Several times in my music listening life I've heard something for the first time which sounded like nothing else I had ever heard before. This happened with Can, Neil Young, David Sylvian, Stereolab, and Boards of Canada. I also remember getting a lift back from the North of England in a friend's car one evening and once again hearing something that sounded so different and original to my ears. The band was The Cocteau Twins and the albums we listened to on that long journey were Heaven or Las Vegas and Four Calendar Cafe. Those two fantastic albums are actually more produced and polished, and perhaps more accomplished actually than the earlier Treasure featured here which has more indie rock sensibilities typical of the era (1984). Not that there is anything very much typical about the Cocteau sound with Robin Guthrie's multi layered guitar effects and Elizabeth Frazer's ghostly vocals.
The Cocteau Twins are still the best by far at the 4AD ethereal dreamscape, thanks largely to the extraordinary voice of Liz Fraser. Somehow she's found a voice that falls completely outside 'Rock' or 'Pop'.
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| It's what we all looked like in the 80s |
1. Arbouretum - The Gathering
2. Calexico - Garden Ruin
3. Roxy Music - For Your Pleasure
4. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
5. Ramsay Midwood - Shootout at the Ok Chinese Restaurant
6. Cocteau Twins - Treasure
Calexico hail from Tucson, Arizona, and their music has a sense of place with their authentic Americana and Mariachi sound. I first heard them through a tremendous instrumental featured on a free CD I picked up with an Uncut magazine. The CD entitled Sounds of the New West was responsible for introducing me to many great Americana (or Alt-Country as it was termed in 1998) artists including The Handsome Family, Will Oldham, Vic Chesnutt and Lambchop.
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| Probably the greatest free CD ever given away with a magazine |
Garden Ruin is actually a bit more mainstream than their earlier acclaimed albums Black Light, Feast of Wire, and Hot Rail and has been criticised by some die hard fans as such, but I still like it. I've chosen Lucky Dime for the playlist which has a lovely feel good vibe which really reminds me of a classic old tune but I can't decide if this is Santana's Black Magic Woman or Evil Ways or something by the Kinks, or is it the Beatles? I hope it comes to me and if it does I'll report back here later! This track isn't really typical Calexico and I wouldn't have recognised it as them without knowing, but as such indicates the tone of this album.
With such an "art" band as Roxy Music it is very easy to overlook the music and focus on their image as I did in Log #11. However after several more plays of For Your Pleasure, which is the only one of their albums I have, I'm realising they were actually good musicians and produced some excellent and original rock music which stands up well against many of their more revered contemporaries.
Really can't say I thought much of the Bon Iver album - the first I've heard from him. Very earnest navel gazing with an annoyingly high pitched voice. Maybe it's a grower if life isn't too short. His latest is one of the Best Albums of 2016 in our local Resident Records review apparently.
The Ramsay Midwood album was a favourite of tiny local pub, The Greys, which used to play it a lot a few year's back when it was regularly hosting many Americana and Roots bands. Without being too familiar with the individual tracks as yet, they all sound indistinguishable from each other but they also say that about Neil Young so it's not necessarily a bad thing at all.
Neil Young only has one solo, but it sure is a good one.And we'll leave it there with Arbouretum who are a reincarnation of Crazy Horse if I've ever heard one!