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It has been MONTHS since I wrote anything for this website and, although I am kidding myself if I think there's any sort of an audience reading these words, I will feel better if I get back into the habit of regularly updating things. For want of a better way to rekindle my clattering at the keyboard I thought I would try and write a top 10 albums of the year. However, I am having real difficulty honing down the list to just 10. So, here it is. The Top 20 Albums of the year 2008. Fact! Some of the choices may have you nodding eagerly, congratulating yourself on your nuanced and clearly excellent taste. Other selections may cause you to laugh out loud, spraying your monitor with incredulous spittle. Regardless of which camp you find yourself in while reading these selections let me wish you all the very best for the coming year. The list is not in any order of preference but follows the more conventional alphabetical listing. 1 to 20 (alphabetically) - Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
- Cat Power - Jukebox
- Deerhunter - Microcastle
- Duffy - Rockferry
- Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid
- Frightened Rabbit - The Midnight Organ Fight
- Goldfrapp - Seventh Tree
- The Gutter Twins - Saturnalia
- Kings Of Leon - Only By The Night
- Laura Marling - Alas I Cannot Swim
- Malcolm Middleton - Sleight Of Heart
- Mogwai - The Hawk Is Howling
- Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!!
- Noah and The Whale - Peaceful The World Lays Me Down
- Portishead - Third
- Radiohead - In Rainbows
- Sia - Some People Have Real Problems
- Sigur Rós - Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust
- Spiritualized - Songs in A & E
- TV On The Radio - Dear Science
Bubbling under ....... AC/DC - Black Ice
Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
Aimee Mann - @#%&*! Smilers
Sun Kil Moon - April
Snow Patrol - A Hundred Million Suns |
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Written by Kevin |
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Monday, 22 December 2008 |
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Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust |
 I first recall becoming aware of Sigur Rós after being struck by the 3 songs of theirs which featured on the soundtrack to Cameron Crowe's 2001 film Vanilla Sky. Those songs led me to immediately track down 1999's Ágætis byrjun (Icelandic for "An alright start"). I was very glad I did and the band have provided many hours of listening pleasure since then. Their name is taken from founder member Jón Birgisson's younger sister Sigurrós, who was born the same day as the band was formed in 1994. You could say Sigur Rós could translate as "Victory Rose" in English but the phrase wouldn't carry any meaning in Iceland and is grammatically incorrect.
The vocals on Ágætis byrjun are sung mainly in Icelandic, a language of which I have almost no understanding, so they just add to the already sumptuous orchestration on show rather than distracting from it in the way some English vocals tend to do. Their earlier music employed luxuriously long running times along with vast swells of post-rock noise. I have heard the music of their first 3 albums described as sounding like "glaciers drifting across the surface of the moon" and I cannot improve upon that as a mental image. The band is fronted by Jón "Jónsi" Þór Birgisson, whose use of a cello bow for playing guitar and liking for plenty of delay and reverb effects alongside his ethereal falsetto singing voice give the band their distinctive sound. One track on Ágætis byrjun, namely Olsen Olsen, introduced the listener to the gibberish language Vonlenska (or "Hopelandic" in tortured English) the band was to use exclusively on their () album in 2002. The language resembles Icelandic in the way it sounds but it is a constructed language of nonsense syllables and with there being no song titles, or indeed a title for the album, the listener was left to fill in their own meanings in the pages of the blank CD booklet supplied.
The band's music reached a very wide audience after their single Hoppípolla (taken from 2005's Takk...) was used in the title sequence of the BBC nature series Planet Earth in 2006. It was subsequently also used in BBC Sport's coverage of the 2006 Fifa World Cup and on various TV adverts. I can regularly pick out Sigur Rós tracks on random documentaries and TV series these days. Their music moved away from the minimalist other-worldly instrumentation of Ágætis byrjun and () with the release of the guitar-heavy Takk... and the increase in more conventional song structure continues with their new release Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust, which translates as "With a Buzz in Our Ears We Play Endlessly". There is one big difference between the new record and Takk..., apart from the absence of bowed, effects-laden, electric guitar and that's a completely different approach to production. Whereas () and Takk... belted out veritable walls of sound here there is a more delicate touch at play. The vastly experienced Flood (of U2, Smashing Pumpkins, Placebo, Depeche Mode, Goldfrapp and Nine Inch Nails audio engineer fame) takes up production duties on this Sigur Rós's fifth full-length album.
Actually, there's a second big difference between this and Takk... This album sounds fresh whereas Takk... sounded a little like a great band just going through the motions. Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust's first track, Gobbledigook, is like nothing Sigur Rós have released before. Upbeat, insistent drumming and playful acoustic guitar. Clocking in at just over 3 minutes it's also alarmingly short for a Sigur Rós track. There are, however, frequent returns to the Sigur Rós style of records past, strikingly so in the beautiful Fljótavík, but overall it seems that this is a definite change of direction for the band. That's no bad thing as they could easily have descended into the complacency that some portions of Takk... seemed to herald.
The second track, Inní mér syngur vitleysingur, continues with the upbeat, joyous feel of the opener before dropping the listener off into the soft acoustic beauty of Góðan daginn. Following the crashing post-rock crescendo of Festival, the second half of the album does move towards more familiar Sigur Rós soundscapes and there are even a couple of tracks which top the eight minute duration mark, which used to be almost mandatory for this band. After a couple of initially surprised listens to the album I'm now completely at ease with it and see it as being a shoo-in for my end-of-year top 10.
As a footnote I would say that if you are a fan of Sigur Rós, either new or long-standing, and have not had the good fortune to stumble upon their compatriots Múm, you should try to rectify that at your earliest convenience. |
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Written by Kevin |
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Monday, 29 September 2008 |
 I've been listening to Sasha's deep, dark but blissful DJ mixes since around 1994's inaugural Renaissance Mix Collection Vol.1 (with John Digweed) and remember absolutely loving his Voyage of Ima which made up a large portion of the BT (Brian Transeau) album Ima the following year. 2000's Communicate, again with Digweed, is arguably my favourite DJ mix album alongside 2004's Involver. With that mix Sasha raised the bar for compilation DJ mixes fairly high and it withstands many many repeat listens. The official follow up to Involver would have its work cut out to be able to bear any sort of comparison to its forerunner. If truth be told, some of Sasha's recent releases have been a little underwhelming, given his reputation and undoubted enormous talent.
So, has the 4-year wait been worth it? The short answer in this case would have to be yes. Invol2ver is stuffed full of multi-layered, beautifully manicured soundscapes, swirling, effects-heavy vocals and head-nodding kick drums. 2004s Involver does contain perhaps more variation in style and is probably the better of the two releases, but there is a lot to enjoy in the 2008 follow up.
The album starts off in very promising style with a swirling atmospheric opening which blends seamlessly into Sasha's remixed version of Telefon Tel Aviv's You Are The Worst Thing In The World. The tempo is slow and steady and you are fondly reminded of Involver's fantastic opening version of Grand National's Talk Amongst Yourselves. The transition from the Telefon Tel Aviv track through Rone's Flesh and Sasha's own, fairly anonymous tracks Eclipse and Lowlife to the fantastic mid-section of the album perhaps takes a shade too long, but you are rewarded for your patience.
Remixes of Charlie May's Midnight and Apparat's Arcadia combine to darkly hypnotic effect and the album takes off again. The Invol2ver mix of Ladytron's Destroy Everything You Touch throbs along nicely and before you notice it you are being immersed in M83's anthemic Couleurs, a high point for the album which is enhanced as the vocal for Thom Yorke's The Eraser is worked into the M83 track with a deftness of touch.
The penultimate track is another of Sasha's own, 3 Little Piggys, and it is with some of his own tracks that I feel Sasha lets his compilation mixes down a little. I find them to be a little same-y and not really that interesting. He is, in my opinion, much much more successful when working with the music of other artists who have obviously moved him to the point of choosing them over any others and re-working them for inclusion on his mixes.
The closing track, Sometimes I Realise by Engineers does lift things again and provides an epic close to another job well done from the pride of Wales, Alexander Coe (AKA Sasha).
Track list:
1. Badger - Intro
2. Telefon Tel Aviv - You Are The Worst Thing In The World (Invol2ver Remix)
3. Rone - Flesh (Invol2ver Remix)
4. Sasha Vs Ray LaMontagne - Eclipse (Ray LaMontagne Vocal Version)
5. Sasha Vs Adam Parker - Lowlife (Adam Parker Vocal Sample)
6. Charlie May - Midnight (Adam Parker Vocal Sample)
7. Apparat - Arcadia (Invol2ver Remix)
8. Home Video - That You Might (Invol2ver Remix)
9. Ladytron - Destroy Everything You Touch (Invol2ver Remix)
10. M83 - Couleurs (Invol2ver Remix)
11. Thom Yorke - The Eraser (Invol2ver Remix)
12. Sasha - 3 Little Piggys
13. Engineers - Sometimes I Realise (Invol2ver Remix) |
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Written by Kevin |
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Thursday, 11 September 2008 |
 This is not a new release but because until a week ago I had never heard of Neutral Milk Hotel, far less listened to their second album In The Aeroplane Over The Sea, it feels that way to me. The album was released first in early 1998 on Merge Records and was subsequently re-released on Domino Records in 2005. The influential music website Pitchfork gave this album a rare perfect 10.0 rating after the re-release and after 2 or 3 listens during the latter half of last week I can see why.
I love the blend of musical styles on show here. Psychedelia, folksy pop, lo-fi and funeral marches to name a few of those which spring initially to mind. Singer and creative driving force Jeff Magnum's voice has a powerful raw quality and the emotional impact of the songs is enhanced rather than diminished by the regular cracks which appear as he tries to hit the top notes. The band also employ a range of fairly obscure instruments, including something called a singing saw which helps colour the absolutely lovely title track.
Track one, King of Carrot Flowers Part 1, hides a dark family scenario of drunkenness, despair and domestic violence beneath a catchy pop-folk tune. The record then ventures into the arena of the unconventional for the first, but by no means the last, time. Flowing straight out of the closing sustained note of the previous track King of Carrot Flowers Parts 2 & 3 begins with Magnum singing the line "I Love You Jesus Christ" and the manner in which he matches the drawn out note of the word Christ to the continuing background drone remaining from the previous track made the hairs on my neck stand up. It was at this moment during my first listen to the record that I realised I'd found something a little bit special.
Lyrically this album is just beautiful and Magnum's accomplishment as a poet helps to lift this album yet further away from the majority of popular music. From track one:
And your mom would stick a fork right into daddy's shoulder
And your dad would throw the garbage all across the floor
As we would lay and learn what each other's bodies were for
and from the title track:
And one day we will die
And our ashes will fly from the aeroplane over the sea
But for now we are young
Let us lay in the sun
And count every beautiful thing we can see
Love to be
In the arms of all I'm keeping here with me
The record is actually easily accessible for first time listeners and yet the complexity woven by Magnum's lyrics and the musical exuberance on show makes sure that repeat listeners will find much else to explore on each subsequent visit.
Jeff Magnum has unintentionally built up quite a shadowy übercool persona over the years. He is everything the singer/songwriter of an indie band should be. Introverted, emotional and unpredictable. The release and subsequent success of In The Aeroplane Over The Sea seem to have both broken apart Neutral Milk Hotel and turned Magnum into a reclusive figure who has kept out of the public eye since 1998. While scanning some online editorial about this record I have noticed that it seems to have a cult following among indie music fans and prompts more than its fair share of cooler-than-thou toss-pots to get all muso and wanky about their experiences with it. This is completely down to the fact that the record is relatively unknown and also relatively brilliant. Sales of the album are on the up, ten years after its initial release, and this increased momentum seems mainly due to word of mouth recommendations ..... just like this one. In The Aeroplane Over The Sea is well worth tracking down. |
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Written by Kevin |
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Monday, 18 August 2008 |
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 "Well, it's only been 23 years!" exclaims Tom Waits conversationally as he takes his seat at the piano for the more intimate section of his concert in Edinburgh last Sunday. "Oh, you know, the usual." is his well-timed response to the imagined question from the audience hanging in the air. Waits was 30 minutes late taking to the stage as is, I have been led to believe, standard practice where he is concerned. Well, what's another 30 minutes on top of all those years going to hurt?
As we waited for the big entrance, the random array of elderly loud hailers adorning the back of the stage croaked out some carefully selected music to set the mood. Tom Waits took to the stage, his arms reaching out on either side to acknowledge the welcome, he then raised his upturned hands slowly in front of him, fingers dancing, indicating to his audience he wanted the noise level to increase further and the crowd was happy to oblige. The concert opened with a brilliant opening medley of Lucinda and Ain’t Going Down To The Well which segued back and forth between the songs. Waits stood on a raised circular platform, more like a drum riser, fringed with light bulbs and kicked up a cloud of white powder each time he stamped down one of his black booted feet to emphasise a beat. It was a simple but very effective theatrical effect. The stage was atmospherically lit in bordello red and lurid green for much of the set and the spotlights trained on Waits threw long spindly shadows. After a little more comedic milking of the applause the band broke into Rain Dogs and I was struck at the manner in which Waits carries himself on stage. It's like watching an amalgam of Chaplin's tramp and the sort of deranged, wild-haired old drunk you might encounter pan handling for loose change in any city centre. Waits no longer drinks or smokes but he inhabits his stage persona like a well worn pair of jeans. The Waits back catalogue is a treasure chest from which just pulling twenty songs at random would generally produce a two-hour live set to blow away most other touring acts. Stylistically the songs cover vaudevillian Weimar-era cabaret, melancholy piano lounge ballads, Beat-inspired spoken-word numbers, twisted blues and tortured gospel alongside a great deal else in between. The band were simply brilliant, sounding like they had been playing together for years in darkened clubs. The Spanish guitar breaks performed by Omar Torrez which punctuated Hoist That Rag were a delight. Here's the full band line up: Patrick Warren - keyboards
Omar Torrez - guitars
Vincent Henry - horns
Casey Waits - drums and percussion
Seth Ford-Young - bass
Sullivan Waits - congas and clarinet Snippets of useless trivia are dispensed during the evening, almost all of which exist only in the travelling circus of Waits's playful imagination. They included a graphic description of how the legs and hips of a male Praying Mantis will continue to grind out their copulating rhythm even after the female Mantis has devoured his entire head and most of the torso during mating. Astronauts returning from the Moon report that it smells of fireworks ("That's where they all go!") and a new law which forbids forcing a monkey to smoke cigarettes has "ruined everything" for Tom Waits. We were also helpfully informed that a weasel came from the same family as a mink so it was perfectly acceptable to approach a woman wearing a mink scarf and say "You have a really nice weasel" and that you should tell her that Tom said it was OK. It would be difficult to choose highlights from the night here but if pushed I'd go for the either the dramatic opening medley or the cemetery blues of Dirt in the Ground. The show, pre-encore, closed with Tom getting an unexpected glitter shower during Make it Rain. Now, close to a hundred pounds is a lot of money (for most people) to pay to see a concert. You need to be pretty committed as a fan of the performing artist in question to stump up that sort of cash. This is before you factor in all of the hoop jumping and DNA profiling required for the anti ticket touting campaign. The audience at the Edinburgh Playhouse were genuinely dedicated Tom Waits aficionados but their major flaw, in the eyes of this reviewer, was their reticence and politeness. The Innocent When You Dream sing-a-long was more of a mumble-a-long. I am in no way disassociating myself from my fellow audience members. We all piss at the same trough. But you were left feeling that a more raucous, a more exuberant audience may have wrung just a little extra from the encore to what was a special evening's entertainment. The possibility of a second encore seemed to hang enticingly in the air for a couple of minutes before the house lights went up. The gut feeling that the audience had been considered before being denied has, I'm sure, no basis in fact but it was inescapable at the time. Waits's music and the theatrical persona that has built up around him for the last 35 years appeals most to those who have gone through their time here on earth expecting just a little more out of life than it has delivered, and can accept at least a portion of the blame for themselves. It is this acceptance and self knowledge which turns the character of Waits's shambling tramp into a messianic travelling hobo. U.S. Vogue's Mick Brown has written that Waits uses his vignettes as "platforms for wry and truthful observations about the cavity of desperation and disillusionment beneath the bravura of American life.". There is plenty of desperation and disillusionment right here in the U.K. and as such Waits is assured an audience on this side of the Atlantic for a long time to come. Set List Lucinda/Ain't goin' down to the well [Video on You Tube to give you an idea of it all]
Rain dogs
Falling down
On the other side of the world
I'll shoot the moon
Cemetery polka
Get behind the mule
Cold cold ground
Circus / Table top Joe
Jesus gonna be here
Picture in a frame
Invitation to the blues
House where nobody lives
Innocent when you dream
Lie to me
Hoist that rag
Bottom of the world
Hang down your head
Green grass
Way down in the hole
Dirt in the ground
Make it rain
Encore
Goin' out west
All the world is green
[Set list found at The Eyeball Kid] Listen to NPR podcast of the full Tom Waits gig from Atlanta, GA 5th July, 2008
Photo of Tom found at Cows Are Just Food, and the original is at Zoometter's Flickr account. I assume he is onstage in Milan. |
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Written by Kevin |
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Wednesday, 30 July 2008 |
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