Sabotage - Beastie Boys video - RIP Adam Yauch.

The brilliant video for Sabotage by The Beastie Boys. RIP Adam Yauch.

John Peel's Record Collection Online

Amazing website and record collection. View it here.

Only A and B currently active but more to come in the near future.

2012 Music Chart - April 2012

An embarrassment of riches this month with new albums from Lostprophets, Jack White, Spiritualized, Counting Crows, Feeder, Orbital and Gemma Hayes...not to mention De La Soul, Seth Lakeman, Gotye, Radical Face, Lightships and Human Don't Be Angry.

1. Shallow Bed by Dry The River
2. The Lion's Roar by First Aid Kit
3. Generation Freakshow by Feeder
4. Sweet Heart Sweet Light by Spiritualized
5. Ghostory by School of Seven Bells
6. Like Drawing Blood by Gotye 
7. Electric Cables by Lightships
8. Sounds From Nowheresville by The Ting Tings
9. Young Man In America by Anais Mitchell
10. Ssss by Vcmg
11. Wonky by Orbital
12. Tough Love by Pulled Apart by Horses
13. Interstellar by Frankie Rose
14. Let It Break by Gemma Hayes 
15. Human Don't Be Angry by Human Don't Be Angry
16. The Family Tree: The Roots by Radical Face
17. Weapons by Lostprophets
18. Blues Funeral by Mark Lanegan Band
19. Have Some Faith In Magic by Errors
20. Hello Cruel World by Gretchen Peters
21. Voyageur by Kathleen Edwards
22. Fossil Of Girl by Sarah Donner
23. Blunderbuss by Jack White
24. Tales From The Barrel House by Seth Lakeman
25. ¿Which Side Are You On? by Ani Difranco
26. Eighty One by Yppah
27. Wrecking Ball by Bruce Springsteen
28. First Serve by De La Soul's Plug 1 and Plug 2
29. Kin Con by Alex Winston
30. Underwater Sunshine by Counting Crows
31. Siberia by LIGHTS
32. The Something Rain by Tindersticks
33. Something by Chairlift
34. California 37 by Train
35. Break It Yourself by Andrew Bird
    
36. Reign Of Terror by Sleigh Bells
37. Given To The Wild by The Maccabees
38. Personality by Scuba
39. America Give Up by Howler
40. Black Light by Diagrams

Thea Gilmore - Angels In The Abattoir (April 2012)

This month's song from Thea is a bit different. This is her introduction:

"Isn't technology marvellous? This month, here's a technological experiment for ya.. You all know that I've been writing like a demon for the next album.. which means time in the studio has been short. So I thought I'd send you over something I recorded on Garageband in the dastardly iPad. It's great fun.. However, it means you are listening to my voice coming from the picturesque surrounds of my utility room.. the mountain of washing acted as a very fine vocal deadener (plus it was the only place I could sing and not wake the sleeping monster baby).."

So the song is called Hush and it's great and the production is excellent. A great vocal and melody form the basis of this heartfelt love song.

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.

Dry The River - Shallow Bed (Album Review 2012)

Norwegian born singer songwriter Peter Liddle formed Dry The River as a solo pseudonym before bringing in the rest of the band, now based in London. Having been denied an obvious place in the BBC Sound Of 2012 top 5 (but gaining from being mentioned at all) and touring the UK festivals in 2011, Dry The River quickly began to excite the music community. And rightly so. Debut album Shallow Bed, although built on a number of early EPs stretching back to 2009, is an astonishing introduction to the band, their song writing and Liddle’s wonderful unique voice. The band’s talent for blending rock and folk, stirring guitars with gospel tones, and the heartfelt with the uplifting, has already earned worthy, yet obvious, comparisons to Mumford & Sons and Noah and The Whale.

Shallow Bed opens with Animal Skins, immediately drawing on Liddle’s past as a student anthropologist and highlighting his wonderful vocal qualities. Blending bouncing acoustic guitars with choral tones, Liddle tells the tale of growing up before hitting the big chorus – a song of two distinct movements. New Ceremony has a different feel; a slightly quirky introduction and talk of ‘dancing to the Shipping Forecast’ in a quiet first minute or so, before the song transforms with the first delivery of the line “I know it’s got to stop love but I don’t know how…”. The violin and drums kick and the second verse brings the love song into light: “We’re wise beyond our years but we’re good at bad ideas”, muses Liddle before the song really explodes with a belting chorus – showing brilliant vocal power and a proficient ear for a great arrangement in one slick move. It’s so good it’s given a second round before a delicate finish.

Shield Your Eyes opens with jangling looping guitars and cold violin before vocals quickly join with Liddle, now with a slight cracking to his choirboy tones. His spiritual side is here: “When Moses was a whisper in the reeds. I carved you in the floodplain” is stirring and the Phrygian Lion is a repeated theme, “…at the gate of our love” watching over the devoted. Uplifting and enlightening. This leads wonderfully into the metaphoric History Book. “Beneath an angry Bible flood, did you and I first learn to love” is a gorgeous line leading to a lilting chorus and another mesmerising and personal love song. At three and half minutes, the song takes an unexpected turn into jaunty and ‘twee’. This is the only song on Shallow Bed that is oddly misjudged but the combination of the band saves it.

The Chambers & The Valves again shows Liddle’s curious scientific nature. “The bodies in the firmament are spinning like a plate; I was lost in the fission before you came” is another great line. The verses race into the frantic relentless chorus before the song slows again for a brief respite, only to come back with more fervour and energy. Liddle continues to question faith against science: “In the land of mistakes I should lay my crosses down” and he ‘swallows his words, closing his mouth’. Then Demons is the much-needed breath-catching interlude, all beauty and strings with a deep hymnal quality. “We fight those demons, day in and day out…day in and day out…”. The music rises to a wall of cymbals and strings for the rousing finale that becomes the connection into Bible Belt, seamlessly fusing the two songs. This is the melancholy story of growing up under the shadow of alcoholism: “Your father had drunk all the fuel. You were a low moon, steady with wintry calm. Somewhere inside the fire of your youth went dark”. This heart-breaking yet hopeful songwriting is matched by Liddle’s amazing tearful voice, rough and pure at the same time. The once-only chorus is one of many album highlights.

No Rest completes the trio in spectacular style. A slow build-up from Liddle leads to some of the best guitar-work on the album followed by an early preview of the powerful key line: “I loved you in the best way possible”. Astonishing vocals, repeated over and over as the final act with unbelievable control to finish. Easily the album’s best moment. Shaker Hymns, it turns out, breaches a gap between the two best songs on Shallow Bed, another intermission which feels like going over old ground, in spite of a neat wordless outro, before the mighty Weights & Measures arrives. If No Rest provides the best single moment, this is the finest single song. Beautifully arranged as an old-fashioned waltz, Liddle and the band build to the line “I was prepared… to love you. And never expect anything of you…” followed by the heart-wrenching “Baby there ain't no sword in our lake. Just a funeral wake”. This is light against dark throughout and the arrangement echoes this with Liddle filled with emotional energy, holding a note perfectly before the chorus crashes in again, the startling gap in the music between ‘prepared’ and ‘to love you’ even more prominent and affecting.

Shallow Bed draws to a close with another huge song, the beguiling Lion’s Den, all melody and control at the start then becoming more urgent. The vocals are (again) magnificent as they help the metamorphosis from soft to hard as choir turns to stadium chant and the harshness of the guitars builds to a crescendo. The drumming from Jon Warren is especially superb as order quickly becomes chaos and Liddle continues to yell like a madman, beneath squealing guitars, pounding bass and sharp violin.

So to conclude, the album closes with the intense Family. After the previous ‘ending’, this feels like an added extra and a step too far. That said it is another great song, heavier and darker than the beginning of Shallow Bed but just as compelling and absorbing. Liddle shows power and control, yet again proving he is a remarkable vocalist.

Shallow Bed is a wonderful piece of work. Produced by Peter Katis who has cast his guiding hand over albums by The National, Frightened Rabbit and Interpol, it is the sound of British folk-rock, with a huge slice of Norway, washed in Americana. The song writing is perfectly balanced, to draw you in with familiar emotion one minute and push you away with obscure references the next. And the band consistently delivers music of breathtaking poise and craft, throwing away the rulebook and breaking every formula to create songs that make their own structure. If Radiohead formed yesterday, this is what they would sound like. Shallow Bed is the start of something great and Dry The River is about to realise this greatness.

-- CS

Counting Crows - Underwater Sunshine (Album stream)

Listen to the new album via Ryan's Smashing Life.

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