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The M/F Thread 2009: The Quickening
Mixitup:
Zilla and Buddy Peace - A Friendly Game Of Chess (2003)
Label: Bewilderd Beat-Hedz, Gluestick Acoustics
CDr, Mixed, Promo/ Country: UK
Genre: Electronic, Hip Hop, Rock
http://www.spannered.org/live/123/
Been looking for this for quite a while for a friend,
didn't think I'd find it. Rare.
CD limited to 100 hand-made, spray painted copies.
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scarred:
Doves feat. London Bulgarian Choir - Live at Electric Proms, Roundhouse; London, England [2009]
--- Quote ---Doves took to The Roundhouse stage with the London Bulgarian Choir for a brand new performance, reworking the band's music for the BBC Electric Proms audience.
Composer Avshalom Caspi was specially commissioned to rearrange a number of Doves tracks for the 40-strong London Bulgarian Choir. The choir's unique phrasing and emotive folk singing style perfectly complemented the soaring melodies of the band.
Doves' front man Jimi Goodwin said, before the show: "We're really excited about playing at the BBC Electric Proms. The voices of the London Bulgarian Choir are just unbelievable, and it is brilliant just to get the chance to play the songs differently for the Roundhouse audience. It is going to be really special."
In addition, Doves were joined on stage by celebrated North Indian classical musician Baluji Shrivastav who played on the album track Birds Flew Backwards.
The band's fourth album Kingdom of Rust features all the elements which make Doves so recognisable. Blurring the line between joy and heartbreak, the songs channel universal emotions that connect on a personal level. Says Jimi, "You sometimes see that in the faces when people sing along live. We always think about leaving enough room for the listener to put themselves in there somewhere".
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Really fucking ace recording for a live album, and the band sounds spot-on for the whole thing (the choir is occasionally hit and miss). They even play "Catch the Sun," a song that hasn't been seen live for 8 years (those bastards). Basically this is a must-have for any Doves fan. And if you're not a Doves fan, it's a great introduction to their brand of electro-influenced indie rock.
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Oops I just realized I uploaded this without track 14. It's a choral interlude between the main show and the encore, but if you want the complete show, you might as well download it.
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JD:
Neon Indian - Psychic Chasms[2009]
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(8.6/10)
--- Quote from: Pitchspork ---"Borrowed nostalgia for the unremembered 80s." Those words, when James Murphy over-enunciated them on what's still arguably the decade's best piece of music-as-music-criticism-- LCD Soundsystem's 2002 debut single, "Losing My Edge"-- had the decisive feel of a gauntlet being thrown down. One 1980s baby struck back with a Nintendo Power Glove. Just a guess: Probably not what Murphy had in mind.
Of course, cheaply copied reminiscences of a blurrily imagined decade are basically their own genre now, cloudy and proud. The sound has many names, but none of them seem to fit just right. Dream-beat, chillwave, glo-fi, hypnagogic pop, even hipster-gogic pop-- all are imperfect phrases for describing a psychedelic music that's generally one or all of the following: synth-based, homemade-sounding, 80s-referencing, cassette-oriented, sun-baked, laid-back, warped, hazy, emotionally distant, slightly out of focus. Washed Out. Memory Tapes. Ducktails. Ah-woo-ooh.
For Alan Palomo, reflecting on the music of the Reagan era has a personal component. The Texas-reared Mexico native's dad, Jorge, was a bit of a Spanish-language pop star in the late 1970s and early 80s. The analog electronics of that bygone period echo throughout the younger Palomo's increasingly promising previous recordings, whether with former band Ghosthustler (he wore the Power Glove in the video for their "Parking Lot Nights") or, more recently, on VEGA's Well Known Pleasures EP. Finally, working with Brooklyn-based visual collaborator Alicia Scardetta as Neon Indian, Palomo has brought all the best of 2009's summer sounds-- bedroom production, borrowed nostalgia, unresolved sadness, deceptively agile popcraft-- together on a single album.
Whatever they owe to the past, the memories on Psychic Chasms are Palomo's and ours. Soft vocals recalling You Made Me Realise-era Kevin Shields. Italo-disco synth arpeggios. Hall & Oates drum sounds. Divebombing video-game effects. Brittle guitar distortion. Manipulated tapes that bend the notes the way Shields' "glide guitar" did, the way bluesmen's fret fingers did. Field recordings of birds. Oohing and ahhing backing vocals. And samples, on at least two songs, of the elder Palomo, whose electro-rock approach was quite similar. All combine on eight or nine unforgettable songs and a few tantalizingly brief interludes, indelibly capturing the glamor and bleary malaise of being young and horny as an empire devours itself.
Like a low-rent Daft Punk, Palomo takes what 1990s rock fans probably would've considered cheesy-- LinnDrum and Oberheim rhythms, Chromeo-plated electro-funk Korg riffs, processed party-vocal samples-- and not only makes them part of a distinct artistic vision, but also keeps them fun. Quick opener "(AM)" is rife with detail, as an indecipherable tenor floats over a mock-dramatic drum fill and 8-bit star cruisers do battle against twinkling fairy dust. Another sub-minute interstitial track, "(If I Knew, I'd Tell You)", keeps its secrets to itself, letting multiple melodic synth lines hint at a gulf-sized pool of melancholy over a tape-altered rhythm track. "Laughing Gas", at slightly more than a lyric-less minute and a half, is the one that ruins my attempted distinction between songs and interludes, with bongo drums, robot vocal samples, and euphoric giggles straight out of those Air France kids' dreams. The cumulative result is a meltdown-deadened but deliriously inventive perspective on pop.
"I really hope the medium by which someone writes a song isn't the only thing the song has going for it," Palomo told our own Ryan Dombal in a recent interview. With Psychic Chasms, Palomo doesn't need to worry. "Deadbeat Summer" and "Should Have Taken Acid With You" are two views of the same non-endless season-- one mind-expandingly lazy and the other too lazy for mind expansion, both undeniably catchy, both earning doctorates in The Graduate school of coming-of-age ennui. The Italo-alluding title track, the New Order-throbbing "Local Joke", and the visceral funk alarums of "Ephemeral Artery" are beautiful bummers, tracks with lyrics the faithful are sure to puzzle out the way kids used to with the first couple of Weezer CDs. "Living this way held by a single strand/ But you wouldn't understand," worries "6669 (I Don't Know If You Know)", which comes back, refracted again, as 56-second finale "7000 (Reprise)". If you want to destroy his sweater, hold this thread as he walks away.
Overall, Psychic Chasms is something like a dream collaboration between the Tough Alliance and Atlas Sound, the latter of whose Internet-only Weekend EP shares a delinquent theme with one of Psychic Chasms' best songs. After barely a half hour, the whole thing is over, but there's enough going on in the layered electronics and enigmatic longing to make this one of the year's most replayable albums. Consider "Terminally Chill", which has more vocal and instrumental hooks than the average Top 40 song, but also the immediately recognizable stamp of an impressive young talent. Palomo's gear was stolen last month while on tour with VEGA, but a recent FADER video suggests he could launch a decently credible alternate "career" as an acoustic troubadour doing Mexican traditional songs. For various mundane personal reasons, this cassette-focused album is one of the actual CDs I've listened to most since I actually listened to CDs. A new generation's borrowed nostalgia? High time.
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Deadbeat Summer
And something completely different
Julie Doiron - I Can Wonder What You Did with Your Day[2009]
--- Quote ---Julie Doiron's 2009 album I Can Wonder What You Did with Your Day follows the same basic template as her previous album Woke Myself Up. Divided between quiet, austere ballads and gently rocking songs, the record is easily the equal of that album and has moments that rate with her best. While Woke Myself Up was a reunion of Doiron and her Eric's Trip bandmates, this time only Rick White is involved, providing bass, keyboards, and production. Recent collaborator Fred Squire rounds out the group on drums and some guitar, and between the three musicians they craft a sparse, sweet, and intimate album. Doiron's direct and focused lyrical style, her simple yet plaintive vocals, and her simple writing approach give the album the feel of a tender confession. The songs that stand out most are those that give the listener a boost, like the almost peppy "Consolation Prize" (though typically the bouncy hooks are matched with melancholy words), the lilting "Borrowed Minivans," or the perfect for driving through rain-slicked city streets at night "Lovers of the World." With a coating of fuzz and hiss, they could have been highlights on an Eric's Trip record. Without them, they are very good indie rock songs. Good as these uptempo songs are, the songs that pack the most emotional punch are the songs where Doiron's voice is paired with minimal musical backing. Blue's echoing electric guitar swoops can't cover the pain in Doiron's vocals and words, the simple chords and deliberate tempos of "Spill Yer Lungs" provide a steady foundation for Doiron to quietly spill her guts. Many singers would try to fill the space in these songs with vocal gymnastics or tricks, but she is content to stick within the boundaries of the song and this restraint ends up being one of her strongest points. The listener is never distracted from the blunt and real-sounding nature of the words on the sad songs, alternately you never get the feeling she is faking the few happy songs like "Glad to Be Alive" or "Nice to Come Home." The only song on the album that doesn't work is the dirge-y "Heavy Snow," where both the guitars and Doiron's voice end up getting carried away and overdoing things just a touch. Otherwise, I Can Wonder What You Did with Your Day is a solid addition to the catalog of one of the best underrated singer/songwriters around.
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Consolation Prize
ImRonBurgundy?:
--- Quote from: GnarlsBroccoli on 06 Dec 2009, 09:43 ---Vince Guaraldi Trio - A Charlie Brown Christmas !
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The only album of Christmas music I will ever voluntarily listen to.
scarred:
--- Quote from: Zombiedude on 06 Dec 2009, 22:16 ---Neon Indian - Psychic Chasms[2009]
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About time this popped up on here. Good stuff.
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