Sound of The Week Returns (!) and album testing

Evening all. I've had a total non-day as I'm rather tired. I've been trying desperately to finally finish Six Feet Under - only two more episodes to go. After I finish it I think I'll start Mad Men. Anyway, it's crazy to think that this time next week September is upon us. This year has flew in at a scarily fast pace. September looks set to be an incredibly busy month for music too. I know I bleat on about Madonna's MDNA Tour and The Clash's Hits Back and Sound System releases, but that literally is just the tip of the iceberg. There's Arctic Monkeys, Janaelle Monae, MGMT, Chrvches, Nine Inch Nails to name but a few. Personally, I can't wait.

Anyway, the song I've been listening to a lot of recently - the past few weeks actually - is by Ladyhawke.  Perhaps surprisingly, I only know a select few tracks from Ladyhawke and I've never listened to either of her albums in full. Anyway - I actually discovered this song by pure chance. I've also been listening to Only Over You by Fleetwood Mac recently (from Mirage). One day I was listening to it on Youtube, and I read some of the comments. One of them said that Ladyhawke's song Morning Dreams basically ripped the song off. Naturally, I looked the song up to hear for myself. I have to say there's definite similarities between the two, mostly in the music. That coupled with the fact they have this very serene sort of atmosphere. I don't mind one iota though - I love both songs. I think it was an intentional homage too. When I researched more about Ladyhawke I discovered that she is a massive Fleetwood Mac fan. In fact, when she stated her five favourite albums of all time no fewer than three of those were Fleetwood Mac albums. I must say, I love her taste. I'll definitely need to hear her two albums soon I think.

Also, in the midst of trying to redecorate my room and get fitter I also finally listened to an album that I've been meaning to do for ages. It was End Of The Century, which is the fifth album by The Ramones. I was underwhelmed by Road To Ruin on the whole. Mainly because I felt it was very... predictable. That they needed fresh ideas by that point. Thankfully, there were fresh ideas in End Of The Century but I did still feel it was pretty mixed in terms of quality. I loved songs like Do You Remember Rock and Roll Radio? and Danny Says. Songs that were completely different and simply could never have featured on a prior record. It was the songs were they tried their more traditional sound were it fell flat though. Songs like I'm Affected were attempts to sound like Ramones of old and thanks to the production, it just fell flat. The heavy handed production did spoil it a lot for me. A shame really, because there were some good ideas, and when the album worked for me it was brilliant. It's just a shame that it was so inconsistent.

So that's it for this week. An unusual one really, what with Joe Strummer's birthday and what have you. This coming week will be quiet for me musically as I attempt to get healthier, get caught up with reading and the like. Although on Friday I'm going to order from an online site that I've never used before. It's called Punk Rock Shop and there's no prizes for guessing what band I'm looking to purchase merchandise from. I was delighted to discover that they had the ultimate Clash T-shirt design I was after (previous searches for the design were a fail). Anyway, I cannot wait to get a few bits and pieces from it. As you could guess, when they arrive I'll be sure to post a picture. See you soon!