So I’ve finally made it to October. Only three months to go!
(Listening to A Certain Ratio “Shack Up” live at Rotterdam HAL4 whilst I type – classic).
October yielded a bumper crop of pop-tastic tunes. But I’ll start with a let-down. The Durutti Column “Four Factory Records”. A boxset. So the original four The Durutti Column album masters, plus some demo and live material were found following the death of Anthony H. Wilson. The material was released in a boxset. Musical content 10/10. Packaging 0/10. What a hoax. I read the descriptions; original artwork, individual sleeves, box, booklet/notes….. you get the picture. Technically they delivered on all their promises – everything was in the box. But it was just poor. Shoddy. The box was vacuous, the CDs rattling around inside in their small slip jacket sleeves. The Durutti Column set the tone for Factory releases as an art-form with their sandpaper sleeved “Return of”. They’ve closed the legacy with the art equivalent of a shiny shoebox. Pah!
Some quick mentions for I Like Trains (iLiKETRAiNS) “Sea of Regrets”, Epic 45 “In All The Empty Houses”, The Mountain Goats “The Life Of The World To Come”, Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions “Through The Devil Softly” and iamblackbird debut EP.
Piano Magic “Ovations” took me totally by surprise when the warm tones of a certain Brendan Perry poured out of my speakers. The album is fantastic. Brendan Perry guests on a couple of tracks and I’d say there’s more than a hint of his influence throughout the whole album. But don’t worry, at its core this is very much a Piano Magic release.
We saw Fuck Buttons supporting Mogwai a couple of years ago in Manchester. “Tarot Sport” had been high on my wish list for most of 2009 and when it arrived it certainly didn’t disappoint. Hot on the heels of 2008s “Street Horrrsing”, this needed to be extra special to get past the difficult second album syndrome. With five tracks over eight minutes this is an album not a collection of sound bites. How to define the sound? No clue. It’s instrumental, but not post-rock, it takes you through the electronic fringes of Krautrock and drops you in the middle of a rave occasionally. Cluster. Kraftwerk. Kling Klang. Boards Of Canada. All in a blender. That’s Fuck Buttons.
According to their wiki page A Place To Bury Strangers were voted the loudest band in NYC. Played loud on my stereo “Exploding Head” certainly confirms this accolade. These are definately a bunch of guys you must see live (so that’s a big “NEVER” for me then – I certainly can’t see APTBS headlining at The Irish Village!). What an album though. Another Top Ten entrant.
Grand Archives “Keep In Mind Frankenstein”. I’ve already mentioned The Low Anthem and Fleet Foxes. Well these guys sort of fit in between the two of these. Classified as “indie rock” I think that’s a little misleading, this is a soft (but dark) album with pastoral moments and lovely harmonies. One to watch without a doubt.
You’ll have noticed that there has been a high proportion of American bands present in my 2009 review. I put this down to one simple truth; British “indie” is in its worse shape for decades. The old school is still pushing out compelling stuff but many of the new bands are straight copyists looking for a place on a big stage next to their Coldplay-type heroes. Why does it take a band like Fleet Foxes to produce an original “English” sounding release? We’re certainly doing something wrong. Anthony Wilson once made the comment that Manchester kids had the best record collections, I think what he meant was the most diverse collections. The recycle time now for musical styles is getting shorter and shorter in the UK “independent” field, whereas in the USA there is an obvious tendency to look further back into their musical heritage for influences. Also there is an openness to explore a wider range of musical styles.
“Independent” traditionally referred to the record label, and by association the style of music it promoted and hence the type of artist it attracted. Unfortunately this monicker has been hijacked now and is being applied to anything that’s theoretically not aimed at the mainstream of musical taste. But how is Coldplay not mainstream? Travis, Embrace, Oasis (good-riddance), Keane, Snow Patrol. Mainstream. If you want something to challenge your musical perceptions there is an underground of British talent out there, but you won’t hear it on the “alternative”, “independent” shows on BBC radio, you’ll have to dig. You’ll have to make the effort.
Perhaps our American cousins still enjoy making the effort, whereas the current British disease of cultural apathy is now permeating into our once envied musical bedrock. There will always be exceptions but I do think that the days of British “independents” blazing the trail are long gone.
After all that soul-baring, here are a couple of British “exceptions”. The Twilight Sad and The Longcut both released great albums towards the end of 2009. Indie rock. Hmmm. Yes. But challenging, and not likely to result in lighters being lit in stadia across the UK! The Twilight Sad “Forget The Night Ahead” is a particularly good example of a set of guys embracing a wide range of styles and layering them to produce something unique. The Longcut “Open Hearts” came as quite a surprise. I’d last listened to these when they were on Deltasonic and label mates with The Coral. The sound has changed considerably since then. This album is produced by one of Nine Black Alps and it certainly shows since it’s a lot more rocky than before. There are some complex sections, disjointed, difficult segues that make this a really interesting, enjoyable listen.
Black Heart Procession “Six”. Gloomy. Dark. Brilliant. This is rock for serial killers. But don’t think swirling dry ice, dark wide-brimmed hats and gothic shrieks. They’re on Temporary Residence so think Grails meets Spoon.
Next up came the Warp boxset. There’s more about this elsewhere on this blog. Don’t be lazy – look for it.
Bristol delivered The Fauns in early November. These guys make no excuses for their shoegaze influences, and they don’t need to. (I know I commented about copyists before, but when the music is this wonderful I can make allowances). This is the ambient, gentle end of shoegaze – you’ll get no crashing dissonance here, just relaxing, rolling soundscapes. Geoff Barrow is involved somehow. Considering his Beak> release, it’s interesting to look at the range of musical styles he embraces. (Once again, here is the difference between a great musical innovator and the copyist – the range of influence and how the range is processed). Lovely cover too. Buy it.
The Geoff Barrow link segues us seamlessly to Beak> and “Beak>”. Analogue synths. Single pass, almost improvised recording rules delivered a stunning slab of experimentation. This is a release that feels alive. This is British independent music at its peak. This is Pan Sonic with rhythm. This stands, with very few comrades, as an indication that there are musicians still out there trying to push the boundary, and enjoying doing so. Take some of the background analogue soundscapes and rhythms from Portisheads “3″ and you’ll hear traces of Beak>, although I have to say this is much more cheery. Let’s hope this isn’t a one-off.
Quick namecheck to OceanSize “Home & Minor EP” – more from Manchester. Down the road to Liverpool for The Wild Swans second release of the year “Liquid Mercury” and then back to Manchester for I Am Kloot “B”. The Pastels/Tenniscoats delivered the stunning “Two Sunsets” – I was late picking it up, but again another Top Ten. (How many do I have in my Top Ten now??). There’s the classic, dissonant pop-tones of The Pastels guitar treatments married to the perfect Japanese pop of Tenniscoats. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it works. If you love The Pastels give this one a try, but don’t expect The Pastels!
And we close the year on………………..Spiritualised “Ladies And Gentlemen We are Floating In Space”. The deluxe edition. Probably one of the greatest albums of the last 20 years. This was a great way to end the year. The value of the bonus CDs, hmmm, not sure really. The different versions are interesting, but obviously they don’t stand up against the final versions. It was refreshing to listen to such a solid body of music once more. I’ve made many references to the lack of artistic quality in the British alternative music scene, but this is certainly not lacking. This will be a defining moment in rock history for years to come. Pure genius.
So there you have it. 2009 in an 8-part nutshell. Top ten to follow. (Soon).
Cheers. P. 
Posted in Music, Purchases
Tags: A Place To Bury Strangers, Anthony H. Wilson, Beak>, Boards Of Canada, Brendan Perry, Bristol, Cluster, Coldplay, Deltasonic, Embrace, Epic 45, Factory, Fleet Foxes, Fuck Buttons, Geoff Barrow, Grails, Grand Archives, Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions, I Am Kloot, I Like Trains, iamblackbird, iLiKETRAiNS, Keane, Kling Klang, Kraftwerk, Mogwai, Nine Black Alps, Oasis, OceanSize, Piano Magic, Snow Patrol, Spiritualized, Spoon, Temporary Residence, Tenniscoats, The Black Heart Procession, The Coral, The Durutti Column, The Fauns, The Longcut, The Low Anthem, The Mountain Goats, The Pastels, The Twilight Sad, The Wild Swans, Travis, Warp Records
For The Wild Swans, 2010 will see the release of their new album, and if the July 2009 concert was anything to go by it will be a landmark release of the year. There will be plenty of young talent looking enviously at The Wild Swans in 2010 wishing for just a small piece of their talent, and hoping for longevity that only true genius can sustain.
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