The above is a song by Feeder which they played on their recent tour, and included on one of their strange ‘Renegades’ EPs that they released during said tour. I include it here because I quite like it, and it doesn’t seem to have made the cut for their new ‘Renegades’ album. Which is sad as it’s better than a fair few of the tracks that actually are on there.

If you want to listen to said album, you can do so here on Spotify. Not sure if I’d recommend it or not. They’ve produced a rather generic bouncy-indie album, really. Loud guitars, bit of shouting; it’s well-made enough but everything is the same basic tempo and it makes the whole record sound a bit samey.

There is a change of pace in the form of Down To The River, but unfortunately it’s a bit plodding and rubbish. The title track and Sentimental are quite decent, as are some others, but they get submerged beneath the raft of similar-sounding tracks.

Shame, as I have a lot of nostalgic love for Feeder and do genuinely want them to succeed, but this really isn’t a great record. Never mind.

Above is an embed of the Simon Cowell Haiti benefit “Everybody Hurts” cover thing. Unsurprisingly, it removes any restraint that song ever had and turns it into a quasi-inspirational power ballad. (You can tell they waited the whole time for that “so hoooold on!”)

It has been pointed out that saying this is bad is irrelevant. It has been banged out quickly to provide people with an excuse to give money to charity, not to be musically worthwhile. And there might even be a few who genuinely like it. In fairness, it isn’t offensively bad, it’s just very boring.

I was fishing for some kind of social point, but it isn’t coming. I have, however, successfully put off doing the “proper work” I was meant to be doing for another ten minutes. Victory is mine.