I’ve been getting a lot of feedback lately, telling me that you are enjoying the blog which is fantastic news. It’s always nice to know that your little hobby actually is of some use… especially when it is a blog πŸ˜‰ Remember, each post has a comments section and it would be really good to get some feedback, comments or just a shout out. It all adds to the experience.

One comment I have had is to post more regular reviews. Hopefully, you have all noticed an improvement in that over the last few weeks but just to add my thoughts on that – I don’t want to just chuck stuff out there for the sake of it. As we all know, albums can take a few listens before they get under your skin and until you really appreciate them. Plus, I’m trying to look after the difficult balance of finding music that you might like, or be interested in, rather than just chucking anything at you. So I’ll try to keep up the current rate of 2ish a week and hopefully that will work. Of course, if I can’t find anything to write about, then there’s not a lot I can do πŸ˜‰

Right, now that’s out of the way, I have found an interesting band from New Zealand. We’ve had a couple of Aussies on the site before but never anyone from New Zealand so that’s quite exciting in itself!

The band are called “Naked and Famous” and this is “Passive Me, Aggressive You”.

Passive Me, Agressive You by The Naked and Famous
Passive Me, Agressive You by The Naked and Famous

Apparently, their name is taken from a Tricky song all about the aspirations of fame and this is their debut album.

What we have here is a bit of a mix of lots of bands and styles all thrown together into one big melting pot. Each track has its own influence buck there’s everything from a hint of Radiohead through to a touch of The XX, from Cut Copy to MGMT, and Nine Inch Nails to Delphic. It’s a real smorgasbord of sounds and styles, but what’s really nice about it is it all seems to fit together beautifully.

I said earlier that they are described as a ‘rock’ band and although there is a slight feel of that about it, the addition of the electro-pop sounds and dance feel to some of the tracks make them a little less rock and a bit more… something else. And with 13 tracks (not including the remix of “Young Blood”) there is a real journey to be taken on.

It’s not a classic album but as a debut, it’s extremely good. The raw talent of the band shines out and with all of the ideas and nice mix of the two singers, you are treated to an album that is hard to lose interest in because it keeps changing its direction… but not without maintaining the overall context.

Some of the latter tracks like “A Wolf in Geek’s Clothing” might be a bit hard on the ears for some but that is only a minor blemish in a predominantly pleasureable listening experience. And anyway, for some, that might be more their thing anyway.

It’s a bit of an album for all really, and as such, one I recommend you give a whirl. I found I needed a couple of listens to really get into it but it definitely could my attention on the first listen. I hope it will do the same for you.

This one gets three G’s.

GGG

2 thoughts on “A little bit of everything : Passive Me, Aggressive You by The Naked and Famous

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