Niki N. Phaser » sean moore

Manic Street Preachers Announce New Album

Niki N. Phaser — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 21:57:50 +0000

So, the rumours were wrong… Manic Street Preachers‘ next album will not be titled It’s Not War – Just the End of Love, but Postcards From A Young Man. It will be their 10th, due to be released this September, and even though they call it “one last shot at mass communication” let’s hope they are not getting crazy ideas like retiring. They might also mean just that this new album will be more radio-friendly than Journal for Plague Lovers, last year’s ultimate alternative masterpiece. At least, that’s what James Dean Bradfield told NME. Their last pop-oriented release was Lifeblood (which is, btw, the album that made me fall in love with this band), so things are looking good. And if you are in the UK, your luck is double, because that is where they start the tour promoting this new one. September through November will see them taking new material to the major joints on the island. Till then, keep your eyes on the Manics’ site:

INFO MANIC

Manics Are Working On New Album

Niki N. Phaser — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 22:13:45 +0000

Well, we can all sigh with relief, Manic Street Preachers are brave enough to do a follow-up to their Richey Edwards written album, Journal for Plague Lovers. In a letter to fans posted on their official website, the three Manics are talking about working on new material: “We have been writing/demoing in Cardiff, songs, ideas and coffee have been flowing”. They also mentioning the movies and the music they are currently into, but that’s less important.

Some reports say that the working title is It’s Not War – Just the End of Love, which sounds pretty Wire-esque (I mean, it’s long enough). It will be the band’s tenth album and it will have the difficult task of following this year’s acclaimed Journal for Plague Lovers, which has the Manics feature in about every Best Albums of 2009 Top there is. And they deserve it, no doubt about it. If you still wonder why…

Question Time

New Documentary About The Manics

Niki N. Phaser — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 10:26:12 +0000

The legend grows… A new documentary about Manic Street Preachers has reached its final stages and is… “coming soon”, to quote the latest trailer. No Manifesto is directed by Elizabeth Marcus, produced and (most importantly with documentaries) edited by Kurt Engfehr, who has quite some experience with editing documentaries: Bowling for Columbine and Fahrenheit 9/11. It promises to change the world of rockumentaries, focusing both on the band and the fans. It doesn’t really sound so new, but what’s important is that this film goes to show once more what modern rock legends Manic Street Preachers really are. They deserve all the attention and all the movies one can make about them, though, to be entirely honest, I am still waiting for a biopic about them or, at least, about Richey. The 2002 Sidney J. Furie comedy Global Heresy seemed like a nod to the whole Richey disappearance episode, even though no one admits it officially. Still, No Manifesto does offer some enticing material, like the band’s time in the studio working on Send Away the Tigers. That alone promises to be very interesting.

No Manifesto TRAILER

Manic Street Preachers Raid The States

Niki N. Phaser — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 15:29:46 +0000

NME is informing us about a new Manic Street Preachers tour in the United States and Canada, after a decade since their last official visit there. The first gig will be in Seattle in September and it will be an occasion for the Manics to take their new album, the already legendary Journal for Plague Lovers, to new crowds. The response to the new material has been more than positive in Europe, both in concerts and in the musical press, though their tour has been a bit jinxed by illness. In the beginning, Nicky Wire had some back problems due to a prolapsed disc, which limited his stage movements dramatically. Also, their Japan appearance at the Nano Mugen Festival had to be cancelled because of Wire’s bacterial gastroenteritis. Hopefully, their US shows will go as planned.

Album review : Manic Street Preachers – Journal for Plague Lovers

Niki N. Phaser — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 08:21:32 +0000

Well, it is pretty much official: Manic Street Preachers have done it again. Journal for Plague Lovers, their latest album, is neither a comeback, nor a return to early days, despite the several connections between this album and The Holy Bible (1994). It is just perfect. It is true, is less piano, strings and synth than Lifeblood (2004), but the exquisite riffs at the core of their latest effort show that they are more sure of themselves than they have ever been. They are an electric guitar band and Send Away the Tigers (2007) gave them just the right push to embrace that identity.

Still, fans of Lifeblood and This is My Truth Tell Me Yours, there are no reasons to worry. Tracks like This Joke Sport Severed, Doors Closing Slowly and Facing Page: Top Left offer plenty of melancholic moments. We can also include here the closing number, William’s Last Words, with vocals by Nicky Wire. Considering the beauty of older B-side Dying Breeds, the return is more than welcomed. Hopefully, this direction will be further investigated.

But, let’s go back to the heavy stuff. Jackie Collins Existensial Question Time is the first single and its sing-along main riff will surely earn spots in “best riff” tops in the years to follow. There is some britpop urgency in tracks like All is Vanity or the title track, but Me and Stephen Hawking or Pretension/Repulsion are pure Manics. More than of The Holy Bible, some of these songs remind us of Generation Terrorists (1992), the band’s date of birth.

The real highlights of the album, if we can really be so heartless as to choose, are Virginia State Epileptic Colony and Marlon JD. The first has it all: it’s schizo-weird in subtle places, then it goes all nostagia on us in the chorus and all of is placed on a splash filled beat by Sean Moore. Marlon JD is one of few Manics songs to be written just by Nicky Wire and it prooves once more that he’s been learning all those years assisting James Dean Bradfield. Marlon JD, the only song on the album to be “helped” by a drum machine, is pure energy. As you might have guessed, it is about Marlon Brando, who makes a “guest appearence” on the track. The JD might be James Dean, but we’ll never know… It’s quite the paradox, that a song written by Wire holds some of Bradfield’s most powerful vocals. Those people who think shouting is not real music, should give Marlon JD a listen. It’s punk for intellectuals.

No, don’t worry, I will not end my review without saying a few words about the lyrics. They are authored by Manics’ guardian angel, Richey Edwards. You will remember them. Some of you will get tatoos of them, others will fill their school desks with them. It is the lyrics that are a nod to the past, because they have that unmistakable filthy intellectual ramblings nature that spawned lines like “He’s a boy, you want a girl so tear off his cock Tie his hair in bunches, fuck him, call him Rita if you want” from the classic Yes.

We can only wonder (and worry) how will the Manics be able to top this one ? Or is this going to be that one perfect album, after which they will disband, the masterpiece they were dreaming of when they started ?