Bon Iver - For Emma Forever Ago - 2008

There's a possibility that this album may get overhyped so greatly has it been praised thus far. Whilst it's good - it's not that good; my money would be on the rev. Al Green's new release as "album of the month".
It's becoming a cliche I know but it is quite astonishing that this album was thrown together by the author and just his laptop. The result is a collection of intimate tunes both in context and sound, calling to mind Thoma Dybdhal, that display a wonderful restraint and subtle yet sophisticated production technique.
buy

Joan As Police Woman - To Survive - 2008

My very favourite gig of last year JAPW @ End of the Road.
Very difficult to find an ul of this and as this new album would seem to require a good listen before posting any comments I'll say nowt more.
buy

Goldfrapp - Seventh Tree - 2008

I'm going to stop saying "here's another good album" as it can now be taken as a given that it wouldn't be featured if it wasn't, actually, it wouldn't be featured unless it's an exemplar.
Think this is my first of 2008 and what a way to start. As with Tears for Fears, and their album "Seeds of Love" before them, this is Goldfrapp's "Sargent Pepper's.." ie it's now that the duo, for they are Alison Goldfrapp and the shy retiring Will Gregory, evince a total mastery of their art. Not in a showoffy how clever are we way, but in that of consummate professionals. Beautiful broad (expensive) synth and orchestral pads back Alison's amazing voice: part Kate; part Madge; even part Kylie; yet wrapped in a unique package and given what I can only describe as that 1940's filmstar thing (a kindof catch at the top of the throat diction). Not as inventive and progressive as their 1st two recordings and ditching the glamslam camp of their last, an album very much designed with a live show in mind, the new cd has a newfound pastoral quality and I'd love to see it performed in a nice compact sit down auditorium, say Lighthouse in Poole - I can but hope.
web buy

Rachel Unthank & The Winterset - The Bairns - 2007

Four canny young lasses from Newcastle, giving Folk a good name and making up for all that "thou shalt have a fishy, on a little dishy" bollox. Don't know where I've been at, letting summat this good pass me by. Astonishingly beautiful voices set amidst beautiful and unusual (for Folk) instrumentation. Bypass the 1st couple of tracks as, though they are good, the album really kicks in after these. Definitely one to listen to of a cold dark winters eve.
web buy

Ingrid Michaelson - Girls And Boys - 2006

I'm getting to like popular music despite getting my fingers burned by Eva Cassidy (hawk spit). Ingrid Michaelson, very big in the States apparently and very big on Grey's Anatomy - something else I never watch. I'm a bit po'd with hearing familiar songs on tv but not being able to remember who/what/where they are; heard a track on The OC purely by chance and it took me a whole morning rummaging through my drawers to find it was The Veils "Lucia", still rummaging through ones drawers - there are certain upsides. Anyway, Ingrid Michaelson - sounds uncannily like Erin McKeown and, as she's a particular favourite whose output has tailed off somewhat of late, that's no bad thing. Don't know whether I should tell you to cut straight to the song "Breakable" and play it over and over again, as having done that myself I've now got it playing on constant repeat inside my head. Seems to be no cure for this does there, save for over wiping it with the next song to come along and obsessively take ones fancy.
web buy

Emma Pollock - Watch The Fireworks - 2007

Most definitely a grower this one, with some particularly outstanding tracks too. Someone new to me but I do know she used to be in The Delgados - a band I never particularly took to. Like Laura Veirs she sings in a very unaffected way and with a tendency, which takes a little getting used to, towards being slightly flat (ie off tune) and as with Charlotte Hatherley there's a lovely Englishness, or as she's Scottish I suppose we should say Britishness, to her sound.
web buy

The Cinematic Orchestra - Ma Fleur - 2007

First blog and very possibly the best album of the year.
The Cinematic Orchestra
Nice!
Cooler than cool without need of cool they just are.................cool
Outside, and quite possibly ignorant of, the current morays and categorisations of the music biz.
I can't say, however that this album surpasses "Everydays"; it kind of sidesteps it. You know that J Swinscoe has a fascination with cinema and this album is, to coin the cliche, "a soundtrack to an un-made movie": cinematographic, slow tracking, wide angle and enigmatic. A bitter sweat love story with a subtly twisted open ending.
It's not a very good rip so I'm hoping that the real CD will sound good as I'm determined it should be the opener to when I get a new flat with my stereo set up again - fingers crossed.
The shock horror of this album though is the introduction of guitars, shock as in not shocking, Will Ackerman rather than Van Halen, adding beautiful tonal texture and colour to a very pared-back "less is more" production.
The good news is Fontella Bass is back, she's a true original as opposed to Patrick Wilson's and Lou Rhodes' respective pastiches of Jeff Buckley and Marianne Faithful; bad news.
This title will be released on May 7, 2007. Pre-order now! and in the meantime enjoy this download.

Air - Pocket Symphony - 2007

The Sexy Boys return with a Pocket Symphony as opposed to pocket billiards [phnarr pnarr]. They always turn up at this time of year don't they? Missed them at the get go as 1. nothing good comes out at the start of the new year 2. nothing good musically comes out of France 3. nothing good comes from considering the views of critics. But then along came Sexy Boy etc etc. Nicolas Godin et Jean-Benoît Dunkel I guess kicked off the whole dreamie trippe hoppe thynge - n'est pas? Zero7, Lemon Jelly et al followed.
It's business as usual here for Air but then when you've a business as good as this why change anything. We do get some new vocalists, Jarvis Cocker and Neil Hannon can do that dreamy Air thing very well. In fact Hannon sounds so like Jose Gonzalez [that's the guy bigCol] only better and not like Neil Hannon at all, maybe, as Divine Comedy has been a bit lacklustre of late, he's decided to earn a bit on the side as vox for hire.
Not released til March so I can't link to a sales site yet, but maybe Ken Wood will blow us a mmMpeethreefile. If he does you'll hear 320kbps that's virtually ceedee qualitee. I wouldn't say Nigel Goodrich has added anything that gr8 production-wise to this album but aparently Air have been spending time learning how to play classical Japanese instruments [now here's a man who's read the press release] well worth a download.
I'' recommend sour cream, chopped chive & dill, blinis, homecured gravadlax and a nice flinty white Burgundy - lightly chilled of course ;-)

Gabriel Yared and Underworld - Breaking & Entering - 2006

Gabriel Yared, Underworld. Buy. "this is gud".

Califone - Roots & Crowns - 2006

Still not impressed with the look of this blog but I am very impressed with the quality of the music and that is what we're about. Is this all sounding a bit Jack Black [makes horned finger HM salute]. S'pose it could just be: artist[s] - title - year, pic, website, buysite and "this is gud".
I'll try that next as that sounds like a superBlogtastic thing. But...... the temptation to write something.
In the absinthe of anything much better from Beck or half decent from Gomez. And all things quiet on the Scott4 front - thankfulness then for Califone are we. Just about says it really oh except for absinthe makes the heart grow fonder. Yes and you can pretty much trust anything from ThrillJockey can't you? Another one of the one50. Buy me.

Tim Finn - Imaginary Kingdom - 2006

How much of a piss off is this - there you are head of the most successful New Zealand/Australian pop group, you're little brother asks "can I play too?" And you think "what the heck; sure!" Then before you know it not only does the little fucker go and take over the whole show, with his winning ways and a knack for re-jigging old Beatles tunes he sets up a rival band, conquers the charts - then the world, whilst rakeing in a pile of dosh...errr make that a Mountain of dosh.
So where does this leave poor old Tim Finn - well I dunno....YOU have a listen! buy £6.99
Guess he can always tap the little'un for a few bob ;-) and he does get a very nicely designed LP sleeve and an even nicer website.

Flexitones - Joyrider - 2005

Definately 2005 on this one and it's also from the 150 2006 batch.
Made by an ex Propellerhead and an eatStatic. Starts off all Big Beats but then mellows out nicely by track 4 into something relatively sophisticated and quite jazzy - mmm smooth mellow jazz.........nice [not]. Very dodgy name though, and an even dodgier cover which looks like a reject still from Too Fast Too Furious Too?
Brought to you by Backroom Beats a subsidiary of Twisted Records the ppl who print Shpongle

Buy Flexitones

Breaks Co-Op - The Sound Inside - 2006

My copy of this is dated 2005, Amazon lists it as 2006 but hey! who cares? In the absence of a decent new Zero7 album this more than makes up for it - very very mellow groooove.
And Mr Bigmouth's going to have to eat his words as the man who makes radio and TV insufferable for me - Zane Lowe [makes crossed fingers "ward off the Devil" sign] is a member of this band. And, get this, somewhere along in the production he sings!
Out of a recent batch of 150 of this years promos this is the only one that's really had my ears pricking up. I nearly put the biog down when I read "from New Zealand" but apparently they're well regarded and had their first, this is their second, album released in 1997. But fuck me Zane Lowe "I don't BELIEVE it!".

i am robot and proud - the electricity in your house wants to sing - 2006

I'm getting the hang of blogging, well a bit anyway, and KW tells me Rapidshare's up and running again. Can't say I'm that impressed with the look of the blog though. Still hopefully everything works as it should and when I get time and, more importantly an idea, I'll sort things out a bit.
So: i am robot and proud a surefire way to attract me; get an unusual name, set it in lower case, have an eyecatching cover and label yourselves something like "new age avant folktronica triphop chill". Don't ask for much do I? No disrespect to them, as I like the album a lot, but, on one level, they do make very pleasant noodly electronic wall paper. Just the thing to play whilst typing up this kinda stuff. It reminds me of erm, I think it's early Fourtet and maybe Her Space Holiday anyway when it comes to me exactly I'll edit it in. I particularly like the shoddily edited beats sample used in track one - so no it's not a bad rip! on my part. My favorite ppl at Vinyl Exchange have this listed at £4.40 and I'm sorely tempted.
But it's also the penguin cover that I like as they won't be around for long, Penguins, that is, fortunately for them the Japanese don't eat them. Now that's not meant as a racial slur or xenophobic bigotry but, fuck me, they're wiping out whales just to put a national delicacy on their plates. Almost everyone else is in agreement that whaling must stop except a minority who practice slaughter under the cloak of "scientific research" and gain support via economic blackmail. Whales could be the largest and most sentient being on the planet - let's let them live. And the penguins too. I kind've like the penguin advert that's on tv at the moment and the current trailer that shows a penguine falling through the ice and all his palls piling in in after him.

Dhafer Youssef - Malak - 1999

And why am I uploading a seven year old album? You may well ask, simple answer is I've just "found" it. Once you've heard this guy you'll understand why, for the superlative "awesome" is apt. Not only does he play the oud like a corporeal angel he sings like a Devine One; imagine Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan(rip)and then some, you think Dame Janet baker shows range Dhafer'll show you a whole prairie. From screaming Millenium Falcon to ruptured yak at warp speed.
I did manage to eBay a more recent album "Prophecy" on the Swedish Enja lable and it sounds like some bjorn bjerks have done an Enya on him; strange as the Swedes are usually as fastidious about their jazz as they are their furniture and fighter-plane design - hence EST below.
If this isn't your usual cup of tea it is worth staying with at least till tracks three and four. Or maybe break yourself in with Avishai Cohen and his jazz oudist first off, to get your ear in, and then prepare yourself for the added vocal onslaught of Dhafer Youssef.
buy

Esbjorn Svensson Trio - Tuesday Wonderland - 2006

I'm getting a bit of a thing for threesomes.
"Ooo err"
No! trios of the Jazz kind.
First Medeski Martin & Wood, then The Bad Plus and now Esbjorn and his bjoys. Quite similar to TBP but more trad. Very good stuff and if you google about you'll find a torrent for a whole discography.
Not that I'd suggest you indulge in any illicit p2p file swapping. Wife swapping, now that's a different thing altogether.

Avishai Cohen - Continuo - 2006

It's several years on now and I'm still reeling from seeing Avishai Cohen live, not just because he was playing Bridport("where?") but because he was so amazingly good and how could I not have known about him. Matt Hayden [matt@club-underground.com] is to thank for putting such a good show and for continuing to do so at The Beach and Barneycoot, Bridport. If you fancy being squashed amongst a chattering crowd of chain-smoking mingers there can be no better place to watch musicians of world class practice their art - to pure indifference. Please Matt sort out a decent venue, the musicians and we who travel to see them deserve a little respect.
"Whoa bit of a rant there j, we want no more of that or we'll be off to some other blog. Erm! tell us about the album then?"
Well I've only just dld it and I'm listening as I write. 1st track features the Oud ooH! and so does track 2. Now I, and quite a few others, have a bit of a thing for ouds especially when played innaJazzstyle[tm] my favourite (alright he's the only one I know) Oudist is Dhafer Youssef who is also blessed with the most preturnatural voice - more of him (ie upped) later if I get time.
AMG tells us the oud player's Amos Hoffman.
So pls dld for yourself (hint-post a comment) and don't forget Ken Wood's password.
This really is a good rip, it's obviously a good recording, so good in fact that tere's almost no point in buying an original - but you wouldn't do that would you. And it sounds like the same band most noticably fightningly fleet and frighteningly young Mark Guiliana on drums.

Redux - I've played this a couple of times and at full whack it sounds extremely good for a knock off mp3 ie it's a good recording and "should" sound even better via cd. Amos Hoffman's oud features predominantly and makes a piquant foil to Avishai's bass. With a decent sub you really get the impression he's in the room playing bass just for you. His style is very much his own and he varies from hand plucked and bowed stand up, a la Mingus, to fretted and I guess fretless electrics, echos less of his examplar Pastorious and more Clarke especially the way he pops those harmonics.
buy Avishai

9 - Damien Rice - 2006

Coming soon to a metrosexual dinner party near you! Released on Monday?
"So what do you think of it j?"
err well.....jury's still out I'm afraid. Need to hear it behind a few ads and soundtracking the next romCom first. But it is as you'd expect business as usual and why not? I do take umbrage though as, as with his first, the album should be billed as Damien Rice and Lisa Hannigan "9" as she duets on virtually every song. Available at every good Asda.
Damien Rice
Buy me - I'd buy from them in preference to all else.

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