The Be Good Tanyas – A Collection

There was a place in the seminal comic 2000AD’s Judge Dredd story called the Cursed Earth. It was a radiation ravaged desert outside the walls of Mega City One exclusively inhabited by mutant hillbillies, mutant spiders and all kinds of other mutants. I seriously doubt the Be Good Tanyas hail from the Cursed Earth in reality, but in a musical sense they are fully fledged passport holding citizens.

What they’ve done is written the perfect sound track for life in the post apocalyptic radioactive wasteland. It’s off kilter Americana with a sour mashed flavour that takes the deep south template favoured by Caroline Herring and mutates it into a banjo fuelled, skiffle infused hybrid that is as disturbing as it is beautiful. When Judge Dredd stumbles on a group of mutated hobos clustered around an oil drum fire, this is what they were listening to.

In reality they come from Canada which is less romantic but probably better for them. Every track is a little country meets bluegrass gem and to name but a few; ‘Scattered Leaves’ is a lilting leftfield ballad, ‘Draft Daughters Blues’ is wholesome and chunky blues and ‘The Littlest Birds’ defies you not to sing along. My personal favourite is the stark, banjo meets that unique vocal style of ‘Only in the Past’ and then the fiddle kicks in. Having said that, the entire collection is not too shabby. 

Unusual, original and glorious, the Be Good Tanyas are a folk band I’ll be keeping an eye on in the years to come. A rich and varied collection just as at home in the North of England or in a post nuclear irradiated fictional desert. They also have the despairing look of a group that may also give us an interview?

 

 

 

Grendel – Timewave Zero

If you ever fancy some sample driven techno with an element of aggrotech  and a nod to Infected Mushroom then look no further than Holland’s leading exponents of industrial electronic action; Grendel. I’d already heard the excellent ‘Harsh Generation’ and enjoyed the tracks with the more up front sampling most. Sadly ‘Timewave Zero’ uses the samples more as embellishments and relies on gravel tonsiled vocals and pulsating rhythms for the entertainment factor.

That’s no bad thing, but the album definitely lurches towards a darker feel to proceedings not unlike a pumped up version of Aesthetic Perfection but not quite so seedy. It’s a pounding tour de force with just enough melody, hooks and singalongability to keep you interested, but not enough to sweeten the sour atmosphere.

 

 

I enjoyed all the tracks but worthy of special attention are the high octane rush of ‘Neon City Lights’ (which sounds not unlike X-Cabs, which is praise indeed), the shouty meets mellow vocal of ‘Chemicals + Circuitry’ and the eighties throwback charms of ‘Wheels in Motion’. Best of all  is the mid-tempo electro of ‘Deep Waters’ with its starkly contrasted lush arrangement and squeaky yet gorgeous vocal.

I doubt it’s to everyone’s taste but seriously, what’s not to like? Funky, trance driven techno with contrasting gritty/smooth vocals and a lovely android with an exploding head on the CD cover!

 

 

Simian Mobile Disco – Unpatterns

Another Christmas present and I’m less than convinced by the Mobile Disco experience. It sits somewhere between minimal techno and something more commercial. It’s not really funky techno but neither is it tech house, but I guess that’s as near as you’ll get description wise. Maybe I’m being harsh but it all sounded like the techno equivalent of lift music. Where’s the soul, the passion the energy?

Sadly, I’m sure DJ’s love this kind of stuff. It’s definitely not cheesy in anyway, shape or form, but a touch of even some rancid yoghurt would have livened things up let alone some fully fledged cheese. It’s polished, inoffensive electronic noodle doodling and the kind of music, I perhaps misguidedly believe, I could make myself if I bought some expensive equipment and an Apple Mac. Which is unlikely on both counts.

I realise I’m underselling this album, but I honestly can’t think of a time when playing this music would be in anyway pleasurable. Maybe in the greenhouse for tomatoes to grow to? Perhaps for new age pensioners to meditate to? I doubt it would even be any good for driving around London to in the rain, at night with all your guys in the backseat.

There are no tracks worthy of a mention. Worthy of attention for fans only or if you have a specific purpose for playing bland funkyish techno other than enjoyment.

 

 

The Soft Pack – Strapped

The Soft Pack are generic indie goodness hailing from San Diego. They unashamedly wear their influences on their sleeve and these influences are not the standard boring Joy Division or Echo and the Bunny Men that are so prevalent in the 2014 incarnation of the genre. The Soft Pack stir up a punch bowl that combines The Bodines, Weather Prophets, Sebadoh, Bob, The Teardrop Explodes, Haircut 100, the Higsons, Inspiral Carpets, the Primitives and Mighty Mighty in a mouth-wateringly straightforward concoction. It’s a fun, fruity and effervescent vintage.

Sadly, they’re almost certainly headed for the obscurity of our pages rather than the real media of the NME or radio air play. They’re too wholesome, too standard and have too much quality to engage with the proper music biz. And that’s a really positive attribute. If you loved ‘Played’ and wonder why that kind of music had to disappear, well it didn’t, it’s the sound of the Soft Pack.

All the tracks are stonkers, but my personal favourites are the adrenaline fuelled charms of ‘Chinatown’, the eighties throwback of ‘They Say’ and the Teardrop-esque ‘Tallboy’. Best of all is the strange hybrid of the Bodines and Serious Drinking that is ‘Second Look’ resplendent with tooting horns and twanging guitars.

A fantastic album, a refreshing change and well worth searching out. Fingers crossed for a new album in the near future.

Rough Trade – Counter Culture 12

If 2009 was a vintage year for the Counter Culture series then 2012’s installment is headed straight for the bargain bins. Having said that the series always throws up some choice offerings and this year is no different, however the nuggets of goodness are decidedly thin on the ground. Here’s your edited highlights…

The Chromatics – Into the Black

Haunting semi-electronic cover of the Neil Young song. A little New Orderesque and a band I’ll definitely be checking out further.

Slugabed – New Worlds

Chilled funky electro from the genre of music that is ideal for ‘driving around London in the rain at night.’

Keaton Henson – 10am Gare du Nord

Quality camp acoustic ditty from an artist I’d never heard of, in the same vein as Elliott Smith. Apparently he’s an artist and a poet too…mmm, interesting.

Opossom – Girl

Against my better judgement I like this sixties inspired Beach Boys/Velvet Underground homage. Sounds a bit like Django Django.

Toy – Motoring

Old school indie; always a treat but hardly original.

Savages – Flying to Berlin

Like a cross between Joyce Mckinney Experience and Sons & Daughters. Possibly my favourite track on the compilation, well on some days anyway.

Honourable mentions to Francis Bebey (African Electronic Music 1975-1982 sounds like something I should be exploring), the excellent Allo Darlin’ (which I’d heard before) and maybe Metz for their shouty but dated ‘Wet Blanket.’

Now for Counter Culture 13 and then I’ve caught up with the times!

Lindi Ortega – Cigarettes and Truckstops

Canada’s best kept secret churns out an album that is just too Country for its own good. There’s no alt-country leanings on show here, it’s more Dolly Parton and Tammy Wynette than Caitlin Rose or Kacey Musgraves and the whole thing proves a little mainstream for my tastes. That’s not to say it’s not a decent album however, as Lindi certainly belts them out with gusto and enthusiasm, and there’s a couple of cracking songs included.

The problem is… even though the album is called Cigarettes and Truckstops and Lindi wants to come over all trailer trashy and country street…she basically can’t pull it off. Lindi has probably never lived in a trailer, caught an oiled piglet or smoked enough cigarettes to build a children’s play fort from the packets. Her dad was probably a vicar, she shops at Sainsburys and will send her kids to private school. That’s how she sounds anyway, which is a good thing really, if you think about it. Kacey beats her hands down in the trash-off anyway.

All the songs have singalong potential but I particularly liked the lilting opener ‘Cigarettes and Truckstops’, the harder edged ‘Don’t Wanna Hear It’ and the beautiful ballad of ‘You lead me on’. Best of all is the bluesy, deep south tale of skulduggery that is ‘Murder of Crows’, it’s an exemplary piece of Country and Western music that would have been a classic at any point in the last century.

So a mixed bag. Great songs, a lovely voice but the whole trailer trash vibe just doesn’t wash. Enjoyable enough but if you’re new to the genre, head for Kacey or Caitlin first.

The Shins – Port of Morrow

Anyone fearing that James Mercer’s busman’s holiday with Danger Mouse in Broken Bells may have jolted him into new and adventurous regions of music needn’t have worried. James returns to the familiar Shins territory and song structures like a duck to water, with the only slight deviation that some of the lyrics and musical twists sound more Morrissey-esque than usual, but that’s no bad thing. This is a consistent, high quality and enjoyable album that’s up there with his best.

Opinion seems to be split on Port of Morrow, but I’m definitely for this comfortable return to form, with James happily ploughing his own furrow as usual. If anything it’s a bigger, more epic and expansive sound than previous Shins albums, but it’s nonetheless as introverted and personal as its predecessors. It’s possibly going to get filed as one of those vastly under-rated albums akin to ‘New Adventures in Hi-Fi’, but history will prove this is one of Mercer’s finest moments.

The standout tracks are the philosophical charms of ‘Simple Song’, the downbeat melancholy of ‘September’ and the anthemic but intimate ‘Port of Morrow’. Best of all is the classic ‘It’s only life’; a stirring homage to Morrissey, but obviously sung in the style of the Shins. And let’s be honest we all spend a little time going down the rabbit hole don’t we? ‘Bait and Switch’ is also cracker.

So a another polished album from an original and unique artist, but one question remains unanswered… What exactly is that thing sitting on top of the mountain on the front cover? A rabbit? A shamen? A cactus? The little helper fellow from Crash Bandicoot? The pupil of an eye? Is it even a mountain? Who knows?  

Sharon Van Etten – Tramp

Another Christmas present from last year and the least instantly accessible of the CD’s I received that people thought I’d like. Sharon Van Etten is folky singer songwriter based in Brooklyn, New York and makes musical ditties in a similar vein to PJ Harvey and Feist. As such it scores highly on the dirge continuum and suffers from a lack of originality, positivity or any ‘get up a go’, but this is a more subtle album than mere standard dirge.

There are some signs of real song writing talent hidden deep within some of the songs. The lyrics are emotive and universal, there are occasional glimpses of hum-ability and the whole thing sounds more subtly intelligent than it does enjoyable. The chugging pace doesn't

help matters and Sharon may be better advised to throw in the odd upbeat number and a couple of Scandinavian style stark slowies to alleviate the monotony.

The songs are much of a muchness but ‘Serpents’ is the most upbeat and passionate and illustrates Sharon’s potential to go beyond the standard female singer/songwriter template. ‘Warsaw’ is likewise fairly agreeable, but after that I’m struggling to swim through the gallons of dirge. Why is there this obsession to sound like the Queen of Dirge, Polly Jean? There are so many great female folk singers to use as inspiration why go for the most annoying?

I know lots of people rate her, but Sharon’s definitely not doing it for me. She needs to up the tempo, add some positivity and develop a sense of humour if I’m going to purchase another album. Shame on you PJ Harvey! You have lured another one to the dark, dirgy side.

First Aid Kit – The Lion’s Roar

Woodsy, campfire smoked folk music sung with sumptuous harmonies by two beautiful Scandinavian sisters. Sounds like a fairy tale, but it’s actually an accurate description of the gorgeous sound produced by the Soderberg sisters. Their first album ‘The Big Black and the Blue’ was a stalwart on the Into the Valley office stereo last year. So is the Lion’s Roar a suitable successor?

It’s more commercial, it’s sounds like there are greater production values and it flows with a slickness and confidence that has grown out of their blossoming talent. However the songs are weaker than on the previous album and although that lovely folksy, woodsy, countryside vibe lifts even their more mediocre offerings to a higher level, the fact remains that there are only three really memorable songs on the album.

The title track ‘The Lion’s Roar’ is the pick of the bunch with its trademark oozing harmonies and unashamed singalongability. ‘Emmylou’ is a country tinged classic that was forged in Nashville but sounds even better with the Swedish twang of Johanna and Klara’s voices and the pungent aroma of Scandinavian wood smoke in your nostrils. For once the bonus track on an album is actually a bonus, with ‘Wolf’ conjuring images of native Americans, the Jungle Book and North European forests, all wrapped up in silky intermingling vocal harmonies. Throw in the rest of the tracks that all have similar atmospheres, if not the song writing quality, and you’re onto a winner.

The Soderberg sisters show so much promise and ability that maybe we expect too much from them. By any other artist this would be a great album, but First Aid Kit are capable of more. Like Viking queens the sisters can invade the hearts of Europe and possibly discover America in the process and here’s hoping for another chapter in their saga in 2014.

Annlaug – November

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.

      

 Please note this song is not on the album.

Amie Macdonald – Life in a Beautiful Light

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.

Infected Mushroom – Army of Mushrooms

Is there a better feeling in the world than furtively opening a brand new Infected Mushroom album and inserting it into the car stereo? Army of Mushrooms has a great cover, twelve mouth watering tracks to look forward to, and the first minute of the opening track is as good as anything they’ve ever produced. As I drive towards the south coast listening for the first time, what could possibly go wrong?

Well everything really! Believe it or not, after the first one minute the whole album disappears up its own backside. It basically descends into self indulgent, electronic noodle-doodling and faffing about of the highest order. Every track contains the obligatory show-offy extended breakdown, a complete lack of song structure and more big/breakbeat, choppy/changey meandering. In short it’s rubbish and it honestly pains me to say that about a Mushroom’s album. I’m reliably informed that the musical style of the album is akin to ‘dubstep’, which the kids are particularly fond of these days. Dubstep seems to combine my three least favourite things; showing off, noodle doodling and boredom, and as such it should be banned.

And do you know who I blame for this constant need for bands to change and try new ventures? David Bowie! Bowie is entirely responsible for the commonly held belief that to survive in the music business an artist must constantly reinvent themselves musically and revamp their image. For him this just meant wearing a new fancy dress costume like a clown or an alien suit, but for the Mushrooms it led to a complete change of musical direction and ultimately down the dead end street that is dubstep. Bowie is also responsible for Madonna, Lady Gaga and to a certain extent Elton John. Need I go on?

There are very few positives other than the first minute of ‘Never Mind’ which is pure perfection. A few other tracks have promising intros, but it’s always a false dawn as they descend into a formulaic muso-noodle-fest. Unbelievable I know, but best avoided!