January / February 2004
I have mostly been listening to:
Air - Talkie Walkie (2004)
After the overproduced and underwritten disappointment of the latest Lambchop album, it was nice to hear Air still at the top of their game.
Twisted electronica colliding with gentle acoustic instrumentation and deft melodies make this possibly my favourite release by the French duo so far.
More disciplined than 10,000 hz Legend, less contrived than Moon Safari and less derivative than The Virgin Suicides, the seamless contrast of electro-pulse and breathless beauty that is Run, for me, marks the musical highlight of early 2004.
Joni Mitchell - Travelogue (2002)
A sometimes affecting, sometimes bland orchestral re-setting of several of the Goddess of the highway's strongest songs.
Mitchell's voice, more life-worn than ever, is still fabulous and the very American Jazz-styled arrangements, reminiscent of John Adams, Gil Evans and Bernard Herrman, ideally suit the panoramic lyricism of the likes of Refuge Of The Roads, Hejira and Chinese Cafe.
Wayne Shorter's glacial soloing deserves special praise as always.
Britney Spears - Toxic (2004)
Sweeping Bollywood strings, surprisingly bold vocals and an inventive and genuinely modern pop production means this is one of the only recognisable delights to hit me on my very occasional forays into MTV-world. Where Prince might have been in 2004 had he still been listening.
John Taverner - A Portrait (2004)
An excellent career overview, from avant-garde roots to sweet choral work, that also features a beguiling 15 minute collaboration with Bjork and the Brodsky Quartet.
The Finnish Visit:
Monday, 2nd February marked a marvellous day for the Finnish-based Love Records, as myself and Markus Reuter cleaned out most of the label's back catalogue from most of the shops we visited in Helsinki. After being awarded medals for boosting trade and industry, we sat down and listened.
The highlights:
Juhani Aaltonen & Otto Donner - Strings (1976)
Pitched somewhere between peak period ECM and Stan Getz' classic Focus album, this is a gorgeous collection of orchestrated Jazz ballads, showcasing the lyrical dexterity of saxophonist/flautist, Aaltonen.
Nice!
Jukka Gustavson's Alone Together Orchestra - ...jaloa ylpeytta yletan...ylevaa noyryytta nousen (1977)
An ambitious fusion of luscious Mike Westbrook-esque Big Band orchestrations, prominent organ and spiritual melodies. The album's sustained lyricism is slightly marred by a fairly empty concluding 13 minute 'jam'.
Catchy title too.
Pekka Pohjola - Harakka Bialoipokku (1974)
The Finnish Zappa at his most inspired. Hot Rats without the guitars, but with a good dose of European Chamber Classical influences. Also features the haunting Sekoilu Seestyy, a piece memorably sampled by DJ Shadow.
March / April 2004
A couple of months of re-listening to old favourites, rediscovering albums I'd dismissed and finding out about an Italian oddity of the oddest kind:
Franco Battiato - L'Egitto prima delle sabbie (1978)
An atypically minimalist, Reich-ian, release from this atypical Italian performer who managed in the 1970s to be Bowie, Eno, Floyd, Klaus Schulze and Stockhausen all rolled into one.
Elbow - Cast Of Thousands (2003)
An album that along with Goldfrapp's Black Cherry, I initially dismissed as being far weaker than the debut release, (in Elbow's case, Asleep At The Back).
Further listening revealed an inventive and brittle album with genuine heart and belief (Fugitive Motel floats and moves in all the right places).
The charms of Black Cherry still elude me, however..
Fleetwood Mac - Tusk (1979)
A peculiar attempt by the West Coast Anglo/American millionaires to ape East Coast intensity and follow-up the success of Rumours, this is an extraordinary album that never fails to amuse/move me.
Lindsey Buckingham chases the coattails of Talking Heads, Television and The Beach Boys in a sonically unique fashion, while Stevie Nicks takes her ornate visions to new extremes (Sara is still a marvel). Christine McVie, on the other hand, perfects her traditional ballad approach and produces some of the loveliest work of her career (Brown Eyes remains a favourite).
Outkast - Speakerboxx/The Love Below (2003)
Cody Chestnutt - The Headphone Masterpiece (2002)
Ambitious and sprawling post-Hip Hop projects with genuine scope and playfulness. Political correctness is conspicuous by its absence, though!
Lonnie Liston Smith - Rennaissance (1977)
This is the last good, self-determined, LLS album. It funks and swoons in a deliciously seductive 'cosmic Jazz' kind of way and suggests a holy fusion of Silent Way era Miles, Marvin Gaye, Harold Budd and Chic.
The Streets - A Grand Don't Come For Free (2004)
A second album that builds on the best elements of the first (It's Too Late, Weak Become Heroes etc), this urban 'concept' piece effortlessly flits between UK-centric streetwise rap and moments of unusual fragility and beauty (Blinded By The Lights and Dry Your Eyes are particular standouts for me). If the single recalls a punked-up Madness circa 1979, the rest, thankfully, is firmly located in the here and now.
Yes - Tormato (1978)
A strange and wayward album that, for me, marked the end of Yes as a fluid creative force.
Featuring some hauntingly beautiful songs (Madrigal, Onward and the extra track Picasso), as well as some vivid and inspiring flights of fancy (the 'disco' pulse of Don't Kill The Whale and the warped calypso of The Circus Of Heaven etc...), this is still the sound of a band more interested in making music rather than marketing decisions. Crap title and cover idea, I grant you!
May / June 2004 
Some decent new music with some decent new ideas and a rather nice excursion into my teenage musical preoccupations:
Bjork - Four tracks (2004)
I was lucky enough to hear a sneak preview of four tracks from the new Bjork album in May.
Taking her ideas into ever-more uncharted areas, the entirely voice-driven material continued where Vespertine's strangest moments left off.
A good thing and an excellent taster for what might be the album of the year.
Fennesz - Venice (2004)
With Sylvian guesting on a track that would have fit nicely on the ambitious Blemish, this is old school Ambient beauty given a contemporary computer mangling.
Godley & Creme - L (1978)
An amazingly inventive post-10cc effort that took the duo's penchant for pastiche several notches higher than anything they'd done before.
There are echoes of Zappa and Roxy Music in its peerless fusion of Pop, avant-garde and Art Rock, but most of all, L resembles nothing other than Godley & Creme at their unadulterated, Gizmo-laden best.
The following year's Freeze Frame was an equally impressive album that saw their use of technology draw favourable comparisons with the contemporaneous work of the likes of Bowie, Eno and Gabriel (albeit with more jokes, of course!).
Kings Of Convenience - Riot In An Empty Street (2004)
An intimate and occasionally lovely follow-up to an intimate and occasionally lovely debut.
Joni Mitchell - Taming The Tiger (1998)
Nowhere near her best work, but it's still an album that reveals greater depth with each new listening.
Lead Balloon may be the worst thing she's ever done, but the conventionally structured beauty of Man From Mars and the unique Hejira-esque flavour of much of the rest of the album more than make up for minor lapses elsewhere.
Radiohead - Hail To The Thief (2003)
Along with Kid A and Amnesiac this represents the third and perhaps most difficult part of Radiohead's ongoing reinvention of the possibilities of the 21st Century rock band.
There aren't many tunes on display, but there are plenty of fresh ideas to chew on. Radiohead have become a band whose necessity to the contemporary music scene has grown, the more conventional most everything else has become. An essential antidote to the McFly virus.
The Streets - Dry Your Eyes Mate (2004)
My taste and the UK number one spot collide for the first time in quite a while.
July / August 2004
AGF - Westernisation Revisited (2004)
An inventive Germanic Laurie Anderson meets Laptop Electronica project created by Laub's maverick front-person, Antye Greie-Fuchs. Simultaneously seductive and deeply unsettling, Westernisation Revisited is a definite contender for most original album of the year.
Bjork - Medulla (2004)
Almost entirely a cappella, Medulla is without doubt the boldest and most difficult statement of Bjork's bold and mostly difficult career. Not as charming or beautiful as Vespertine, but essential nonetheless.
Blackfield - Lullaby (2004)
A sweet and brooding slice of Wilsoniana that's worthy of comparison with some of the best ballads on In Absentia. The forthcoming Cover Version II is similarly blessed.
Blue Nile - High (2004)
Distinctly familiar melodies, lyrics and sounds usher in what is perhaps my favourite and most played album of the year so far. Combining the aching poetics of the best of Hats with the electronic landscapes of A Walk Across The Rooftops and the sonic clarity of Peace At Last, for me, High is a potent and emotionally vital synthesis of the best of the Blue Nile's previous albums. Productive, maybe not. Important, always.
Arvo Part - Berliner Messe (2004)
A typically gorgeous suite for heavenly voices. Not as magical as his Cantus In Memorium Benjamin Britten, but then again, very few things are.
September / October 2004 
When I've not been listening to yet more Joni Mitchell, the following have had an impact on my eyes and ears:
American Music Club - Love Songs For Patriots (2004)
A powerful return to form for Mark Eitzel and a strong comeback album for one of my favourite bands of the last couple of decades.
Love Songs For Patriots is both the most melodiously accessible and sonically experimental record Eitzel has put out since the wonderful 'Mercury' in 1993. The unique band chemistry is still very much in evidence and Eitzel's songs seem much the better for the presence of Vudi and co.
With heartbreaking performances and a closing fade out eerily reminiscent of the work of Talk Talk and Jim O'Rourke, along with High, this is a decent candidate for my album of the year.
David Bowie - The Best Of Bowie DVD (2002)
Inconsistent it may be, but when it's great (5 Years, Drive In Saturday, Life On Mars, Be My Wife, DJ, Heroes etc, etc...) this is an essential collection of videos from one of the most essential artists in pop history.
Jeff Buckley - Grace (Deluxe Edition) (1994/2004)
Replete with a decent making of DVD and some extras worthy of inclusion on the album itself (Forget Her, The Other Woman and Big Star's Kanga-roo), this is an excellent edition of a promising and inventive debut release from a sadly missed talent.
The Clash - London's Calling (Deluxe Edition) (1979/2004)
A superb reissue of one of the several seminal and sprawling double albums to grace 1979 (see also Pink Floyd's The Wall, Fleetwood Mac's Tusk and PIL's Metal Box).
London's Calling is an eclectic and electric collection of pop-savvy experiments in reggae/dub, rockabilly and disco funk that finds The Clash searching far beyond its rebel Punk roots without compromising any of its raw vision.
The Durutti Column - The Best Of The Durutti Column (2004)
Collecting tracks from all phases of Durutti's existence, this is a decent overview of a distinctive and overlooked band that had a definite influence on some of the very early No-Man work.
Peter Gabriel - Play DVD (2004)
Should we need it, a timely reminder of Gabriel's visual innovation and extraordinary musical scope.
The simple and touching videos for Father, Son, Mercy Street and The Drop are particular highlights of a strong and enduring collection.
King Crimson - Neal And Jack And Me DVD (2004)
Visually wanting and extremely dated, but musically brilliantly crafted and thrilling.
Neal And Jack And Me collects two performances from the trailblazing 1980's incarnation of King Crimson that saw Fripp and co very effectively compete with the pioneering likes of Talking Heads, Gabriel, Byrne/Eno, Laurie Anderson, Japan and The Police.
The Magnetic Fields - 69 Love Songs (1999)
A fairly self-conscious and patchy album that failed to move me much when I first heard it, the sheer diversity and charm of a lot of these bizarrely eclectic lo-fi homages to romance finally won me over when I revisited it recently.
November / December 2004
When I've not been chewing on the masterful late-70s/early-80s albums (and collaborations) of Father Brian Eno, I've been digesting the following:
John Martyn - One World (Deluxe Edition) (1977/2004)
It may be one of the more diverse and overtly commercial offerings from Martyn, but in One World, Couldn't Love You More and Small Hours this album features three of the most enduring and touching songs of his career.
On Small Hours, Martyn's treated guitar and murmured voice quietly drift over a shifting soundscape of subliminal moog, cheap drum machine and bird song to stunningly evocative effect.
This new deluxe edition also contains an intimate solo concert recording from 1978, heavily featuring the inventive 'echo' guitar sound that sold a thousand stomp pedals and kick-started the creative investigations of the likes of Durutti Column and Ben Watt (for proof, check out Watt's beautiful debut release, Summer Into Winter from 1982).
Joni Mitchell - Painting With Words And Music (1998) - DVD
Joined by a sensitive and interpretative backing band that includes the wonderful Mark Isham on trumpet, ex-husband Larry Klein on bass, Greg Leisz on pedal steel and the extremely gifted Jazz-bot for hire, Brian Blade, on drums, this is a strong concert performance from 1998 that updates and refines the delicate and electric Chamber Jazz sound of 'Hejira.
An object lesson in restraint.
Morrissey - I Am The Quarry (2004)
For me, this is Mozzer's most consistent outing since 1994's Vauxhall And I and finds everybody's favourite Mancunian maverick sounding in truly confident voice for the first time in years.
Bursting with characteristic, comic, lyrical bile and boasting a more sophisticated and panoramic production than usual, what this lacks in true innovation, it gains in sheer vigour, swagger and intent.
2004 Favourites:
Music:
Air - Talkie Walkie
American Music Club - Love Songs For Patriots
Björk - Medulla
The Blue Nile - High
Morrissey- You Are The Quarry
Sigur Ros - Ba Ba Ti Ki Di Do
The Streets - A Grand Don't Come For Free
Film:
Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind
Lost In Translation
Word:
Douglas Coupland - Hey Nostradamus! |
