Category: Album of the Month

Posted in Album of the Month

APRIL: Sufjan Stevens ‘Carrie and Lowell’

Posted on by misterstory

carrie-and-lowell

By now you should all have your copy of this album. Apologies for the delay in getting this post up on the site.

I’ve owned this album for about a week now and while I have spent some time with it, I’ve not been able to focus on it as much as I would like to. Therefore, this won’t be the usual heartfelt, personal introduction that so often Album Of The Month posts are. What I will do is share my path to this album and my initial thoughts.

My introduction to Sufjan Stevens, like so many others was through ‘Illinois’ a concept album of tracks inspired by the state, perhaps the worst idea for a concept album ever … but one of the finest albums of its decade (in my humble opinion). The critics agreed and Sufjan became a relatively well-known name in the 20-40 something, music loving, gig-going crowd. From there I went backwards to ‘Seven Swans’ which is a far simpler affair more about song writing than the complex musical adornment seen on Illinois. I missed a lot of what came after Illinois (4 albums including an Xmas album that really is worth a listen when it comes to that time of year again!) and picked up again with Age of Adz. This was released around the time that Silvia was born and very much reminds me of the time and feelings involved. For this reason it has a very special place in my heart. However well received by critics I think a lot of people found that a step too far in terms of musical trickery (wankery) and needless complexity. An album and an EP later and Sufjan releases Carrie & Lowell.

The album is inspired by the death of his troubled Mother, Carrie and her life including her relatively short relationship with his Father (or Carrie’s partner? I cant recall and am not too concerned about these details) Lowell. That doesn’t sound like a particularly good start for many … expect for me. As has become obvious through the course of our ramblings, I love a musical tear-jerker. I have a very high threshold for heart breaking personal lyrics and always have. I have no problem that the hook on ‘Fourth of July’ is ‘We’re all gonna die’ a sentiment that Sufjan has visited on numerous previous tracks in less detail and with more poetic disguise. This album is full of emotional detail and no attempt at disguise … unless you compare it to something like ‘Benji’ by Sun Kill Moon (a favourite of mine from last year). ‘Benji’ was heartbreakingly sad and even I find it a tough listen unless I am in precisely the right place.

The difference for me is that ‘Carrie & Lowell’ is hypnotic in its presentation, its beautiful in its simplicity. Mr. Steven’s has removed many of the musical obstacles that he created in earlier works to reveal the beauty of his melodies. His voice is a fragile and at points a brittle instrument but it is perfectly suited to the lyrical content. At points he sounds like Elliot Smith which for me is no problem as he is another artist that I have held close to my heart (I am an ageing, depressed and confused teenager after all).

The big question I think others will need to answer is ‘do I find this depressing or do I find it beautiful?’.

Enjoy (if you think that is the right word).

Posted in Album of the Month

March Album Of the Month: Kendrick Lamar – To Pimp A Butterfly

Posted on by nolankane706

A bit late on our March album brothers, but I do think it’s worth the wait. 

Brother David and I were having a chat last weekend about Kendrick Lamar’s last album. I can’t remember the exact words but in short we both agreed that we were big fans, but it did take a while to get what he was about and what he was doing with his music. If album 1 was a slight climb to get to it, this is a steep hill. 
 
When I approached ‘To Pimp a Butterfly’ I was ready for something different, but what I was presented with was a curve ball. It would have been very easy for Kendrick to continue on from where he had last left us and what he has shown between albums with guest appearances; amazing lyrics and one of the most versatile flows in current hip hop. Big beats and solid lyrics, job done. To be honest I would have been more than happy with that, in-fact that’s what I wanted from this album. Sadly for me this isn’t the case… luckily for me it’s much better. 
 
I will give you a couple pieces of advice. Firstly, listen to this album end to end. I found it a bit hard but it’s worth it. When you listen to it end to end, do it again… and for me much fell into place. 
 
I think many artists have tried with mix reviews doing an album with a jazz foundation. Kendrick enlisted the likes of Robert Glasper, Terrace Martin and Thundercat who had input on the majority of the tracks. Now I’m not big on jazz but I even know who those guys are. 
This album is an adventure and lets you in the mind of King Kendrick. This is a guy with allot to say, and I think has put it across in a way that has made me think more than a few times when listening through. There are allot of political thoughts, thoughts on society, and thoughts on his day to day. Hip hop, soul, jazz, punk, metal, etc. What ever genre you’re in it’s tough to put accross an album with impact…and he has. Is there a message to this album? Yup, arguably a few. 
 
The first single “I” was great, and the album version still is. The second single “The Blacker the Berry” hits pretty heavy but within the album ads allot of context and lets the penni drop in many ways for what he’s done with the entire effort. Pitchfork compared his albums to how Spike Lee does films. It’s a pretty spot on analogy. This album is full!
Hats off,  two weeks in “TO Pimp a Butterfly’ is still giving me more and more. I think this has potential to be an all time classic. 
I digress, brothers I look forward to your thoughts and hope you enjoy this as much as me. 
Posted in Album of the Month, New Tunes

February: I Love You, Honeybear – FATHER JOHN MISTY

Posted on by David Allison

I came across FJM surprisingly recently – I say, surprisingly, because as soon as I heard his 2012 album Fear Fun, I wondered how I could have missed something that so was squarely up my street. He has all the credentials – former drummer for Fleet Foxes, crazy religious upbringing, impressive beard and sharp suit, and *those* incredible lyrics, a mixture of cutting, self-loathing and self-loving, or just plain plaintive.

I LOVE YOU, HONEYBEAR doesn’t mess with the formula, but if anything it’s an even more impressive piece of work. There isn’t a weak track on here and most of them are absolute humdingers. Tonally, it’s quite an odd mix – and I heard him on the radio (Dermot O’Leary, on R2 – which was rather bizarre!) explaining that half the album are angry songs of being pissed off at himself and others in matters of love and life, and the other is a really very touching love letter to his new wife. You’re unlikely to hear a more romantic songs than Chateau Lobby (“People are boring, but you’re something else”).

Now, I know we always get onto that discussion of authenticity and influence, so this record is a GREAT one to look at in that context. The band and the songs seem to me to be seeped in two obvious styles – one is country music (and 60s/70s country influenced singer songwriters), and the other is Beatles-esque (well, McCartney-esque, actually) melodies, all gorgeous descending chords or sudden explosions into beautiful middle 8s or choruses. God damn, but Josh Tillman (for that is his name) knows how to write a song. And no, they don’t feel ‘contemporary’, though the sequences on True Affection, for example, are a nice nod to the 21st Century. So yes, this is a record influenced by 50 years of rock music.

For me, there are two things that elevate it into something spectacular. The first is that authenticity thing. This guy means every word. We went to see him live on Friday (at the Brudenell). It was, needless to say, a fucking fantastic gig – and I can’t think of the last time I saw a performer throw every ounce of himself into a show. He feels this shit, man, and he cares about his songs. The 6 piece band were slick and brilliant and they rocked hard too. This guy isn’t an amateur. Oh, and THAT VOICE. Like honey.

The other thing that places this record squarely in 2015 is his lyrics. The darkly modern takes on the universe is so deliciously paired with this classic sound. I’m completely sold. You’d have to look hard to hear a better skewering of an individual than the vicious lyrics to The Night Josh Tillman Came to Our Apartment. In the wrong hands, this could almost feel mysogynistic, but you know he’s known this girl and he’s here to tell us just what a fucking pain in the arse she is. (“She blames her excess on my influence, but gladly hoovers all my drugs”. Love it!). And what about the piece de resistance – Bored in the USA. Eviscerating is the word. He just nails it, he nails everything that’s wrong about Western Culture in a song that could easily come across as pastiche. This an album steeped in anger, confusion, lust, love and fear. What could be more 21st Century than that? 😉

He does play with you a bit (see the fake piano playing on the Letterman appearances above – and the weird laughter track on the song, which I initially hated and now love), and I guess it’s hard to know where Josh Tillman ends and Father John Misty begins. But that’s part of the fun. If this isn’t my album of the year, or very, very close come December, I’ll be amazed. I hope you liked it just as much.

Posted in Album of the Month

JANUARY: Museum Of Love – Museum Of Love

Posted on by GuyHornsby

So, I wasn’t sure what to do for this month, because while I have been really enjoying this album, I honestly didn’t expect none of you to have it yet. Why? Well, there’s a few reasons: firstly, it’s on DFA, where I’ve devoured everything LCD have released, and Shit Robot, plus a few other things like The Rapture, and I know that’s the same for others as well. Secondly, it’s a two-man outfit that contain’s LCD’s rhythm section: Pat Mahoney, and also DFA family Dennis McNany, who’s been involved with anyone from The Rapture, Panthers and Shit Robot. So, that’s a surprise, but not the biggest surprise about this album, not by a long way.

It’s Mahoney’s vocals. Jesus, where have they been for the last ten years? Yes, LCD were all about the distilled elements of the trio: be it James Murphy’s gruff, heartfelt vocals and lyrics, or Nancy Whang’s keys and backing vocals, and then Mahoney’s inimitable, whirring percussion that seemed to be in a state of perpetual motion, even when it was slow and rumbling. But as the final notes of the compact opener, ‘Horizontaltor’, fade, in comes this sound that isn’t like anything I’d have ever expected. I’d actually – unusually – not picked out or previewed any of Museum Of Love’s previous singles, which meant that, despite them being around for well over a year already, I approached this with only a vague thought of what may be in store (synths, some great drumming, something hopefully LCD-ish) armed only with positive reviews from fellow LCD fans.

And this was the problem at the start. I just wanted another LCD album. Of course that’s idiotic, but it’s hard to separate my love for the three-piece from anything that involves any of them. That coloured my first few listens, even though there was a lot for me to enjoy. And then it just clicked for me. So, why? Well, I’ll return to Mahoney’s vocals first and foremost. On ‘Down South’ I thought I was hearing Bryan Ferry. It was a revelation. And just made me wonder why Mahoney’s vocals only ever appeared fleetingly in the background of some of my favourite records. It was pain, heartache, and this great falsetto. It was like my favourite band had included a hidden member I’d never been aware of. And while there are only nine tracks in its spartan forty-two minutes, there’s so much to like here. ‘In Infancy’ is probably the most ‘LCD-like’ track, with its heavily effected chorus vocals and familiar Mahoney percussion shuffle and synth motifs, while ‘FATHERS’ is a gorgeous lament – one of the standout tracks on the albums with a looped, rolling key that makes me think of ‘Home’ every time I hear it – and ‘The Who’s Who Of Who Cares’ leans towards Shit Robot.

Yes, I’m comparing this to other stuff I know, but given the label that’s inevitable. But, and it’s a big but, this is immaterial because Mahoney’s vocal, that gives the whole album its own feel, so in the end, after a few listens, it’s just simply Museum Of Love. There’s some really great stuff to love here – ‘Learned Helplessness In Rats (Disco Drummer)’ (what a title!) has this infectious, watery, drums, and brash chords, ‘Monotronic’ is rumbling, slow-disco vibes, and ‘The Large Glass’ is gloriously ‘out there’, but ‘All The Winners’ tops them all off. Lovely keys, and this wonderful balanced vocal, muddied in a delay. This isn’t an album that I’m infatuated with, yet, but I keep coming back for more and more because the tracks stick in my head and pop up at the oddest times. That’s always a sign of promise.

But, see for yourselves.

Posted in Album of the Month

DECEMBER: Young Fathers: Dead

Posted on by misterstory

young-fathers-theonepointeight

Can we forget about the Mercury? Probably not but I fear this may descend into a critique of the Mercury decision rather than critique of a piece of music. Anyway, let’s have a roll and see how this works out?

For me, this is an album of 11x 3 min pop tracks (no song under 2 min 50, none over 3 min 51). I am sure we will debate the word ‘pop’ as I think at least one of us will struggle with that definition? I would argue that you can’t have as many hooks in one album of 3 min tracks and it not be a ‘pop’ album.  It doesn’t matter  that the group choose to deliberately sabotage their own ‘pop’ credentials in dark, dystopian, discordant, choral chants, nose-diving bass lines and berating beats.

This isn’t easy listening. Having said that I found it effortless to get into (not bragging I just think this ticks loads of my boxes). But I understand that most people find the opposite to be true. I’ve recently gone back (album released in Jan 2014) and read loads of reviews of this album and most say that it is difficult to penetrate but massively rewarding when you do. I always bang on about ‘when’ I can listen to music and this is a distracting listen that really requires you to engage in its finer points. Background music this is not. Tunes to play while working? Nope. Driving, public transport etc, Yep. I listen to it most when training.

Much has been made about the multi-cultural make up of the band which all feels a little ‘Mercury’ to me until you start listening to the lyrics and picking through the subject matter.  ‘Ak47 take my brethren straight to heaven’ is pure hip hop cliche in an LA accent but it appears more impactful and evocative in an African (Young Fathers = Liberian, Nigerian. Scottish) accent and preceded by the imagery conjured up in the opening verses of ‘No Way’, the albums opening track. If you like this album then I would suggest spending some time with the lyrics of these tracks.

http://genius.com/artists/Young-fathers

I think this album avoids the ‘worthiness’ which it could have created with its multi-ethnic (Scottish included) influences and a lyrical topics. It feels like all of the constituent parts (ethnic background: check / socially conscious lyrics: check / eclectic influences: check) make for a cliche-ridden horror show but at each opportunity to fall into that hipster trap is swerves either lyrically or sonically and avoids the cliche. As if sat in the studio they felt it a track was getting a bit too nice so they chucked in a massive tribal rhythm and discordant drone to scare off the ‘wrong crowd’.

Who does this sound like? Anti-Pop Consortium, TV on the Radio, Shabazz Palaces, New Flesh, Saul Williams … New Fathers?As mentioned before this ticks loads of my boxes and I love all of the artists listed above (Shabazz excluded – sorry David may be I need to try that one again?).

So, similar to FKA Twigs, at the point of winning the Mercury, they’d only sold 3,000 units. Its now at least 3,004. But does this matter? Sales does not correlate to quality. Just look at the Cinema Box Office.

Brothers, your thoughts?

Posted in Album of the Month

November Album: Caribou – Our Love

Posted on by nolankane706

After last month’s SBTRKT album which brought very mixed reviews I have chosen to stick with a dance driven album and select Caribou’s ‘Our Love’.

This for me has been the most anticipated album release for 2014. I was a huge fan of his ‘Swim’ album and loved his in-between project under the alias of Daphni. The first single off the album ‘Can’t Do Without You’ was my summer anthem, soon followed by the second single ‘Our Love’.

This album has so many layers to it but as I want to hear what the rest of you think so I’m just going to hit on the main two for me:

1 – The music!! Structure wise, composition, production…. All I can say is OOOOFFFFFF! It’s all I hoped for and more. I have read a few articles saying that this album is more of a Daphni album than a Caribou album but I disagree. The Daphni releases are much more basic compositions than this album. Sure there must be massive influences from playing clubs and festivals for the last three years, but this isn’t a Daphni album. On swim I felt that he left you wanting more from a few of the songs and he has reached that point on this album. Some of the songs build and build which I love. Some bring you fully into their world. Once again, OOOOFFFFFF!

2 – The Lyrics. I listened to this album for about two weeks before even paying attention to the lyrics. Musically it is that strong. When I took the step to get into the lyrics this album then started coming across in a different way. For me this album is about love and relationships (in a very basic way). Compared to ‘Swim’ Caribou seems to have opened up much more which has aided his album structure for me. On ‘Swim’ I thought he gave us a taste and left it at that.

There is much more I could get into but I want to hear your thoughts on this.

Album of the year, possibly? I reckon it’ll be in my top three for sure.

Posted in Album of the Month

OCTOBER: Wonder Where We Land by SBTRKT

Posted on by David Allison

Funny how an artist can make something that doesn’t grab you, and then make something else that isn’t so different – and it blows you away.

I *liked* the first album – or rather, I *loved* the singles and another track or two, and I thought the rest of it was a little undercooked. I expected this album to be a re-run of that experience – I *love* the Ezra Koenig tune and the Sampha single, and on first listen, I had a feeling of deja vu. Nice, inventive, soulful, but downbeat and – yup, maybe a little undercooked.

Wow, was I wrong? Every single time I played the album, it opened up a little more. Until I couldn’t stop playing it, and the songs started ringing round my brain even when I wasn’t listening to them.

This record is such a huge step forward from his debut. He was always clearly insanely talented, but he’s honed that talent very quickly, and this genuinely feels like an artist firing on all cylinders. And like all musicians of any note, he seems to create a sound that makes you wonder where the fuck it even came from.

What I like about it is that he doesn’t feel like a guy immersed in some hipster culture or trying to create something to do with fashion. It is *soul* music in the broadest sense. I knew nothing about the guy until I read this interview:

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/oct/02/sbtrkt-wonder-where-we-land-interview

– and it really informed my listening of this album. He does sound like an outsider, someone who’s willing to try anything out and see where it leads. A song like Look Away, featuring the Chairlift singer, could easily come across as repetitive or moribund – instead it feels insistent and melancholy. Higher, the Raury track, feels a bit like a slap in the face the first few times you hear it, coming as it does quite early in the tracklist. But again, it became something quite different after a few listens. He sure as hell knows how to get the best of Jessie Ware, an artist I *really* like but who can easily drift a little into bland territory without the right material. Best of all is the album’s closer, Voices in My Head, a terrifyingly real drug psychosis song delivered with paranoid genius by ASAP Ferg.  Again, you struggle to imagine how a collaboration like that came about. And then I read this:

http://rock.genius.com/Sbtrkt-voices-in-my-head-lyrics

And this kind of sums up what I love about this. He’s a collaborator – a proper one, who can bring out the best in everyone he works with – but one who at the same time has a complete musical vision.

This, Brothers, is undoubtedly one of my albums of the year. I look forward to your thoughts.

Posted in Album of the Month

FKA Twigs – LP1

Posted on by GuyHornsby

The Hype machine is well and truly in motion with FKA twigs. She’s got the Mercury nomination and she’s already proven to be a step forward from the usual  ‘next big thing labelled artist. For starters, she’s done her dues, working as a dancer for the likes of Kyliuwith some good and bad experiences lending themselves to shaping the independent character she is. She’s learnt Ableton to produce the bulk of her own work, she’s self-released her first EP via Bandcamp, and had creative control over both her music and videos from the start. Perhaps she’s just a bit older (26) than some of her contemporaries and that’s given her a more realistic worldview, but it’s refreshing to see someone so determined to ensure that what gets out there to represent her as an artist, but in a fiercely independent way, rather than anything as contrived as Gaga.

But what about the music? I’ll add a disclaimer here: I come to this album with curiosity, but also the understanding that this music isn’t likely to light my fire. I’m no pigeonholer, and this is far from the slick R’n’B that lazy jounalists will paint it as. It’s much more than that, with loose structures, odd sounds, clicks and off-beat persusion. Volcas are double-tracked falsetto and deep whispers, drenched in reverb. And then there’s the lyrics. Overtly sexual, and not in a trite way that’s the standard for rap and hip-hop or some more mainstream R’n’B, but really unashamedly gritty and open. That’s caused a lot of buzz, and that’ before you get to the videos. You only have to have a look at her videos, especially Two Weeks, to see that she’s something different.

But is it for me? I don’t know. I’ve listened to the album four times already, and I just don’t connect with it at the moment. It’s an odd mix of sexual lyrics, but woven into a structure that seems cold and detatched. It’s very modern, and from the way the music sounds and is produced, I take my hat off to her for almost pushing against the standard template, even to a point where it will lose her fans or sales, but then that’s what great artists do. She’s some way off that but you have to applaud it.

I’d compare it to Grimes in many ways, an album that many loved but really grated when I first encountered it. I think a lot of the problems I’d had with that album were more around interviews I’d read with Grimes and fond her to be pretentious and irritating. For FKA Twigs, I actually like everything I’ve read from her and about her, but I’m struggling to penetrate it at the moment. Maybe, like Grimes, I’ll listen to it after a break and it’ll gel.

Get stuck in and let me know your thoughts.

Posted in Album of the Month

August Album: ‘Mala’ by Devendra Banhart

Posted on by misterstory

fc11de55

Happy summer Brothers,

As I have stated before I have been struggling a little for inspiration recently for our albums. Todd Terje was a great album but it was new to me and I think that these albums should be something that we love and share. I had a number of new, well reviewed albums that I was considering but am glad that you directed me to something that I do actually love.

I have a long history with Mr. Banhart, Venezuelan-born, California singer-songwriter;

(For Guys sake) – a number of years ago I seperated from my then wife, found a little one bedroom flat that I paid for on top of my mortgage and horrible legal bills. I had no money, no TV but the most intimate time of my life with music. I had not before or since listened to so much music and in doing so discovered loads of artists that I still love now. Yes, this period has been romanticised in memory and therefore any music I loved then was loved through musical-rose tinted glasses … but I count Devendra as an artist that I really got to know during this time. Back then, he looked like an annoying hippie-cliche but I had no knowledge of this due to no TV no personal computer (10 years ago I think). He wrote mainly solo acoustic songs about odd things. 2 minute tracks that amused as much as they offered musically. 2 albums ‘Nino Rojo’ and ‘Rejoicing in the Hands’ mark this period and his prolific output.

It all went a bit down-hill into odd pastiche and silliness.

Much of this love of pastiche and silliness is on full display throughout Mala. However, the songs are strong and pull the listener through. For me the questions that you will need to answer before committing to liking this (or not) is (1) does it overcome a tag of ‘novelty’ (2) do you care enough about how he got to this album without the history with him that I have. We forgive artists we love for many errors and in doing so loose a frame of reference, the objectivity to truly critique.

I was going to have this as album of the month ages ago but held back because of the above but recently have listened to this album loads. Partly as I’ve driven 1000s of miles and partly due the weather. This is a great summer album.

It is, without doubt all over the shop, there is soft-shoe-shuffle, 50’s crooner, German-House pastiche all interlaced with his historically standard acoustic solo fare. For me what ties this together is Devendra’s charisma, humour and the fact that the songs are strong, regardless of their ‘genre’ and never out-stay their welcome.

Enjoy. Listen without prejudice. Play it a few times and it will dig in. I find it great driving music or general pottering music.

Posted in Album of the Month

July Album of the Month: Alice Russell – To Dust

Posted on by nolankane706

Alice Russell has been on my radar for a while now. About 10 years if memory serves me right. With that I think she has shown potential and blown me away at times and others has been let me down musically.

Last summer I picked up her latest offering not sure what to expect and was pleasently surprised. Like many albums that we seem to all pick, this needs some time, and a little sunshine as well. Perhaps that’s why I have held off a year to share it with you. It works better in the summer for me.

To me this is an album that has been done by someone that has some soul and knows what she wants out of each track on this album. I’m finding this harder and harder to find this days out of a full album and I think she holds it well.

I like this album in the car, when I’m working, when I’m cooking, or just puttering. It seems to be in my life a fair bit once again now the sun has returned. Hopefully it may find a place in yours as well.