I'm working on a proper post, I promise. But for now you've got to put up with what I have for you here.
It's the second instalment of Aural Fixation.
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.
Also, awesome Spotify updates.
Tuesday 27 April 2010
Tuesday 20 April 2010
Plan B - The Defamation of Strickland Banks
The Defamation of Strickland Banks LINK
Who Needs Actions when You've Got Words LINK
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.
Who Needs Actions when You've Got Words LINK
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 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.
Monday 12 April 2010
SPECIAL: The New Pornographers - Electric Version
Co-inky-link
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.
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.
Thank you Howlie.
I enjoyed that.
Tuesday 6 April 2010
ADULTERY
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...
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