Log #203 - The Rise And Fall Of Rainbow

 

This is the first appearance for Rainbow in the blog. Rainbow were of course a rock band spring off from the Deep Purple family, led by Ritchie Blackmore. Their most famous and go to album for teenage metal fans was Rainbow Rising (with its brilliant painted cover and gatefold sleeve - reproduced at the top of the post) which is represented well in the first half of this The Best Of compilation. 

I had n't really appreciated how bombastic the music was, especially with Ronnie James Dio's singing. Stargazer is classic Rainbow and classic heavy rock often (at the time) near the top of best songs ever lists, up there with Stairway To Heaven and Freebird. Its most obvious bedfellow for me, though, with its slow build and slight ethnic atmosphere, is Led Zeppelin's Kashmir. All those bands were making music like this in the mid '70s.

Later in the '80s they went more mainstream with shorter rock numbers and even had a few single hits with tracks like All Night Long and I Surrender. Although not as epic as their older songs this move didn't represent a complete sellout to synthesizers and '80s production values although I do remember fans were unimpressed with new singer Graham Bonnet's haircut which was very non heavy metal.

The songs of the period aren't that remarkable but do retain a decent heavy rock edge. Various reformed versions of the band are still going generally under Blackmore's leadership but the original band disbanded in 1984.

In a similar vein we revisit more heavy rock with Led Zeppelin and The Scorpions (what a brilliant lead guitarist Uli Jon Roth was - he should be at least as famous as Jimmy Page).

However Klaus Schulze's gurgling worldy flavoured Picture Music is much more my thing these days.  

Led Zeppelin - Physical Grafitti (cd 2)

Midlake - The Courage Of Others

John Legend - Get Lifted

Rainbow - The Best Of
Klaus Schulze - Picture Music

Scorpions - Tokyo Tapes

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Log #202 - Lakes, Caves, and Rock, from Van Occupanther and Orpheus

 

Midlake - The Trials Of Van Occupanther

Midlake - The Courage Of Others

Nucleus - Elastic Rock

Kruder and Dorfmeister - Sessions CD1

Nick Cave - The Lyre of Orpheus
Ulrich Schnauss - Goodbye

Goodbye was Ulrich Schnauss's third album released in 2007 to acclaim from NME who described the album as unleashing...

...great crashing waves of Cocteau Twins guitars, Slowdive atmospherics and precision-tooled beats that pick you up and throw you around, before depositing you somewhere else entirely – somewhere better and infinitely more beautiful.

More accomplished guitar and synth swoosh and even some guest singing which sits a little uneasily amongst the extended instrumental passages. I think I still prefer A Long Way To Fall as my favourite Schnauss album but plenty more to hear yet from the prolific German producer who has been involved in fifteen (yes 15!) album releases alone as a member of Tangerine Dream just since 2014.

Both these Midlake albums (nos. 2 and 3 in a 4 album discography) are top notch "prog americana indie folk rock". They are very similar displaying a touch more instrumentation than your standard americana fayre. I'm undecided which one I prefer. Possibly the latter The Courage Of Others which singer Tim Smith has described as more mature, but they are both excellent.

Depeche Mode I'm sure never sounded so good. 

A return of a perennial favourite this week in the chillout dub of Austrian DJ duo Kruder and Dorfmeister. The production on the Sessions album is brilliant with crystal sharp drumming and deep bass just throbby enough to rattle the speakers without overwhelming the mix. A double album, I tend to turn to CD1 the most with its up tempo dance and rap remixes. You can't go wrong with this album which still sounds fresh despite its 20+ years vintage! Depeche Mode I'm sure never sounded so good. 

Finally Elastic Rock which is superb jazz rock fusion with plenty of electric guitar. If you like early '70s period Miles Davis or John McLaughlin you'll love this.

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Log #201 - Turn Back The Music

Starting off my next century with a right pot pourri of sounds here. We have watery ambience class from Loscil. Sea Island was the first album of his I heard. It hooked me to a greater extent than a lot of the other ambient albums I've been listening to over the last 20 weeks or so.

 Loscil - Sea Island

Ulrich Schnauss - A Long Way To Fall

The Decemberists - Picaresque

Nick Cave - The Lyre Of Orpheus

Midlake - The Trials Of Van Occupanther
ELO - Face The Music

I'm loving this Ulrich Schnauss offering. It is simply superb at what it does... which is melodic easy listening instrumental rock. I'd describe it as a bit of a mix between Jean Michel Jarre, Tangerine Dream, and then even Pink Floyd or something. Maybe progressive ambience is a better description although this music isn't that ambient with its guitars and drums. The closest other artist out there (who I've only just started listening to) is probably Tycho. I think Schnauss seems to offer more content and depth though from what I've heard. The production is superb. A Long Way To Fall would sound great in the car at high speed and high volume.

I'm in two minds about Picaresque from The Decemberists. The band are no doubt supremely talented with an exceptional ear for a melody, and biting lyrics. I can't quite decide if I like lead singer Colin Meloy's folk rock articulations. It's certainly very characterful but sometimes a little overwhelming possibly at the detriment of the superb songs. A minor gripe maybe in the face of a brilliant maritime folk tale like The Mariner's Revenge Song. 

Midlake are superb. Especially the albums from their Tim Smith (the original singer) vintage years. I think they only did 3 albums with Smith. I have two of them to date, and Occupanther is the middle one. In this crowded and often middle of the road Americana genre they stand out as something special. A lot is to do with Smith's desperately sad voice, which is why I haven't warmed to them so much since he left.

Another great album from Nick Cave. This one, like its sister album Abattoir Blues, is packed full of straight ahead rock and tuneful pop - quite uncharacteristic of the Cave I know from albums like The Boatman's Call, and certainly his last few dour offerings which I played about once each before moving on.

Finally this week a dip into the distant past when, as a teenager, I collected ELO records. Face The Music was one of the second string (and earlier) albums if you like (this one from 1975). The band were finding their feet and hadn't reached the heights yet of A New World Record and Out Of The Blue. Still a good record though with some experimental instrumentals and one or two cracking singles like Strange Magic and Evil Woman. 

The music is reversible but time is not. Turn back, turn back, turn back, turn back.

I do wonder where ELO fitted in to the music landscape at the time though. Just after the heyday of prog, just before disco and punk - what did the music listening public make of their symphonic pop? Was there another band then or now that was attempting something similar? Many compared their best work to The Beatles (Strawberry Fields etc possibly) and Jeff Lynne was certainly a talented and consistent songwriter but as a schoolboy I just thought it was cool to have a band with cellos and violins and even their own conductor!?

Face The Music was the first ELO album with the classic line up of Gale, Bevan, Groucutt, Lynne, Tandy, Kaminski and McDowell. 

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Log #200 - Keep On Trekking For The People

It took 200 blog posts to reach REM. I think they were the sort of band that suffered a bit from over familiarity, like U2 or Coldplay. They were also, allegedly, quite middle of the road and mainstream, certainly in their mid to latter period. I don't know much about them to be fair but know they hit the mainstream big around the time of this album (their 8th released in 1992), and the predecessor Out Of Time (1991). Prior to that they were more indie in that '80s guitar mumble rock sort of way.

In an aside I once went trekking in Nepal on my "gap year" (1992) as you do, with a Canadian gentlemen called Ray. He had 3 cassettes in his rucksack (and some speakers which he'd hook up each night at a guesthouse on the trail). One was Jimmy Buffett, one was Neil Young's Harvest Moon, and the third was Automatic For The People. We all got very familiar with those three records after a fortnight of repeat plays.

Will REM receive a reassessment at Bamyasi HQ, rather like post OK Computer Radiohead did? It is unlikely. Despite being moved to dig out this album after seeing an impressive Glastonbury rerun (like I did with Radiohead actually) I haven't got any other of their CDs as far as I know (I used to have Monster, and Out Of Time on cassette but they are long gone) and despite the top tunes on Automatic For The People, which most likely represent their peak, I'm not moved to delve further. Good on them for retiring early whilst still relatively near the top.

Matthew E White - Fresh Blood

War On Drugs - A Deeper Understanding

Cocteau Twins - Treasure

Nick Cave - Abattoir Blues

REM - Automatic For The People
The Comet Is Coming - Trust In The Lifeforce Of The Great Mystery

Abattoir Blues is a very powerful and most excellent Nick Cave album. It may actually be my favourite. I'll give the sister album The Lyre Of Orpheus a spin too next time.

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Log #199 - Discovering Daft Punk

  

Matthew E White - Fresh Blood

War On Drugs - Slave Ambient

Cocteau Twins - Heaven Or Las Vegas

Alva Noto - Unieqav

Daft Punk - Discovery
Fennesz - Venice

I discovered Daft Punk through the animated film Interstellar 5555. The film tells the story of a band who are kidnapped by an evil dictator who wants to rule the world, or something. I'm not sure, but anyway, seeing this (or hearing this) in the cinema (with surround sound at earsplitting volume) was an invigorating experience. At the time I had no idea who did the music to the film, and little idea who Daft Punk were. It transpired that the whole film uses the Discovery album for its soundtrack. 

Not surprisingly neither the album, or the DVD of the film, are quite as mind blowing as that first cinematic experience. The latter, with its bright colours, would certainly benefit from some pharmaceutical enhancement. The album is however still a great piece of work and stands perfectly alone without its associated film.

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Log #198 - Alva Shallow Wasser

Cluster - Grosses Wasser

Cluster - Zuckerzeit

Loscil - Lifelike

Alva Noto - Unieqav

Alva Noto - Transform
Porya Hatami - Shallow

Interesting minimalist art graces Cluster's Grosses Wasser album cover. Is it a diving board or an aeroplane wing? The title translates as Big Water, suggesting it could equally show the ocean under an aeroplane wing, or a swimming pool under a diving board. 

Alva Noto is a new artist to me. Real name Carsten Nicolai hails from Germany. His music is very electronic, literally, being some of the most mechanical I have heard - think of some of the most random bleeps and clicks in early Kraftwerk. He is perhaps most famous now for his scoring of the Revenant film with regular collaborator Ryuichi Sakamoto. Of these two albums Unieqav is the most recent (2018) and the most rhythmic. Transform (2001) also has its cohesive moments but is more experimental. 

Read more here>> and here>>.

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Log #197 - A Lifelike Unlike The Others

Loscil - Submers

Arovane & Mike Lazarev - Aeon

Alva Noto & Ryuichi Sakamoto - Summvs

Vladislav Delay - Anima

Farben - Textstar
Loscil - Lifelike

I've been most drawn to the bottom 3 records in the player this week. Anima by Vladislav Delay is a lovely one hour piece based on just two processed chords which weave between a bunch of ambient sound effects. It's mesmerising. I'm always fascinated how such simple ideas can yield such impressive results. 

The Farben is also excellent - as described last week it's similar to Loop-Finding-Jazz-Records but a bit more "clubby". Actually it reminds me of some of Luke Vibert's work (an artist with an impressive catalogue of music who strangely hasn't appeared much in this blog to date) (actually, on just checking, he has appeared 6 times which is pretty good to be fair, and more than I remembered). 

Finally Lifelike is Loscil's latest album released last year and is most impressive, not least because it is beautiful, but also it's markedly (and surprisingly) different from his previous work (it's so easy for artists, especially instrumental ambient ones, to keep repeating themselves). This is much more melodic and mainstream than his stiller ambient records - it's almost "new age" but manages to avoid spilling over into that generic sugar coated wallpaper type music (you know, "Panpipes to Relax To" etc.) through it's consistent high quality. The melodies, arpeggios, loops and Nils Frahm like gated modulations are lovely and are backed by interesting atmospherics and textures. This just could become my favourite record of his. It will be interesting if this more accessible album retains it's longevity in my consciousness. Another brilliant minimalist cover too.

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Log #196 - Textstar

Loscil - Submers

 Autechre - Tri Repetae

Autechre - LP5

Fennesz - Venice

Farben - Textstar

Arovane & Mike Lazarev - Aeon

Farben is another name for German glitch producer Jan Jelinek (him of the classic 2001 Loop-Finding-Jazz-Records album which came close to being my album of the year on my discovery a few years back).

Whereas Jelinek centres more on ambience and minimalism under his own name his Farben pseudonym is home to more upbeat house beats (or micro house I've heard it called sometimes, although yet to understand what that means). 

[Jeez, that wiki definition talks about Bit Pop and something called Yorkshire Bleeps and Bass. Ed] 

However although there are more straight forward kicks and dubby basses there are still plenty of Jelinek's trademark clicks and crackles over down tempo organ tones. Textstar (2002) offers a worthy companion piece to its more famous cousin.

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Log #195 - Glitches In Time

Autechre - Confield

 Autechre - Amber

Autechre - LP5

Tim Hecker - Harmony In Ultraviolet

Oval - 94Diskont.

Biosphere - Substrata

I've previously been scared off by Autechre. My introduction to the "band" was through their uncompromising 2005 Untilted album - a grating uncompromising assault on the senses. 

However it is time for a reappraisal - the 3 albums here are all excellent and I'm now really starting to "get" Autechre. Amber is the earliest one (1994) and the gentlest (there is even some conventional easy listening (relatively) ambience on here), Confield is probably the most challenging and the latest in this selection (2001), and LP5 comes in between both in sound and time (1998). It is complicated music but rewards detailed listening.

With its hypnotic machine music based on the sound of CD skips and errors, German experimental act Oval’s album 94diskont always seemed to be looking ahead to what the world would become—and now that world is here. 

Mark Richardson, Pitchfork

Another fine album by Tim Hecker and two new listens for me - the glitchy Oval and the very pleasing ambient Biosphere. The latter's album Substrata is listed in some "greatest ambient lists" I am inclined to read and the former's 94Diskont. is explained in great detail in this excellent article >> 

https://pitchfork.com/features/resonant-frequency/9730-a-glitch-in-time-how-ovals-1995-ambient-masterpiece-predicted-our-digital-present/

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