Showing posts with label free. Show all posts
Showing posts with label free. Show all posts

Sunday 16 February 2020

Log #177 - Mount, Attack, Release, Unrest and Free

Eddy Bamyasi


The Unthanks Mount The Air
Black Keys Attack & Release
Free The Free Story
Erlend Oye Unrest
Iron And Wine The Creek Drank the Cradle
Lal and Mike Waterson Bright Phoebus

Erlend Oye is one half of Kings Of Convenience, and also the main leader in The Whitest Boy Alive. He has released two solo albums, Unrest being the debut from 2003.

Unrest sounds relatively modern with its electro-disco house beats and nods to Daft Punk and Kraftwerk. Ultimately it's a little easy listening and didn't really grab me by the scruff of the neck, albeit served as pleasant background. It did encourage me to play some Kings Of Convenience (a bit better) and some Whitest Boy Alive (much better) albums again though. Oye has a very gentle voice that seems to suit the acoustic whimsy of Kings and sharp pop of Whitest Boy best.

I'm sort of surprised I still like The Black Keys. I thought their brand of, by definition quite limited, guitar blues rock would be quickly commercialised and wear thin quite quickly but each new record I hear maintains a significant amount of grit, surprise and originality, which lifts them well clear of simply being White Stripe copyists.

I must admit I am non too familiar with the entire The Black Keys catalogue so it is difficult as yet to form much of an opinion on where the band have been and where they are going - I still fear they will, or maybe they have done already, venture off down the Kings Of Leon road towards mediocrity, but so far, 5 albums in, this hasn't happened.

Attack and Release features guest appearances from Tom Waits guitarist Marc Ribot and Danger Mouse (who also produced).





Sunday 9 February 2020

Log #176 - Magpies Drinking Wine In Bombay

Eddy Bamyasi


The Unthanks Mount The Air
Bombay Bicycle Club So Long, See You Tomorrow
Free The Free Story
Trees On The Shore (bonus disc)
Iron And Wine The Creek Drank the Cradle
Lal and Mike Waterson Bright Phoebus

Just the two new entries this week - both charity shop pick ups. 

Good value for my £ was Iron and Wine's debut album. It's fairly predictable solo acoustic strumming with whispered voice stuff from Sam Beam. This was what attracted fans to him in the first place, and some were disappointed when he went a bit more electric around the time of Kiss Each Other Clean in 2011 (which I loved), and then again when he went a bit more avant garde jazz (yes, really - I saw him at Black Deer Festival in 2018 and have no idea what he was playing).

As for the other new entry I wasted a £. Even the CD case is broken. I should have guessed. With a silly name like that, Bombay Bicycle Club were bound to be insipid middle of the road electro indie pop - file with Mercury Rev, Vampire Weekend, Arcade Fire and Florence and the Machine - in other words in the bin.

Thank goodness for the Unthanks. Lovely stuff. Their rendition of Magpie (as first heard on The Detectorists) is haunting although I was intrigued why it stopped at 7 when I think I saw 8 the other day. There are various versions of the rhyme, but it seems the most common in folklore is the 7 version:

One's for sorrow
Two's for joy
Three's for a girl and
Four's for a boy
Five's for silver
Six for gold
Seven's for a secret never told
Devil devil i defy thee


Sunday 2 February 2020

Log #175 - Folk Old And New

Eddy Bamyasi


The Unthanks Mount The Air
Felice Brothers Felice Brothers
Free The Free Story
Trees On The Shore (bonus disc)
Felice Brothers Undress
Lal and Mike Waterson Bright Phoebus

It's all about the folk this week with two significant new entries - one from modern day, one from days gone by. 

Firstly The Unthanks make a welcome return with their Mount The Air album which won BBC Folk Album Of The Year in 2016. 

I can barely get over how good this album is. It's beautiful chamber pieces are based around gentle piano supplemented by strings and horns. And then there are the sisters' voices too. Completely unique. Sounding both modern and ancient.

Bright Phoebus on the other hand sounds just ancient. It's a very unusual record which is much admired as an underground classic in folk (and wider rock and pop actually) circles. It is dark and haunting (save for a couple of more upbeat country rock numbers and the whimsical opening song Rubber Band). 
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