Review Snapshot:
Three years since ‘Infinity Land’ the curiously named Scots trio Biffy Clyro return with ‘Puzzle’. Less complex and slightly more accessible than their three previous albums to date, ‘Puzzle’ is still one of the most inventive and ambitious guitar albums you will hear all year.

The Cluas Verdict? 7 out of 10.

Full Review:
Is the simple pop melody, superimposed on a swathe of hard-rock guitars and thumping drums, the perfect rock equation?The myriad genres and sub-genres that clog the crowded world of alternative music will always confuse and enthral in equal measure. It’s easy to get lost within the surfeit of styles and attitudes, of empty poses and rock-careers built on a strict drug regimen. Ever since Bob Mould’s Husker Du started gluing pop melodies to hard guitar signatures, tuneful yet emotional hard rock will always grab the listener with an immediacy that other styles never will. Husker Du were the spark for the fire of The Pixies, who married off-kilter and disquieting song-structure with deceptively simple melodies. Kurt Cobain, in turn, liked their style. He copied their quiet/loud dynamic wholesale but pushed it a little further. While Black Francis’ world view was singular and distorted, Cobain’s world was one of narcissistic self-loathing. He put his feral, anguished howl over ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’, injected the song with a pop DNA and turned it up to….12. It worked because it got under your skin and made your heart pump a little faster. It was cathartic and violent yet it was essentially a conventional pop-song, albeit hidden under layers of misanthropy.

Is it ridiculous to claim Biffy Clyro as the next link in the chain? Maybe in different times, Biffy might have been huge as they balance perfectly the two supposedly mutually exclusive concepts of a pop melody with hard rock, as ‘Teen Spirit’ did. But music will never be the social force that grunge was. It will never unite the disaffected on a global scale as everything now is easily accessible and compartmentalised. The Internet, with its attendant blogs and networks, is now the social force, and no Art form will supersede it. Yet, Biffy have a spirit that eschews fashion and famous girlfriends and empty NME hyperbole. There is something going on in their music that would unite people in the same intense way Nirvana did, if the world was the same as it was in 1990.

But it’s not just Nirvana that can be heard on their fourth album ‘Puzzle’. There is Queens of the Stone Age’s grimy, mechanical funk-rock on ‘Who’s Got a Match?’ There are even a few subtle nods, possibly ironic, to the skinny trouser angular-rock brigade. The theatrics of Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ is in evidence (in a good way) and a few knowing winks to early U2 (always early U2).  Muse can be heard on the monolithic opener ‘Living Is A Problem Because Everything Dies’. It starts with an atypical intro, a series of short, sharp stabs of strings and drums before exploding into a trademark Biffo chorus, replete with full choral accompaniment. Like Muse, Biffy always try to incorporate arena friendly song-structure into their unique, music-as-math template. Although, ‘Puzzle’ is a little more straightforward than their previous efforts, it still jolts the listener throughout the course of its 14 tracks, both for its disconcerting tempo changes and for the plain fact it is so damn catchy. ‘Saturday Superhouse’has got a massive chorus that shows that no matter how complicated they try to be, they have a strong pop sensibility at heart and it’s no surprise it reached number 13 in the UK charts. Later ‘The Conversation Is…’ showcases another effortless hook on an album that is full of them.

 ‘Puzzle’ creates a puzzle. If Cobain was still alive, and became a little more musically adventurous, might he have come up with something like this? Quite possibly. Though they hail from Ayr in Scotland, ‘Puzzle’ is an American sounding album. It has a scope and expansiveness that is at odds with the musically blinkered outlook of contemporary British rock. You would be well advised to spend some time with it.

Ken Fallon

 To buy a new or (very reasonably priced) 2nd hand copy of this album on Amazon just click here.

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Review Snapshot:
Funeral For A Friend return with a rock album that shows them trying to be taken serious, but it's hard to when the songs are just not there.

The CLUAS Verdict? 4.5 out of 10

Full Review:
On Tales Don’t Tell Themselves Welsh band Funeral For A Friend move away from their emo beginnings and become an all out rock band. As part of this transformation and they have also attempted to create a concept album. This, their third full length, is a story about a fisherman, named David, who is lost at sea. Excited?

The album starts well with the epic opener ‘Into Oblivion (Reunion)’ raising my hopes for this album. Both ‘The Great Wide Open’ and ‘The Diary’ are also highlights on this album making the first third of this album actually pretty solid as Funeral For A Friend rawk out. After that however, it all goes down hill. ‘The wheels fell off’, as some might say. The album just seems to blend into a mesh of repetitive riffs and annoying whiney vocals. It is a record that musically reminds me of local ‘battle of the bands’ competitions - technically proficient, but lacking any song-writing inventiveness.

The whole nautical theme really grates after a while. It may have seemed like a good idea, but the ‘concept’ is a boring one. My mind just shuts off listening to him sing about raising sails and the open water. It’s about as engaging as the dialogue scenes from Castaway.

They may no longer be emo, or post-hardcore (on that note, what is it with music journalists and putting the word ‘post’ before a genre to make a new one?), but in changing direction, they are now a boring, mainstream rock band. Consequently it may lose them a lot of fans who adored their debut effort, ‘Casually Dressed & Deep In Conversation’, and, honestly, I can’t see them finding new legions of devotees as a result of this album.

Garret Cleland

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Review Snapshot:
From the same label that gave us Bjork, The Shamen, & Chumbawamba, with this album B.C. Camplight is assured of household named status. A possible Pet Sounds of the noughties.

The Cluas Verdict? 7.5 out of 10.

Full Review:
Just like many artists before him, Brian Christinzio (or B.C. Camplight to us) set out in life to make the perfect pop record. On his debut album ‘Hide, Run, Away’ was a good try, but now on his second album he’s certainly getting closer.

Opening with the brilliant ‘Suffer For Two’ Christinzio’s harmonies and piano playing make this sound like an unheard Brian Wilson gem. There’s reminiscence for Pink Floyd on ‘Lord I’ve Been On Fire’, and ‘Soy Tonto’ would sit well on any lounge lizard album.

Despite struggling with his own mental illness, he worked as a volunteer in mental hospitals and a New Jersey Jail, specifically to collect stories that he could write about, and it’s from these stories that he’s created this album. Some happy, some personal and some unique (such as 'I’ve Got A Bad Cold', which has a bit of Pink Floyd and The Beach Boys all mashed up together).

There’s something for all tastes here.

Mick Lynch

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Review Snapshot:
Even Rick Rubin’s magical production skills can’t save this mediocre album as Linkin Park set about looking for a new direction, and new fans, but in the process, forget the 40 million that fell in love with their previous sound.

The Cluas Verdict? 3 out of 10.

Full Review:
One of the most anticipated albums of 2007 sees American sextet Linkin Park team up with Rick Rubin, the man with the midas touch, as they try to expand on the success of Hybrid Theory and Meteora.

Recorded over 14 months, ‘Minutes To Midnight’ sees Linkin Park taking a chance at trying to re-invent themselves, but putting a weak instrumental ‘Wake’ as the album opener doesn’t do them any favours. By track two ‘Given Up’, the screams of “tell me what the f**k is wrong with me” doesn’t make the song a memorable one, and on ‘Bleed It Out’ Mike Shinoda raps over some out of date 80s clapping sound effects.

Chester Bonnington takes lead vocals on ‘Shadow Of The Day’ and he sounds remarkably like Bono. The song is very reminiscent of ‘With Or Without You’, but I put that down to Rubin’s influence.

The first single from the album ‘What I’ve Done’ isn’t great, but it does contain a haunting piano intro that would sit well on any Hitchcock soundtrack.

 George Bush’s war on Iraq isn’t ignored here either. The bands frustration is demonstrated on songs like ‘Hands held High’ and ‘The Little Things Give You Away’, the latter written shortly after they visited New Orleans, following Hurricane Katrina.

For me the standout tracks are the ballads. They may never reach the brilliance of Rob Thomas and Matchbox Twenty but on ‘Leave Out All The Rest’ Bonnington does a superb job vocally and displays the soft rock side of Linkin Park, a side that I never knew existed.

Speaking of ballads, ‘Valentines Day’ starts out as one, but halfway through; the band loses their way and are unsure what sound they are trying to achieve. They have saved the best for last however with the aforementioned ‘The Little Things Give You Away’.

With this album Linkin Park wanted to create something that maintained the integrity of the band's personality, but pushed their boundaries. The fans that bought their previous albums will have problems adapting to this new direction, and with 100 songs to choose from during the making of this album, I think they could have chosen more wisely.

Mick Lynch

 To buy a new or (very reasonably priced) 2nd hand copy of this album on Amazon just click here.

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CLUAS Verdict: 8 out of 10

Prince once again demonstrates why he is the pre-eminent popular musician in American life on this big name tribute to 1970s songwriter Joni Mitchell

Originally planned for release in the 1990s, this tribute to Joni Mitchell by some of the biggest names in the music business such as Elvis Costello, Brad Meldhu, k.d lang, Annie Lennox and her former lover James Taylor conforms to type by being neither flesh nor fowl. Lovers of Mitchell's spare arrangements and tensed up, anguished vocals will find these interpretations over produced and slick and fans of the contributing artists will equally wonder why their heroes recorded songs by an artist better known for her lyrics than her melodies. The low point of this record is an appaling rendtion of 'The Boho Dance' by Bjork and the absolute highlight is 'A Case of You' by Prince which flows out of the speakers like Manuka honey. The man is a solid gold genius and this cut sounds like it was done in a single take; Prince sits down at piano, tape starts rolling, wonderful music pours out of him, effortlessly. The 8 I've given for this record is reserved for that track alone. Nice one Prince, nice one Joni.

Jules Jackson

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CLUAS Rating: 3 out of 10

Spidey finds his inner dark side: cue rather predictable 'alt'-'rock' mixum-gatherum. Of the new songs, only Yeah Yeah Yeahs sound vaguely motivated. Snow Patrol parody themselves; The Killers photocopy U2. Apart from YYYs and 'The Twist', not worth the listen.

Plot summary of 'Spiderman 3' (as deduced from the soundtrack):

He can save the world (U2-soundalikes The Killers) but Spiderman just can't tell his feisty girl (Yeah Yeah Yeahs, the only interesting new track here) his real feelings (Snow Patrol, sounding like a 'Gift Grub' version of themselves). Instead, he spends his evenings spurting out icky white gunk (Jet, The Walkmen).

Suddenly he's faced with a mutant villain who irritates innocent victims to death with his nuclear-powered smug wackiness (Flaming Lips, irritatingly 'wacky' as ever). There's a surprise plot development ('The Twist' by Chubby Checker, sounding as fresh as tomorrow's bread), a tearful hospital bed death (Snow Patrol; see above) before Spidey finally prevails and saves the world to the sound of cheering from citizens/random nobodies (Simon Dawes, Rogue Wave, The Wyo's, and lots more)

Meanwhile, the real heroes (Jason Falkner plays keyboards on two tracks here)go about their daily grind with no fanfare...

Aidan Curran

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Smart lyrics, neat sitar lick, nice groove; whats not to like about HyBrasil's latest tune, "God Bless The Devil". Here's the video for your enjoyment.

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The talk of Paris this week is cycling. Not le Tour, though, but le  Velib' - the new public bikes introduced by the mairie (city hall) last Sunday, following the example of Lyon (where the scheme has been in place for a couple of years).

All around the city, at intervals of a few hundred metres, there are rows of bikes, available to use for a subscription of €1 daily, €5 weekly or €29 for a year. The first half hour use is free but then you must pay €1 for the next half hour, and so on. A €150 deposit dissuades you from keeping or trashing the velo.

With such charges, the scheme is aimed more at short-hop commuters rather than tourists. Still, technically it's possible to cycle free for a whole day - if you change bicycles every half hour. Strategic planning comes in handy.

As it happens, most of Paris is within 20 minutes cycling range - from the Arc de Triomphe to the Bastille (the west-east axis) is fairly flat, but Montmartre and Saint Michel are on hills. In particular, cycling up Montmartre would be a bit of a slog - the bikes (right) are built to be durable and at 22kg are quite heavy as well as being unattractive. And all are girls' bikes!

Also, Parisian drivers are notoriously homicidal, and there aren't many cycle lanes in the city centre.

Still, the initial take-up has been a huge success and everyone is talking about using them this summer. Look out for them next time you visit Paris.

Could something similar work in Dublin, Cork, Belfast or Galway?

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Until 2007, the idea of an Irish film about surfing was, well, rather like a Jamaican film about bob sleighing but now a new wave of Irish filmmakers, all with close links to Ireland's surfing community have stepped forward to commit a serious, new vision of surfing to celluloid that is far removed from Hollywood's sunlit Malibu centric image of the sport.

Firstly, there is surfer Naomi Britton's elegaic and poetic tale of the early days of Irish surfing, 'The Silver Surfari' which premiered in March and has been touring the country to packed audiences prior to a television broadcast.

Next up is Gavin Gallagher's, "And Then The Wind Died...", which documents the discovery and surfing of Ireland's big wave beast Aileens off the Cliffs of Moher, a wave that is akin to the monster surf of Waimea Bay. The film premieres at the Cois Fharraige Music festival in September.

Finally, there is Joel Conroy's big budget, 'Wave Riders', which interweaves an account of the advent of tow surfing in Ireland with the life story of Irish American surfing pioneer George Freeth.

Taken together, these films offer a comprehensive account of Irish surfing, where it came from, where it is right now and where it is going. Sound Waves applauds these young filmmakers and encourages the patrons of Cluas to seek out these films, if only to enjoy the often glorious music used on their soundtracks.

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