This one is pretty tardy. To be honest, I listened to 'Red', the second Guillemots album, a couple of times when it first hit back in March, but it made so little of an impression upon me that I kinda forgot about it, preferring the instant and continuously ace Laura Marling, LC! or Elbow records. But last night in the car I decided to revisit 'Red'. After all, the band's previous album was my favourite of the year in 2006, so they deserve another listen. My initial gripe was that despite beginning strongly, it sort of blended into a dull mess for a large swathe of the middle of the album.
That impression remains, unfortunately. The first three songs are still storming, though - 'Kriss Kross' fails to get old or not-huge; 'Big Dog' seems to divide opinions but I really like it, coming across as a polished RNB stormer (check it on my muxtape); and 'Falling Out Of Reach' is gorgeous, with gospel choirs, soft vocals and the fact that Sir Ian McKellen is in the video is just icing on the cake. Fyfe said he wanted to make this album the inverse of 'Through the Windowpane', this time beginning with the most mental track and ending with the quietest, and that makes for a great first ten minutes, although the last song, 'Take Me Home' is dreary and forgettable.
Trouble is, despite being more adventurous 'Red' is too often just alright. 'Last Kiss' is uptempo and is their most dancey-song, but other than that, it's unremarkable. 'Clarion' and 'Cockateels' pass you by, the later has the Bollywood strings but that's about all. 'Standing on the Last Star' is the biggest weak spot - it sounds like the least inspired tunes from the Britpop days with pretty bland lyrics and for once with this band, pretty boring instrumentation. "Is nothing in the world going to make you happy" is a nice refrain, I suppose, but if you're still listening that far into the song, kudos to you. What it boils down to is: there are fewer drop-dead instant classics on 'Red' than 'Windowpane', and more filler.
Since I am a fan of the band, and don't want to end the review on a sour note, I'll just say that 'Don't Look Down', the penultimate track, is really good - Fyfe's voice begins all deep, over sombre background, before it unfolds deliberately, slowly, into a much prettier swooner; and then it becomes a drum-n-bass stormer, with some amazin' work from Greig.
I hope we can still be friends, Guillemots.
[download Guillemots - Don't Look Down]
[Guillemots - official site / myspace]
You can find a million faults in me
Monday's things to click and read
Some things:
- Playing a gig in London? Why not invite The Queen? Good enough for Mr. E. [NME Blog]
- Still very excited for 'Searching for the Hows and Whys', and to that end, Sam has gotten all 21st century, with a video podcast. [Get Cape Wear Cape Fly @ YouTube]
- I usually don't care for novelty covers, but Final Fantasy's take on Celine Dion's 'Power of Love' is better than you'd think. [iGiF]
- Finally! An chance to get into The Kinks. [AV Club]
- British Sea Power are coming to Florida! Three whole dates! Here's a brief review of their new album 'Do You Like Rock Music?': It's ace. Here's a slightly longer review: It's not as manic as they used to be, and some people are turned off by this. But I really dig the dynamics and the anthemics, particularly on the album's first half. The video for 'No Lucifer' is puppetry genius. I'll see you at Jack Rabbits. [Pitchfork]
- Steve Coogan's new film is apparently very good. [AiCN - contains spoilers?]
- Guillemots did 'Get Over It' on Jonathan Ross. It's not as mental as 'Kriss Kross', but they get points for use of the word "dram". [Youtube]
- Apparently, we're guilty of over-analyzing Girls Aloud. Wait, what? [Guardian Unlimited]
- It's President's Day here in the U.S. Make your Chester A. Arthritis jokes... now.
- I'd love to see Janusz Kaminski win on Sunday for the incredible cinematography in 'The Diving Bell and the Butterfly', but he probably won't. [Oscar.com]
- I meant to post this earlier, but how's this for a newspaper headline? [Why That's Delightful!]
- Q Magazine and HMV combine to determine the best British albums of all time and of course it's rubbish. Menswe@r are nowhere to be found! [Telegraph]
- Finally, here's my new purchase that's going to make Biology exams a lot easier. [Shirt Woot!]
Are you coming out tonight?
No, I wasn't kidnapped, but thanks for asking, Jim.
To be honest, I've spent most of the last week or so in a cave, listening to this new Guillemots song repeatedly. I've gotta say, I can't wait for their new record, 'Red', to be released, because apparently it's simpler and yet more mental than the much-loved by me 'Through the Windowpane'.
'Kriss Kross' is absolutely fucking immense. Pounding violin plucking plus electric bass excess into shouting and a power-chorus, all before a final third that's blissful and pretty yet about people dying.
To help get me fired up for big 'Red', DiS has both an interview with the band, and a track-by-track discussion from the band. The fact that one track is described as "The Bollywood discotheque that [drummer] Greig visits each night when he's asleep" makes me want to get into my time machine and fly.
[download Guillemots - Kriss Kross]
[Guillemots - official site / myspace]
Attention! Unbelievers!
Good Weather for Airstrikes has the elusive non-demo recording of The Marshals Are Dead by Bloc Party. The scratchy demo has been around for ages, as have various live recordings, but this is the version touched by ‘Silent Alarm’ producer Paul Epworth, aka Phones, aka Epic Man. Check it.
This weekend I’m going to see We Are Scientists and Art Brut at my favourite live music venue in the
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You already know that I quite love Guillemots. Well, their singer Fyfe Dangerfield recently covered 'Something Changed' by the much-missed Pulp (first gig I ever went to, fact fans!) and you can listen to it here. As if you needed me to tell you, it's ace.
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Saw The Last Kiss this past weekend. It wasn't bad, by any means, just had the really strong sense of unimportance. Zach Braff's character, like most of the men, seemed troubled and self-important but without really having any reason to, and his resulting problems all were entirely his own doing and so it was hard to be sympathetic. The female characters really didn't have much dimension, and throwing in jokes sort of lessened the impact of how serious the film could've been. Why would Rachel Bilson's character be so interested in Braff's? Is "she's just like a man" really the best compliment they can pay to his girlfriend? Does Braff really need to say "fuck" as much as he does? There were more questions floating around afterwards.
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Finally, some words about Arab Strap. Only saw them the once, in December 2003, when they came to aforementioned genius concert venue. I knew their cellist, Alan, because he toured with the Delgados as well, and so I was lucky enough to get in early, and catch them soundchecking. I've got a great picture of the whole band onstage with nobody in the audience, performing their song 'Fucking Little Bastards', one of my favourites.
Once the doors opened, the show was ace. There was a fire alarm halfway through, so everyone had to go outside, and then get back inside a few minutes later and straight back into 'New Birds'. It was a great gig, they're a great band, and I'll miss having them around. I'm glad, though, that it's completely amicable and like the Delgados, they'll still be working on their own solo stuff. If you're new to the Strap, I'd suggest checking out the record 'Monday At the Hug And Pint' - most people don't think it's their best, but I do. It's probably their most accessible. Here's me with Alan (middle) and Aidan. For a gruff beardy man, he has one hell of a voice.
Woke up with a shoe in my mouth
Today's post is about the album "Through the Windowpane" by Guillemots. It's nominated for the Mercury Music Prize, and I sincerely hope it wins. Perhaps you've heard their "Made Up Lovesong #43" which is effortlessly sweet, daft and lovely. The album is really ambitious, and I like that it doesn't always work - there are a lot of open spaces, where it's just the singer's voice over very bare backing, and even though his voice is pretty special, at times it's not that great. But oh shit, when they get it right...
Especially check out the last track, Sao Paolo, which lasts for ages and is layer upon layer of awesomeness.
[download Guillemots - Les Black Sessions (full show)]
