Sunday, November 20, 2022
Albums of the Year # 36 Smidley - Here Comes The Devil
Now this came totally out of the blue as a lot of the best records do. Sidley, someone I've never heard of, a bloke from St. Louis with a moustache and a dazed look who looks like a refugee from an early Seventies West Coast party and what seems to be his second album Here Comes The Devil.
This is disembodied and strangely haunting music. Definitely guitar orientated but not particularly easy to nail down in terms of its influences. Given a push I might say Mercury Rev or Flaming Lips those two great American Psychedelic bands of the Nineties who someone managed to make a mark while retaining their essential weirdness.
Here Comes The Devil is a pretty remarkable record that has made my end of year list because it's so good, even though it's mid-November and I'm already almost into the thirties and it means ejecting something I've loved earlier on in 2021. A first world problem, I know.
But this is an album where it's a case of love at first spin. Sidley if that is his real name has also been in Foxing. If this interests you, I advise that you go there to investigate further.
Song(s) of the Day # 3,217 Gladie
Philadelphia's Gladie's second album Don't Know What You're in Until You're Out is one jagged guitar anthem after another. Fronted by the sparky, defiant Augusta Koch. Each song is a defiant declaration of self.
Saturday, November 19, 2022
Some New Kind of Kick - Kid Congo Powers # 6 The Third Bardot
Kid flees the Gun Club coop with Jeffrey Lee's blessing when asked to join The Cramps. They start working towards their next record, finding inspiration in the past.
Weyes Blood - And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow
'Sitting at this party. Wondering if anyone knows me. Really sees who I am. Oh it's been so long since I've felt knomw.'
Weyes Blood is back again. Finally. With more songs of ultimate heartbreak on a fascinating follow up to her fantastic 2019 album Titanic Rising. Her breakthrough record.
A lot has happened in the world since then. You don't need me to tell you. This record will. In great if elusive detail. Weyes Blood is a funny one. On the surface her songs are comforting confectionaries. Sugar coated portals back to a more innocent time and most obviously those fabulous Carpenters records that some of us grew up with in the early Seventies. Me for instance.
But this is deceptive. I always get the sense of much more going on here. Post millennial unease. And in this perhaps the Carpenters are the key. They were hardly the happiest campers, even at the time of their gargantuan commercial peak. Watch the biopics. Their's was a story of intense, unbearable pain. Let's face it. You can hear that in the songs themselves. And they and the great MOR wave that soundtracked the early Seventies were a antidepressant gloss over one of the greatest crisis points of American history. Vietnam, Watergate, the Sixties dream gone.
And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow, like Titanic Rising is not a straightforward record, But I do find it a fascinating one, and one I'll certainly return to on a regular basis over the coming weeks and months. It's the last late contender for my album chart for 2022 which is currently creeping down its late thirties. I'm not quite sure where it will end up but it will certainly feature.
The songs of And in the Darkness are precisely that. Locked in dreams that yearn for consummation but seem doomed never to achieve them. On the surface, songs of the greatest love but ultimately songs of great loss. Fairy Tales.
Whether you relate to them may well depend on how you felt about Titanic Rising. You're hardly likely to embrace this if you didn't relate to that. And in the Darkness is ploughing a similar furrow and you may not think the songs are up to scratch this time.
As for me, she's got me once again. I think she's a fascinating and incredibly talented artist. Not quite like anyone operating on the Pop market right now. Buy it for Christmas as a gift for the Carpenters loving family member in your life. Particularly if they're not aware of her work. But keep the receipt, just in case.
*For more insight into this fascinating record, please go to this excellent review.
Albums of the Year # 37 Jesca Hoop - Order of Romance
Jesca Hoop used to be Tom Waits' nanny. That's the most oft quoted factoid where she's concerned. Unfair really, given what a talent she i,s but it does give some indication of her singular and particular charms. One thing she doesn't do is walk the straight road.
Latest album, Order of Romance, (her first was released in 2007), is another winner. She never releases anything that isn't at least interesting, to my ears anyhow.. From opener, Sudden Light the record grabs you gently by the lapels and never lets go of them 'til the ride is done.
How to describe this music. It's not an easy task. Jesca is not particularly similar to anyone who I can think of and seems as much influenced by Gershwin and the classic American musical as Joni or Kate for example. If I had to make comparisons they might be with Tom's former flame, Rickie Lee, or possibly Joanne Newson.
She harmonises with herself throughout. The record is one song after enough of layered call and responses. Nothing as cliched as verse and chorus for our Jesca. It's not surprising really, if you research her basic biographical details. Raised my Mormon parents in Santa Rosa California. Parents who split when she was 14. The Tom Waits thing. It's hardly an apprenticeship for orthodoxy.
Anyway Order of Romance thrilled me so much I put it on again immediately. It's been like that ever since. This probably won't get too much attention except from devotees. Those who know know.
Song(s) of the Day # 3,216 Field School
The golden sound of classic indie. Strumming jangling vocals whose ultimate aim is to make you feel like you're listening to the early Byrds or else the latest signings to Sarah Records.
So you know what you'll be listening to. Field School's When Summer Comes is a fine example of the genre. A world where you're always sixteen. In thrall to your first love.
No wonder it works so well. Field School are the latest project of Charles Bert, of Seattle's Maths & Physics Club a band that spent their whole career trying to capture that mood and writing that song.
As worthy a quest as any. When Summer Comes never once veers from its objective. Like some SAT NAV of young love.
Friday, November 18, 2022
Albums of the Year # 38 Elvis Costello & The Imposters - The Boy Named It
In the words of the biggest Elvis Costello fan I've ever known,( and he would know ), he's got his mojo back. He and The Imposters new record The Boy Named It is the first really great album that I've heard in 2022.
The fact that EC has got that mojo back by going back to how he sounded at his peak between the late Seventies and early Eighties is an interesting one. His rage and irritance and general contrariness was always his greatest strength and it seems that he's realised it. Or re-realised it.
These characteristics were always abundantly clear and made him stand out from the crowd even at that fabulous period when rage and irritance and general contrariness, were apparently the order of the day. But Costello always brought something different to the table. He was always whip smart and never content to be one of the herd, not even the Punk herd, and it's great to hear him resserting what made him so very, very special in the first place.
The Boy Named It is full of Costello's signature eloquence and insight and pop concision, even if your never entirely sure exactly what he was on about. I confess I never knew entirely what he was on about. I'll leave that to my very good friend the biggest Elvis Costello fan I've ever known, who is on his way out to buy the record today in Baltimore, (his new home), as I write this with a spring in his step.
I'm sure that Rod ,(for that's the name of that guy), will be more than happy. In fact I'd dare to say, he'll be just thrilled.Remarkably I'd say that The Boy Named It is one of the best albums that Costello has ever made. That's an almost impossibly claim to be able to make given that the man is 67.
It certainly doesn't sound like a record made by a man of 67. He sounds like he's in the rudest of possible health. I'm only just starting to listen to it, but I'm already sure that I'll be coming back to it again and again over the coming months, because it's immediately something of a wonder. I'd describe it as vital, and that's something that Costello hasn't been for a long, long time.
Perhaps Spanish Model his wondrous reinvention of his and The Attractions own early masterpiece This Year's Model, rendered in the Spanish tongue was a sign in the road. of where he was planning to go next. That was one of my favourite albums of last year and this already seems destined to be one of this yea'rs, even writing exactly midway through January.
So what do you get. Trademark wisdom. Trademark ire. Trademark melodic crafstmanship. Thirteen punchy and remarkably uptight lessons in life and how to stand up to all of its injustices, contradictions and pain. And why, despite all of this, it's very, very much worth living. Of how sometimes it's best to go back to the beginning and rediscover how you felt then and why. Then to stand up and testify and rage once more against the dying of the light. This is just wonderful product. Respect to the guy!
P.S. Rod has bought the record and initially is bored and cannot stand the album. I was entirely mistaken in his reception to it. A shame.
Song of the Day # 3,215 Anna Mieke
Rather lovely opening track of Anna Mieke's splendid new album, Theatre. I direct you to the whole thing unreservedly.
Thursday, November 17, 2022
Albums of the Year # 39 Jonathan Personne - Jonathan Personne
A fabulous record of Gallic Golden Age Pop from Montreal's Jonathan Robert, who featured in Post Punk band Corridor but here adopts a totally different approach. Here he's a French Pop Star of the late Sixties or early Seventies.
Choose your own favourite. Gainsbourg, Dutronc or perhaps your own more floaty candidate. Boris Vian? An eponymous album sees Robert establish his new persona nicely.
It's altogether beautiful stuff. French always works for me as a Pop language to rival English and that argument is made well here. The record covers a lot of groun,d but most of all Romantic sounds like the adjective that best describes it. One to put on and snog your partner on the sofa to.
Song(s) of the Day # 3,214 Smidley
Now this came totally out of the blue as a lot of the best records do. Sidley, someone I've never heard of, a bloke from St. Louis with a moustache and a dazed look who looks like a refugee from an early Seventies West Coast party and what seems to be his second album Here Comes The Devil.
This is disembodied and strangely haunting music. Definitely guitar orientated but not particularly easy to nail down in terms of its influences. Given a push I might say Mercury Rev or Flaming Lips those two great American Psychedelic bands of the Nineties who someone managed to make a mark while retaining their essential weirdness.
Here Comes The Devil is a pretty remarkable record that has made my end of year list because it's so good, even though it's mid-November and I'm already almost into the thirties and it means ejecting something I've loved earlier on in 2021. A first world problem, I know.
But this is an album where it's a case of love at first spin. Sidley if that is his real name has also been in Foxing. If this interests you, I advise that you go there to investigate further.
Wednesday, November 16, 2022
Albums of the Year # 40 Silvana Estrada - Marchita
There's not really too much more about the record except that Estrada carries it off with consumate grace. Marchita is by turn mournful, romantic and yearning. Understanding her lyrics is not remotely important in terms of identifying with and enjoying the ride.
The realisation that she is only 23 is rather astonishing as there's wealth and wisdom here that go far beyond her years.In her own words 'my music is made of who I am.' More than good enough for me
Song of the Day # 3,213 Heather Trost
Another great call from Darren, cpnstant supporter and frequent contributor to this blog.
Tuesday, November 15, 2022
Albums of the Year # 41 Vinyl Williams - Cosmopolis
Wednesday, August 31,
Now this is something really lovely if that's what you're after on a Wednesday morning, which I imagine most people are. Vinyl Williams, not a man but a band, are new to me. They hail from LA and have been described as a Neo-Psychedelic, Electronic, Dreampop, Krautrock, Chillwave, Hypnagogic Pop band by Wikapedia. That's a ludicrous number of labels for one band to labour under. Anyhow, They're ridiculously good. And Cosmoplis, their sixth album, is just out.
It strikes me as really rather Anglophile. The sharp side of the Independent Nineties fair where Bo Radley's, Stereolab, Laika and High Llamas set out their their stalls. Once you know this is the modus vivendi and that Vinyl Williams are so thoughtfully and artfully adept at what they do and that they're going to make you feel like dancing too, in the way that Deelite, Saint Etienne and CSS used to, albeit at the Indie Disco rather the crap mainstream one in the High Street,then you're ready, you can sit back and enjoy.
For this is first of all a highly enjoyable journey.. This group have a lightness of touch that is rare in the circles they mix in, a fleetness of foot that leads to some truly magical moments when golden confetti is scattered over proceedings and you feel that what you are listening to has more in common with Nile Rogers and Sergio Mendes than Thurston or Malkmus.
So, a true gem for the end of summer and a considerable achievement for Lionel Williams, the guiding vision Spector figure behind his near namesake band. A record I haven't been able to stop listening to since I first became aware of its existence a couple of days ago.
Song(s) of the Day # 3,212 S.C.A.B.
New York band that in some ways echoes of the city's musical past without ever being too obvious. Their eponymous debut album sounds like the last time the places musical guitar legacy was really great, circa 2000 Strokes era rather than CBGB's '76.
It's a fine eclectic record that should get some attention. With a Shoegaze element thrown in. One to discover and fall for at ease.
Monday, November 14, 2022
Albums of the Year # 42 Seapower - Everything Was Forever
Sea Power. or British Sea Power as they were until recently known, are a band I've long been aware of, but never really listened to. The reasons for this I can't really fathom, I think it's largely because the tracks I did hear, though generally likeable, never seemed to grab me firmly enough to really demand my full attention.
But I'm giving their latest Everything Was Forever a listen now. Well, I'm done with work on a Monday evening and the film I was watching didn't grab me. The record is more than alright and I can immediately imagine why some, (even if it's only a devoted few), might be almost obsessional about them.
They certainly have an oceanic chug about them. Second track Transmitter almost sounds like a chunky tug boat heading out to sea on choppy waves. They've clearly chiselled out a definite identity for themselves over the years, a proud sense of mission and purpose over the course of their almost twenty years of releasing records on a regular basis but not really selling very many.
I almost feel that I've been missing out on something, never really giving them a proper listen even though I've been aware of them all this time and got the feeling that they might be a band worthy of intention. I certainly like this in the way that I liked bands like Wire, Split Enz, The Chills, The Go Betweens and early James. Bands that operated under the radar, not because they were contrary or bloody mnded. Just because they believed in what they were doing and were not willing to compromse that just for a shot at the charts.
Everything Was Forever won me over on first play and I'll be back to it. Sea Power may have dropped the British part of their name, possibly because they were not willing to risk any connotations with ugly political events of recent years, but they're still very, very British in terms of their singularity which aligns itself to the best aspects of our national character. Our resolve. Our eccentricity and complexity. I'll also be going through the back catalogue over the coming weeks to find out what I've been missing out on all these years.
Sunday, November 13, 2022
Some New Kind of Kick - Kid Congo Powers # 5 Bo Diddley
Kid Congos meets Jeffrey Lee in the queue for a Pere Ubu gig. Gun Club duly forms.
Albums of the Year # 43 Aoife Nessa Frances - Protector
I very much liked Aoife Nessa Frances' debut Land of No Junction when it appeared at the beginning of last year. Enchanting was a good description of it. Mysterious, enigmatic and highly more-ish it employed tropes you'd immediately associate with Stereolab and Broadcast and filled the spaces with fantastic, original ingenuity. It was and is some record.
So it's great to be able to report that Frances has returned 18 months down the line with a follow up Protector that on first play is quite the equal of its predecessor. I'm already looking forward to playing this again and getting to know these songs better.
Protector seems less immediately indebted to either Stereolab or Broadcast here. In many ways these seem like more traditionally derived Folk related compositions. But they're every bit as compelling and mysterious as the songs on Land of No Junction and Frances is carving out a fascinating identity for herself that brings Jane Weaver to mind in terms of its potential future legacy.
A late entry in terms of my albums of the year. It had to have a space someone. A magical, textured record. The stuff of happy dreams. An album that demands playing and re-playing to allow it to fully unwrap its pearls. Sorry for the hyperpole but trust me. It really is that good.
Song(s) of the Day # 3,210 Orchid Mantis
A lovely, lilting album called How Long Will It Take from Atlanta's Thomas Howard. Shades of Red House Painters and Bon Iver.
A model lesson in how music that seems sad on the surface can actually make the listener happy. The Happy / Sad Tim Buckley Elliott Smith equation. Altogether a rather wonderful record.
Saturday, November 12, 2022
Some New Kind of Kick - Kid Congo Powers # 4 X Ray Spex
Congos makes the 'world turn dayglo' as he surfs the Punk wave from the Pistols last gig in San Francisco to see The Cramps and The Contortions and back to LA.
Albums of the Year # 44 Erin Rae - Lighten Up
Tennessee's Erin Rae's new album Lighten Up is souffle light and sweet, another great album to turn to in early 2022 ,a year that's already been rich iin wonderful records.
Essentially a modern take on Folk and Country album its very nostalgic in tone while still sounding like much more than a mere throwback to the Sixties and early Seventies.
The songs here are imbued in a warm and loving glow. Kevin Morby joins for a duet in the classic tradition for second track Can't See Stars. Rae's voice is a truly lovely thing throughout. Pitched somewhere between Bobbie Gentry and Karen Carpenter, it doesn't fall at all short of those golden comparisons.
It's all highly tasteful, but that's by no means a criticism, in fact the opposite. File next to Weyes Blood who has a similarly loving and artful relationship with the past. A first listen to Lighten Up is enough to indicate that it may well prove to have every bit as long a shelf life as Titanic Rising did in 2019.
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