Marmaduke Duke - Duke Pandemonium

The second installment from the slightly ridiculous side project of Simon Neil of Biffy Clyro and JP Reid of Sucioperro. Two guys I wouldn't usually describe as groovy, but together, dear Lord they'd make a nodding Jesus figurine look quite un-groovy. So as you can imagine, these guys are extremely groovy. They make about as much sense as a nodding Jesus figurine too, i.e. not a lot at all. But, much like the overly-agreeing Christian guy, they can fascinate you for hours on end. They're live shows are supposed to be just as inspiring as his too, only while he preached claiming to be the Son of God, they wear gimp masks and have the Duke. I can't really explain the Duke. It's quite odd actually, the idea of some guy in costume dancing around on stage, contributing absolutely nothing musically to a musical performance, yet, it's really fun.

That really is the only word to describe what these Scots are after doing. They've taken a break from their more serious musical commitments, and used their hard-earned musical reputations to have a bit of a mess. The music that came from it, some of it's good, some of it's not great, and the rest of it's also not great, but fricking fantastic. The jumpy bouncy happy Silhouettes makes it impossible for even the stiffest of dance floor inhabitants to stand still. Equally rhythmically invigorating is the outstanding opening riff of Pandemonium. The song on the whole is certainly one of the strongest, if not a bit stretched out. Singles Kid Gloves, and Rubber Lover are both fun and catchy, true to the album's trend, but what the album does lack is a real flagship single. Even now I'm struggling to think of my favourite song off what actually is a fantastic album, and I can't make my mind up. They're all good, some really really good; Je Suis Un Funky Homme, if I had to choose, probably my current favourite, but that's likely to change more often than Lady Gaga's female validity.

However, I guess it's hardly a bad thing that no one song is more genius than any of the others. In fact, I'd say that's probably the charm of MD - they haven't gone out to write a chart-topping single, or a bangin' summer anthem, they've just had a bit of fun writing an album that is different to what they've become famous for writing. It couldn't be helped that their genius rubbed off on it eh? With Simon now back with a new album from BC, and soon to start a tour with them, I'm afraid to say that the Duke is likely to be put back in the attic for a year or so. Unless, of course, that Simon can somehow manage to be in two places at once. Not likely, but I wouldn't put it past him, Il Est Un Extremely Funky Homme. 8/10

Muse - The Resistance

So how excited were you? Ya know, when you heard Muse were releasing their fifth studio album on the 14th of September 2009? Then, how confused were you when you first heard the slightly odd United States of Eurasia? Then, how reassured were you when you remembered it was Matt Bellamy singing and playing guitar, often at the same time, with Chris Wolstenholme on bass and, also curiously at-the-same-time, contributing backing vocals, while Dom Howard played drums, and concluded that it obviously worked and you just hadn't figured it out yet? Excitement, confusion, ridiculous amounts of awe, all instilled by, realistically one of the weaker songs on this album. I changed the last one btw, because reassurance doesn't last long. The ridiculous amounts of awe set in pretty quickly once you figure it out. Even if you don't, just take my word for it. You could just listen to the album again and again until you figured it out for yourself, and you would, but I almost KO'ed in ecstasy during the lyrically orgasmic Undisclosed Desires the first two times I tried, so for those of you who suffer from heart problems, back pains, or got knocked up over the summer, yous best stick to Kasabian's latest for now. It's called something really long, so I'm not going to bother typing it out.

Honesty time though. I'm kinda biased. I was always going to give this album a 10/10. I dunno, it'd just be weird if I didn't. It's kinda like, when you're out on the lash, so on the lash you're almost on the floor, and you're at that stage where even that freaky ass girl with the gammy eye that's trying to give you the one good eye she has is looking pretty pretty fucking hot. Except you're the girl with the gammy eye, and you're trying to eye up Muse's new album, only you've got a gammy eye so you haven't got a fucking clue what he looks like, but you've hardly got standards when it comes to Muse, you've got a gammy eye for 'em, so you're going to think he's amazing regardless. Only, as mentioned, Muse went pretty all out this time, so, when they give it to you regardless of your gammy eye, of course, even by non-gammy-eyed standards, it's out of this world.

It is amazing. Call it different if you want, but this is exactly what was expected of the Devon homerockers. They could have gone and just written a follow-up to Black Holes & Revelations, and even if they had, it probably also would have kicked numerous asses, but that's just a bit...boring? Matt and Co. have clearly already mastered how to write award winning albums, now they're moving onto bigger things; global conspiracies, symphonies, Matt even sings French in one of the songs. The fact that such a fantastic album came out while they're at it? Oh-so Muse. Unnatural Selection is the most beautiful possible flashback to their Origin of Symmetry days, while how far they've come is almost arrogantly shoved in your face through the inspiring 3-part, Exogenesis. But the real gem of this album comes in the form of MK Ultra. Aaaaaaaarrghgughhgudhjbskjhidhjiii1ii1i11i. Listen to it, and you'll understand why I made that noise. Almost every song on this album could be single-material. I would say every song, only one can't help get the sense that Guiding Light is a bit lacking. It's not that it's bad, just you can't help but feel a little disappointed when it comes on, in that it's the one flaw in an otherwise flawless masterpiece. But then MK Ultra comes on again and Aaaaaaaarrghgugh...

I could go on and on praising this album, but at the end of the day, it all comes down the what this album ultimately means for people, and, for once when it comes to Muse, it's really quite simple. Those who are gammy-eyed for Muse get the best thing that ever happened to them. And those that aren't gammy-eyed for Muse? Because, yes, they do exist. There are many out there who weren't excited when they heard there was a Muse album on the horizon. Who weren't gobsmacked by the awesome Uprising, because they didn't hear it. What happens to them? Well, they're just going to keep hearing about the girl who got laid by the best album of 2009 so far, because fuck me if I'm ever going to stop shouting about it. 10/10