A Lesson in Stage Presence: Mayday Parade @ Islington Academy 8.10.10

Derek Sanders & Alex Garcia of Mayday Parade

'Two entries in four days?!', I hear you say. It must be some kind of record. Having started my Newspaper Journalism MA at City University three weeks ago, I've constantly had drilled into me the importance of an active online presence, so here I am, attempting to write something interesting at least once a week and maybe more when times call for it.

While my classmates discuss some of their impressive blogs about current affairs, politics, and even sport (a timeless and honourable pastime), I find myself keeping rather schtum about the fact I like to write about the kind of music more generally favoured by those at least 5 years my junior, for fear of ridicule. However, this is what I know about, and what I enjoy, so better to write something well informed and fun than to drag out some unqualified and half-hearted comment about the inner-workings of North Korea's corrupt pastry industry in the hope that it might result in a smidgen of kudos, when the likelihood is it would result in equal ridicule anyway.

To the point of this entry, anyway. I popped to Islington o2 Academy on Friday evening (8.10.10) to see some of the aforementioned music being performed, as power-popsters The Maine and Mayday Parade played to the packed venue.

Jimmy Gets Old: Invented album review

The obligatory, over-used apology of the not-so-seasoned blogger "it's been a while" tarnishes the screen once more as I begin yet another entry that follows the previous one by at least 2 months. After the last, overly political essay, I thought I'd take this one back to basics with a simple CD review to try and tempt readers back in at a nice accessible level.

The CD in question is the latest release by one of my favourite bands, and one who I’ve gone on record as saying cannot write a bad album. Don’t worry, you won’t get the massive shock of Steve Anderson eating his words here (a very rare event), but I am afraid to say that seeming emo-pop untouchables Jimmy Eat World’s new album Invented (Interscope, released 28.09.10), for me, doesn’t quite cut the mustard in the way some of its predecessors did.

For me, JEW’s musical timeline has seen the Arizona boys go from strength to strength, with an exponential melodic growth between each release, driving the albums forward to poppier and more singalong-laden territory in more recent years. Granted, there was usually the odd track on each record that you couldn’t help feeling was a bit of a filler, but on the whole you could guarantee a quality feel-good, play-loud, experience when blasting out a new JEW album for the first time.