There’s always
a couple of gems on ‘sampler’ albums and this Navigator collection is no
exception. Mixed in with the standard folk fair is Bella Hardy’s slice of
seaside history which sits somewhere between sea shanty and a piece of musical
social history. It’s a moving story with a clever twist and timeless vocals.
Megson take the honours with their Geordie folk football song that will strike
a chord with all fans of lower league also-rans. It’s a passionate little
anthem which from a philosophical point of view is applicable to so many
aspects of your life let alone football. I’ve bought an album on the strength
of ‘The Longshot’ so the sampler did its job.
Notable other
contributions come from the intriguing Lucy Ward, the always dependable Heidi
Talbot and the soulful fiddling meets lush vocals of Nancy Kerr and James
Fagan. A good value package all round and fair play to Navigator Records as
they seem to have a quality collection of artists.
Another year
and another Bright Eyes album is crossed off the list. It’s not an easy listen,
but that’s not because of any lack of quality in the songs, rather the annoying
pseudo religious diatribe that occasionally fills the space up between the
tracks. It’s not that entertaining on first listen and after a few times it
starts to drive you mad. Unfortunately the first weird rant is ‘joined’ to the
first track so it can’t be flicked and you spend to whole dirge ridden 5
minutes cursing Connor for putting you through this repeated torture. If track
one was rubbish I would have flicked the whole thing, but unfortunately it’s
rather jolly. Ok rant over, and onto the songs…
This sits
somewhere between the less commercial sound of Digital Ashes and the folky
lyricism of Cassadaga, and for the most part it’s the standard issue Bright
Eyes that we all know and love. It’s not until the last few songs that the
album kicks into overdrive however. The last four tracks are sublime lyrically,
beautifully crafted and up there with his best work.
‘Triple Spiral’
kicks off the quartet with straightforward rock and tender sentiments,
‘Beginner’s Mind’ is stunning, profound and so catchy it refuses to be flushed
out of you self conscious and ‘One for You, One for Me’ completes the set with
passion, simplicity and lyrics from a genius. Oddly, the stark piano driven
dialogue of ‘Ladder Song’ is the album's most memorable moment; it’s touching,
poignant and delicate. It’s the musical equivalent being 1-nil up and scoring
four goals in the last ten minutes of a football match.
Not a great
album, but it’s well on the way to being one of my favourites of the year. It’s
not a game changer however, and if you don’t like our Connor’s previous work,
don’t expect this to change your mind.
I’d heard a
previous Aesthetic Perfection album (Til Death) on YouTube and decided it was
worth investing in their allegedly best work ‘All Beauty Destroyed’.
Essentially the album is a game of two halves with half of the tracks proving
to be excellent and the other half getting flicked instantly. How can Daniel
Graves, the world’s premium purveyor of dark screamy techno, get it
simultaneously so right and so wrong? Well I’ll tell you…
Til Death
was a lovely album and I’ve only just realised it was released in 2014. It
combined catchy electro with a dark atmosphere and the odd burst of screamo style vocals. However to cut through the darkness was a sense of jollity and
upbeat singalongability that made tracks like ‘Antibody’ and ‘Oh Gloria!’ so
much fun in a downcast sort of way. In short, it has the cheese and jam
sandwich effect of combining sweet, sour and salty in a wholesome little
package.
Meanwhile
‘All Beauty Destroyed’ is a much darker affair. There’s lots of stinky cheese
and a distinct lack of tangy jam. Having said that, the quality half are
banging, dancefloor fillers with the emphasis reverting from jolly singing to snarling and full on screamo. ‘Inhuman’ is like New Order meets Marilyn Manson,
‘A Nice Place to Visit’ is darker still and reminiscent of the music played in
nightclubs on the outskirts of Hell. Best of all is the no holds barred screamo
meets techno bleep-fest of ‘The 11th Hour’ which has to be dark
techno’s finest moment.
Unfortunately
all the other tracks push the darkness into sleazy and/or attention seeking for
the sake of it territory akin to the afore mentioned Manson. They’re all
rubbish and that includes the too slowies that aren’t that seedy but are still
hopeless.
With
hindsight I should have bought and reviewed the more recent album ‘Til Death’
but I suppose I have really. Of the two I’d definitely prefer this latest
offering, but ‘The 11th Hour’ is a must listen moment!
Who’d have
thought that a band I begrudgingly endured a couple of years ago at Leeds
Festival would turn out to be so much fun? It turns out they’re ardent
supporters of a range of leftfield and animal rights issues and you can hear
the wholesome voice of their protest in all of their songs. It’s undoubtedly an
accessible sound more akin to more upbeat Husker Du numbers than the likes of
Green Day and as Evlkeith would have it; ‘like Blink 182 but better’. And
protest they do with a gaggle of heartfelt, agit pop ditties that warm the
cockles of any old cynic’s heart.
‘Endgame’ is
somewhat tighter than my previous encounter with Rise Against in the form of
‘The Sufferer and the Witness,’ with a more disciplined sound formed into
twelve three minute punk-pop songs. It’s lyrically rich with the usual mix of
current issues and observations on the state of modern day America told with
machine gun ferocity and passion. Maybe the odd song outstays it’s welcome a
little, but in the main the standard of song writing is up well beyond that of
contemporaries such as The Foo Fighters or Queens of the Stone Age.
It’s a tough
job picking my favourites from this selection as all the tracks are strong, but
‘Architects’ is a stirring call to arms, ‘Disparity by Design’ is a hi-octane
dash through the evils of capitalism, and ‘Broken Mirrors’ is a dark rebel song
from yester-year. My flip flopping favourites are the adrenaline rush of
storming barricades in ‘A Gentleman’s Coup’ and the rousing finale of
‘Endgame’ itself.
It’s another
great album from a great band and let’s just hope it’s not their endgame in
reality. Hopefully not, as there’s an album pending for this year and the world
certainly needs some quality new music. Like Quorn scampi it’s a surprisingly
meaty and enjoyable experience from a vegetarian source!
Austra
produced one of the favourite tracks on my Youtube playlist in the latter half
of last year in the shape of ‘Beat and the Pulse.’ It’s a soaring synth driven
classic with the added bonus of a live performance resplendent with a show
stealing dancer at the front of the audience. They should get him in the band
sharpish. The singer Katie Stelmanis
is beautiful, charismatic and sings like a cross between Florence and the
Machine and Emily Haines, which can only be a good thing. It sounds like a
recipe for greatness, however…
There’s only
a couple of decent tracks on the whole (double) album and none come anywhere
near ‘Beat and the Pulse’. I wanted to like it so much and I gave it far longer
to grow on me than most CD’s, but ultimately it just didn’t work for me. It
ended up sounding not unlike a high pitched Florence or a low pitched Grimes
and definitely not in a good way.
There’s a lot
of promise however in some of these songs and I honestly believe there’s a
great album in this outfit. Hopefully it will be Olympia as I’ve purchased it
already, but if not I’ll follow them until it arrives. There has to be a place
for Canadian synthpop in this world.
After our
success in launching the careers of Gabrielle Aplin and Foxes recently, surely
Electric Guest will be the next big hitters on our roster of greatness.
Hopefully they’ll be slightly more appreciative than Gabrielle too. Don’t let
that squeaky falsetto voice put you off, this is a beast of a song from the LA
based indie semi-rockers, and it will soon be entering your subconscious via the
speaker system as you walk around Morrisons filling your trolley with wholesome
produce. You heard it here first.
After buying
their first and second albums together last year, I wasn’t particularly
looking forward to listening to the latter ‘Daydreams and Nightmares’ due to
the fact that ‘In their Space Hero Suits’ was distinctly average. But fear not!
The second album from Those Dancing Days sees them progress from luke warm
promise into a scorching blossoming of talent.
This is a
jolly sing-a-long bunch of songs with much better use made of singer Linnea
Jönsson’s distinctive voice. It’s a meaty collection with catchy tunes,
agreeable melodies and soaring choruses. Ignore the hype, this is nothing like
Northern Soul or sixties girl groups and has more in common with the
alternative pop of the Flatmates, Sons and Daughters or the Primitives,
although it has to be said, with a more soulful vocalist.
The pick of
the tracks are the high octane charge of ‘Fuckarias’, the anthem to stalking ‘I
know where you live’ and best of all, the carefully crafted pop perfection of
‘Reaching Forward’. Admittedly there’s a few average numbers thrown into the
mixer, but the overall its positives by far outweigh the odd smattering of
samey-ness.
Sadly the
band has been ‘put to bed for a while’. Let’s hope they wake up soon as they
were just starting to fulfil their potential.
Pick of the
Week 40 – Icon for Hire If you’re
going to have some cheese, I always find it more enjoyable to have a really
enormous piece of the stinkiest variety in the delicatessen (or more
realistically Morrisons). Icon for Hire are undeniably cheesy but just like
emmental and Cornish Yarg (look it up cheese fans) they are gloriously
addictive, sounding like a cross between Paramore, Pink and Panic at the Disco.
This is a deceptively well written and catchy pop punk tune that you can’t help
singing along to, and will go down in history as the song that was playing when
daughter of Doccortex opened her GCSE results. I’m not sure it beats my
equivalent; Tina Turner’s ‘Beyond Thunderdome’ but what can? Remember you heard
about them here first when they turn out to be the next Nirvana (or more
realistically Gabrielle Aplin). The album's not bad either!
Rough Trade
compilations are always a bit hit and miss and this is disappointingly more
miss than hit. The Country title is at best misleading, as this collection is less
country and western and more punk, dark blues and indie folk. Admittedly every
track has a tinge of Country-ness and the whole compilation has a coherence and
logic, but it’s definitely not what I expected.
Imagine a
genre of music that combines Ministry, The Violent Femmes, The Handsome Family,
Michael Stipe, Johnny Cash and Caitlin Rose and you won’t be too far away.
Having said this there’s little to write home about even if you love this new
hybrid genre.
My personal
favourites are the pure Country sounds of Freakwater with ‘South of Cincinati’,
the Pixies soundalike of The Gun Club’s ‘Ghost on the Highway’ and the
straightforward rush of 28th Day with ‘This Train’. Head and
shoulders above everything else however, is the melancholy ballad of ‘Fancy’ by
the Geraldine Fibbers. Where have the Geraldine Fibbers been all my life?
Not a vintage
Rough Trade compilation, but if you love the old Country vibe them I’m certain
there’ll be something here that takes your fancy. Yeeehah!
They look
Australian, but they’re actually from Norway, which means they’re positively
mainstream for Scandinavia. It’s catchy indie pop from geeky looking northern
Europeans. It’s possibly too catchy to hold your attention for long, but the
video is a humorous take on 1980’s style PE lessons with a dinky little dance routine as an extra. I look forward to hearing their other output, however it's probably another 'Country Pancake' moment.
I seriously
hope Underset are German. I’m assuming this is the case and refusing to think
otherwise after the Led Er Est fiasco.
Basically,
there’s very little to say. This is stark, Germanic techno with a woman with a
hostile haircut in the video stalking around Berlin like some serious,
skateboarding goth on a nocturnal mission to wander around a capital city
looking aggressive.
It’s a
chilled and understated track that’s particularly great for playing darts to.
Pick of the
Week 31 – The Hillbilly Moon Explosion
The best
clashing accents duet ever. Sparky from Demented are Go is I proper native New
Yoiker and he 'holds her hand in moine'. This could be moider! Meanwhile the
woman out of the Hillbilly Moon Explosion has a Scandinavian/(actually Swiss) twang that somehow
manages to gell with Sparky’s gravel tonsiled murmurings.
It’s all
surprisingly addictive stuff and I particularly like the angelic style wailing
near the end. I’m doubting the commercial potential of The Hillbilly Moon
Explosion and Demented are Go individually, but combined they’d probably rival
Lady Gaga.
The video is
great too, in that it manages to make neither of our heroes attractive in the
least. Sparky looks like he’s seen better days at the best of times, but even
his Hillbilly Moon love interest looks, dare I say, like she’s getting on a bit
(for a pop star anyway). Luckily she still manages to look attractive next to
Sparky, especially dancing in the leather jacket.
I doubt it’s
everyone’s cup of tea, but seriously, what’s not to like?
This is a sprawling 3 disk compilation and not one for the
feint hearted. If you struggle with violins made out of reindeer hide, Nordic
banshee wailing and stark minimal arrangements, then avoid this at all costs. In
fact disk three dives to new depths of obscurity with its examination of
Scandinavian jazz and experimental music!
Disk 1 is altogether more accessible with its presentation
of some Scandinavian Pop and Contemporary tunes. Don’t get excited however, and
think that it’s all fluffy Eurovision style candy floss, it’s still relatively
standard Scando folky fayre. Worthy of your attention are the haunting
Norwegian tones of Kari Bremnes with ‘Egentlig en Danser’, Soley’s delicate
vocals on ‘Theater Island’ and House of Trees folktastic love-in ‘Working Man’s
Song’.
If Disk 1 softens you up a little, then Disk 2’s focus on
Folk and Roots kicks you in the Swedish meatballs. It’s essentially the same
genre of music as Pop/Contemporary but just more hardcore. There’s more
fiddling, more starkness and more wailing. Maria Kalaniemi wails and warbles
particularly well on ‘I Fjol’, Eivor Palsdottir takes starkness to a whole new
level on ‘Min Modir’ and Varttina continues the harsh, stark and fiddling vibe
with ‘Paivan Nousu Nostajani’. It’s a fantastic disk and worth the price of the
whole collection on its own.
And then we come to the dark side of Scandinavian music;
Disk 3; Jazz and Experimental. The fiddling and wailing continue, but in a more
lucid and fluid structure. It’s interesting, different and not un-enjoyable and
akin to listening to the theme from Van der Valk backwards, underwater and
after drinking too much coffee. Obviously there’s still a lot of starkness
going on, with the most starkers and bonkers offering from Unni Levlid with
‘Bak Vaker Verda'. Bugge Wesseltoft goes all laid back jazz club with ’Judas
Bolero’; niiice! And Terge Isungset provides the highlight of the whole
compilation with her super-stark experimental crooning meets cowbells in a
breeze while walking in the snow. It’s like Pantha Du Prince without the beat
and played in slow motion.
It’s a great compilation if you like Scandinavian music in
any of its forms. Sadly no-one does outside of Scandinavia. But more fool them,
this is a fascinating and original flavour of music and almost redefines the
word ‘stark’.
Can I just add that since writing this review I’ve got
really into ‘Sang Fran Andra Vaningen’ by Benny Andersson’s Orkester. It’s a
sublime, piano driven work of genius and brilliant for running to at
night.
Good grief! What on earth is going on in this video? The old
general looks to be in a demented state somewhere between purgatory and ecstasy,
but what’s the purpose of this drumming and dancing based torture? They’ve even
got the cheek to shoot him in the backside with a blowpipe a couple of times!
And it’s all capped off by leaving him to die on a beach with only James and
the Giant peach style balloons to hold him up. Quality drumming, great dancing
and Oscar nominated acting from the old guy.
While all this is unfolding before our eyes Swedish based,
Norwegian songstress, Ane Brun warbles on in the background with the gusto and
booty-shakability of a down-market Scandinavian Beyonce Knowles on akvavit.
This is the most accessible end of Scando music and Ane follows the formula of
rhythmic wailing, but somehow forgets to add copious amount of fiddling. Lovely
turquoise jacket, dangly earrings and a natty little song that sounds
refreshingly different even without the video.
After the unprecedented success of I Wrestled a Bear Once's
Pick of the Week track 'You know that ain't them dog's real voices', I felt it
only right to give the LP a good listen. At first I was seriously underwhelmed,
as the whole thing sounded not unlike bog standard generic screamo when genre
blurring screamo had been promised. Fear not, with repeated listens the
experience takes a turn for the better with genres not exactly blurring, but at
least inter-mingling a little.
The now replaced Krysta Cameron's vocals are little short of
incredible. She swings from hardcore screamo to harmonic crooning and
everything in between with an ease that I'm sure even the likes of Lesley
Garrett would struggle with. I particularly enjoyed the odd bit of whispering,
warbling and dueting with her screamo self at points throughout the album.
Apparently leaving to have a baby, she will be seriously missed and Courtney
laPlante needs to be some singer just to paper over the cracks.
Every track is a winner given enough time, but 'Deodorant
Can't Fix Ugly' is the best example of the juxtaposition of harmonies and
shouting, 'You know them Dogs...' is the star turn and 'I'm Gonna Shoot' is my
personal favourite most days for its intense sweet and sour flavour.
All things considered it's possibly the most consistent
album I've listened to this year. It's extremely hard to get bored of these
songs and it's ultimately turned into one of the rarest events on the car
stero: it's a stalwart CD. That's basically means it outstays its welcome and
whatever mood I'm in I can pop it on and it does the job. Maybe I need to check
out the first album before considering any new releases with a new singer.
Definitely recommended though.
Every single Erasure album is at best patchy, and don't get
me wrong, I love our premium electro pop outfit as much as the next man. But
you know with some certainty that the quality (usually upbeat) tracks will be
outnumbered by the schmaltzy (usually downbeat ballads) on any of their LP's.
In the case their latest offering 'Tomorrows World', the ratio is comparatively
favourable with 44% of the tracks finding themselves in the 'quality' group. So
a slightly better than average percentage, but are the dynamic duo still a
viable and relevant synth-pop machine in the 21st Century? Well it certainly sounds like it. The album sits somewhere
between the old and the new Erasure. Imagine 'Nightbird' but with odd
acknowledgements to 'Wonderland' and 'Circus' and you're not too far away. If
you like the more dance based sound of the late eighties then this could be the
LP that rekindles your interest in our heroes.
The up-tempo numbers are all worthy of a mention with 'Be
with You' a standard issue opener from Vince, 'Fill us with Fire' a sure-fire Eurovision
winner, 'I Lose Myself' a dark pulsing classic, and 'Then I go Twisting' a
cheesy disco anthem. 'A Whole Lotta Love Run Riot' steals the show however,
with a commercial dancefloor filler that puts the likes of Madonna, Kylie and
Cher firmly in their place; it's camp, catchy and a bundle of fun.
If this is anything to go by Vince and Andy can continue for
many years to come. A beautiful CD cover as well, which could well be a first
for Erasure.
Elizabeth Morris and Allo Darlin’
make the purest of the pure, jangly indie pop and ‘Darren’ is no exception. A
perfect three minute pop song with super catchy vocal and a storming ending;
what’s not to like? Following in the footsteps of the excellent ‘Dreamin’ this
track also pounds away at your subconscious, although the album ‘Europe’ is
taking a little longer to fully appreciate. Solid, well made indie pop; it does what it
says on the tin.
Every cloud has a silver lining. The Leeds Festival was
possibly my most traumatic, disappointing and excruciating day in the last 6
months, but at least it brought to my attention the hidden gem that is the
Black Keys. On the day when the Foo Fighters were completely embarrassing, Dan
Auerbach's outfit performed with dignity and a down to earth simplicity that
endeared them to me and ultimately convinced me to buy an album.
It's pretty impressive stuff too. The first five tracks are
outstanding in their accessibility and singalongability. Admittedly, it all has
a certain White Stripes flavour, but not in a detrimental way; it's just good,
honest bluesy pop music with big riffs and little ego. On the downside, after
track five I lost interest and everything started sounding a touch samey, but
maybe that's because the opening tracks are such quality items.
It sounds like music from a long forgotten time when indie
meant independent and being a rock star wasn't one of the most secure
occupations on the employment market. Stick with 'Lonely Boy', 'Dead and Gone',
'Gold on the Ceiling' and 'Money Maker' and you can't go too far wrong. Easily
the standout track however, is the Pixies style quiet/loud dynamic meets Nirvana
Unplugged folk of the gargantuan 'Little Black Submarines.'
It's low key, it's way too catchy, but it basically does
what it says on the tin. God knows how they actually made it to second on the
bill at Bramham Park, but this is a lovely little nugget of an album. Listen
with low expectations and The Black Keys will surprise even the most cynical
listeners.
Pick of the Week 25 - Princess Chelsea The perfect way to start a new year of 'Pick of the Weeks' is this session based recording of our favourite New Zealander Princess Chelsea. It's a cover of the old White Town song, but Chelsea quirks it up with the downtempo backing, lots of expert xylophone tinkling and a generous helping of that voice. It's a great video clip as well, with lots of extreme close ups of xylophoning, Chelsea's headphoned profile and the moustachioed base player who provides hope for all middle aged men that they too could still be in a band one day. The last thirty seconds is pure magic and I could listen to it on a loop forever.
I really enjoyed the first two Panic at the Disco albums and had high hopes for this one. 'A fever you can't sweat out' was frenetic and anthemic, 'Pretty Odd' was quirky and heartfelt, 'Vice and Virtues' falls into the disturbing netherworld category of 'quite good'. It's not annoying, passionate, gruelling or enlightening; it's just quite good. Which ironically is never a good thing. The difficult third Panic album gets caught betwix and between the first two. The first half is fast paced pure pop akin to 'A Fever...' but endearingly cheesy with just the hint of Eurovision. 'Mona Lisa', 'Let's Kill' and 'Hurricane' all fit this format and on first listen are great, but on repeated exposure are throwaway and vacuous. The second half travels halfway to Quirksville without going the whole distance, and the songs are folky, fun and frolicsome, but ultimately unsatisfying. 'Always' fits the bill perfectly; it's got all the ingredients of gorgeous-ness, but ends up tasting like Quorn. Another reason not to like the LP is that the tracks seem to be ordered by quality, with first the best and number ten the worst. This is never good tactics as the listener feels that things are steadily moving downhill as the album progresses. Although having said that, 'Sarah Smiles' has grown on me to the point where it's my favourite track, however I doubt anyone else will share that opinion. It pains me to say this, but 'Vices & Virtues' is let down by the fact it tries to please everyone and comes nowhere near matching the standard of the first two. It's like a Bedfordshire Clanger (look it up food fans), it has a savoury and a sweet end, but neither are particularly tasty and in the middle section they've got mixed together a bit. If you were a farm worker from the last Century you'd munch it happily enough, belch, and say "That was quite good." But you'd rather eat some blue cheese, an oyster or a fermented herring wouldn't you?
