Music Report - June 2012 Part 3

Patti Smith - Banga

Musical icon and all-round legend Patti Smith is back with her eleventh album, entitled Banga, a work bringing together her "unique dreams and observations" in nearly an hour of music. And it is one of the most eclectic and enjoyable albums Smith has made. Shifting from a dramatic opening into soft pop tunes and balladry, and then becoming more intense and dramatic as Banga continues, this is incredible composition and song writing. Now 65, and like contemporary veteran Neil Young whose After The Goldrush is covered as the closing song, Smith shows no signed of slowing down and her fearless sense of exploration has no bounds. Banga is weird, wonderful and wickedly infectious.

Japandroids - Celebration Rock

Canadian duo Brian King and David Prowse follow their début Post-Nothing with the mighty Celebration Rock. Japandriods deftly mix punk sounds with 'classic' rock and the effect brings together influences like Tom Petty with Green Day, The Who and Guns 'n' Roses. The two big songs Fire's Highway and Adrenaline Nightshift showcase this sound perfectly while opener The Nights Of Wine And Roses echoes The Hold Steady, while adding something unique and interesting. The continued presence and power of the vocals; shared duties sounding mostly like a packed stadium and the relentless charge right up to sing-along closer Continuous Thunder. Brilliant, fast-paced and breathless guitar rock at its very best.

Grass Widow - Internal Logic

An all-female trio from San Francisco create a wonderful sound of delicious harmonies and retro-guitars on their new album Internal Logic. This time the band tackles more 'intellectual', nerdy and extradite subjects, from Spock (presumably Mr and not Dr) to The Goldilocks Zone to the fate of commercial society (Disappearing Industries). Lead-guitarist Raven Mahon adds the sharp edges to the slick ethereal vocals as the band take meticulous song construction to great heights on every track. As the album progresses, this craft becomes more apparent, the second half more impressive than the slightly disjointed first - more accessible pop melodies collide with the shimmering sound highlighting the progression from 2010's Past Time.

The Young - Dub Egg

Every so often a band comes along that is so infectious that you quickly learn to overlook their discretions, obvious or otherwise. With The Young, whose singer Hans Zimmerman has such a laid-back free style that is not to everyone's taste, it's the supreme guitar work from Kyle Edwards that stands out. Dub Egg has a very 'Crazy Horse' shambolic live-take feel. Opener Livin' Free and the mammoth Dance With The Ramblers are great early examples, the latter spiralling off into a bass-driven set of solos. But this still feels like work-in-progress for The Young, unstructured, loose ideas and a mix of styles make Dub Egg feel very unfocused, if very engaging and compelling on the first few listens. Plunging Rollers for example doesn't build into anything new in spite of more supreme guitars and the oddly laboured Numb is a psychedelic thrash through a muddled mind.

Plankton Wat - Spirits

Dewey Mahood, from Portland Oregon, is making music solo as Plankton Wat, since humble home-studio beginnings in 2001. With his eyes and ears on other projects, Spirits is a great outlet for his creative flow, the entire album blending together as a huge ambient guitar solo fused with exotic rhythms and drum-machine percussion. This is a musical meditation, a bit Eno and a bit Floyd, reflecting on ancient cities and civilisations (Mahood takes the name from the city-temple of Angkor Wat, circa 12th century) juxtaposed against the US Northwest coast landscape. Slightly more that just background music, Spirits sweeps you away with its seemingly random and shifting instrumentation, textures and effective production.

Music Report - June 2012 Part 2

Friends - Manifest!

The much anticipated début album from new Brooklyn band Friends is going to be a disappointment no matter how great it is, mainly due to the hype surrounding the quintet like a sea-fog. There hasn't been this much excitement about a band since The Strokes appeared, yet this is more akin to the bandwagon-inducing arrival of Yeah Yeah Yeahs with Samantha Urbani the new Karen O. Musically everything is comparable to big single I'm His Girl which is easily the best song on the album - and consequently does not fit with the rest. But there is much to gain from Manifest! which shows that Friends are not just a one song band. From cool opener Friend Crush, with its sassy vocal/guitar chorus, and the fragile sparse tones of Sorry (with ridiculous backing vocals and inane repetition, only to break into jungle beats late into the third minute), to the funk-soul Prince chic of Home, it is clear that there is more variation to Friends than expected. A Thing Like This is a great, if dated sounding, pop song with Urbani showing her vocals perfectly, while Ideas On Ghosts is the goth take on the same idea (a slice of Donna Summer disco fronted by Robert Smith), and the Graceland-esque Stay Dreaming is beautiful and precise. Decent stuff but not without its faults; A Light and Proud/Ashamed are both agonisingly dull and forgettable and Ruins is a complete mess. The curious Van Fan Gör Du tries a similar upbeat funk style, followed by the irritatingly catchy Mind Control to provide a good finish to an album that could be much better than it is - but that wouldn't be cool enough, so instead Manifest! simply hits the middle ground running. 

Top Tracks: I'm His Girl, Stay Dreaming and Mind Control.

Liars - WIXIW

Three-piece dance-punk band Liars are another to hail from the thriving Brooklyn music scene. WIXIW is their sixth album and yet another that sees them heading somewhere different, fusing electronica and choral vocals - something attempted in the early days of Liars (hence the album is a palindrome, albeit an odd one, showing a circular 'journey'); starting with the opening duo of The Exact Colour Of Doubt, an ambient introduction, followed by the ghostly Radiohead-inspired Octagon (see Kid A era). The first single from the album No. 1 Against The Rush is all elements of a post-Joy Division world in one track, with a bit of 'Wish You Were Here' Floyd with a bit Gary Numan, but all good, veering into a cool instrumental outro at the end. The rest of the album unfolds in similar downbeat style, like a bunch of LCD Soundsystem post-chill demos - A Ring On Every Finger is great, the swirling experimental title track, all drunken orchestra and front man Angus Andrew's vocals, is bizarre and compelling, but His And Mine Sensations is an excellent coming together of ideas and textures. Getting even more eclectic and diverse, Flood To Flood takes the album into darker and weirder land, Who Is The Hunter is minimalist and Brats attempts upbeat Euro-dance festival with limited success. Closer Annual Moon Words is typically and predictably arranged to bring WIXIW to a fitting conclusion.   

Top Tracks: His And Mine Sensations, A Ring On Every Finger and Octagon.

Neil Young and Crazy Horse - Americana

Trying to introduce Neil Young in a music review is broken pencil time, and given that Americana is Young's thirty-fourth album, a review of his back-catalogue is equally without purpose. This is the first album with band Crazy Horse since Greendale in 2003 and while not as accomplished as the brilliant Sleeps With Angels, Americana shows us again this superb collaboration and what a great band they are. Now at sixty six, Young is still as tenacious and determined as ever and this is his best work in years, as a stalwart Canadian legend covering traditional songs, such as Clementine (given a venomous treatment), Travel On, Wayfarin' Stranger and Jesus' Chariot (She'll Be Coming Round The Mountain). This may not sound like a thrilling prospect but the point is to restore these classics of modern America to their original dark stories with evil characters and twisted plots, and not the sanitised versions most people know. This works terrifically well, as the band (Young included) blend to create an enormous torrent of enthusiastic guitar folk and much of Americana sounds like a live performance (High Flyin' Bird is especially shambolic between amazing guitar pieces) with Young moving in and out of mic. Woody Guthrie's This Land Is Your Land is the late highlight. Closing with a spirited rendition of God Save The Queen, the tune used for My Country, 'Tis Of Thee (aka America), one of the American national anthems before The Star Spangled Banner.

Top Tracks: This Land Is Your Land, Clementine and Travel On.

Marissa Nadler - The Sister

Marissa Nadler first rose to prominence with the 2009 album Little Hells, an album of heartbreaking beauty and exquisite song writing, before returning with an equally compelling eponymous album two years later. It is this album that provides the inspiration for The Sister; the companion to the previous collection of songs. From the soft delicate opening of The Wrecking Ball Company which builds like a drama through its near five minute running time, to the Jenny Lewis country balladry of Christine, to the Everybody Hurts inspired To A Road, Love, to the closing Your Heart Is A Twisted Vine, Nadler's voice is overwhelming in its control and clarity. The Sister rarely strays from the comfortable road, with each song blending together into an eight-piece montage of storytelling and timelessness. The early highlight is the achingly wonderful Love Again, There Is A Fire.


Top Tracks: Christine, Love Again, There Is A Fire and Your Heart Is a Twisted Vine.

Tu Fawning - A Monument

The astonishing talent from Portland, Oregon is never ending. The four-piece band Tu Fawning featuring the talents of Corrina Repp and Jo Haege is yet another wonderful export. Blending guitar folk with tribal rhythms (see Bat For Lashes, MGMT and Yeasayer et al), the effect is spellbinding and otherworldly. Opener Anchor is a great introduction, a slow-burning operetta with combined vocals and harmonies, pounding drums and rattling percussion. A Monument is the band's second album, quickly following 2011's Hearts On Hold - a much darker, almost menacing and experimental work. This time, the band has settled for a more playful style, lighter and exploring more pop-based melodies. Blood Stains is as soft as it is spiky with big guitars and direct vocals, all pinned together with a terrific brass section. A Pose For No One continues the trend, sounding like Florence in subdued mood, building to a great vocal/percussion section in the fourth minute. Build A Great Cliff is gloriously over-the-top drama, changing halfway into a completely different song like Mars Volta at their most mischievous. The final trio which make up nearly twenty minutes of The Monument's running time, is an album in itself, with In The Center Of Powder White and To Break Into serving as the slow building intro to closer Bones, seven and half minutes of clattering percussion, grinding guitars and a final vocal arrangement. Sublime.

Top Tracks: A Pose For No One, Blood Stains and Bones.

Music Report - June 2012 Part 1

Sigur Rós - Valtari

Icelandic maestros Sigur Rós return after a brief hiatus with Valtari (meaning 'Roller' in their invented language Vonlenska, or Hopelandic in English), the follow-up to Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust ('With a buzz in our ears we play endlessly'). Valtari is much more ambient and subtle, even by Sigur Rós standards, with wonderful drifting soundscapes and a quiet elegant complexity. Singer Jónsi is magnificent throughout, his delicate falsetto an ever-present 'other' instrument within the guitars, keyboards and strings that form the band's eclectic and often alien music. The early combination of Ég anda and Ekki Múkk serve as a great introduction as the start of the album builds to the mighty Varúð which transforms a slow melodic choral first-half into a crashing crescendo and back again with elegant precision. The drums/piano/strings combination across the five minute point is astonishing. This is followed by Rembihnútur, building in a similar way to vibrant chorus of Jónsi and curious industrial machinery. The title track is eight minutes of minimalism, wind chimes becoming strings and electronica, and the gorgeous closer Fjögur píanó is equally uncluttered. Not as vibrant as Takk but echoing the band's early work magnificently.


Top tracks: Varúð, Fjögur píanó and Ekki Múkk.

John Mayer - Born And Raised

Singer, songwriter, guitarist and all-round renaissance man John Mayer has returned to his Americana roots with new album Born And Raised. After a brief illness and a few early distractions to experiment with some badly-judged musical themes and ideas, Mayer is now back doing something slightly different and the result is his most focused album of his five album career so far. Grounded and honest Country-rock seems to be the best outlet for his talent. The opening trio of Queen Of California, The Age Of Worry and Shadow Days show the diversity of Mayer's song writing talents with the latter the most impressive of the three; a great mid-tempo Country-blues guitar fuelled song about life in the school of hard knocks. Speak For Me has echoes of Josh Ritter with acoustic guitars and delicate wordless lyrics and the bluesy love song Something Like Olivia is sublime. The mournful tones of If I Ever Get Around To Living change the tone before the trite Love Is A Verb shifts the album too far into the 'obvious'. Thankfully Mayer comes back strong with the brilliant storytelling of Walt Grace's Submarine Test, January 1967 and the best song on the album, closer A Face To Call Home. Mayer's most complete and accomplished album to date.

Top Tracks: A Face To Call Home, Shadow Days and Something Like Olivia.

Mount Eerie - Clear Moon

The first of two albums from lo-fi indie band Mount Eerie in 2012, Clear Moon builds upon nearly ten years of ambling experimentation and living in the musician wilderness. Finally it looks as if Phil Elverum, formerly known as Microphones, has made a commercially acceptable collection of songs and musical interludes to form a connected work. Elverum's wistful, oddly distant and beautiful vocals (akin to Stephen Immerwahr from Codeine) are at the core of Clear Moon. From epic opener Through The Trees Pt. 2 and equally epic The Place I Live, complete with added female vocal at the end, to the dark mysterious title track and slow reflective Yawning Sky, this is atmospheric and absorbing music. Only the choral Over Dark Water breaks the ambient mould, with buzzing guitars and intertwined vocal arrangement, Lone Bell borrows from Death In Vegas and the light breezy House Shape is also impressive. Holding this together are a few perfectly placed instrumentals; two merely titled '(something)' and closer '(Synthesizer)'. At last, a well-formed album of songs and not just a random collection of ideas.

Top Tracks: The Place I Live, Over Dark Water and Lone Bell.

Admiral Fallow - Tree Bursts In Snow

Tree Bursts In Snow is the second album from Scottish quintet Admiral Fallow, following the band's impressive début Boots Met My Face (an album which deftly juxtaposes childhood innocence and shocking violence - see Subbuteo). This new album blends wonderful pop melodies with melancholy delivered by the cultural tones of Louis Abbott and the fragile voice of flautist Sarah Hayes (think Frightened Rabbit meets Belle & Sebastian). Opener Tree Bursts is a slow-burning six-minute introduction which builds into the second half as a wonderful arrangement of 'prog' piano/guitar and both contrasting vocalists. The Paper Trench and Guest Of The Government are brilliant pop songs, the former kicking off the chorus with 'Holy Moses and Holy cow...', and the latter mixing radio-friendly melodies with less-than radio-friendly (but superb) lyrics. Again Abbott and Hayes blend perfectly as required. The mid-tempo single Beetle In The Box is just as arresting, as is the epic Old Fools, with building guitars and strings, and Isn't This World Enough?? is a tongue-in-cheek slice of sing-along nu-folk which quickly turns into an end-of-night drunken lock-in. In the final third, The Way You Were Raised is stirring, Burn is a nostalgia-fuelled sprawling swirling ballad and closer Oh, Oscar is a downbeat ending. Proof that there are more strings to the collective Admiral Fallow bow.

Top Tracks: Guest Of The Government, Tree Bursts and Burn

Smoke Fairies - Blood Speaks

Katherine Blamire and Jessica Davies, aka Smoke Fairies, from Chichester now based in London via Vancouver, New Orleans and... Sidmouth, have discovered their talent for producing a unique blend of blues and folk with second album Blood Speaks. The duo have certainly built upon the success of Through Low Light And Trees and the Jack White backed single Gastown/River Song; consequently Blood Speaks is a more robust concept. Vocally, Blamire and Davies have a traditional folk quality, showcased on the opening songs Let Me Know and Awake; against the backdrop of more modern blues. This comes to the fore in The Three Of Us, with its glorious blend of budget thriller storytelling and sparkling guitars. Smoke Fairies are at their best when this polished, precise, almost operatic vocal is offset by gritty lyrics and hard-edged guitar-work. It all comes together for the epic title track, strangely unique in approach as it is neither blues or folk, from a wonderful acoustic/vocal opening to a more powerful vocal. In contrast Take Me Down When You Go is a perfect slow blend, like Pentangle backed by The Black Keys. The delicious vocals of Hideaway jump and dance against the more sinister morose music, another example of Smoke Fairies' sound working perfectly, and the closing pair of Version Of The Future and Film Reel create an oddly ethereal ending to the album. A promising follow-up.

Top Tracks: The Three Of Us, Hideaway and Take Me Down When You Go.

Music Report - May 2012 Part 3

Beach House - Bloom

Four albums in and Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally, AKA Beach House, have hit their stride with Bloom, following last record Teen Dream in ambitious style. This time, the music is much more focused and the production is the biggest 'upgrade' to the band's mesmerising and shimmering sound. Legrand's androgynous vocals are a constant wonder, augmented by Scally who creates slow swirling guitar hooks and intricate arrangements. From opener Myth, one of the best tracks, the scene is set and rarely strays. The five-minute Lazuli is another early gem with breathless choral vocals added to the mix and Legrand in seemingly prosaic mood. The arrangement shifts in the second half to build to a wondrous blend of music and vocals. The Hours introduces another vocal style and highlights the group's vague yet compelling song writing: "Made in your reflection so that you can feel. Mad in your intentions; feel it isn't real. All the recollections spinning in a field. Left in your possession, till it isn't real; say it isn't real". Continuing the trend of 'every other song being a hit', New Year verges on pop perfection. In between, there are plenty of great moments with the brilliant guitars, retro-drums and storytelling of Wild ("Our father won't come home because he's seeing double...") and  On The Sea breaking the formula by adding vulnerability to Legrand's otherwise polished vocal. Closer Irene is a huge cymbal-filled finale. This is more than just going through the motions and washing everything in thick obscure production. This is a band on top form.

Top Tracks: Lazuli, Myth, The Hours.

Soulsavers - The Light The Dead See

Soulsavers (Rich Machin and Ian Glover), brought in Mark Lanegan and other distinguished guests (Jason Pierce, Richard Hawley, Red Ghost et al) for 2009's Broken. This proved to be another mixed bag of producer/vocalist collaborations. This time, for The Light The Dead See, the duo have settled on one man to provide a voice (and indeed all lyrics) for their music: Dave Gahan from Depeche Mode. Not only does this add much needed consistency and direction but proves to be a revelatory move. Gahan is full-blooded and committed from the start; the dramatic opener In The Morning building furiously before the quiet descends, and the brooding apocalyptic Longest Day complete with choir for the choruses. Presence of God completes the impressive trio with Gahan in typical redemptive mood, crooning over acoustic guitars (this continues later with the less impressive and slightly disjointed, Bitterman). Another example of this collaboration working brilliantly is Take Me Back Home, all serious, dramatic and ending in a chilling vocal finale. In the final trio, I Can't Stay is a spirited and ethereal ballad, Take adds dramatic piano to Gahan's self-loathing and closer Tonight brings it all together into an impressive swansong. Elsewhere the album is filled with interesting moments: Just Try borrows from Baby Bird's Gorgeous and fuses in a Spiritualized arrangement while Gone Too Far is sparse and quiet and then explodes, and the opener La Ribera coupled with  Point Sur Part 1, are both wonderful instrumentals. Another example of when producer and artist combine to great effect.

Top Tracks: Longest Day, Presence Of God and Tonight.

Gaz Coombs Presents... - Here Come The Bombs

In 2010, after six albums and seventeen years of music, the band Supergrass split. Gaz Coombes, former lead singer with the band, is now a solo artist and Here Come The Bombs is his début solo album... and he really is going it alone having written and performed every song. The first thing that strikes you is how diverse and varied the music is, from the smooth shimmering opener Bombs, to pop-rock masterpiece Hot Fruit, to the eclectic Radiohead-esque Universal Cinema, to the perfectly judged White Noise and the U2-doing-euro-pop Break The Silence, to closing piano ballad Sleeping Giant. This should come as no surprise at all considering Coombs and Supergrass have always 'reinvented' themselves and done something different, not just from album to album, but single to single. Only the crass, inelegant Whore and Simulator grate a little on the choruses but the latter in particular is interesting and creative enough to get by. Here Come The Bombs is a wonderful celebration of Coombes' brilliance as a maker of music and as a truly solo effort should be the start of a wonderful new career.

Top Tracks: Hot Fruit, Universal Cinema, White Noise.
 

Niki And The Dove - Instinct

The Swedish three-piece Niki And The Dove release their much anticipated début album Instinct, which features seven songs already released on three early singles. They sound like one of the most exiting bands this year, effortlessly blending the current trend of 80s electronic revival with modern textures and arrangements. Singer Malin Dahlström has an astonishing energy, from opener Tomorrow into recent EP lead track The Drummer, a superb creation of futuristic arrangement, 'staccato' vocals and nu-folk. To complete the wonderful start In Our Eyes brings back memories of Stevie Nicks... if she was ever managed by Stock, Aitkin and Waterman. From here the album opens up even more as the epic Mother Protect, the frantic spiky Somebody, and brilliant single DJ Ease My Mind form the solid core. It is clear from the outset that Niki And The Dove have a sound and they are sticking to it, mainly due to Dahlström's intense unique vocals. But the last trio show some shift from the formula. Winterheart is a calmer take on an established sound, The Fox is dark and sinister storytelling blending industrial beats with an upbeat chorus, and closer Under The Bridges is a gorgeous drum-filled multi-vocal love song to finish. An excellent début.

Top Tracks: The Drummer, In Our Eyes, DJ Ease My Mind.
 

The Temper Trap - The Temper Trap

Australian band The Temper Trap have chosen to go eponymous for their 'difficult' second album. Following the accomplished but often flawed Conditions, The Temper Trap is much more determined and focused than its predecessor, opening in some style with the big single Need Your Love, which builds over three minutes into an energetic swirl of Dougy Mandagi's vocals, guitars and keyboards. Unfortunately this early momentum is lost with the hapless London's Burning, which instantly proves that music and politics rarely mix and is often a disastrous combination. Featuring samples of David Cameron and a 'rioter', a horrible football-terrace chorus and ugly falsetto vocals, this fails on almost every level. A massive blot on an otherwise good collection of songs. The big emotional Trembling Hands tries to claw back some dignity and only succeeds thanks to Mandagi's stunning vocal performance. The Sea Is Calling is equally intense and dramatic, the falsetto is back for the sparse delicate Miracle before the prosaic drone of This Isn't Happiness proves to be accurate. Things pick up with the pop-soul of Where Do We Go From Here, with echoes of early Depeche Mode and Erasure. This 80s revival continues with Never Again and the spirited, yet repetitive, Dreams (OMD meets ABC), which builds to a last minute of vocals and keyboards. Rabbit Hole takes a while to get going but when it does, Mandagi delivers another wonderful vocal over a wall of guitars, I'm Gonna Wait threatens to be another great song but falls just short, and closer Leaving Heartbreak Hotel provides a much needed final lift. Great piano and vocals before an excellent last minute of guitars and keyboards. A mixed 'difficult' album from a band still trying to break through.

Top Tracks: Need Your Love, Trembling Hands, Leaving Heartbreak Hotel

Music Report - May 2012 Part 2

The Brian Jonestown Massacre - Aufheben

With a back catalogue as extensive as R.E.M., The Brian Jonestown Massacre (named from the former Rolling Stone and location of a mass cult suicide) is the lifeblood of Anton Newcombe. The band has always been an underground group of musicians, varying over the years and living through more line-up changes than an ageing Motown group. New album Aufheben is an eclectic mix of alt-rock stretching from Eastern-rhythms (opener Panic in Babylon, folky Face Down On The Moon and Paint It Black inspired Spiritualized-esque Stairway To The Best Party) to vibrant stomp (Walking Up To Hand Grenades, Seven Kinds Of Wonderful and the gorgeous messy closer Blue Order New Monday). In between is the cool Franco-pop of Illuminomi and Viholliseni Maalla, and the equally sparkling duo of I Wanna Hold Your Other Hand and Clouds Are Lies. Another truly intriguing and complicated album from a band who consistently complicate and intrigue.

Top Tracks: Seven Kinds Of Wonderful, Blue Order New Monday and I Wanna Hold Your Other Hand.

Sweet Billy Pilgrim - Crown and Treaty

This is the third album from Sweet Billy Pilgrim and follow-up to the 2009 Mercury Prize nominated Twice Born Men (the year Speech Debelle won and Bat For Lashes should of...). Crown And Treaty is just as good with vocalist Tim Elsenburg on top form. Opener Joyful Reunion sets the immediate dramatic tone, Blakefield Gold slows things down with gorgeous guitars and production and Blood Is Big Expense is the obvious highlight with Arrived At Upside Down the curious centre-piece. In the second half the massive Brugada adds sublime arrangements and pop stylings, Shadow Captain gives singer Jana Carpenter more of a lead role, and the eight and a half minute closer Blue Sky Falls unfolds like a Sigur Ros anthem.

Top Tracks: Blood Is Big Expense, Brugada and Arrived At Upside Down.

Garbage - Not Your Kind Of People

It's been a while for Garbage but now Shirley Manson and Butch Vig are back with a new album, seven years after the disappointing Bleed Like Me. First impressions of Not Your Kind Of People are good - the production is typically slick, the songs catchy and punchy, and Manson is in feisty mood. Automatic Systematic Habit is part Abba, part Madonna while Big Bright World blends quiet start with noisy finish, and Blood For Poppies is a cool single. But this borders on an 'old' band trying to sound young. The big meaningful 'ballad' Control sounds like they never went away and the odd title track tries something similar but descends into self-congratulatory repetition. The slickness often distracts from the music but Felt gets it spot on - it's a bit of new but a lot of old. Sadly the second half of Not Your Kind Of People is lacking ideas and inspiration. Battle In Me puts up a fight (pun intended) but Man On A Wire is a hopeless last resort. Closer Beloved Freak is a brave attempt to salvage a weak finish. This could have been a brilliant return but ends up going through the motions somewhat.


Top Tracks: Control, Felt and Blood For Poppies.

Ren Harvieu - Through The Night

Oh what might have been. Up-and-coming singer-songwriter Ren Harvieu, who is lucky to be here after breaking her back and learning to walk again, has released a promising, if old-fashioned, début Through The Night. The title track is easily the best song on the album with Dave McCabe's (Zutons) opener Open Up Your Arms a close second, but elsewhere it's a mixed average bag. With songs penned by Howie Payne, Ed Harcourt and Jimmy Hogarth, this is something of a 60s revival. Harvieu's wonderful clear precise voice lifts a bunch of ordinary mid-tempo pop tunes: Do Right By Me, Forever In Blue and Holding On work beautifully but the rest are out-of-date (Tonight and Walking In The Rain would be rejected by Tom Jones these days) or over-the-top (Summer Romance). Harcourt delivers a classic in Love Is A Melody for the spirited finish. So a mixed bag for the débutante who can hopefully reach her potential with a better, more modern, more meaningful collection of songs.

Top Tracks: Through The Night, Open Up Your Arms and Love Is A Melody.

Keane - Strangeland

We all like bands to try something new once in a while, but if it ain't broken, don't fix it. Keane are one of those bands who, ever since their impressive début Hopes And Fears - and subsequent follow-up Under The Iron Sea, have written and delivered terrific pop songs. Strangeland is exactly what you would expect. From the shiny hopeful piano-driven You Are Young, to the 'old-yet-good Coldplay' single Silenced By The Night, to the brilliantly evocative On The Road and the Olympics-inspired The Starting Line (if it isn't used by the BBC to accompany shots of athletes in joy/pain/tears, I want my license fee back - Ed), this is always predicable but often great. The big ballads arrive in the second half: Black Rain followed by Neon River then the anthemic In Your Own Time and soft dramatic Sea Fog. This is a much-expected yet entirely justified and proficient return for Keane. 

Top Tracks: The Starting Line, Silenced By The Night and On The Road.

Music Report - May 2012 Part 1

Oli Brown - Here I Am

If there is one musician who needed to progress to the next level it is Oli Brown. Sounding more like a hardened Southern American rock veteran than an up-and-coming twenty something from Norfolk, Brown has moved up a gear with new album Here I Am. In danger of descending too far into blues-rock cliché and letting the genre do the talking, he and his brilliant band have avoided the obvious traps. The vocals are better, the music harder, the songs more creative. The seven-minute opus I Love You More You Than You'll Ever Know is especially superb, albeit a Donny Hathaway cover from 1972 and Brown gives it a new modern lift. The title track is the perfect introduction and the Paul Jones infused Solid Ground is a great sign-off. In between, the album often veers into 'blues pop' (Remedy and All We Had To Give) and trite rhythms (Devil In Me) but mainly just delivers - Manic Bloom being an early highlight. Only the hapless Mr Wilson doesn't work. And it's all held together by the firm hand of Brian Lacey.

Top Tracks: I Love You More You Than You'll Ever Know, Manic Bloom, Here I Am.

Marilyn Manson - Born Villain

If there is one musician who needed to prove he is not just a pantomime sideshow it is Marilyn Manson. Now with the core line-up of Manson and Twiggy Ramirez, the duo have brought back Chris Vrenna for keyboards and production. The trio make a great team, which lead to last album The High End of Low's marginal success, and Born Villain is an excellent follow-up. The song-writing duties are split which has injected much needed creativity, with the Ramirez/Vrenna The Gardener (Manson is like Iggy fronting LCD Soundsystem) and Murderers Are Getting Prettier Every Day instant highlights. Manson penned Pistol Whipped is old-school and the collaborative No Reflection and Born Villain are genius.

Top Tracks: The Gardener, No Reflection, Born Villain.

Norah Jones - Little Broken Hearts

If there is one musician who needed to shrug off the 'jazz singer' tag it is Norah Jones. So a collaboration with Brian Burton (AKA Danger Mouse, one half of Gnarls Barkley with Cee Lo Green) is an interesting prospect. But Jones has proved over the years that there is more to her than jazz easy-listening début Come Away With Me, and shifts slightly with every album. This isn't quite up to heights of Feels Like Home but is much more settled than the last two records. The usual piano hardly features in favour of more diverse music. Say Goodbye is a good example with a curious mix of falsetto vocals and dance keyboards, Take It Back  blends sublime arrangements with fuzzy guitars and After The Fall is mesmerising. The bluesy 4 Broken Hearts is a nod to the past with a modern twist, Happy Pills is a cool pop song and All A Dream brings things to a six-minute close. Great idea that just delivers but never breaks as much new ground as it could have done.

Top Tracks: Say Goodbye, After The Fall, Happy Pills.

Gravenhurst - The Ghost In Daylight

If there is one man who needed more recognition as a musician and song writer it is Nick Talbot. A solo artist making music as a band, Talbot has made his best album to date. The Ghost In Daylight brings together a wealth of musical influences and ideas from the vocals of Nick Drake to the swirling guitars of My Bloody Valentine to the delicate instrumentation of Bert Jansch. Opener Circadian flows from clean and quiet to muddy and complicated while The Prize is glorious gloom-pop and one of the best lines on any album this year: "still, the ties that bind us blind us to the emptiness of the prize". Huge guitars bring the song to a close. The album is perfectly judged in terms of pace and feel. The subtle and fragile Fitzrovia completes the opening near-twenty minute trilogy. The beautiful Islands is another superb eight minutes of floating vocals and song-craft, The Foundry is wonderful storytelling, and The Ghost Of Saint Paul is poignant and stirring. But closer Three Fires is the most compelling song-writing.

Top Tracks: The Prize, Islands, Three Fires.

Richard Hawley - Standing At The Sky's Edge

If there is one artist who needed to step out of his comfort zone and do something a 'bit different' it is Sheffield crooner Richard Hawley. Standing At The Sky's Edge has been described as Hawley's 'angry' album: big, bold, swirling psychedelia from the outset, this is a huge step up from the genre he is attempting 'not to milk'. In the same way at Paul Weller, Hawley has embraced a huge swathe of instruments and textures to create a monster. Opener She Brings The Sunlight takes the rhythm section of The Tragically Hip's Let's Stay Engaged and adds in Mark Lanegan Band guitars. Throughout the album, Hawley is deep and mysterious. The nature of the songs, largely focusing on mortality and the death of his close friend Tim McCall, would work as softer, more intimate performances but Hawley has taken the opportunity to go big. Songs like Down In The Woods are full-on fast rock while Seek It and The Wood Colliers Grave (even with odd musical arrangement) are more traditional Hawley fare - so it's not all completely different. The outro for Don't Stare At The Sun is brilliance, Leave Your Body Behind You is everything coming together and closer Before is perfectly judged as the old meets the new for a great sign-off.

Top Tracks: Leave Your Body Behind You, She Brings The Sunlight and Before.

Music Report - April 2012 Part 2

Gotye – Like Drawing Blood

Easily the most interesting album this year, Like Drawing Blood from Belgian/Australian Gotye (Wouter De Backer) is a revelation. With music that transcends and spans cultures and textures, from the industrial funk of The Only Way to the smooth uneasy-listening of Coming Back (think Trent Reznor meets Rufus Wainwright), to the superb consumer-culture-bashing Thanks For Your Time, De Backer is astute and eclectic.  Learnalilgivinanlovin is a brilliant three-minute pop song and, in contrast, Seven Hours With A Backseat Driver is a cool jazz take on Prodigy’s Out Of Space. Likewise The Only Thing I Know is all electro-guitar and Puzzle With A Piece Missing brings dub to the party.

Top tracks: Thanks For Your Time, Learnalilgivinanlovin and The Only Way.

Spiritualized – Sweet Heart Sweet Light

Jason Pierce has been making great music since the shoe-gazing days of the 80s but with Spirtualized he has always been just a bit different. This new album is by no means another Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space but it gets very close. Sweet Heart Sweet Light is hugely absorbing; an album to get lost in from the massive Hey Jane, a song in four movements, using every Spiritualized trick (chaotic orchestra, build-up and fade, massive choral finale) in one track, to the beauty of Too Late, to the brilliant ‘serial killer lament’ I Am What I Am. Elsewhere the gospel Freedom and hymnal Life Is A Problem bring Pierce’s composer talents to the fore. Only the over-emotional Mary is a blip on an otherwise superb landscape.

Top Tracks: I Am What I Am, Hey Jane and Too Late.

Train – California 37

American rock band Train seemingly leapt to success with the release of their second album, and lead single, Drops Of Jupiter. But there is more to the band than the one hit single. After the reflective For Me, It’s You the band took a break to return with some of their best work, now taking life, music and themselves a little less seriously, the original trio of Monahan, Stafford and Underwood release California 37, an album that blends the experience and talent of the last fifteen years with the youthful exuberance and energy of the current crop of emo-pop-punk bands. This’ll be My Year is a great opener, poking fun at the past before an explosive chorus. When it’s good, it’s great but occasionally California 37 lapses into bland pop. The cheesy country-pop of Bruises aside, songs like 50 Ways To Say Goodbye, campfire-favourite Sing Together, and the Ricky Martin swagger of Mermaid show some life while the finale of When The Fog Rolls In and To Be Loved adds depth and storytelling.

Top Tracks: To Be Loved, 50 Ways To Say Goodbye and This’ll Be My Year.

Counting Crows – Underwater Sunshine (Or What We Did On Our Summer Vacation)

It’s always a problem when a band decides to make a ‘covers’ album. Counting Crows have their reasons: to challenge, to have fun, but sometimes the songs that have inspired in the past and are drawn upon in the present don’t always make great cover versions. Underwater Sunshine brings together a diverse group of musicians: the old favourites of Bob Dylan and The Byrds, Gram Parsons and Fairport Convention, with some surprising choices: Teenage Fanclub, Travis and Sordid Humor (who? Exactly). It’s spirited stuff but takes time to catch hold with Meet On The Ledge, Mercy and All My Failures aligning with the melancholy tones of Adam Duritz and the band. That said, The Faces’ Ooh La La is fun, as is Return Of The Grevious Angel. With a huge running time, there is plenty here and Counting Crows find their comfort zone in the second half, after the uneasy Coming Around is out of the way, and you can’t fault the proficiency to which they approach the project. You Ain’t Going Nowhere is incredible.

Top Tracks: You Ain’t Going Nowhere, Meet On The Ledge and Ooh La La.

Radical Face – The Family Tree: The Roots

Radical Face (aka Ben Cooper) has built an album around the genealogy of a fictional family in the 1800s.  An interesting idea that has created an album of such vivid imagery and heart-breaking beauty, drawing comparisons with Conor Oberst and Bright Eyes. Family Portrait is brutal and honest, Always Gold is a superb six minutes, and Severus and Stone is dramatic and epic. The Family Tree: The Roots is often dragged down by its quieter moments, The Moon Is Down for example but these weak points are few and far.

Top Tracks: Always Gold, Family Portrait and Severus and Stone.

Jack White – Blunderbuss

This is Jack White’s much anticipated debut album. A former White Stripe and now part time member of The Dead Weather and The Raconteurs, White’s decision to make a solo record is interesting – even if he has a horde of musicians behind him. But this is exactly what you would expect; White’s core sound of vocal and guitar is washed through the thirteen songs, and he does a huge amount with it. The organ and guitar blues of Missing Pieces introduces the album perfectly, as does second track Sixteen Saltines. The only fault with Love Interruption is the backing vocals that distract – a simpler arrangement would work better.  White usually does the simple things well. Hypocritical Kiss has a neat piano arrangement that sadly gets swamped by heavy percussion and Weep Themselves To Sleep suffers the same fate. After a weak centre, Blunderbuss provides a decent final trio, with the closer Take Me With You When You Go making a riotous finale. Good album but could have been much better.

Top Tracks: Missing Pieces, Take Me With You When You Go and Sixteen Saltines.

Feeder – Generation Freakshow

After a brief hiatus as their alter-egos Renegades, Feeder are back and making the music fans want them to make: big pop anthems, catchy choruses and emotion. And from the opening trio it is clear that they have left the mess of Renegades behind. Oh My is excellent, Borders is a great single and Idaho is catchy. Hey Johnny (written for ex-drummer Jon Lee) is heart breaking, as is Quiet, a great mix of guitars and vocals. Sunrise brings back memories of Smashing Pumpkins – in a good way, but from here it’s all good. The upbeat duo and heavy guitars of In All Honesty and Headstrong inject some pace before the impassioned, and vaguely ‘prog’ Children Of The Sun. Only the title track, Fools Can’t Sleep and Tiny Minds fall flat.

Top Tracks: Children Of The Sun, Oh My and Hey Johnny.

Human Don’t Be Angry – Human Don’t Be Angry

Malcolm Middleton, once of Arab Strap and the failed bid to get a Christmas number one ahead of Leon Jackson (remember him?) with We’re All Going To Die, has formed a new project. The first thing that comes to mind is an electronic Mogwai with soaring guitars and a mix of instrumental and vocal songs. Opening track The Missing Plutonium is sublime and computerised vocals are added for H.D.B.A. Theme. Middleton appears for the mighty First Person Singular, Present Tense, a curious blend of artificial vocals, fuzzy guitars and piano. After The Pleasuredome is a quiet instrumental before the dramatic Monologue: River takes the album to another level. Jaded is another cool instrumental and the seven-minute Asklipiio is just breath taking. The album closes with the wonderful Getting Better (At Feeling Like Shit) with more great guitar work.

Top Tracks: The Missing Plutonium, Monologue: River and Asklipiio.

Music Report - April 2012 Part 1

Orbital – Wonky

The brothers Hartnoll are back, and out of ‘retirement’, with new album Wonky; an eclectic mix of old and new Orbital with the only misjudged moment the inclusion of Lady Leshurr on the title track. The rest is excellent and right up there with the impressive first four albums from the light Straight Sun to the supreme Stringy Acid to the dark buzzing complex Beelzedub. This is not In Sides but Phil and Paul will never beat this. Wonky is worth coming out of retirement.

Top Tracks: Stringy Acid, Straight Sun and Beelzedub.

Seth Lakeman – Tales From The Barrel House

A predictable, yet brilliant, return from one of the best folk singers in the business right now. Seth Lakeman’s Tales From The Barrel House is much more traditional fare – focusing on the lives and trouble of miners, coopers, blacksmiths and the people who craft and toil – than previous album Hearts & Minds. As always Lakeman’s work brims with storytelling and striking rhythms, none more so than the wonderful Brother Of Penryn and dramatic closer The Artisan. Opener More Than Money was recorded in the George and Charlotte copper mine of Morwellham.

Top Tracks: Brother Of Penryn, The Artisan and More Than Money.

Yppah – Eighty One

The sixth album from Joe Corrales Jr. is a wonder – a bit of everything in a swirling electronic sea and four songs with Seattle-based singer Anomie Bell. Eight One hits the heights with the Moby-esque R. Mullen and the delicate fragmented yet majestic Never Mess With Sunday. Sadly Anomie Belle sounds a bit lost within the instrumentation but the ethereal Three Portraits is excellent.

Top Tracks: Never Mess With Sunday, Three Portraits and R. Mullen.

Lightships – Electric Cables

Lightships is Gerard Love from Teenage Fanclub and is a joy from start to finish. The delicious vocals and looping guitar-work add to the light and easy feel. Opener Two Lines is perfect with a gorgeous outro as is the beauty of Sweetness In Her Spark (“this old heart is beating for her…”). On Silver And Gold, Love does a very credible impression of Mark (E from Eels) Everett and produces another slice of falsetto magic. The pop sensibilities of his former life come back with the upbeat Stretching Out and closer Sunlight To The Dawn is six minutes of brilliance.

Top Tracks: Sweetness In Her Spark, Silver And Gold and Sunlight To The Dawn.

Gemma Hayes – Let It Break

The ever-wonderful Gemma Hayes, who simply does not make enough music, returns this month with Let It Break. And it does everything you would expect from a Gemma Hayes album: gorgeous voice, presence, engaging song writing and atmosphere. Much of Let It Break draws comparisons with the work of Lisa Hannigan but Hayes always shows her own personality. There’s Only Love moves from serene ballad to driving indie into the fourth minute and takes on a new life, before the slow melancholy of Sorrow Be Gone slows things down. The real strength of Hayes’ work is variation and constant surprise. The dark mysterious, electronic Ruin is another gem, the two-minute instrumental That Sky Again, with swirling piano and percussion, is mesmerising, while Fire proves that Hayes can blend everything in one song and still make it work.

Key Tracks: There’s Only Love, Fire and Ruin.

Sarah Donner – Fossil Of Girl

Sarah Donner is a singer on the verge of something huge. A voice that embodies several different instruments in one and never stays in the same place for long, Donner breathes freshness into a genre (Michelle Branch did the same). It all starts in style with The Pilot. Often playful but occasionally serious, the inward-looking title track is followed by the hit and miss All My Guns, likewise Signs Off Life is coupled with the country-mockery of Bitches You Can Steal My Shit. It all comes together with the vocal gymnastics of The Crane Song and the Garfunkel & Oats pop styling of Your Love Is My Drug.

Key Tracks: The Crane Song, The Pilot and Your Love Is My Drug.

De La Soul’s Plug 1 & Plug 2 – First Serve

Great ideas are few and far between in the modern music world, and great ideas that work are even rarer. But if any group is going to make it work it’s De La Soul… in this case Dave and Posdnous (aka Plug 1 and Plug 2) as First Serve (Deen and Jacob), a 90s hip-hop outfit trying to make it big. This is a concept album that manages to fuse humour, chaos and good tunes.  After the Opening Credits descends into a tirade from Deen’s mum, Pushin’ Aside, Pushin’ Along is masterful. Songs like The Work and We Made It are further proof that the boys who made Three Feet High And Rising in the late eighties, still have it. Late on as the story takes shape, The Book Of Life, the hard-hitting Clash Symphony and the cool laid-back Pop Life play homage and poke fun at the rap world. The disco-fuelled The Top Chefs steals the late show.

Top Tracks: Pushin’ Aside Pushin’ Along, Pop Life and Top Chefs.