While Weezer are my favourite band, I don't count myself a proper Weezer fan. A proper Weezer fan goes on forums saying the band haven't done anything decent since 1996's 'Pinkerton'. What I am is a Weezer apologist. While songs such as 'I'm Your Daddy' and 'The Girl Got Hot' have made it very hard for me to defend the American quartet's recent releases, every album has at least a handful of great pop songs.

Although Rivers has said that 'Everything Will Be Alright In The End' would be an album their “fans” will enjoy and they'd stop pandering to the masses, he does so in the fucking lyrics of lead single, 'Back To The Shack'! It only comes across as cheesy. While the much maligned 'Pork and Beans' was as self-referential, 'Back To The Shack' does not have the melodies to back it up.

'Ain't Got Nobody' starts with a chugging distorted guitar not dissimilar to 'Hurley''s 'Trainwrecks'. There is a difference to this and 'Trainwrecks' and it's Ric Ocasek's (producer of Weezer's blue and green albums) rougher production. It is anthemic and exciting opener to the album.

'Eulogy For a Rock Band', a tribute to 'one of Weezer's forefathers is also one of the better tracks of the album. While the verses' lyrics don't seem to rhyme whatsoever, it can be overlooked with such a rich chorus, a great contrast to the minimalist verses.

There's a lot to be nostalgic about with 'EWBAITE'. The production, solos and falsetto sections really take you back to listening to 'Blue' or 'Maladroit' for the first time. Unlike past albums, this is definitely the same Weezer we know and love. The problem is that it's still a disappointing record.

While there's great moments here and there, it's plagued with missteps like 'Eulogy''s verses. 'Lonely Girl', for example, starts with, presumably, an incredibly catchy chorus. After a cool minor pre-chorus (or is it?), you're ready for it to come back in and for you to sing “My Lonely Girl” at the top of your lungs. However, it only comes back at the very end of the song.

The verses in 'The British Are Coming' have a really pretty melody sung in unison with the lead guitar but the song's title is such a weird lyric that it detracts from the rest of the song. This doesn't ruin the song but there are songs where that is the case. 'I've Had It Up To Here' (or 'Back To The Shack 2' as it could be named) has really funky falsetto verses (with noticeable input from co-writer Justin Hawkins) but is squandered by a shitty chorus. The same goes for 'Cleopatra' which has awkward irregular timing but still managed to be boring. 'Foolish Father' starts off really cool and dark but has the happiest, poppiest chorus on the album. It's not bad and the track becomes its own thing with a cool outro (the album's title being sung by a children's choir) but the verses are just so out of place with the rest of the track.

The album does, however have one Weezer's best songs ever. 'Go Away', a duet with Best Coast's Bethany Cosentino, is so catchy and more importantly so Weezery. It has 'In The Garage' style underneath 'Don't You Want Me, Baby' style lyrics.

The thing with Weezer's lyrics, is there's no subtlety to them. While effective in Pinkerton in portaying multiple fuck ups with women, the lyrics in EWBAITE either seem too tongue-in-cheek (Back To The Shack, Ain't Got Nobody), overearnest (Eulogy For a Rock Band) or dishonest. Rivers is a married guy with a kid. Nobody is buying that he 'Ain't Got Nobody' or that he's been told to 'Go Away' by a girlfriend after screwing around.

While Ric Ocasek's production of 'Everything Will Be Alright In The End' is a welcome return to Weezer's sound, the songs are simply not there. I hope Weezer continue to work with Ocasek but write better songs like those on 'Hurley'.

How do you go about writing an article on a compilation album? Normally with some difficulty.

You tie in the past work of the artist and talk about their progression and high and low points in their career. Or in this case, you talk about the individual who configured the tracks, what you get out of the album, and whether it was a worthwhile project.

There’s certainly no doubt that Annie Mac Presents 2014 – the latest of the annual electronic albums from the wonderful Radio One host – is a purchase worth making. This album is jam-packed with unbelievable tunes.

Annie commands a certain presence when it comes to this scene of course. She’s the one to look to when you want the freshest tunes, want to hear something other than mainstream generics or want to see where the scene is heading in the next couple of years.

The Irish music mogul has been responsible for introducing us and millions of others to some of the biggest anthems of the past years before they meet the public eye, and because of this, when she puts out an album, it’s worth taking your time to have a couple of listens.

In fact, not only is this a great complication album from Annie, it’s one that has some massive tracks exclusive to the record. Hannah Wants and Chris Lorenzo’s mahoosicve anthem ‘Rhymes’ is the first track on the release, and it’s the only place you can actually get the summer-smasher right now.

Likewise, Tiga’s mad new track ‘Bugatti’ is available only through AMP14, and it’s new tracks like this alongside older anthems from throughout the year that make this release one you can’t miss out on.

The AMP series manages to sum up the electronic dance scene in one two-disc collection year after year. It features the influential names that have taken EDM in a new direction since the previous release – in this case Duke Dumont, Gorgon City, MK, Disclosure, Skream and more – and the smaller names that have come out with some of the biggest recent tunes you won’t be forgetting – Ten Walls, Oliver Heldens, Route 94 and Kiesza for example.

It lets you know who’s on top of the scene and reminds you who to look out for in the future.

It also features the artists that you’ve probably never heard of that will be providing the soundtrack for the next twelve months, and this is where AMP always comes into its own.

As well as the classics, and some new remixes of songs you’ve lost your shit to time and time again, the likes of Nao vs. A.K. Paul, Caribou, Nautic and Lapsley. Genres are no limits as long as it fits into the electronic bracket. This is an album for musical education and for the people who want to be the guy at the party that knows more than everyone else.

From the best of deep house to chilled electronics, the freshest drum and bass rhythms and the fattest basslines, Annie Mac is always going to be the queen. Trust in Annie, and you will be guided to a wonderful place.

It’s our musical motto over at the JFC HQ.

                                                                                                                         Stuart Kenny

The new album from Gorgon City arrived under a weight of expectation not usually so hefty for a debut release.

Album tracks ‘Real’ and ‘Ready For Your Love’ had already ripped through the British charts, spent months causing mayhem in clubs and been remixed more times than Renee Zellwegger’s face.

The early couple of tunes gave listeners an excellent example of what was to come on Sirens, the new record, showcasing the original house vibes of the duo with a couple of tunes driven by soft vocals and bassline soft enough not to overpower, but emphatic enough to make you take note.

Third single 'Here For You' stuck to this mantra, building with a quiet, addictive melody before unleashing a big fat bassline that doesn’t rush and doesn’t overwhelm, but does give you reason to take to the dance floor and lose your freakin' shit.

That’s effectively what is found throughout Sirens – it’s an album where every track has a beautifully inventive and unique melody, more creative than the chart house template cluttering the scene and more accessible than much of the stuff at the core of EDM. It’s not just a bass-driven rave-bound tracklist, it’s an album that lends itself to casual listening and chill-out sessions too.

‘Coming Home’ is the wonderful opening track featuring Maverick Sabre. Piano mixes with a basic beat and gentle vocals sing lyrics much more effective than the usual trance nonsense. A slight but subdued step up at the chorus brings an addictive edge to the chilled out house beat.

Mav Sabre returns to close the album as well with ‘Hard on Me’, a vocal-focused number where the production team take a back seat. Less is more is the order of the day with Gorgon City, and it’s fantastically refreshing.

‘Lover Like You’ sees Katy B take to the microphone and play over a beautifully fresh rhythm, and ‘FTPA’ again sees the duo produce with a perfect vocalist for the job – Erik Hassle on this occasion. The songs show that pounding bass and screaming lyrics and often better replaced with the soft and the sensual.

British rockers Mallory Knox have returned with Asymmetry, the follow up to their killer debut album Signals – and the new record picks up almost exactly where the old one left off.

‘Ghost in the Mirror’ is the first song and lead single on the new release, but you’d be forgiven for mistaking it for a track taken from the previous record.

Not that that’s a bad thing of course. Signals was an album packed with awesome instrumentals, rhythmic vocals and original, addictive hooks that are rarely heard in these days where YouTube disasters rule the charts.

The album was consistent but emphatic, and ‘Ghost in the Mirror’ recalls that flow, with a lively opening, supple but fast-flowing verses and energetic choruses carrying through to the finish.

This is a theme that continues through Asymmetry, with ‘Getaway’, an anthemic sing-a-long tune, and ‘Fire’, an insert with some awesome riffs and rhythms, proving the pick of the songs that maintain that template.

Despite some good work though, the Cambridge five-piece do seem to get a little lost at times. With ‘Shout At The Moon’ and ‘Heart & Desire’ they settle for lacklustre punk-pop rhythms heard hundreds of times before. You'll be screaming 'again?!' at your iTunes and shouting at MK to stop the poppy howling.

With the seven and a half minute ‘She Took Him To The Lake’ meanwhile, the band they go too far in the other direction, experimenting with styles in a ballad that contains glimmers of genius but should be half as long.

It’s on these numbers that the infamous pressure of the ‘second album’ can be felt. The need to polish and refine from a début record means Mallory Knox have had to sacrifice some of the raw power on Asymmetry that made Signals so successful.

The band do regroup for a grandstand finish though. ‘Lonely Hours’ suggests some genuine progression from previous work as great vocals from Mikey Chapman are met with a subdued but perfectly orchestrated instrumental offering.

The result is one of the best tracks on the album, and it sets you up neatly for concluding couple ‘The Remedy’ and ‘Dare You’. The former is a punchy, dramatic number that shows the ingenuity some of the previous numbers lacked. The latter is a daring end to the record, with over a minute of sick guitar and drum work leading up to an addictive rhythm and appropriate end.

These concluding songs prove what most of us already know – that Mallory Knox are up there with the best in Britain and have the potential to turn global stars. They just have to harness that original edge heard in their best material first and turn away from the samey template that makes much of the middle of this album a bit of a drag.

That’s not to say it’s not an enjoyable record of course – there are some brilliant songs and song certain chart hits on the tracklist – but overall, it’s just not quite as powerful or addictive as you would hope such a release would be.

                                                                                                                   Stuart Kenny

“Why the fuck is there a U2 album on my iTunes? said many on the 9th of September when U2 put new album 'Songs of Innocence', not only for free but, automatically on iTunes users computer and phones.

I, for one was excited, having spent the past year stifling laughs in public listening to Scott Aukerman and Adam Scott's 'U Talkin' U2 To Me?' podcast on my iPod. Amongst the podcast's completely irrelevant tangents and weird bits, it does, in fact, have some interesting nuggets of information about the band and admittedly had me replaying my U2 Greatest Hits CD. I'd also heard that the album would be produced by Dangermouse, whose latest album with Broken Bells is one of the best released this year.

The album starts off very well with the band singing a high 'ohs' over a drum rim rhythm followed by huge dirty power chords from The Edge. It works as a great start to an album. Unfortunately 'The Miracle (of Joey Ramone)' slightly loses this momentum with an awkward transition between the verses and chorus. The track's lyrics, however, are very good. The song is about a Ramones concert that the Irish quartet sneaked into as kids and how the band wouldn't be around were it not for that experience. The lyrics don't name check Joey Ramone in the song and it feels slightly hacky that they have him in the video and in the title of the song.

While the album doesn't really have an overall sound like 'Achtung Baby' or 'All That You Can't Leave Behind', the album does display each producer at their best. For example 'Every Breaking Wave' and 'California (There is No End to Love)' have huge choruses backed by lush production typical to Tedder songs like 'Halo' and 'Counting Stars' and Epworth produced tracks like 'Rolling in the Deep' and 'Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)', whereas brooding electro ballad 'Sleep Like A Baby Tonight' perfectly displays Dangermouse's production at its best with sleek synth tracks and a haunting falsetto verse.

While musically disparate, the album is held together lyrically by the theme of youth, present throughout the tracks. Bono has said that 'Songs of Innocence' is their most personal album which is exemplified with 'Song for Someone', a very sweet love about meeting his wife at 12, and 'Iris (Hold Me Close)' a song about his Mum dying at a young age.

While lyrically quite stunning, 'Iris (Hold Me Close) comes across as another filler U2 track complete with The Edge's overused delay effect. Other unremarkable tracks are 'Cedarwood Road' and 'This Is Where You Reach Me'. The worst track on the album is Volcano, a faux sexy jam with cringeworthy spoken word sections and a really boring and annoying chorus.

Luckily, it is followed by, best track on the album, 'Raised by Wolves', an incredibly atmospheric track telling the story of a car bombing in Dublin that was witnessed by one of Bono's friends. The track performs the cool trick of building to something, dying down and then building up again. By the time the first chorus plays, so much tension has been built so when it finally does play, it's fucking great. A very prominent doubler effect is put on Bono as he wails the track's title over tribal-esque drums from Larry Mullen Jnr.

The album closes with 'The Troubles' a eery duet with Swedish indie starlet, Lykke Li The quiet ballad has Bono looking back and saying 'You're not my troubles, any more'. It works very well as a closer as it puts a lid on traumatic events discussed within the album.

U2 have said they'd follow 'Songs of Innocence' with 'Songs of Experience'. If they can encapsulate their later years with the honesty and fantastic production utilized in portraying their youth, this can only be good news. They may need to find a less hate-inspiring way of releasing it and less embarrassing album artwork.

A homecoming party is always that bit more special than your regular celebratory bash. So when notorious revelry kings Rudimental returned to London for the first time in months, it was always bound to be a messy night.

The dynamic Hackney four-piece were back in their homeland for the iTunes Festival after an extensive tour of the globe, and they didn’t waste any time easing into their return.

“We love London town,” bellowed DJ Locksmith, bounding out on the stage in front of lights blazing the name of the band around the circular Camden venue.

Accompanying him? The rest of the Rudimental boys and their famous entourage – two lead vocalists, three back-up singers, trumpets and saxophones blasting out brass madness and a crazy drummer combining to crash out the carnivalistic chaos with which the group are now synonymous.

A frantic introduction got the crowd going, and the group built on their bouncing intro with a jazzed up version of album track ‘Give You Up’ – which then transcended into the full drum and bass banger – and ‘Right Here’, the steel drum driven anthem near enough impossible not to love.

Given that the iTunes Festival is an event with free ticketing – meaning the crowd is a mix of loyal fans and those who happened to get a penny-less pass – it’s pretty impressive that the crowd were so behind the gig.

If anyone can win over an audience, though, it’s Rudimental. The sheer mass of musical madness and the hypnotic energy being churned out from the stage is scarily easy to get lost in.

Bouncing next to a group of like-minded revellers as the group unleash ‘Not Giving In’, one sweaty twenty-something shouts out ‘I don’t even know who these guys are – I’m into heavy metal music!’

It certainly doesn’t seem to have affected his enjoyment or hindered his dance moves. Even if you don’t come to a Rudimental gig as a fan, it’s more than likely you’ll leave as one.

It’ wasn’t all the same old, same old from the producers either. New material came in the form of ‘To Cool To Love Me’ and ‘Breathe’, the former a solid song lacking an addictive hook, the latter a banger that goes ballistic at the drop. Caught up in the moment, the crowd lapped it up.

Emile Sande feature ‘Free’ brought a big crowd reaction, but the piece de resistance of the homecoming set came as it began to draw to a close. When you’re in London, there’s one song you can always rely on to make the locals go wild – whatever the day, whatever the occasion.

When Rudimental dropped a cover of Shy FX’s jungle classic ‘Original Nuttah’, then, the place went wild. We were bouncing around harder than a kangaroo on a trampoline reverberating the legendary lyrics back at the stage.

Feel the Love capped the regular set off with a bang, the signature heart signs taking to the air across the crowd and Mark Crown absolute slaying his trumpet solo to make the crowd lose their minds. 

Five or fifteen choruses later and it was time for a brief break and an encore. The song the crowd had been ‘Waiting All Night’ for (Geddit?!) smashed through the speakers to end a night that can best be described as a freakin' crazy indoor carnival.

Rudimental prove once again that they deserve their reputation as one of the best live acts around. They always provide an occasion to remember and the feel-good vibes get the audience mad.

Never let it be said that drum and bass is all about a computer screen.

                                                                                                               Stuart Kenny