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.
2009 must
have been a great year. I can’t say I remember it being a standout year for
great popular music, but if Counter Culture 09 is anything to go by, it will
take some beating by the other 99 Counter Cultures this century. It’s a
definite return to form for the series and the highlights are as follows:
Nacho Patrol
– Africa Space Program
How could I
not like this? It’s bleepy techno meets ethnic tooting, with a quirky keyboard
thrown in for good measure.
Terry Lyn –
Kingstonlogic
Against my
better judgement, I love this slug of base heavy, urban booty shaking mayhem.
Works in tandem perfectly with…
…Tiga –
‘Shoes’ which is disturbing on so many levels!
Bob Parks –
Spiritual
Vocoders,
Christianity and white rapping are not common bed fellows, but in the case of
‘Spirtual’ they seem to work seamlessly to produce this engaging piece of sonic
lunacy.
The XX –
Basic Space
Never heard
the XX before, but this is a surprisingly mellow and engaging piece of indie
pop.
Pissed Jeans
– Human Upskirt
Gloriously shouty
hardcore tear-up that Evlkeith would appreciate.
Crocodiles –
I wanna kill tonight
Sounding like
Automatic-era Jesus and Mary Chain meets the Teardrop Explodes , this is a
singalong throwback to simpler times.
The Soft Pack
– Answer to Yourself
Reminds me of
Hot Snakes – does it need any more recommendation?
Cate le Bon –
Sad Sad Feet
Where has
Cate le Bon been all my life? Sounding exactly like Nico from the Velvet
Underground on a good day, this is a soulful and mournful classic.
And best of
all…Emmy the Great’s ‘Almost Had a Baby’ – just for the way she pronounces
‘called’ in this semi-alt-country tale of kitchen sink shenanigans.
There’s
plenty more positives and this is possibly my favourite compilation in the
whole series. Highly recommended.
And one step
up the pychobilly evolutionary ladder from last week’s offering, is the
excellent Wolfgangs. Slick, professional and a truly great song. All the video
conventions are adhered to rigidly; the homage to horror, males strutting and over acting, the fifties style
microphone, and what on earth is that howl? Joking aside, a barnstorming song
and a fantastic performance. And they’ve played in Doncaster recently so they
can’t be half bad.
Everyone
knows that movie soundtracks are usually over-rated and ultimately
disappointing outside the context of their movie. I like very few, but
bizarrely Yann Tiersen’s Amelie soundtrack is perhaps one of the best. It’s
years since I watched the film, but this collection of largely instrumental
music has a life, vibrancy and atmosphere all of its own. It’s like a slow walk
through a melancholy, rural France, but not in a Switchblade Romance scenario.
It would possibly be better suited as the soundtrack to Rick Stein’s cookery
show when he sailed across France on that barge. Or maybe not.
This is
classically tinged French quirkiness. There’s pianos aplenty, ubiquitous
accordions and the odd mandolin, all arranged in plinky-plonky, wind up jewelly
box tunes or romaine fairground jigs. It’s a heady combination of frenchness,
jollity and something more emotive. There’s a tangible sense that when you play
these songs that you are transported to another world; a world of deserted
French beaches and sad seaside towns but tantalisingly of our own introspection.
The sum of
the tracks is definitely greater than their individual contributions, but
worthy of a mention are the morose ‘La Valse d’Amelie’, the atmospheric ‘Le
Moulin’ and the timeless charms of Al Bowlly’s ‘Guilty’. Best of all however, is
the beautiful piano driven ballad ‘Comptine d’un Autre Ete’, better known as
the soundtrack to the short film ‘The Piano’, the track again benefits from
being given an identity in its own right.
If you
sometimes find yourself dreaming of drifting across France in romanie caravan,
meandering from village to village, eating croissants, drinking local red wine
and chatting up Madam Marsaud, then this is the ideal soundtrack for your slumbers.
If, on the other hand, you are actually a Roma traveller in France at the
moment, then I doubt this is an adequate soundtrack for your predicament; I
suggest Rage Against the Machine instead.
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!
Scandinvian
psychobilly is a frightening thought, but actuality it’s a fun-packed romp
with a distinctly homemade but nevertheless charming quality. If the
Sugarcubes had been into Rockabilly, this is what it would have sounded like.
Well possibly. No-one can fault the Silver Shine’s effort and in keeping with
most psychobilly videos the woman smiles pleasantly while the guys seriously
over act.
I'm not sure why I like it so much but maybe the lack of pretentiousness and the fact they don't take themselves too seriously has something to do with it. Not sure about the naked guy with the chainsaw in the video though?
Possibly the
most obscure album I’ve listened to this year, but undeniably one of the best. Soaked
in the imagery of the southern states of the USA, this is an intoxicating mix
of Country and Folk music served in punch bowl of life’s injustice. It’s summer
in the Black Mountains and the fireflies flit in the warm breeze as life around
the delta is dissected in these richly textured songs. It covers the themes of
race, equal opportunities and the plight of working people in Herring’s
homeland. It’s a thing of beauty; combining the history, music and poetry of
the region.
The
atmosphere is similar to that evoked by Nina Simone; these are summer anthems
laced with the menace of reality. It’s tinted with darkness, but still resonates
hope and a love of life. Lyrically complex and challenging, the album maintains
its immediacy and is instantly accessible to folk, country and pop fans alike.
It’s a collection to relish as Herring combines this tangible sense of history
with modern references and beautiful melodies.
If I had to
pick my favourite tracks I’d go for the bluegrass tinged narrative of
‘Fireflies’, the laid back chill factor of ‘Black Mountain Lullaby’ and the
medieval throwback of ‘Flee as a Bird.’ Possibly the standout however is
‘Maiden Voyage’; good old fashioned folk with a story, cultural references and
a singalong chorus. You just can’t beat it.
This is a
joyous little gem of an album. It’s unusual and quirky, but accessible and
loveable. Highly recommended and I can’t wait to sample some of her other
albums.
Shrag are the
Brighton based heirs to the twee indie pop crown vacated by Amelia Fletcher
once she abdicated from Heavenly. It’s the sound of Sarah Records in the 21st
Century if that were possible. Having said that, it’s a more brittle sound. It’s
moderately shouty, lyrically complex and occasionally political. It’s
deceptively complex music with an undercurrent of angst which is never a bad thing.
The influences
are proudly worn of Shrag’s collective sleeves. It’s the shouty indie pop of
Huggy Bear, it’s the lo-fi old school sound of the Shop Assistants and at times
it’s the offbeat harmonies of the B52’s. Throw in some Julian Cope, some Belle
& Sebastian, some Joyce Mckinney, some Yeah Yeah Noh, some Lush and maybe
just a dash of Altered Images, and you’re in the ballpark.
And then we
come to the voice of singer Helen King. It’s distinctive in a way that combines
the sonic equivalent of heather honey with someone scraping their nails down a
blackboard. It’s the ultimate sweet and sour experience, akin only to chewing
Kendal mint cake and unsoaked salt cod at the same time. She also has the
alluring look of a demented pixie which is never a bad thing, or perhaps an
attractive version of Raggety from Rupert Bear. She certainly dances like
Raggety anyway.
The songs are
all crackers. ‘Tears of a Landlord’ is a brooding blast at property tycoons,
‘Show us your Canines’ is agit pop at its best and ‘Tendons in the Night’
almost harks back to Rip, Rig and Panic. The pick of the bunch is ‘On the
Spines of Old Cathedrals’ where vocals melt into an unctuous chutney of sweet
plums and caustic gooseberries. Gorgeous!
It’s my first
Shrag album, but definitely not the last. A surprising little treat of an album
which certainly shows us it’s canines.
If you’ve
ever fancied a bit of Cyber-Goth dance action, and let’s face it, who hasn’t?
Then the best entry level experience is possibly any track by Noisuf-X. It’s
got the trademark industrial meets techno backing track, quirky sampled
vocals and insane cackling in the style of Joker from Batman. However be
careful, some of their other songs are a little racy, and if you find yourself
wearing day-glo ribbons about your person, goggles and an industrial gas mask,
then you’ve probably gone too far.
