I notice people keep following this blog, despite its lack of content. You probably wanna head here (if you haven’t already done so) instead!
What albums should be on my radar? I have a lot of catching up to do, and will soon add my thoughts on the new Radiohead, Bright Eyes, Mogwai, James Blake and Crystal Stilts releases. What should I be listening to?
Okay, we’re about a quarter of the way through 2011 and I’m nowhere near a quarter of the way through the 100 albums I’m supposed to be writing about. I’ve probably listened to and have opinions about 25 albums but… yeah. Time to pull my finger out.
Departing has been a slow burner, playing in between airings of the new Radiohead, Bright Eyes and about a dozen others. But sitting down on my day off, this is the record I thought of first.
The band’s first record, Hometowns, was a pretty solid effort but your typical debut: the songs were about themselves, their friends and their, um, hometowns, while they did a fairly decent job of establishing their sound. After a good 10-20 listens, Departing feels like a more lasting piece of work with plenty of songs that stand up in their own right - something only a couple of songs from Hometowns could claim.
Bookending the record’s 32 minutes, Two Lovers and Good Night offer an understated and minimalist start and finish, relying mainly on the talents of vocalist Nils Edenloff solo on the former and in tandem with bandmate Amy Cole on the latter. But it’s between those two that Departing really delivers its strongest moments: frenetic drumming and infectious harmonies on Stamp lead perfectly into Tornado ‘87, in which Edenloff channels Jeff Mangum as the trio builds up to his impassioned cries of “I let you go, I let you go” and “I let you die, I let you die”.
Like Mangum, Edenloff’s voice isn’t for everyone. Marmite, anyone? His style is as nasal as Neil Young and the band’s sound is wrought around his sound and technique, which is sure to put some listeners off, particular as the album rumbles towards its close (Coldest Days and Good Night) but if you appreciate a voice with character, personality and without pretence, Departing is well worth your time. 8/10
It’s a shame that every aspiring young female singer-songwriter who’s not gunning for the top 40 gets compared to PJ Harvey. A lot of them have very little in common with Nick Cave’s West Country Girl - and such comparisons are cheap and lazy.
Anna Calvi doesn’t fall into that group. A quick flick through the credits accompanying her self-titled debut LP links her to Harvey via multi-instrumentalist Rob Ellis, who co-produced the record. And on first listen, there are plenty of noticeable similarities and reference points - in the songwriting, the instrumentation and Calvi’s vocal style.
This isn’t a bad thing all the time. Au contraire. There’s the slow, brooding build-up on opening track Rider to the Sea along with the drawn-out stripped-back passion of The Devil, both of which wouldn’t sound out of place on one of Harvey’s efforts from the latter half of the 1990s.
Calvi is at her best, though, when she embraces her pop and rock sensibilities - adopting a more conventional style on tracks like Blackout and Desire that’s sure to sell a fair amount of records, even if it’s a path that’s been walked countless times before. Just like a great sports team is built around its strongest players, the instrumentation here bolsters the effect of Calvi’s vocals, pushing her forward with crescendo after crescendo on the higher-tempo tracks and giving way to reveal her delicate side on the album’s subtler moments.
Considering all that, Anna Calvi is an effort that despite being mature and well-produced, especially for a debut release, could have waited just a bit. At the moment it isn’t clear whether Calvi wants to emulate Harvey’s unorthodox approach or write and record a solid pop/rock song that showcases the best of her talents. That said, this is a decent effort and one of the better debut LPs you’ll hear in 2011. 6.5/10
America’s west coast appears to be teeming with girls stuck turning the contents of their diaries into hit albums via GarageBand. I could make some sort of observation linking the recession, housing shortage etc with the rapid rise of bedroom-based producers… but that’s another issue for another day.
La Sera bucks the trend set by Best Coast and the like. While that lot tend to make some songs and then form a band, Katy Goodman, bassist with the Vivian Girls, breaks away from her usual role to deliver an album that’s personal and intimate but with all the benefits several years of touring brings.
Throughout much of its 26 minutes, La Sera ditches the wall-of-sound approach Goodman made with her other band. Musically, it’s more expansive and the arrangements are massively deeper while its lyrics are more personal and confident as they sit at the forefront for the majority of the record.
Plenty of the melodies are reminiscent of the early girl groups the VGs cite as influences (Sleeptalking, Been Here Before) so she’s not exactly reinventing the wheel here - it’s just the skeleton has a lot more flesh hanging from it this time. From blissed-out opening number Beating Heart to the route one melody on short-but-sweet finale Lift Off, this album proves that turning the guitars down and baring her soul was a risk Goodman was right to take.
6.5
Is ‘Americana’ a euphemism for ‘country’? Glancing over the internet’s reaction to The King is Dead, there’s a lot of music fans out there ashamed to admit something so country is actually rather good.
Comparisons with Neil Young, Wilco and R.E.M.’s more rustic moments are more than valid here (the latter’s Peter Buck plays on a couple of tracks), and it’s no surprise those names all come under that ‘alt country’ heading (almost as ridiculous as IDM, if you ask me) that makes it acceptable for indie kids to listen to records their dads might also enjoy.
If some of the the Decemberists’ more recent efforts lean toward the ‘alt’ bit of alt country, The King is Dead goes the other way. Nothing here is too heavy lyrically and the more accessible tracks here (Don’t Carry it All, Rox in the Box, Down by the Water) would go perfectly with that road trip montage you get when Meg Ryan misses her flight and has to drive from New York to LA, or whatever. Wide open spaces, cacti, etc.
Whatever this ‘Americana’ is, it seems to work pretty nicely, despite the odd moment during the album’s latter stages where they take it a little too far and end up sounding like a slowed-down Status Quo (All Arise) or way too R.E.M. (This is Why We Fight), even if Buck’s appearance earlier on the record makes it okay (does it?). That said, a lot of bands have done a lot worse.
I’m gonna give this a seven: there’s nothing particularly new on offer but one or two irritating side-notes aside, The King is Dead is a really enjoyable listen.
Six weeks in and we have the first great album of 2011. Since releasing Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea more than a decade ago, PJ Harvey has gone retrospective (Uh Huh Her), Tori Amos (White Chalk) and just plain weird (A Woman a Man Walked By, with John Parish) and ended up not too far from Stories.
While Stories was an album focused largely on New York, juxtaposed with the occasional reference to her West Country roots, Let England Shake is arguably the inverse. Musically, the tracks on here sound like England (listen to The Colour of the Earth and On Battleship Hill) and her homeland is the focal point for the record’s lyrical content with America playing supporting actor this time (The Glorious Land, Written On the Forehead).
But while Stories romanticised the Big Apple, Let England Shake hardly gives England similar treatment. Like Titus Andronicus’ The Monitor from last year, this is a record for history buffs: it’s about war; its causes, its consequences and its costs. Yes, plenty of the tracks on offer work perfectly fine on their own but those common threads give the album the kind of continuity that sets the great apart from the good.
Early days, I know, but I’ll be surprised if this one doesn’t make my top 10. 8.5/10
So we’re about six weeks into the new year, which means I have a bit of catching up to do. I won’t have any reviews up tonight (I’m in Perth right now, so don’t let the timestamp fool you) but I’ve drawn a bit of a list up so you know what’s coming soon…
If you have any other suggestions, feel free to send them my way. I have a few more on my list but the ones mentioned above are most likely to appear here in the next week or so.
I’ve also come up with a few rules:
Yeah, I know I’ve already started 2011’s challenge but I’m going to change things up before we get too far in (one band playing a new year gig doesn’t really count, anyway).
I’ve seen about a dozen bands so far this year and it’s dawned on me that I’d quite like to see a few without having to dissect the event as soon as I get home and turn my computer on.
Plus, 100 gigs has been done. Time for something new? I think so.
100 albums. All with 2011 release dates, so there’s not a lot to choose from so far, but the major benefit here is I can spread it across the year and knock them off at my own pace.
Similar to what I did last year, it’ll be a mix of reviews, reflections and reactions to 100 albums released this year. I’m aiming to raise the tone slightly, so there’ll be the odd deconstruction of a double concept album, or whatever, if my mood takes me down that path, but if you’re looking for serious analysis you’d best look elsewhere.
Before I go, I’m gonna leave the door open for recommendations. If there’s something you feel should be on my list, give me a shout (my email address is up the top). Please don’t recommend your own band, though, cause that’s pathetic.
Imported from Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz
