The soundtrack to the film About a Boy is crazily good. Seriously, there is no reason for it to be anywhere near as good as it is. Tucked away at the end is this little gem. It's a little bleak if you listen to the lyrics, but it's just so damn Christmassy. It's been in so many adverts over the years that I'm sure you'll recognise 30 second snippets from it. Any song that can pull off the line "Baby it's not your sleigh-ride" must be good.
It's Clichéd to be Cynical at Christmas - Half Man Half BiscuitSPLINK
In true HMHB tradition, a song that is in danger of being just a brilliant title for a song. It manages to avoid this by inserting pure distilled Christmas music to the degree that you don't even have to listen to the lyrics if you don't want to. It's got choirs of children, strings and oddly I Saw 3 Ships Come Sailing in. What more could you possibly want?
Christmas Time (Don't Let the Bells End) - The DarknessSPLINK
Okay, so you may know it, but do you know it's actually really quite good? You sort of assume The Darkness are bad, but they're really not. In fact the whole of Permission to Land is most definitely worth a re-listen. Yeah, it's overblown and slightly ironic, but hey, why shouldn't it be? It's also pretty much guaranteed to get stuck in your head so it's value-for-listen; you can hear it all day.
Lonely This Christmas - Carter the Unstoppable Sex MachineSPLINK
If you've heard of Carter USM you probably find it heard to imagine how this will sound, unless you know it already. If you haven't then you're probably still sniggering at the name. Don't deny it, I'm watching you. But I really don't understand what's so hard to grasp, it's a indie-punky acoustic version of a WHAM song, so what? But yeah, if your Christmas is feeling over-polished and too commercial, this is what you need.
Okay, okay, it's not really a Christmas Song, more a 5 CD collection of 42 Christmas songs. But being a 5 CD collection of 42 Christmas Songs, I'm not going to go scouring through it trying to find the best one for you. Therefore I'll just tell you that, overall, it's good. There's a bit of padding, granted, but there are some crackers (please, no pun) too.
Have Yourself a Very KT Christmas - KT TunstallSPLINK
Well, if I'm allowing myself albums now, we'll have this one. When you think about it, of course KT Tunstall should have a Christmas EP, she's just got one of those voices. Granted, a fifth of it is a cover of Fairytale of New York which I haven't even brought myself to listen to. But the rest of it's ace. It's also got 2000 Miles on it which is apparently that Christmas song, you know THAT one, which you never knew the name of.
Well, come on, show me what you've got for me, now. Tweet me or comment, whatever, I don't care.
You may remember that, in my last post, I called The Brute Chorus a tiny little bit pretentious in relation to their addition of the clapping and general "look at us we're so live"-ing. Well, a chap called daniel: record-playcommented on the post saying that it actually was, you know, recorded live in a single take. While I feel a bit of a plum, I feel most of the blame lies with whatever genius recorded it to such a level that I actively refused to believe it could have been live. It is quite literally incredible.
But nonetheless, I was wrong, libellous and just plain rude. In future, I promise to do at least some research before being any of those things.
Also, apparently it's "Tigs from Chew Lips", and I did research that one. That'll teach me for trusting information found on music blogs.
Warning: The following post frequently refers to my opinion as your's . I feel I should point out that I'm not egotistical or insane, just generalising.
At the risk of developing a pattern, this band are just the sort of band I hate. You probably know the sort I mean. They take photos of themselves in Black and White, they make people think they can speak French, they have haircuts and wear coats. Ghastly, isn't it. Except it isn't, and they're not and their album's kind of bitchin'.
You would expect me to say, then, that as soon as you play the first track, Hercules, you realise just how wrong you are. But no, you will experience a cowbell, the word "Hercules" repeated repeatedly, just what you'd expect from a black and white, not french, haircut coat band. It's disgusting, I mean, yeah the lyrics are good and when the tune comes in it's really kind of excellent and actually it's really quite ironic and funny and...
Balls.
You realise you like it.
Okay. So now, they're not a sickening clone of a "we're so different" band, they actually are a "different" band. Like a turophobe finding the one variety of cheese they're not irrationally afraid of, you will realise that you don't hate all those other bands because of what they are, but because of what they're not. What they're not is Brute Chorus.
In fact, what Brute Chorus are is clever, madcap, experimental, loveable and only pretentious in the very weak manner that only occasionally makes you want to slap them. Yes I find it somewhat disheartening that they try and pretend the album's live by ending every track in applause; we're not fooled, it doesn't seem arty it just seems like you're trying to trick us into thinking you're playing live. You sit there, seething, until the next song lurches into being. It could be Grow Fins*, a little ditty about just going with life / a biblical flood and enjoying it.
"LET'S GROW FINS
Let it rain, oh let it rain"
Quite. And it's happy and manic and sounds like the indie-music equivalent of a brightly coloured clown on an out of control merry-go-round. Except not menacing. You may think you've got a handle on them but then their next song's called Nebuchadnezzar, named for the King who invaded Judah and Jerusalem and enslaved the Jews. There's a lot of that sort of reference.
Blind Ulysses is a moody, ambient ballad. The Cuckoo & The Stolen Heart is a duet with someone who is apparently "Tigs from Fiction", a furious skiffly hoedown of a number about death, deception and d...eath. Send Me a Message is a bitter cannonball of music. My point is that there really is a large amount of stuff here.
If I had to pick a single track as my favourite, though, it'd definitely be Chateux.I know, I know, after all I said about the French thing, you really can call me a hypocrite for this one. But come on, listen to it and disagree. It's the story of a dilapidated house set to, to all intents and purposes, random chords. It shouldn't work. It shouldn't work at all. But it really does. Completely. If you're not going to bother listening to the whole album, you have to at least listen to Chateux, come on, for me.
"I was lonely when you got here, I'll be lonely when you go,
So why should I let you in, my dear, that's what I'd like to know."
I do advise you to listen to it though, it's crazy stuff. And yet there's not a bit that doesn't work (except for the "live" thing). But, as so often happens when I'm in the process of writing these things, they've released a new album. I'll just do a quick review of it, just to stop you moaning.
This be the first single from it:
It's a little bit more grown up, as an album. It's more serious. There's no cannonballs, clowns or cheese, just good, clever, drummy indie tunes. And yet... when I listened to the first album for the first time I couldn't stop. I pretty much listened to it twice through and added half the tracks to my playlist right away. There's none of the with How the Caged Bird Sings. Don't get me wrong, it's not at all soulless or bad or anything; Lazarus, Could this be Love and Whipping Boy are excellent songs. In fact, most of them are. As a cohesive (or maybe not, maybe that's the thing) album, The Brute Chorus is just fantasticer.
If you are a member of The Brute Chorus reading this after Googling the name, then do not be disheartened. I LOVE YOU, although I love 2009 you better than 2010 you and I feel I should not love either of you. Maybe I am just an indie tosser after all. I love it.
It is a truth universally acknowledged that some preconceptions are just right; Coldplay really are a bit too pretentious, Lily Allen's accent is ridiculous and, in respect to today's topic, Jamie Cullum's kind of slappable.
...and he's mean to pianos
So I'm sure you can imagine my surprise when I listened to The Pursuit (his last album, it's not new or anything, I just thought I'd accidentally slap something if I listened to it) and found that his music is entirely non-slapworthy. If you've listened to Amy Winehouse's Frank and thought "This is quite good, but I just wish she was a man, I'm not a bigot or anything, I just think women should stay in the crack-den." then you might just agree with me. Now, that's not a perfect analogy for at least 2 reasons. 1, that you could well like it if you haven't thought that and 2, that you might not like it if you have. But what can you do?
The album (remember the album, this is a blog about the album*) is a jazzy, poppy, rocky, hippitty-hoppitty affair but with the emphasis heavily on the jazzy bit. Of course, Jimmy C's pianoing fingers feature heavily, and there's solos and scatting and organs and saxes and bongos and everything you'd expect from a jazz thing. That being said, most of the tracks are pop-music lengths and there's "Rawking on the Daancefloor, actin nawty", which is something they do quite a lot in popular music isn't it? It's accessible, often loungey jazz that's hardly going to cause any revolutions but equally won't scare anyone away.
The overall tone isn't overly different to, say, Frank and is surprisingly varied. It can be upbeat-OH, Youtube video! Sorry, it's been a while.
As I was saying, the album does stuff like that, and then goes and does something verging on proper jazz and will then go spiralling off into actual pop like you've blown the tail rotor right off it's helicopter. Luckily, before crashing into the wooded hills of normalcy it uses a big jazzy parachute and somehow soars into the sky, breaking all laws of logic as it does so. I think I love is pure lounge, well it's got a string section too, but apart from that it's just James and his piano in a slow, plinky-plinkplonk-plonky. Then KABOOPH! straight in with We Run Things Another Way an odyssey in drum loops and layered synths. Then comes a cover of Not While I'm Around, that song from the end of Sweeney Todd.
The Pursuit may not be cutting edge stuff, but it's a well-thought out, stylish album that'll appeal to most of the people with ears. It's well balanced, diverse and manages to pull off everything it tries to do. It's even got a couple of singles that you'll have heard. Wheels, I'm all Over it, Mixtape, you may not be able to hum any of them at the moment but you'll remember them if you listen through the album.
Speaking of which, for all I know you've already listened to it, it could be popular for all I know. I'm so out of touch. He's got a new one out now, Devil May Care, which I'd have reviewed if I'd have listened to it yet. It's much more "proper jazz" than this one and will almost certainly be worth a listen. It looks like this:
Cullum is also host of Radio 2's Jazz show (LINK) which is definitely worth a listen every week.
The moral of this post is that just because you want to physically hurt a person doesn't mean they don't make an excellent album. Well probably 2 excellent albums. And a radio show. And actually, seeing as I haven't listened to any of his older albums, they're probably good too. And he's friends with Clint Eastwood.
Moral...
*500 points if you can name me that reference
EDIT: Devil May Care appears to be a compilation of collaborations, so I'll let myself off a bit.
It's a bit mellower than the first, perfect for a bit of unwinding, everyone seems to be a bit stressed of late. It's still got a mixture of stuff I've reviewed and stuff I just think you should listen to. So listen to it and, as the kids say, "chillax".
Apologies again to my dedicated Japanese contingent, in not too many months, it won't matter any more though.
There's a real problem with The Defamation of Strickland Banks. It's not Plan B, I love his voice. It's not the music. It's definitely not the combination of motown sensibilities with all the grittiest Brittiest rapping. The problem is, it's really popular.
Plan B was a singer-songwriter for many years. He wrote nice songs and sung them nicely. Nobody would give him a record deal because everyone said he looked a bit like Justin Timberlake.
Well... sort of... a bit, if you squint and squeeze him in a bit. But this made poor Mr B a bit angry, no one was listening to him because he was too nice. He'd show them, he'd make the least nice album had ever made. He did that indeed. He made Who Needs Actions when You've Got Words, which sounds like The Streets had been beaten up in an alley. It's so, so dark but fully narrative. There's graphic murders, there's sex scenes, there's anger and violence and bile and fists and hair and tracksuit bottoms and it's all played on an acoustic guitar. I like it, I have to say.
But this is not the album I was supposed to be talking about, because after seeing how angry Mr B. had become, I like to think someone gave him a nice big hug and a cup of tea. After he'd calmed down he went back into the studio with his Best of Marvin Gaye CD. And when he came out he had made this:
Which sounds like this:
Which is, as you can hear, fantastic. The subtle interplay of that groove from the soul stuff overlaid with all that grit and grime make for a combination unlike anything else. It's like you've put a tiger and a polar bear in a cage to see which one will win and you accidentally end up with a piger bear. This is music made with the LHC; supercollided EPs. There's a future in it.
What we have here is The Defamation of Strickland Banks, a 6 track EP of this sort of stuff. It's such a joy to listen to, the groove sitting at the back is infectious enough but when that power drops down like a piano on a ostrich farm you wonder how you survived without it.
All of which brings us to the problem. You've probably heard that before, haven't you. It's been all over radio one and stuff. Why is this a problem? Because, my little fans, what sort of service is it I give you if I tell you to listen to music you already listen to?
Because I want you to realise how awesome it is.
If you're like me, then you don't listen to Radio One. You don't watch MTV. You think mainstream music these days is fairly dull and far too commercial. Maybe we're just being snobs. Maybe we're as blinkered as the people that can bare to listen to such twaddle. I mean, of course, most of it is fairly dull and far too commercial but this clearly isn't.
Anyway, it turns out that there's grander things at work. The EP is just a preview of things to come, those things being a short film featuring the music. Then he's going to make a whole album of the sort of stuff he used to do, maybe even more into a hip-hop vein. THEN he's directing a film and will then release the soundtrack. Apparently this is all for 2010.... good to see his got his feet on the ground.
I can't wait to see how much of that he gets done, should be awesome.
I managed to stay fairly on track today, is it a bit weird? Let me knooooowwww.
You may have noticed it says "SPECIAL:" up there, if it says Co-inky-link then you're not looking far enough, little bit more, there you go. What was I saying? Oh yes, "SPECIAL:". Well it's "SPECIAL:" because it's a request review, that is a review requested by a third party. In this case the third party is not the Lib Dems but Howlie, who almost all of the people (but not all) will know from Mark Watson related activities. Anyway, this isn't the first thing she requested I do but that was a EP and I couldn't be bothered to write a lot about a little amount of music. But anyway I asked her for another one and she gave me this...
The New Pornographers are a band, not Pornographers at all. Once you get past this confusion you find out they're pretty much An American Indie Band but as with the case with almost all of the bands in the sector they don't fit in it very well. Yeah they sound like the kind of Vampire Weekend stuff we're used to these days (I should point out now that due to the nature of this review I've only heard one of their albums (well, not even very much of it yet) and it's from 2003, 7 years ago these days. For all I know they could now be on a voyage into Reggae Metal.)but they also sound pretty much like The Shins or anyone like that.
See, kinda crazy, no?
You may have noticed in that video that there was a mansinger and a ladysinger and when a mansinger and a ladysinger love each other very much they make sweet, sweet music. I think that sometimes female women singing in bands like this does result in something that sounds like a 90's Japanese Girlgroup but I think even when she is singing you don't get drawn into that trap. (Hmm, turns out I was listening to it on shuffle, I won't complain about the ordering of the album then). It's sublime, it's rediculous, it's cheery, slightly cheesy, clever and charming in its simplicity.
It'll hook you in with its... hooks and keep you guessing with its twisty turny twisty turniness. It's got as many organs as Mrs. Lovett's meat pies. It'll put a great big smile on your face AND its got a monkey in a amp on the front cover. Is that a bit mean? Yes it is. Is it entertaining? Without a doubt.
Lookat'im. He is not interested in that white thing. He's got his own things to do, like wearing a ruff. He's a Stuart gent. He makes me happy.
I feel I've become sidetracked.
This album I'm reviewing, it's really good. If you feel a bit down, listen to it, look at the monkey, do a silly little dance. It's very good music to do a silly little dance to. It's very good music to do most things to.
It's very good music.
That seems a bit short, it wouldn't have taken me that long to write that amount. I'll tell you the truth, I forgot about this post. I always seem to apologise about one thing or the other on here. Maybe if I just thank Howlie, it'll be fine.
You may have noticed I haven't posted here for some time. This is because I'm having an affair. I'm having an affair with another blog, There's Madness in my Method. Whereas this is a blog about what I hear with my ears, TMimM (as its adoring fans will one day call it) is about what I see with my eyes. Just check it out. You can follow both. I'll still love you...
Most bands are Guitar-based
Some are Synth-based
If you're really lucky you might find a Vocal-based band*
White Rabbits are a Drum-based band, this is awesome.
They're not amazingly well known, they've been around a couple of years apparently but I only found out about them when they were the support for a Hockey (I think it was Hockey, I'm too lazy to check) gig. They're almost just another American Indie Band. Almost, but not quite. If you asked them, they'd say they were "Honkey Tonk Calypso" (or they used to, this album, not so much) which just adds to the list of amazing genres lately. But the kicker is that they have a drummer, a piano, two guitars, a bassist and A DRUMMER. Do not adjust your eyes, this is not a drill. They have 2 drummers.
Well, this is actually quite normal at the moment. When I went to ATP just over a year ago, I'd say 70% of the bands had 2 drummers, but they were all heavy, loud bands with more distortion than terrestrial TV and more amps than ... an amp shop.... or something....
Anyway, my point is that this is an indie band with 2 times more drum. This gives a whole new sound to things, it's mental. Or maybe it would be better to say it makes a whole plethora of new sounds available. When you've got them both going full throttle it sounds like rhythm is angry at you and is trying to destroy your mind because you stole its wife but when everything kicks back and the drums drop back and to one in each ear then its like rhythm's fine with the whole wife thing and suggests a threesome.
These 2 things make up White Rabbits' brand new album It's Frightening.
That's the opening track and pretty obviously one of the first group, rhythm's wife must be really hot for him to be that angry.
Musically, they're really nicely balanced between the drums vocals and piano with the guitar mainly just coming in for the odd sentence here and there. When it all kicks off it really is like some sort of divine orgy inside your skull. For something so hard-edged it really is beautiful sometimes. Don't worry, I'm thinking the same: "If you love them so much, why don't you marry them", and you know what, I would happily make them my wife. Or, I would if that made any sense at all.
The album as a whole is actually pretty amazing. Sure, it could do with a few more tracks like that one there but overall it's a kind of kinky parade of mellow, sardonic joy. But maybe I just mean quirky. That's beside the point, the point is that it's great. There's a certain je ne sais quoi but I am here to sais quoi about this sort of thing so I guess it's a sort of musical wit. I suppose it actually sounds pretty English in a lot of ways. I've not gone through and listened to the lyrics properly but I guess they're pretty self-deprecating, there's nothing immodest going on here. There's flashes of introspective melancholy all through it. But I suppose you get that a lot in New York stuff don't you.
To some up that mess of a conscience stream, it's a bold, subtle, witty, introverted, clever, visceral album that's just what you need if you're feeling down, up or even sideways. So go on, go find rhythm's wife and see what he has to say about it.
I sound so sexually obsessed.
* There's quite I few nowerdays, I'd argue Mumford & Sons and people like that are.
I have a mate, he's called Murdoc Niccals.
He's in this band.
Lately, he wrote this album, it's called Plastic Beach.
He's imaginary and his band is called Gorillaz.
Most of the world know Gorillaz through Demon Days. The only problem is that everything else they've ever done bares little if any relation to this guitar based, mildly (strengthening to severely)* poppy album. They described the first album as ZOMBIE HIP-HOP which although not an actual genre (unlike Epic Rock or Classic Euro-pop) really suited it, dirty, dark and rap-based. Yeah, it had 2 singles on it but they made sense in the album and had the same integrity.
All of this has left Gorillaz in a bit of a pickle, Demon Days was about as popular as Buddhism (which, for an album, is impressive) and EMI would really like it if the next one would too please, but Gorillaz have let all their mainstreamablity out and are now more Zombie than ever. The result of this pickle is one hell of an advertising drive, Murdoc had his own radio show, took over several newspapers and made an adventure game. Then they released the first single, Stylo, and
it went down a storm, the general public have got love for a song that sounds like this:
(Sorry for the lack of video, we all known what EMI are like)
(Watch the video though, it's awesome)
(Bruce Willis is in it)
But anyway, this album I'm supposed to be talking about. It's sort of concept album, in as much as We Need Answers** is a quiz. I suppose you could say it was an album set in a post-climate-hell world in which the band have moved to an island made non-biodegradable rubbish. With me so far? Murdoc didn't make this album on his own though, he kidnapped various famous people to help as well as the rest of Gorillaz. You've probably lost me now so I'll switch to the real world.
Almost every track on the album is a collaboration with someone, it could be Snoop Dogg, Mos Def, Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, De La Soul, half of The Clash or even LOU BLOODY REED! LOU REED, can you believe it? All this toing and froing makes the album slightly disjointed but it's worth it.
After this brief interlude I may even talk about how the album sounds.
So, reviewing... It's a well good album yeah know.
Starting off with an orchestral intro it skids and skips though Snoop Dogg's formal introduction, and gets straight down to the trippy stuff. We are then treated by De La Soul to a piping-hot bowl of Superfast Jellyfish which just so happens to be the catchiest thing not made illegal. There's just the right mix of gritty simple stuff and some far out "Choons" to keep you happy. And then you reach Some Kind of Nature and your life is vastly improved. It's the Lou Reed track and I simply cannot describe how amazing it is. And then there's Melancholy Hill and then there's Sweepstakes and Plastic Beach and To Binge and Private Jet and... you know what. Just listen to it, literally, no matter why you haven't done so already, ignore that reason. Listen to it.
NOW.
*Is it not cool to make Shipping Forecast references any more?
**If you don't know what We Need Answers is, you can substitute Shooting Stars and the analogy still works, however We Need Answers is better so I'd prefer it is you didn't.
So I have forgotten about you guys (girl) and I feel deeply sorry about it. I want to make it up to you so I made you a present. I happen to know that the one follower I have won't be able to use it so it is of dubious worth. That being said I'm going to give it to you anyway. It's a spotify playlist. One hour of music, both that mentioned in my blog and otherwise. It's called Aural Fixation and I'll do another hour when I get round to it.
Oh Dear, I seem to have entirely forgotten about this blog, well, I've remembered now, and I've set a reminder every Monday so I won't forget again... I probably will though, you know me.
But anyway, people (person) reading this blog, I found this post sitting in my little folder of posts so I thought I'd give it to you. It's not finished (I don't think) and I haven't read it since I wrote it and I can't be bothered to do it now. It's not even slightly relevant to music at the moment but, you know, it's all relative or something...
Here it is, forgive me for it's shoddy, unfinished ways.
I got bored of talking about things I like so I came up with the idea of reviewing 2 albums in a comparative fashion. I picked 2 albums which although they may not seem particularly similar but really are. So here we go with Day and Age and The Resistance.
Day and Age is the latest offering by the Killers, a band that I've never really had an amazing lot of time for, they're alright, they're a bit bland and they resorted to "I've got Soul but I'm not a Soldier" which is just nonsense and rubbish (see Bill Bailey for more on that).
The Resistance is the new (well, I am a bit late, I had the idea for this post in the summer) one from Muse, a band that I am actually a fan of. No one else even does Epic Rock (I made it up, live with it) do they?
So, "Why compare them!" I hear you scream. Well, the reasons are numerous.
Number One: They're both albums from established bands that are pretty far removed from their previous form.
Number Two: They're actually quite similar, the two bands have merged towards the middle. Imagine a sort of Labour/Tory relationship, two separate entities have fused into some sort of middle ground that doesn't bear much resemblance to either of the originals. Obviously Resistance is darker and Day & Age is poppier, but the point still stands.
Number Three: They were released at similar times to similar critical acclaim, their old fans saying they'd got old and sold out and proper reviewers wondering who this band were.
Number Four: They have similar covers.
So, let's get down to business, starting with the Killers. The first most of us heard of this album is when Human starting being played on the radio. At first I couldn't believe it wasn't from the 80's. Seeing as I love everything 80's at the moment I was instantly smitten. It was synthy, it was poppy but it was actually clever. Good composition, lyrics that almost made sense and introspective, I was very impressed. Starman came out and was also very good, a bit closer to their older stuff and slightly darker-sounding. I was, once again, impressed. I intended to get the album but I just sort of forgot. Months passed until I looked it up on spotify, only to find that the whole album impressed me equally. It's not very serious, it's definitely pop-based but it's lack of pretension gave it a kind of optimistic joy. If I had to criticise I'd say it's all a bit the same, but why should that be an issue if it's good?
Despite the similarities I talked about earlier The Resistance is actually the opposite of Day & Age. Muse were never a pretentious band, they were simple, solid and excellent at what they do. I heard a couple of the singles and liked them. They had different influences, they went places. I was, and it was a feeling I was getting used to, impressed. When I heard tell that the album contained classical based things, I reached new levels of impression. However, on listening to it, I found it bland. The singles I liked were still good and the 3 part syphonette on the end wasn't half bad but there was no spark and it wasn't nearly as inventive as it should have been.
And that's where it ends I'm afraid. I can't be bothered to finish it so there.
