It's knee-jerk hyperbole hour here at AYGH towers. I've already peed my virtual pants over the merits of Arming Eritrea, and today its parent album hits stores, both actual and computer-oriented. And dare I say it, Future of the Left's 'Travels With Myself and Another' is the best album of 2009 so far. Yes, I'll say it.
Where 'Curses' saw the band trying to find its voice, 'Travels..' is gloriously focused. It's also hilarious, righteous, rocks like a ten-tonne bastard, and - here's the revelation - has some tunes you can hum the next day.
Witness 'Throwing Bricks at Trains', a song with more melody than anything they've put out before, and with harmonies! 'Drink Nike' has a chorus - not just one sentence (cf "Sausage on a stick", "why put the body where the body don't wanna go?") but an actual, straight-up chorus. 'Chin Music' spins from a fuzzy, accelerated verse to a delirious payoff. And 'Lapsed Catholics' discusses the 'Shawshank Redemption', making this arguably the first rock album of the year to tip a cap to Frank Darabont. They still play their "bass-tuned-all-the-way-down" card, on tracks like 'You Need Satan More Than He Needs You', so this isn't a complete reinvention. They've just smoothed some - some - of their edges and honed themselves into a leering powerful machine.
There's a great interview with Falco over at DiS, where he talks a British inferiority complex when it comes to bands that rock. With 'Travels With Myself and Another', the band has reached the potential we all knew they would. In a perfect world, they'd become massive after this. It's not a perfect world, but this is a damn-near perfect album.
The train will invariably come to a halt
You're winning me over
For a change, today I'm going to write about a new album from a Scottish band. Imagine that. At this juncture, I might as well rename this site something like Aye Tunes. Oh, wait. From Glasgow, We Were Promised Jetpacks have not only a terrific name but, in 'Quiet Little Voices', one of the catchiest singles I've heard all year. Comparisons with the Futureheads will abound because of the "woah-oh-ohs" that everyone ought to shout along with. And, happily bucking the trend I've mentioned before, 'Quiet Little Voices' isn't even the first track on the record.
What of the rest of their debut album, 'These Four Walls'? Two words: Drums and Accents.
Oh, you want more words than that? They remind me of the great Northern Irish band Jetplane Landing, not just because of the aeronautical themed band name, but both like to meld riffs with massive choruses and songs that go in about six different directions. 'Short Bursts', for instance, begins with drums being rolled down a hill, then some chords hammered in isolation, then just a pounding wall of sound for a minute, then the repeated instruction to sit back and loosen your ties, and then back to the rolling drums, then some vocals over those drums, then he shouts "We'll teach you to die!" and then the wall of sound for another minute. I love how the opener, 'It's Thunder and It's Lightning' kicks things off, with a really plaintive discussion of walking before running, quite delicate, and then those bastard drums kick in and shake things up like a snowglobe.
There's a lengthy track called 'Keeping Warm' towards the end, which is nice enough as a gently building instrumental, but it lost me before its eight minutes were up, and then the album closes, quite literally, with 'An Almighty Thud'. Well, that's the name of the track, but musically it's anything but - the album's only moment of quietness, just Adam Thompson's voice, an acoustic guitar, and some feedback. I do like albums that end peacefully, and so the change in gears is welcome, but I wish there'd been a little more variety in the record prior to the last song. I don't mean within each song, where there are plenty of shifts and speed-ups. But a couple more slow songs might make their next album a bit less exhausting. Maybe I'm just getting old.
[We Were Promised Jetpacks official / myspace]
Pizza ready for some football... for free
I had a lovely Memorial Day weekend, seeing lots of relatives after a long time, spending some time in NYC, and going to a funny comedy show at the UCB Theater. On the plane back to Florida, I caught the second half of the Champions League final - it sure was nice seeing Thierry Henry with a winner's medal, and Christiano Ronaldo crying. All in all, a great little getaway.
Had to come back down to earth somehow, though, and that happened when I got back to my house here in Gainesville, to find that we'd been burgled over the long weekend, and my laptop and external hard drive were both stolen. The computer was literally the only thing of value that I owned. Cue calls to the cops, my immigration lawyer - it had scans of important legal documents on there - the bank, etc. At the moment, I'm using my roommate's laptop, while I wait for my newly ordered Lenovo IdeaPad to arrive.
Something bigger than the heartache
I know, I know. It's been at least nine days since I last wrote about a Scottish band, so I'm addressing that imbalance right now. Got the new De Rosa album 'Prevention' in the post the other day (thanks, Stewart!) and not shockingly, it's really good. Martin Henry's voice, and the folksy arrangements here remind me of King Creosote, but there's a more sinister undercurrent to 'Prevention'. One song, 'It Helps to See You Hurt', sets the tone - really bitter lyrics but over incredibly lush backing. 'A Love Economy', which opens the album, is particularly ace, so listen to it below. 'Flight Recorder', an album highlight, builds and builds to a beautifully tense finale.
We were better off as animals, right?
Difficult one, this. A lot of the correspondence that I've seen about the new Cursive album, Mama I'm Swollen, seems to say "it's way better than Happy Hollow", but I rather liked their last album, and this one just doesn't do it for me. I've given it some time - it's been a few weeks since I bought it from the record label for $2 - but with a couple of exceptions, it's just not kicking in. I think the primary thing that's missing is a unified theme - their last three albums have been about divorce; the ugly, ugly recording business; and a small, conservative town during wartime respectively. Having a theme really held these albums together, and there isn't an equivalent on Mama, I'm Swollen, and that weakens it for me. There's less inward-looking analysis and personal catharsis, which is fair enough - the guy has opened himself up plenty in the past. But it feels like something is missing in the end product, most of the tracks seemed to pass me by. That said, I really like how 'What Have I Done?' builds over a pretty autobiographical exposé to a clattering, thundering finale. "I spent the best years of my life, waiting on the best years of my life" is as revelatory as we get here. Smart choice, too, in putting 'From the Hips' out as the lead single. Did you see them do it on Letterman last week? Very, very good indeed. If the tour brings them this way again, I'll definitely go and see them, but I hope this one just needs to grow on me more.
Lust and sin are all that I want
There are some who might argue that, since The Phantom Band are from Glasgow, are signed to Chemikal Underground Records, and had the delgados' Paul Savage produce their debut album, all they really needed to do was record a dog taking a shit into a trombone, and I'd give it a fawning review. This would be entirely justified, so I'll try to be objective here.
'Checkmate Savage' is a little uneven - there are a couple of songs that don't quite do it, like 'Crocodile' which is noisy but in mitigation, involves bagpipes. Not shockingly for a band that describes itself as "Proto Robofolk," it’s an eclectic affair, with consecutive songs, and often parts of the same songs, veering off into different directions, sometimes more jarringly than others. This makes 'Checkmate Savage' a difficult album to fall for, but it's worth the effort.
'Folk Song Oblivion' is ace and sounds like Kraftwerk and at the end it sounds like Michael York is singing. New single 'The Howling' is equally epic and driven by a killer beat, which is sustained throughout the record. 'Island' calms things down a little and is very pretty. 'Checkmate Savage' is not for everyone, but if you're up for it, you'll get something out of it.
A wee bit o'blarney
I found out on Friday that one of my close friends from college is very sick, and so that served to take a lot of the wind out of my weekend. Tried everything I could to take my mind off it - watched some Saxondale, went to see TL/Rx, listened to a lot of the Best Show, didn't do any work, etc. For laughs, I also listened to the new stand up CD from Andrew Daly. Dude has been a staple on the New York and L.A. scenes for a while, which explains why my only exposure to him has been on Root of All Evil and Semi-Pro. Of course, he's a lot funnier than those things allowed him to be.
'Nine Sweaters' consists of nine (actually, eleven) different characters, each very meticulously planned out, that deliver varyingly insane rants. One of them, Jerry O'Hearn, you may have heard on the Comedy Death Ray compilation which I've mentioned on here before. There's an Irishman that loves to spin a tall tale, a smalltown actor who's just arrived in L.A. and is going to make it there, an eighty-year old man with a mind in the gutter, and a comedian whose gimmick - being invisible - may not necessarily be beneficial to the craft. Best of all, and by that I mean most deliriously batshit insane of all, was a guy who is the Life of the Party. I can't really describe him, but suffice to say, he'll get you conga-ing, or die trying. I've put up the shortest clip from the CD (most are >10 mins) for your enjoyment. Unlike Hap Arden, Shooter is about to leave L.A. and this is his send-off. Enjoy!
[download Andrew Daly - Shooter's Bon Voyage Set]
[Andy Daly myspace / Buy 'Nine Sweaters']
Staring until we suddenly burst
Ten years after their opus 'Deserters Songs', Mercury Rev are back with two new albums. Two! One of them, 'Strange Attractor', you can get right now, for free, just by clicking here. My download only just finished, so I obviously don't have any thoughts on it yet. Other than "My word, that was a nice, fast download".
Onto the other, 'Snowflake Midnight'. On this album, the band has discovered electronic drum beats and loops, and put them to substantial use. This is a pretty jarring switch for them to make. The biggest appeal to their music was always the ethereal prettiness of it, the noise you'd expect from handsome vampires, fragile but beautiful. In fact, the one time I saw them that wasn't life-changing was at a festival when they played while the sun was still out. Didn't work nearly as well. Mercury Rev's Bottleneck Stomp is a nocturnal beast, and there is something old-fashioned and timeless about their sound. Drum sounds from a computer will take some getting used to.
They work it in well, though. And besides, the other elements are still in place, with lyrics about squirrels, butterflies and raindrops. Jonathon's voice remains creepy but perfect, and he can still trot out poignant lyrics like "A bag full of second chances, overflowed and spilling out". There's a wall of feedback and chanting on 'Senses on Fire'. Handclaps on 'Faraway from Cars'. And best of all, a thundering wall of REAL drums and bells and harmonies on album highlight 'People are so Unpredictable'.
It's great to have them back.
[download Mercury Rev - People Are So Unpredictable (There's No Bliss Like Home)]
[Mercury Rev official / myspace]
[Buy 'Snowflake Midnight' US / UK / iTunes]
First impressions of 'Glasvegas'
Almost a year since first bigging them up on here, Glasvegas have gone from latest-buzz-band-from-Glasgow to NME cover stars to festival slayers to almost-top-ten stars. It's safe to say that I've been looking forward to their debut album more than any other this year.
At least half of the album are songs that've been floating around in various demo forms for a while. They all finally sound the way you'd always hoped - massive, with the drums turned all the way up, with the feedback rippling gently but powerfully (check out the way the record begins, with 'Flowers and Football Tops' taking a couple of minutes to simmer before those drums kick in), and suitably grandiose. 'Geraldine' and 'Daddy's Gone' are already colossal live favourites, and others will follow. If it's not already, then just watch 'Go Square Go' get people singing its "Here we fuckin' go!" refrain in the very near future. Only 'Stabbed', in its new slowed down, piano-led reworking, doesn't quite sound its best. Check out the original sounding version below. Also, I've put up a cover of Glasvegas' finest song by Carl Barat's band Dirty Pretty Things which manages to suck out all the essence and emotion from it.
And as for the newer songs, there's nothing quite as jaw-dropping as those that were demos, but 'Ice Cream Van' sends us home with a slow-turns-huge finale; and 'Lonesome Swan' is pretty rockin'. I think it's a good thing that James Allen has such a thick Scottish accent, because if you knew what he was saying, you'd be in tears most of the time. This is a sad album, guys. From 'Flowers and Football Tops', about a mum finding out that her child's just dead, complete with a devastating verse of 'You Are My Sunshine' at the end; to 'Geraldine' (about the "deep and darkest place around"); to 'Daddy's Gone' - nuff said - to the promise of "a storm on the horizon" in the final track. Oh, and there's a song about winter depression ('S.A.D. Light') and 'Go Square Go' about bullying at school. And yet it sounds so warm, so approachable, so sensitive, so not-want-to-kill-yourself.
They're coming over to the U.S. later in the year, go and see them if you live in a town that isn't shit. The band are interviewed on the latest Music Weekly podcast, which always deserves a shout out. 'Glasvegas' the album is eloquent, moving, sad, heavy, everything. It'll make you punch the sofa in time to the drums, and you'll listen repeatedly.
Glasgow does it again. Your turn, Edinburgh!
[download Glasvegas - I'm Gonna Get Stabbed (demo)]
[download Dirty Pretty Things - It's My Own Cheating Heart That Makes Me Cry (Glasvegas cover)]
[Glasvegas - myspace / official site]
I don't make music, I make change
The title of Animate Objects' album is a little misleading. See, it's called 'Riding in Fast Cars with Your Momma' and to me, that says "We're goofy and this is going to be a very fun album."
It isn't. Let's make it clear - it's still dead good, certainly. It just doesn't sound like what you might expect, given the titular yo' momma joke. Chicago's Animate Objects play stellar full-band hip hop, and it may be lazy but it's entirely appropriate to mention The Roots, whose influence seeps through pretty strongly on AO's debut. Listen to 'Beautiful' - smooth R&B voice carries the chorus and the hook, while the tough-voiced rapper takes the verses and talks about social responsibility and love.
The other major reference point is Michael Franti and Spearhead, particularly on the opening cut 'The Weight', where AO gradually unfold all the cliches you hear in a lot of hip hop and one-by-one dismiss them. 'Riding...' keeps a pretty relaxed, laid-back pace almost all the way though, so 'Get Back!' and 'El Dorado' are welcome, but rare, upbeat standouts. The album as a whole is well worth a listen, but since most of it is kept at a mid-tempo, it's hard to get too worked up about. Stick it on, have a drink and soak it in. Remember the name.
[download Animate Objects - Get Back!] yousendit link
[Animate Objects myspace / official / facebook]
[Buy 'Riding in Fast Cars With Your Momma']
First impressions of Intimacy
I guess that 'Signs', track six, was the first time on 'Intimacy', the rush-released new record from Bloc Party, where I thought "What the fuck is this?". 'Kid A' style bells, lyrics about ravens and bluebells? That said, by the time the huge strings arrive, I'm won over. I still don't like 'Mercury', though, with its shout-outs to hipster neighbourhoods and the word "retrograde". That one aside, it's a pretty solid record. 'Ares' is a jarring opener, one of their fastest songs yet. I like 'One Month Off' and 'Halo' because they sound, as promised, like first album 'Silent Alarm' songs.
'Biko' is slower but with its heart in the right place. There's a lot (a LOT) of programmed beats, which work reasonably well throughout the record. They sit nicely over the huge wall of choral voices on 'Zepherus'. I thought 'Trojan Horse' was okay, reminded me of 'Where is Home?' from the last record. Loops carry 'Better than Heaven' until it bursts into life, which is especially thrilling but does it make up for a dull first three minutes? Nearly. The last track builds nicely, sounds a lot to me like 'Always New Depths' was in mind when they did this one.
I seem to be among the minority when I say that I quite liked 'A Weekend in the City', but 'Intimacy' comes off as a pretty good album on the first listen. And considering nobody expected a new Bloc Party album a few days ago, let's be thankful and dance like bastards.
[Bloc Party myspace / official site]
[buy 'Intimacy']
All the blogs are about you
I went to a wedding this past weekend in Jacksonville (read about it here and here). On the drive there I listened, twice, to 'Partie Traumatic' by Black Kids. It was fitting, since they are a band from Jacksonville. The album just came out a couple of weeks ago, to pretty solid reviews in the U.K. and pretty weak reviews here in the States. You've probably seen the most notorious of these already.
After seeing them in November, I mentioned that if you expect nothing more than a good dance, you'd be golden, and that's pretty much still the case half a year later. 'Partie Traumatic' is a solid album, never amazing but never horrendous, with a few really good songs. If you're expecting anything more than a decent album from a very young band who're already considered last year's news, you'll not like this. And 'Listen to Your Body Tonight' is a bit rubbish.
But this is a band that can get people dancing, even when the song is dumb as hell and rhymes "eat some grits" with "this song is the tits", as the title track does. Even in its new and far inferior recording, 'I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You' still sounds ace. 'I'm Making Eyes at You' sounds a little like a more adolescent 'Love Cats', while 'Hit the Heartbrakes' rebounds nicely from a terrible knock-knock intro into a pure pop chorus.
Reggie doesn't have much to say, but his laments about women are a failsafe subject to sing about. The girls in the band provide bratty back-up shouting, most effectively on the straight-up fun album closer 'Look at Me (When I Rock Wichoo)'. I also like 'I've Underestimated My Charm (Again)', and danced when I heard it in Urban Outfitters the other day, particularly during its Motown-lite outro.
So, anyone that expects Black Kids to deliver a debut album that will match 'Pet Sounds' or 'All Eyez On Me' in terms of permanent cultural relevance and immediate success, will probably be disappointed. For what it is, a collection of ten songs by a band younger than me and mostly younger than my sister – it's pretty okay. There is probably something to be said about the nature of the music press, and how this band has already gone from darlings of the blogs to forgotten also-rans in the space of a few months. But I'm not nuanced or analytical to say that today.
[download Black Kids - I've Underestimated My Charm (Again) (EP Version)]
[Black Kids official / myspace]
[Buy 'Partie Traumatic' UK / US]
Satan's your best friend
Back when Audiogalaxy ruled the - ahem - audio galaxy, it kept telling me that the genre I listened to the most was "chamber pop". What does this mean? Who knows? I've never heard of that genre outside of that short lived software. But this week I've been listening to the album 'Rest Now, Weary Head! You Will Get Well Soon' by Get Well Soon, and it sounds like it was recorded in a chamber. I mean this with great admiration - it's a fine record, very richly orchestrated and well put together, with long song titles not getting in the way of clever arrangements and just plain good songs.
Because I'm lazy I don't mind saying that the first song, with its lazy horns and prevailing sense of Eastern bloc ambiance, sounds like Beirut, while the very slowly unfurling chorus on 'Christmas in Adventure Parks' is lovely, as is 'Witches! Witches! Rest Now in the Fire'. Also, there's a song where he's singing in a deep, country voice with banjos in the background and a female co-vocalist. The pace picks up with 'If This Hat Is Missing, I Have Gone Hunting', which has big, echo-ey drums and a chorus of cheerleaders. Brilliant! I also like the calmer songs, like 'People Magazine Front Cover', 'Help To Prevent Forest Fires' and the cover of 'Born Slippy' by Underworld. Lager Lager Lager.
GWS is apparently one Konstantin Gropper from Germany (Mannheim?) and hopefully we'll hear more of him in the future. This record is perfect for listening to repeatedly, allowing it to get under your skin, and warming you up in the cold, barren winters which we don't enjoy anymore.
[download Get Well Soon - Christmas In Adventure Parks]
[Get Well Soon myspace / official]
You can find a million faults in me
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]
The adrenaline burns a hole
Despite having chosen the world's least Google-friendly band-name, The Music have done very well for themselves - they're a band from "The North" who've been on Jimmy Kimmel's show, that has to count for something. (Of course, that video clip is impossible to find, but I'm 100% sure I didn't just imagine it. They played 'Breakin'.) Anyway, I caught the band live once at the Square in Harlow, a venue slightly bigger than my kitchen, and they absolutely slayed. The guys with instruments are proficient and make some amazing noise, but the focus is undoubtedly Rob Harvey, the singer, who can't stand still - it's nice to see a singer who can outdance his own audience.
Several years on, they're back with a new album, the first in four years by my count. I can't really speak of any change in direction, it looks like the primary shift within the band is that Rob doesn't have any hair any more. The lead single and title track is 'Strength in Numbers', which like I said is same ol' Music, but I happen to really dig that. The lyrics are the usual ol' bollocks about working together, optimism blah blah blah. What matters is that it has a 4/4 drum beat that you can't avoid nodding to, a simple chorus to sing along to, and above all, it's catchy as hell. If you didn't like them before, this song probably won't convert you. But if you're looking for a solitary Monday night dance party, you could do a lot worse than this. 'Strength in Numbers', the album, is out in Britain on the 16th.
The video, which they won't let me embed, is some OTT Cloverfield-meets-mushroom-clouds shit. No idea what's going on. Check it. Also, here's an old song of theirs, from 'The People EP'. And, as a further bonus, if you click here, you can get a remix of new album track 'Fire', by the equally stupidly named Does It Offend You, Yeah?
[download The Music - Jag Tune]
[the music myspace / official site]
Hip Hop is Art
If your only exposure to Dan le Sac vs Scroobius Pip is their epic manifesto-slash-single 'Thou Shalt Always Kill' from last year, you're missing out, son. The duo's follow up single, 'The Beat That My Heart Skipped' was also ace, and gains bonus cool points for sharing a title with a great French film. Their new album 'Angles' is well worth a listen. 'Tommy C' is about legendary comedian Tommy Cooper and bemoans the way a lot of modern pop music focuses on beauty in a way that is banal and useless. (If you don't know about Tommy, read the wiki - it's an interesting story). Elsewhere, Pip's Essex flow recites the periodic table, updates Eminem's 'Without Me', and offers a treatise on the state of hip hop in the United Kingdom in 2008 over a very familiar beat. (Spoiler: he doesn't think it's very good). Behind the laptop, meanwhile, Dan le Sac severely fucks with Radiohead's 'Planet Telex' on the ace 'Letter From God to Man', and the band have their own slow jam with the new single 'Look for the Woman'. They have a lot of ideas, and sometimes I wished for another voice to supplement Pip's, but for the most part, 'Angles' is a solid record with something to say that you should listen to. Today!
[download Dan le Sac vs Scroobius Pip - Fixed]
[dan le sac vs sroobius pip myspace / official site]
Girls on Bikes
Listening to 'It's Been Great', from Alan Wilkis' new album 'Babies Dream Big', I thought of the 1980s, when fashion was terrible, Indiana Jones movies were cool (more on which in a later post, I'm sure) and Prince was a badass. 'It's Been Great' sounds like Prince, with heavy bass, sassy vocals, and a general laid-back vibe that lasts throughout the record. 'Astronaut' comes off as a more sun-dried Caribou but with appropriately spaced-out sounding noises, possibly approved by NASA. The album has some moments of funk, and not always the fun side of funk, but those are few and far between. I thought of Jamie Lidell a lidell bit (where's sadtrombone.com when you need it?), with the combination of electronics, falsetto and, in someone else's words "the music to a 1970s porn video". The summer is coming - grab an ice cream cone and give this guy a listen.
Also, check out Alan and dozens of others in the Neon Coyote Summer Mix 08, by going here. Those of us waiting for the union of Britney Spears, Underworld, Lil Wayne and Born Ruffians can sleep easy at last!
[download Alan Wilkis - It's Been Great]
[Alan Wilkis myspace]
Much ado about [ingenting]
Sure, Sweden has given us some great bands over the years, including the Wannadies, the Concretes, Peter Bjorn and John, Abba, the Soundtrack of Our Lives, Bon Jovi and Led Zepellin. But did you know that in that country, they also speak a language called Swedish? And that there are bands that sing only in that language. Fluxblog posted a song by Veronica Maggio yesterday, and that made me think, "Hey, I've been listening to [ingenting] a lot lately, and haven't got around to writing about them, so here's an excuse."
Those square brackets are very important - apparently just plain ol' Ingenting are a black metal band from neighbouring Norway. Very different. I first got turned onto [ingenting] when some music blog said they sounded like "Sigur Ros meets the Strokes". They don't. But the two albums of theirs that I have are ace. For all I know they're singing "You're a fucking moron and your beliefs and values are all dumb and you have crap hair and everyone thinks you're pretentious" but I still dig. Here are two songs from their latest record, 2006's 'Mycket väsen för ingenting'. 'Hollywood Dreams' is pure summer fun, and the other song, 'Punkdrömmar' sounds like Bloc Party or something. But, of course, in Swedish. There's a frustrating lack of info about the band on this internet, but you can listen to them over at last.fm, so I suggest you do that.
[download [ingenting] - hollywood dreams]
[download [ingenting] - punkdrömmar]
[ingenting] myspace
He is committing egocide
I had my first of four exams today. It went well, thanks. Since the next one isn't for another few days, this is a nice opportunity to write a little somethin' somethin' about the new dEUS album, 'Vantage Point', which came out this week in countries that are worth living in.
Most striking thing: there are no epics on this album. It's more concise, which has its benefits, but there aren't any songs like 'Bad Timing' or 'Roses' or 'Lets See Who Goes Down First', which start quietly and grow and grow and grow and become monsters. I'd go so far as to say, 'Vantage Point' is the first dEUS album that doesn't have any "Shoot me dead right now because that song is fucking incredible" songs. That's a shame. There are even a couple of songs which are going to have to grow on me. 'Is A Robot' is one. 'Eternal Woman' is pretty enough, but songs with spelling in the middle are always dangerous. And though I'm a sucker for kids' choirs, the closing track 'Popular Culture' doesn't do it for me. Yet.
But this is my favourite band. So of course there's plenty I love here. 'The Architect' and 'Slow' are already old friends. I wasn't too sure about the backing vocals on 'Slow' to begin with, but the album version is a little longer and more thought out, and her from the Knife complements Tom's voice well. 'Oh Your God' is relentless but more tuneful than on early listens. I really like the scuzzy guitar and deadpan vocals on 'Favourite Game'. 'Smokers Reflect' and 'The Vanishing of Maria Schneider' are pleasant enough. 'When She Comes Down' has a nice groove, and a soaring chorus.
It's not as great as I'd have hoped, but I'm certainly not disappointed. Hopefully they'll come back to the States, and more particularly, somewhere within seven hours of where I live. I'm not holding my breath. I still love dEUS.
[Official site / Myspace / Pocket Revolution]
Like a cop who needs a clue
I'll write a track-by-track for Vantage Point sometime soon. It's exam season here, that's why I've been pretty quiet lately. The different levels of ERISA pre-emption are far more interesting that writing about my favourite band's new album. Humbug.
If you have a minute, print this out, put it up somewhere in your hometown and take a picture and send it to this guy. Karl's got a head like a fucking orange.
Oh, back to dEUS - here's a video of Tom playing 'The Vanishing of Maria Schneider' in front of a mirror. Vantage Point - out next week in Europe!
Vind meer video's zoals deze op Cafe de Liefde
