tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-192865502024-03-23T18:31:48.361+00:00yccmbSimonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15653368086896824270noreply@blogger.comBlogger250125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19286550.post-84850726581705003512007-11-19T15:05:00.000+00:002007-11-19T15:07:58.185+00:00So long, and thanks for all the shoesAs you'll have guessed, Betty is in a retired state, and is not scheduled to return. Please visit my newer blogs if you're in any way interested in the state of my head. They are, sadly, not mp3-heavy.<br /><br /><a href="http://uptothehouse.wordpress.com/">Come On Up To The House</a><br /><br /><a href="http://travelswith.wordpress.com/">Travels With My Pedometer</a>Simonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15653368086896824270noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19286550.post-77421322781033081462007-06-09T17:46:00.000+00:002007-06-09T17:50:11.895+00:00byeeeYou Can Call Me Betty goes on holiday this week, and probably next with its author. You can have a fun song this week:<br /><br /><a href="http://download.yousendit.com/4215B58E1ADB13B1">Kanye West ft. Jamie Foxx - Golddigger</a>Simonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15653368086896824270noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19286550.post-40511289402247583642007-05-31T12:43:00.000+00:002007-06-01T23:35:27.244+00:00The world is not my home, I'm just a-passin' through<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/I/41KNK5MFECL._SS500_.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/I/41KNK5MFECL._SS500_.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Some artists do genre very well. AC/DC, for instance; Motorhead, these bands are rightly respected for sticking to type. Some artists are innovators, pushing things ahead that no-one had ever heard before.<br /><br />Some people just are what they are, though. If I want to hear blues-metal, I may well turn to <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Back-Black-AC-DC/dp/B000AC5J9A/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2/202-6328967-1104655?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1180615579&sr=8-2">Back In Black</a>. If I want to hear something innovative, I'll likely peruse the <a href="http://www.blogger.com/www.warprecords.com/">Warp </a>or <a href="http://www.blogger.com/www.theleaflabel.com/">Leaf </a>rosters. If I want to hear an old man sing gravelly blues spirituals, I'm learning to turn to Tom Waits. Because in all honesty, there's no-one really like Tom Waits.<br /><br />I'm only learning now, mind. Why was this not something I had investigated before, I pondered to myself as I listened to Mule Variations. Particularly as some of the songs on there are <span style="font-style: italic;">stunningly</span> lovely. I don't know. Who can fathom the hearts of men?<br /><br />But learning I am, slowly. I'm taking a different approach to my recent, frankly quite scary, deep immersion in REM, this time I'm taking it one album at a time, quite gingerly. I'm beginning with Mule Variations, which was actually my first acquaintance of any sort with Waits - it was released on <a href="http://www.blogger.com/www.epitaph.com">Epitaph</a> in 1999, approximately the time I was running circles around my bedroom listening to NoFX and the Bouncing Souls, and Big In Japan found its way onto the Punk-o-rama vol 4 label sampler. This may have been the problem, given that it's possibly the weakest track on Mule Variations. Since then, people tried making me listen the likes of Swordfish Trombone and I just couldn't muster any interest.<br /><br />Funny how things work out though. I was looking for something vaguely palatable on my mp3 player for office consumption (we have a fairly accepting office...) and happened across this, which I'd been leant a while back. It was a nice backdrop, these hymnal odes wafting across the late C20 open-plan stylings here, and soothed my troubled (at least, bored) soul.<br /><br />It was the closing track that caught my attention. What a way to close an album. Come On Up To The House is in the spiritual vein, and it's an elegiac, hypnotically-repetitive song. It's all the better for the paucity of frequency coverage - it's really all about the voice. And what a voice! It's not the curling, sneering tone of the rest of the album, it's an entirely different beast: Waits can <span style="font-style: italic;">bellow</span>. I mean really give it some welly like very few people can. I'm sure I've ranted about this before; it's all very well you mumbling into a microphone (I'm looking at you Gonzalez/Banhart etc.) but it's the ones who can really belt it out that are going to stick in the mind. Johnny Cash, Percy Sledge, you know the sort. Tom Waits absolutely hurls it out on this song and yet it remains beautiful, sweet and tender. What it means, who knows, but suffice to say this is a standout track on a very decent album, and is one of the most beautiful songs I've heard in quite some time.<br /><br />I gave singing it a go this evening. Although I can apparently pull off a reasonably passable Waits, I could barely keep it up for one song, let alone a whole concert. The guy must tear up his throat, I bet he has those little nodule things.<br /><br /><a href="http://download.yousendit.com/E5A8B09523E2ACF7">Tom Waits - Come On Up To The House</a> (<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mule-Variations-Tom-Waits/dp/B000023YFV/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/202-6328967-1104655?ie=UTF8&s=music&amp;amp;qid=1180618150&sr=8-1">Mule Variations</a>, 1999)Simonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15653368086896824270noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19286550.post-74156816148498381242007-05-25T14:33:00.000+00:002007-05-26T12:51:25.901+00:00I Coulda Been Somebody<div style="text-align: left;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.livefastdieyoungbook.com/index_files/rebel_marlon_brando_waterfront.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: left; cursor: pointer; width: 302px; height: 205px;" src="http://www.livefastdieyoungbook.com/index_files/rebel_marlon_brando_waterfront.jpg" alt="" border="0"></a><br /></div>Those songs that get stuck in your head, them's cheeky little scamps. Usually it's something you don't want in there, and so it's proved this week. Reverend & The Makers have been getting somewhat overplayed on my radio station of choice recently, and of course it's become ingrained in this cranium of mine. It's a catchy tune you see, reminiscent (to me at least) of some sort of horrific corporate merger of Arctic Monkeys Co. and LCD Soundsystem Ltd. Very now, or so I'm told.<br /><br />In this respect, Heavyweight Champion Of The World hits it's mark admirably. It has that roguishly charming quality in its vocals, which come across like a slightly less spotty Alex Turner, and there's that insistent groovy beat that reminds of LCD's Our House. In fact, it's a little <font style="font-style: italic;">too</font> right in some respects, almost like it was tailor-made for that sort of halfway house audience. For evidence, Exhibit A is the almost-certainly-written-by-band-or-PR of their <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reverend_and_The_Makers">wiki</a>, detailing the band's Monkeys connections, their celebrity-spangled Sheffield (of course) club night, and the blindingly obvious John Cooper Clarke connection. The more one delves, the more artificial it all sounds, John McClure (Reverend himself) seeming to be a scenester-hit-the-gold-mine type. Maybe I'm wrong, I really don't know. The terse section describing the dismissal of a former guitarist and the improvements in sound of his replacement is a little too editorial, even for Wikipedia.<br /><br />Then there's that refrain, "be like everybody else." A cutting take on the make-do mentality of this generation, no doubt. It's a cautionary tale of not letting yourself get "caught in the rat race," the <a href="http://www.onlylyrics.com/song.php?id=1008256">lyrics<br /></a> describe the descent of individuals into suburban oblivion, the act of letting society get the better of you, of giving up your dreams. A brutal indictment, to be sure.<br /><br />But let's look a little closer. Hardly subtle in its implementation, "I could have been a contender" is more Rocky than On The Waterfront. There's nothing at all new here, which makes me wonder what the point behind the exercise is if it's not a PR trip. Does Reverend offer any solutions as opposed to just ticking off those that have let themselves fall prey to this? Does he offer up any reasons why it's no good beyond the far from pithy sarcasm of the main refrain? Does he explain his point of view? No. He doesn't. If I wanted a warning not to let my dreams die, I'd probably go watch Joseph & His Technicolour Dreamcoat or something. Don't Let The Man Grind You Down has been said over, and over, and over again. It's the subject of Hollywood movies, and of pop-punk bands dressed up neat for the little girls. It's integrity for the pre-pubescent dressed up in a zeitgeist-y kind of sound.<br /><br />On my mind this week has been Dostoevsky's "impudence of stupidity," from The Idiot.<br /><br /><blockquote><font style="" color="black" face="Verdana,Arial,Helvetica" size="2"><font class="spnMessageText" id="msg">"There is indeed, nothing more annoying than to be, for instance, wealthy, of good family, nice looking, fairly intelligent and even good natured, and yet to have no special faculty, no peculiarity even, not one idea of ones own, to be precisely 'like other people'... to have decent education but to have no idea what to make of it, to have intelligence, but no idea of ones own.<br /><br />There is an extraordinary multitude of such people in the world, far more than appears. They may, like all other people, be divided into two classes: some of limited intelligence; others much cleverer. The first are happier, nothing is easier for 'ordinary' people of limited intelligence to imagine themselves exeptional and original and to revel in that delusion without the slightest misgiving.<br /><br />Some men have only to feel the faintest stirring of some kindly and humanitarian emotion to persuade themselves that no one feels as they do. Some have only to meet with some idea by heresay or read some stray page to believe at once that is their own opinion and has sprung spontaneously from their own brain."</font></font></blockquote><br />I work in an office. I take the tube each day to work and I sit at a desk, then I come home and make dinner. And you know what? I'm really happy with it.<br /><br /><a href="http://download.yousendit.com/01B652351CDC3105">Reverend & The Makers - Heavyweight Champion Of The World</a> (<a href="http://www.hmv.co.uk/hmvweb/simpleSearch.do?searchUID=&pGroupID=-1&simpleSearchString=reverend+and+the+makers&primaryID=-1&btnSubmitSearch.x=0&btnSubmitSearch.y=0">single</a>, 2007)Simonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15653368086896824270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19286550.post-28475496199233759792007-05-18T12:42:00.000+00:002007-05-20T21:37:16.208+00:00we are now fish and chips<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/I/512lL+hvkHL._SS400_.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/I/512lL+hvkHL._SS400_.jpg" alt="" border="0"></a><br />I freely confess, I rarely give the time of day to bands that are popular for whatever reason - what, I don't mean that in an elitist way. I phrased it badly. I mean that, unless there is some very specific reason, I'm just not going to listen to a band that loads of blogs talk about it. Why should I? In the nicest possible way, what do their recommendations mean to me? What is it about any blogger that means I should pay any heed to what they're recommending to me? My logic goes that given to the huge amount of new music most mp3 bloggers have to wade through to be able to post every day, they just can't immerse themselves as deeply into music as the music warrants. I'm certainly judging no-one; goodness, I had the exact same problem when I was updating this blog daily. One has to pile through a million boring emails about bands you don't care about each day, and get sent a huge number of future drinks coasters from internet-canny little labels.<br /><br />Judging by my Sitemeter stats, most people had the same idea about reading blogs as I did. But anyway, I'm digressing fairly copiously. I was going to post about the Cold War Kids, you see, maybe the epitome of blog-buzz. There's been waves and backlashes for a good while regarding this band, but it's only finally they're coming to my ears. Radio is, apparently, not dead at all. In fact it's healthier than in a long way with the advent of DAB, which means that you can now listen to what you want, not worrying about tuning and crackle and that. So I can now listen to 6Music, the BBC's exceedingly worthy effort at giving DJ's the control. And we thusly have nice music to listen to. Super!<br /><br />Cold War Kids' new single, Hospital Beds, has been getting a lot of air time. They're not a great band, it's true. I certainly wouldn't buy the album off the back of this single. But there's something that nags about Hospital Beds. a melody or something that sticks to your mind. Weird. They've a number of features which actively annoy me, predominantly the whiny, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah-styled yelpings of the singer, Nathan Willett. It's very American-Indie at the moment, which immediately writes off whole swathes of similar sounding bands, in the same way that anyone attempting the now-boring, twitchy angular rock that Franz Ferdinand did, and Maximo Park ripped off, has immediately stoked my already heightened disinterest.<br /><br />I listen to other songs via the <a href="http://hypem.com/">Hype Machine</a>. They're not good. But Hospital Beds is ok, and I wouldn't turn off the radio when it came on. s'ok, I guess. Meh.<br /><br /><a href="http://download.yousendit.com/DCD7009F5A9D51F2">Cold War Kids - Hospital Beds</a> (<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Robbers-Cowards-Cold-War-Kids/dp/B000JJSJYG/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/202-1141946-5075868?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1179696708&sr=8-1">Robbers And Cowards</a>, 2007)Simonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15653368086896824270noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19286550.post-72413940584126648662007-05-04T18:10:00.000+00:002007-05-12T08:10:21.950+00:00A JoyBack after a Bank Holiday-based break...<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/I/3133V2EEW4L._SS500_.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/I/3133V2EEW4L._SS500_.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>That Keiran Hebden, he's a wag isn't he? After (at least) three fantastic albums as Four Tet, one's which pushed the boundaries of accessibility to the very limits, he went and spaced out on us. Now, I consider Pause, Rounds and Everything Ecstatic to be the very epitome of what I want out of my electronica. Electronic music of any sort; could be house, techno, ambient... could be Dutch gabber for all I care, what I want out of it is the same approach hebden takes to his creations. They're insanely creative, chopping found sounds, samples and loops in all the most unexpected ways, but somehow manage to create the most catchy melodies you can imagine.<br /><br />Of course, after Everything Ecstatic was in the bag, the former Fridgeman stepped out of the box a little, which I suppose is fair enough. Working with someone like Steve Reid must be a wonderful honour - for someone so clearly a jazz, funk and soul devotee as Hebden is, Reid is pretty much the Daddy of the percussion world. And yet the resultant albums (The Exchange Sessions I and II) were, while worthy, difficult. Is this a bad thing? Probably not. But the Keiran Hebden I'm used to can hang a tune on the slightest hook, and it seems as though the ardour of improvisation, such second nature to Reid, didn't come naturally, especially when allowed such lengthy freedom as these albums displayed.<br /><br />Tongues though, from this year, is more tightly controlled, more structured, and for me at least, a step in the right direction. I'm well aware that I'm guilty of the same My Band <span style="font-style: italic;">faux pas </span>that I've almost certainly castigated others for; but nonetheless Keiran Hebden had a rare talent for making fairly complex, 'difficult' music accessible, and that fell by the wayside a little on the Exchange Sessions. Tongues is still not perfect, and it still lacks the time so clearly poured into the likes of Rounds, but it's considerably more focussed and accurate, and benefits from that. Seeing Four Tet in the live setting shows what he can do given carefully-prepared source material, and Tongues is definitely more like that.<br /><br />But it still doesn't come close to Four Tet. It's a shame, and I guess doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things, but for now I'm posting Four Tet rather than Hedben/Reid. It's possibly the pinnacle of Four Tet's output - his most focussed album, Rounds, and his most sublime track, She Moves She. It comes after the opening Hands, which introduces the listener to the Four Tet experience admirably, and it's big of beat, bold of interpretation, and beautiful of execution. This track sums up Rounds particularly for me, and Four Tet in general.<br /><br />1. Open with drum loop.<br />2. Introduce Balinese-sounding tuned percussion and what sounds like a shamisen riff.<br />3. Do not over-egg.<br />4. Introduce a big schwack of out-of-place noise.<br />5. Listen as each element combines unbelievably finely.<br /><br /><a href="http://download.yousendit.com/0F9468EA62533ED4">Four Tet - She Moves She</a> (<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Rounds-Four-Tet/dp/B00008ACIF/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/202-1141946-5075868?ie=UTF8&s=music&amp;qid=1178957218&sr=8-1">Rounds</a>, 2003)Simonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15653368086896824270noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19286550.post-65761118448666961242007-04-27T12:14:00.000+00:002007-04-28T19:52:47.714+00:00D'you know?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/I/61eBPJowFpL._SS500_.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/I/61eBPJowFpL._SS500_.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />I'm sadly a little unplugged from the zeitgeist these days. I don't get a chance to listen to much/anything on the music blogs I read, and find myself less interested in doing so. It's a little sad in some ways, others not so much. I found that when I was doing the blog full-time before, I rarely had a chance to listen to albums for days on end and to revel in the new depths they revealed. Time out = good, and the little bit of writing I do these days is exactly right.<br /><br />That said, today's artistes wouldn't have needed the extra time for me to know that their album was something special. The Twilight Sad release their first album next week, entitled Fourteen Autumns And Fifteen Winters. Sounds a little adolescent? Maybe so, but not without good reason. The standout track (actually that's a misnomer, most of the other songs are every bit as good. This one just happens to be the most... lyrically significant, I guess), Last Summer, At Home I Was The Invisible Boy extols the virtues of a stable upbringing with such depths of sadness that he could for all the world (bar his gruff-yet-tender Glaswegian drawl) be the fourteen year old he claims to be.<br /><br />The sound is somewhere between Mogwai and what Hope Of The States were aiming for. Emotionally-charged, but not in the stripy-jumper, floppy haired kind of way. I've used all these comparisons before in my review, but they really do take the same sort of real-life grit and bit-back emotion of Arab Strap and inject into it some post-rock posturings. It's the best album I've heard this year, which is already saying something quite big.<br /><br />I'm in something of a quandary now though; part of me wants to write on, eulogising the band with all sorts of hyperbolic, excessively gushing and fawning. Part of me however wants to just leave it at that and let the music speak for itself. Not out of laziness, but out of respect for a rather lovely piece of music, that oldest of artforms.<br /><a href="http://download.yousendit.com/31B4E40A307F464B"><br />The Twilight Sad - That Summer, At Home I Was The Invisible Boy</a> (<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fourteen-Autumns-Fifteen-Winters-Twilight/dp/B000N3SSS0/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/202-8972364-4507820?ie=UTF8&s=music&amp;amp;qid=1177789736&sr=8-1">Fourteen Autumns And Fifteen Winters</a> (<a href="http://fat-cat.co.uk/fatcat/home.php">Fat Cat</a>), 2007)Simonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15653368086896824270noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19286550.post-91054767343742830062007-04-20T19:50:00.000+00:002007-04-20T20:32:37.150+00:00Thou Shalt Not Quote Me HappyBit of a curveball this week, I had something else all lined up then I was forwarded a link to a certain <a href="http://www.myspace.com/lesacvspip">MySpace</a> and finally got round to checking it out. I'd heard of Scroobius Pip and Dan Le Sac via such esteemed internet agitators as <a href="http://www.musiclikedirt.com/">Music Like Dirt</a> and <a href="http://thedailygrowl.blogspot.com">The Daily Growl</a> (the best British music blogs out there, if you ask me). But it wasn't til today that I finally listened to Scroobius Pip vs. Dan Le Sac, a track that's just been released and is blowing up on shows like John Kennedy's and Rob Da Bank's. It's Thou Shalt Not Kill, basically a rant delivered by the bearded, be-capped Scroobius Pip in his Stanford-Le-Hope brogue, against the tackiness of modern life. It's devastatingly accurate to the point where as switched-in as you think you might be, you're bound to find yourself in there somewhere.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Thou shalt not take the names of Johnny Cash, Joe Strummer, Johnny Hartman, Desmond Decker, Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix or Syd Barret in vain</span>.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"> Thou shalt not read NME.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"> Thou shalt not question Stephen Fry.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"> Thou shalt not watch Hollyoaks.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Thou shalt not return to the same club or bar week in, week out just ’cause you once saw a girl there that you fancied but you’re never gonna talk to.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Thou shalt not put musicians and recording artists on ridiculous pedestals no matter how great they are or were.</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">The Pixies? Just a band.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"></span><span style="font-style: italic;">When I say "</span><em style="font-style: italic;">he say, she say, we say, make some noise</em><span style="font-style: italic;">" - kill me.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"> Thou shalt think for yourselves.</span><br /><br />Good grief yes.<br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;"></span></span></span><br /></span>And am I in there? Sigh, of course I am. I say "is it" all the time. This is a searing portrait of British life at the moment, even more accurately, of the elitist, smarter than thou indie scene. Not just that, but of anybody that thinks they're better than that. It's not railing at a scene, or scenesters, it's railing at everyone, pretension in general, and everyone's guilty of that.<br /><br />Plus it rocks.<br /><br />Some of it is so accurate - one line perfectly encapsulates what I've been thinking this week:<span style="font-style: italic;"> Thou shalt give equal worth to tragedies that occur in non-English speaking countries as to those that occur in English speaking countries.<br /></span>It's so true: look at all the coverage of the VA Tech shootings, horrific as they were: then compare TV minutes/column inches to the well over a hundred dead in Baghdad just a day or so later. Thirty die a day in Iraq, yet we skip over it with not a thought to it.<br /><br />Listen to Scroobius Pip and learn about yourself a bit. Plus it rocks. I'm not going to post the track, go buy it you cheapskate, but watch the vid at least...<br /><br /><object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/yoN6XfyQsr4"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/yoN6XfyQsr4" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object><br />Buy it from <a href="http://www.lexrecords.com/Lesacvspip.htm">here</a>.<br /><span style="font-style: italic;"></span><span style="font-style: italic;"></span>Simonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15653368086896824270noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19286550.post-38423405500621611532007-04-12T12:34:00.000+00:002007-04-14T09:47:20.599+00:00Sorry 'bout the mess<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/B000MV8CSO.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_V43275898_SS500_.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/B000MV8CSO.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_V43275898_SS500_.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Low's new album is different. There's no way around this fact. The Great Destroyer was break enough for most Low fans, the burst of sound at the opening of Monkey taking the band's devotees right out of their comfort zone.<br /><br />Certainly we were used to a bit of heavy intensity in the music. Trust came before TGD and just listen to Canada. Things We Lost In The Fire had the brooding Whitetail (a revelation at <a href="http://youcancallmebetty.blogspot.com/2006/07/things-they-lost-in-fire.html">last summer</a>'s Don't Look Back show, by the by). But nothing prepared us for the noisy interjections of Everybody's Song, or the maelstrom dynamics of When I Go Deaf. These threw us, those who had come to love Low as slowcore pioneers; for all the ridicule and justified scorn that that label attracts, at least we were safe.<br /><br />But what do you know, I love The Great Destroyer. It's an astounding body of work, rich, organic, intense and with some of the band's finest songs. So what were we to expect from Drums & Guns? More of the same? Would Dave Fridmann have progressed to pastures new, would he have drawn them down the neo-psychedelic route that Mercury Rev and Flaming Lips once trod? Would he have vanished to allow a return to the stilted silence and breathing space of Low's earlier works? As it turns out, none of the above.<br /><br />Pretty People is a statement of intent at the front of this new record, but it's not representative. Yes there's that noise there, but Drums & Guns is an album of beats, of percussion, of taking the band's wonderful vocal talents and juxtaposing them with an entirely new sound. Nothing on this album bar the singing sounds like Low. It's incredibly brave and more than a little foolhardy, but having listened to Drums & Guns through the pain barrier now, I'm falling into the camp of... it works.<br /><br />I'm taking Always Fade as my case study. It's not Low, surely, you cry. It has an almost... funky... bassline. Almost. It has a beat built from strange blocks, reverb, echo, delay, fancy things. It shouldn't work. But its cohesion comes from the fact that this is still Low, it's still Sparhawk and Parker, there are always, but always going to be melodies you can hang your hat from, they're so hooky. There's one interval on "<b>al</b>ways fade..." that just lifts up your heart. It's melodies like this where I have to check myself if I'm out in public to avoid overly expressive eyebrow syndrome.<br />But my favourite part of the track, and maybe the album is about a minute and a half in, where the percussion loop topples over itself and ends up building up to cover every single semiquaver in the bar. This is taken even further later on when the delay and reverb shoot up and the sound <span style="font-style: italic;">almost</span> collapses in on itself. It sounds like thunder.<br /><br />It turns out that Drums & Guns is an album of hidden delights. Maybe you do have to work for them, but when you ifnd them it's Low: it's beautiful.<br /><br /><a href="http://download.yousendit.com/85E5DC38718FBD09">Low - Always Fade</a> (<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Drums-Guns-Low/dp/B000MV8CSO/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/203-7703197-1546306?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1176543766&sr=8-1">Drums & Guns</a>, 2007)Simonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15653368086896824270noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19286550.post-13177906364386609842007-04-07T11:24:00.000+00:002007-04-07T12:03:52.387+00:00Staring At The Asphalt Wondering<a style="font-family: georgia;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/B000089CJI.02._SCLZZZZZZZ_SS500_.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/B000089CJI.02._SCLZZZZZZZ_SS500_.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />I'll tell you why I missed this blog. It was exactly for moments like this week. This week, being Easter week, has involved time away from the drudgery of the morning cattle-train to work, the repetitive strain-inducing numskullery of the modern workplace and the sardine-esque commute home. So opportunity was taken to visit somewhere Lovely, this week being Oxford.<br /><br />As Oxford was approached, the Park & Ride bus was left and we disappeared into the covered market for lunch at the wonderful little upstairs of Georgina's. Recommended for the film posters all over the ceiling as well as the very summary of Oxford life that passes through it's little door. When we entered, the Red Hot Chilli Peppers were playing. This was soon passed up, thankfully, for the more cerebral and atmospheric tones of Ben Gibbard as The Postal Service. The album was Give Up, and it commenced with The District Sleeps Alone Tonight.<br /><br />And <span style="font-style: italic;">that</span>, that is the reason why I missed writing a blog. Because where else would I have the opportunity to wax lyrical about a song from several years ago now, for no reason other than because I can? Here is where.The Postal Service were in fact relatively unfamiliar territory; this song was about the depths of my knowledge of the twosome. Which is curious, given the number of similar sounding acts that have floated my boat in the last year. The District Sleeps Alone Tonight is the sound of an emo icon mixing with electronica, to not entirely unsuccesful effect: it has that wordy, breathy, upfront vocal. It has the apparently disconnected, almost nonsensical lyrics that you'll find in any good example of the emo genre, and the bizarre middle-of-sentence pauses that characterise the style of singing. Rangy, I might call it.<br /><br />But it also has a cute, detached guitar part, and glitchtronica beats courtesy of Dntel's Jimmy Tamborello. What sets it apart from everybody else is the glorious chorus. It makes no sense, of course - "You seem so out of context in this gaudy apartment complex" - but it doesn't matter. It soars, it lifts above the clatter and chatter of Georgina's at lunchtime.<br /><br />I said I couldn't really explain why it'd taken me this long to get round to getting into the Postal Service: after all, this song could probably slot fairly easily into the last album by my beloved Clue To Kalo, and has similarities to the minimalist beauty of Casiotone For The Painfully Alone. Emo buddies separated at birth, I have no idea. Lovely stuff the lot of it though.<br /><br /><a href="http://download.yousendit.com/57AE1A1811667927">The Postal Service - The District Sleeps Alone Tonight</a> (<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Give-Up-Postal-Service/dp/B000089CJI/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/026-1666474-7162827?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1175946854&sr=8-1">Give Up</a>, 2003)Simonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15653368086896824270noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19286550.post-60640751176746376472007-03-31T12:57:00.000+00:002007-03-31T13:27:58.170+00:00Young Shields<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/B00005N537.02._SS500_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/B00005N537.02._SS500_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />I admit it: I'm a total hog of the office stereo. It's caused fractions before: I'll never forget the bloody aftermath of a particularly heated Jimmy Cliff vs. Cher exchange with one unenlightened individual. I can be remarkably stubborn, and although my populist sensibilities take over if I'm putting an album on, putting my mp3 player on random is bound to cause some upset.<br /><br />I recently filled it up. This means that I've had to start going through and deleting those promos to which I've never given the time of day (Our Brother The Native; Television Personalities; Plastic Constellations. I can't take the approach of many bloggers and listen and appraise everything, sorry), and to those albums I frankly just don't want on there any more (Arctic Monkeys, I'm looking at you). Which means I have an ever more streamlined approach to the shuffle button. Increasingly, everything on my Zen is fantastic, everything has its place, everything is important. Listening to my mp3 player on random some days is a near-religious experience, darting from one end of the experimental electronic atmosphere to the poppier side of Tropicalia, via some Undertones or some Tanya Donnelly or some Johnny Cash. It's really good, I promise.<br /><br />Quite regularly though, there'll crop up songs which, for whatever reason, are just not appropriate for office consumption. Not for any lyrical content, but for sheer wilfull unlistenability. I know my limits, for the most part: I know that if I were to throw on Keiran Hebden's collaborations with Steve Reid I'd get many a scratched head: electronic free jazz is certainly an acquired taste. But occasionally something will come up that's a bit beyond most of my colleague's usual listening practice: the lengthy, spacious minimalism of Murcof perhaps, or the keyboard swathes of M83. What came on this week was a My Bloody Valentine remix of Mogwai Fear Satan.<br /><br />This ticks many boxes for me. Firstly, the artists involved. In <a href="www.mogwai.co.uk/">Mogwai</a> you have one of my favourite acts ever, the mind-meltingly loud sonic terrorism of the band's early approach very much evident in the original of this track. Mogwai always cook up a winning formula, dynamic and abrasive and beautiful. Then you have a band which has been slotted into an increasingly rigid category, "shoegaze." <a href="www.mybloodyvalentine.net">My Bloody Valentine</a> are more than that, in fact it could be argued that far from rigid, MBV are the most expansive band you could ever hope for. For while they fit themselves, just about, into pop song format, they create a sound that has never been equalled or approached, which veers so far off into skull-scraping monsters of noise that it cycles back round into beauty again.<br /><br />Then you have the song, a 16 minute statement of future intent that closed Mogwai's debut, Young Team. The one occasion I've had the privilege of watching a Mogwai show was opened with this. If ever the expression Wall Of Sound was fitting, it wasn't for the blustery pop of Phil Spector or anything like that; it was made for the banked guitars or Mogwai Fear Satan, the just-when-you-think-it-can't-get-any-louder build-up. It says everything you need to know about Mogwai.<br /><br />So: the tag team, the dream pairing of Mogwai and MBV. Some remixes work, some don't, this is well-established fact. This works because it takes a song barely on the edge of listenable and plunges headlong with it into realms of fear and fantasy - like Ian McKellen taking out the Balrog if you like.<br /><br />And while it's not perhaps office stereo material, here you have a frightening, and frighteningly beautiful question being asked of each listener, of what is beautiful to them, of what they can understand and tolerate. It's cerebral and powerful.<br /><br /><a href="http://download.yousendit.com/966D34ED6414A675">Mogwai - Fear Satan (My Bloody Valentine Remix)</a> (<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kicking-Dead-Pig-Mogwai/dp/B00005N537/ref=sr_1_1/026-5312035-3405264?ie=UTF8&s=music&amp;qid=1175347219&sr=8-1">Kicking A Dead Pig</a>, 2001)Simonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15653368086896824270noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19286550.post-65634130353126133142007-03-20T13:03:00.000+00:002007-03-23T20:43:23.995+00:00Your Canned Philosoph<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/B0000251JB.02._SS500_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/B0000251JB.02._SS500_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />There was a brief publishing phenomenon a little while back (probably loosely based on Sex & The City, as were most things at the time) in which <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Hes-Just-That-Into-Understanding/dp/068987474X">self-help guides </a>appeared explaining to women when to give up, i.e. when a man was Just Not That Into Her. Some of today's pop stars could do with a similarly frank treatment at times, don't you think? Someone could have done with sitting David Bowie down and saying: Tin Machine. No. Just as an example.<br /><br />Which brings us on to Frank Black. General perception is that Charles Thompson's alter-ego's output has been in a slow, not-quite-graceful decline from the very start of his career, starting with some of his defining moments on Come On Pilgrim, through his progressive megalomania in the Pixies, via some decent solo albums, onto some mixed-bag albums with the Catholics and finally on some theoretically interesting, but ultimately dull new solo records. Well, that's not quite accurate, and there's a sting in the tail. So let's delve a little deeper shall we...<br /><br />I'm suffering a fairly long-term Pixies burnout. I was obsessed for a while, venturing as far as an undergraduate <a href="http://www.saeuk.com/downloads/research/briercliffe.pdf">dissertation</a>. Oh yes. But I've since not really listened for a long while, and have been less than enthused by the former/current frontman's latest work. I'm one of those who'll argue the finer points of Come On Pilgrim as the Pixies' finest hour, although I also consider the rest of their releases indispensable. But as so often with this kind of arrangement, people (you know... people...) have a tendency to dismiss post-legendary work. Which is a shame, because FB's eponymous first solo album was fantastic, probably the equal of the Pixies' parting Trompe Le Monde, and it was followed by the wonderful Teenager Of The Year, a lengthy album filled with insanely inventive and catchy pop songs.<br /><br />It was followed by the first dip in creativity the man had ever had, with the patchy (although often inspired) Cult Of Ray, the last solo effort for a while as after this, the Catholics were assembled for a series of straight-to-2-track rock'n'roll numbers. Here's where my opinion coincides with 'them', the proletariat: these are more patchy still. As always there are some great tracks, and are worth putting some time and energy into to appreciate, but it was almost like an overload of material, like a self-editing button had been switched off. The Catholics split after 2003's Show Me Your Tears (for me an upturn) and Frank went into creative overdrive starting with Honeycomb in 2005. For this he drafted in an incredible roster of seminal musicians: the likes of Steve Cropper, Billy Block, Dan Penn and Spooner Oldman all appeared, hosted by the production, um, talents of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Tiven">Jon Tiven</a>. Many are of the impression that it was this self-proclaimed "polarising and controversial" individual, with his flat, lifeless production, that sucked the soul out these songs.<br /><br />This was where the analogy at the start comes in: somebody needed to sit down with Frank Black and tell him that, while there's a place for smooth, confessional country-soul singers in this world, it's not the role Frank Black was born to fill. He's just not very good at it. His limited vocal range and timbre let him down at all the worst points, and it was shame to have to drag up the occasional time-change or non-standard key shift to try and justify the presence of the track.<br /><br />Honeycomb was described by it's author at the time as his Blonde On Blonde, a divorce album and a sidestep in style. It's no Blonde On Blonde, let's get that straight, and the divorce elements vary between the bizarre duet with his ex-wife Jean on Strange Goodbye and the hideous saccharine of Violet, possibly the worst thing Black's ever put his name to.<br /><br />The album was followed by more of the same (Fastman/Raiderman) and its scheduled follow up, Grand Duchy, is an album with gf Violet along similar lines. I'd never been less enthused about Frank Black until this last weekend, when details of another album pencilled in for June arrived. Now, I'm not going to post a track out of respect - maybe later - but this is different. It's stripped down. It's rock'n'roll. It's raw. The album will be called Bluefinger, and it's Frank Black hitting that magical mystery land between the punishing bite of the Pixies and the energising and fascinating pop of his early solo career. The bass is on the edge of completely cracking up, the drums pound, and Frank whoops and hollers like a dog on heat (possibly the theme of this album, if you catch my drift), the barely disguised innuendos flying past his lips in a maniacal scream. It's exciting stuff, and the album as a whole has an interesting balance to it: the rolling punk of Threshold Apprehension and Tight Black Rubber is balanced by the more expansive second half, Angels Come To Comfort You, or You Can't Break A Heart And Have It being prime examples.<br /><br />Bluefinger is the first time I've been excited about a new Frank Black album for about 4 years, and it's motivated me to break out the older stuff. So I'm posting from Teenager Of The Year: wildly diverse as this album is (songs like Big Red contain more ideas than most bands have in a lifetime), I'm breaking out The Rock. It's difficult to pick out a highlight on this record, but I'll plump for Thallasocracy, a deceptively straightforward, head-down, riff based monster. Being Frank Black, it's far more complex than that, the <a href="http://www.lyricsmania.com/lyrics/frank_black_lyrics_4341/teenager_of_the_year_lyrics_13834/thalassocracy_lyrics_160281.html">lyrics</a> combining Caesar, Inuit and Romanov with short, sharp pop-pop-pop sounds and huge E-string bass riffs. It's got Eric Drew Feldman's signature synths all over it, and Lyle Workmans' explosive lead guitar. It's a beaut. If this doesn't get you excited for Bluefinger, you're probably already dead.<br /><br /><a href="http://download.yousendit.com/D91CDD2D1AF41C91">Frank Black - Thallasocracy</a> (<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Teenager-Year-Frank-Black/dp/B0000251JB/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/202-6328967-1104655?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1174662685&sr=8-1">Teenager Of The Year</a>, 1994)Simonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15653368086896824270noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19286550.post-37111535645224367582007-03-15T14:43:00.000+00:002007-03-17T11:47:25.900+00:00Here I Am, In Your Life<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://ec2.images-amazon.com/images/P/B000002LFU.01._SS500_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://ec2.images-amazon.com/images/P/B000002LFU.01._SS500_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><p class="MsoNormal">Picking a favourite REM album is like picking a favourite child, or a favourite Jolly Rancher, for some people. It just can’t be done. Even the most ardent fan is a little cagey on the subject, usually muttering some sort of apology for not having a preference. There doesn’t seem to be a consensus even: some will never veer from their faith in A<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Automatic-People-REM/dp/B000002MG1/ref=sr_1_1/202-4103950-4675855?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1174131962&sr=1-1">utomatic For The People</a> as the be-all and end-all of alternative rock, some will swear by earlier works like <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Murmur-REM/dp/B0000073AT/ref=sr_1_1/202-4103950-4675855?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1174131986&sr=1-1">Murmur</a>. <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/New-Adventures-Hi-Fi-REM/dp/B000002N9S/ref=sr_1_1/202-4103950-4675855?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1174132002&sr=1-1">New Adventures In Hi-Fi</a> seems to cause some controversy, some fans bemoaning a lack of inspiration and a seeming apathy, some kneeling before the likes of E-Bow The Letter and Electrolite as (rightly) classic examples of the Georgians’ oeuvre.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Myself, I’m still learning. REM is quite the hot topic around YCCMB Towers, with much love up for grabs. So while I’ve heard a great deal of the music, I can’t claim a definitive opinion of any sort.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Not that that’s ever stopped me before. <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_ss_m_h_/202-8695312-6240610?url=search-alias%3Dpopular&field-keywords=rem+green&Go.x=0&Go.y=0&Go=Go">Green</a> is my favourite REM. It’s living proof that major labels need not be the restrictive, binding influence they’re imagined to be, Warners' allowing REM to get away with some of their most goosebump-raising moments on this record. But REM were always accessible – their songs, while in no way lowbrow are impossible to resist, and certainly not difficult – on first listen at least. There’s great depths. There’s pop aplenty on Life’s Rich Pageant, for example, and plenty of solid, almost traditional songwriting on all their prior releases. That’s why they were so well-positioned to go on and become the World’s Biggest Band, for a while – accessible, yet credible enough for indie kids to fall in love with.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Green was the starting point, the move away from IRS that signalled that bigger things lay in store. It starts with the brash Pop Song 89 that, along with Stand, was the commercial draw that chances are were pushed as singles by Warner – Stand in particular draws some ire amongst diehards. But it’s the acoustic numbers that pull me in: starting at track 3 with arguably one of the band’s greatest ever songs. You Are The Everything is Peter Buck’s finest hour as a mandolin hero, and one of Michael Stipe’s as a singer and a poet. There’s undeniable emotion here, in the construction and rhythm of the words as well as Stipes’ delivery, cracking every now and then with held-in sighs. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">World Leader Pretend, Orange Crush, The Wrong Child, I Remember California, these all pass by containing more moments of beauty in each one than some bands manage in their entire career. The latter, particularly, is for me the epitome of the wistful nostalgia that REM do so wonderfully (cf. E-Bow?), and The Wrong Child slays with one cry of “okay.” But I’ve been thinking about this post all week, and try as I might, I can’t put Hairshirt out of my head.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">I’ve no idea what the song’s about. "I am not the kind of dog to keep you waiting, for no good reason at all. Run a carbon-black test on my jaw." Not the slightest, but I am convinced just from listening that it’s something vitally important, a bruising, savagely real take on something to remain nameless. I don’t know if it’s the suspended mandolin chords, or Stipe’s forceful grace notes on “here I am in your life,” but it really tugs. The phrasing is so unique, so REM, and it has but sparse accompaniment (on mandolin again), which is all that’s necessary: REM are not so much a band intent on the overblown, so quiet suffices when it’s time for quiet.</p><p class="MsoNormal">It quite genuinely caused some fraught decision-making to pick Hairshirt. After all, You Are The Everything is one of the classic indie pop songs of the last twenty years, I Remember California is so wonderful as well, but I think I've made the right choice, just about.</p><a href="http://download.yousendit.com/079682314CFCC210">REM - Hairshirt</a> (<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Green-REM/dp/B000002LFU/ref=pd_ka_1/202-4103950-4675855?ie=UTF8&s=music&amp;qid=1174131767&sr=8-1">Green</a>, 1988)Simonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15653368086896824270noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19286550.post-73577995534941037732007-02-21T20:05:00.000+00:002007-03-10T14:13:38.241+00:00Black is back, all in, we're gonna win<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://ec2.images-amazon.com/images/P/B00005KB9R.02._SS500_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://ec2.images-amazon.com/images/P/B00005KB9R.02._SS500_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Two months is a long time hey? Apparently I am distracted easily: making podcasts is easily second-rated by real life, as well as blogging. But I've missed it, I've missed writing about the music that really moves me: <a href="http://www.noripcord.com/">writing</a> about new music is great, and I've made some real discoveries, but what if I need to vent on about something I've dragged up from thirty years ago? Maybe if I aim for one post a week rather than once a day, magazine-stylee. Interesting...<br /><br />I'm starting up again with Bob Marley. You say that probably enough has been written about Bob Marley, and you'd probably be right. But regardless, Bob Marley seems to be the one ubiquitous artist that retained his excellence in all things. For example, every genre has its icon with their millstone: the glorious, burning soul of 60's Stax have been brutally filtered until When A Man Loves A Woman and Sittin' On The Dock Of The Bay are no longer people's introduction to the music but their entire knowledge. Pink Floyd's monstrous canon has been passed over in favour of Another Brick In The Wall. You get the idea.<br /><br />But Bob Marley... Marley has maybe One Love as the only thing approaching a millstone, and that song even the clammy fingers of Magic FM dare not suck the soul out of. It's a joyous, celebratory song but unlike others on the same level, it's lost none of its original point, none of its optimism and charm. It's become an unofficial national anthem, it's soundtracked countless tourist board adverts and has kept its simplistic beauty.<br /><br />But today I want to think about a song easily the equal in terms of uplift. From the Burnin' album of 1973, Hallelujah Time slots almost incongruously between the choppy, righteous call-to-arms of Get Up, Stand Up and the biting political comment of I Shot The Sheriff. It's gorgeously mellow, wonderfully positive and has the most beautiful chord progressions of any reggae song I know. Its springtime imagery conjures up not just gambolling lambs and bluebells,<br />but more importantly children - after all, Children Are The Future. It reminds me that spring in Jamaica is most likely far brighter and sunnier than over here, the dank gloom of March breaking just occasionally over London's hazy atmosphere, something that every now and then becomes really important. While I can happily indulge in Jamaican food to my hearts content over here, it's only for a couple of months in summer that it works best, outside, barbie'd up.<br /><br />The song stands out for me on record packed with incredible songs: rather than the tightly packed, taut skanking of earlier releases, this sees the Wailers kicking back and allowing the songs room to breathe, and it has its companion piece in the classically laid-back Duppy Conqueror. The album goes to show the breadth of life that's present in this sort of music, and particular that of Mr Marley - from political polemic to social comment to religious moments. So break out some rum, grab some guava jelly, have a listen, unwind and cheer up, and appreciate the lovely, lilting tones of Bob Marley - for a man up there with Che Guevara in terms of student-based ubiquity, there's much to fall in love with.<br /><br /><a href="http://download.yousendit.com/89C7A2C63C13EE75">Bob Marley - Hallelujah Time</a> (<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Burnin-Remastered-Bob-Marley/dp/B00005KB9R/ref=sr_1_1/026-6312878-5359634?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1173535745&sr=1-1">Burnin'</a>, 1973)Simonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15653368086896824270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19286550.post-7134439983569386852006-12-21T13:53:00.000+00:002006-12-22T14:14:27.293+00:00Turn to face the strange...: podcast #5<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/143/328995186_5d8afe72fd.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/143/328995186_5d8afe72fd.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a>(photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/paulsplace/">two years of travelling</a>)<br /></div><br />...Ch-ch-changes ahoy. As I sit here with a KitKat I wonder how to start. From today, You Can Call Me Betty is going podcast-only, so no longer will I be continuing with posting mp3s etc. I've come to the conclusion that actually I <span style="font-style: italic;">don't</span> really have time to do this as well as I'd like, evidenced by the sparse posting patterns of the last few weeks. I have other things which occupy my time, so I'll be concentrating on writing reviews at <a href="http://www.noripcord.com/">NoRipcord</a> and <a href="http://hmgovernment.net/">Don't Worry About The Government</a> (when Tom pulls his finger out), and creating a better breed of podsafe, new-music-tastic podcasts for your listening enjoyment. You will find the podcasts posted here and, for a while at least, at yccmb.blogspot.com<br />I've very much enjoyed writing though, and hope to invest as much into the podcasts as I have into the blog, not least of which is some stonkingly ace music, as always. You should be able to tell that by the tracklisting below, so have a listen, then see ya later alligator.<br /><br />So: blame work, blame having a life and stuff, but as you know it, this is the end of You Can Call Me Betty.<br /><br />Ta ta!<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >The Music</span><br /><a href="http://download.yousendit.com/A8B521CD466E973A">Jeff Buckley - Last Goodbye</a><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Podcast # 5: Chrimbo Dinbo</span><br /><br /><a href="http://www.archive.org/download/SimonBriercliffeYouCanCallMeBettyPodcast_5/podcast5.mp3"></a><a href="http://www.archive.org/download/SimonBriercliffeYouCanCallMeBettyPodcast_5/podcast5.mp3"><img src="http://i13.tinypic.com/2yxrm90.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/YouCanCallMeBettyPodcast"><img src="http://i13.tinypic.com/47d4pw2.jpg" /></a><br /><br />1) <a href="http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&ct=res&cd=1&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.absenteemusic.co.uk%2F&ei=K9yLRYioN8mGQ9a7hZ8P&usg=__mVmxOwRq8s9V8kyU4-PFKJglC_k=&sig2=jcMjjiYaIK7NTcgOpKZCvw">Absentee</a> - We Should Never Have Children (from <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Schmotime-Absentee/dp/B000CR8RQU/sr=1-1/qid=1166794275/ref=sr_1_1/203-2609944-8213565?ie=UTF8&s=music">Schmotime</a>, Memphis Industries, streamable from <a href="http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&ct=res&cd=1&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.absenteemusic.co.uk%2F&ei=K9yLRYioN8mGQ9a7hZ8P&usg=__mVmxOwRq8s9V8kyU4-PFKJglC_k=&sig2=jcMjjiYaIK7NTcgOpKZCvw">Absenteemusic.co.uk</a>)<br />2) <a href="http://throwingmusic.com/">Kristin Hersh</a> - Sno-Cat (from <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Grotto-Kristin-Hersh/dp/B00007KN39/sr=1-6/qid=1166794302/ref=sr_1_6/203-2609944-8213565?ie=UTF8&s=music">The Grotto</a>, <a href="http://yccmbpodcast.blogspot.com/www.4ad.com">4AD</a>, download at throwingmusic.com)<br />3) <a href="http://www.adem.tv/site/">Adem </a>- <a href="http://www.adem.tv/site/index.php?page=articles&article=37">These Are Your Friends</a> (from <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Homesongs-Adem/dp/B00014TQ78/sr=1-1/qid=1166794325/ref=sr_1_1/203-2609944-8213565?ie=UTF8&s=music">Homesongs</a>, <a href="http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&ct=res&amp;amp;cd=1&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dominorecordco.com%2F&ei=rN6LRbmKGoaGQ56JtZ4P&usg=__2pmoA7XNTMrBSFwKMFMSh7cGecc=&sig2=jVUwxymfMCLlR65RedEwgA">Domino</a>, stream at <a href="http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&ct=res&amp;amp;cd=1&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dominorecordco.com%2F&ei=rN6LRbmKGoaGQ56JtZ4P&usg=__2pmoA7XNTMrBSFwKMFMSh7cGecc=&sig2=jVUwxymfMCLlR65RedEwgA">Domino Records</a>)<br />4) <a href="http://www.matthewherbert.com/">Herbert</a> - Moving Like A Train (from <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Scale-Herbert/dp/B000EXZIGO/sr=1-2/qid=1166794356/ref=sr_1_2/203-2609944-8213565?ie=UTF8&s=music">Scale</a>, <a href="http://yccmbpodcast.blogspot.com/www.k7.com/">!K7</a>, stream at <a href="http://www.matthewherbert.com/">matthewherbert.com</a>)<br />5) <a href="http://www.tvontheradio.com/">TV On The Radio</a> - Province (from <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Return-Cookie-Mountain-TV-Radio/dp/B000FG82KO/sr=1-1/qid=1166794379/ref=sr_1_1/203-2609944-8213565?ie=UTF8&s=music">Return To Cookie Mountain</a>, <a href="http://www.4ad.com/">4AD</a>, stream on <a href="http://www.myspace.com/tvotr">MySpace</a>)<br />6) <a href="http://yccmbpodcast.blogspot.com/www.myspace.com/daedelusdarling">Daedelus </a>- Viva Vida (from <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Denies-Days-Demise-Daedelus/dp/B000EGD26O/sr=1-1/qid=1166794207/ref=sr_1_1/203-2609944-8213565?ie=UTF8&s=music">Denies The Days Demise</a>, <a href="http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&ct=res&cd=1&amp;amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ninjatune.net%2F&ei=396LRanyFKKiQZem6fQO&usg=__7rcCnRd3G5H0ofbPBuNHMpe4IyQ=&sig2=HfXc19MrG7bcC-MnEXjTKA">Ninja Tune</a>, stream on <a href="http://yccmbpodcast.blogspot.com/www.myspace.com/daedelusdarling">MySpace</a>)<br />7) <a href="http://yccmbpodcast.blogspot.com/www.theharveygirls.com">Harvey Girls</a> vs. <a href="http://yccmbpodcast.blogspot.com/www.feedle.co.uk/">Feedle </a>- Hazy Heat (<a href="http://www.victorscott.ca/">Victor Scott</a> remix) (<a href="http://yccmbpodcast.blogspot.com/www.svcrecords.co.uk">SVC Records</a>, download from <a href="http://www.victorscott.ca/">victorscott.ca</a>)<br />8) <a href="http://yccmbpodcast.blogspot.com/www.maxtundra.com/">Max Tundra</a> - Labial (from <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mastered-Guy-Exchange-Max-Tundra/dp/B000068PZ2/sr=8-10/qid=1166794150/ref=sr_1_10/203-2609944-8213565?ie=UTF8&s=music">Mastered By Guy At The Exchange</a>, <a href="http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&ct=res&amp;cd=1&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dominorecordco.com%2F&ei=rN6LRbmKGoaGQ56JtZ4P&usg=__2pmoA7XNTMrBSFwKMFMSh7cGecc=&sig2=jVUwxymfMCLlR65RedEwgA">Domino</a>, stream on <a href="http://www.myspace.com/maxtundra">MySpace</a>)Simonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15653368086896824270noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19286550.post-39458530860649719712006-12-17T16:20:00.000+00:002006-12-17T19:43:37.243+00:00Cover me. I'm going in...#7<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://static.flickr.com/48/160274613_05197eaa14.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://static.flickr.com/48/160274613_05197eaa14.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a>(Saint Etienne live in 1993, by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dexter_mixwith/">dexter_mixwith</a>)<br /></div><br />I could also put this post in a Charity Shoppin' style deal: Hampstead's Oxfam yielded up a goodly number of bargains yesterday. But I'll concentrate on the CD purchase which interested me most (because although Blur's Great Escape and the Commitments soundtrack are lovely and nostalgic, they're not much new to me), Saint Etienne's Too Young To Die, a singles collection collating 1990-1995 in the world of Stanley, Wiggs et al.<br /><br />My first dalliance with Saint Etienne came around Christmas 1995 when I got the Hits 96 cassette compilation. You know the sort, a knock-off Now variation, it had (if I remember correctly) a fairly wide variety on it, from Robson & Jerome to Oasis to Cher to a comedy version of the Blind Date theme tune. It had one indie-ish side out of four, and that included He's On The Phone. This summed up Saint Etienne's pop-perfect bedsit tales, the indie-dance stylings combining with sumptuous female vocals leading me to more appreciate the next thing I heard by the band. This was Only Love Can Break Your Heart, just recently revealed to me to be a cover of After The Goldrush-era Neil Young. I stand ashamed. This, this was pop perfection, even more so than He's On The Phone and it slid in so nicely amongst the electro-lite stylings of Happy Mondays and New Order on The Greatest Album In The World... Ever, for the unfamiliar an interminable series of indie compilations.<br /><br />Listening to the Young original now is strange, as I'm so used to the Moira Lambert-led cover, with its dreamy, hazy feel and sooo 1991 beats. The cover takes up Young's plaintive piano piece and adds a euphoric beauty, those vocals just kind of tucked in at the back. It's the sound of my adolescence, once again, which makes it all the more odd to me that I never pursued it any further. But, no time like the present. Only Love Can Break Your Heart, in all its dreamy prettiness, is track one on the singles comp.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">The Music</span></span><br /><a href="http://download.yousendit.com/6A40C45C1F58970E">Neil Young - Only Love Can Break Your Heart</a><br /><a href="http://download.yousendit.com/440B17F241A52DC5">Saint Etienne - Only Love Can Break Your Heart</a><br /><br />Which brings me to track two, which took me by surprise. The Wratten/Hiscock credit didn't register. But of course, it's the Field Mice's classic in electro-pop format, and very lovely it is too. Saint Etienne is pop in the same wasy as, say, Cinerama was pop: knowing but loving, well-constructed in the pop vein but not intended to aim for the lowest common denominator that today's charts aim at. If you're not massively familiar with the original, the chorus will take you by surprise. But love it and cherish it, the song in all its forms, for its a beautiful. I post the music with a dedication to Colin, <a href="http://andbeforethefirstkiss.blogspot.com/">wherever he might be.</a><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">The Music</span></span><br /><a href="http://download.yousendit.com/7816D1877C7DF8A7">Field Mice - Let's Kiss & Make Up</a><br /><a href="http://download.yousendit.com/4A7ED28A1724A605">Saint Etienne - Kiss & Make Up</a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >The 'fo</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Artist: Saint Etienne<br />Website: <a href="http://www.saintetienne.com/">saintetienne.com</a><br />Recommended: <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Smash-System-Singles-Saint-Etienne/dp/B0009FHLG2/sr=1-4/qid=1166384195/ref=sr_1_4/203-2609944-8213565?ie=UTF8&s=music">Smash The System: Singles 1990-99</a><br />Label: <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&ct=res&amp;amp;cd=1&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.heavenly100.com%2F&ei=v5yFRd70Bp-GQPfNregB&usg=__pENuHuU4ukVic7iJ57jageaf2XM=&sig2=U0QSfChnzvpP3OEwEVukdA">Heavenly</a><br /></span>Buy: <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/203-2609944-8213565?%5Fencoding=UTF8&search-type=ss&index=music&field-artist=Saint%20Etienne">Amazon</a><br /></span>More: <a href="http://hype.non-standard.net/search/instituto/1/">Hype Machine</a>; <a href="http://elbo.ws/search/instituto/page/1/">elbo.ws</a><br />If you like this you might like: <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Stars-Best-Dubstar/dp/B0001CLZQ0/sr=1-1/qid=1166384248/ref=sr_1_1/203-2609944-8213565?ie=UTF8&s=music">Dubstar - The Best Of</a><br />Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/saint+etienne" rel="tag">Saint Etienne</a>; <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/pop" rel="tag">pop</a>; <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/electronica" rel="tag">electronica</a>; <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/neil+young" rel="tag">Neil Young</a>; <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/field+mice" rel="tag">Field Mice</a></span>Simonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15653368086896824270noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19286550.post-18751758309322795472006-12-14T13:42:00.000+00:002006-12-15T00:08:14.689+00:00The Rough Guide To Brazilian Electronica: Tejo-Instituto<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/72/170217220_c813921df1.jpg?v=0" /><br /><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center">(photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/uncleweed/">uncleweed</a>)<br /></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"><br />The song Ohhh! isn't nearly as pornographic as it's title suggests. We looked briefly at <a href="http://youcancallmebetty.blogspot.com/2006/09/rough-guide-to-brazilian-electronica.html">Instituto </a>before, and this is <a href="http://youcancallmebetty.blogspot.com/2006/12/rough-guide-to-brazilian-electronica.html">Rica Amabis</a> and Tejo Damasceno working on their own material this time (as opposed to the previous remix). So let's have a look at this song and see why the erotic exhalation of the title has been applied, shall we?<br /></div></div><br />On first listen, this is another of those tracks which this cd is all about, cool percussion, female vocals, a bit of a samba. But listen a bit deeper and it's all a lot more involved than that. From the computer voices to the jostling vocal samples, from the repetitive, muted guitar motif to the synthed-up brass melodies. It's consistently interesting in a way that little of these days' electronica is: lots going on, all sorts of crazy different things happening, but set to an accessible backbeat and, as always, immediately evocative of the artistes' homeland. On close inspection, I'd go so far as to label it a highlight here, and the slightly breathless female vocalist clearly agrees. While, as I said, it's not so vividly erotic as you might imagine, there's enough sensual indulgence here to appeal to the most sordid mind, as long as that sordid mind was also willing to dance sexy on the beach.<br /><br />So, not perverted at all, but a little bit of a surreptitious thrill - isn't that what you look for in music? Not to have the senses as the main, let's see, thrust of the piece, but certainly have them tickled. There's enough going on here to appeal to the individual that's looking for a pop song to dance to, or an electronica beat to analyse, or a sultry song to get them in the mood. Good job Amabis & Damasceno.<br /><br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-STYLE: italicfont-size:85%;" >The Music</span><br /><a href="http://download.yousendit.com/29DC26B350AC9649">Tejo-Instituto - Ohhh!<br /></a><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-STYLE: italic">The 'fo</span><br />Artist: Rica Amabis<br />Recommended: <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Colecao-Nacional-Instituto/dp/B00018QBGS/sr=1-1/qid=1166105065/ref=sr_1_1/203-6542394-9663946?ie=UTF8&s=music">Colecao Nacional</a><br />Label: <a href="http://www.trama.com/">Trama</a><br />Buy: <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_ss_w_h_/026-1228775-4953251?url=search-alias%3Dpopular&field-keywords=instituto&Go.x=0&amp;amp;amp;Go.y=0&Go=Go">Amazon</a>; <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Rough-Brazilian-Electronica-Various-Artists/dp/B0000C665X/sr=11-1/qid=1165247767/ref=sr_11_1/203-6542394-9663946">Rough Guide</a><br />More: <a href="http://hype.non-standard.net/search/instituto/1/">Hype Machine</a>; <a href="http://elbo.ws/search/instituto/page/1/">elbo.ws</a><br />If you like this you might like: <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sambadelic-Rica-Amabis/dp/B00004UB2R/sr=1-1/qid=1166105201/ref=sr_1_1/203-6542394-9663946?ie=UTF8&s=music">Rica Amabis - Sambadelic</a><br />Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/brazil" rel="tag">Brazil</a>; <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/rough+guide" rel="tag">Rough Guide</a>; <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/rica+amabis" rel="tag">Rica Amabis</a>; <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/tejo+damasceno" rel="tag">Tejo Damasceno</a>; <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/instituto" rel="tag">Instituto</a>; <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/electronica" rel="tag">electronica</a><br /></span>Simonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15653368086896824270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19286550.post-3717711633661921582006-12-12T23:52:00.000+00:002006-12-12T23:52:38.007+00:00Top Whatevers<div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">Sorry about the couple of days delay: Christmas-related busying I suppose. Anyway, review of the year is to make up for it with a bunch of stuff you don't care about, rambling on for far too long. Enjoy!<br /></div><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />Song Of The Year</span><br /><img style="width: 359px; height: 268px;" src="http://static.flickr.com/28/67252714_ebbf365251.jpg?v=0" /><br />(photo be <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/joshc/">joshc</a>)<br /></div>If I was going to pick a song that I've discovered this year as the soundtrack to my life, then it would certainly be Clue To Kalo's As Tommy Fixes Fights. But my life is nothing without arbitrary rules, and technically that song was released last year. So the award for 2006 goes to one of the more disappointing bands of the year, Band Of Horses. Most peoples' first encounter with BOH was via their single The Funeral, a frankly astonishingly great song, incendiary in the heights it soars to - Ben Bridwell's voice flies high over a dynamic backdrop that threatened to breathe new life into the somewhat lacklustre American indie-rock output of the year. But aside from The Funeral, Band Of Horses only scraped along for the rest of their releases, their patchy and occasionally annoying debut (Everything All The Time) exemplifying this, a particularly sad case in point.<br />In general chaps, must try harder, must write more songs that are as good as The Funeral.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">The Music</span></span><br /><a href="http://www.bandofhorses.com/mp3/Funeral.mp3">Band Of Horses - The Funeral</a> (mp3)<br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibE7IqEjni4">Band Of Horses - The Funeral</a> (video)<br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">The 'fo</span></span><br /><a href="http://www.bandofhorses.com/">Band Of Horses</a>/<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Everything-All-Time-Band-Horses/dp/B000E6GBV2/sr=1-1/qid=1165942603/ref=sr_1_1/203-6542394-9663946?ie=UTF8&s=music">buy</a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Guilty Pleasure Of The Year</span><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="width: 363px; height: 243px;" src="http://static.flickr.com/11/14217025_36cb6fc285.jpg?v=0" /><br />(photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/63053923@N00/">rustovision</a>)<br /></div>I hadn't had a guilty pleasure all year, really, hence the hanging onto the last vestiges of the Natasha Bedingfield bandwagon, the shame only really starting to tell towards the end of this year. Apparently there's a yet younger Bedingfield in the pipeline, something to look forward to. Anyway, NB's place has been taken by the almost terrifyingly mental Amy Winehouse, a local girl (you can kind of tell, if you know Southgate - Amy looks very Southgate, maybe with all the characteristics exaggerated to charicature), with her - admittedly not as guilty as Natasha - song, Rehab.<br />All ba-woop horns and big band chorus, this is singalong, it's funky and it's great, and it'll get so firmly ensconced into your head that an army of claw hammers won't be able to prise it out from there.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">The Music</span></span><br /><a href="http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=8119156B5F1C75B1">Amy Winehouse - Rehab</a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >The 'fo</span><br /><a href="http://www.amywinehouse.co.uk/">Amy Winehouse</a>/<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_ss_m_h_/203-6542394-9663946?url=search-alias%3Dpopular&field-keywords=winehouse&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;Go.x=0&Go.y=0&Go=Go">buy</a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Live Show Of The Year</span><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="width: 392px; height: 294px;" src="http://static.flickr.com/95/205201941_696901e84d.jpg?v=0" /><br />(photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/distantbombs/">distantbombs</a>)<br /></div>Every inch of my body is telling me to put Mogwai in this award, for their ICA residency in January. And they were mindblowing, incredibly loud and opening up all sorts of experiences I didn't know existed. Certainly the support for this show (Gruff Rhys) was better than that of the show I've actually picked (which was Bat For Lashes), but still... The winner is Low. I love Low almost as much as Mogwai, but I think the gig just pipped it. For fantastic as the 'gwai were, Low's extra special show at Koko playing back the whole of what is a contender for my favourite album of all time (Things We Lost In The Fire) held me awestruck. At the time I think I wrote that Low were one of the few bands that allowed their music the space so few bands dare to produce, and their show only amplified this feeling. I could stand and watch Alan Sparhawk wait and wait to play a chord for ages and ages, and it would always, always be exactly perfect, exactly on the button. The harmonies, oh, the rapturous harmonies, the songs, the playing. Yes, I have no qualms picking Low.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">The Music</span></span><br /><a href="http://download.yousendit.com/555F4CD17BB59260">Low - (That's How You Sing) Amazing Grace</a><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">The 'fo</span></span><br /><a href="http://beta.blogger.com/www.chairkickers.com/">Low</a>/<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_ss_m_h_/203-6542394-9663946?url=search-alias%3Dpopular&field-keywords=low&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;Go.x=0&Go.y=0&Go=Go">buy</a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Label Of The Year</span><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="width: 255px; height: 218px;" src="http://static.flickr.com/119/259831823_976615a45a.jpg?v=0" /><br />(photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/japaneseforms/">japanese_forms</a>)<br /></div>There's but one record company that's been at the top of my list this year, only one contender. Last year it would've been Leaf with their volley of big hitters, but this year no label has consistently impressed me so much as the revitalised 4AD. From celebrating their 25 th anniversary last year, they've gone on to have one of their strongest years in an age, releasing several big, big albums, and signing a slew of great acts that manage to fit in with the label ethic and style while retaining their own originality. They've got a good 2007 coming, with Kristin hersh pencilled in early on, but for 2006 how about some of the following:<br />TV On The Radio - having settled into the label for their first album, TVOTR's follow-up was one of the records of the year, a devastating and fascinating rock album.<br />M Ward - another contender for record of the year, Matt Ward's warm rock'n'roll acousticana impressed me much.<br />Beirut - beloved by blogs in general rather than by me, but at least an album of poise and individuality.<br />Add to that Scott Walker's dense The Drift, and great releases by Cocteau Twins, Johann Johannssen and Mountain Goats, that's a fancy roster right there.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">The Music</span></span><br /><a href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=1uaQiQohmmg">TV On The Radio - Wolf Like Me</a> (video)<br /><a href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=ToEPFDIzhNA">M Ward - Chinese Translation</a> (video)<br /><a href="http://www.beirutband.com/mp3/Beruit_Postcards%20From%20Italy.mp3">Beirut - Postcards From Italy</a> (mp3)<br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">The 'fo</span></span><br /><a href="http://beta.blogger.com/www.tvontheradio.com/">TV On The Radio</a>/<a href="http://www.4ad.com/tvontheradio/">buy</a>/<a href="http://www.mwardmusic.com/">M Ward</a>/<a href="http://www.4ad.com/mward/">buy</a>/<a href="http://www.beirutband.com/">Beirut</a>/<a href="http://www.4ad.com/beirut/">buy</a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Prospect Of The Year</span><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="width: 312px; height: 208px;" src="http://static.flickr.com/82/245146426_f976f9a4cf.jpg?v=0" /><br />(photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/lfletcher/">l fletcher)</a><br /></div>You know what I'm going to say, it's undoubtedly Kristin Hersh. Kristin's solo albums are invariably amazing, whether they're the incredibly sparse, almost bleak, snow-capped feel of The Grotto, or whether they're the fuller, luxurious arrangements of Sunny Border Blue. The woman is a genius, and not only that but hellbent on giving away as much of her music as she can for free, as evidenced by 50 Foot Wave's method of distribution. Learn How To Sing Like A Star is bound to be just ace, and may the first lady of heart-on-sleeve alt.rock ever reign supreme.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >The Music</span><br /><a href="http://www.throwingmusic.com/freemusic/KristinHersh-Snake_Oil.mp3">Kristin Hersh - Snake Oil</a><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"> <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">The 'fo</span></span><br /><a href="http://www.throwingmusic.com/">Kristin Hersh</a>/<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_ss_w_h_/203-6542394-9663946?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=kristin+hersh&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;Go.x=0&Go.y=0&Go=Go">buy</a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Artist Of The Year</span><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="width: 360px; height: 233px;" src="http://static.flickr.com/27/40498981_2744670863.jpg?v=0" /><br />(photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/toniblay/">Toni Blay</a>)<br /></div>Despite being pipped at the post for best live show, Mogwai still manage to capture the glory with best artist, simply because they are one of the best bands in the world. It sounds so passé to describe Mogwai as noise terrorists these days - that era was c.1997, with Young Team just out and audiences' ears being shredded by the likes of Like Herod and Tracy. But 2006 was the year when Mogwai set out to recapture The Rock from the dreamy, ethereal (if still excessively wonderful) stylings of Happy Songs For Happy People. Mr Beast was the Ronseal of Mogwai albums, it was exactly that: a hurtling, raging monster of a record with some of Mogwai's biggest riffs ever, and the occasional heart-stoppingly huge drumbeat. All that being said, Mr Beast sees the band distilling its expertise into some of their more accessible numbers - Friend Of The Night, Acid Food, Auto-Rock...<br />But then, of course, Mogwai released two records this year - taking a look a little down the line at the monstrous rock of Mr Beast, Stuart Braithwaite et al took the band's more eery, atmospheric side and made a soundtrack to the artisan film about the inimitable Zinedine Zidane. So whichever Mogwai you prefer you've been satisfied this year, whether it was kicking the year off with that ICA residency, or releasing a contender for best album of the year in January, or fostering their football side with a pet project commission. Good job dudes.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"> <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">The Music</span></span><br /><a href="http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=F8843EF50C68D5C8">Mogwai - Glasgow Mega-Snake</a><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">The 'fo</span></span><br /><a href="http://www.mogwai.co.uk/">Mogwai</a>/<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_ss_w_h_/202-5947654-6728667?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=mogwai&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;Go.x=0&Go.y=0&Go=Go">buy</a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Albums Of The Year</span><br /></div><br />This is it, the big rundown. If you've waded through the rest of it to reach this bloggers' staple, then thanks, and hope you enjoy the music.<br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic;">10. Amy Millan - Honey From The Tombs</span><br /><span><img src="http://ec2.images-amazon.com/images/P/B000FIMHZI.01._SS400_SCLZZZZZZZ_V61358227_.jpg" /></span><br /></div>Loads of new music came to my ears this year, and I hadn't been familiar with Stars, or Amy Millan or any of the Arts & Crafts stable until this year. To be brutally honest, I'm still not, but this is an album worthy of inclusion on a top ten anyway, and I don't think I've seen it anywhere else yet. Honey From The Tombs is an album positively dripping with Millan's warm, sensuous yet comforting voice, the same one that made Stars so inviting. The songs are pretty much pop.alt.country in basis, but with a few more uptempo numbers, taking a similar sort of approach to the two as M Ward has this year. Not all of the songs are as memorable as Skinny Boy or Losin' You, but they are all a pleasant enough listen and really lower you into a calmed-down mode, so for that one can be ever thankful.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=E4FE6CB820A468F4">Amy Millan - Skinny Boy</a><br /><a href="http://www.arts-crafts.ca/amymillan/">Amy Millan</a>/<a href="http://www.myspace.com/amymillan">MySpace</a>/<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Honey-Tombs-Limited-Amy-Millan/dp/B000FIMHZI/sr=8-1/qid=1165942514/ref=pd_ka_1/203-6542394-9663946?ie=UTF8&s=music">buy</a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: right;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic;">9. Arab Strap - Ten Years Of Tears<br /><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span><img src="http://ec2.images-amazon.com/images/P/B000I5Y99K.01._SS400_SCLZZZZZZZ_V36606550_.jpg" /><br /><br /></span></div></div>I kind of surprise myself with this inclusion, but the fact of the matter is that Arab Strap had more of an impact on my life this year than the vast majority of other bands and musicians that I heard. I discovered (sadly belatedly) that Arab Strap have a knack for creating music that's emotionally resonant but not sappy, heartbreaking but certainly not emo, indie but by no means stagnant. From the classic The First Big Weekend to the x-rated folk of Packs Of Three to the thrashy punk stomp of Islands, this breaks my rule of not including compilations because it's so lovingly compiled - it's not just hits (what hits?) but it's demos, alternate takes, songs that mean something to the band. Interesting things. It's a great document, and a great listen in itself quite aside from anything associative.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=BF6C93F753349FEA">Arab Strap - Preface: Set The Scene</a><br /><a href="http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&ct=res&cd=1&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.arabstrap.co.uk%2F&ei=Z99-RYbIMoiiQemX4L4O&usg=__LRxv9IbXNrUPbD25gPQuix3BhS4=&sig2=lmwtW5U4Q0PfTfQKKu1MiQ">Arab Strap</a>/<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ten-Years-Tears-Arab-Strap/dp/B000I5Y99K/sr=8-1/qid=1165942503/ref=pd_ka_1/203-6542394-9663946?ie=UTF8&s=music">buy</a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic;">8. Casiotone For The Painfully Alone - Etiquette</span><br /><span><img src="http://ec2.images-amazon.com/images/P/B000E6ULNQ.01._SS500_SCLZZZZZZZ_V53868309_.jpg" /></span><br /></div>One of the few albums from the earlier part of the year that has retained my attention, Owen Ashworth's one-man-band (minus drum on back and cymbals between knees) has got sophisticated. The days of extremely minimalist Casio-tickling have been replaced by bigger arrangements, and bigger songs to warrant them. That's not to say anything on this album has had the MTV treatment, it doesn't sound like Queen just yet, but these are songs which are crying out for a wider audience. Which is ironic given the extreme introspection and self-loathing going on throughout. Etiquette would certainly make any random emo kid's dreams come true, but would also introduce them to a world of quality and class that Panic At The Disco will never be able to give them. Plus, y'know, CFTPA has one extra word so he's obviously better.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=5234210F01FE6B0A">Casiotone For The Painfully Alone - I Love Creedence</a><br /><a href="http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&ct=res&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;cd=1&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cftpa.org%2F&ei=dt9-RYvcIpTuQbjSgZMK&usg=__dXGQL96iQUaB2Ms6NQnO457HYCA=&sig2=AbRr3MLwLfbnMKZYlbMxHA">Casiotone For The Painfully Alone</a>/<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Etiquette-Casiotone-Painfully-Alone/dp/B000E6ULNQ/sr=8-1/qid=1165942493/ref=pd_ka_1/203-6542394-9663946?ie=UTF8&s=music">buy</a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic;">7. Daedelus - Denies The Day's Demise</span><br /><span><img src="http://ec2.images-amazon.com/images/P/B000EGD26O.01._SS400_SCLZZZZZZZ_V50337240_.jpg" /></span><br /></div>Another one I ummed and aahed about, because this was a very late addition to the year's best. But I think it certainly warrants its place here - in a year where I spent a disproportionate amount of time listening to electronica, this was the pick. Herbert, Adem, Triosk, these were all excellent albums but they didn't grab me so immediately, nor move me in the same as Alfred Weisberg-Roberts' did. There was a real warmth about this record when I first listened, whether it's from the banks of synths on Like Clockwork Springs or the oboe on Viva Vida (a track which, on first listening, grabbed me gently by the throat and refused to let go), and if you add to that sultry samba beats and the odd blast of glitch-hop, this is a great record.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=AAC10060034B9817">Daedelus - Samba Legrand</a><br /><a href="http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&ct=res&cd=1&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.myspace.com%2Fdaedelusdarling&ei=g99-RfOzEJWGQZGhvMAO&usg=__VwFwjvFFGwVWzbb9kgsBO6tMifw=&sig2=XFnDm2em0IImF1S_hNf6YQ">Daedelus</a>/<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Denies-Days-Demise-Daedelus/dp/B000EGD26O/sr=8-1/qid=1165937128/ref=pd_ka_1/203-6542394-9663946?ie=UTF8&s=music">buy</a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic;">6. Camera Obscura - Let's Get Out Of This Country</span><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span><img style="width: 500px; height: 500px;" src="http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/B000F4MP9A.02._SS500_SCLZZZZZZZ_V54442776_.jpg" /></span><br /></div>Camera Obscura were introduced, in a haze of blog buzz, as a band that sounded like Belle & Sebastian. As a new found devotee of those most literate of Scots indie-poppers, I thought great, and found another bunch of literate Scots indie-poppers, this time with the pretty, affecting, <span style="font-style: italic;">female</span> vocals at the front. So yes, Camera Obscura don't really win any prizes for groundbreaking originality, but when you kick off an album with a heartbreaking ode to Lloyd Cole that's a serious contender for song of the year, who really cares? Lloyd, I'm Ready To Be Heartbroken is sad but sweet and gorgeous, and so is the majority of the rest of the album. In a year spent trying to be avant garde, this album feels like a step back for me, but really, what does that matter? Music's in the heart, not the head.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=C228C8DD0615A98C">Camera Obscura - I Need All The Friends I Can Get</a><br /><a href="http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&ct=res&cd=1&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.camera-obscura.net%2F&ei=kN9-RaKoHYr6QcKzxbEO&usg=__gyJKHpz9nKC8jpP1ZL4duKEz1Jk=&sig2=Kdzo-NhoecHHiBE2S6e73w">Camera Obscura</a>/<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lets-Get-Out-This-Country/dp/B000F4MP9A/sr=1-1/qid=1165937549/ref=sr_1_1/203-6542394-9663946?ie=UTF8&s=music">buy</a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic;">5. Steve Adey - All Things Real</span><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span><img src="http://ec2.images-amazon.com/images/P/B000E41N0I.02._SS500_SCLZZZZZZZ_V1138709295_.jpg" /></span><br /></div>Out of the blue is how I'd describe this. I get so so many random, mostly awful, acts trying it on in MySpace World, that it really took me by surprise when I heard Adey's rich baritone fully nailing the beautiful Find The Way for the first time when Grand Harmonium Records sought me out. Mr Adey is a very talented man indeed and has created an album of warm, beautiful songsmithery to go with his wonderful voice. Great combination, great result.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.steveadey.com/mp3/artist%20-%20Tonight%20I%20send%20my....mp3">Steve Adey - Tonight</a><br /><a href="http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&ct=res&cd=1&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.steveadey.com%2F&ei=yd9-RZXCIpzmQLnzgb4O&usg=__WZUT6_z9vXamMNmVqJ_N1W-TmS0=&sig2=k7peq0NX7Jg26W4oOWaJ1g">Steve Adey</a>/<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/All-Things-Real-Steve-Adey/dp/B000E41N0I/sr=8-1/qid=1165942475/ref=sr_1_1/203-6542394-9663946?ie=UTF8&s=music">buy</a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic;">4. Mogwai - Mr Beast</span><br /><img src="http://ec2.images-amazon.com/images/P/B000E0DJFO.02._SS500_SCLZZZZZZZ_V1138640586_.jpg" /><br /></div>It's the top four that has been set almost as soon as I heard the records, but it's also given me a lot of trouble. Mogwai are, by default, the best band in the world (see above) and since Alan McGee's outburst that Mr Beast would be the best thing since Loveless, I was expecting monster things from Mr Beast. And in some ways, I got that. In some ways. Because where Mr Beast worked (Glasgow Mega-Snake, We're No Horses, Auto-Rock) it was beyond incredible, but there just wasn't the usual connection. Sure, there was plenty of Rock, and this is a good thing, but it didn't at the heartstrings <span style="font-style: italic;">as well</span> like it's predecessor. I think maybe if Mogwai had combined elements of this record, the huge riffs, the unbelievable volume, with the tact, restraint and explorations of this year's other release, the Zidane soundtrack, then they would have had a hit on their hands. As it is, Mogwai are still top four material despite this not being their strongest record, which says a lot about them - although I'd love to put them top, I just wouldn't be being honest to myself, so. Number four.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=4450A196373A2CF0">Mogwai - I Chose Horses</a><br /><a href="http://www.mogwai.co.uk/">Mogwai</a>/<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mr-Beast-Mogwai/dp/B000E0DJFO/sr=8-5/qid=1165942392/ref=pd_ka_5/203-6542394-9663946?ie=UTF8&s=music">buy</a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic;">3. TV On The Radio - Return To Cookie Mountain<br /><br /></span><span><img src="http://ec2.images-amazon.com/images/P/B000FG82KO.01._SS500_SCLZZZZZZZ_V51975095_.jpg" /><br /><br /></span></div>A record that keeps on getting better with every listen is an album that's worth listening to. And when you listen to Return To Cookie Mountain, you'll start to appreciate the delicacy and intricacies within such a complex, yet feral-sounding album. The band manage to fill every space with a rushing noise that's not really there, and for all the joy minimalism gives, this is extremely exciting. Live, the band are a sexy beast, and on record, they're no less so. Highlights like Province, Wolf Like Me and I Was A Lover sound like nothing that was released this, or any other year. A one off band.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=A4669BDF09665A14">TV On The Radio - I Was A Lover</a><br /><a href="http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&ct=res&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;cd=1&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tvontheradio.com%2F&ei=1t9-RYDeAYjmQOv05b4O&usg=__3ZI8aF8iEO41sVBWrxEDnn2V_Wg=&sig2=Q6JYIw0iCCNJW_Pd6RQNmA">TV On The Radio</a>/<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Return-Cookie-Mountain-TV-Radio/dp/B000FG82KO/sr=8-1/qid=1165942461/ref=pd_ka_1/203-6542394-9663946?ie=UTF8&s=music">buy</a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic;">2. M Ward - Post-War</span><br /><span><img src="http://ec2.images-amazon.com/images/P/B000H1R104.01._SS500_SCLZZZZZZZ_V41784583_.jpg" /></span><br /></div>Our number two record is the most old-fashionedy on the list. Post-War revels in it's retrospectivity (a new word?), bringing to mind massive radios, big radio microphones, band's playing all at once to record, for a change, good ol' fashioned rock'n'roll. When Matt rocks it up, the sound is a joyous boogie, a record chockful of singalongs and 5th-6th chord progressions. But it's not just that, it's more diverse, with songs like Chinese Translation playing foil to Magic Trick's life-affirming groove. Maybe life-affirming would sum up the whole album pretty well actually - you certainly end up in a better mood at the end of it, having had great fun along the way. I don't suppose you can ask for much more out of an album than this.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=BF082F1022087461">M Ward - Magic Trick</a><br /><a href="http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&ct=res&cd=1&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mwardmusic.com%2F&ei=4t9-RbnkEKfoQIKHsbMO&usg=__9rg2xshTbHcvN9N6xVXIeoJPavQ=&sig2=R3JOdREVJOCVaMv50NYlUw">M Ward</a>/<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Post-War-M-Ward/dp/B000H1R104/sr=8-1/qid=1165942448/ref=pd_ka_1/203-6542394-9663946?ie=UTF8&s=music">buy</a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic;">1. Belle & Sebastian - The Life Pursuit</span><br /><span><img src="http://ec2.images-amazon.com/images/P/B000BM2OUQ.02._SS500_SCLZZZZZZZ_V1133782037_.jpg" /></span><br /></div>I've since come to realise that I did know one Belle & Sebastian track before I heard The Blues Are Still Blue on the radio, maybe even at the end of last year. The Boy With The Arab Strap is actually that nagging, familiar melody that's been at the back of my mind all year. But anyway, I was under the impression for the most part that despite B&S having been within my wider conciousness for maybe ten years, I didn't really know their material. In fact, I dismissed them as fey, twee, any weak adjective you care to mention.<br />But in the rare event of a single that makes you go and buy an album, The Blues Are Still Blue got stuck in my head. Then after that, <a href="http://diyrockstar.blogspot.com/">Jeff</a> goes and picks Sukie In The Graveyard as his perfect three-minute pop song on the <a href="http://www.timyoung.net/contrast">Contrast Podcas</a>t and the wheels are set in motion. The album is purchased and the songs are absorbed, and blow me if I didn't know right then that it would have to take something incredibly special to knock this off it's best-of-the-year podium. And nothing was that special. I don't think 2006 was the greatest year for new music, to be honest, and although there was some good bands around there wasn't anything that came out of nowhere and rocked everybody's socks. So this little Scottish band, eleven years after their debut, and perceived to have their best days behind, proceed to put out an album that's potentially the best of their career. To me, it's more focused than If You're Feeling Sinister, less patchy than Tigermilk (obviously, I've gone on to explore the catalogue) - it's simply one of the best pop albums to have been released in a good few years. Nearly perfect in every way, it's witty, classy, extremely tight and immensely good fun. It's heart and head music, which ticks all my boxes.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=4AC68FBE6D997D05">Belle & Sebastian - Sukie In The Graveyard</a><br /><a href="http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&ct=res&cd=1&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.belleandsebastian.co.uk%2F&ei=7N9-Rd-8MJaiQeSV6LIO&usg=__osjC-EojFPlQ8ru6tP30qzeD2Y0=&sig2=wt6mGmUytj273-fD5JK6bQ">Belle & Sebastian</a>/<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Life-Pursuit-Belle-Sebastian/dp/B000BM2OUQ/sr=8-1/qid=1165942435/ref=pd_ka_1/203-6542394-9663946?ie=UTF8&s=music">buy</a>Simonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15653368086896824270noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19286550.post-26319829646559935832006-12-08T14:25:00.000+00:002006-12-09T16:23:01.677+00:00Remix Me. I'm Going In...#8: Radiohead<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://static.flickr.com/75/166611857_3107f70f68.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://static.flickr.com/75/166611857_3107f70f68.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a>(photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/o_brien/">o.brien</a>)<br /><br /></div>Some of these posts I could probably write with my eyes closed. For example, I knew nothing whatsoever about Pole, and very little about Battles, but Radiohead were - like so many others - my first love. Sure, I'd heard music before, I'd even enjoyed it, but it wasn't til I found myself wrapped up in an evangelical fervour at the release of OK Computer that I knew I'd found my one and only.<br /><br />We've been through some tough times, Radiohead and I. We don't seem to see eye to eye, and our paths and destinations sometimes cross at the wrong times. There was that initial flurry, that outburst of emotions in 1997 that led to such rapturous outpourings back then. I was 15 in those days, you see, and impressionable, but I think rightly so: there's not really been an album before or since that has fitted so perfectly with my frame of mind. I was a teenager, for crying out loud, with all the angst and naiveté that brings with it, but to find something so... intellectual, so stimulating that also cut me to my very heart, that was satisfying.<br /><br />Course, by the time Kid A came round, I was 18, and listening to Wildhearts, to NoFX, to Rancid, to Therapy? I bought it on the day of release anyway, I managed to convince a little MVC man to root around in a box and find it. I was perplexed by it. My knowledge of electronica is still fairly limited, if ever growing, but then it was by and large non-existent. A gaping void. But even so, it didn't click like it should have, for a Radiohead record. It should have held my heart delicately in suspension and tickled my brain, but instead it focused on appealing to the psyche and my heart was completely untouched. There's some fine moments, for sure, and every so often I come back to it, but it's never an album which was I was encouraged to spend days and weeks. Amnesiac barely registered because of this, leaving aside Radiohead's typically lengthy gestation for a quick turnaround.<br /><br />Then Radiohead headed back to rock at about the time I was looking for more out of my music - Hail To The Thief was a retrogressive step for Radiohead, and while (as I've probably mentioned before) there were dizzying highs, there were also some pretty low lows. This was the year, for example, in which Four Tet's mindblowingly awesome <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Rounds-Four-Tet/dp/B00008ACIF/sr=1-2/qid=1165589189/ref=sr_1_2/203-6542394-9663946?ie=UTF8&s=music">Rounds </a>was released, and Mogwai's monumental <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Happy-Songs-People-Mogwai/dp/B00009AHN2/sr=8-3/qid=1165589088/ref=pd_ka_3/203-6542394-9663946?ie=UTF8&s=music">Happy Songs For Happy People</a>. Music for people who weren't looking for the return of Radiohead's accessible side with such enthusiasm, but had been entranced by the post-rock of Godspeed, or Sigur Ros, or Fridge. So Radiohead and I missed colliding again, they were heading backwards while I was heading forwards, if you like.<br /><br />Maybe soon will be the day when Radiohead again become the most potent force in my musical life, where one or two great singles aren't the only reason to embrace an album. There was an advert for OK Computer at the time: Remember when albums where <span style="font-style: italic;">albums</span>? Remember Radiohead? Remember?<br /><br />For now though, I have nostalgia, and I have some great music from different stages of the band's trajectory. I have Radiohead still, they're just in a different part of me.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >The Music</span><br /><a href="http://download.yousendit.com/BA60270570516422">Radiohead - You Never Wash Up After Yourself</a><br /><a href="http://download.yousendit.com/20F8607269C9E58E">Radiohead - Lucky</a><br /><a href="http://download.yousendit.com/9BB3B9846A098486">Radiohead - Skttrbrn (Four Tet remix)</a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >The 'fo</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Artist: Radiohead<br />Website: <a href="http://beta.blogger.com/www.radiohead.com/">radiohead.com</a><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span>Recommended: <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/O-K-Computer-Radiohead/dp/B000002UJQ/sr=8-1/qid=1165589556/ref=pd_ka_1/203-6542394-9663946?ie=UTF8&s=music">OK Computer</a><br />Label: <a href="http://www.parlophone.co.uk/">Parlophone</a><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span>Buy: <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_ss_w_h_/203-1795016-5722363?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=radiohead&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;Go.x=0&Go.y=0&Go=Go">Amazon</a><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span>More: <a href="http://hype.non-standard.net/search/ebb/1/">Hype Machine</a>; <a href="http://elbo.ws/search/ebb/page/1/">elbo.ws</a><br />If you like this you might like: <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Agaetis-Byrjun-Sigur-Ros/dp/B00004W3MS/sr=8-2/qid=1165589597/ref=pd_ka_2/203-6542394-9663946?ie=UTF8&s=music">Sigur Ros - Aegetis Byrjun</a><br />Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/radiohead" rel="tag">Radiohead</a>; <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/alternative" rel="tag">alternative</a>; <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/four+tet" rel="tag">Four Tet; </a><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/remix" rel="tag">remix</a>; <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/electronica" rel="tag">electronica</a></span>Simonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15653368086896824270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19286550.post-9241422350794028372006-12-07T13:51:00.000+00:002006-12-07T14:12:50.988+00:00The Sound Of Falling<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://static.flickr.com/22/31143823_182dbb1dcd.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://static.flickr.com/22/31143823_182dbb1dcd.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a>(photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/wanderingz/">wanderingz</a>)<br /></div><br />Sometimes MySpace can be a real hassle. It's all fun and all, but I have a backlog of friend requests as long as my arm which I feel it's only fair to give a decent crack of the whip to. So I set aside some lunch hour to have a listen, starting from the oldest, and what do I find but a good'un straight off.<br /><br />Ebb is a Swedish artist, which is very in these days, so good start, well done. What also helps is that he purveys a kind of easy-access glitch-pop, nothing too demanding, but very well-presented. Ebb's is a wintry sound, one that has space and room to swing a cat, and is filled with little sweeps ad flourishes, chorus-y vocals in his pleasing Swedish brogue, and looping little hops and glitches. These are becoming semi-ubiquitous these days- semi because obviously not every band incorporates electronic elements at all, but ubiquitous because it seems like every band/artist that has some of the same elements: muffled synth loop? Check. Off-kilter, unexpected beat pattern? Check. Occasional odd vocal effect? Check. Drum effects that make it sound like a loose connection with your headphones? Check.<br /><br />It's not really a problem as such, but there's no way this sort of thing can be considered avant-garde any more. Fortunately, even when we're relegating this one revolutionary sound-styling to everyday pop, there's artists like Ebb, and songs like I'm All Made Of Music and Life Is On TV that elevate themselves above such criticism and carve out a necessary place for themselves. So good for him, Ebb comes recommended by Betty.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">The Music</span></span><br /><a href="http://www.ebbmusic.com/sound_vision4.html">Ebb - Silent Lucy</a> (requires Quicktime)<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >The 'fo</span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br />Artist: Ebb<br />Website: <a href="http://www.ebbmusic.com/">ebbmusic.com</a>, <a href="http://www.myspace.com/ebbloona">MySpace</a><br />Recommended: <a href="http://beta.blogger.com/www.playloudershop.com/release/%7Eloona-file">Loona</a><br />Label: <a href="http://beta.blogger.com/www.gaymonkeyrecords.com/">Gay Monkey</a><br />Buy: <a href="http://www.ebbmusic.com/buy_my_music.html">From Ebb</a><br />More: <a href="http://hype.non-standard.net/search/ebb/1/">Hype Machine</a>; <a href="http://elbo.ws/search/ebb/page/1/">elbo.ws</a><br />Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/ebb" rel="tag">Ebb</a>; <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/sweden" rel="tag">Sweden</a>; <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/electronica" rel="tag">electronica</a></span>Simonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15653368086896824270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19286550.post-1873334564043539762006-12-06T14:42:00.000+00:002006-12-06T23:43:11.398+00:00Remix Me. I'm Going In...#7: Boom Bip<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://static.flickr.com/84/206442839_de2959fc9e.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 278px; height: 370px;" src="http://static.flickr.com/84/206442839_de2959fc9e.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a>(photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/delarge/">delarge</a>)<br /></div><br />Boom Bip is Echo Park resident (apparently - and disappointingly - nothing to do with Echo Beach, far away in time) Bryan Hollon. He submits a nice, spacious, airy reworking of No More Mosquitos for Four Tet's Remixed disc, and very pleasant it is too. Mr Hollon is more of a hip hop head in general, although this year's Blue Eyed In The Red Room seems to take a more varied, more eclectic approach - witness the MySpace tracks from the album to get a sense of that. Seems like Hollon actually comes from an altogether different base: before he got his first credit card c.1992 his passion was hardcore punk. We've all been there, I love me a bit of Good Riddance every now and then.<br /><br />But the lure of the turntable was too strong and hence was born Boom Bip as we know him now. It's pretty varied, interesting stuff, usually with a strong emphasis on beat. This ends up coming off really, really well on some tracks, and kind of weakly club-anthem-ish on others, but where it does work it's pretty ace. I recommend Girl Toy, downloadable from MySpace and below. Check out also Hollon's other remix work, including Mogwai, Hot Hot Heat and M83.<br /><br />Note on remixed track: No More Mosquitoes was the first Four Tet song I heard (available from the ever-(as was)-indispensable <a href="http://epitonic.com/">Epitonic</a>, the related article of which hasn't been updated in over five years. Anyway, it's a wonderful song - one of the few Hebden creations to feature discernable vocals, it's got this fascinating intro. A mosquito buzzes around until the thwack which ends its existence, which in turn becomes the massive opening beat of the track and coincides with the big ol' bassline. Highly recommended.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">The Music</span></span><br /><a href="http://download.yousendit.com/F3CA5B14518F7BA6">Four Tet - No More Mosquitoes</a><br /><a href="http://mp3download.myspace.com/music.ashx?bandid=5664306&songid=4535638&name=5664306_0e2c5d7a">Boom Bip - Girl Talk</a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">The 'fo</span><br />Artist: Boom Bip<br />Website: <a href="http://www.boom-bip.com/">boom-bip.com</a>, <a href="http://www.myspace.com/boombip">MySpace</a><br />Recommended: <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Blue-Eyed-Red-Room-Boom/dp/B0007D4MP4/sr=8-1/qid=1165418024/ref=pd_ka_1/203-6542394-9663946?ie=UTF8&s=music">Blue Eyed In The Red Room</a><br />Label: <a href="http://www.lexrecords.com/">Lex</a><br />Buy: <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_ss_w_h_/202-0280441-2019025?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=boom+bip&Go.x=0&Go.y=0&Go=Go">Amazon</a><br />More: <a href="http://hype.non-standard.net/search/boom%20bip/1/">Hype Machine</a>; <a href="http://elbo.ws/artist/Boom+Bip/">elbo.ws</a><br />If you like this you might like: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Hero-Fool-Subtle/dp/B000HIP3ZC">Subtle - For Hero: For Fool</a><br />Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/remix" rel="tag">remix</a>; <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/four+tet" rel="tag">Four Tet</a>; <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/electronica" rel="tag">electronica</a>; <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/boom+bip" rel="tag">Boom Bip</a>; <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/hip+hop" rel="tag">hip hop</a>; <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/mosquito" rel="tag">mosquito</a>Simonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15653368086896824270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19286550.post-79029666267540496542006-12-04T15:26:00.000+00:002006-12-05T07:55:14.337+00:00Rough Guide To Brazilian Electronica: Rica Amabis<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://static.flickr.com/11/11723086_b770540b1a.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 224px; height: 297px;" src="http://static.flickr.com/11/11723086_b770540b1a.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a>(photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/adc/">alexdecarvalho</a>)<br /></div><br />Not too many of the artists on this CD borrow heavily from the <a href="http://youcancallmebetty.blogspot.com/2006/06/festivale-de-football-day-4-brazil.html">Tropicalia </a>movement that marked Brazilian music out as not only cool, but aware, active and exciting. That was of course almost 40 years ago, but given that such Tropicalismo titans as Os Mutantes, Caetano Veloso and Tom Zé are still performing and are well respected, something can be said of the short-lived genre's lasting impact.<br /><br />Rica Amabis, or at least his track on the Rough Guide CD (Mulata Assanhada), owes a lot to the movement without being unpleasantly derivative. There's the same samba/funk-based, highly eclectic backing with Amabis' slightly out-there vocal style cackling over the top, there's the sultry girl singer, the butt-shaking grooves so redolent of party time in Rio. Or how one would imagine it to be.<br /><br />The song is taken from the 2000 album Sambadelic, apparently seen as something of a touchstone in modern Brazilian music. I have to confess to not having heard the album in it's entirety, but <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sambadelic-Rica-Amabis/dp/B00004UB2R/sr=8-1/qid=1165246348/ref=sr_1_1/203-6542394-9663946?ie=UTF8&s=music">Amazon</a>'s handy pre-listen device can give you some sort of idea. It sounds a lot of fun, a real mixed bag of ideas, by no means operating entirely in an electronica field. Most of this album seems far too diverse to be considered in that category, but there are certainly moments which justify selecting Amabis to feature on the Rough Guide: Vozes De Seca is rough and beaty,<br /><br />Elsewhere, Marcio Leonardo e Telmo features Brazilian soul legend Tim Maia, and A Falsa Baia is a classic MPB number from the late 60's. All in all, sounds worth investigating.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">The Music</span></span><br /><a href="http://download.yousendit.com/DE06D734164B52CC">Rica Amabis - Mulata Assanhada</a><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">The 'fo</span><br />Artist: Rica Amabis<br />Website: <a href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&ct=res&cd=1&url=http%3A%2F%2Fricaamabis.calabashmusic.com%2F&ei=vUN0RcicFp76Qd-F2NsJ&usg=__XJ2TvMTwrhjWB8BBOHLToFioGvQ=&sig2=dhB-mKGosqD8HkE3OWTvDg">Calabash</a><br />Recommended: <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sambadelic-Rica-Amabis/dp/B00004UB2R/sr=8-1/qid=1165246348/ref=sr_1_1/203-6542394-9663946?ie=UTF8&s=music">Sambadelic</a><br />Label: <a href="http://www.sternsmusic.com/">Sterns</a><br />Buy: <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=wbnavss/203-6542394-9663946?url=index%3Daps&field-keywords=rica+amabis&Go.x=0&amp;amp;Go.y=0">Amazon</a>; <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Rough-Brazilian-Electronica-Various-Artists/dp/B0000C665X/sr=11-1/qid=1165247767/ref=sr_11_1/203-6542394-9663946">Rough Guide</a><br />More: <a href="http://hype.non-standard.net/search/rica%20amabis/1/">Hype Machine</a>; <a href="http://elbo.ws/search/rica%20amabis/page/1/">elbo.ws</a><br />If you like this you might like: <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Zumbi-Andrea-Marquee/dp/B00004UB2S/sr=1-1/qid=1165247397/ref=sr_1_1/203-6542394-9663946?ie=UTF8&s=music">Andrea Marquee - Zumbi<br />Tags: </a><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/electronica" rel="tag">electronica</a>; <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/brazil" rel="tag">Brazil</a>; <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/rica+amabis" rel="tag">Rica Amabis</a>; <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/tropicalia" rel="tag">Tropicalia</a></span>Simonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15653368086896824270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19286550.post-30449694556963081322006-12-01T17:20:00.000+00:002006-12-01T19:41:45.536+00:00Remix Me. I'm Going In...#7: Pole<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://myspace-889.vo.llnwd.net/01226/98/88/1226508889_l.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://myspace-889.vo.llnwd.net/01226/98/88/1226508889_l.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Pole is brand new on me, a German DJ and producer who's carved out quite a niche for himself specialising in the brutally minimal. This is no bad thing obviously; for example, who doesn't love <a href="http://youcancallmebetty.blogspot.com/2006/06/festivale-de-football-day-18-mexico.html">a little Murcof</a> every once in a while. From my first impressions, Pole covers similar sort of territory- there's that familiar reverb distance - but where Fernando Corona's beats are sparse and exude space and agaraphobia, Stefan Betke's sound is claustrophobic and tight, nervy and uncomfortable. It seems to have evolved from a slightly different base as well: Pole incorporates the zoned-out basslines of dub to a far higher extent, giving an undeniable groove to what could be cold, detached electronics.<br /><br />Pole's bio describes him as having a passion for distilling sounds: his DJ style used to be to use two turntables, two CD-players and his laptop to have four or five different pieces fighting for attention, which could be anything from avant-jazz to dub to contemporary club tracks to Steve Reich, which would then be mixed and resampled midset. I'd love to have heard that, I can't imagine a much more exciting way to listen to a DJ, but it appears that these days his yen is more to experimental hip hop and electronica. And who can blame him?<br /><br />I wanted to quote his bio again, actually, I think this is fantastic. Pole works in a dub field, and what is this? "Computer-arranged sound design which, in the tweak of the tiniest loop, celebrates reduction right down to the essentials." That's cool. Celebrating reduction is something a lot more artists could do with. There's certainly dub motifs there, the very occasional skank, the stretches of time covered by beautiful repetition (obviously a nod not only to dub but to Steve Reich and his ilk), but just as much hip hop (featuring Fat John from time to time), experimentalism and pure electronica. It's a quite lovely blend.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">The Music</span></span><br /><a href="http://download.yousendit.com/67B490333A47AC7B">Pole - Heim (Four Tet Remix)</a><br /><a href="http://download.yousendit.com/A0725D2B0400BCE1">Pole - Fahren</a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">The 'fo</span><br />Artist: Pole<br />Website: <a href="http://www.scape-music.de/">scape-music.de</a>, <a href="http://www.myspace.com/poleartist">MySpace</a><br />Recommended: <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cd1-Lp1-Pole/dp/B00000B943/sr=1-6/qid=1164995582/ref=sr_1_6/202-4487784-8959037?ie=UTF8&s=music">CD1/LP1</a><br />Label: <a href="http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&ct=res&cd=1&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.scape-music.de%2F&ei=JWxwRcPbA5neRc_vxY4G&usg=__rpbitRArtBTRuCFbTyUzovj3gDA=&sig2=5fFwKCdF8_hEMoZ_Dm6mxw">Scape</a><br />Buy:<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/202-4487784-8959037?%5Fencoding=UTF8&search-type=ss&index=music&field-artist=Pole">Amazon</a><br />More: <a href="http://hype.non-standard.net/search/pole/1/">Hype Machine</a>; <a href="http://elbo.ws/search/pole/page/1/">elbo.ws</a><br />If you like this you might like: <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Remembranza-Murcof/dp/B000B3MISS/sr=8-1/qid=1164995750/ref=pd_ka_1/202-4487784-8959037?ie=UTF8&s=music">Murcof - Remembranza</a><br />Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/remix" rel="tag">remix</a>; <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/four+tet" rel="tag">Four Tet</a>; <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/pole" rel="tag">Pole</a>; <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/scape" rel="tag">Scape</a>; <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/dub" rel="tag">dub</a>; <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/electronica" rel="tag">electronica</a></span>Simonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15653368086896824270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19286550.post-89620919250263003262006-11-30T13:33:00.000+00:002006-12-01T00:29:37.905+00:00Remix Me. I'm Going In...#6: Battles<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://static.flickr.com/14/14453724_d2786c249e.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://static.flickr.com/14/14453724_d2786c249e.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a>(photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/gperez/">gregoryperez</a>)<br /></div><br />A Joy, the opening track from Four Tet's last album (Everything Ecstatic) seems to be a popular choice for remixers, as evidenced by no less than four different versions on one disc. And so to today's choice, by popular beat combo, Battles. Battles are from New York and they have an excellent drummer. This is literally the level of my knowledge of the band. So, I dig.<br /><br />It's kind of unusual to see a drummer credited first on a lineup, but it turns out that this is with good reason. John Stanier was a member of <a href="http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&ct=res&cd=1&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhelmetmusic.com%2F&ei=PeVuRfLmNp6GQP7isOsF&usg=__qW-jJBWnZdfS5gaw9gH9muW607g=&sig2=sAHPSbNClJgV9Kix5xIakg">Helmet</a> until their acrimonious split in 1998. He's currently a member of Battles alongside being in <a href="http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&ct=res&amp;amp;cd=2&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tmoc.com.au%2F&ei=SuVuRe7iMojoQJGW6ZcG&usg=__u9W0HFWFxItfInKPsUQt8gmCt64=&sig2=-4AbZHLymYT-Yyl-7EXpRg">The Mark Of Cain</a> and <a href="http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&ct=res&amp;amp;cd=1&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ipecac.com%2Fbio.php%3Fid%3D9&ei=WeVuRZa9DaiGQL3a9O0F&usg=__qv8LYQQfBRCkOBFDmOYEJKw613g=&sig2=bS0ZIcM33bJNS96YB5mpCA">Tomahawk</a>. Good going on the avant garde front, nice. Helmet, of course, rocked, like, hard. Wikipedia's always fun for these sorts of things, and states that despite having a drum corps background, he "never actually marched a summer season." Some things are so totally American to make absolutely no sense outside of the continent. I have heard great things about Battles live based solely on the drum skillz of John Stanier.<br /><br />The rest of Battles is Ian Williams, formerly of math legends Don Caballero, Dave Konopka formerly of <a href="http://www.artistdirect.com/nad/music/artist/card/0,,1212314,00.html?src=search">Lynx</a> (now, I've no idea if this Lynx is the same as Fame Academy's David Grant; I somehow doubt it), and Tyondai Braxton, offspring of avant-jazz hippy Anthony Braxton. A fine pedigree then, and no doubt about it, some interesting music. Battles is occasionally glitchy (all good) but more often focuses on the sort of hyper-edited sampling that Four Tet often employs, creating a sound not far akin to what you might if you knew nothing of, say, a Stockhausen/Reich collaboration before hearing it.<br /><br />Well, sometimes anyway. Battles seem a far more diverse proposition than a single comparison can suggest, running the gamut from hyper-kinetic electronica to mathy guitar rock. You can see their range just from the four tracks on <a href="http://www.myspace.com/battlestheband">MySpace</a>, which I highly recommend you check out. I particularly like Dance - while the other tracks seem to have been given names from the Autechre school of song titles, Dance suggests dancing. yet the irony is that if you were to dance to Dance, you'd do yourself a serious injury, such is the spasmodic and continually shifting percussion and samples.<br /><br />Battles are a band worth looking further into, and you can rest assured that at some point, I surely will. A good starting point would seem to be their Warp debut, <i>EP C/B EP,</i> which is a collation of their earlier, more obscure releases from the last couple of years. I've also posted a little Floridian hardcore, in the form of Page Hamilton's angry yelp, backed of course by M. Stanier's awesome drum battery. Rocking.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">The Music</span></span><br /><a href="http://download.yousendit.com/1B4EFCB94D22E943">Four Tet - A Joy (Battles remix)</a><br /><a href="http://download.yousendit.com/11871CB73AB2E508">Battles - Dance</a><br /><a href="http://download.yousendit.com/24EE54843743FDE2">Helmet - In The Meantime</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.samurai.fm/teqnicolorsound/">Teqnicolor presents: Battles in session</a><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">The 'fo</span><br />Artist: Battles<br />Website: <a href="http://www.bttls.com/">bttls.com</a>; <a href="http://www.myspace.com/battlestheband">MySpace</a><br />Recommended: <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ep-C-B-Battles/dp/B000CS4JQG/sr=8-1/qid=1164895614/ref=pd_ka_1/203-6542394-9663946?ie=UTF8&s=music">EP C/B EP</a><br />Label: <a href="http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&ct=res&cd=1&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.warprecords.com%2F&ei=ZeRuRY_2LI7oQNy2_ZQG&usg=__0Wk3qrEYpiLUf-1qyj63eM-PjWg=&sig2=PDk_W6t1lHVlDv2xWXeZDw">Warp</a><br />Buy: <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_ss_w_h_/203-8846839-7232749?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=battles&Go.x=0&Go.y=0&Go=Go">Amazon</a><br />More: <a href="http://hype.non-standard.net/search/battles/1/">Hype Machine</a>; <a href="http://elbo.ws/artist/Battles/">elbo.ws</a><br />If you like this you might like: <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tomahawk/dp/B00005QX0C/sr=8-1/qid=1164895644/ref=pd_ka_1/203-6542394-9663946?ie=UTF8&s=music">Tomahawk - s/t</a><br />Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/remix" rel="tag">remix</a>; <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/four+tet" rel="tag">Four Tet</a>; <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/battles" rel="tag">Battles</a>; <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/tomahawk" rel="tag">Tomahawk</a>; <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/helmet" rel="tag">Helmet</a>; <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/john+stanier" rel="tag">John Stanier</a></span>Simonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15653368086896824270noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19286550.post-3961709525738772802006-11-29T13:07:00.000+00:002006-11-29T23:00:06.044+00:00Rough Guide To Brazilian Electronica: Luiz Macedo<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://static.flickr.com/22/34308334_1cfaae9d23.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://static.flickr.com/22/34308334_1cfaae9d23.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />(photo be <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/henrie/">henrie</a>)<br /></div><br />The next track in this is another Suba monster, and while I could easily harp on about Senor Subotic, I've already eulogised the late <a href="http://youcancallmebetty.blogspot.com/2006/08/rough-guide-to-brazilian-electronica.html">Master Of Colours</a> before, so I'll skip the excellent Samba Do Gringo Paulista for now. That brings us to...<br /><br />Luiz Macedo. Again, little info around about this feller, but it would seem that rather than go down the smooth chillout route, or the intellectual drum'n'bass, or whatever, he's just gone for happy Brazilian electro-pop. Bossa Nova, Né, today's track is all about the the Casio demo button bassline, the sharp organ, and the synthesised handclap percussion - little variation, little innovation, but when it's this much fun, really, who cares?<br /><br />To bulk things out, it's worth mentioning Macedo's stint with Karnak, a Brazilian act named after the temple complex on the Nile. Karnak have also members now in Funk Como Le Gusta (<a href="http://youcancallmebetty.blogspot.com/2006/09/rough-guide-to-brazilian-electronica_27.html">remember them?</a>), Pato Fu and Bojo, and featured one Luiz Macedo on electric guitar between 1992 and 1996. This is from the ever-reliable <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karnak_%28band%29">Wikipedia</a>, who also credit one member as Sândalo's dog (1992/1999). This information doesn't really relate to today's track at all, but you can have too much useless Brazilian music trivia, can you? Tell you what, I'll give you a bonus track to keep you interested.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">The Music</span></span><br /><a href="http://download.yousendit.com/7DC1409F222F45B6">Luiz Macedo - Bossa Nova, Né</a><br />BONUS:<br /><a href="http://download.yousendit.com/4306C38915FD752B">Karnak - Martim Parangolá</a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >The 'fo<br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;">Artist: Luiz Macedo<br />Website: <a href="http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=luiz+macedo&start=0&amp;amp;amp;amp;ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official">nope</a><br />Recommended: <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bossa-Electromagnetica-Luiz-Macedo/dp/B00008GRNW/sr=11-1/qid=1164806797/ref=sr_11_1/203-6542394-9663946">Bossa Electramagnetica</a><br />Label: Juke<br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Buy: <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bossa-Electromagnetica-Luiz-Macedo/dp/B00008GRNW/sr=11-1/qid=1164806797/ref=sr_11_1/203-6542394-9663946">Amazon</a></span><span style="text-decoration: underline;font-size:85%;" ><br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;">More: Hype Machine; <a href="http://elbo.ws/artist/Luiz+/Macedo">elbo.ws</a><br />If you like this you might like: <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Very-Best-Sergio-Mendes-Brasil/dp/B000024TH2/sr=1-1/qid=1164806928/ref=sr_1_1/203-6542394-9663946?ie=UTF8&s=music">Sergio Mendes</a><br />Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/rough+guide" rel="tag">Rough Guide</a>; <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/brazil" rel="tag">Brazil</a>; <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/electronica" rel="tag">electronica</a>; <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/luiz=macedo" rel="tag">Luiz Macedo</a><br /><br />PS - Betty fave Sergius Gregory has a new song up on <a href="http://www.myspace.com/sergiusgregory">MySpace</a>, a typically gorgeous, sparse little number called No-One Gets Hurt. I recommend you try it on for size.<br /></span></span>Simonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15653368086896824270noreply@blogger.com0