2012 Music Chart - March

A lot of great new albums out this month - almost too many to mention. The Tindersticks return with The Something Rain, School Of Seven Bells follow-up two great albums with a third masterpiece: Ghostory and The Ting Tings continue to beguile and delight with Sounds From Nowheresville.

Bruce Springsteen is back with the mighty in-your-face Wrecking Ball and another early contender for album of the year is a début called Shallow Bed from Dry The River - a wonderful collection of songs.

In contrast, Scuba delivers a monstrous set of dance anthems with Personality while the genius of Clark and Gore collaborate for Vcmg to bring us the stunning electronic vibes of Ssss. Siberia by LIGHTS is another wonderful electronic-fuelled album.

Alex Winston's King Con and Frankie Rose's Interstellar are both gorgeous as is Break It Yourself by Andrew Bird. To crown things off Young Man In America by Anais Mitchell is superb - another album of the year.

1. Shallow Bed by Dry The River
2. The Lion's Roar by First Aid Kit
3. Ghostory by School of Seven Bells
4. Young Man In America by Anais Mitchell
5. Ssss by Vcmg
6. Tough Love by Pulled Apart by Horses
7. Interstellar by Frankie Rose
8. Blues Funeral by Mark Lanegan Band
9. Have Some Faith In Magic by Errors
10. Hello Cruel World by Gretchen Peters
11. Voyageur by Kathleen Edwards
12. ¿Which Side Are You On? by Ani Difranco
13. Sounds From Nowheresville by The Ting Tings
14. Wrecking Ball by Bruce Springsteen
15. Kin Con by Alex Winston
16. Siberia by LIGHTS
17. The Something Rain by Tindersticks
18. Something by Chairlift
19. Break It Yourself by Andrew Bird
    
20. Reign Of Terror by Sleigh Bells
21. Given To The Wild by The Maccabees
22. Personality by Scuba
23. America Give Up by Howler
24. Black Light by Diagrams

Thea Gilmore - Angels In The Abattoir (March 2012)

The end of another month brings all the Angels a new Thea Gilmore song. This one is very much a new song, written and performed the day before it was sent out last week. This is what Thea says about It's True:

"I've been deep in writing mode, getting songs together for a new album.. so this month, I'm sending you a song that I literally wrote yesterday. It may end up on the record, even I'm not sure what I think of it yet but its about as hot off the press as its possible to get so let me know what you think."

It's True is a slow melancholic piece with beautiful poised vocals and a delicate production.

I hope this doesn't end up on the new album, not because it's not a good song but because it will be become nothing more than a free preview. I also don't believe it's quite strong enough for a new album - maybe as a calm closer or with a bit more work, a serene mid-point.

New Counting Crows single: Mercy (Free Download)

It's a bit Country, it's a bit rough around the edges, but it's still a new Counting Crows single. The new album Underwater Sunshine is out soon. But for now you can download the single for free.

The Ting Tings - Sounds From Nowheresville (Album Review 2012)

It’s been a hard four years for The Ting Tings. Chasing the success of a number one UK single, and a promising stylish pop album, around the world has left Katie White and Jules De Martino jaded and jilted. The music press and ‘fans’ can easily forget if you don’t keep up the momentum. Like many before them, they scrapped most of the initial follow-up to We Started Nothing after they avoided being sucked into the Berlin Euro-pop scene and single Hands was dropped after it was played on BBC Radio 1. Proof that you really cannot control your own destiny. So the second album, entitled Sounds From Nowheresville, spitefully titled and featuring the duo on the cover as skeletons, seems like a deliberate attempt to disconnect from the mainstream, just as the band need to.

The big problem with Sounds From Nowheresville is that it’s so ironic that even the band don’t realise. At times, it seems to parody the manufactured X-Factor culture, tries to prove that it’s easy to throw out a ‘sad disco’ R&B tune, and The Ting Tings take the piss out of themselves. All this adds up to a confused message – which is probably what they are striving for: the air of mystery returning, the elusive arms-length approach. Sounds From Nowheresville is like hitting the reset button. In a very good way.

Even if The Ting Tings are reluctant to keep the past, single Hang It Up is trademark punchy art-pop, all sharp edges and industrial percussion wrapped around White’s equally spiky vocals.  The centre of the song is a dual tirade against the establishment starting with White: “Could have been a lawyer; take what you can. Never been happy since time began…” and leading to a rare (and quite brilliant) De Martino vocal rant ending: “Time for you to rearrange”. It is an album highlight. This approach continues with the wonderful Guggenheim, blending 60s girl-group ‘talky bit’ with a powerful attention-grabbing chorus. The whole arrangement is bizarre but utterly unique and compelling – as White unveils each chapter of an unhappy relationship while struggling with the onset of fame and fortune.

Continuing the positive, Sounds From Nowheresville opens with the startling Silence – with its huge Joy Division keyboards and White’s soaring vocals. It would work much better as an eight-minute album closer so it always feels like a missed opportunity. One By One is a rejected Euro-pop songs revisited and consequently another high point. It manages to sound retro and modern at the same time even though it quickly becomes We Walk’s cooler cousin. And the big surprise is the tongue-in-cheek Rihanna-esque (in spite of early rumours, she doesn’t feature on the album) Day To Day that ends up a charming and engaging listen. Likewise, yet completely different, Give It Back is a solid, driving rock-pop tune with big guitars and plenty of attitude, with De Martino and White sharing the vocals and a neat catchy chorus – even though it spirals into a noisy messy finale.

Elsewhere things are mixed. Soul Killing is annoying kitch completely ruined by a horrible vocal performance from White and persistent squeaky chair (yes, really). Hit Me Down Sonny suffers from the amateurish delivery and ‘Chelsea mansion doorbell’ samples. There are only a few times ‘lair’ and ‘fire’ (and later ‘expire’) can achieve acceptable scansion. The folky yet explosive Help doesn’t quite work and is an odd fragment – White going from soft to hard as the music follows her.

Sounds From Nowheresville ends with another surprise: the perfectly judged In Your Life. Startling strings and delicate guitar work and vocals make for a serious downbeat finale. This is more evidence that White and De Martino are far from one-dimensional. And again the song could do with a Portishead style instrumental three-minute extension.

If The Ting Tings spent half as much time writing good songs, as they do trying to be cool and stylish, they would be huge. This is a frustrating trait that is shared with other duo bands like The Kills. A few more ideas and a little more polish without compromising artistic integrity goes a long way. Another issue is that Sounds From Nowheresville is offensively short (just under 35 minutes). They reportedly cut the single Hands. It’s not the best song but why not rework the arrangement and add it? Why throw average stuff away? While trying to not make each song a Frankenstein’s monster, the entire album sounds like a playlist – an odd confliction of ideals. That said, The Ting Tings still pull it off and Sounds From Nowheresville is a decent return for a band still failing to reach their potential.

-- CS

2012 Music Chart - February

More great music this month to add to the chart from First Aid Kit, Errors, Mark Lanegan Band, Gretchen Peters, Kathleen Edwards, Chairlift and Sleigh Bells.

1. The Lion's Roar by First Aid Kit
2. Tough Love by Pulled Apart by Horses
3. Blues Funeral by Mark Lanegan Band
4. Have Some Faith In Magic by Errors
5. Hello Cruel World by Gretchen Peters
6. Something by Chairlift
7. Reign Of Terror by Sleigh Bells
8. Given To The Wild by The Maccabees
9. Voyageur by Kathleen Edwards
10. ¿Which Side Are You On? by Ani Difranco
11. America Give Up by Howler
12. Black Light by Diagrams

Thea Gilmore - Angels In The Abattoir (February 2012)

The end of another month brings us lucky Angels another offering from Thea Gilmore. This month is a rejected song from the Victor Gregg documentary entitled This Is The Time.

Thea doesn't say anything about the song but it's certainly a departure from her typical sound. This is a dark, slightly tribal and with a distinct Native American vibe. Part blues and part Americana with a distant wordless chorus - this is very atmospheric and moody.

In other news, here are Thea's latest tour dates (with Joan Wasser, Maddy Prior and Bellowhead):

May 19: LIVERPOOL Liverpool Philharmonic 0151 709 3789 liverpoolphil.com
May 20: NOTTINGHAM Royal Centre 0115 989 5555 royalcentre-nottingham.co.uk
May 21: BRIGHTON Festival 01273 709709 brightondome.org
May 22: COVENTRY Warwick Arts Centre 024 7652 4524 warwickartscentre.co.uk
May 23: LONDON Barbican Centre 020 7638 8891 barbican.org.uk
May 24: BASINGSTOKE The Anvil 01256 844244 anvilarts.org.uk
May 27: GATESHEAD The Sage Gateshead 0191 443 4661 thesagegateshead.org
May 28: MANCHESTER Bridgewater Hall 0161 907 9000 bridgewater-hall.co.uk

First Aid Kit - The Lion's Roar (Album Review 2012)

First Aid Kit is the Swedish sister duo Klara and Johanna Söderberg. Their début EP Drunken Trees was released in 2008 when they were both teenagers, still finding their way and their unique sound. The follow-up album, The Big Black & Blue paved the way for The Lion’s Roar – a much more ambitious, vibrant and musically solid collection of songs. The key improvement can heard in both voices, lead by younger sister Klara and enhanced by the elder Johanna to create serene and wonderful harmonies; there is no mistaking their love of bands like The Fleet Foxes. And this time, the Söderbergs have Mike Mogis (Bright Eyes) on production duties, and they are joined by his band’s front-man Conor Oberst for the album’s rousing finale.

The immediate accessibility of The Lion’s Roar is the balancing of the vocal qualities within a stirring pop song formula. The best song in this respect is the gorgeous Blue, blending heartbreak, loss and hope in a near-perfect three minutes. Another great radio-friendly song is Emmylou, a celebration of the female ‘muse’ using Emmylou Harris and June Carter Cash as the central characters: “You’ll be my Gram and my Johnny too…” completes the pairings. The vocal interplay between the two sisters is mesmerising. This theme continues with In The Hearts Of Men (“…and the arms of mothers”), a more subdued and listless take filled with empty vocals to further showcase these amazing voices.

The two longest songs are the most ambitious. The title track sets the perfect tone for the album. Clear, atmospheric vocals begin the tale of trying to find your way in love: “I’m a goddamn coward but then again so are you…” begins the chorus, for it to end: “…and I never really knew… what to do”. The vocal gymnastics break-up an otherwise flat structure, as the music swirls as a mass of guitars and strings. This continues, after a false ending. Conversely, To A Poet is dark and serious, filled with self-doubt: “There’s nothing more to it… I just get through it…”. At the four-minute point, an astonishing vocal/string instrumental gives the song a final lift, to fade. Brilliant.

Late on, I Found A Way is Emmylou’s moody Goth cousin – a more direct examination of love and companionship. A neat upbeat chorus provides the light touch in what is a smooth and seamless arrangement. New Year’s Eve succeeds in adding some variation – easily the best of the ‘slower’ songs and more proficient song writing. Elsewhere the quality shines even if the songs do not – This Old Routine is slow and laboured but provides some exquisite guitar work and yet another solid vocal, and Dance To Another Tune feels like a lot of style over little substance, and lumbers at an agonisingly slow pace. That said, the delivery is as slick and controlled as ever and at three and half minutes, an instrumental attempts to break the monotony – only for the lack of a thrilling climax.

Album closer King Of The World is another great pop tune. With Conor Oberst sharing the vocals, this is a great finish – storytelling, more self-examination with a sense of fun. Oberst’s turn is as cool as ever and joined by the sisters to create a new unique voice for the last and only time on the album.

The Lion’s Roar is a charming and, at times, beautiful album. Mike Mogis adds the same magic that makes Rilo Kiley’s More Adventurous, Jenny Lewis’s Rabbit Fur Coat and I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning by Bright Eyes such engaging listens. This gives the whole album more of an American Country roots flavour than the more obvious ‘folk’ tag. And coupled with the wondrous vocals and wise-beyond-their-years song writing, the Söderbergs are tugging firmly on Laura Marling’s coat tails. The Lion’s Roar is truly the sound of young talent being realised.

-- CS

Mark Lanegan Band - Blues Funeral (Album Review 2012)

After the release of Hawk, yet another brilliant album with his musical soul mate Isobel Campbell, Mark Lanegan returns with Blues Funeral, the follow-up to the now eight year old Bubblegum. In spite of this lengthy ‘break’, the timing could not be better, as band after band dredge up the glory (or otherwise) of the 80s, put down their guitars and pick up their MacBooks. And bringing in (again) musician and producer Alain Johannes, Blues Funeral is an intriguing prospect. The result is that instead of kicking away the current trend of electronica and making a predictable guitar-fuelled traditional rock/blues album, Lanegan has embraced the so-called demise with both hands.

At the centre of Blues Funeral is a wonderful tribute/send-up of Goldfrapp entitled Ode To Sad Disco – even going as far as namedropping single Ride A White Horse (Supernature, 2006). The tongue-in-cheek slant aside, this is a smooth six minutes of slick instrumentation – with Lanegan’s usual growl gliding like silk. The song ends with the line “Here I have seen the light” repeated over and over. This idea is augmented later with the equally majestic Harborview Hospital – a semi-autobiographical account of a past life: “All around this place, I was a sad disgrace” and “Are they supposed to be, as sick as you and me?”, he sings as Aldo Struyf’s keyboards shimmer with style.

The best song on Blues Funeral is the more orthodox Riot In My House with superb guitar work from Josh Homme. This is all rock stomp mixed with obscure (even by Lanegan’s standards) lyrics: “…Death’s metal broom…comes sweeping through the evening…” is one example. Words aside, this is excellent throughout and an immediate highlight. Early on, Bleeding Muddy Water is as familiar as it is ambitious with slow, deliberate, repeating lyrics building like a new take on an old prayer. And opener The Gravedigger’s Song starts the album in dark fuzzy industrial mood, driven on by relentless percussion and distant guitars.

Mark Lanegan revisits plenty of old themes and stories throughout Blues Funeral. St. Louis Elegy (featuring fellow Gutter Twin and Afghan Whigs singer/guitarist Greg Dulli) features the early line “If tears were liquor, I’d have drunk myself sick”, only to change it later to “These tears were liquor, and I’ve drunk myself sick”. Subtle but effective. Phantasmagoria Blues (named from the form of theatre in which lanterns project images onto a backlit screen) is powerful and well judged in its exploration of suicide and redemption.

Late on the album fuses psychedelia and folk into the blend. Leviathan is a song in two parts: a slow melody becoming chaotic followed by a brilliant arrangement of multi-layered vocals. This is followed by the 60s influenced Deep Black Vanishing Train – folky guitars and flute with deep vocal production. This delivers Lanegan’s best songwriting, which at times can be awkward and often clumsy, with “Lost on a violent sea, day on endless day… I’ve finally freed myself but it’s hard to break away…”.

Blues Funeral closes with its most ambitious song: the seven-minute swirling instrumentation of Tiny Grain Of Truth. Lanegan manages to create an upbeat dirge with a host of characters from ‘neon priest’ to ‘junkie doctor’. Again the keyboards and guitars are magnificent as it draws the listener into its strange world.

In 2009, Chris Cornell released the risky, but quite brilliant, Scream – an ambitious collaboration with producer Timbaland that brought the Soundgarden and Audioslave vocalist out from his comfort zone. Although not as dramatic, Blues Funeral is a similar concept. Some of it works and some of it doesn’t (Gray Goes Black and Quiver Syndrome the only weak moments) but it succeeds in proving that Mark Lanegan is not as one-dimensional as he could be; now a musician with multiple personalities and personas – part wandering drifter, part love-struck fugitive, part reformed preacher. Blue Funeral proves that risk brings reward and within the big drums, electronic flourishes and stirring production, the Blues lives on.

-- CS

New Feeder single Borders

Feeder return to form with a new single Borders, as a preview for their new album Generation Freakshow, the follow-up to the disastrous Renegades project. Thankfully Grant Nicholas and Taka Hirose (now officially a duo) with session musicians Tim Trotter and Damon Wilson, have ditched the new persona and gone back to the Feeder of old, writing and performing great pop songs and delivering power, melody and energy.

This bodes well for the new album which Nicholas describes as much more commercial and like Yesterday Went Too Soon and Comfort In Sound - both great albums.

The single is backed with Arms, and acoustic versions of Borders and the charity single Side By Side - all superb.

BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards 2012

Last night heralded this year's BBC Radio 2 Awards, celebrating the last 12 months best of the folk music world.Veteran June Tabor swept the board and emerged as the best singer, singing the best traditional song, on the best album, with the best group, Oysterband. The album Ragged Kingdom, featuring Bonny Bunch Of Roses, is a revelation and a marvellous balance of the old and the new; a perfect example of how to bring traditional folk right up to date without going too far. And Tabor's voice just gets better with age. The Dubliners and Don McLean picked up Lifetime Achievement Awards at the ceremony presented by Mike Harding and Julie Fowlis at The Lowry Theatre.

The winners (in bold) and nominees:

FOLK SINGER OF THE YEAR
Jon Boden
Jackie Oates
Emily Smith
June Tabor

BEST DUO
Tim Edey & Brendan Power
Jonny Kearney & Lucy Farrell
Spiers & Boden
Marry Waterson & Oliver Knight

BEST GROUP
Bellowhead
The Home Service
June Tabor & Oysterband
The Unthanks

BEST ALBUM
Last – The Unthanks
Purpose & Grace – Martin Simpson
Ragged Kingdom – June Tabor & Oysterband
Saturnine – Jackie Oates

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
The Herring Girl – Bella Hardy
Last – Adrian McNally (performed by The Unthanks)
On Morecambe Bay – Kevin Littlewood (performed by Christy Moore)
The Reckoning – Steve Tilston

BEST TRADITIONAL TRACK
Bonny Bunch of Roses – June Tabor & Oysterband
Lakes of Ponchartrain – Martin Simpson
Maids When You’re Young – Lucy Ward
Sweet Lover of Mine – Emily Smith

HORIZON AWARD
Megan Henwood
Lady Maisery
Pilgrims’ Way
Lucy Ward

MUSICIAN OF THE YEAR
Andy Cutting
Tim Edey
Will Pound
Martin Simpson

BEST LIVE ACT
Bellowhead
The Home Service
Peatbog Faeries
The Unthanks

BBC RADIO 2 YOUNG FOLK AWARD
Sunjay Brayne
Blair Dunlop
Ioscaid
Graham Mackenzie

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
The Dubliners

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Don McLean

GOOD TRADITION AWARD
Ian Campbell

GOOD TRADITION AWARD
Bill Leader

ROOTS AWARD
Malcolm Taylor

New Orbital album and preview video for Straight Sun

Orbital release their new album Wonky in April this year and the video for second track Straight Sun is now on YouTube. The album is produced by Flood.

Leonard Cohen - Old Ideas (Album Review 2012)

There is a common misconception that some musicians are beyond criticism. One only has to listen to the latest Lou Reed/Metallica train crash (Lulu, 2011) to know that isn’t true. And it‘s all too easy to praise so called ‘legends’ and overuse the word ‘genius’ when their legacy has outlived their present achievements (McCartney and Dylan being two obvious examples).  So it is with a certain amount of trepidation that Leonard Cohen’s twelfth album is received; kept at arms-length rather than embraced, admired from distance and not approached, talked about in hushed-tones instead of praised. The man who gave the world Suzanne, Hallelujah and First We Take Manhattan has transcended genres and trends throughout his half-century career, while remaining a superb songwriter and poet, as Old Ideas is an immediately accessible, charming and loveable collection of memories.

Old Ideas opens with the delicate autobiographical musings of Going Home. Cohen’s baritone rasp, in which he describes himself as a ‘lazy bastard living in a suit’, is offset by angelic backing vocals. This is an intriguing self-examination leading into the seven and a half minute masterpiece of Amen. Again the juxtaposition of Cohen’s well-trodden gravel-road vocals and sweet female backing is simply sublime. ‘Tell me again when I’m clean and I’m sober; Tell me again when I’ve seen through the horror”, he sings before asking: “Tell me that you’ll love me then…?”. A gorgeous combined brass/string instrumental breaks up the song into two acts before a second brings a mesmerising finale. 

Show Me The Place is a timeless piano-led ballad of faith, devotion and incarceration (metaphoric or otherwise), with a deep hymnal quality. The final two lines are powerful and poignant: “Show me the place, where the word became a man; Show me the place where the suffering began”. The best song on Old Ideas is recent single Darkness, a wonderful piece of tongue-in-cheek Faustian blues – bringing together pulsating organ, choral vocals, acoustic guitar and Cohen’s inner monologue, in one astonishing arrangement. Underpinning the song is the central message of temptation and doubt.

This is followed by Anyhow, a love song with a wicked sense of humour: “I know you have to hate me, but could you hate me less? I’ve used up all my chances and you’ll never take me back; but there ain’t no harm in asking, could you cut me one more slack?”, is probably the best songwriting on the album. The last minute or so is a superb summary of the story in which blame is afforded to both sides. Crazy To Love You (co-written with Anjani Thomas) is the second half of the love song. Cohen lifts his vocal from the depths to add lightness to an otherwise melancholy dirge. “Crazy has places to hide in, that are deeper than any goodbye” is another wonderful line.

Many of Leonard Cohen’s songs have been compared to ‘hymns’ is both structure and content. None more so on Old Ideas than the magnificent Come Healing that is as understated as it is uplifting. Again, the affecting combination of vocals and music is seemingly effortless. Into the last few songs, Banjo is a truly light-hearted moment, in which Cohen tells the story of an old instrument and its supposed history. Likewise, the country-esque harmonica of Lullaby is pure whimsy and a well executed, if twee, distraction.

Old Ideas closes with the emotionally heavy Different Sides – a relationship song played out like an uneasy therapy session. Musically the arrangement is a thick soup of ideas and the song fades through the vocal, bringing the album to a strange wilting finale. It is as if Old Ideas is missing the last song. Maybe this is the point – leave them wanting more, if you have more to give.

Now in his seventies, Leonard Cohen sounds as engaging and as relevant as ever. The elder statesman to Nick Cave and Tom Waits, and now with a voice somewhere between the two that continues to reveal his advanced years, he delivers his best album in decades. Filled with poetic wit, dry humour, light touches and dark corners, Old Ideas is touching, funny and brilliant. Cohen hasn’t always made the best choices but this finds the perfect balance of arrangements and delivery – and the contribution from his backing singers can’t be praised highly enough. Is any musician beyond criticism? No, but Leonard Cohen remains the exception that proves the rule.

-- CS

Thea Gilmore - Angels In The Abattoir (January 2012)

A great start to 2012! Thea Gilmore has given all her lovely Angels a fantastic new song, exclusive to all subscribers and no one else! Hold Still is a deep and meaningful piano ballad with huge deep echoing vocals and plenty of atmosphere. Here's what Thea says about the song:

"This is a title that I've had for a while and I could never quite write the right song for it. I'm still not sure that the song quite lives up to its idea, so you may hear another song with the same title somewhere down the line (some of you may be interested to know that I wrote 3 Red White And Black's before finally settling on the right one!)"

A song worthy of a new Thea Gilmore album.

2012 Music Chart - January

A busy month with some great new albums (thanks Spotify Premium!). Tough Love by Pulled Apart By Horses leads the way followed by the wonderful Ani Difranco with ¿Which Side Are You On? Also this month: America Give Up by Howler, Given To The Wild by The Maccabees and Black Light by Diagrams. All contribute to a great start to the year and the first Underwurld Music chart of 2012!

1. Tough Love by Pulled Apart by Horses
2. Given To The Wild by The Maccabees
3. ¿Which Side Are You On? by Ani Difranco
4. America Give Up by Howler
5. Black Light by Diagrams

Pulled Apart By Horses - Tough Love (Album Review 2012)

There is a growing consensus that guitar music is in crisis. If there is any truth in this, Leeds post-hardcore garage quartet Pulled Apart By Horses sound like a band on the verge of pioneering the resurgence. After the release of their rough-round-the-edges eponymous debut in 2010, the band hit the festivals and were asked to tour with Muse, and growing as musicians, the follow-up Tough Love is a much more solid record, building on the might of early single I Punched A Lion In The Throat – a furious combination of lead singer Tom Hudson’s terrifyingly straining vocals and the swirling guitar work of James Brown. Having a unique and interesting sound is one thing and only gets you so far, so does Tough Love have the songs to back it up?

Tough Love starts in blistering form. Big single V.E.N.O.M. is like being dropped into a thundering vortex, with its sudden jolting start and fierce ‘spelling bee’ chorus – Hudson’s vocals screaming the letters as a prelude to stomping guitars. While this is not the best songwriting, the whole execution packs a mighty punch even into the third minute ‘80s metal’ instrumental – a slow deliberate dirge metamorphosing into a frantic burst of thrash. Brilliant.

Elsewhere, no song matches this incredible start but a few come close. Bromance Ain’t Dead is glorious pop-metal and Hudson’s best vocal performance: mesmerisingly combining insane laughter with an effective tuneful delivery. A neat late guitar solo divides the action. Some Mothers is short but excellent, packing in as many ideas as possible in fewer than two minutes. And Epic Myth, with sedate harmonising vocals matching sedate guitars then exploding into life due to a spectacular vocal performance from Hudson and more furious guitars, is also excellent. We continue to fear for the long-term health of his voice.

Late on, Give Me A Reason sounds like another single; a good structured arrangement and a terrific guitar solo is a winning combination. In spite of these high points, Tough Love falls off the rails in the middle. The start/stop vocal/guitar arrangement of Night Of The Living (I’m Scared Of People) with its horrible uninspired chorus fails on all levels. And Wildfire, Smoke & Doom is a great twenty-three seconds of rampant guitars with two minutes of average build-up.

The rest is more hit and some miss. On Wolf Hand, Hudson sings, “When I was a kid, I was a dick. But nothing changes”. A surprisingly melodious chorus and epic guitars save the song. The drumming on Shake Off The Curse is a constant driving force in an otherwise unspectacular effort. A shame as the writing is adventurous: “You won’t send me back to the dark place”, Hudson spits. Into the third minute, a great gliding guitar solo is cut short. Degeneration Game revisits old ground musically while Hudson provides another stupendous performance.

Tough Love closes with Everything Dipped In Gold, the album’s longest song at four minutes. Although the band sound in control, the wealth of ideas get away from them, falling apart slightly around a decent pop chorus and into an elegant instrumental finale. Another two minutes with a thrash-metal crescendo and it’s a great song – but maybe there is more to Pulled Apart By Horses than this predictable formula.

On the strength of Tough Love, Pulled Apart By Horses should be the most exciting new band since Nirvana. One is reminded of the raw power of Bleach before the magnificence of Nevermind yet to come. This is a much improved second effort from a band who know they have more to give – and touring has made them better musicians: a template for any new band. Fully aware of their own ambitions Pulled Apart By Horses have made an album as challenging as it is fascinating, taken a few risks and confirmed their place in an exciting music community. Guitar music is dying? No way.

-- CS

Ani Difranco - ¿Which Side Are You On? Album Review (2012)

Musical careers are filled with ups and downs, good songs and not so good songs, commercial success and obscurity. The professional life of Ani DiFranco has seen all of these, from her charming auspicious début in 1990 to the wonder years of the 1990s, through the desolation of the start of the last decade into the revival of the end; DiFranco has tasted the highs and the lows of being a musician. Now, aged 41, married and enjoying motherhood, her seventeenth album ¿Which Side Are You On? is a heady mix of the politically charged (the name of the album and title track is taken from the Florence Reece protest song made popular by Pete Seeger – who also features on the song) and the deeply intimate and autobiographical. This is much more edgy than her previous album Red Letter Year – the resounding result of five years of toil and battling out of the wilderness than began with 2001’s monstrous and directionless Revelling/Reckoning – and continues a run of good (return to) form.

¿Which Side Are You On? immediately hits the right mark. Perfectly pitched in the centre ground between delicate empty acoustic folk and mid to fast tempo alt-rock, DiFranco blends some her best song-writing in a decade with a wonderful collection of arrangements to give the songs character and identity. At times ¿Which Side Are You On? feels like a ‘best of’ collection but falls short (thankfully) of repetition – everything sounds new and fresh but easily placed at different points in her back catalogue; like the album is a deliberate anthology.

Opener Life Boat is a great start – the spiky staccato guitar, fuzzy bass and Difranco’s delicious voice – part smoke, part fire – to bring it all together. The song attempts to sum up the ‘story so far’ from her engaging personality to life as an ‘exposed’ musician and icon. Unworry takes the same approach but is two songs wound together – DiFranco interrupts her own flow several times like a rambling, yet charming, schizophrenic.

The title track, underpinning the whole album, is way ahead of everything else in its directness and no-nonsense execution. The only criticism is the lack of subtlety makes it sound more like a parody than an open, honest appeal to the powers that be. The non-universal nature of the song is its only downfall. This is one of the reasons most of the world dislikes Bruce Springsteen, especially when his music is used in the wrong context. This aside, this is solid reinvention of an old established idea that has some startling moments.

Splinter, with its pseudo-calypso feel, couldn’t be more different. A pro-feminist song sugar-coated, it delivers some of the best lines: “Watch out for that TV; it’s full of splinters. And remember you can always go outside…Really, really, really far outside…” and “Who put all this stuff in my apartment? Who put all this ice in my drink? Who put the poison in the atmosphere? Who put the poison in the way I think?”. Musically there are some great touches. Unfortunately ¿Which Side Are You On? falters slightly with the odd  Promiscuity. This time, the start/stop arrangement distracts from the positive message.

¿Which Side Are You On? comes back kicking with the beautiful Albacore – the most obvious love song on the album. A perfect bleak arrangement with DiFranco as the central instrument is accompanied by exquisite piano. J is an intriguing exploration into culture and purpose, again filled with keen observation and social commentary, but it fails to translate into a structure – the song ambles and loops through its five minutes. In contrast, the short punchy and industrial If Yr Not is a moment of brilliance. Continuing the diversity, Hearse is a truly beautiful vocal performance set to a balanced piano-led backing – odd euphemism aside – this manages to be both kooky and meaningful in equal measure.

Into the final trilogy, Mariachi is another elegantly performed love song of unravelling stories and experiences. More great guitar work and piano take it from page to performance as the tales unfold. Another sidestep takes the album to the menacing equal-rights anthem of Amendment, fusing light and darkness, positive with negative, and highlighting more issues in six and half minutes than the rest of the album put together. Again, a direct unsubtle delivery is made credible with a sincere honest vocal.

¿Which Side Are You On? closes with the downbeat and world-weary Zoo, bringing the album to a very dour end. It is a shame that this feels like DiFranco giving up instead of fighting on and an odd choice for closer. That said, the final hard-hitting lyrics are: “Pour your love into your children…until there’s nothing left to say”. Twice.

Ani DiFranco has gathered together an interesting group of musicians for this album. As well as Pete Seeger, she is joined by Ivan and Cyril Neville, Adam Levy and saxophonist Skerik. And musically ¿Which Side Are You On? is more coherent and stable than it could have been, with plenty of flourishes. Long gone are DiFranco’s angst-fuelled days of the brilliant brutal and bare Dilate, and this is certainly far removed from the sparse hopelessness of Revelling/Reckoning and chaotic Puddle Dive. Music often echoes the musician’s own life and this certainly does – Ani DiFranco is now older, wiser, calmer and settled, but her music is continuously thought-provoking, compelling and it still packs a punch.

-- CS

BBC Sound of 2012 - a very uninspiring Top 5

The BBC 'Sound of...' is generally a good indication of talent to listen out for in the coming year. The shortlists have introduced us to the likes of Florence and The Machine, The Ting Tings, Mumford and Sons, Adele, Vampire Weekend, Dizzee Rascal and Lady Gaga as well as less mainstream artists trying to make it big.

This year the top 5 is...

1. Michael Kiwanuka
2. Frank Ocean
3. Azealia Banks
4. Skrillex
5. Niki and The Dove

Starting with Niki and The Dove, the Swedish electro-pop duo sound a bit like Florence and The Machine (with a bit of Bjork) as remixed by Underworld. No bad thing as in these days of 80s retrospectives, these guys bring something unique and interesting.

Skrillex (Sonny Moore from Los Angeles) is trying to take electronic music to another level, combining dubstep, hardcore and more conventional dance music elements. It doesn't sound too radical but definitely has an edge.

New York rapper Azealia Banks is best known for 212 (featuring Lazy Jay), a torrent of sexually explicit lyrics wrapped up in half-decent rap-pop, but there needs to be more to Azealia Banks than headlines. Her cover of Interpol's Slow Hands is genuinely interesting but the rest of her material is definitely not radio-friendly. She has talent and with the right direction she can use it.

US singer Frank Ocean seems like nothing new after a few listens but he does bring something fresh to a tired genre. A good voice, if over-produced, and strong, hard-hitting subject matter (see Novacane) is one thing but he sounds in danger of getting lost amongst everyone else.

BBC Sound of 2012 winner Michael Kiwanuka is the only Brit in the top 5 and the obvious choice for first place. A soul/folk combination is not original but his voice is a breath of fresh air. Single Home is a delight.

It's a shame that there appear to be no indie 'guitar' bands on the horizon and I can't say that I'm going to rush out and start buying any of this. Uninspiring top 5.

Those that didn;t make the top 5 are:

A$AP Rocky
Dot Rotten
Dry The River
Flux Pavilion
Friends
Jamie N Commons
Lianne La Havas
Ren Harvieu
Spector
Stooshe

I would have gone for Jamie N Commons, Dry The River and the wonderful Friends in the top 5.

2011 Music Chart - December

So another year comes to an end and here is the final 2011 Music Chart. A very quiet month with a couple of albums hitting the turntables: Pearl Jam Twenty and the new deluxe edition of U2's Achtung Baby (and Q magazine's version of covers - both not added to the chart). Fleet Foxes hold the number one spot and is still the Underwurld Music album of the year.

1. Helplessness Blues by Fleet Foxes
2. A Creature I Don't Know by Laura Marling
3. Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will by Mogwai
4. Slave Ambient by The War On Drugs 
5. Ashes Fire by Ryan Adams
6. Last Night On Earth by Noah And The Whale
7. Codes and Keys by Death Cab For Cutie
8. Collapse Into Now by R.E.M.
9. Belong by The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart
10. 50 Words For Snow by Kate Bush 
11. Ceremonials by Florence & The Machine
12. Passenger by Lisa Hannigan
13. Twenty by Pearl Jam
14. Sky Full Of Holes by Fountains Of Wayne
15. Virtue by Emmy The Great
16. The Big Roar by The Joy Formidable
17. Blood Pressures by The Kills
18. Velociraptor! by Kasabian 
19. Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds by Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds
20. Diamond Mine by King Creosote and Jon Hopkins
21. Destroyed by Moby
22. John Wesley Harding by Thea Gilmore
23. Build A Rocket Boys! by Elbow
24. Gracious Tide Take Me Home by Lanterns On The Lake 
25. Close-Up: Volume 3, States Of Being by Suzanne Vega
26. Bruiser by The Duke Spirit
27. The King Of Limbs by Radiohead 
28. Silesia by Jeniferever
29. Ritual by White Lies
30. Paradise by Slow Club
31. Fishin' For Woos by Bowling For Soup
32. The Fool by Warpaint
33. Buffalo by The Phoenix Foundation
34. Metals by Feist
35. Young Pilgrim by Charlie Simpson
36. Wasting Light by Foo Fighters

Thea Gilmore - Angels In The Abattoir (December 2011)

The final song from Thea this year for all her lovely Angels is another double: the rather pleasant But Me and a brief take of Auld Lang Syne.

But Me is full of haunting, echoing, spacious vocals set to a simple guitar backing. No write-up or explanation from Thea this time but the message is positive and upbeat in spite of a sedate and measured delivery. A gorgeous love song emerges in the last minute.

Thea's take on Auld Lang Syne is equally beautiful and as expected. A cappella and only one verse but a rare and special performance.

Gathering Stories (Video) by Jónsi

The Sigur Rós front man Jónsi has provided music for We Bought A Zoo. The animated video for the wonderful Gathering Stories, co-written with director Cameron Crowe, is here...