Aural and Visual Delights

The Sandells - In Session on Reformation

2010-02-23T20:19:00.000-08:00

22nd February 2010

1 Cowboys don't have brollies

2 Hell in Heaven

3 The Girl from Iphigenia

4 Jewels #7

Tim Lyons - Bass, Vocals

Johann Kloos - Guitar, Vocals

Brian Benson - Drums

with

Dave Thom - Keyboard

It's not often you get the chance to listen to a band one on one, but I suppose one of the added values of being a DJ is you do get the opportunity to watch musicians at their craft close up as it were.

When Tim Lyons suggested to me that The Sandells would like to do an electric set for the Reformation show my initial reaction was - we can't do that. The studios at Salford City Radio are somewhat limited size wise, and the accepted norm is that we can do Acoustic with maybe one electric instrument. But Tim is a persistent kind of chap and after several e-mails and a visit to the station we decided to go for it.

I'm glad we did.

With Dave Thom from Calvin Party sitting in with the band on this occasion we got the chance to hear The Sandells plus keyboards - which was a bonus and perhaps suggests that a fourth instrument might be a good future direction for the band.

Starting with the epic "Cowboys don't have brollies" the band immediately create a sense of style and drive not normally seen these days. Tim's paean to recording legend Joe Meek is replete with imagery and backed with a soundtrack that Ennio Morricone would die for. The bands motorik approach to rhythm is a huge hook, and the echoes of 60s star John Leyton are their, if you are old enough to remember!

The muscular "Hell in Heaven" is pure kraut-punk - an appellation that I think the band use with some degree of mischief. There's Neu! and Can in here but also a Manchester sound which carries it past all that to something new. With a very catchy riff from Kloos and dynamic drumming from Benson here is a song which is a key part of the live set.

Next up is a bossa nova, with Brian Benson's punning title "The Girl from Iphigenia" (she is the daughter of Agamenon and Clytemnestra). This is a fantastic slower piece, starting with a simple picked riff, which builds into huge wall of phased sound from Johann Kloos's array of pedals. This band know how to write and there is clear form and structure here worth checking out.

Finally the mammoth 8 minute version of "Jewels". Starting off as a rehearsal jam some months ago this has morphed into a fantastic piece of post-rock psychedelia. Again building from a slowly descending guitar/bass figure with chittering percussion sounds into a great wall of sound leading to an echo laden close, with Dave Thom adding layers of Korg to make this a memorable closer to a memorable session.

Watch our for The Sandells they have all the ingredients to create music of great substance.

Moff Skellington - Gliding through Stone

2010-02-19T12:46:00.000-08:00

Uterus Cottage

February 2010

01 Be the you, the best that you are

02 The queue for the brochures

03 The ghost of Peggy Mount

04 Find me on the Map that you Forgot to Bring

05 Under Flying Arches

06 Cut and Cover

07 Twistbitter

08 Catching bees by starlight

09 Onto the Wheels and Hopes

10 Magistrate

11 A Space the Shape of Home for Humble Men

12 Flimsy runs my bones

13 Inside the Laughing Wood

14 A Tense Bracken of Lard

A one off special release in aid of the Haiti earthquake this release can only be sourced direct from Moff via www.bmycharity.com/moffskellington with all proceeds going to UNICEF. Details can be sourced from Moff's My Space Page.

2010 sees Monsieur Skellington in fine fettle - he has lost none of his abstract other worldliness yet he has somehow achieved a recording that might achieve more radio, or other arcane delivery mechanisms like the I-Pod, play. Ironic that this is not an official release, but a special.

After a trilogy of opening Moff classics including the arresting "Ghost of Peggy Mount" (and if you don't know who Peggy is then get on your Wickedpiddler and find out), there is a memorable blues ramble entitled "Find me a map....etc" which feels like a breathless child trying to break through the shell of an egg to indulge in some swaggering delta like activity. The insanely catchy "Under Flying Arches" balances the Moff schema with folk idioms to create a rich confection of joyous abandon. The longest piece on the album it forms an important centre piece to the material around it.

With "Cut and Cover" however we are back into the surreal maelstrom of Moff-world, sounding not unlike something that might emerge from a Eastern European ghetto (if such things still exist) , this dense and mesmeric dance with its memorable sound-bites makes me think of "Waiting for Godot" or something else that might spin from Beckett's pen. "Twistbitter", which is of a similar ilk, is a spoken word piece with aching background sounds which morphs gently into the succulent rhythms of "Catching bees by starlight". In several instances throughout this album I am reminded of the fractured atonalities of The Residents, and at the same time the scattered rhythms of the Sun Ra Arkestra. This instrumental coalesces a range of disparate influences into a lovingly crafted whole.

Listening to Moff always leaves unanswered questions in my head - none more so than with "Onto the wheels and ropes" which makes me think of workmen breaking their backs in the hot sun delivering the industrial revolution through rural landscapes - the questions in my mind are "was this what he really means?".

A Moff album would not be complete without with one of his wonderful waltzes, and the sultry sounds of "Magistrate" describe some grotesque wandering through the mists of one Bramwell Bronte's drug induced dreams. The spring driven "A space the shape...." deals in serial repetition and suggests a direction derived from some mutated trip-hop world (heaven forfend!!) - welcome to Moff's house - take your shoes off and sit down.

The variety on the album is outstanding, eschewing the usual voice manipulation in the most part, the harem sounds of "Flimsy Runs in My Bones" for example offers a variety of musical backgrounds that enhance the rich lyrical dexterity herein.

The last two tracks on the album are compelling closers - the spoken word of "Laughing Wood" a tasty aperitif to the stunning "A tense Bracken of Lard".

As with "Gravy on a plate of food" its immediate temporal predecessor I am once again wordless in my admiration of this unique artist.

Moff Skellington - The Corrosive Norm

2010-02-18T12:32:00.000-08:00

Invisible Girl

14th February 2010

1 Flesh Owned Joy

2 The Company of Sparrows

3 Under the Parish Lantern

4 Tom Brown's Schooldays

5 Trafalgar Ledges

6 Cage of Laughless Feathers

7 Wyndham's Marina

8 Supercigs

9 Old Men dressed as babies

10 Gracie-Doll Effect

11 My House

12 Epinephrine

13 The End of the World

14 Arndale Warden

15 There's nothing like a nice sitdown

The earliest of the Eddodi cycle and in context perhaps the most "experimental" of the suite of Moff Skellington albums. However that's context, and not to say that this is not as listenable in its own unique and refreshing way,as the others. There are perhaps more reference points, well clearer ones at any rate, to folk and blues idioms here, whereas the others evoke some of Moff's listening to other artists. None more so than "Under the Parish Lantern", with its wailing blues harmonica for example.

The opener "Flesh Owned Joy" is a rolling instrumental dominated by the squeeze box and chittering percussive sounds, and sets the scene somewhere in the smoke filled back room of the "Lemur and Hippopotamus" in the distant rural hillocks of Yorkshire. An alien swanee whistle sound gives it away as Moff territory as a mutant blues emerges.

The musical theme continues with the beautiful "Company of Sparrows". The tempo is taken up a pace with the insistent "Tom Brown's Schooldays" which focuses on people with "tallow legs", this morphs into pure psychedelia towards the end leaving this listener wanting more.

There is perhaps more of an introspective, or indeed contemplative, look at life here. I for one would love to meet the "vile pearly gobshite with the scrotum chin". Moff's strength here is his use of language to convey perhaps mundane matters to another place where more thought is given to the stuff of life.

"Cage of Lifeless Feathers" another instrumental, deals in repetition, and grunting/clattering noises, as a harmonica picks out a simple refrain, and evokes a feeling of apprehension tinged with hope - the last 60 seconds or so a unique convulsion of sounds and rhythms. "Wyndham's Marina" is a lurching march - one can imagine large farm yard animals slowly moving in time to this mesmeric rhythm. Chittering insect sounds dance with marimba like tones.

Matters get a tad surreal with the multi-layered voices of "Supercigs", dub echoes and distant whistles, and the reflective "Old Men dressed as babies" continues the Skellington schema of observation and commentary in a doleful tone. This is furthered with a maddening waltz called "Gracie-Doll Effort" which appears to continue the theme of older people. It is here that Moff most closely resembles the work of Don Van Vliet.

"My House" goes somewhere else completely with its distressed harp and guitar sounds, and multilayered and filtered voices. A simple rock rhythm kicks off the dark edges of "Epinephrine" as vocodered vocals take Moff up and down a couple of octaves suggesting what is to come on "Gravy on a plate of food", the rhythm is soon lost to a bubbling passage of disjointed percussive sounds as voices form a soup of aural pleasure.

The mad walking bass of "The End of the World" is a light relief after the proceeding - one cannot help but smile at the joyous levity of this arrangement. The skipping "Arndale Warden" seems to suffer from the vocals perhaps being mixed too low at the start - however it picks up towards the end and the odd couplet of "Daffodills Nil - Antibiotics Five" needs some careful listening.

Matters conclude with the wonderful "There's nothing like a nice sit-down" perhaps the most radio friendly of the pieces.

Of all the Moff albums this is the one that requires the most attention as there a great deal of detail within.

Highly recommended.

Moff Skellington - Blue House & Titty Bottle

2010-02-15T15:17:00.000-08:00

Invisiblegirl

14th February 2010

01 Grind the Piggy Wigs Bones

02 Belly Ache One

03 The Longing to Be Elsewhere

04 Belly Ache Two

05 Are you a Wolf

06 The Money Apple

07 Belly Ache Three

08 Nine Miles Back

09 Fiasco Artiste

10 Belly Ache Four

11 Ball of Gas

12 Spider Mites

13 Thank you Dr Beady

14 Voicemail

15 Belly Ache Five

One of the five albums making up the Eddodi Collection viz 2007's The Corrosive Norm, 2008's Sperm Jingle Harvest, and 2009's Gravy on a plate of Food, together with this release from the same year.

Once again Moff presents a parallel universe somewhere in the north of England where folk motifs mingle with found sounds, filtered voices, and synthesized noises to create a unique aural presentation of continued wonderment.

Uniquely on this occasion a series of shorter pieces labled "Belly Ache" and numbered One to Five, provide short interludes to the main pieces.

There is unique and honest material here. The mutant blues of a "Are you a Wolf" with its wailing harmonica, and insistent rhythm is simply marvellous and far too short. The music platform for the lyrically wonderful "The Money Apple" echoes early Cabaret Voltaire in some sort of strange partnership with Tom Waits.

It is Moff's broad Yorkshire brogue, however, that most evokes a simpler time, and although comparisons are difficult perhaps the work is similar to a Mervyn Peake construct where life is much more basic and pleasant.

The repetition of "Nine Miles Back" has a fascinating Eastern European feel, and the glitchy sounds that precede the rhythmically complex "Fiasco Artiste" are compelling, and remind me of the early work that Mark E.Smith placed before us in the protean days of The Fall. In a world where "billy-cocks wither" and "adrenaline dithers" one can only sit in wonderment at the amount of material that Mr Skellington can produce. All different and all uniquely Moff in its delivery.

The last few songs on the album are some of the best work that have emerged from Moff's fertile mind in this wonderful collection of albums. "Ball of Gas" is uniquely strange with its wailing (alto?) saxophone, chittering percussion, swanee whistle (a fine instrument), and multi-layered vocals. The stand out track of the album for me though is the superb "Spider Mites" - lyrically rich - with a sort of folk-dub aesthetic. "Thank you Dr Beady" is just completely and totally out there in Moff world with no real comparisons available. "Voicemail" is a mad canter which has an insistent post punk feel to it - Pere Ubu perhaps?

This material wipes the floor with most contemporary so called "out there" music. When so much of what I listen to sounds derivative and the same its such a great pleasure to sit and listen to something so compellingly unique.

If you want to escape to altogether more interesting places then you can do so with ease with this marvellous album.

Atlas Sound - Logos

2010-01-25T08:05:00.000-08:00

Kranky/4AD

Released : 20th October 2009

Sometimes I don't know what to think about Bradford Cox.

Sitting and listening to this I am conflicted.

Some of the material is very strong indeed. The rest I am not so sure about. There are strong melodies here and enough variety to ensure you don't reach for the stop switch. However I wonder at the overall pace of the thing which rarely gets above middling. Even on "Shiela" a mid tempo pace there is the sense that the guitars are dragging the thing back.

I'll leave the six track bonus EP to another date - suffice to say there is only so much shoe-gaze (sic) the brain can absorb in one day. The piece comes into its own with the epic "Quick Canal" which certainly gets the pace up and has excellent washes of distant guitar and the sorts of production values that one feels should have applied throughout.

All in all a curates egg but sufficient tidbits therein to allow it onto this blog.

Four Tet - There is love in you

2010-01-25T05:46:00.000-08:00

Domino

Released : 25th January 2010

01 Angel Echoes

02 Love Cry

03 Circling

04 Pablo's Heart

05 Sing

06 This unfolds

07 Reversing

08 Plastic People

09 She just likes to fight

Kieran Hebden's seventh Four Tet album, and the first full length for over four years, proves to be a good listen.

The focus is on serial repetition with layered arpeggiations, and developing elements which add laminal substance. Particularly clever are the liminal bass patterns that shift against the main themes. There is some glitch, especially with the subdued frenzy of "Sing" which bubbles along against an almost pastoral backbeat until a chirpy back-beat enters to give the piece a reason to dance to it.

The use of vocal samples is sparse and good for that. Only only the hypnotic opener "Angel Echoes" is there significant use of voice.

Perhaps the most compelling track is "This unfolds" which has significant post-rock elements. Indeed the marriage of post-rock devices is only perhaps captured as well by Tortoise. The gentle introduction of a number of different elements over a basic repeated figure is memorable. Second to this perhaps is the closer "She Likes to Fight" whose elegiac guitar echoes "Explosions in the Sky" but without the Texan's sturm and drang.

All in all a good album to get hold of and chill out to. Reviews elsewhere have been less complimentary, I suggest considered listening pays dividends.

Moff Skellington - Sperm Jingle Harvest

2010-01-22T07:00:00.000-08:00

Invisiblegirl

Released : 14th February 2010

01 Crawling

02 Uncle Bill

03 Chimney Stack Builder

04 When the Moon Hatches

05 The Obfuscator

06 Marley Chain

07 Reversing the Dosage

08 Waiting for the Hedgemakers to seal me in

09 A season of sweating and farting

10 Mackintosh lady

11 Fleeing Machines

12 Unfathomable Deity

13 Navvy Work

14 Tunnel Thinking

15 Waltz of the Navvy Mood

16 A charm to keep them safe from superstition

17 Wall-Eyed Lady Thwarts

18 Good Morning Mr Well-Beloved

Part of the series of five releases of the Eddodi Saga, by "folk poet" Moff , one written last Summer (A Book Of Fretful Chums) and the other three from previous years; 2007 (The Corrosive Norm), 2009 (Blue House And Titty Bottle), and last years already released"Gravy on a plate of food" and finally this one in 2008.

Folk idioms taken to places of surreal endeavour.

Tales of another world slightly to the left and a few inches above of our own grey existence.

As usual Moff does not disappoint with a wide variety of material. And you have to take this in small doses, as it is so good, save you will miss one of the complex interactions between words, and music.

That there is no other artist remotely like this one in the current pile of CDs/MP3s that I have to review before me makes me extremely happy. To have this confection in the menu means I have a wonderful dessert I can keep going back to and enjoying again and again, away from the mundane and predictable.

It is difficult to single out any one track as the variety in the work is significant but there are the usual themes of bodily functions, grotesques who prowl the streets, and Moff's other particular objects of investigation.If you push me though, the outstanding "Navvy Work" is an immediate toe-tapper and the best piece on the album - a relentless folk march with fantastic lyrics and a sea shanty feel that also manages to sound vaguely Russian. This is followed, as part of a trilogy, with "Tunnel Thinking", which includes many elements of the previous song with a spoken word dialogue. The final part of the trilogy is a manic waltz which leaves this listener open mouthed at the juxtaposition of words, music, and chittering sounds.

Unique and compelling music that defies categorisation.

Danny Short - Beyond the Numbers

2010-01-22T06:34:00.000-08:00

Invisiblegirl

Released : 14th February 2009

01 Make me happy

02 Monuments and Statues

03 Apologies

04 It is discovered

05 Midnight Snowfall

06 Beyond the Numbers

Danny follows up his debut album (Collected Times) on Invisiblegirl with an EP. Another eclectic mix of pop, balladry, and neo-psyche-prog. Rich textures of guitars and voices again dominate the mix.

The opening "Make me happy" is unapologetically up-beat with a great verse and even better chorus. Dan throws us a curve ball with some quirkly banjo and some "found sounds" at the end but this is a classic tune and deserves the widest possible audience.

The epic "Monuments and Statues" revolves around a simple descending four note structure however layers of searing guitars create an epic soundscape. Probably the most progressive piece on the EP.

The power pop of "Apologies" has a great driven feel, unfortunately not radio friendly, but capable of getting most jaded lotus eaters of their feet to do the frug.

"It is discovered is" the type of pastoral ballad that Mr Short excels at, I'm reminded of the beautiful songs that Grant McLennan created for The Go-Betweens with "Foxtrot" era Genesis, added in to create what for me is a highlight in release full of gems. Very more-ish.

"Midnight Snowfall" continues the theme and echoes some of the material on Collected Times. An elegiac piece with delicate keyboard sounds, washes of synth and ethereal vocalisations.

The closer "Beyond the Numbers" is a wonderful piece of spacey psychedelia, with drones, and other glitchy sounds rattling away under heavily echoed vocals. This can be downloaded as a taster from the Invisiblegirl web-pages http://www.invisiblegirl.co.uk/news.html

Wonderous......Another fantastic release for Mr Short and Invisiblegirl records.

Fall Fan Dave and the Lap Top Dancers - Mind Carved Canoe

2010-01-22T01:34:00.000-08:00

Invisiblegirl

Released 14th February 2010

01 Go Getter

02 Yesterday I had scrambled eggs

03 The Five Rule

04 Martian Cobblestones

05 The Sky at Night

06 Captain Fidget

07 Master of the Hunt

08 Sensitive Soul

09 As soon as it comes

10 Fall out with your Boss

11 Ironclad

12 Lying on the Beach of Apathy

13 Magic Kettle

14 Stony Crabapple Lay

15 Party of Life

16 Poker in the Joker

17 Storyville

18 Give it a Mention

19 Maniacs Do

20 Mumbai Rock n Roll

21 Teddy Bear Volcano

22 Oh Liberty

23 Tit for Tat

24 Last of The Great Pretenders

25 Prison (I feel free)

As someone has followed Dave Bromwich's music on My Space for a number of years and marvelled at his ability to create musical masterpieces with just Fruity Loops and "a cheap microphone" I am not suprised by the quality and depth of his first signed release "Mind Carved Canoe" (Invisiblegirl).

His partnership with Ian Harber has created a fantastic album of new songs. From the opening growling synth of "Go Getter" with its insanely catchy melody, and astute lyrics you are hooked. The big band feel and jerky rhythms of "Five Rule" is a mixture of spoken word and Dave's rich voice which is compelling. It's the use of non-traditional rhythms and the layers of synthesized sounds coupled with lyrics that make you listen - for example the manic xylophone sound on "The Sky at Night" shouldn't work, but it does.

Any number of influences leap out of the sound-scape to combine forming something rather new here. The use of shorter form pieces to link the longer tracks is extremely clever as you are drawn into a place only to be mind flipped into somewhere else almost immediately. The nuances of progressive, and garage music are here, as is street wise wordplay that tumbles into memorable hooks. However it is the astute use of electronica that makes the album so refreshing and relevant. That Dave Bromwich has a great voice has never been in doubt, that he is has now managed to capture it at its compelling best is a testament to the quality of this release. That the duo are able to take a musical form which has been overused and sanitised and convert it into a unique musical artefact is a testament to the artistry of Bromwich and Harber. If you aren't smiling at the end of the manic "Teddy Bear Volcano" then there is something seriously wrong with you!

I know comparisions are odious, and probably lazy, but if I was to venture that this is this decades "Trout Mask Replica" then I guess I would not be over-selling it.

As my colleague Tony Thornborough says "Give your mind a rest and your ears a test" - you deserve it.

Esbjörn Svensson Trio - From Gagarin's Point Of View

2009-06-13T14:00:00.000-07:00

1st October, 1999
ACT

01 Dating
02 Picnic
03 The Chapel
04 Dodge The Dodo
05 From Gagarin's Point Of View
06 The Return Of Mohammed
07 Cornette
08 In The Face Of Day
09 Subway
10 Definition Of A Dog
11 Southwest Loner

The consummate piano trio for the new millenium, whose work was tragically curt short by the early death, aged 44, of the leader in an unfortunate accident.

This was their first album for major lable ACT. For the listener this is almost like a complete club set with the tunes morphing into one another with apparent ease. Svensson lyricism and eye for a melody emerges with the refrain of the jaunty "Picnic" and the deliberate and delicate "The Chapel". Throughout the exemplary rhythm section of Magnus Ostrom (drums) and Dan Berglund (Bass) and light and shade to the explorations of Svennson who plays both acoustic piano and synthesizers.

The funk gets going with the excellent "Dodge the Dodo" a driving beat with a lyrical piano figure that has a great tension and release created by the structure of the piece. Berglunds sonic excursions on the bass are compelling and Ostrom provides surging polyrhythms.

Short wave radio sounds zero into the album's title track a beautiful melody over a leisurely beat where alien sounds create tension and release. "The return of Mohammed" features another great set of melodies over a mid-tempo shuffle, some fleet playing from Svensson creates a sense of joy and freedom over. This is further demonstrated on the manic "Cornette" which appears to be a paean to the harmolodics of Ornette Coleman with its brisk flurries of notes and skitterish structure....Esbjorn gets into Bud Powell territory here with some intense playing.

The lengthy "In the face of day" is perhaps the most introspective piece on the album slowly developing to a sad ballad. The shorter "Subway" is equally down beat with sonorous doulful bowed bass taking the lead. Matters pick up for the mid tempo "Definition of a Dog" with its extended melody/riff tracking over several bars to create a convoluted/complex structure which feels free in parts.

The closing "Southwest loner" is aptly titled a slow reflective piece which ends abruptly.

Whilst not a 100% classic throughout this album features some of ESTs most memorable melodies coupled with exquisite and impossibly tight playing.

Sunn 0))) - Monoliths & Dimensions

2009-06-13T12:54:00.000-07:00

May 26th, 2009
Southern Lord

01 Aghartha
02 Big Church [megszentségteleníthetetlenségeskedéseitekért]
03 Hunting & Gathering (Cydonia)
04 Alice

Doom Metal?

Yes, and well, no.

Thanks to Stuart Estell's recommendation/exhortations I had the sense to purchase this album. OK so you need to work your way through about 5 minutes of searing guitar noise at the beginning of "Aghartha", but hopefully you will use that time to abandon any preconceptions about what this is going to be like.

Stephen O'Malley and Greg Anderson employ their usual drone rock but in this album holds a whole new range of sonic variations are in place including chittering noises, synthesizers, strings, a women's choir, French Horns and some exemplary jazz trombone. Oren Ambarchi is essentially a third guitar from the bulk of the album

The use of a wide range of additional musicians is a new departure for Sunn. Vocalist Attila Csihar, is essentially a fourth member for this outing with lengthy guttural (evocative) perorations. Amongst many others, Earth's Dylan Carlson; trombonists Julian Priester and Stuart Dempster; trumpeter Cuong Vu, multi-instrumentalist Steve Moore and viola player Eyvind Kang all add depth to the material.

"Big Church" is the revelation of the album. A female choir, four electric guitars, throat singing from Csihar and synthesisers all meld together into something which is more Ligeti than Iommi. The Cageian silence, a tolling bell and then distorted guitars interspersed with the choir are moving.

"Hunting & Gathering (Cydonia)," starts with constipated guitars and slowly around layers and layers of sound into an epic journey of soundtrack proportions. Perhaps the most Sunn like thing on the album.

The closing "Alice," with trombone, woodwind, reeds, found sounds, and the trade mark guitars, is an "In a silent way" for the 21st Century. A huge canvas creates the new avant-garde as this listener is slowly taken from doom metal drones, through Arvo Part, and to something derived from Miles Davis's sonic excursions in Osaka in 1975 (but without the funky back beat). Guitars and horns surge creating tension which is close to operatic in its delivery. About ten minutes in the solo trombone picks out a careful tender melody which floats over the guitar barrage like Miles floated over McLaughlin in 1969. The guitars subside and keyboards pick out simple phrases and shards of metallic sound provide a distant backdrop. Priester starts a slow improvisation and a whole new soundscape emerges with harp and trombone drawing matters to a close.

This is a revelation of an album and takes this music to somewhere completely new.

Sigur Rós - Með Suð í Eyrum Við Spilum Endalaust

2009-06-13T08:24:00.000-07:00

2008

Beggars Banquet

01 Gobbledigook
02 Inní Mér Syngur Vitleysingur
03 Góðan Daginn
04 Við Spilum Endalaust
05 Festival
06 Suð í Eyrum
07 ára Bátur
08 Illgresi
09 Fljótavík
10 Straumnes
11 All Alright

In which Icelandic post prog monsters go pop.

A delightful confection of pop oriented tunes which the occasional e-bow guitar, mellotron, angelic choirs occasional slip through betryaing past releases.

The title means "With a buzz in our ears we play endlessly" which perhaps describes the cathedral like ambience of their previous albums and not this generally low key selection. The album has a real "live" in the studio feel with little of the reverb/echo the band have traditionally used.

Stand out tracks are the catchy "Inní Mér Syngur Vitleysingur" and the indie-pop stylings of "Við Spilum Endalaust" - the rest is the usual fayre although the album tends to tail off towards the end.

Traffic - John Barleycorn must die

2009-06-13T07:25:00.000-07:00

1969
Island Records

1. Glad
2. Freedom Rider
3. Empty Pages
4. I just want to know
5. Stranger to Himself
6. John Barleycorn (must die)
7. Every Mothers Son
8. Sittin' Here Thinkin' Of My Love
9. Backstage and Introduction (Live)
10. Who knows what tomorrow may bring (Live)
11. Glad (Live)

Tracks 9-11 from Fillmore East NYC 18/19 November 1970

With Traffic reduced to the trio of Steve Winwood, Chris Wood, and Jim Capaldi, the question at the time was what could they produce to develop from the prior works of the band. The answer - a classic. One of the major albums of the early seventies with Winwood's blue eyed soul mixing with a progressive jazz/rock feel, but also capturing the blues at their most basic level.

Of necessity Winwoods keyboards, and Woods horns dominate the proceedings with the Hammond Organ taking the lead and rhythm.

The album is stuffed with classics including the opening instrumental "Glad" which is a rich cocktail of styles and influences, the exceptional pairing of "Freedom Rider" and "Empty Pages" are songs that would grace any performance with thier eloquence and melodic content.

The guitar is used sparingly on the oddly short "I just want you to know", and with more effect on the bluesy "Stranger to himself" both jammed full of soul.

How odd then, in the context of what has gone before, that the title track introduces a folk motif with Winwood's take on the traditional song. Wood's flute carries an improvisational edge which takes it beyond the idiom but this is taken fairly straight, with the percussion at a minimum.

After this diversion the classic "Every Mother's Son" with its achingly good slide guitar signature is the highlight of the album, perhaps best capturing the prevalent music scene at the turn of the decade with its nod to the other side of the Atlantic, not in any way signalling the prog-madness that would descend on the nation over the next few years. The interplay between the group here is exceptional.

The concluding track on the original album is the reflective "Sittin' here thinkin' of my love" which is perhaps is the least satisfying song on the album and a feeling that Winwood is over-singing. It has a sort of Beatles feel about it (McCartney rather than Lennon) and does not seem to fit with the rest of the material.

The Island remasters version of the Album has three extra tracks one of which is a gratuitous backstage recording. Ric Gresch joins on bass and drums for the weak "Who knows what tomorrow may bring" which lacks any real sense of purpose. The horns are mixed ridiculously high which detract from pleasurable listening. Far better is a live version of the album opener "Glad" which has a superior mix.

The original is 90% there as a classic album from the 70s - the CD extras are mostly disposable in the context of the original.

Sonic Youth - The Eternal

2009-06-10T03:07:00.000-07:00

8th June 2009
Matador

1 Sacred Trickster
2 Anti-Orgasm
3 Leaky Lifeboat (for Gregory Corso)
4 Antenna
5 What We Know
6 Calming the Snake
7 Poison Arrow
8 Malibu Gas Station
9 Thunderclap for Bobby Pyn
10 No Way
11 Walkin Blue
12 Massage the History

First album with new bassist Mark Ibold, returning to the three guitar attack line-up, and a bloomin' good job too as this is Sonic Youth at its best. And what I mean by that is when the band use the guitars to full effect to bring out the dynamic and melody of their songs then something special occurs.

My stand-out album from the band in the last decade is the memorable "Murray Street" so I always - perhaps somewhat unfairly - use that album as some sort of litmus test. So, how does it compare? Very well in fact.

Matters start well with "Sacred Trickster" a Kim Gordon vocal over trademark riffing of the highest order - a statement of intent, perhaps. Thurston and Kim share vocals on the polemic "Anti-Orgasm" - a not untypical SY structure and fine for that. "Leaky Lifeboat" is Lee with Kim on la-la-la backing vocal - perhaps the poppiest tune on the disc.

Matters are then taken up a gear or two with the sublime "Antenna" and brash, and yet, melodic Thurston focused song. Layers of guitars and guitar sounds drive a head shakingly memorable laconic song around radio's and things. Lee's "What we know" - seen recently on Joolz H*lland - is a pile-driving noisy thing and features some intense guitar abuse that only this band can deliver with any degree of quality. When the sound drops away to bass and drums and the band kick back in you really do a get a sense of the power of this band to deliver those layers of guitar noise in infinitely clever ways.

"Calming the snake" is similarly challenging - a simply bass-drum intro gets invaded by shed loads of interlocking guitar noise. Kim's vocal is suitably sexy in a sort of scary way and the last minute or so is a sublime celebration of noise and the power of the chord. "Poison Arrow" is more of the same with Thurston sounding a tad Dylanesque, and Kim doubling on the chorus. The signature riff/high note figure/staccato chord structure is so familiar but also sounds so new in this context.

"Malibu Gas Station" slows things down to sort of pastoral level with an opening set of guitar figures and then kicks into a mid-tempo pop song - there is a lot of hard chording here which doubles up with Steve's driving drum work. Kim sings and there is a real motorik feel to this.
"Thunderclap for Bobby Pyn" is a suitably manic hommage to Darby Crash and if anything reinforces my only complaint about the album which is that Steve Shelley is mixed a tad to low in places.

Back to pop-rock land with a "No Way" but there is a signal of perhaps a change to new schema - dextrous guitar work and some clever variations in form and structure. Alien guitar sounds introduce "Walkin' Blue" - perhaps the most complete and compelling song on the album. Matters conclude with the lengthy "Massage the History" - a medium tempo piece which is comparable to Murray Street's "Rain on Tin" with its shifts in structure and tension and release. Breathy Kim Gordon vocals move from seductive requests to some stark observations about the state of the world. The understated end leaves this listener with the question where next for this group of talented musicians?

All in all a worthy piece of work with some evidence of a potential shift in direction if some of the more challenging parts of this album are developed further.

Ill Ease - The Exorcist

2009-06-09T10:29:00.000-07:00

2nd February 2004
Too Pure

01 Jersey O Matic
02 Winter In Hell
03 You Know You Make Me Wanna Hate You
04 The Skank
05 Malfunction Junction
06 Junkie Go Home
07 You Look Like Hell
08 Walking Catastrophe
09 Boss Mayor

I'm listening to the original album here and not the bonus version with the five additional tracks.

Elisabeth Sharp's fourth, but first album on a more established lable, is more of the same, with percussion taking the lead and the laid back street scape lyrics not far behind. There is something uncomfortably compelling about this music which melds para jazz-prog riffs, chittering drums and garage guitar with delicate almost wistful delivery. This is not a pop record, there are too many non-standard rhythms and the guitar is mixed high in a garage sense, and the material is decidely noir in content.

If I was being pointed I would say only the New York scene can produce this sort of nervous jerky material. The overt sexual nature of the material might alienate some.

Martial Solal & Dave Douglas - Rue De Seine

2009-06-09T09:57:00.000-07:00

3rd April 2006
Cam Jazz CAMJ 7780-2

01 July Shower 05:24
02 Blues To Steve Lacy 05:56
03 34 Bars Blues 05:12
04 For Suzannah 03:27
05 Fast Ballad 03:45
06 Elk's Club 05:08
07 Have You Met Miss Jones 04:28
08 Body And Soul 05:20
09 Here's That Rainy Day 03:20
10 All The Things You Are 06:35

Described elsewhere as a complex dialogue between the two artists. The first six tracks are Solal and then Douglas tunes respectively. It's interesting to hear material that DD tends to perform through his Jazz Standard quintet to deliver, in this stripped down duo setting.

A particular favourite here is the trio of "For Suzannah" (the descending motif and the familiar horn parts taken in a revolving reading of rich chords and then individual notes by Solal as a solo piece), the brisk "Fast Ballad" (a rich cornucopia of urgent trumpet and restless piano), and the quirky "Elk's Club" where Douglas deploys the mute in a sensuous blues intercut with cartoon soundtrack bridges which fly off in all directions.

The remaining four numbers are jazz standards including, of course, Rigby's ballad to the lost love of his life. The inevitable comparisons emerge with something as known as "Body and Soul" however there is significant reconstruction and re-interpretation to give this version enough legs of it's own to stand on.

Simply put two masters of their instruments locked in an interweaving conversation.

Danny Short - Collected Times

2009-06-08T08:18:00.000-07:00

May 2009
Invisiblegirl Records

1 Dee
2 On The Ceiling
3 Leaving The City
4 Asleep
5 Stranger In The Snow
6 Dream
7 To Be Different
8 People On The Hilltop
9 This Year Is Ours
10 An Idea
11 Just Before You Disappear
12 Truth Made A Man Of Me

The debut solo release from Horwich's (it's near Bolton) multi-instrumentalist and all round talented guy Danny Short. The ex Big Arm drummer has put together a history of his song writing demonstrating an eclectic mix of pure pop, post punk,para-prog and experimental.

All recorded at a home studio this album is a fantastic musical journey.

The opening "Dee" a piece of pure pop synthesizing the collective mores of UK pop into a bundle of pure fun with intelligent introspective lyrics. The following "On the ceiling" taken at a guttural key that Danny seems to struggle with initially but transforms into a gentle pop classic. Matters then turn into something rather special - the evocative "Leave the City" - reminds one of pre-prog classics seen on the first Genesis albums, or the long forgotten Gnidrolog (whose classic album "In spite of Harry's toenail" I must dig out and review). This is a superb piece of writing and playing where banjo's dance with hard core guitar into a maelstrom of Hugh Banton like organ runs redolent of the seminal "Aerosol Grey Machine" album - Lindisfarne meets Van Der Graaf Generator. Breath-taking.

"Asleep" a simple picked guitar leads into martial driven grandeur - a distillation of a range of inlfuences which gestates into something new - post prog meets post punk into a glorious celebration of noise. Sort of Porcupine Tree with attitude and without too much flummery. Similar picking leads to the elegiac "Strangers in the Snow" a haunting graceful tune built around a simple melody with flocks of alien noises floating overhead. This trilogy of wonder is completed by the achingly beautiful "Dream" - a song that leaves you wanting much more.

Matters get a tad "Fall" like and Danny gets his pub-rock head on with a riff sort of borrowed from "Mountain Energie" that morphs into a real good time number.....Julia should release this as a single and test the market - we need some decent music in the charts! Joyous.

The pastoral stuff returns with "People on the Hilltop" which has an early Barclay James Harvest feel - a beautiful tune with great production values. Danny chucks in some alien sounds which add value and this is a tempting little hors d'ouevre to the remaining four tracks on the album.

"This year is ours" descending arpeggios, lush vocals, shimmering chords, choirs of ethereal voices, slithering sounds - a fantastically structured song. "An Idea" a slovenly, slutty riff of a thing with enough repressed sexual tension to driven one of Fred Dibnah's steam engines. The nub of this, and the album as a whole is Danny's chord progressions which are always on the button and call to mind past classics without apeing them. "Just before you disappear" is simple picked guitar with whispered vocals - there is a real 60s feel to this, also a real 70s and 80s and 90s feel. This artist seems to be be able to capture the best of each decade and translate it into something modern. This chronotransduction is simple but extremely effective. Muttered sounds and echo chamber dub with quirky sounds finish the song.

Matters conclude with a throbbing, pulsing post techno number "Truth made a man of me" - Short is buried deep in a pulsating sound mix of clashing synthesis - the Reid Brothers without the guitars.

I am not sure that I will hear anything as eclectic, and the same time as so relevant and consistently well put together this year.