Mumford & Sons “The Cave” : There’s been a lot of hype over the last few months about these guys. You may remember that I gave them a reasonable review in my Field Day post (Field Day – Review), my only complaint being the overwhelming number of students present! This is my first Mumford & Sons purchase and it follows the purchase of the Laura Marling album “I Speak Because I Can”. The Laura Marling CD came with a bonus DVD which reintroduced me to this band. (They have a strong association, Mumford & Sons often supporting Laura Marling when she plays live). So, interest piqued, I bought the single! Two tracks; The Cave and Untitled. Apparently The Cave is a live favourite, which in places hints at Arcade Fire. Both tracks are fantastic slices of new-folk. The use of banjo on both tracks adds a tinge of Americana to their sound, but they are deeply English. Untitled is an epic track, undeservedly a b-side. I’ve ordered the album on the strength of this single. I don’t think I’ll be disappointed.

http://www.mumfordandsons.com/

Chapel Club “O Maybe I” : I knew nothing about this band until I bought the single. Apparently they formed in London in 2008 and they’re a rock-indie band. I’m confused by this single. The a-side, O Maybe I, sounds like a weak attempt at a Morrissey rip-off. Very strange because the b-side Machine Music is completely different. A much harder slice of indie-rock, definite Krautrock/Radiohead influences. Mrs P was surprised that it was the same band. I had to agree. I doubt I’ll be buying anything else from these guys. Nice try. Editors-wannabees.

http://chapelclub.com/

The Heartbreaks “Liar, My Dear” : The cover has a picture of a 99-er. (That’s a British ice-cream cone with a Cadburys Flake chocolate stuck in it). The back cover has a photo of a desolate, down-at-heel ice-cream booth. The sort you see on the sea-front in decaying Edwardian British holiday towns….like Morecambe. Recently famous for cockle-picking-carnage, soon to be famous for The Heartbreaks. I like this single. And yes, they are indeed from Morecambe. I can’t remember any other bands from Morecombe; Soft Cells Dave Ball, Section 25 and Tunnelvision were all from Blackpool which is close. But I’m sure local town rivalries demand that comparisons stop there. The choice of Section 25 and Tunnelvision is deliberate. There’s a definite post-punk vibe going on with The Heartbreaks, but there’s also a mining of a rich, deep musical seam. You can here traces of Motown and definitely Northern Soul. These chaps must have great record collections! There’s a lovely little Malcolm Ross/Orange Juice segue towards the end of the main track. Ones to watch. Think Creation at its best, before it was hijacked by the Man City brothers. Bodines. Railway Children. Superb.

http://www.myspace.com/heartbreaksband

Stornoway “I Saw You Blink” : New 4AD signings. I’m a bit disappointed that they’re not Scottish! But that’s my only criticism. This single is really good. Mrs. P described the a-side as ‘folky Buddy Holly’. I know what she means. There’s definately a folk-vibe to the two tracks on this single. But this is first and foremost good indie-pop. It brings to mind Camera Obscura in parts. Look, forget comparisons. This is good quality song-crafting. It’s fun. I have no idea what the new album will sound like, but I’ll be buying it!

http://www.myspace.com/stornoway

http://www.4ad.com/stornoway/

Two quicker reviews now…. Errors “A Rumour In Africa” – You should know by now that I like Errors. Like them a lot. Just like I like Tunng, who have just released “Hustle”. Both singles are stunning. The Errors release almost trumps most of the releases here purely because it appeals my love of meaningless aesthetics – it’s on red and yellow coloured vinyl! Watch that baby spin. Great.

Moon Duo “Love On The Sea” – Trumps Errors. It’s 12″ of pure white vinyl. The band is made up of Erik Johnson from Wooden Shjips, and Sanae Yamada. The reference point to Wooden Shjips is evident. They cite Silver Apples, Suicide and Cluster as influences. This is exactly what you’d expect. A fuzzed out sonic assault resplendent with lock grooves and repetitive two-note mantras. I remember (a long time ago) listening to Themes For Grind by Will Sergeant and  experiencing recorded sonics merging with the ambient sounds of the room, the same thing happened here with E-Z Street Ext which (doesn’t) terminate in a whistling lock-groove. This is sonic-food for Heads. I’ll have to add these guys to my watch list. Wooden Shjips…. come on, this had to be stunning.

http://www.myspace.com/moonduo

Guanaco± “Sky Burials” – Little information. Low budget packaging. Highest quality end-product. I had no idea what to expect. I did put it on with some hesitancy. It won me (and Mrs. P) over very quickly. It’s completely instrumental, predominantly guitar driven drone/psyche. Brilliant. I can feel a google frenzy coming on.

http://olbasnoise.wordpress.com/guanaco-%C2%B1/

Speed, Glue and Shinki “Eve” – Don’t like. Stoner rock. It just didn’t do anything for me. They were a Japanese psychedelic rock band from the early 1970s. Why I bought this I don’t know. I suspect a Julian Cope Japrock curiosity purchase. I’ll probably give it another try, but at the moment it’s going to get filed under “Nah”.

On to the gem. The reissued “The Wicker Man Soundtrack” on orange vinyl. This soundtrack has legendary status, no only because it’s a great soundtrack but because it’s a landmark release in early 1970s psyche-folk. Take a look at the wiki page. This album is a defining moment in British rock history, it’s continuing influence on new artists is a reflection of it’s quality. Every home should own this.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wicker_Man_soundtrack

So, finally got to the end of yesterdays vinyl extravaganza. Cheers. P.

So Domino (http://dominorecordco.com/) are doing it again. What? Reminding us of greatness passed. Not only does the label continue to release some of the most interesting and challenging music from the periphery of modern music they continue to trip us up and make us revisit great artists from the close-past. Of course, I convince myself that Domino funds the releases of these forgotten classics by promoting (and making a tidy profit) from the sales of bands like Arctic Monkeys. I’m sure when they released the Josef K and Orange Juice compilations the subtle irony wasn’t lost on Franz Ferdinand! It’s the only way I can rationalise it. Sell cheap imitations to fund the restoration of the grand master!

Trying to get back on-topic. The re-issues in question are; Today, On Fire and This Is Our Music by Galaxie 500.

Galaxie 500 formed in 1987 and only lasted until 1991. They were mainly overlooked in the UK by a Joe Bloggs public too busy shaking invisible maracas to Happy Mondays and The Stone Roses. Madchester faded into Brit Pop and Galaxie 500 had been missed. Those of us who did take note, probably due to an interest in labels like Creation and bands like Sonic Youth, Spacemen 3, The Pastels and My Bloody Valentine were fortunate.

The reissues cover all of their back catalogue, compressed onto three disks. “Today” is paired with “Uncollected” (previously released in 2004). “On Fire” gets “Peel Sessions” (2005), and “This Is Our Music” gets “Copenhagen (1990)” (1997). There’s pretty much nothing missing from this collection.

There’s always a hesitancy when an entire back catalogue is reissued. I’m always worried that my previous appreciation will turn out to be unfounded. Will my youthful enthusiasm be replaced by older, wiser bemusement? I hadn’t listened to Galaxie 500 for probably 15 years and I was worried. I need not have worried. From the opening of “Flowers” to the closing of “Don’t Let Our Youth Go To Waste” I was hooked.

Whilst their peers attack with sonic layers, Galaxie 500 strip everything back and ambush you with the simplicity. Dean Warehams vocals are a delight – weak, off-key but beguiling.

“On Fire” was the first UK release on Rough Trade. It was an eye-opener back in 1989 and it is still unique today. This is thee definitive slow-core/shoe-gaze album.

“This is Our Music” is probably the most crafted release. With a strong production focus this album is more complex. The guitars are more layered than on previous releases. To be honest the album seems almost too crafted, like the band had lost its soul. There are some standout moments (“Summertime” and the Yoko Ono cover “Listen, The Snow Is Falling), but there are some pretty poor tracks too. This does seem to be an album from a band who are trying to fill in with production techniques for a loss of form. Perhaps it was better that this was their last offering.

I’m not going to review the three releases in depth. There’s way too much written about this band already. Stop reading and go listen.

P

I bought myself a nice 8TB disk unit, which I dutifully installed. It hangs off my Mac Mini which is my media centre (running Plex). I migrated my movies, TV shows etc., and decided in my infinite wisdom to also migrate my music library (iTunes) so that I could have a centralised, manageable source. Good plan. Did the migration then realised I’d deleted ALL my playlists, play-count history etc, for probably the last 4 years. Doh. I’m starting from scratch. If you want to know how it should have been done, drop me a line!

So, what’s playing? I’ll stick with my last 30. It’s heavily biased towards recent purchases, no apologies.

1. Before You Accuse Me – 13th Floor Elevators
2. Bloodbuzz Ohio – The National
3. Bandits – Midlake
4. Myhonos – Fleet Foxes
5. John Clyde-Evans – Hood
6. Surfin’ Bird – The Trashmen
7. Listen, The Snow Is Falling – Galaxie 500
8. Roadrunner – The Modern Lovers
9. Disappointed – Hood
10. Ambre – Nils Frahm
11. Hearing Voices – Galaxie 500
12. Cranberry – The Ruby Suns
13. Blackberry Stone – Laura Marling
14. Boundaries – Kyte
15. Bells – To Rococo Rot
16. Two-Legged Dog – AFCGT
17. Heroin Jam – Transient Waves
18. Start To Dreaming – Wooden Shjips
19. We Gathered In Spring – Midlake
20. What He Wrote – Laura Marling
21. The Engine – The British Expeditionary Force
22. I Just Want To See Your Face – Serena Maneesh
23. Cylinders – Voice Of The Seven Thunders
24. Third Transition – Voice Of The Seven Thunders
25. A Hudson Cycle – Nico Muhly
26. I Hear The Vibrations – Wooden Shjips
27. Pt2ph8 – Autechre
28. The Raven – Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan
29. Oblivious – Galaxie 500
30. Birds – Neil Young

There you have it.

P.

I came across Clayhill through Warp Films and a certain (rather special) Mr. Shane Meadows. Being the completist (obsessive?) I had to get myself a copy of Dead Mans Shoes. His films always had great soundtracks, and I’d already seem the lineup for his 5th film and it was impressive; Smog, Calexico, Adem, Laurent Garnier, The Earlies, Richard Hawley, Gravenhurst, Aphex Twin, M. Ward and…..Clayhill. Clay-who?

The film is a masterpiece of low-budget British cinema, but we’re not here to talk about the film. Of course the soundtrack was phenomenal, but I certainly don’t remember the Clayhill track (“Afterlight”) standing out. On the DVD extras was a short film called “Northern Soul”, starring Toby Kebbell as an aspiring wrestler. The film is a gem, it will have you crying with laughter, however it serves two purposes; one as a short, the second as a promotional vehicle for a new band called Clayhill. I was hooked.

Cue frantic searches for material. Small Circle was their first album proper. I had to wait a while for it to be released but it was more than worth the wait.

The band featured Ali Friend (ex-Red Snapper, recently featuring on the new Imagined Village release), Ted Barnes (Beth Orton collaborator) and the stunning vocals of Gavin Clark (ex-Sunhouse, and some-time UNKLE guest vocalist).

The album feels like a folk album with aspects of electronica and dance. It’s a perfect fusion of expert song-writing, in a very 1960s singer-songwriting tradition, married with modern instrumentation and production techniques. Why did they stop?

A less-sparce, male-vocal Portishead maybe?

The album opens with Alpha Male, a heavily layered, chaotic slice of electronica with an uplifting chorus. Quite an introduction if you’ve never heard them before. Northern Soul is up next, the bass-line is pure Red Snapper, driving the track. The track can get a little confusing in places, there’s a lot of layered instrumentation on this track and it’s hard to concentrate on the core in places.

Next comes the wistful Moon I Hide. The bass and acoustic guitar picking its way through this track shows Clayhill at their best. The track ebbs and flows like the turning tide Clark sings about. Almost the best track on the album. Human Trace leads into Even Though (which I believe is the best track on the album).

“Even though they say ‘time will tell’,

it never told me that out here I must dwell.

Silence reigns.

I was slain

When you released me.

Please don’t reach for me again”.

This is the standout track on this album. The lyrics are a heart-wrenching admission of failure and loss.The music provides the perfect canvas on which Clark paints his misery. It blew me away in 2004, it blows me away now.

Rushes of Blonde and Mystery Train lead into Grasscutter, a remnant from their first EP. Afterlight shows off Clarks vocals in their rawest form, backed only by banjo, acoustic guitar and acoustic bass.The track builds slowly, adding violins and more strings. It almost has a feel of Americana, which I guess is why it sat so well with many of the artists on the Dead Mans Shoes soundtrack.

The last track, End Refrain, has echoes of Mum at the start. A musical-box cycled rhythm with brushed drums. unfortunately, in my opinion it fails when the gospel-ish background vocals kick in.

This is one album that I consistently go back to. It will make a valuable addition to your collection.

P.

I guessed with a list of some of the greatest contemporary musicians of our time, this wasn’t an album to miss.

When it arrived, I was still none the wiser. I looked at the list of tracks first and noticed that of the 16 tracks listed, in fact there were only 10 different tracks. Hmmm. So a few of the tracks were interpreted several times. Out with the sleeve insert, and I found.

1. Jeffrey Lee Pierce was the founder of The Gun Club
2. One of JLPs friends, Cypress Grove, found these songs on a cassette
3. The cassette was the early workings for an album the two friends were working on

So I have no reference point for The Gun Club. I do not own any albums by them. This was going to be interesting. All I knew was that The Gun Club were a US punk band.

Today I have spent the entire afternoon painting my dining area. Mrs. P is in Ireland visiting her family. So I decided this was the ideal time to explore this album. Just me. Nothing else to do but paint and listen. Perfect. I put the CD on at around 2pm, it’s now 7:15pm and I’m still listening to it.

All I can say is what a talent he was. Every track on this album is phenomenal. The artists have obviously made each track a labour of love. You can hear the affection each artist has for their allocated track. There is care and an attention to detail audible in each piece that you seldom get in a “tribute/covers” album. This is obviously much more.

I’m not going to review each track individually. I cannot fault any track on here. The Nick Cave and Debbie Harry duet stands out, as does Mark Lanegan and Isobel Campbell. (Incidently, the same song!). Crippled Black Phoenix show that their musciainship can cover anything from drone to country. After a long time Lydia Lunch reaffirms her stature as the great punk/post-punk chanteuse. I can’t gush enough for this album.

David Eugene Edwards and Crippled Black Phoenix are currently half-way through “Just Like A Mexican Love”. Got to be heard to be believed.

What can I say. I’m going to be looking into The Gun Club. I’ll be tracking down more JLP material.

I cannot recommend this enough.

P.

So, “Pod”. Here we go.

I had to check (wiki-craft). I had a sneaking suspicion that “Pod” came before “Frank Black”, thereby making it the first Pixies side-project. I was correct. 1990 trumps 1993. I should have known immediately because I travelled down to the ICA (London) to attend two nights of the 4AD “The Thirteen Year Itch” concert series in 1993 and The Breeders were already playing tracks from “Last Splash” (playing badly). But that’s another story.

Back to 1990. Grunge. Shite. Grunge was an attempt to add punk credibility to heavy rock. Not metal. Just rock. I read constantly that 1990 was the year that punk boke, how? Husker Du, Sonic Youth, Black Flag, The Replacements, Fugazi, Butthole Sufers….. that was punk. (Well second wave US underground noise). I think that “Pod” tried to evoke the spirit of these bands and not the stadium-rocking-tattered-plaid of the mainstream grunge bands of the time. (For the record I think Mudhoney were most definitely punk. They were not grunge).

In 1990 I wasn’t sure I liked this album. For a start, I wasn’t comfortable with the Lennon/McCartney cover; Happiness is a Warm Gun. At the time, The Beatles were anathema, I had to dislike them because they were mainstream! It took me several years to become comfortable with The Beatles. Put it down to youthful arrogance. (Although, the Husker Du cover of “Ticket To Ride” was brilliant). But that wasn’t the only reason I wasn’t comfortable. “Pod” confused me. They had released an EP earlier; “Safari”, and I’d not been comfortable with the mix of pop, (what sounded like) folk, and rock. I was expecting the Pixies crossed with the Throwing Muses and got something else that I couldn’t put my finger on it. It just didn’t sit comfortably.

But what about now? It’s a very different album to its follow-up. Steve Albini has his fingerprints all over this. It’s a stripped-back, harsh album. The whole album has a very bass-driven feel to it, no surprise I guess if the concept is conceived by a bassist. “Glorious” has a doom-laden bass line and we’re introduced to Kim Deals husky, lazy voice for the first time. “Doe” is drum and bass propelled. The snare-drum has a hollow, slapped sound to it. Then Lennon/McCartney.

“Oh!” has a slow, americana feel to it. Violin adds a mournful folk-feel to the track. So far, the album hasn’t really thrown anything interesting in my direction. I seem to remember having a similar response 20 years ago – it feels like music for music sake. Where’s the heart? Where’s the challenge? Where’s the intimacy? “Hellbound” is a simple two-cord thrash, a stomp through a simple verse-chorus-verse-chorus-chorus-chorus…… I’m not sure how much of this I can take.

Weak.

“When I Was A Painter”, then “Fortunately Gone” – a very Tanya Donelly track, the poppier-side of Throwing Muses or Belly (to follow). Now I’m hitting the next>> button.

Sorry I cannot take this. It’s poor. It’s the Pixies missing the good bits. It’s the Throwing Muses missing the brains of Kristin Hersh. The album sounds too contrived, as if the band sat down with Steve Albini and tried to design the album without playing a note. Now I know why I don’t play this very often. The follow-up is much better. Tanya Donelly will leave and form Belly, the band is re-staffed and stops trying to be an art-project and just gets on with making fun music.

Frank Black has never managed to rekindle the creatve heights that he achieved with the Pixies, Kim Deal hasn’t either, although The Amps are a more intriguing prospect. So if you’re looking for Ms. Deal to rock your world try there first.

5/10.

P.

I’d bought Mrs. P (still Ms. O’Toole at that point) a Love Kraft snow-dome. I can’t remember what I bought myself. The support was El-Goodo. A great night was had by all.

A couple of pointers before I continue;

1. There is no way this is going to be a bad review.
2. The Super Furry Animals are gods.
3. They are possibly the greatest British band of the last 20 years. (Mogwai don’t clock in at 20 years yet).
4. There is no way this is going to be a bad review.
5. I repeat….

Phantom Power hadn’t managed to eclipse the previous genius of Rings Around The World. When I heard that a new album was due in 2005, I was a little worried. Would the SFA deliver, or had they peaked with RATW? I need not have worried.

The album opens with the sound of Huw Bunford diving into a swimming pool. “Immerse yourself in this” possibly? Then we’re into opening track “Zoom!”, a glam-opera track complete with soaring harmonies. It’s certainly a statement of intent. The production is notably lush, warm, full-bodied. (Hey! I’m not a musician, it’s the best I can do – it sounds like a pint of real-ale I know!). “Atomic Lust” takes you on a journey into space, propelled by rich brass, a mournful violin and quirky background analogue electronica. Barbarella strips in slo-mo as Gruff sings, only to be interrupted by raucous guitar/electronica riffing.

A dulcimer starts and punctuates the Huw Bunford sung, pub-rock-stomp of “The Horn”. A sea-shanty for modern-time cosmic explorers. “Ohio Heat” is a SFA take on a country and western track, complete with slide guitar. I’m still trying to figure out what happens to “Salty Maureen”. “Walk You Home”  waltzes into “Lazer Beam” (the single).

“Lazer Beam” is fantastic live. Just like “The Man Don’t Give A Fuck”. It doesn’t cut it for me as a mid-album wake-up. Although “We will conquer utopia in space charriots” sums up their entire ethos in one line. Next up is the BeachBoys-a-like “Frequency”, probably one of their most overt political statements on the album. Beautiful.

The dream-like 1950s elevator music mingling with a menagerie of found-sounds and distorted vowel sounds signals our arrival at “OiFrango”, one more stop to”Psyclone!”. Spot the mother-ship waching from afar whilst Mother Earth goes through endless cycles of death and rebirth. Name checking three species of dinosaur in the opening line is impressive indeed. A Chicken-Licken-tongue-twisting-nonsensical-masterpiece. Fun.

“Back On A Roll” chronicles tour-bus rock-n-roll monotony with a surf soundtrack. Not the best, but good enough.

“Cloudberries” is stunning. The soft psychedelic folk conjours up images of beautiful, fuzzy-felt hippy chicks dancing in Coca-Cola loved-up prairie meadows. Pastoral harmonies segue into back-guitar and tanpura generated drones. The second verse runs at a samba pace before transcending into cosmic harmonies which close with an interstella whale cry.

“Cabin Fever” is a perfect slice of Pink Floyd to close with. But, as with everything else, the SFA make it their own. What’s with the close? Incidental music from Vision On gives way to music for a romantic interlude in a 1920s black and white movie. Bizarre. Truly. Bizarre.

At the time, many reviewers considered this album to be their best work yet. It’s certainly up there as a complete work. They’d reached levels of song-writing-craft and production that stood them in good stead for forthcoming albums. Definitely one to try if you’re new  to SFA. Although, you’d never go wrong with any of their albums. Pick any of them (this was number 7!).

Dubai musical-scenesters and troubadours, I truly believe that backing your tracks with tanpura drones will dramatically improve your artistic credibility, plus, PLUS, produce a truly blissed-out vibe not matched anywhere else in the Gulf! Go on, make my drone.

http://www.superfurry.com/

P.

Delphic “Acolyte” – An indie rock/dance-floor crossover. They’re from Manchester. They’re the name on everyones lips at the moment. Acolyte has been billed as the first great debut of the year. I’m not that convinced. It’s good, but not that good. The band constantly try to throw off comparisons with New Order but many of the tracks sound like “Shellshock” to “Technique” era New Order. The guitar sounds like it’s being played by Bernard Sumner on many of the tracks. Lyrics like “In a fine time, take time to find me” sounds like it should have been written by Bernard too! Take it on face value and it’s not bad. Just don’t expect anything new.

The Album Leaf “A Chorus Of Storytellers” – It’s been a long time since these guys released something new. Their last album was in 2006. The album is certainly a sea-change for Jimmy La Valle. There is still an overriding feeling of post-rock, but we’re introduced to folk and lush orchestration on some tracks, electronica and experimentation on others. This has to be attributed to the range of musical assistance he has on this release; Icelandic horns, Black Heart Procession vocals, his touring band and input from Jon Birgisson (Sigur Ros). The upshot is that you don’t tire of this release. With some of his previous work I’d find myself FWD>> to the “next good bit” to keep myself interested. With this release its diversity ensures you remain involved. Nice job.

The Brain Jonestown Massacre “Tepid Peppermint Wonderland: A Retrospective” – This really is too much BJM in one dose. 38 tracks on this retrospective, and that’s 37 too many! I think BJM are fun, they’re “mix-tape” staples. They have moments of piercing genius that are tempered by overwhelming bouts of mediocrity. This retrospective illustrates a little too much how average they really are. As an introduction to a band that I only usually hear one track at a time, it’s fine. Just don’t open a bottle of wine and sit back to listen, you’ll wake up after 60 minutes with wine on your sofa!

Lucien Caine “EP3″ – I’ve been picking up his EPs throughout the last 12 months. I was hoping that by now we’d be looking at an album, however I’ll settle for what I can get. Brilliant. Lucien Caine should deliver the most stunning debut of 2010. Once again, there’s not a bad track on the EP. You’ll find everything here; love-songs, easy-listening (Bacharach-style), chill-out and indie.

Nick Cave & Warren Ellis “The Road – Original Film Score” – Harrowing. Beautiful. Chilling. The film is about loss and survival, the soundtrack evokes this perfectly. Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, need I say more. These two gentlemen should be on your “purchase by default” list.

Citay “Dream Get Together” –  There’s a balloon on the cover. This always signals hippy-prog-psychedelic to me. And……..I’m right! Not sure why I bought this. It must have got a good review from someone in Piccadilly Records. It’s the poppier end of hippy-prog-psychedelia and they set their influences out for all to see. It’s not all early-1970s. There’s 1980s shoegaze in there, sitting next to Pink Floyd, good old-fashioned heavy metal and some soft stoner-rock. It’s an easy album to listen to. Overall though, there’s no challenge here. This is music to fall-asleep to.

Errors “Come Down With Me” – They continue to get better and better. This is their third album (if you count their first mini-album/EP) and it shows a steady progression to a sound that’s more like their live experience. Live they are captivating, their music drives forward with a dynamism not often seen in bands that are predominantly electronic. I last saw them at Fields Day  in London and they were magnificent. The only problem is that, until this release, their albums didn’t deliver the same feel. I felt that Fuck Buttons were much closer with their live set. Like I said… until this release. Errors have delivered an album which has a strong live feeling to it. It is krautrock with a punk-rock ethic.

Joensuu 1685 “Joensuu 1685″ – Another case of “why did I?”. They’re Scandinavian. They describe themselves as a rock trio. The album isn’t bad, but to be brutal it’s an average psychedelic/My Bloody Valentine attempt. It sounded ok in my car – it won’t make it onto my HiFi.

Gasp for breath. Finish.

Paul.

Stereolab “Mars Audiac Quintet”

Sadly gone. Stereolab declared a sabbatical in mid-2009. A sad loss. I always looked forward to a new Stereolab release, especially an album. This is one band that I will always go back to, I’ll always buy Gane/Sadier product regardless. I can’t put my finger on it. They’re the band I always expected to “do it”. The albums always had moments of sonic greatness, but I always expected more.

Back in time. 1993. French Disko had seemed to hint that Stereolab had gone pop. Pop in the “pop music” sense, not in the bubble bursting sense. It didn’t worry me. Then came “Mars Audiac Quintet” with it’s singles “Ping Pong” and “Wow and Flutter”. Yes, the album is more of a “pop” album than previous releases. The Krautrock influences are still there, there’s an “easy-listening” feel to many of the tracks. The album was a change for the band, and this was reflected in the Groops lineup; Mary Hansen was now a permanent member in the band, and Sean O’Hagan was about to leave for the High Llamas.

“Three Dee Melodie” introduces the harmonies of Sadier and Hansen. It’s a gentle opener. “Wow And Flutter” delivers the dual vocals again, against a motorik beat. “Transona Five” and “Des Etoiles Electroniques” seem to fill space before bursting into “Ping Pong” a slice of pure pop with economics-lecture lyrics.

“Anamorphose” runs for seven minutes of dreamy loops, interspaced with strange bursts of brass. “Three Years Longer” starts quietly, then unexpectedly cuts into choppy guitar, bass drones and harsh military snare. The rhythmic and percussive games play nicely into the next track; “Nihilist Assault Group”. Once again the track changes theme half-way through, ending with a sonic assault (best felt live).

“International Colouring Contest” and “The Stars Our Destination” are probably two of the weakest tracks on the album, whereas “Transporte Sans Bouger” is classic, percussive, driven Stereolab.

The last four tracks do tend to let this album down. “L’Enfer Des Formes” is a weaker “Ping Pong”, “Outer Accelerator” finishes well after a weak start and “New Orthophony” is more soundscape than track until late in the track where it starts to liven up. “Fiery Yellow” is a strange closer. It’s pretty much nothing.

So, an album of two halves. But this was an interesting taster for the great albums to follow. The ingredients are all here, didn’t quite deliver across the entire product.

P.

P.