Sunday 15 April 2012
Wednesday 4 May 2011
Song of the day: Wild Beasts "Albatross" (Domino)
First released track from Wild Beasts' new album, "Smother" which is due out next Monday. The team are from Kendal, they recorded the album in a remote part of North Wales and they sing about sea birds. To these city ears, it all sounds wonderfully rural - like a nice ramble.
Sunday 1 May 2011
Song of the Day: Higuma "The Veiled Lamp" (Root Strata)
Higuma is Evan Caminiti (of Barn Owl) and Lisa McGee from San Francisco. This is a track from their recent album, Pacific Fog Dreams, which was released in February. It is a wonderful crescendo of dark atmospheric ambient drones.
Album Review: Colourmusic "My______Is Pink" (Memphis Industries)
Colourmusic are from Stillwater, Oklahoma, and "My _____ Is Pink" is their debut album They are friends with Flaming Lips and plough the same musical fields leaving obtusely angled furrows across the landscape. They claim that their music is based on the colour theory of Isaac Newton. If I were to believe this for a minute I would probably do a little research into this fascinating scientific subject for the purpose of this review, but as I think it is clearly a red-herring I shan't bother. Instead I shall focus on the evidence provided in these thirteen tracks. "My _____ Is Pink" is stacked with brash and ecclectic art-rock that is teaming with ideas. Beard opens the album with an uber-cool funk drone, a post-punk rhythm section and snarled vocal delivery. Jack & Jill (A Duet) still has the same droney production but is in essence a California style low-fi garage excursion. Feels Good To Wear is highly stylised indie rock with a dreampop undercurrent and, again, a funk rhythm drive. We Shall Wish (Use Your Adult Voice) is the highlight for me; the clearest attempt to carve out something raw and surprising. The new single, You For Leaving Me is the sound of a deranged gospel choir over filtered heavy rock and Tog is another wonderful rythmic sprint - burundi drumming and playground nursery rhyme vocals. Dolphins and Unicorns is a throwaway pyschedelic-disco number and Pororoca is a brooding new-wave misery workout "lights out, lights out, looking for a way out". Which leads us to the off-centre piece of the album The Little Death (In Five Parts) a ten minute prog thrash which, while interesting, trips up in the sense that the scary moments are not nearly scary enough and the pretty moments not too pretty. Things are now slowing down - Fold/Unfold is an atmospheric ballad and Mono follows in the same folky shoegaze vein. Penultimate track, Whitby Harbour, is a field recording of waves crashing and Yes! is a singalong pop song.
Colourmusic have demonstrated a prowess for their craft on this record and it is clear that they are a group of restless creatives looking to impress. There are some wonderful moments throughout and some big highlights. Even the less interesting forrays are pleasurable enough. However, I feel the need to interrogate this a little more. The verse of We Shall Wish (Use Your Adult Voice) declares "These are the days of easy answers" - and yes of course, as long as you ask easy questions. The next challenge for Colourmusic will be to take their admirable spirit of adventure and push harder against more difficult subjects and structures - I want more danger. The title of the album "My ______ Is Pink" invites the listener to fill the gap. I would have thought that the intention should be to conjure raw and shocking words that would make ladies blush, but it just doesn't seem appropriate. On this outing I'm saying "Delicious Lollipop" but next time around I want to say "Tight Pussy". (8/10)
Friday 29 April 2011
Song of the Day: Okkervil River "A Stone" (Jagjaguwar)
A Royal Wedding Special. This is not a new track at all, but a lovely ballad from Okkervil River's 2005 album "Black Sheep Boy". I post it today in commemoration of Will and Kate's bethrothal, as there is a nice verse in it about a princess falling for a prince (or something like that). Okkervil River's fantastic new album "I am Very Far" is out on May 9th.
Here is my Spotify mix of new music for April. Last month's was subdued and pensive for Spring. As an antidote - this mix is dark, brooding and chaotic - probably brought on by the current status of my respiratory system and consequent ill mood. My IT is now up and running in a makeshift fashion so I will try and get back to more regular posting.
(2011)DigitalTenderness-April on Spotify
Sunday 3 April 2011
Sunday 27 March 2011
(2011)DigitalTenderness-March on Spotify
(2011)DigitalTenderness-February on Spotify
(2011)DigitalTenderness-January on Spotify
Song of the Day: Kozzie "Spartan (Remix)" (No Hats No Hoods)
As an antidote to the grime cheese of Chipmunk, Tinie & Tynchy. Hailing from Blue Borough (aka Lewisham), MC Kozzie's new single demonstrates how UK hip hop should sound. The album "Problem Started" out later in the year.
Saturday 26 March 2011
Friday 25 March 2011
Album Review: Josh T. Pearson "Last Of The Country Gentleman" (Mute)
Well here it is. The recording that some of us have been waiting for for ten years. Before I start, let us get one thing absolutely straight - Josh T Pearson is a legend. Not because he is a maverick recluse who hangs out in Paris bars; and not because of his freakish hobo looks or his idiosyncratic relationship to the music industry. He is legend because of the music he released a decade ago as Lift to Experience. For many, myself included, Texas Jerusalem Crossroads is nothing less than a masterpiece - the perfectly formed musical vision of a cock-sure young son of a southern preacher. No-one, and I mean absolutely nobody in this whole world apart from Josh T Pearson could have produced a concept record about delivering the message of god through his band as a method of unleashing the prophesised day of judgement and revelations, and pull it off with such confidence and conviction. Now I am a card carrying member of the National Secular Society - but his vision on that album was delivered with so much poetry and musical invention that it astonished me at the time, and it still does. And so it came to pass that the harbinger of this musical prophecy was not the second coming at all. Like the rest of us, he turned out to be a troubled, romantic fool. Lift to Experience split in acrimony shortly after their first major tour, and Josh T Pearson was left roaming the world aimless and unable to find the will in him to deliver the next chapter in his story. Until now.Musically, Last of the Country Gentleman is quite a departure. Instead of a sprawling musical symphony, we are treated to a minimal country folk approach. The voice and guitar is only occasionally broken up with orchestration. The effect is very intimate, though probably the most startling thing about these recordings is just how much Josh T Pearson's voice has changed over the years. In this I do not mean his physical tone but his voice persona. This is no longer the sound of a young man who thinks he can take on the whole world and heavens above; this story is fragile and damaged. "Don't cry for me baby, you'll learn to live without me. For I'm off to save the world, at least I can hope" - is the opening message of the album - and from that point on we are dragged down with him into a personal hell. His messianic tendencies are laid bare and explained in Sweetheart I Ain't Your Christ - "and when I said I'd give my life, I weren't talking suicide". This presents the backdrop to the album - which is essentially a raw and open account of broken love, specifically relating to his recent divorce. The following two tracks, Woman, When I've Raised Hell and Honeymono's Great! Wish You Were Her is the centre piece of the album. They describe the tragedy of male emotions that can literally run riot through a broken relationship; destructive - "Woman when I've raised hell, then your going to know it. Don't make me rule this house, with the back of my hand"; delusional - "Heaven knows that a man can't control his dreams"; and escapist - "Honestly, why can't you let me be, and let me quietly, drink myself to sleep". This is pretty harrowing stuff, and frankly, sometimes its difficult to know where to look. After the onslaught of these two tracks, Sorry with a Song is a failed attempt at an apology. "And I know it's all my fault, and the bloody marriage to the deep alcohol. I know it's sad to say but right now these shots keep me sane". And after the failed apology comes the failed excuse; Country Dumb comes across as a mythologised rational for the damage he has caused "I came from a long line in history of dreamers. Each one more tired than the one before". The album ends with a cry for help "Can you help me drive her out of my mind. God damn it's driving me blind".
And this is the rub. It seems to me that Josh T Pearson is only ever going to release records when he has to. For the most part, he is perfectly happy entertaining small impromptu gatherings in cafes and bars - but right now he needs to talk, he needs us to listen and we are compelled to do so because yet again, he has given us a recording that is utterly convincing and completely unique. (10/10).
Song of the Day: Siriusmo "Einmal in der Woche schreien" (Monkeytown)
After a clutch of superb EPs, Berlin producer Moris Freidrich has finally delivered a good juicy long-player under his Siriusmo moniker for us to get stuck into. "Mosaik" was released last month and this fine track, which originally surface last year on the "The Plasterer of Love" EP, is a prime cut.
Song of the Day: Nathaniel Rateliff "Shroud" (Rounder)
A very lovely live acoustic version of 'Shroud' a track from Nathaniel Rateliff's debut album, 'In Memory of Loss' which is highly recommended.
Monday 21 March 2011
Song of the Day: Forest Swords "Hoylake Misst" (No Pain In Pop)
Forest Swords (aka Matthew Barnes from the Wirral) has repackaged and remastered last years EP and a couple of singles. Call it what you want - 'drone-step', 'pyschedelic dub' - whatever.
Song of the day: tUnE-yArDs "Bizness" (4AD)
As a taster to the new album "w h o k i l l", released on 18th April - tUnE-YaRdS have thrown us a bone in the form of this excellent new piece of willfully messy groove. I can only describe the sound as 'afro spaz' (sorry). Free download here.
Sunday 20 March 2011
Album Review: Mutual Benefit "I Saw The Sea" (kassette klub)
mutualbenefit.bandcamp.com - I Saw The Sea
lastfm.com - Mutual Benefit
Song of the day: Belong "Come See" (Kranky)
Belong are a duo sprung from New Orleans - but this ain't no Mardis Gras. Faint melodies permeate dark drones throughout their new album, "Common Ground" released in the UK next week.
Tuesday 31 August 2010
Noughties #53: Lincoln "Mettle" (Narwhal, 2002)
youtube.com/lincoln - my reasons are my own/great wall of china
youtube.com/lincoln - blood on the streets
youtube.com/lincoln - common ground
Noughties #54: Dizzee Rascal "Boy In Da Corner" (XL, 2004)
youtube.com/dizzie rascal - i luv u
youtube.com/dizzie rascal - fix up look sharp
youtube.com/dizzie rascal - do it
Noughties #55: Frightened Rabbit "Midnight Organ Fight" (Fat Cat, 2008)
youtube.com/frightened rabbit - modern leper (live)
youtube.com/frightened rabbit - the twist
youtube.com/frightened rabbit - heads roll off
Song of the day: Little Fish "Heroin Dance"
This is JuJu from Little Fish, performing an amazing live acoustic version of the track "Heroin Dance" from the debut album, Baffled and the Beat which was released last month. Damn, she's got great pipes.
Monday 30 August 2010
Song of the day: S. Carey "In the Dirt"
A fine cut from the debut album of S.Carey, aka the drummer from Bon Iver, released this week.
Tuesday 6 April 2010
Song of the day: Eddy Current Supression Ring "Rush to Relax"
Australia's Eddy Current Supression Ring are fast becoming my garage rock band of choice. This is the title cut off their excellent new album, "Rush to Relax".
Monday 5 April 2010
Song of the day: Pantha Du Prince "Stick to My Side"
Just some crunchy, earthy electronica to get me through the day. From Pantha Du Prince's "Black Noise" album.
Saturday 3 April 2010
Song of the day: Fang Island "Daisy"
Another uplifting track with a smile out loud video to match. While you're at it, go to youtube and check out the gig they filmed at the Kindergarten school! I don't remember rocking out so hard when I was at primary school, though I do recall banging the glockenspiel with great fury along to "Kingston Market".
Friday 2 April 2010
Song of the day: Jónsi "Boy Lilikoi"
As I'm too busy at the moment to update with the albums of the month for March (I'll catch up with this later at some point), I am going to content myself with posting a song a day instead.
First off is this uplifting single from Jónsi Birgisson (of Sigur Rós) - who's new album, "Go", released this month is already helping to lift my post-winter "where the hell is spring?" gloom.
Wednesday 3 March 2010
AM Laboratory: ToneMatrix
This is a great website for geeky sound experiments. It is just getting easier and easier to make music these days - and ToneMatrix is simply beautiful.
lab.andre-michelle.com/tonematrix
Tuesday 2 March 2010
Monthly round-up: February 2010
February - the shortest month of the year - derived from Februa, the Roman festival of purification. I have been drinking plenty of water, and eating fruit. Admittedly some of the water and fruit I have consumed has been mixed together, and left in bottles for a while in dark places before it reached me. Such is life.
ALBUM OF THE MONTH: Oh No Ono, from Aalborg are massive.....in Denmark. Eggs is their second album, and first to be released and promoted outside of the safety of their homeland. The album is an excercise in mimicry. As you listen to these ten tracks, it is very easy to pick out, not only genre influences, but specific bands. For example, Eleanor Speaks begins as The Telescopes, veers towards The Flaming Lips, then Mike Oldfield. The Wave Ballet starts out as the best track MGMT have never released, before ending up as an ELO wig-out. Elsewhere we find Roxy Music, Owen Pallet, Arcade Fire, The Wannadies, The Kinks, Pink Floyd, and of course, The Beatles. Throughout, we are treated to fantastically detailed production. Idiosyncratic sounds permeate this record, the gentle noise of a coin spinning then dropping, wind swept landscapes, distant fog horns and full rich orchestration. George Martin's influence is clearly at hand, and the musical variation throughout feels very much in the Sergeant Pepper mould. Though perhaps the mould has been melted with a bic lighter until it resembles an octopus. It's an oddly composed and frighteningly consistent record, but the final reckoning is that of a joyous collection of weird, and truly wonderful pop songs. (9/10) (Leaf)
youtube.com/oh no ono - internet warrior
youtube.com/oh no ono - icicles
youtube.com/oh no ono - the wave ballet
COMPILATION OF THE MONTH: The best compilations are compiled by music obsessives with better record collections than the rest of us. Minimal Waves Tapes Vol.1 is a perfect example. Stones Throw is fast becoming the avant-electronica label of the moment, and this set of obscure eighties european synthpop and cold wave experiments is like Genesis - the book, not the band. These gems have been expertly placed by New York scenester empresario, Veronica Vasicka (pictured left). I love this stuff, and she has kindly introduced me to music I was hitherto unaware of. I will be sending out my deep sea trawlers to excavate more of the same. (9/10) (Stones Throw).
youtube.com/crash course in science - flying turns
youtube.com/martin dupont - just because
youtube.com/the somnambulist - things i was due to forget
SINGLE OF THE MONTH: It's Liars turn to try and coax us into buying their new album, Sisterworld, which finally materialises in March. The first cut off the record, Scissor, demonstrates again that this band has an uncanny ability to develop their sound with each release. Still more focus, still more structure, still more depth and still darker. There's nothing like an unhinged little ditty about murdering your lover to get the party swinging. The unliteral video for the single is also rather good. (8/10) (Mute)
youtube.com/liars - scissor
OTHER RELEASES:
Black Noise is German producer Henrik Weber's third full length release under the moniker of Pantha Du Prince. The album rings with warm techno and is full of worldly atmosphere, present in the use of ethnically diverse samples (mainly chimes!). The overall effect is rather like listening to the soundtrack of a cutting edge National Geographic documentary. Luckily, this tactic is restrained enough to stop well short of the dreaded new age category of musical definition. (7/10) (Rough Trade). youtube.com/pantha du prince - stick to my side
Austin's Strange Boys emulate the tight schedule of the sixties bands they worship by releasing their second album in under a year. Unsurprisingly, this short space of time has prevented them from wandering too far from the sound marker they left with their debut. Be Brave provides us with more authentic, raw psychedlic garage delivered softly with charm and humour. (7/10) (In The Red). youtube.com/strange boys - be brave
Whoever told me that the Brewis brothers were no longer recording together as Field Music clearly had their pants on fire at the time. Lo and behold, we have been treated to a double helping of new material in the form of their third album proper, Field Music (Measure). This is definitely Field Music as we know it - though perhaps a little more stripped down than before. Sadly there are no 'In Context' moments on the album, the track that stole the show last time around - but the experimental XTC influenced noodlings are enough to keep this listener relatively happy, for now. (7/10) (Memphis Industries). youtube.com/field music - them that do nothing
XL's main mai Richard Russell nurtured this project whilst Gil Scott-Heron was still serving time in New York State Prison for cocaine possession. Gil is a man not known for his reliability, and the sessions that make up I'm New Here were spread out over a two year period. Russell provides the haunting urban production, and Gil wrestles with the same poignant political poetry that gave birth to his career forty years ago. Except this time he is talking about himself and the car-wreck that has become his life. Incredibly powerful stuff, though I am very sorry to say that this has all the trappings of a swan song. I sincerely hope I am wrong. (8/10) (XL Recordings) youtube.com/gil scott-heron - new york is killing me
Minneapolis's Clipd Beaks specialise in drone like gothic art-rock. To Realize, their third album, is reminiscent of Liars at their most subdued. The trick is in the layering, with every strata beautifully building up into cacophony, then parring back to trance then building up again. They have created a very natural sound which brings rewards for repeated listening. (8/10). (Lovepump United). youtube.com/clipd beaks - visions
The mash-up is one of the many end-products of producers attempts to find new ways for us to consume music. Tim Caruana is of the current batch of fine exponents of this great art form. It didn't have to be this man that stumbled across the inevitable marriage of The Beatles and Wu Tang Clan, but fate decided it would be him. Enter The Magical Mystery Chambers will give you a sideways smile from the top of one eyebrow to the opposite dimple which will remain fixed for the duration of the record plus one hour. You won't be able to exchange your hard earnt cash for it though, as McCartney's lawyers have already been on the case, and it has been removed from the labels catalogue. If you want to hear it, I'm sure you'll find a way (7/10) (Tea Sea Records) youtube.com/tim caruana - wu tang vs the beartles - mighty healthy
Yeasayer release their second album, Odd Blood as great hopes, rather than promising newcomers. They have taken on this duty by bringing a healthy dose of eighties new wave pop to the established world folk fusion that made up their debut. At somepoint somewhere, somebody in the band must have said out loud, "What we really need to do with this, is sound a little more like Talk Talk", and eveyone else chimed "Eureka! Give that man a prize". (7/10) (Secretly Canadian). youtube.com/yeasayer - ambling alp
This one actually came out in the middle of January, but I missed it (I can't check everything!) and it's too good to leave out. Shlohmo is a 19 year-old producerling from LA. Shlomoshun Deluxe, his debut full lenth release, combines matieral from an EP released last year with new tracks. It is simple experimental techno of the squelchiest kind. This is what insects listen to on their ipods. (8/10) (FoF Music). youtube.com/shlohmo - hot boxing the cockpit
Midlake have finally returned with the follow-up to their 2006 album, The Trials of Van Occupanther. The Courage of Others has been a great dissapointment to many, as it just doesn't bristle with the same array of crunchy goodness of their past glory. However, I can report that it is a slow burner. The songs are certainly simple and subtler, like the English folk bands of the sixties that they pay homage to, but there is nothing wrong them. We just have to get over the fact that Midlake haven't given us another Van Occupanther this time around. Maybe next time, ay. (7/10) (Bella Union) youtube.com/midlake - the courage of others
Georgia Anne Muldrow produces the type of R&B that I can handle. Be-bop influenced dischordancies, made crisp with up-to-date production and enough experimentation thrown into the pot to make her stand out from the crowd. She is also prolific - King's Ballad is her fifth album in five years, and she has also found time to produce music for others, such as Erykah Badu. The title track is a heartfelt tribute to Michael Jackson. (8/10) (Ubiquity). youtube.com/georgia anne muldrow - king's ballad
Spotify mix:
spotify/DIGITAL TENDERNESS:2010/2
ALBUM OF THE MONTH: Oh No Ono, from Aalborg are massive.....in Denmark. Eggs is their second album, and first to be released and promoted outside of the safety of their homeland. The album is an excercise in mimicry. As you listen to these ten tracks, it is very easy to pick out, not only genre influences, but specific bands. For example, Eleanor Speaks begins as The Telescopes, veers towards The Flaming Lips, then Mike Oldfield. The Wave Ballet starts out as the best track MGMT have never released, before ending up as an ELO wig-out. Elsewhere we find Roxy Music, Owen Pallet, Arcade Fire, The Wannadies, The Kinks, Pink Floyd, and of course, The Beatles. Throughout, we are treated to fantastically detailed production. Idiosyncratic sounds permeate this record, the gentle noise of a coin spinning then dropping, wind swept landscapes, distant fog horns and full rich orchestration. George Martin's influence is clearly at hand, and the musical variation throughout feels very much in the Sergeant Pepper mould. Though perhaps the mould has been melted with a bic lighter until it resembles an octopus. It's an oddly composed and frighteningly consistent record, but the final reckoning is that of a joyous collection of weird, and truly wonderful pop songs. (9/10) (Leaf)youtube.com/oh no ono - internet warrior
youtube.com/oh no ono - icicles
youtube.com/oh no ono - the wave ballet
youtube.com/crash course in science - flying turns
youtube.com/martin dupont - just because
youtube.com/the somnambulist - things i was due to forget
youtube.com/liars - scissor
OTHER RELEASES:
Black Noise is German producer Henrik Weber's third full length release under the moniker of Pantha Du Prince. The album rings with warm techno and is full of worldly atmosphere, present in the use of ethnically diverse samples (mainly chimes!). The overall effect is rather like listening to the soundtrack of a cutting edge National Geographic documentary. Luckily, this tactic is restrained enough to stop well short of the dreaded new age category of musical definition. (7/10) (Rough Trade). youtube.com/pantha du prince - stick to my side
Austin's Strange Boys emulate the tight schedule of the sixties bands they worship by releasing their second album in under a year. Unsurprisingly, this short space of time has prevented them from wandering too far from the sound marker they left with their debut. Be Brave provides us with more authentic, raw psychedlic garage delivered softly with charm and humour. (7/10) (In The Red). youtube.com/strange boys - be brave
Spotify mix:
spotify/DIGITAL TENDERNESS:2010/2
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