From Utah With Love/Anger/Frustration/Slo-core

NUMBER ONE

What is rock'n'roll? Before I engage on a dissertation analysing the correlation between guitar timbre and back beat in the music of Chuck Berry, I'll cut myself short and say that whatever you were thinking of as your definition of rock'n'roll, it wasn't Low.

Low have been called slo-core in the past. As a pigeonhole, it's up there with IDM and New Romanticism in terms of daft tags. And yet, there's a certain ring of accuracy about it - Low have never been one's to knock out a three-chord Status Quo number, or stimulate any heads to banging. Despite this, Low are an awesome band: take 2001's 'Things We Lost In The Fire', for example. Steve Albini's stark production only served to highlight the poignant and beautiful songs, and the vocal harmonies were almost literally to die for.

So when rumours surfaced that the new Low album was to be a change in direction, a more 'rock' record, I'll admit I raised one or two "hmm"'s, and even an eyebrow (or two, I can't do just the one on it's own). So it was with a big sigh of contentment that I listened to the album through and discovered not an embarassing collection of adolescent rock songs, nor one of those maudlin alt.rock-survivor records aiming to prove a band has 'still got it'. Quite the opposite. 'The Great Destroyer' is a grouping of songs that will stand up amonst Low's finest. Yes, it's a tough listen for a Low fan at first, it certainly was for me: in many ways I'd give anything to listen to a new album of those haunting, brutally subtle, achingly sad songs. And yet, that's still present here, albeit in a slightly altered form.

You know you're onto something a little different as soon as the buzz kicks off the opening track, Monkey. The themes are slightly more definable here than "I don't need a laser beam" or "Two-step around the room," the music has a very much sharper edge but yet the melancholy of old is not far beneath the surface.

What possessed Low to adopt this slightly more standard rock template, this dynamic, noisy approach, is difficult to tell. Is it a success? Well, a part of me wants to say that possibly the most affecting track on the album is 'Death Of A Salesman', which chronicles the death of a dream, the slow surrender to society, and is the most like the Low of old. However, the album is an unqualified success, which is nice to be able to say these days. From the savage hum and violent chords of 'Monkey' and 'Everybody's Song' to the scarred optimism of 'California', or the emotional tone poem of 'When I Go Deaf', which starts off as a veiled lament tinged with resignation before collapsing into a cacophony of realised frustration, each track is very different from each other, and very different to anything Low have attempted before. It's far and away the best record I've heard this year, which is saying something - it oozes a quality that only a band of Low's pedigree can emanate. It takes a lot to raise a record above those who I have such affection for on this list and yet from the moment I listened to 'The Great Destroyer', I knew that if there was going to be another album better than this in 2005, it was going to have to be utterly blinding. And nothing surpassed it, which doesn't really surprise. Good job Low.

For your listening perusal: 'When I Go Deaf'
http://s57.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=0CTDV3IFJYHON3LGGGEN2QE8R1

When I Was Growing Up, I Always Wanted To Be Monkey

NUMBER 3

I almost cry - I just penned a diatribe on today's subject then accidentally deleted it. Mmm, computers. I'd love to be able to incorporate this little anecdote somehow into today's opine, but it's asking quite a lot.

Themes included:
Gorillaz
Demon Days
Guests
Guests
Blur and the concept of Damon Albarn
Raising the game of what's commercial these days
Cartoons, yet less cartoony. How can this be?
Blur vs. Oasis glasses
Forward-looking yet palatable...
Critical and commercial acclaim, that sounds unlikely
Look! Ike Turner plays the joanna
Monkeys and zombies? What more would you want?
Actually uniformly high-class
Dennis Hopper, what a guy
MF Doom = MM Food - genius - guest here - symbolic - no
Hip hop, yet not approaching Fiddy
Catwalk hat principle: high ideas crammed through a populist sieve
Pleasingly retrospective, yet very now
Well done Albarn

Maybe you get the idea, the original flowed a little better than that. Anyway, our number three slot is occupied by Gorillaz' Demon Days, featuring the Dennis Hopper-narrated 'Fire Coming Out Of The Monkey's Head.' http://s49.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=0JNC76DRXESES2F480IOZ33U4H

Banned From Bluewater

NUMBER 2

Wow, number 2 already. That was speedy.
EDIT: I worked out why - I hadn't actually written number 3, as such...

10 points to the cryptic-crossword-minded of you who've figured out this from the title of the post. Most likely it's not even Bluewater I'm thinking of, maybe it's Lakeside. I've never been to either, and one hideous shopping centre blends into another these days, lets be honest.

I'm in danger of going off track here. What's been banned from the Bluewater shopping centre? Why, hooded sweatshirts, or 'hoodies' as today's youth insist on referring to them. So the subject of today's post? Hood, of course! Genius.

OK, so quite possibly you'll draw a slightly blank face, but that's your loss. Hood are, to these ears, that elusive borderline between instrumental, chin-stroking electronica, and warm, organic indie-pop. This year's album, 'Outside Closer', retains the charm and pastoral naïvete of a guitar pop band descended from the Kinks, with it's restful vocal harmonies and twin acoustic guitar breaks. And yet there's a back line of beats as skilfully arranged as Four Tet's complex rhythms, and as pleasant to listen to as anything on this list. It's a clever mix, and from the sound of it, the first time Hood have achieved such cohesion and uniformity of vision across a whole album. There's something slightly bucolic about the whole affair, despite the band hailing from urban parts of leads, and despite the proliferation of electronic sound. Whether it's the odd flute drifting in and out, or the distinctly English-accented vocals, it's difficult to say, but it's a real pleasure to listen to and an album that you'll more than likely come back to many times over. The brothers Adams have been plugging away for a while now, it's good to see such a fully realised record from them.

You can listen here to 'The Negatives...2, the first proper track on the record: http://s43.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=26NTEZGGMHZWW2GRH6QD2KMKAN

A-chu-ee-oooooh... A-chu-ee-oooooh...

NUMBER 4

Busting out the big ones now. Number 4 is the pop sensation of the year, get down and funky to... No.
Wait, don't, it's Sigur Ros.

I have a feeling, without checking, that most of my posts here have started x, y or z band are ace, or are the best band in the world or something. I guess I should hold back then, but Sigur Ros are certainly pretty darn fine. This is their fourth album, give or take the odd fancy-pants EP, and to be honest it's very Sigur Ros, for want of a better description. You know how bands that develop a particularly unique sound find it difficult to expand away from that? It's not neccessarily a bad thing, especially if there really is no-one else that sounds like them, but you do catch yourself thinking, despite yourself, that there's nothing really new that you're hearing.

So it is with Takk, the latest from the girly-voiced Icelanders. If you have Aegetis Byrjun or () then there's not neccessarily anything that'll startle you here. However, you've got another album from Sigur Ros, and this is a good thing. It's definitely a good thing, seeing as what you have here is a band like no other: one that conjures up the "fire and ice" of their homeland and distills it to a massively pretentious, yet still very much likeable post-rock; one that takes the traditions of rock'n'roll and translates them to another dimension, a completely different plane where the bowed guitar is not the gimmick but the norm, where the high-pitched singer is less Robert Plant, more an otherworldly choirboy singing in a made-up language, where a marching band wandering across stage is not considered odd.

Drama and scale are maybe as much band members as the bassist, or the drummer would be to a traditional band. If someone is needed to play the xylophone then someone will play the xylophone. If the song requires a 10-piece string section, then that 10-piece string section will be hauled on tour with the band. Live shows incorporate a progressively more impressive light and projection show, done with bombast yet subtlety, at times overwhelming you with almost strobing images, at others lulling you with gentle silhouettes.

Sigur Ros tend to be a band to polarise opinion. I've heard 'whale music' used of them before, to which I probably should've gone off on a tangent about the natural beauty of whalesong. I don't think I did. It' s probably for the best, I don't really know much about whalesong. Anyway, at risk of sounding like those elitists that everybody hated at school, it's fun when the majority of people look at you like you're some kind of freak when you tell them that you like a band from Iceland who sing in a made-up language, have ten minute songs as the norm, and are generally more pretentious than Radiohead had they signed to Warp. That said, Sigur Ros have seen a significant upsurge in popularity this year that will probably result in an even more overblown and Sigur Ros-esque album next time round.

As a wise man once said: back of the net!

Download my upload: Glosoli
http://s8.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=06OGZPREJ5RXF2QMI7CFDD3WRE

My apologies, it's in WMA as I'm at work and can't figure how to get Windows Media Player to rip to MP3.

You Know What? You Know What? You Know What?

NUMBER 5

Getting excited yet? Oh, you switched off. Come back! Come back!

Kristin Hersh is just amazing - everything she touches has a touch of genius about it, and 50 Foot Wave are no exception. Last year's self-titled mini was the most ferocious thing she's ever done and Golden Ocean gets to expand on that even further - tracks like 'Sally Is A Girl' give the album room to breath, the occasional step back from the frenetic pace of 'Clara Bow' or 'Long Painting'. Live they blow the competition out of the water, putting on a punk rock show that would frighten the life out of Sick Of It All, let alone grotty little upstarts like McFly or what have you.

I think FFW still count as a new band, which makes them the most vital and essential new band you'll hear all year, if not the best new band you'll have heard for several years. It's cheating a little bit, I suppose, given that Kristin has been making extraordinary music since the early 80's, but at the same time FFW have something about them which, while bearing certain Hersh trademarks, is completely different to what's gone before.
Special mention should go to drummer Rob Ahlers and bassist Bernard Georges who pack a punch into the rhythm section thats not seen so often these days. The sympathetic production helps a whole load as well, and what you get out the other end is a frighteningly good album, ferocious and cute in turns.

Have a listen for yourselves, this is 'Long Painting': http://s46.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=38OT8GR6A8F8Z2ISXOJWVPMUX1

Sleep, Eat Food, Have Visions, Stroke Chin

NUMBER 6

Keiran Hebden is a talented man. Can we agree on this? I've done my time trying to get samples to fit in with my MIDI, and even now it makes little to no sense to me. Making electronic music is not as straightforward as it might appear. Actually, minor correction, if your take on electronic music is the chart dance you hear on Top Of The Pops (is that still going? i'm not sure), then yeah, it's probably easier to make than you think. But to make music that sounds like you've strapped drum-pads at strategic points on your body and fallen down the stairs, there's a knack to this.

Of course, even the lay person will be able to listen to Four Tet and realise that there's a lot more effort gone into it's creation than perhaps we'd first notice - Everything Ecstatic is one of those effortless sounding records, that veers from minimalist charm to meaty, beaty, big and bouncy on the turn of a sixpence, yet never sounds forced.
It's always those records which sound least like they've had lots of work gone in that are among the most impressive to me: having studied the arcane arts of sound engineering, I can confirm that to get your head around producing an album as consistently fascinating as Everything Ecstatic is a mighty feat indeed. And that's not even to mention the fount of creativity which appears to flow directly from Hebden's pores - as I said, it's consistently fascinating, something which is rarely achieved in the world of non-easy-listening electronica. IDM they call it: Intelligent Dance Music, another of those classically offensive pigeonholes. I'll be honest, if I heard of intelligent music, I'd expect it to at least be self-aware, which this quite blatantly isn't. It's a CD. I think what 'they', whoever 'they' are, were referring to by tagging Four Tet as IDM (alongside the likes of Aphex Twin and Squarepusher) is that it's a cut above a more general reference point for dance music, in that you have to think about it to appreciate it. And thats the whole paradox within Four Tet. On the one hand, to get the most out of the record you have to sit down and listen to it, preferably with headphones, and concentrate on what you're hearing. If you do this, you're almost certain to appreciate the complex textures in it, the beautiful Tet trademark of the circular, processed, tuned percussion, the way the seemingly disjointed beats mingle into a cohesive whole. On the other hand, you can put it on, sit back and relax, basking in the calming beauty of the record as you let it wash over you.

Which is great: very few artists are able to appeal on such different levels. So Hat's Off To Hebden, he's done good here. You could argue that perhaps it's not quite as diverse or as danceable as it's predecessor, Rounds (a view I subscribe to myself), but at the same time it's a superb record that rewards the listener and warrants (and stands up to) close inspection.

I've uploaded perhaps the most immediate track from the album, 'Smile Around The Face' - you're sure to find yourself humming it's melody at the most unexpected moments.
http://s42.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=2MBBDOHWSWUN72N05CHQ5KRZ63


On an unrelated note, I'm thinking of putting together Oh Simone's Review Of The Year, it being traditional at this time of year to release a retrospective: CD format, tracks from the top ten and notable shows etc. If anyone's interested in a copy, email me your address or leave a comment or something, and I'll try and wing you a copy. It might not be til the new year, but I'll do my best.

Look! A Blues Brother!

Update on yesterday's situation: I'm currently listening to not dance music, but some experimental electronica from Autres Directions in Music (download it free and legal here), sure to make our mate Jamie run screaming to Ibiza: it involves laptops, found sound and geographical idiosyncracies, that's probably more than you need to know. Which leads me nicely on to...

NUMBER 8

Frank Black. Alright, the link wasn't as smooth as I'd hoped for, but look ma! I'm eclectic!
I feel I'm allowed to be particularly harsh on Frank Black: I've invested a lot of my time into the man, which has seen pretty mixed results. Actually, technically speaking this is his first solo album since 1996, now his band The Catholics have gone their separate ways, but it's very different in style to that one: gone are the heavily-produced rock guitars, in is a smooth, live-to-two-track country-soul feel produced by actual legends such as Steve Cropper, and Penn and Oldman. It's not spectacular, but one has to retain a certain objectivity writing a list like this: Honeycomb is still a whole whack better than most of the albums released this year. The songwriting is solid, if unadventurous, which actually suits the guy quite well - it makes a change from the crazy shifts and turns which usually characterise his work.
I do feel a certain obligation to insult the producer, Jon Tiven, here: his production's a bit so-so and the guy himself is something of a knucklehead, but this is a personal grudge, don't read anything into it...
It's pleasant, what more can I say? It's certainly worth a listen if nothing else. Hang on a mo! I think I have something in my back pocket here!
*rummages around a bit*
Yes! It's Frank Black's cover of 'Dark End Of The Street', how convenient. It was written by the above-named Dann Penn you know, although you might remember it by Percy Sledge or the Commitments: http://s62.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=1XSOJTVDY7VFO1PMGXGJ2SWZY2
How good am I to you?

Comes With Small, Philosophical Cards

NUMBER 8

Magnétophone are a new one on me, and justifiably so considering the last time they released a record I was listening to whatever Fat Mike and Fat Wreck Chords threw at me, back in the summer of double-O. Discrepancies in taste aside, my musical palate has refined itself since then and we find the world of electronic music staking it's claim and marking a territory.
When I was working the following year, a colleague of mine told me that in a couple of years time I'd be listening solely to dance music. Well, I'm glad to be able to say ha, told you so Jamie, how dare you call me big-nose; I'm not listening solely to dance music. Although there's a healthy wallop of electronic noise in this year's Top Ten, I think for the most part it'd be tricky to dance to without looking like one of the zombies - sorry, 'infected' - from 28 Days Later in it's transitional stage.
Mind you, Jamie was something along the lines of the fishing-hat wearing, Ibiza-visiting small-town kid dreaming of the bright lights of the big city superclubs, the sort that was still fairly common in 2001 before they turned into Mr Scruff-worshipping, urban electronica-heads within a couple of years. I think Jamie got as far as Bournemouth last time I checked, but I'm not really sure that counts.

But I digress. There's a significant number of acts that might be considered 'electronica' in my countdown - I'm sure there could've been more, I'm already starting to think I missed out in a big way by skipping a Caribou concert - and Magnétophone fall amongst these. Like most of the others, the band are still a band, almost - it's not just a little man with glasses fiddling with wires going into the back of his titanium PowerBook. In this case, it's Matt and John from Brum, another of a long line upholding 4AD's tradition of all things swirly and nice-looking. Magnétophone are no man's laurel-resters though, this is certainly pushing boundaries and challenging the listener: though some of the tracks are certainly very pleasant to listen to, there's a lot going on that the discerning ear can pick up on. Guests on the record include Kim and Kelley Deal, James Yorkston and King Creosote, and there's a multitude of different styles embraced within the album's 39 minutes, running the gamut from drum'n'bass to Southern Gospel and Shields-ian electric guitar.

Fortunately, it's all rather tastefully integrated into a singular body of work, and one that's proficient and beautiful enough to certainly warrant it's number 8 slot.
For your listening pleasure: 'Kel's Vintage Thought', featuring the Deals and Ed Horrox.
http://s51.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=1SP0RQ4K3WG67309C7EX77UKLF

Ladies And Gentlemen: John Peel

Alright, not exactly but you'll see the relevance if you listen to the track.

NUMERO 9

Mogwai are pretty much the best band in the world. Let's consider why.

a) They just are, I said so.

But seriously. Mogwai have that amazing capacity to take a genre literally rooted and founded in pretension and make it listenable to even the most casual indie/rock fan. And yet, there's no compromise in their sound, no pandering to commercial acceptability; the change in Mogwai's sound to the present day since their debut 'Young Team' is not a toning down, although there is certainly a concentration these days on subtlety and beauty. There's no concessions made to try and increase their fanbase or appeal to a broader demographic. Mogwai demonstrate just why they're such an awesome power on this live/BBC session album which, had it been all original music would've have far and away topped any and every end-of-year poll. Or at least, should have.

Government Commisions is a collection of BBC sessions recorded between 1996 and 2003 featuring several of the band's best loved tracks. The Mogwai live experience is something to behold, according to popular opinion: I'll let you know in January. This isn't neccessarily an accurate document of a typical live show of course, but with a greater scope for tweaking and perfecting the sound, it does show what can be done with a straightforward guitar band. Kicking off with Hunted By A Freak is a good way to begin proceedings though, and fine selections include ace versions of New Paths To Helicon I and II, Cody, non-album track Superheroes Of BMX and a simply awesome centrepiece of Like Herod. This 18 minute version is a great one to use if you want to frighten people away from Mogwai featuring, as it does, the dramatic dynamic shifts and the sheer inaccessibility to the Common Man that characterise Mogwai.

Peely was a man who knew what he was talking about, and this record's dedicated to the late, great(est) Voice Of Radio. There's a picture of him inside. He was a big Mogwai fan, and even though it's not the done thing to argue with a dead man, it's not really neccessary anyway. This is a good enough starting point. Possibly it doesn't flow as well as the albums, but thats only to be expected, and as I mentioned before there's not really much new material here, hence the low ranking.

However, Mogwai remain the best band in the world and next year's mooted 'Mr Beast' should be on another plane - Alan McGee (alright, possibly known for over-hyping) has described the record as possibly better than My Bloody Valentine's 'Loveless'. Which is pretty bold. But still, excitement is mounting. Prepare yourselves: here's Hunted By A Freak:
http://s33.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=2LYY7VZSHNZQX2OGX64Y9FMICG

3You're So Vain, I Bet You Think This List Is About You

It's that time of year, everyone: Christmas = Top Ten lists! Or a subtly-doctored Top Fifty if you're the NME. Far be it from me to randomly decide this is what you need to hear, but I've had to construct a list anyway for the website I write for, and as I haven't got anything specific to rant or rave about at the moment, I'll update you slot by slot.

So: Number Ten

M83 - Before The Dawn Heals Us

M83's last record (Dead Cities, Red Seas And Lost Ghosts) was a bona-fide classic, and my record of 2003. Their eponymous debut showed some promise, but lacked the scope and grandeur of Dead Cities... This record was awash with huge swathes of MBV-styled guitar, synths so retro you could almost hear bits breaking off them, and beats the size of massive robots, or something.
Released in January, Before The Dawn Heals Us took the blueprint maybe a little too far - in some places bombastic to the point of overblown, utilising long segments of dramatic film excerpt and dynamic shifts to the nth degree, nevertheless it manages to retain a charm and interest throughout.

However, it's live that the band shine - put the new record in context against Dead Cities..., and it starts to make a whole lot more sense, the newer songs seeming like a more reasonable extrapolation of the vision of the previous record. Maybe the music landscapes aren't as new and perplexing as they were last time round, but through sheer force and weight behind the music, M83 have managed to pull it out of the bag. So, perhaps not as impressive as their previous set, still worth a butchers hook.

Sample today: http://s60.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=284DBQSZCRR3R28WRN73OIT9JW
Moonchild: the album's opening track - see for yourself the Cecil B DeMille approach to post-rock/electronica: everything a bit bigger than everyone else