Parliament's in session - APTBS; Kill It Kid; William Grant Conspiracy; We Were Promised Jetpacks

A Place to Bury Strangers - Exploding Head - kkkk

For Long Island teenagers in 1994 there were few stories more oft repeated, at least in the circle in which I ran, than the tale of the demise of My Bloody Valentine. And when I say “circle in which I ran” I actually mean the circle in which I walked very slowly, smoking Parliaments on my way to some sort of diner. In between talking about what Ira and Georgia, the married and infinitely cool pair of Yo La Tengo might be doing at any moment and speculating how cool we would have to become to match them, we told and retold the story of My Bloody Valentine.

In terms of urban legend, we felt this one had it all; spectacular Kevin Shields, enigmatic (to us) and somewhat reclusive, making one hot and heavy album and destroying himself physically and financially in the process. At least, that’s the way we told it and whether or not that is actually what happened is something that never mattered to us. And the moral of the story was the album itself, broody and poignant with tons of feedback and unintelligible vocals – perfect adolescent fodder.

It all came flooding back this week as I listened to the first instalment of my Rough Trade album club which finally arrived despite the postal strike. A Place to Bury Strangers’ (APTBS) Exploding Head could have come out in 1994 and could have been produced by Kevin Shields and could have fit in nicely with our inane natter of that time. Things that I love about this band: frontman Oliver Ackermann also founded Death by Audio, the special effects pedal company that supplies, well yes actually, My Bloody Valentine among others, a Brooklyn based company whose space also functions as a venue for the likes of Thurston Moore. Unsurprisingly then, the band hails from that same neck of Brooklyn. They’ve supported NIN, the Jesus and Mary Chain and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club all of whom seem to have rubbed off on them. And they’ve been making waves since 2006 but I’ll forgive myself for not knowing them sooner as they didn’t really splash out in the UK until they supported MGMT on tour last year. Exploding Head is their second studio effort and hey now most importantly, it’s super.

This is relentless wall of sound at its best, exploding (yes it’s true) from the second dot through to completion.If I have any criticism of this album, it’s merely that the songs don’t tend to stand out as individuals. Rather they form a sort of impression of a Williamsburg loft party (deeply bourgeois and unfashionable that statement may be, but it’s still very true), all noise and crunchiness, guitars and drums and droney vocals. But that is the very reason I like this album. It’s complete and listen-straight-through. As a result, I recognise that it will likely slot into the same space that MBV fits into in my music head – that is, I will listen to this album for years, discussing how much I like it and about the band that made it without ever really being aware of it. It will soundtrack my parties, my breakfasts, my workouts, my rare nights out and yet it will never make a firm impression on me beyond the fact that I like it.

I will say that the title track has such 1980’s Cure guitar (think “Killing and Arab”) that I did stop momentarily to take notice. And though the rest of the songs are really cut from the same 1990’s black hoodie, that works for this kind of music. The album is well-produced and a pleasure to listen to. And I don’t think it broke Oliver Ackermann in the process. He seems to be doing very well actually and making pedals for U2 apparently. kkkk

ITunes free download of the week – “Burst its Banks” by Kill It Kid

Can you say John Spencer Blues Explosion? I sure can and apparently, so can Kill It Kid. I say this without apology for making yet another 1990s reference to better understand the music of 2009 because the influence is really obvious. There are also tones of the Mid-West and Patrick Wolf as well as a taste of Antony and the Johnsons. The result is what would happen if John Spencer had actually understood the art of dynamics – loud and soft, darling. As the song actually says, “High, low. Fast, slow.” kkkk

Recommendations from Greg and John – William Grant Conspriacy and We Were Promised Jetpacks

One of my hubby’s partners suggested I go back to my roots as I had somehow missed out on William Grant Conspiracy back in the day. Now having gone back to listen, I know why; I basically ignored the Tom Waitts, Leonard Cohen, Tindersticks genre until boyfriends various and sundry made me listen to them in college.Though I hear some songs from these bands and have real fondness for them (Tindersticks “Travelling Light” springs to mind), I would be unlikely to go to their gigs, save Cohen as I have come to really love him over the years. I think William Grant Conspiracy is likely to be something I will trot out at a dinner party as it sounds nice. But I don’t think I’ll ever put it on while I’m having a quiet bath with a glass of wine. It’s too morose and it didn’t grab me at the time in my life when that was the only emotion I could tap into. I now prefer more joyful distractions. kkk

We Were Promised Jetpacks are, in my opinion, a more joyful distraction. Soulful shouting passes for vocals (even shouted harmonies!) and the frenetic guitars even do the Jawbreaker thing of going all chukka chukka at prime moments (they do this in “Quiet Little Voices”). I like these guys very much and need to listen more before I can pass judgement but once again I think I’m going to try to get to them live as they seem great. The best bit is that they sound all SoCal until you get to the pared back vocals without much accompaniment (like in “Ships With Holes Will Sink”) when their broad Glaswegian accents burst through the drum beats. And, free stuff alert: you can stream their music for free on their myspace page (http://www.myspace.com/wewerepromisedjetpacks). I’m doing so right now. kkkk

Pooplosions and other tales... Echo and the Bunnymen; The Drums

If anyone reads these posts, apologies for the delay in today’s post.  I was sidetracked by poop and screaming, a recurring theme in my days of late. 

The Fountain – Echo and the Bunnymen - 

I know, I know.  I said no more old bands making new records.  But it was a piecrust promise, made to be broken. And who can blame me when Echo and the Bunnymen, according to Ian McCulloch, have just released “the best [album they’ve] made, apart from Ocean Rain."

After a tragic autumn which saw keyboardist Jake Brockman killed in a motorcycle collision, Echo’s 11^th studio effort has been released to sweet whoops and self-indulgent wallows from their many fans.  I’ll tell you right now, I’m leading the charge on the former.

The album hooks immediately with the first track “Think I Need it Too.”  It has all the loveliness of original Echo and has the power to transport the listener to the age of John Hughes within the first few bars.  The pace is matched with “Forgotten Fields” and then the Bunnies up their game with “Do you Know Who I Am?” a track that well and truly rockets the band into the 21^st century with power chords and driven vocals worthy of the Killers thanks to guitarist Will Sergeant.  “Shroud of Turn” isn’t going to win any prizes in terms of depth, but it doesn’t need to as it’s driving music, pure and simple, the kind of music you want to listen to with the windows down. On the other hand, Chris Martin’s help on the title track lends more than name-power; it’s well-written and well-produced though by no means the highpoint of a well-rounded, primetime effort. 

Really I just think this is an excellent, listen-all-the-way-through album.  In terms of the critics, from what I’ve read, it’s been a mixed bag though I can’t see why.  The most sensible I’ve heard is that Fountain sounds like a debut album and I can really see why.  It has all the vibrancy of a new outfit but is further enhanced by a band that knows what it’s about and isn’t afraid to flaunt it.  Namely, McCulloch is back on fine vocal form, broody and full-bodied. One reviewer’s comparison of him to Richard Hawley is right on the money.  The keyboards, which one feels compelled to really pay attention to given the untimely death of Brockman, are bigger and more obviously featured on tracks “Proxy” and “The Idolness of Gods” and lend a rich, grownup feel to the proceedings.

So yes, it’s an album by a band that’s been around as long as I’ve been on the planet but this is new music at its finest.  Run to buy this album.  kkkkk

I got sidetracked this week by vintage Deathcab for Cutie and have been listening to Transatlanticism all week.  Look for a bumper reader rec next week.

ITunes free download of the week – “Let’s Go Surfing,” The Drums – 

Why isn’t there more whistling in pop music?  I mean really.  As a person who struggles to whistle in tune, I am eternally impressed by people who can not only whistle but make it a nice experience for the listener.  The Drums have heard my cry and have provided a simple little ditty with not only whistling but also a fab nod to a childhood handgame, “Down down baby, down by the rollercoaster.”  I defy anyone to listen to this song and remain grumpy. Though saying that, there’s not a lot to it and I had to repeatedly go back to the song title as I kept forgetting it as soon as I heard it.  To this I apply the dreaded phrase – it’s nice. kkk 

Windsock it to me... Euros Childs; Lou Barlow; Japandroids; Mumford & Sons

Son of Euro Child – Euros Childs - kkkk 1/2

In 1998, a friend of a friend made me a mix tape.  He declared himself to be a concrete poet (that’s the kind where they write things in shapes – like a poem about frogs written to look like a frog) and he always wore a silk cravat with blue jeans (not in an ironic way, mind, but just because he did).  When he walked, I remember him flouncing and I’m pretty sure he was responsible for the night we went to the party with the windsock installation. He slept with Buddhist monks and television personalities.  He spoke in verse.  He looked a bit like Oscar Wilde meets Hollywood from Mannequin.  Hopefully that has painted a basic picture.

Anyway, this guy, let’s call him Francis, Francis decided at some point to make me a mix tape.  The cover had a picture of people dancing at a Bar Mitzvah.  And most of the music on the tape was so esoteric that it was almost unlistenable save a Glen Campbell song, one by Leonard Cohen and this rare Echo and the Bunnymen.  I remember how upset he was when I mentioned I had previously heard and liked the Echo song as apparently the whole point of the tape was to be completely esoteric, unknown and unlistenable.

Anyway listening to the new Euros Childs (yes that is really his name – take that Francis – and if you can pronounce it correctly, you get double points) album reminded me of the first time I listened to that mix tape.  At first, you’re greeted with HAL generated bee-da-ba-boo noises which somehow become what can only be described as circus music.  The tracks are incredibly varied and in places, so downright opposed to one another that it’s sometimes difficult to see how the album could have been made by the same artist. “gently all around” sounds like Hefner; “how do you do” is George Harrison meets the Cars; “look at my boots” is strangely like the Who.  But though the Beatley vocals create the only discernable through-line, it all seems to hold together quite nicely.  My only real criticism is that there are definite moments where Childs sounds like Phish.

Most people know Childs as the frontman of Gorky's Zygotic Mynci though I confess that other than that, I pretty much knew nothing of him at all until I listened to this album.  Now here’s the thing.  I will be completely honest and say that there is no way I would have bought this album because not only did I know nothing about Childs but more importantly, the initial listen would have put me off.  But as luck would have it, I didn’t have to buy it as Childs made it available to all his fans for free.  It’s an interesting juxtaposition as without signing on to his webpage to become a fan, you can’t have the album for free so I was officially a fan before having ever heard a note.  But though I was perfectly prepared to write it off once I heard the circus music, it is surprisingly listenable.  In terms of the comparisons, I feel about it the same way I felt about Hefner’s We Love the City.  It seems like something critics will like without appealing to listeners, except that upon closer inspection and given a bit of time, it is surprisingly listenable.  So much so that I have found myself listening to it on a loop this week.  Highlights include the very funny “look at my boots” seemingly about people from Hoxton (my interpretation, not his) and “carrboro.”  Anyway I highly recommend that you become a fan and give it a listen as in places, it smarts of understated excellence, something Francis could never hope to achieve.  ****1/2

Goodnight Unknown – Lou Barlow - kkkk

And though I hadn’t planned on reviewing it, I can’t help but note: who would have thunk it?  My hero, Mr. Lou Barlow of the wonderful Sebadoh and the beloved if not lovely Dinosaur Jr has released a new album.  Ah so sweet.  This is much more the former than the latter; it is like finding a timecapsule sealed in Sebadoh’s heyday. 

The songs on Goodnight Unknown are more mature, certainly, but don’t come across as bitter or disappointed nor do they cross into the I’m-a-parent-so-I-understand-the-world realm (erhem Liz Phair).  They find their centre in the bittersweet with such roses as “The One I Call” (my favourite) and “I’m Thinking.” Strangely Barlow sounds very much like Bob Mould circa Sugar on the track “The Right” but the title track and “One Machine, One Long Fight” are back to the basic Sebadoh sound of fuzzy guitars and grouchy toned lyrics.

Though essentially a non-singer in terms of vocal training, few vocalists have the depth and soul Barlow can convey in a few sweet notes.  Worth every penny and moment spent.  Four stars.

Recommendation from Ron – Japandroids - kkk 1/2

If anyone remembers the energy of the earlier Jawbox stuff, Japandroids has captured it.  From the first few riffs of “The Boys are Leaving Town,” to the height of fuzz-box and hot drums on the intro to “Sovereignty,” they basically had me at hello.   Though the vocals are kind of basic neo-punkrock boy, the music itself elevates the whole to higher ground.  I’d be interested to learn more about these guys as their drums are mixed at a particularly high volume compared to the rest of the music.  I wonder if that was intentional.  But whether it was or not, it works.  The music is loud but not unpleasantly so and very few recent punky bands have good enough drums to merit a showcase.

I’d like to see these guys live because I’m guessing it would be pretty volatile.  They sound like a live band trapped within the confines of an album.  I’d like to set them free and see what they can do.  They have conveniently set up a whole slew of London shows  - 27.10.09, 21:00 at Madame JoJos; 28.10.09, 19:00 at Rough Trade East; 29.10.09, 21:00 Hoxton Square; 30.10.09, 21:00 Barfly – anyone want to go?  Probably Barfly for me. Three stars

The iTunes free download of the week – “Sigh No More” by Mumford & Sons – kkk 1/2

With songs in the vein of Sufjan Stevens, Mumford & Sons is a good outfit and “Sigh No More” has lovely smooth harmonies coupled with a super build and good use of banjo.  I read one review that got huffy at their God-speak and preachy tone, but I’ve always been of the opinion that music should be about that which you are passionate.  While I am not religious, if Mumford & Sons want to praise God with their banjos, I say more power to them.  Four stars.

The season of the old me… Maps; Kim Divine; Hockey

Maps – Maps - kkk1/2

The first few bars are Grandaddy’s “Now It’s On” all over again.  Which would have been great as far as I’m concerned.  Because let’s face it, it’s been a while since something made me really excited.  No that doesn’t mean I take back what I wrote about the Delphic stuff; I’m just looking for a feeling like the first time I heard “Photobooth” by Deathcab for Cutie or the first time I heard New Order or Fugazi or the Cure or Brendan Benson (yes I put him in there if only for “Tiny Spark”).  I’m looking for the moment where you suddenly get caught in a wave and little hairs stand up on your neck and you think, “I didn’t know music could be like this.”  And as I get older, that feeling is more and more infrequent and I’m never more alive than on the odd occasion when it occurs.

It didn’t happen with Maps self-titled new album.  And I really thought it might.  During the intro to “Turning of the Mind,” I really thought it was happening.  And then, like so many things in life, it just fell short.  Not that it isn’t good.  It is actually quite good.  In the British sense of ‘quite’ meaning just sort of instead of the American very.  There are flavours of Grandaddy and the Postal Service and Pet Shop Boys.  But it doesn’t grow.  It doesn’t develop except in a few places where it grows from slightly twee to cheesy.  Love Will Come is a good example; a promising first few bars develop into something from the chaviest club in Ibiza.  I really tried to see how anyone other than someone off their face on class As would get off on this album and I’m sorry to say I didn’t get there.  What I think is missing is the darkness that rides undercurrent on good electronic albums – think Peter Murphy and early New Order.  It’s that grime that weighs it down enough to avoid you wanting to kill yourself with their Casio keyboards. 

James Chapman’s efforts as Maps to this point have been a critical success and listening to his first proper album We Can Create shows you why – lovely fuzzy stuff that is closer to Stone Roses and My Bloody Valentine than the current album.  I had been hoping for something more along those lines but this is much clubbier.  In addition to Turning, Everything is Shattering and Nothing are probably the closest they come to the darker sounds if only thematically but again I really think these fall short.  In fact, Turning is probably the height of the album for me and you never want an album to end with the first song. 

To be fair to Chapman, I recognise that I may be a little more than slightly musically jaded, but I don’t think I would have liked this album any more at 17 than I do now.  It’s unsubtle and at the same time a bit boring.  Saying that, it’s good background music and I don’t dislike it.  I’m just sort of ambivalent and I had had such high hopes. 

Recommendations from ME – Kim Divine

This week, instead of a recommendation from you lovely people, I have one of my own.  Kim Divine’s new album, Square One.  Kim and I went to college together though I believe she was a couple of years behind me.  In fact I knew her mainly as the girlfriend of a friend of mine.  I only recently found out through her facebook page that she’s been making music.  I’m embarrassed to say that I hadn’t listened to her music before now because, if I’m being honest, I work under a premise of reverse nepotism and often discount music created by people I know.  I can’t explain the logic of this – there is none.  I have known many talented people throughout the years and have often liked what they produce, but always feel a little funny about promoting them as if my knowing them somehow negates my opinion of their work.  Well this week I say, respectfully, bugger that.  Kim Divine’s voice is delightful and her songs are considered and well-crafted.  And whether or not I had ever met her, I would say the same.  She’s got a very American mainstream sound (think Michelle Branch) and is showcased especially well by her acoustic stuff.  And right now you can listen to a few tracks for free at http://www.kimdivine.com/store.html.  Anyway, I like it.  Give it a listen and let me know what you think.

The iTunes free download of the week – “Too Fake” by Hockey – kkk

Sounds a bit like Paolo Nutini covering La Roux songs.  As I believe John Holmes or John Richardson said of the latter, it sounds like she’s being chased.  This is like that.  Still I love the free stuff and again I didn’t hate it.  It’s got energy and is fun so it has probably accomplished exactly what the band wanted it to. 

I’m actually wondering if the onset of British autumn, complete with rain, wind and early nightfall has had an impact on my reviews this week.  I’m just a bit grouchy.  The only way of being objective is to acknowledge how subjective one is.