking out the jams with blissful guitar soloing over a dreamy Black Kids-esque backdrop, every loose drum beat and chord drop making you comfortably weak at the knees. Young Britannia appears to be ruling the waves already.

University students now suitably hammered, and the bass drum turned up to an uncomfortably high volume, the Palma Violets enter to raucous applause, and launch into a lightning quick cover of Joe Jones’ 60’s soul classic ‘California Sun’, not too dissimilar from the surf rockery that you would find in the likes of The Black Tambourines and co. around the Cornish music scene.
That aside, a great start, allowing the punters to find their feet in a dangerously mosh-happy crowd, Harry Violent appearing again to surf it like a true champion, occasionally dragging you back through the crowd with a drunken, steamy embrace. Bless.
 The ever-aesthetically pleasing Chilli Jesson acts as crowd motivator through the roar of “JUMPING JANET TO THE END” – hit single ‘Best Of Friends’ naturally winning moment of the night, consistently being echoed through the encore, having slightly been conducted by yours truly (no shame – Ed). 
Ending on a rendition of ‘Invasion Of The Tribbles’, the Palma’s are joined by Childhood (and a maraca shaking guitar tech) while Chilli gets intimate with the crowd, getting both more musically and physically intense as the night comes to an end.
 But among the hit singles and the onstage collaborations, there was an underlying sense of grueling regret, possibly being classed as a let-down in light of the fevered passion of their previous shows, the Palma Violets somehow not managing to hit the spot that Childhood had done more than successfully in the hour prior. Like any band of their caliber, the Palma’s seem slightly out of place on even a slightly sweatbox-sized stage, and what appear to be the new young rock hopefuls pose the risk of becoming yet another flash-in-the-pan act, certainly not the first or last to have done so.


Unless they up their stage game, the Palma Violets could see themselves being taken over by the very bands that support them, deservedly so in the case of Childhood. Granted, they rock an intimate setting, but where’s the fiery passion we’ve heard so much about?


If the Palma Violets have reached their limit already – an unthinkable notion given the success of others like the Vaccines and Haim, they might be stuck in touring the sweatbox venues to the end, let’s hope not, we need them.

It’s not often we pick a hole in the lengthy absence of an artist, but in a music scene deprived of pure, high-grade, and tasty Rock & Roll, we have to ask. Where did Stanley Duke go?

Pastel Colours (l-r): Josh Gibbs, Stanley Duke.

Apart from some recent Lost Dawn shows dotted around Falmouth, the Psychedelic Rock & Roll duo having been on temporary hiatus since the shows for the ‘Strange Town EP’ last year. Frontman Stanley Duke delving into the abyss of other musical ventures, forming the 5-piece ‘Freakbeat’ outfit Hazards last year, who subsequently followed in the Lost Dawn tradition of opening the Boardmasters main stage last summer, and with latter-half of the duo Ben Woods drumming for the recently NME-hyped rock outfit Gorgeous Bully (based on the Art Is Hard label), ad the recent take down of all five of the Lost Dawn EP’s , the duo left the local music scene reeling with questions.

All said and done, the Dawn has certainly been absent.

But fear not you psychedelic children! The Duke is back, and has teamed up with Hazards synth maestro Josh Gibbs to form Pastel Colours, a new musical outfit channeling some of the most notable aspects of Duke’s previous exploits; no excuses, this will not be worth missing. With band practices for live dates including Hazards drummer Morgan Lloyd-Matthews, as well as Daniel Morris and Matthew Robert Oliver from soul-surf rockers Lonely Hunters, Pastel Colours promise to be a fully fledged local Rock supergroup in no time, and with a debut EP in the works, we can certainly forgive Duke for a degree of absence from his standard musical ventures. Last night we received the first demo from the Pastel Colours debut, here’s our verdict:

With a brief reversed psychedelic guitar intro reminiscent of some classic Ratatat riffage, ‘Hands Like Silk’ begins with suave Cornish surf-rock guitar licks and solid grunge drum beats. The track bursting into double-time ride cymbals, strung-out vocals, and a phat (with a definite ‘ph’) bass line that drives your metaphorical music camper van off the cliff of The Black Keys rock aesthetic and the Strange Boys vocal style we're familiar with, and into the ocean of Tame Impala-based Psychedelia. Cooling down a piping hot sun/surf rocker instrumental with a cool, Korg-riddled chorus, Duke’s stint in Hazards hasn’t gone without leaving a sultry, synthy mark.

“With your face contorted and out of shape, I think about escape”, he sings in a verse similar to that of our sonic escape in this four-minute daydream, unorthodox scale descents and euphoria-edging oscillations build up an intense final instrumental chorus (synth solo included). It seems that summer is far from over, and a new chapter for Stanley Duke is just beginning.

As it is the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who - a man who has seen the universe and spent more time in a police box more than your average pop icon, we think it would be fitting to pay tribute by highlighting the TV series’ most recognisable of themes, something that regenerates as much as the eponymous hero himself, the song that defined the sound of Science Fiction in television.

Pic: desktopdeco

Beginnings – 1963 - 1969.

Created by Delia Derbyshire, an employee at special effects sound-engineering unit the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, the theme made a name for itself as a sound that was, like the man himself, something unheard of, as an entirely alien experience.

Aired 50 years ago today, it was a deadly serious introduction, modulated bass lines and looped early electronic effects complimented the unorthodox introduction - the head emerging from black and white symmetry, a suitably odd start to a soon-to-be universal Sci-Fi soundtrack.

Into the vortex – 1970 – 1981.

As the era of Prog. Rock was now in full flow, the series literally showed it’s true colours in a less twangy, and more ethereal sound, placing you both sonically and visually at the heart of Psychedelia, creating a sound not too dissimilar from your average intense acid trip. Doctor Who wasn’t particularly a staple for 1970’s drug culture, but the principle of floating through space and time in a large kaleidoscope is conveyed all too accurately.

The 80’s arrive - 1981 – 1989.

With the reintroduction of a particular Theremin-themed motion picture, the producers had to up their game competitively, not just in the new Doctor, but a sudden dramatic update on the theme after nearly two decades. Radiophonic Workshop producer Peter Howell introduced a higher key change, incorporating the vast array of technology the 80’s had to offer (emphasis on synthesisers being a must-have), a distorted, even squealing guitar drone taking the main melody over intermittent sci-fi bleeps, this one meant business, albeit 80’s business.

Sadly, Keff McCulloch’s ‘86 version woke you up from a blissful 23 year long musical acid trip with a screeching theme that summed up a new series (alongside Deborah Derbyshire, who reportedly loathed the new interpretation), popularity fell, and The Doctor disappeared for seven years.

End of an era – 1996.

After production halted in 1989, the Movie was released, in an attempt to win back the hearts (Doctor Who pun - Ed.) of the a lost fan base.

But John Debney’s theme failed to live up to expectations, giving an upside down take on the classic, this somewhat slack orchestral interpretation is a metaphor for every failed attempt at instilled wonderment into a 90’s TV audience, two words: sleigh bells.

The main question here being, ‘Hold on… did you just play an interpretive jazz piano scale?’ Assuming this theme is a fixed point in time, let’s just pretend it didn’t happen.

2005 – A return to form.

After a scattered fan base, and nothing culturally significant occurring in the prior 15 years, Doctor Who made a triumphant return to the screen. Introduced to a new generation of fans through a crisp, modern sound by English composer Murray Gold, but keeping consistency with sampling of the old theme, achieving a perfect balance between modern electronic and explosive orchestra.

2010 – Upgrades & Glastonbury.

Having established a worldwide audience, a completely viable excuse was given to go all out in what some would call an overdone attempt, but changing from what now seems subtle and simplistic electronic territory, to an intense orchestral theme (dominant male choir included), the series branched out into further musical territory, complete orchestras being set up for The Proms, and newly composed pieces becoming dramatic and consistent episode regulars, and became the most recognisable theme song in British TV history.

And Ushering in the presence of the young Matt Smith, who donned the LED glasses and played a pumping Drum & Bass version of the theme song with Orbital at Glastonbury 2010, was a daring, but extremely well calculated piece of propaganda, summing up an awesome return, reaching the masses live, as well as in TV.

As the first 50 years of the sci-fi classic disappears down the vortex of time, it does so soundtracked by a sci-fi classic that bases itself in a genre that preceded Electronica 20 years before it was made commercially relevant, taking it’s roots in psychedelia, and leaving it’s 50 year mark with an epic orchestral piece, the Doctor Who theme song was the definition of the proverbial ‘in sound from way out’, and did so on a basis that reached as far as the man himself.

This is Magnified Sounds. We’re the new music blog on the block, and there’s nothing we love more than finding new music, and passing it on to you, our hypothetically dedicated audience. At the moment we are strictly based on Tumblr, with plans to renovate our new website for this time next year, as well as several social media outlets too. We’ll aim to bring you the best (and the rest) of everything awesome in the music world, we hope you enjoy our Tumblr residency.

Veryan Leaper – Founder.