Net Music Review

Kings & Queens - Jamie T

Jamie T has often been compared to other contemporary British artists such as The Streets, Artic Monkeys and Pete Doherty, mainly due to his incisive commentary on everyday life. Whilst his first effort, "Panic Prevention" may have been very raw and unpolished, akin to some of Doherty's work in style if not substance, his second offering "Kings & Queens" sees him polish his sound and move more into territory occupied by Mike Skinner.

The subject matter hasn't changed much, laddish behaviour and nights out still seem to dominate, but there are more tender moments starting to show through with "Emily's Heart" one example of this. Starting off with "368" the new more polished sound is immediately evident in the metallic drum beat which lends the song a sinister feel until you discover that 368 is the number of millimetres it takes our dear Jamie T inebriated. You also noticed that the vocal delvery is far less scatter gun and much, much mire measured. "Hocus Pocus" is a nice follow up, a very rhythmic track which seems almost indecipherable at times. Although, unfortunately, it his here where I tend to start agreeing with Jamie's T detractors in that he sounds as if he is trying too hard to be real. For example, the opening line "Bullets flying overhead…." for some reason, it just doesn't quite seem to ring true. Still, only a minor point and after that its into "Sticks & Stones" an anthemic single returning to Treays's favourite subject of misspent, rebellious youth, guarenteed to have your foot taping and your smirking to yourself with the wry, witty lyrics that surely most people can relate to, at least once in their life.

"The Man's Machine" is something of a departture for Mr T here, it starts off slowly and relies heavily on sample, but this is by no means a criticism. It has a trip hoppy feel to it at first with a slow double bass note being repeated before it sparks to life and builds into a soaring chorus. A personal highlight every time I listen to the album. Next up is "Emily's Heart", it harks back to previous acoutic tracks from debut "Panic Preventio" but isn't played on bass and is a lot tidier. It also finds Jamie T giving an earnest and heartfelt vocal, this dog may know a few more tricks than we gave him credit for. "Chaka Demus" is an upbeat number that comes at exactly the right time to provide some sunshine, it sounds as if it could have been produced by Mark Ronson with its up tempo beat and ska-ish feel. It is probably the best example of how Jamie T has moved his sound on from his 2007 debut. "Spiders Web" is possibly the only dud to be found here, while nothing musically wrong with it, it does feel a little bit childish and playgroundy with all its talk of Obama and Osama.. "Castro Dies" is a funny song about wanting to get to Cuba before the aforementioned Castro dies and leads nicely into another album high point is "Earth, Wind & Fire". Again sample laden, mood and atmospheric is sounds as if it could have come straight off the first Streets album, with has a muggy urban feel that is cut through by a cleverly sampled chorus. "British Intellegence" about the ever encroaching police state in the UK and "Jilly Armeen" another gentle scoustic ditty round off the "Kings & Queens" with style.

Overall "Kings & Queens" is a far more polished (I know, I have used that adjective a lot) effort that his mercury nominated debut and I feel all the better for it. It may not have the same sense of spontaneity to it, but there are no real bad songs or low points, just a set of cracking songs about the life of an ordinary guy from just outside London. His trick, to make it interesting and boy has he done that!