Wonder Villains - Zola EP

With school behind them, Wonder Villains can concentrate on music more fully and they weren't planning on taking their time, already releasing their first proper EP on No Dancing Records, which is out on the 17th of October 2011 and Touring with General Fiasco (dates below) is their latest addition to the list which includes New Young Pony Club and The Undertones as well as their performances at BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend, Glasgowbury and T-vital.



The title track Zola is an incredibly catchy, somewhat humorous pop tune with so much going so much going for it and such rave reviews that the only thing stopping Wonder Villains from growing an intergalactic ego is that they've heard it all before. If Gianfranco Zola ever hears this song you'd have to assume he'd be pretty pleased as not only is it a brilliant song, it's lyrics state pretty clearly that he was a brilliant player.


The Wonder Villains - Zola by AU Magazine

In 33 the instruments take a small step back, in order for you to really concentrate on the lyrics which is especially useful as all Wonder Villains song are perfect for singing along to and with their upbeat pop feel it's impossible not to feel good listening to this EP. Not to be forgotten about though, the small step back doesn't mean the instrumental side to this track is any less great and it, in fact, it has a keyboard you could listen to all day long (which makes it a shame that the song's only 2:37 long).


Then comes Running In Circles, written a good three years ago it was bound to be a little different to their more recent work, but definitely not in a bad way! With a little faster paced vocals it might not be as easy to sing along to but that doesn't stop you trying but  if you're looking for a song that's a little less pop and has much more guitar while keeping the Wonder Villains catchy style, you've found it.

If you were looking for something to complain about, however, it might not have been so fruitful. You'll probably have noticed that all three songs are quite short, averaging at 2:30 but you'll also have noticed that each song is so good you're just gonna stick it on repeat anyway. And when you do that, you'll realize these songs get better each time and that's something which can back up the BBC when they describe it as "An all conquering hit." and said "it really is pop gold." If you can't tell already, I agree and that's why i'm giving the EP an all out 95% but I've given you two of the three to listen to (Running In Circles below) and 33 can be found  here, along with the other two... so feel free to make your own mind up and post what you think below, in the comments section.

Tour Dates (with General Fiasco):

Sat 22nd Oct - Academy 2, Dublin
Sun 23rd Oct - Thekla, Bristol
Tues 25th Oct - King Tuts, Glasgow
Wed 26th Oct - Rainbow, Birmingham
Thurs 27th Oct - Islington academy 2, London
Sat 29th Oct - Deaf institute, Manchester
Sun 30th Oct - Queens, Belfast

The Subways - Money and Celebrity Album

We all know that The Subways can produce a great album, having already released two already, but what is it that makes Money and Celebrity better or worse than the rest? For me it's a lot more Celebrity than Money that gives it the edge, the two title tracks are very different with Celebrity's well sung, catchy lyrics and complimenting instrumentals, each instrument fully utilized to create a fantastic song, it's very hard not to make the perfectly adequate album track Money not sound a bit substandard. The truth is if the rest of the album wasn't so good Money could easily be the hit single whereas next to pretty much the whole rest of the album it does get drowned out and forgotten about. It should also be noted that Celebrity's intro sounds an awful lot like Bloc Party's Helicopter but who can blame them, it's a great riff.

We Don't Need Money To Have A Good Time is the latest single which is completely understandable as this upbeat rock song has a little bit of the previous two albums with that third new album feel all mixed into it. I Wanna Dance With You has an irresistible chorus with some enjoyable lyrics in between. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang has a chorus capable of charting but as with several other songs on the album, parts of the rest of the song isn't quite on the same level. Down Our Street isn't really a contender for next single like the previous three though Charlotte's vocals during the chorus certainly add to what is still a great song.

Leave My Side isn't a song that I would expect to be the pinnacle of a live performance like Kiss Kiss Bang Bang or We Don't Need Money To Have A Good Time but is again a good song despite a an unfortunately low quantity of vocals from Charlotte. The same can't be said of Popdeath which has plenty of vocals from Charlotte and is all the better for it, though more somber to match the mood of the song, her vocals are at least on a par with her vocals in the chorus of Down Our Street.

Rumour has a strong rock feel to it compared to song of the others, which are definitely still great rock songs, but Rumour takes it's powerful guitar riffs and adds that secret ingredient of most the songs in the album, a catchy chorus to get you embarrassingly singing along to whilst on public transport. At first I thought that they had accidentally put At 1 AM on the new album by mistake but once I got past the intro of Like I Love You I encountered another another good chorus and more brilliant vocals from Charlotte. Both the highlight of the album and something i'd love to hear more of, Charlotte's vocals had a strong impact on my opinion of each song and greatly improves the album. Although there are many other aspects that shouldn't be overlooked, they are definitely the main thing that makes this album special to me.

I'd rate this album at 86% and definitely worth listening to several times as it gets better with every listen (I was originally going to give it about 78%). Below is celebrity (and a comment box in which you can share your opinions), I couldn't decide a favourite song as there are so many great ones in this album but this is definitely up there and since it's a title track, why not.