Archive for the ‘Music’ Category

Bring Me the Music of 2010

January 10th, 2011
I’m not sure if it is legitimate to persist with “best of 2010” lists this far into 2011. It seems like the moment has gone. That doesn’t mean I’m not going to bother this year, it just means I recognise it is an unseemly use of the worlds precious web space.

I think 2010 was a pretty good year for music. I think the range of new stuff was fairly diverse, though part of me thinks this could be because I was better informed. In previous years I’ve relied on recommmendations from friends for new stuff. Whilst that works for a bit it does require making a lot of new friends to find completely new stuff. That’s clearly unsustainable.

I’ve been actively searcing Pitchfork for new bands/music and I seem to agree with their reviews.

So, this is my top ten albums of the year. Not eleven, ten. Some people might like to mess with the format but I believe a random adherence to decimalisation is what seperates us from the animals.

10. Come Around Sundown – Kings of Leon
The Kings of Leon 1st album, Youth and Young Manhood is still one of my favourite albums in all of time. I don’t think anything else they have created has done anything than be a poor copy of it. Until this year. Come Around Sundown isn’t going to set the world on fire, it’s a very basic well made album where, crucially, for the very first time I can work out what the hell they are singing about. They make it onto my list for, finally, trying to put gibberish behind them.

9. The Defamation of Strickland Banks – Plan B
I don’t really know who Plan B is. I vaguely know he raps, I’ve never heard him do it. I saw this album in an advert by ASDA and thought I’d give it a go. To be honest I had very low expectations but it turned out to be a bit of a gem. Overall I think it is more admirable in what it tries to do than what it delivers. His voice is a bit weak for this sort of souly, Mowtowny stuff but he gives it a go and I’ve listened to it loads.

8. InnerSpeaker – Tame Impala
This was a random suggestion through Twitter from @nicktheowl. I reckon there is a perception that I have a soft spot for progressive rock. That’s not wrong, I do. I heard a bit of a sample and ended up getting it imported from Australia. Between the time of it setting off from the other end of the world it was released in the UK for half the price. There’s a lesson there. At first I really didn’t like this. I thought it was formulaic nonsense. Since then it has grown on me. I’d sum it up as a cross between Yes and The Beatles. I doubt there is anyone that would think that sounds like a good idea.

7. Before Today – Ariel Pink’s Haunted Griffiti
I’m pretty sure this came from a review on Pitchfork. I have no idea what prompts me to buy things but there was something in the review that sounded interesting. It sounds very unfinished, which in an age of over produced perfect sounding CDs is refreshing. I can’t really think of anything to compare it with.

6. Acolyte – Delphic
A rare, for me, inclusion of something vaguely electronic. I think it was one of my first albums of 2010 and I still listen to it.

5. Odd Blood – Yeasayer
Apparently Yeasayer have been round for years, I’d never heard of them. I think I saw them on the coverage of Leeds during the summer. Based on that I bought this and never looked back. A bit progressive but with a healthy dose of ’80s pop thrown in. My descriptions sound appalling don’t they?

4. The Suburbs – Arcade Fire
Araced Fire are another band that, I believe, got off to good start and then went downhill. Neon Bible was a bit boring after Funeral. It’s not a bad album but why bother to listen to it? I can answer that, I don’t. The Suburbs does sound different and is good. I’m pretty sure it is compulsory to include this album on any list involving 2010.

3. Big Echo – The Morning Benders
Yes, another recommendation from Twitter, this time from @craigfots I didn’t know anything about this nor what to expect. Buy this album now. It isn’t just one of the best of 2010, you’ll be listening to it in the future, maybe as far as 2013. It has a bit of folk about it, but don’t let that put you off. Actually folk combined with the Animal Collective. That should put off people that like folk and people that like the Animal Collective.

2. Halcyon Digest – Deerhunter
For quite a while this had got the highest score of any album on Pitchfork. It sounds very lofi, sort of like Grandaddy or Mercury Rev. It was a close run thing for this being my favourite album of 2010. Deerhunter were my favourite new band.

1. One-Armed Bandit – Jaga Jazzist
I love Jaga Jazzist. What We Must is my favourite album of all of the albums that have been made by all the people. I’m not quite sure but I’d got it into my head that they’d split up years ago and had resigned myself to no new electronic jazz. Well, at least no new electronic jazz from Jaga Jazzist, other people are still allowed to make it. As it turns out they’re still about and this year they made the brilliant One-Armed Bandit. If you don’t like jazz you probably won’t like this, it’s a bit of combination of jazz and electronica and is the best thing made in 2010.

It is an odd thing to look back on the previous year. Particularly because there are quite a few things that I’d assumed had been released in 2010 but it turns out they were 2009.

There is also a bit of a temptation to include as obscure stuff as possible. Looking back at my list I realise that I’m gravitating towards all the albums that appear on every best of the year list. Getting old obviously does make you more conservative in your taste.

I thought it might be an idea to make a Spotify playlist of all of these albums. So I did. Except there is no Arcade Fire.

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Blues

May 3rd, 2010

It’s fair to say that as soon as I stated recording games I’ve finished I lost interest in playing games really quickly.

As nothing seems to have got completed in ages I decided to make a playlist.

I used to obsessively listen to Blues. It was the  music that started me playing the guitar because it was deceptively simple. Over the years I’ve lost most of the really good stuff I used to own, mainly because it was on tape and I don’t own a tape player.

I thought it would be plan to try and put together everything I could remember into one playlist. So here you go,  the blues, as remembered by a bloke from Eastbourne.

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The Courage of Others

February 1st, 2010

It probably isn’t appropriate to blow your album of the week on a Monday.

What if a better one comes out tomorrow? What if a better one came out today and I just didn’t notice it? That’s entirely possible, I’ve only heard one album today and that’s the one I’m going for.

So I heartily recommend The Courage of Others by Midlake.

Midlake are the band I always think of that best demonstrate how copying music is really good for bands. I’d never heard of them until someone gave me a copied CD of  The Trial of Van Occupanther. As a result of that I ended up buying myself a copy and have bought it numerous times as Birthday presents for people as well as buying everything else Midlake have ever done. One copied CD has actually sold them many CDs.

In contrast in the same time I’ve bought no Metallica CDs. Though that is more as a result of them being shit than anything to do with copying CDs or their fruitless fight against piracy. I just raise it as an issue. A rather abstract issue.

So if you want to explore The Courage of Others you can listen to it here.

Or you can watch this. Which isn’t on The Courage of Others  but I really like it.

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Last time I mention it….

January 4th, 2010

After banging on about my favourite albums of the last decade I decided to make a much longer list of my favourite albums. It’s probably much too self indulgent to go through the entire list on here but I’ve attempted to convert it into a playlist.

Yes, it’s yet another play list on Spotify.

Hopefully I can come up with more creative blog updates soon.

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Funk

December 27th, 2009

I’ve been mucking about with Spotify.

I’m not completely sure if it is that useful and I can’t really see a great deal of difference from Last FM Radio.

The playlists do seem like a good way of sharing stuff you’re listening to and, hopefully develop it a bit.  Unfortunately music in Spotify is limited to say the least. In my first attempt at a playlist I’d say about 50% of the stuff I wanted to use is missing.

Anyway I bring you the gift of Funk. It’s a collaborative list so feel free to add stuff that you think might fit. Please don’t dump whole albums in there. I’ve tried to plan this a bit with songs that do fit together.

The list is:-

Spirits Up Above – Rahsaan Roland Kirk
What-cha Feel is What-cha Get – The Wallace Brothers
This Time (I’m Gonna Try It My Way)  – DJ Shadow
Save Me – Wanda Davis
It’s Just Begun – The Jimmy Castor Bunch
Give Up The Funk (Tear the Roof off the Sucker) – Parliament
Miss Kane – Donald Byrd
Superstition – Stevie Wonder
Power of Soul – Idris Muhammad
Color Me – People in the News
Higher Ground – Stevie Wonder
Cosmic Funk – Lonnie Liston Smith
One Nation Under a Groove – Funkadelic
Reasons – Minnnie Riperton
Spear For Moondog, Part 1 – Jimmy McGriff
Omuti Tide – Fela Kuti
Up for the Down Stroke – Parliament
Pick Up the Pieces – The Funk Groove Connection
Afro Strut – The Nite-Liners
Hang Up Your Hang Ups – Herbie Hancock
Luv N’ Haight – Sly & the Family Stone
Starsky & Hutch – The James Taylor Quartet
If There’s Hell Below (We’re All Going to Go) – Lou Donaldson
Funky President (People it’s Bad) – James Brown
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Music / Time = List

November 17th, 2009

I originally posted this as a thread on The Stirrer but then it occurred to me that this is exactly the reason I own a blog which I rarely update.  So I’ve plagiarised my own work.

I like a good list. I particularly a good list of things at the end of a decade.

There is nothing quite like judging things on an entirely subjective criteria and placing that within the confines of an entirely arbitrary time frame.

The NME have come up with their list of the 50 best albums of the last decade.

I think it’s a really good list and shows what a really good period we seem to be in for music at the moment.

I’m a little annoyed that The Flaming Lips – Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots didn’t make it in there at all. I would have had them in the top ten. Though I’m a little bit Flaming Lips crazy today as I’m going to see them tonight. Go me.

I’ve bought 25 of their 50 and will certainly look at getting more.

So for no apparent reason here are my top 10 albums of the last decade, largely using their list to remind me when things came out.

1) Sufjan Stevens – Illinoise
2) Grandaddy – Sopftware Slump
3) Flaming Lips – Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
4) Acoustic Ladyland – Last Chance Disco
5) Jaga Jazzist – What We Must
6) Muse – Absolution
7) The Bees – Free the Bees
8) Arctic Monkeys – Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not
9) Avalanches – Since I Left You
10) Cinematic Orchestra – Man With a Movie Camera

Hmm there is more jazz on there than I expected.

It’s a shame that you can only get away with lists in multiples of 5 or 10 as I would like to include the fantastic The Trials of Van Occupanther by Midlake, I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning and Digital Ash in a Digital Urn by Bright Eyes and Want Two by Rufus Wainwright.

Technically that’s two Bright Eyes albums which would have given me 14 in total. I don’t think you’re allowed to have a list with 14 things on it.

So… it’s been a really good decade for music.

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Aces High

September 16th, 2008

Every now and then you see a story that just could have been taken straight out of Viz. Yesterday was just such a day, or Sunday, dependant on whether you want to be really pedantic.

Of course I don’t mean the fantastic story of the woman who bought a bunny thats ears weren’t floppy enough. That was a great story and I’ve thought at length about what I would do in her situation. The only conclusion I’ve come to so far is that it was a clear case of criminal deceit and calling the police is the only rational course of action. Otherwise people will think they can palm off erect rabbits with absolutely no come back.

Clearly that wouldn’t have got into Viz as there is no substantial double entendre in the whole story. Having said that the one I’m thinking of hasn’t really got any sexual content either so my entire theory is in danger of being rubbish.

The most outstanding story of the last couple of days has to be the humanitarianism of Iron Maiden lead singer Bruce Dickinson single handedly mounting a Berlin style airlift to rescue stranded holiday makers.

It is a fantastic example of how when events go truly tits up we can only really rely on celebrities to make everything better.

I love the idea that Bruce works a few days a week as an airline pilot just because he can. I have no idea how much money the bloke has got but as The Maiden have been pretty well constant for well over 20 years he must have a few quid in the bank.

In their seminal single Aces High, Iron Maiden demonstrated a truly in-depth knowledge or air to air combat. I imagine that this has come in really handy in the last couple of days as he skirted Israeli air space with a boot full of tourists from Egypt.

I doubt it happens but I’d love to believe that every time he takes off, Aces High blasts over the PA.

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