I will be heavily disappointed if this album isn’t on the end of the year lists.
Evidence – Jim Dean
Truly one of my favourite MC’s is back and I’m loving his new track!
CCFX – The One To Wait
An early Xmas present from our friends at DFA. I had this on repeat today for about 45 minutes without realising that I’d heard it 7 or 8 times in a row. I think its immaculate.
NOVEMBER: Wallflower by Jordan Rakei
Ah, blue-eyed soul. A double-edged term that come across as much as insult as praise. It implies a lack of depth, a lack of the heritage of the music, not just racially but in terms of authenticity. Maybe this isn’t quite blue-eyed soul, but it’s certainly made by an artist who’s steeped deeply both in the history of the music and current trends. It’s also not quite accurate to say he’s a white guy singing a historically black genre. To be specific, he’s a Kiwi of Pacific Islander heritage who now lives in London and signed to Ninja Tune. How fantastically 21st Century.
So where did this come from? That was what I thought when I first heard ‘Goodbyes’. It was one of those times I immediately Googled the artist, found he’d made a whole album, and then just sat opened-mouthed when I sat down and listened to it. The opening number, ‘Eye to Eye’ starts like a soul ballad, and then when it kicks in, you know you’re going somewhere really interesting. That edgy, nervous arrangement, almost jazz-sounding at at times, is such a great counterpoint to his sweet voice.
This is such a tough genre to excel in. I mean, I think I’d call this a soul record, but it’s a post-dance era soul record, I suppose in the same way that Sampha is. There’s also a touch of those downbeat artists like James Blake in there too. But where some of this genre can be a little hit-and-miss – for example, I LOVE the highlights of the Sampha album, but there’s some filler on there, I really love the whole of this. It’s so fully-formed, it’s so rich, it’s so delicious to listen to. It’s beautifully produced too – those strings remind me of Craig Armstrong’s work on Massive Attack’s finest albums. In fact, Massive Attack are a real cornerstone, influence wise. Time for a trip hop revival, anyone? 😉
There are two stages to your relationship to an album, I find. The first is: do I keep playing it when I first get into it? This has been a huge yes – I’ve had to start rationing myself because I’ve listened so many times. The second stage is: Will I come back to this, year after year – has it become a permanent part of my musical landscape. Well, of course, I won’t know that yet. But if you’re asking me to guess right now, I’m pretty certain it will be. I like it that much.
Highlights: opener Eye to Eye, the straight-up soul of Nerve, funky, melancholic single Goodbyes, Massive Attack-esque Hiding Place. But honestly, I love the whole thing!
Thoughts, brothers?
OCTOBER: Alvvays – Antisocialites
It’s “at last” in more ways than one (with profuse apologies for the incredible tardiness of this review) – last in that this is my final contribution as being one of the Brothers on this rather wonderful blog. Opening those windows and throwing them open wide to the music I’ve been exposed to for the last… eighteen months or so…? has been a joy and I’m thankful to my fellow the Brothers for bringing me into the fold. At last, as well, to Alvvays in bringing which seems to have been a long time coming, ie that elusively consistent indie album. Such things tend to be a rarity, as we know. There are, more often than not, dips and on repeated listens, those tracks which we just skip by in search of the one that grabs us. That’s not to say that Antisocialites is perfect all the way through – but the skip point for me doesn’t appear until Already Gone, track eight from ten, and even then that’s the only one.
But I’m getting ahead of myself somewhat; Alvvays grabbed my attention with 2014’s release of the achingly glorious and sweepingly sublime Archie, Marry Me, about as classic as modern alternative music can get and stands Up There with the greats. Forward then, pinging on three years and we have the second long player from the Toronto quintet. They’ve not moved on a bunch in terms of their sound, so there’s no gear change progression in their approach. Indeed, they road tested much of what ended up on Antisocialites when on tour through 2015 and 16, so they’ve stuck with their “jangly pop” (the band’s own description for their brand of music) which fits in with their existing catalogue. Still, reinventing the wheel isn’t always essential and their craft is honed splendidly here. Melody remains at the heart of their art; it’s the hooks that grab and won’t let go – the trainer-pogo Plimsoll Punks evokes memories of bouncing indie discos featuring stupidly wide grins as That Guitar Riff makes you jump that little bit higher.
There’s a lot to appreciate with Alvvays’ occasionally etherial electronica where they exude an other-worldliness distance which bleeds through time and again; Forget About Life is pure romance and the sweetest proposition to simply hang out, be faithful to your own being and spend time with someone who means the world. It’s enough to make a middle aged reviewer sit back, smile and sigh in reflection that sometimes, things aren’t that bad and, indeed, can be pretty good. But looking back in the collection, Forget About Life was quite neatly foreshadowed earlier by the album’s second single, Dreams Tonite and it’s worth following the link as it’s a time capsule video, capturing Alvvays’ vintage but modern look and feel. Look out for the hat tip to MuchFACT, the Canadian music fund towards the end of the short.
Antisocialites ticks the indie kid box and appeals to the electronica side of my tastes and if those two loves can be catered for, that’s usually a win for me and that’s what we’ve got here.
RIP Gordon
There are few things in life that unite people as much as music. In the case of Canadians it’s the Tragically Hip and in turn their frontman Gord Downie. Separate from many other Canadian peers such as Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Arcade Fire and so on The Hip’s international following are largely Canadian ex-pats living around the world. There has always been something quietly satisfying that there was one great act that as a Canadian you didn’t have to share with the world; they can have Justin Beiber and Avril Lavigne and we’ll keep good old Gord. For me, where ever I’ve been in the world I always had the Hip to bring me back home for a few moments at a time.
Gord Downie throughout his career found a way to unite Canada through song whilst firmly holding his stick and poking the Canadian bear. He was one of the only voices firmly voicing and explaining his dissatisfaction of the treatment of Canadians indigenous people that seemed to be heard. He said in one of his songs that ‘no ones interested in something you didn’t do’, and he made of point throughout his career in doing.
Sadly this week Gordon Downie lost his bottle to brain cancer, and with his passing there is a part of Canada that will no longer be there. He wrote about Life, he wrote about the good things, the bad things and he wrote about hockey. Thanks for the memories Gord, you created much more than you ever knew.
KH – Question
It seems KH (Four Tet) has pulled out a late winner as the best track to come out of the summer. This without a doupt needs to be listened to on headphones or very loud in your car.
SEPTEMBER : LCD Soundsystem – American Dream
So first things first. Let’s celebrate we’ve been running this blog merrily for more than FIVE YEARS! Well done us. And what a constant source of great music and discussion it’s been.
And how apt that we turn to a band after whom the blog was (kind of) named. And a band that has glued us all together musically for many years. We’re talking, of course, about James Murphy and his merry band of LCD wizards.
Second things second. This is a really good album. He’s at the top his game. It’s LCD Soundsystem FFS, what else was it going to be? What I’d like to get into is this: is it a GREAT album? And can something be a GREAT album if it wears its inflences so strongly on its sleeve that it’s impossible to ignore them.
Let’s start with the simple positives. The songwriting is great, and all the lyrical content, with his obsession about getting older, loneliness, disaffection, it’s as as good as anything he’s done. AND, despite the LOOOOOONG running time, I think they pull it off. I was a bit daunted when I saw list of 6, 7, 8, 9 minute songs – but on the whole, they’re little works of art that build their own internal momentum.
So what about that influences thing? Murphy’s mentioned in a number of interviews being inspired by Bowie to make another album, and to do exactly what he wanted to do, regardless of what the audience wants. He’s sure done that. But my goodness, those influences are SO plain the mix. Here’s a list of ones that jumped out on me on pretty much a first listen:
Emotional Haircut – Jesus H Christ, this is pure Joy Division. Could it sound any more like it was produced by Martin Hannett? That drum mix is quintessential Joy Division.
How Do You Sleep? – Oh man, name your early 80s influences. Siouxise? Cure? New Order? Bauhaus? Hell, this could be a bloody band from Leeds in 1982.
Change Your Mind – That guitar part is STRAIGHT from Bowie’s Scary Monsters. You think I’m exaggerating?
I could go on. There’s heaps of New Order and Joy Division influences, but Bowie is the veil than hangs over it all.
And then there are even times when LCD feel like they’re doing a cover of themselves. Do you know what I mean?
Call The Police
Other Voices (again, man, that Robert Fripp-esque guitar that could be from any number of Bowie albums!)
– both of these could have appeared on any of the LCD albums since Day 1. And they feel both wonderfully familiar, but also it’s as I’ve actually heard them before.
So I guess what I’m asking is: does this matter? We talk a lot on this blog about influences and being derivative and being original. Will that, in the end, mean that this is an album I play for quite a bit, then shelve because, when it comes down to it, I might as well listen to Unknown Pleasures or Heroes? Or has Murphy pulled this off with such brio and force and passion, that he’s moulded all the sounds he’s pilfered from his heroes into something new?
Right now, I don’t know. I’m so enjoying listening to it. But I do have a nagging voice in the back of my head. And occassionally, I’ve laughed out loud at how obvious he’s been about stealing a sound.
Over to you, Brothers. And here’s to another 5 years!
AUGUST: Aldous Harding – Party
If you were to ask me what are my most listened to types of music it would go like this: 1) Hip Hop, 2) Folk, 3) Dance. In the middle there is arguably a bump in the road with folk but it for a number of reasons it works for me and has for a very long time. I’d actually argue folk is ahead of hip hop at times.
Parking that top 3 and delving more into folk I noticed a year or so ago that my folk collection was heavily swayed towards males. One could say that about my hip hop collection but there is reason for that.. there are (in my opinion) many more males with better talents that females as a whole within hop hop. Folk on the other hand is a fair split. So logically I started to delve deeper into folk to find more females that I liked. Of course there is everything from Joni Mitchel, Laura Marling, The Staves, but I needed to dig deeper like I have to find male artists. Where I often came short wasn’t great songs but in fact strong consistent albums.
Brother Joseph has introduced us all to two fantastic Female artists over the last few months with his contributions and with my selection I hope it continues with Aldous Harding.
I very much want to leave this album to sink in with you like it did when I came across it a few months ago, so I don’t want to delve into it too deep except for saying that I have found it an album that gets better with time. So what to tell you then; well she from New Zealand, she’s on 4AD records and at the ripe age of 27 she sings beyond her years. At times you could compare her to Kate Bush, others Bjork apparently.
For me this album brings a beautiful calm with honest and at times some surprisingly dark lyrics. Her haunting yet happy at times vocals give her lyrics credit. This also is a complete album of music.
So enjoy brothers, and happy August… or should I say Aldous (sorry, I had to do it).
JAY-Z – The Story of O.J.
New Jay Z, thoughts?
thisisnothappening.net 