January 2006
Current listening:
Baby Bird - The Original Lo-Fi (2002)
Robert Fripp - Tone Probe 1-3 (2006)
Judee Sill - Heart Food (1973)
2005 Highlights:
Kate Bush - Aerial
Richard Youngs - The Naïve Shaman
Lori Carson - The Finest Thing
Nine Horses - Snowborne Sorrow
Elbow - Leaders Of The Free World
Brian Eno - Another Day On Earth
Goldfrapp - Supernature
Steve Reich - You Are/Cello Counterpoint
Sigur Ros - Takk
Rickie Lee Jones - The Duchess Of Coolsville - Anthology
John Martyn, Sandy Denny, Donovan reissues.
February 2006
Arctic Monkeys
The ubiquitous sound of 2006 UK. Coming across as a powerfully loose indie band with a Streets-style urban poetry, they may never make the Bowness shopping trolley, but for me they do provide a refreshingly honest and distinctive alternative to the derivative and contrived likes of most contemporary Brit Pop.
Ian Brown - Music Of The Spheres (2001)/Solarized (2004)
As the right honourable King Monkey was born in my hometown only a few months before me and has subsequently lived in one of the neighbouring villages to the one I was brought up in, like a good nosey neighbour, I've always kept an eye on his career progress.
Apart from the genuinely groundbreaking Fool's Gold single, despite their reputation, The Stone Roses never interested me much, but since the split, as John Squire went all indie-ordinairre with The Seahorses, the man least likely to has carved out a genuinely distinctive Cosmic Trip-Hop post-Baggy sound that I like.
Both Music Of The Spheres and Solarized offer a trippy and inventive combination of Psychedelic Indie melodies and chilled out dance grooves, topped off by Brown's endearingly appropriate non-voice.
Client - The Rotherham Sessions (2005)/Dubstar - Stars/various b-sides (1996)
Client is former Dubstar singer Sarah Blackwood's new project with ex-Frazier Chorus keyboard player Kate Holmes.
Creating a hardcore early-80's inspired electro-pop sound, the band isn't as panoramic or as seductive as Dubstar, but still possesses charm mainly due to Blackwood's always pretty, heavily-accented, semi-spoken singing.
The Rotherham Sessions (and far more) can be downloaded for free from www.client-online.net
If Client tickles your fancy, Dubstar's gorgeous debut single Stars and the contemporary b-sides A Northern Bride and Unchained Monologue are the logical next step.
Cathal Coughlan - Grand Necropolitan (1997)
Coughlan's debut solo album flirts with Scott Walker-esque ballads and complex arrangements that take in electronic beats, contemporary classical string textures and more.
Originally released on Kitchenware, the album's now available for free from www.cathalcoughlan.com
The Broken Ones remains the highlight for me.
Fovea Hex - Bloom (2005)
Sent to me by the man Wilson, this is a timeless and haunting fusion of traditional Irish airs, electronica and stirring strings that features contributions from Roger and Brian Eno (amongst others).
Kevin Hewick - Tender Bruises And Scars (2004)
Tender Bruises is a collection of maverick Leicester-based Hewick's complete early 1980s output for the Factory and Cherry Red labels.
Something of a post-punk take on uncompromising singer-songwriting talents such as Roy Harper and Peter Hammill, Tender Bruises is no easy ride, but nevertheless is the work of an unfairly neglected, unique angst-ridden performer who is worthy of comparison with his Cherry Red contemporaries Eyeless In Gaza, Momus, Kevin Coyne and Ben Watt.
John Martyn - Live At Leeds (1975/2006)
The new Snapper edition of this ambitious and emotive live classic. Includes a stunning, epic take on the superb echoplex-drenched Outside In.
Momus - Jackie EP (1986)
Now found at the end of the Circus Maximus CD, this EP is notable for the intimate and beautiful renditions of Jaques Brel's Don't Leave and See A Friend In Tears.
Yes - Symphonic Live DVD (2002)
Quite clearly, you gotta say Yes to another excess.
Despite making a strange front person (imagine a hippified Charlie Drake meets Mick Hucknall and Graham Nash), Jon Anderson, the high-pitched pixie of Prog, is in great voice. Overall, the band are in good form, the material is well selected and the orchestra are obviously enjoying 'playing out'.
Amongst other things, this features an excellent rendition of Close To The Edge, an intriguing Gates Of Delerium, and a pretty decent new pop song (Don't Go) that with its ascending orchestral riffs and Beatle-esque hooks bears an uncanny resemblance to 'King Monkey' Ian Brown's hit single FEAR.
Back to the beginning again....
April 2006
American Music Club - Everclear (1991)
Area - Caution Radiation Area (1974)
Kate Bush - Aerial (2005)
Harry Chapin - Sniper And Other Love Stories (1972)
Elvis Costello - Armed Forces (1979)
Sandy Denny - Like An Old-Fashioned Waltz (1973)
Brian Eno/David Byrne - My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts (1981)
Goblin - Suspiria (original soundtrack) (1977)
Billie Holiday - Solitude (1953)
Massive Attack - Collected (2006)
Microdisney - Love Your Enemies (1982-84)
The Streets - The Hardest Way To Make An Easy Living (2006)
Talking Heads - Speaking In Tongues (1983)
Teardrop Explodes - Wilder (1981)
May 2006
Paddy McAloon - I Trawl The Megahertz (2001)
A weird and weirdly touching Minimalist gem that still gets a regular airing through the Bowness headphones.
Prefab Sprout - Protest Songs (1985/1988)
An old favourite revisited and re-loved.
Steve Reich - Tehillim (1982)
An even older favourite revisited and re-loved.
The Steets - Never Went To Church (2006)
Emotional, sentimental and sneakily affecting, this is this year's equivalent to the beautifully mawkish Dry Your Eyes Mate. A good thing too.
Scott Walker - The Drift (2006)
Something of a Wire reader's wet dream, this is an extraordinary album that continues the sonic adventures Walker began on 1978's Nite Flights.
Still showing that there are new possibilities for sound and language in Pop, The Drift is powerfully original as well as being extremely easy to mock and parody.
Easy and enjoyable, no - essential and intriguing, without a doubt.
July 2006
In preparation for New York, it's been a time of transferring my CD collection onto my iPod. Consequently, my listening has been inconsistent and rediscovery has mostly been the order of the day.
Elsewhere, MySpace has introduced me to the talented likes of Punkt, Saraswa, Coco Rosie and Pearson Constantino, as well as the inspiring artwork of Kasner and Samantha Keely Smith. For some reason, the fading Top Of The Pops thrust the Poundland Uriah Heep tribute band Wolfmother into my face and I'm still wondering how and why.
A Kind Of Playlist:
Martin Grech - Unholy (2005)
A powerful and dark follow-up to his promising debut Open Heart Zoo that features some excellent cover artwork from Stephen Kasner. Venus is the stand-out for me.
It's Immaterial - Song (1990)
Still one of the most beautiful and underrated albums I've heard.
Bill Nelson - Quit Dreaming And Get On The Beam (1979/81)
One of Uncle Bill's highly credible and enjoyable attempts to absorb the lessons of the New Wave, while maintaining his creative vision.
Like fellow sonic travellers Peter Gabriel, Robert Fripp, Peter Hammill, David Bowie and Brian Eno, Nelson was one of the few artists to successfully navigate the tricky waters from Progressive/Art Rock to the cutting edge of the 1980s. All My Wives Were Iron is an interesting proto-Joy Division-esque piece that begs the question, 'When will the long-awaited 'Bill Nelson School Of Song Titles' open up its doors?'
Laura Nyro - New York Tendaberry (1969)
An intense tribute to the city and the people that made her highly individual music possible. In some ways, a wayward precursor to the more piano dominated oeuvre of Kate Bush and Tori Amos.
Sun Kil Moon - Tiny Cities (2005)
Mark Kozelek's collection of Modest Mouse covers is at once comforting and familiar. Taking the more jagged and angsty originals and melting them down into graceful acoustic miniatures, this is as close to the hypnotic lyricism of the Red House Painters as he's got in quite some time.
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According to my iPod (which never lies, of course), I've also had Cliff Martinez, Bernard Herrmann, Lonnie Liston Smith, The Blue Nile, Genesis, Scott Walker and Roxy Music's 'Trash' on regular rotation.
Forgive me.
August 2006
CocoRosie - La Maison de Mon Reve (2004)
Quirkier than thou, but strangely soulful. Lo-fi Bjork meets an electro mangled Billie Holiday.
Crosby Stills & Nash - CSN (1977)
A rich and underrated album from the kings of harmony.
The David Crosby originals are sweetly sad as always.
Dntel - Life Is Full Of Possibilities (2001)
Indie meets electronica in this nicely balanced experimental project that formed the basis of the 2005 album by The Postal Service.
Jefferson Airplane - After Bathing At Baxter's (1967)
Kanter, Slick & co at their most playful and extreme.
Milosh - Meme (2006)
A persuasive fusion of seductive soul boy vocals and contemporary electronica.
Thom Yorke - The Eraser (2006)
Another brave statement from the poster boy of the anti-corporate rock movement.
Plus:
www.myspace.com/halou
www.myspace.com/sonsofjona
www.myspace.com/ghostinthewater
www.myspace.com/ellisislandsound
www.myspace.com/mohawkhitchhiker
November 2006
Paul Buchanan/The Blue Nile - Dublin Vicar Street (21/11/06)
It's difficult to add anything to the superlatives that seem to continually gather round The Blue Nile and their astonishingly emotive vocalist, Paul Buchanan.
Playing a set comprising songs from all four albums as well as three (strong) new pieces and a surprisingly successful Blue Nile-isation of the Sinatra classic Strangers In The Night, this was everything I hoped for and more.
Impeccably judged electro-acoustic arrangements and atmospheres were rendered impossibly potent and substantial by Buchanan's cracked, wistful, voice and evocative lyrics (that manage to find the poetic in the everyday with consummate ease).
A personal favourite concert from a personal favourite band, and undoubtedly my musical highlight of the year so far.
Glen Hansard/Marketa Irglova - The Swell Season (2006)
The Frames' frontman (known as the 'Ginger Messiah' in his native Dublin!) teams up with Czech musician Marketa Irglova to produce a sweetly coherent set of downbeat acoustic songs, featuring beautifully understated string arrangements.
Despite having a superficial similarity to the more melancholy side of Damien Rice's output, the songs possess a spirit very much their own.
The delicate and haunting The Moon is typical of this short album's many charms.
Damien Rice - 9 (2006)
A good follow-up to an excellent debut, 9 starts off, and ends, very well, but perhaps reveals itself as a more conventional proposition than it's predecessor.
Having said that, it still has a depth, imagination and a quality that suggests it's an album worth persevering with.
Scritti Politti - White Bread, Black Beer (2006)
An inspired return and by far my favourite Scritti release since the quirky soul-pop of Songs To Remember in 1982.
Although the album sounds lush and musically complex (shades of the immaculate sheen of Prefab Sprout and the vocal harmony adventures of Smile-era Beach Boys), it also sounds stripped-down and intimate when compared with the band's over-produced mid-1980s output.
The enigmatic Fine Lines, the sweet Petrococadollar and the constantly shifting Mrs Hughes are my personal favourites.
Also:
Craig Armstrong - As If To Nothing (2002)
Craig Armstrong - The Space Between Us (1998)
Paul McCartney - Chaos And Creation In The Backyard (2005)
Bill Wells - Pick Up Sticks (2004) |
