Log #188 - Paddling In The Shallows

Just the one new entry this week: David Sylvian's mate Fennesz's sumptuous Agora album released this time last year. It sounds like the cover - shimmering watery ambience washing up over sand. Just four tracks of around 9 or 10 minutes each it's fairly modest in ambient length terms. There is less of the glitchy guitar distortion made famous on his Endless Summer album with Fennesz opting for a more Enoesque sensibility.

The experimental musician’s sweeping, ambient album works in small, fascinating ways from moment to moment but has a cumulative force that is unlike anything he’s done in years.

Pitchfork (8.5)

There is just a doubt about this music. It sounds simple (like the Jam or OMD did when I was a school kid getting into prog rock). It's the sort of music I feel I could have a bash at on my own laptop - for instance I certainly couldn't reproduce Supper's Ready in a million years for goodness sake but a few drones - no problem! There is skill required of course, and ambient music contains many hidden delights not always evident on first listen, but I do figure a Physics or Computer Science degree would be more useful than a Music one.

Anyway that's beside the point. On hearing Agora one of my first reactions was "this is just the sort of music I want to make." Is that the same as "...want to hear"? Well, yes it is pretty much - I'd rather listen to Agora than Supper's Ready so that's all that matters really.

Talk Talk - The Colour Of Spring

DJ Vadim - Soundcatcher

Four Tet - Rounds

David Sylvian - Blemish

David Sylvian - Everything And Nothing (CD 1)

Fennesz - Agora

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Log #187 - Moving Post Rock

Still working through my Mark Hollis/David Sylvian phase. On the Hollis side we have the Talk Talk crossover album The Colour Of Spring which is growing on me rapidly. It's not as beautiful as their follow up Spirit Of Eden but contains some classy melodic pop pointing the way towards their new "post rock" direction. 

[Incidentally I was directed towards an album by a band called Slint (Spiderland) which was mentioned in the same breath as Spirit Of Eden as an equivalent "post rock" offering, um errr, it's ok but not in the same class pop pickers]

Want to know what post rock is, was? Here's a list featuring both Slint and Talk Talk. Honestly though I fail to see much resemblance between Talk Talk and Godspeed You! Dark Emperor for instance.

Turning to David Sylvian we have Blemish which I believe was his first truly experimental album coming in 2003, 4 years after the relatively straight forward Dead Bees On A Cake. Lots more to discover in this unusual sounding record. Apparently, not that I have noticed yet, the ambient instrumental album that featured in Log #185 Wandermude was based on this one. There is also a remix version of Blemish. I will be intrigued to play all 3 together at some future point. Blemish is further reviewed here.

Talk Talk - The Colour Of Spring

DJ Vadim - Soundcatcher

Four Tet - Rounds

David Sylvian - Blemish

David Sylvian - Everything And Nothing (CD 1)

David Sylvian - Everything And Nothing (CD2)

Summarising much of his best music up until the year 2000 Blemish is supplemented this week with a complete playing of the double Everything And Nothing which is a superb retrospective. Lush music brilliantly produced this is a great primer for new fans maintaining a pleasing continuity despite the range covered.

DJ Vadim's Soundcatcher is a superb lo-fi down tempo dubby mashup. Love it. Four Tet's Rounds is a little more reserved with some great melodies. Two top electronic pioneers. I haven't heard any better albums from either artist, so wondering if I have chanced upon their respective bests?

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Log #69 - From Raising Hell to Raising Sand

I pick up a lot of CDs from Charity Shops - often for a £1 or less! For example this week I came across Robert Plant and Alison Krauss's Raising Sand album which I'd heard a lot about but had never listened to (it's a cracker).

Of course there's always a lot of junk in the charity bins too - the same old rubbish gets recycled before eventually ending up in landfill presumably. It is rare to find a good album - logically the good stuff is usually kept so rarely recycled. Think about it - you don't see much Neil Young or Bob Dylan do you?

On the other hand there are a lot of artists that repeatedly show up in charity shops. It occurred to me that the most common album I see in charity shops is this one from Texas. I've never heard it but it must be a complete duffer. I imagine an anaemic middle of the road pop/rock band with a crap name fronted by an attractive singer. Ubiquitous in the CD collections of middle England. "Tick standard" as Keith Lemon would say. I could be wrong. I really should hear at least one track before my condemnation. I'll try one. Hang on... I tried Say What You Want. Don't know if this is representative but it's the first one that came up on Youtube. Predictably the video just centres on the singer who is all breathy and sultry with the occasional breaking croaky (sexy) voice in an X-factor style. The music was less expected. More disco and easy listening than I imagined.

Maybe it deserves an award? What other consistent showers in charity bins would give this one a run for it's money?

Perhaps as more and more people go digital old collectors like me may have further chances to pick up gems amongst the rubbish as people give away their whole collections.

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1. Robert Plant and Alison Krauss - Raising Sand

2. Neil Young - Hitchhiker

3. Beck - Colors

4. Genesis - Turn it on Again, The Hits

5. Can - Ege Bamyasi

6. Can - Sacrilege CD1

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The 2009 Grammy Award winning Raising Sand album was a very pleasant surprise. There are moments with these sorts of records where it's a case of "you go", "no your turn", "no after you" with the key players taking it in turns to lead. So we get some Alison Krauss songs and some Robert Plant songs and not all that many that feel like genuine duets. There's also some country and some rock, but mostly it's old time rock with production by T-Bone Burnett giving the sound a nice live band feel. Actually the songs are nearly all old covers mostly from the 60s written by the likes of Gene Clark, The Everly Brothers and Allen Touissant. There's also a song by Tom Waits and Waits' long time guitar collaborator Marc Ribot features in the band. Plant's voice has matured well beyond his 70s screaming heyday and now exudes a much more laid back and effortless confidence.

Lots of good songs including current favourite Please Read The Letter featured below:

I think I'll be checking out Plant's latest album Carry Fire soon too having heard some impressive samples somewhere recently - probably on Jools Holland.

A quick word on the Can albums this week (there will be more in a Can retrospective review currently in production). Ege Bamyasi is just about the perfect Can record covering all their best bases in barely 40 minutes, which is quite remarkable when some of their extended jams usually take up half of this time alone. The Sacrilege album is a set of remixes circa 1997 (when drum 'n' bass was the flavour of the month) by artists like Brian Eno, The Orb, Sonic Youth and U.N.K.L.E. The results are mixed and most successful where the remix artists have moved the furthest from the original. Where the originals are already very drum and bass heavy it is not sufficient to just augment the drum and bass which seems to me to often be the case with remixes. 

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Log #68 - Lovely Cardboard Covers (albeit not necessarily legible!)

Good evening pop pickers. What do we have here this week?  Not a large degree of change since last week - but brand new entries from The Goat Roper Rodeo Band and DJ Vadim, and slightly new entries from Genesis and Can with fellow old timers Beck and Neil Young leading the way.

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1. Beck - Colors

2. Neil Young - Hitchhiker

3. The Goat Roper Rodeo Band - Cosmic Country Blue

4. Genesis - Turn it on Again, The Hits

5. Can - Anthology 25 Years CD 1

6. DJ Vadim - The Sound Catcher

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First the slightly new. The Can Anthology is a double CD in chronological (mostly) order. So CD1 contains the earlier tunes taking us from Monster Movie through Tago Mago to Ege Bamyasi. CD2 concentrates on Future Days and later plus some really early tunes from the Monster Movie sessions that surfaced on the Limited/Unlimited compilations. As I think I noted last time CD2 in particular is a useful way to hear a sample of latter day Can without the need to buy all the post Future Days albums which are not as strong as the earlier ones. CD1 therefore by definition has the stronger tracks but is less essential, certainly to any regular Can fan who will have the original albums (which contain the full length recordings of important tracks like Mother Sky and Hallelujah). That's a long winded way of saying I tend to play CD2 of this Anthology the most. Anyway, not a substitute for the original albums but nevertheless 29 tracks of Can which is never bad!

Last week I was playing something called Genesis's Turn It On Again, The Hits as well. But this is a different CD (or 2 CDs actually). It's called the Deluxe Tour Edition. I don't really see the point. It's not even live. It's got a silver cover and the other one was white. This one has white writing on silver which is infuriating as you can't read it (why do bands do this?)(more on Beck later). There is loads of overlap between the two releases - both heavily weighted towards the late period Genesis. Interestingly I put it out on Twitter last week that there wasn't anyone out there who liked both prog Genesis and pop Genesis. Actually there is and I discovered quite a lot of love for the Phil Collins version of the band even from fans who were familiar with their prog era too. I must say I'm growing to like the pop side of the band more too. Some of it is annoying tripe of course, but there are some good tracks too and I was wrong to write off all Genesis post 1976. There's certainly nothing wrong with title track Turn It On Again.

Pop brings me nicely to Beck's Colors. I suggested this was a bit light weight last week but I've grown to like it. It's short and sweet and very catchy. It really reminds me of something other than Beck but I can't put my finger on what at the moment. Plenty of single material including Up All Night which my son tells me is being used on playstation FIFA. The CD comes in a nice cardboard cover - I do like cardboard covers and I'm pleased to see many more manufacturers are producing them now (as an illustration 67% of the albums above are presented thus). They give the product that old LP feel in miniature. They don't make a horrible noise when you drop them like plastic CD covers which always end up chipped and cracked. So nice outer sleeve Beck but... as for the inner booklet - its ridiculous. The bizarre layout of the lyrics, the mismatched colour schemes, and the tiny typeface make it all illegible and thus pointless (why do bands do this? - lyrics can still be printed large enough to be seen on a CD - I used to love reading all the blurb on an album but this is rarely possible with CDs). Am I labouring the point too much? Surely the music is the important thing. Yes, of course, but the tangible feel is all part of the experience - if you aren't convinced have another read of my essay on the subject.

DJ Vadim is a new entry this week but not his first appearance in this blog. Born in Russia and raised in London DJ Vadim's mixes languorous down tempo beats of reggae and hip hop. Another beautifully presented CD in a nicely designed cardboard sleeve which nearly made it as my cover piece this week.

The other new entry belongs to young Welsh hipsters The Great Roper Rodeo Band. I came across these lads by accident at a festival and loved their confident energetic acoustic roots country (cosmic?) blues. In fact they were the highlight of the weekend. I was surprised to hear they came from Wales looking and sounding so authentically "americana" with their cowboy shirts and strong accented vocals (I reckon they'd go down a storm on tour in the US). 

I'm not yet sure this recording fully captures the live experience but nevertheless it does give a flavour of their gigs and setlist including my current favourite the very emotional Don't Believe in You. In the quite crowded bluegrass market this very talented trio standout and should go far. Great (cardboard!) cover too.

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Log #32 - Worshipping the Dub Pistols

Highlighted this week is the tremendous Worshipping the Dollar album by the Dub Pistols. The Dub Pistols are a very entertaining live band drawing on electronics, samples, big beats, dub (of course), reggae, dance, rap, brass, drum and bass, acid house and hip hop. A perennial festival favourite it is very pleasing the group have captured the excitement of a live performance in the studio with this 2012 offering. Sample their infectious high energy music here with West End Story.

The always well turned out Dub Pistols

A bit of an unplanned world flavour in the also-rans this week with Tex Mex band Calexico, German/Norwegian Whitest Boy Alive, Spanish flamenco guitarist Paco Pena, Orquesta Reve from Cuba and DJ Vadim from Russia. As for the Pistols - straight outta London.

1. Calexico - The Black Light
2. The Whitest Boy Alive - Dreams
3. Orquesta Reve - La Explosion Del Momento
4. Paco Pena - Fabulous Flamenco
5. DJ Vadim - The Soundcatcher
6. Dub Pistols - Worshipping the Dollar

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Log #5 - The Handsome Family - Tales of Birds and Snow

An international flavour here with Americana pioneers The Handsome Family and Euro Symphonic Pop from German/Danish band, the classy Efterklang. The African continent is represented by Baka Beyond.

1. Efterklang - Piramida,

2. The Handsome Family - Through the Trees,

3. India Arie - Song Versation,

4. Baka Beyond - Ete,

5. DJ Vadim - USSR Repertoire,

6. Jill Scott - Who is Jill Scott?

A clean sweep this week, which is sort of surprising even to myself, as I was really enjoying the new Whitest Boy Alive entry and Kings of Convenience still (but sure they will make re-entries at some point). A change is sometimes enforced somewhat prematurely by other housemates with less staying power!

Efterklang are an amazing Danish band now making some of the greatest pop music out there today. Check out some of their videos on youtube. They started out a bit more indie and experimental and over the course of half a dozen albums (this one being their most recent) have matured into the consummate band - think Coldplay but with more originality and edge. Also great live, often with an orchestra. They've come a long way since I saw them in a room above a pub in Brighton.

The Handsome Family, and in particular this album, is where it all started for me, in Americana that is. I heard Weightless Again on a sampler album - "we stopped for coffee... in the Redwood Forest" and was hooked. Superb, albeit rather disturbing and bizarre, lyrics - short stories about birds, snow and death... 

The giant of Illinois

Died from a blister on his toe

After walking all day through the first winter snow

Throwing bits of stale bread

To the last speckled doves

He never even felt his shoe full of blood

Delirious with pain, his bedroom walls began to glow

And he felt himself soaring up through falling snow

And the sky was a woman's arms

Inspiring album artwork of nature and Through the Trees is this week's cover art, and my record of the week.

I don't know anything about India Arie except she has been championed by the late great Wayne Dyer. The songs are fairly middle of the road and quite souly and funky but er hem quite middly of the roadie. Neil Young famously said his Harvest album put him in the middle of the road and afterwards he headed straight for the ditch. 

Similarly Jill Scott is pretty new to me but this album sounds very current with laid back soul grooves reminiscent of some new chilled hip hop around at the moment (this CD has some of those annoying phantom tracks inserted at the end to thwart random plays, hence has to go in slot 6 of the magazine).

Talking of laid back you can't get more laid back than DJ Vadim - his average BPMs are so slow they barely register and make DJ Shadow seem like Metallica. I haven't really got into this album yet but his more song based Soundcatcher is brilliant.

Baka Beyond are a sort of Afro-Celt fusion band. Great live and sound how you'd expect with a bit of African music (specifically drums and guitars), and some Irish fiddly bits. Their best known album is probably The Meeting Pool but this is pretty similar, probably a bit more authentic to it's roots but less groundbreaking.

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