You just
can’t help but feel more positive about life when you hear the Yiddish Twist Orchestra’s
folky, twist inducing, joyous sound. They’ve got to be one of the best live
acts around at the moment and if only they’d make a proper album I’d be at the
front of the queue to buy it. Loving the dance moves from the singer and the
cap looks very northern chic. A suitable celebration for the 50th Pick of the Week!
I really
enjoyed Pantha Du Prince’s 2010 album Black Noise. If you cast your mind back
you’ll remember a techno soundscape based on a limited sonic palette of
cowbells, glockenspiels and copious other pieces of tuned percussion. It was
like dancing to techno high in the Swiss mountains with a heard of jovial cows
dinging their bells while a buxom milk maid, resplendent with yoke,
simultaneously clangs out a tune on a xylophone and jostles her two buckets of
sleigh bells and chime bars. It’s either a disturbing or extremely pleasurable
experience depending on your personal disposition, but I know which side I’m
voting for. Throw some creamy full fat milk into the equation as well and I’d
be delirious.
Anyway back
to 2013’s Elements of Light. I was anticipating a diversification in the
somewhat limited sound palette, but how wrong can you be? Pantha’s head honcho,
Hendrik Weber, instead opted to move to an even more restricted range of
instrumentation. In short…lots and lots of bells! Hendrik enlisted the guys
from the infamous Bell Laboratory and made an album that should really have
been called ‘Elements of Bells.’ However don’t be disheartened, the resultant
album is a lush, gorgeous and satisfying mix of chilled techno and harmoniously
chiming and peeling bells.
The LP
centres around two epic, and needless to say, overly long tracks; ‘Photon’ and
‘Spectral Split’. Both are moving, emotional pieces of music that evoke
feelings of stark loneliness, the joy of Christmas celebrations and an almost
spiritual journey of enlightenment. There are moments where the bells peel and
merge that literally made the hairs stand up on the back of my neck. Who knew
that bells could be this much fun or make such a beautiful sound?
Certainly not
bell ringers! Why don’t village church bell ringers play ‘Spectral Split’
instead of the usual monotonous numbers they churn out? Alternatively let the
Bell Laboratory people loose in a cathedral and you’d have a capacity crowd.
In so many
ways an amazing and awe inspiring album that everyone should experience. The
picture in the CD case of the studio set-up effectively sums up the quality of
the sounds and attention to detail of the project, with a variety of real
instruments, synthesizers and a rack of thirty feet high pipe bells! With some
high quality speakers and decent audio equipment this is as good as 21st
Century techno gets.
I've always thought that the marketing on films was suspect at best, but it seems that music isn't immune from the marketers deceitful ways either. "...all killer, no filler..." - Revolver, goes the lovely little soundbite for 'Option Paralysis'. I can sense that you know what's coming even now. Yep, it's the complete opposite. I've got one more album by The Dillinger Escape Plan and it had its fair share of filler, but it did have at least one killer song ('Black Bubblegum'). 'Option Paralysis' has no great tracks and is severely average. As I played it through the first time, I was a tad disappointed although I gave it a chance with multiple listenings; something may have jumped out at me over time. (This happened on the also very average album 'Axe to Fall' by Converge, which managed to come good with the brilliant 'Wretched World'.) Yet the best this album can offer is 'Widower' with its mixture of the usual shouty stuff and a twinkly piano that occasionally delves into atonal horror film territory. It's got a pretty powerful ending as well, yet it's cut way too short. Apart from that, there's nothing new here. Some groups manage to get by on releasing albums with just one great track, and it's enough of a reason to buy the next album (Buffalo Tom, R.E.M for instance). I'm not entirely sure that I can be bothered to buy another by The Dillinger Escape Plan. I'd probably have to have a listen first. On the plus side a couple of them have got cracking beards, so that may be enough to warrant another purchase.
Is the world
ready for a Scandinavian version of PJ Harvey? Scando folk music is a harsh,
stark and bitter sweet experience at the best of times, but remove the jaunty
fiddling aspect and things are looking very bleak indeed. Admittedly, she’s got
a long way to go before she scales the dirgy heights of her heroine, but this
is still a humourless and joyless album that could do with a little oomph!
I know
nothing about Annlaug. Her wikipaedia entry is in Norwegian I think, but she’s
a young, attractive singer, probably form Oslo. She has a beautiful, soulful
voice with a distinctive wavering quality when she goes for the big notes. She
should have the world at her feet, but in Scandinavian folk it’s the norm to
aim for the starkest, least commercial sound in the world, then add some
fiddles. Annlaug make the starkest, least commercial music in the world but
forgoes the fiddles. And hence the dirge-like quality of the album.
That’s not to
say it’s as harsh and cloying on the ear as a PJ offering, but it’s relentless
in its low key Scandinavian murmurings and occasional waling. The only ray of
hope is the moderately jaunty charm of the opening song ‘Ord Som Fell’; a
quirk-some, lilting lullaby that suckers you into believing the rest of the
album will follow in a similar vein. It’s a great track and worth the price of
the LP on it’s own, which is a good job really.
There’s a lot
of promise here, but next time; keep the stark beauty, the crystal vocals and
the lack of compromise, but add a little sparkle. A jaunty fiddle, the honk of
some Scandinavian bagpipes made from reindeer intestines or even the slight
hint of a melody. Definitely one to watch for the future, but only time will
tell if she is ultimately lured to the dark side by the queen of dirge. Let’s
hope not.
Turning
twee-ness into an art form, Very Truly Yours are one of the few bands that the
Pocketbooks could overpower in a wrestling match. They happily skip about with
their balloons, red tights and weird little dog and then unleash a song so twee
that the combined twee factor of Belle & Sebastian, the Poosticks, Amelia
Fletcher and the entire Sarah Records back catalogue is completely blown away.
Sadly, I love its gentle harmonies and heartfelt sentiments. It’s a work of twee
evil genius! I wonder if they could beat Betty and the Werewolves in a bare knuckle fist fight though?
My third
review of the much under-rated Ms. Macdonald and nothing much has changed in
Amie’s world of middle of the road, Scottish folk pop.
And that’s
where the review could end. Here are twelve of Amie’s songs with her trademark sound,
her trademark voice and her trademark song-writing. Imagine if the Proclaimers
had not been twins, and they’d been a woman and you’re probably not a million
miles away from Amie’s persona in the world of music. She’s like haggis;
gorgeous, tasty and wholesome, but no-one outside Scotland could care less
about it. Except I have my doubts that anyone in Scotland cares about Amie
Macdonald either.
And then, as
always, we come to the point in the review where I ask the question. Who
actually does like Amie Mcdonald? Who does she appeal to? Too soft for the
folkies, too folky for middle of the roadsters, too harsh on the ear for
warbling fans, too quirky for the mainstream, too mainstream for alternatives.
That’s right, no-one likes Amie Mcdonald, and I have a suspicion that she has
only sold two copies of this album; one to me and one to her mum. Nevertheless,
we love our Amie at the Into the Valley offices and she must be getting close
to Hall of Fame status when I introduce it.
All the songs
in this collection are the standard issue Amie Macdonald stalwarts that we know
and love. ‘The Green and the Blue’ possibly deserves special mention as it’s
about football, but ultimately it gets sucked back into the swamp of high quality
mediocrity. It’s an enjoyable album but unless you already love her, it’s not
going to change anyone’s mind.
