Saturday, 31 December 2011
ALBUMS OF THE YEAR 2011 No.2 - JOAN AS POLICEWOMAN, The Deep Field
On her first two albums there's been an overwhelming melancholy to her work, inviting comparisons to her old boyfriend Jeff Buckley and the king of bittersweet, Elliott Smith. With 'The Deep Field' however it's quite a different story as Joan makes a mockery of the cliche that an artist experiencing some personal contentment will not produce great work. This album really could have been titled 'Joan As Policewoman Sings About Love' so blatantly does she rev up the sexy mood. 'Human Condition' even has a deep Barry White style backing vocalist seducing the listener, all played out totally straight, no tongue in cheek. I'd say that her cleverest stroke across the album is the way she describes these positive developments in her life with a sense of doubt; as if she doesn't quite trust the feeling to last but she's got to discipline herself into enjoying these moments while they're still good. Let's not ignore though the brilliance of the funky groove found on 'The Magic' or the fun that exudes in the old school R&B visited on 'Chemmie'. The album ends on an orgasmic high, the slow building 'I Was Everyone' rising a-la Otis Redding on 'Try A Little Tenderness' as Joan sings of the power in finding your voice and bringing the world your message. If some of this sounds a little corny then cast aside those doubts, 'The Deep Field' is one of the most satisfying and joyously life celebrating albums ever released and a pivotal moment in the work of Joan Wasser.
Friday, 30 December 2011
ALBUMS OF THE YEAR 2011 No.3 - THE WATERBOYS, An Appointment With Mr. Yeats
Thursday, 29 December 2011
ALBUMS OF THE YEAR 2011 No.4 - TOM WAITS, Bad As Me
I make no apologies for the appearances of legendary artists in the end of year lists. I certainly have no bias against newer stuff but I do feel that there can be a lot of over emphasis on it in other lists. Music isn't exclusively fresh and exciting just because it has been made by a previously unknown face. Indeed there are many artists working today making the strongest case ever for age and experience, artistic growth and the benefits thereof. I can assure you that if The xx release an album of songs next year as strong as Tom Waits has here I will be on it. That said, they'd have to go some for 'Bad As Me' is a record that's awe inspiringly good. He's composed a bunch of songs with partner/collaborator Kathleen Brennan that are amongst the greatest of his career. Yes, you may have heard they're more concise than on recent records but in no way should that imply throwaway. Quite the opposite, the discipline in maintaining brevity and immediacy has kept the standard of writing impossibly high. There isn't one song here that won't have some kind of life beyond this album. This is material ripe for interpretation by others or at least for extensive use in future films and soundtracks. The Waits unique vocal signature is pretty faultless as well, whether vamping up the Nick Cave dramatics on 'Raised Right Men' or consuming the spirits of Howlin' Wolf and Captain Beefheart. In fact 'Satisfied' is both a devastating echo of 'Wang Dang Doodle' and a nod of affection to the Rolling Stones with it's "Mr. Jagger and Mr. Richards, I will have satisfaction". Keith appears himself occasionally, best of all with a weary backing vocal on the gorgeous 'Last Leaf'. This is already an essential Tom Waits album, which with frequent bursts of Rockabilly, R&B and primal Blues could work as a perfect entry point for anyone not yet touched by the mans genius. Final track 'New Years Eve' even includes a couple of heartfelt, almost heart breaking, choruses of 'Auld Lang Syne'; an emotional and quite lovely ending to a wonderful record. Have a listen to title track 'Bad As Me' below:
Wednesday, 28 December 2011
ALBUMS OF THE YEAR 2011 No.5 - ALELA DIANE, Alela Diane And Wild Divine
Tuesday, 27 December 2011
ALBUMS OF THE YEAR 2011 No.6 - PETER GABRIEL, New Blood
Monday, 26 December 2011
ALBUMS OF THE YEAR 2011 No.7 - THE BLACK KEYS, El Camino
Sunday, 25 December 2011
ALBUMS OF THE YEAR 2011 No.8 - MY MORNING JACKET, Circuital
Saturday, 24 December 2011
ALBUMS OF THE YEAR 2011 No.9 - DANGER MOUSE & DANIELE LUPPI, Rome
Friday, 23 December 2011
ALBUMS OF THE YEAR 2011 No.10 - FLEET FOXES, Helplessness Blues
Let's face it, the purity of vision in Fleet Foxes incredible debut album was never going to be repeated. There was a directness to that set which left an instant impression with songs that knocked you out immediately because os their melodies. The gorgeous close harmonies and wall-of-sound Folk music were merely the icing on the cake. 'Helplessness Blues' on the other hand is a harder listen at first, it may take four or five goes before these songs really lock together and start to make sense. This is still lush Folk-Pop bound with amazing Beach Boys vocals to make a unique baroque flavour. But this time there's more, the expressive guitar patterns on 'The Cascades' bring to mind the pastoral shades of the UK's progressive Folk years in the early 70s as all over more experimental tangents are thrown in. Towards the end 'The Shrine/An Argument' explodes at one point with what sounds like a burst of far out sax blowing Jazz hard bop. Then, as if to remind us of who we're dealing with, they close on 'Grown Ocean' which ebbs and flows with a hymnal, hypnotic grace. The Fleet Foxes second album expands on their debut whilst retaining the core elements that set them apart from the pack. Given time, it opens up to become an even better record than that hugely acclaimed debut.
Thursday, 22 December 2011
ALBUMS OF THE YEAR 2011 No.11 - JILL SCOTT, The Light Of The Sun
After attaining possibly her most high profile status ever via a leading acting role in HBO's 'The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency' it's been a relief to find that Soul music hadn't lost one of it's greatest female voices to the world of TV and film. Far from it as it's turned out, in so many ways Jill has seriously laid her soul bare on this incredible comeback record. In fact details of a relationship lived between records (leading to the birth of a child) are dished up across this album in raw detail with wit, venom and a raw intensity. If the love expressed for her child in opening track 'Blessed' comes over a little syrupy it at least also sounds 100% sincere. The positive attitude pours out of every groove, there's no self pity here and even a tune like 'Quick', basically an expression of regret at the brevity of the affair that gave her a son, has a knowing wink in its eye. With human beatbox Doug E. Fresh backing up on 'All Cried Out Redux' Scott brilliantly recalls the fun and innocence of the early Rap days. Best of all is 'Shame', a funky tune so familiarly infectious you keep thinking "it must be an old Northern Soul track", "it's gotta be an old Disco classic". This isn't 'old school' in the sense that it's going for a conscious vintage retro vibe; it's more 'old skool' because it sounds totally now but, as this lady's got so much class, it instantly sounds like it belongs in the upper league of Souls back pages. It's been a year in which Beyonce has crowned herself 'Soul Queen' thanks to some well chosen high profile shows and an actually not all that bad, more adult orientated record. For us though, nothing has quite hit the diva spot as indelibly as this versatile odyssey by Jill Scott, a real undervalued album that delivers on every single track.
Wednesday, 21 December 2011
ALBUMS OF THE YEAR 2011 No.12 - PAUL SIMON, So Beautiful Or So What
Yesterday I sang the praises of current recording artists putting out new material with more regularity than has become the norm in modern times. So today I find that my plaudits are going to an artist who has, on this occasion and similarly in the past, taken about five years to produce a new album. To be fair to Paul Simon though, he did keep that album-a-year work rate up when he was in his twenties so nowadays he's pretty much earned the right to take whatever time he wants. He's always been a meticulous worker anyway and at least doing things thoroughly he ensures that when he does put out an album it will be something worth listening to. I'll say this for him too; out of all the songwriters of his generation he is arguably the only one who to this day constantly moves forward with every release. Paul Simon has never repeated himself across his entire career.
This time around he's created a sonic mix that brilliantly blends electro-Rock sounds with more flowing acoustic guitar work than Simon's indulged in for at least 30 years. Top that off with some thunderous rhythms and a lyrical turn that's as sharp, witty and moving as we've ever heard from this songwriters pen and you've got a legend enjoying an Indian summer every bit as potent as Bob Dylan's or Neil Young's. Yes there's layers upon layers of incredible production flourishes to marvel at but underneath it all Simon has once again written some great songs. It's such a shame that the singles chart have become so Urban dominant because there's little doubt that the man could still write hit singles in his sleep. He had a stab at it last Christmas by releasing the infectious lead track 'Getting Ready For Christmas Day' as a single. It really should have been given a chance to make a mark on the festive market, with a looping hook and a finely aimed lyric about the unfortunates who have to celebrate the season of good will far from home in a war zone, it's chances of becoming a winter standard were surely robbed. I mean unless you specifically followed the work of Paul Simon you'd be forgiven for not knowing he even had a Christmas single out this time last year, let alone hearing that it was pretty good. The dark humour is a treat too, especially from the earnest songwriter who in 1968 wrote the line "how terribly strange to be seventy". Now that strangeness is near, he's imagining scenes of God returning to the 21st Century Earth and declaring "the people are slobs here" and a journey into heaven that requires a wait in line and a form to be filled in. But then it's not all tongue in cheek and when the fantastic closing track sings "you know that life is what you make of it, so beautiful or so what" you see that Paul Simon has nailed it again just as he always could.
Tuesday, 20 December 2011
ALBUMS OF THE YEAR 2011 No.13 - LAURA MARLING, A Creature I Don't Know
In 1992 R.E.M. released 'Automatic For The People' 18 months after their big commercial breakthrough album 'Out Of Time'. I recall at the time some shock was expressed by observers unable to countenance how a big act could produce a follow up album so quickly. "They managed it because they didn't tour 'Out Of Time'" was the general conclusion. U2 won similar praise for releasing 'Zooropa' a mere two years after its predecessor; "EP sessions that got unexpectedly creative" came the consensus of explanation. Nowadays, and I don't know if it's down to the collapse of major label marketing strategies or advances in recording technologies or just a general speeding up of processes brought by the internet, but a 3-4 year gap between albums is no longer taken as standard. This is great news too, that Beatles work rate of creating two albums worth of material per year is the output I still believe new acts should work towards, especially in their first ten years. I mean obviously bands like Coldplay still indulge in that extended time lapse but then they've got to come up with a multitude of gimmicks to deflect attention from their piss-poor music. Laura Marling is by no means alone in following up a great 2010 album with another this year (take The Roots yesterday doing exactly the same thing, and there's others in this years list) but she's worthy of praise because not only has she followed up quickly but she's also topped the earlier effort. This time around the sound is slowly beginning to branch out, although the influence of that golden late 60s early 70s period I spoke of last year continues to resonate with one beloved Canadian singer-songwriter shining through. With the intimacy of those gently plucked nylon guitar strings, then the distant, angelic and choral female backing vocals drifting behind the up-close and occasionally semi-spoken Laura Marling dialogue this is pure early Leonard Cohen. Short of recording on analogue in a Montreal bedsit it's hard to reckon how she could possibly get any closer to that classic sound. In fact she's pulled it off with such aplomb over the last two records now that I wouldn't be surprised if she leaves it behind in the future. Indeed there are pointers here that a change is about to happen. Take the albums midway diversion into crunching electric guitars and snarled delivery on 'The Beast', here already is a side to Marling we have yet to see much of. On opener 'The Muse' the Cohen/Dylan-esque vocalising is still deployed but there's Jazz piano breaks and a frantic air of guitar picking urgency. The record concludes on a pretty jubilant note too, with the words "all my rage has gone" repeated around the most uplifting foot-stomping refrain of her career. Three albums in now and still impossibly young, the potential in Laura Marling is a rare thing indeed and we're very lucky to have both her and her music.
Monday, 19 December 2011
ALBUMS OF THE YEAR 2011 No.14 - THE ROOTS, Undun
If you’re looking for a record with an album length story arc, based on a semi-fictional character whose story unfolds across dramatic interludes on a song suite where each number seamlessly blends into one another. A concept album where the voices of the ensemble seem to step in and out of character in order to illustrate the drama, as musical themes are stretched out during an instrumental section with a classical suite in four movements. If this is the kind of album you desire then surely you’ll flip back to the Prog-Rock scene of the early 70s wouldn’t you? You’re not going to hope to find such a grand premise and the musical dexterity to pull it off in the US Rap arena, now are you? I’m being a touch facetious here, not to mention forgetful, for I already made plain in last year’s countdown that we’re witnessing an incredible modern day act blossom into an amazing maturity with The Roots. They are just so multi-talented it’s frightening. It’s not simply that they’ve attempted a deep work of urban fiction with this album, it’s that it is executed with so much credibility; on every single track the vibe of the music captures the exact sensation being experienced by the stories central character. Even a relatively upbeat song like ‘The Other Side’ somehow manages to capture a sense of overwhelming foreboding. It’s nothing short of a musical work with the detail and punch of TV’s acclaimed crime drama ‘The Wire’. It’s only been released this month and may yet stand the test of time as one of the greatest pieces of work in 2012 but at the moment I’m tempering my amazement by considering the longer held appreciation and love I have for the albums placed above it, but this is pretty damn special!
Sunday, 18 December 2011
ALBUMS OF THE YEAR 2011 No.15 - P.J. HARVEY, Let England Shake
Saturday, 17 December 2011
ALBUMS OF THE YEAR 2011 No.16 - THE UNTHANKS, Last
Friday, 16 December 2011
ALBUMS OF THE YEAR 2011 No.17 - WILCO, The Whole Love
Thursday, 15 December 2011
ALBUMS OF THE YEAR 2011 No.18 - DEVOTCHKA, 100 Lovers
Wednesday, 14 December 2011
ALBUMS OF THE YEAR 2011 No.19 - JONATHAN WILSON, Gentle Spirit
The point surely is though, that none of that matters a jot. Just as the current crop of Retro Soul purveyors are following that vintage path because it expresses what they want to do with their music the best, so too an artist like Wilson naturally settles on a period from Rock history when free flowing instrumental excursions, solos and dreamy reflective lyrical tangents were the norm. It’s not limiting because this music feels boundless in its scope. His current workmates are pretty significant too, for people like Andy and Otto of Vetiver (who both feature here) and the Fleet Foxes are amongst the most exciting of America’s current crop of acoustic, Folk-Rock friendly bands. One other flavour that I think comes through quite heavily is Elliott Smith; he’s floating in there somewhere amongst the breathy vocals and melancholy acoustic picking. With this first official debut album (there was an earlier recording in 2007 that didn’t get a proper release) Jonathan Wilson has given us a gift glimmering with the rays of a golden age in music that isn’t for one moment wishing it was 1969. Instead it searches for hope, peace and love in the modern world with the ready acknowledgement that all is not right with the way things are; in doing so he has delivered a wonderful, timeless and extensive piece to cherish forever.
Tuesday, 13 December 2011
ALBUMS OF THE YEAR 2011 No.20 - CAROLINE FAUCHET, Piano
Monday, 12 December 2011
ALBUMS OF THE YEAR 2011
Musically 2011 has often seen more brilliant albums coming out than a mere top 20 countdown can adequately convey. Still my feelings when tuning into almost anything mainstream radio or TV are putting out is invariably despair. I know I'm beating on an old drum with this one, but I can't comprehend what's happening with the blanket use of Autotune on pop records. There's a tune doing the rounds at the moment where a quite lovely Lily Allen vocal is juxtaposed with another Autotune treated voice that for me renders the whole track unlistenable. It's just heartbreaking, you know, because I love a bit of great Pop, I've got no issue with Rap and great Dance music is invariably more life affirmingly joyous than anything the Indie set ever come up with. Yet it's almost as if three or four years ago a private dare went around the worlds recording studios to see who could get away with sprinkling the shittest vocal effect on records before anyone noticed and so far nobody has, and the joke just keeps getting ever more ridiculous. The idea that a top producer could make me a backing track so I enter the studio for five minutes, hung over and nauseous, only able to vomit the word "huey" into a bucket and he could turn that into a workable Autotune treated vocal should only really endure for a couple of minutes on a 'One Show' factual featurette. It shouldn't be the basis on which the entire pop recording industry works around.
Still there has been some great Pop this year with Adele's record being top of that particular tree. Of course it's a traditionalist's formula but how it works; write some great songs and get a great voice to sing them, good production and market it with the music centre stage. I regret that Adele didn't make our Top 20 but I'll rest assured she won't care much! Then there's the other end of the mainstream spectrum; the big money major label release whose dire content is masked by the promotional circus that circles it's every move. That'll be Coldplay then. I know people of the 1960s generation who'll make a blanket decision on whether a new band are any good or not by how much they move on stage. It's that idea of if they're staring at their feet the whole time they're not all that because they've got to concentrate too much whereas if you're jumping around and playing you've got to have a bit about you. I go for the opposite position with Coldplay, I think the more Chris Martin pogos about on stage the more he's over compensating for the lack of creative spark in the content of his music. I've seen Chris Martin do an awful lot of bouncing around on stage this past year. His bands music has an abundance of "whoa oh oah oooh's" floating about, the first calling port for any uninspired stadium band fearing for their reach in the cavernous arenas they're about to spend two years playing to. Oh and lastly, I sincerely wish that indie bands would stop sounding like the 80s Human League or Talk Talk or A Flock Of Seagulls etc etc. This is because the 80s were crap for music; I thought that fact was long established?!
So onto the good stuff. Here are a few that just missed the leaders pack, number 20 in our chart will be revealed tomorrow:
THE BLACK LIPS, Arabia Mountain
TORI AMOS, Night Of Hunters
ZEE AVI, Ghostbird
RANDY NEWMAN, Songbook Vol.2
TRUMMOR & ORGEL, Out Of Bounds
LUCINDA WILLIAMS, Blessed
JONNY, Jonny
BABY WOODROSE, Mindblowing Seeds...
Finally three musical departures left their mark on us this year. One awfully tragic, another sadly inevitable and the third a blessed relief. For Amy Winehouse there's little I can say other than what a terrible loss and a massive blow for 21st Century music. She really should have had a lot more in her, gone too soon doesn't even begin to cover it. With Bert Jansch I've been feeling his absence quite intensely this winter but sad to say, I was shocked by his sunken appearance at this summer's Cambridge Folk Festival playing with Pentangle and feared he may not be long for this world. Then on a more positive note R.E.M. knocked it on the head this Autumn. Did they read my pleading with them to call it a day on this blog and decide enough was enough? I think they might have. The great thing for me though was this; the moment they were no more I could once again enjoy their back catalogue free from the fear that they would keep testing my love for them.