Addressing the backlog volume 2

I'm continuing to fly through all the releases I never got the chance to say my peace on. Have a skim- in no particular order and with little care for genre

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Jimmy Eat World - Damage - June 2013 

Alternative Rock, Pop

 

When I first heard Jimmy Eat World I was in high-school and I always had suspicion that they weren't much of a punk band but I also couldn't deny songs like 'Bleed American' were good. Here, these guys don't pose as a punk band and instead sound like a tight melodious rock band. This album didn't look like my kind of thing and my partner selected this one off the shelves but I can't fault this album, it's catchy and memorable. The lyrics are centered on failing relationships and flawed individuals but the tone seems more focused on acceptance rather than indulging in the negativity. Many hum-along moments! - RATING 4/5

Moby - Innocents - Sept 2013 

Electronic, Ambient

 

Highly dependent on guest vocalists and a few key songs, namely 'Almost Home' with Damien Jurado, 'The Perfect Life' with Wayne Coyne (from Flaming Lips) and 'The Last Day' with Skylar Grey, this is an intimate collection of down-tempo selections. Suits quiet and reflective moods. The instrumentals tend to pass-by without gripping hold but it stays of one mood throughout. RATING 3.5/5

Dillinger Escape Plan - One of Us is the Killer - May 2013

Punk, Heavy Metal, Experimental

 

For all their dumb-founding musicianship I always found Dillinger Escape Plan a little too clever for their own good - their twisty and lock-step excursions into every genre imaginable while wrapping them in music close to very technically minded death-metal or hardcore punk attempts to conceal one very persistent thing about the band's sound - their audience is really centered on other musicians who can respect the effort and willingness to experiment. This album cuts back a lot of the mesmerizing fits and starts into actual focused songs in the (almost) traditional sense but is as tightly-wound as the previous work. They still twist and turn with bizarre time-changes and rhythms but now they sound focused instead of fragmented. Very creative throughout.  RATING 4/5

Burial - Rival Dealer - Dec 2013 

Dub, Ambient

 

British underground electronic music has gotten very interesting in the past few years and Burial is at the forefront. Here he released a two track EP (some releases have a third track called 'Hiders') which is in line with his last few releases - Truant /Rough Sleeper(2011), Street Halo(2011), and Kindred(2012). The producer's work takes dubstep in fascinating directions - into ambient electronic music, showing that it could have emotional resonance while still having a persistent beat. Here the producer creates a few evocative late-night mini-operas that sound paranoid, mournful and occasionally breaking through the murk while a buried two-step beat clicks bye swiftly for the most part - which is no small feat. There is use of voice samples to divide up the 10-plus minute long tracks in to sections. Short, varied and sweet - RATING 4.5/5

Ghostpoet - Some Say I So I Say Light -June 2013

Rap, Dub

 

Continuing with interesting British acts - Ghostpoet has a sleepy flow and abstract lyrical focus which he pairs with electronic dub music. He uses interesting affects going on behind his voice that clang and pulse while he recounts urban stories or dead-end jobs and paranoia. It's a bit odd but the overall feeling is distinctive. A few tracks towards the end meander a little too much.  Ghostpoet has gone for cold-sounding electronics for the most part, 'Cold Win', 'Them Waters' and 'Meltdown' typify this. 'Plastic Bag Brain'  breaks the mood expertly - which is probably due to having organic drums - and 'Dorsal Morsel' has a warm hum. Pretty good. RATING 3.5/5

 

Addressing the Backlog - a long time coming - volume 1

I listened to so much last year that there were a number of albums I never got to. I thought I'd start by running some down in a short-form to save on time for myself and readers. Hopefully you guys see some of your favorites in my collection. I might even hazard a 'best of' list eventually.  

The Bloody Beetroots - Hide - released Septemeber 2013

(Electronic, Dance) Noisy, aggressive, unapologetic and brimming with energy - is a good description of this gonzo dance-metal album, at one hour in length it doesn't hold attention all the way through but in parts or in small doses - it's a lot of fun. This is one of the most memorable of the year if nowhere near perfect - it tosses off genres with reckless abandon and humour - 3/5

Bobby McFerrin - Spirityouall - released April 2013

 

(Gospel, Jazz) Quietly creative and simply beautiful would be two ways to describe this album. McFerrin is singing on spiritual music and standards, he subjects these stuffy old tunes to his wide ranging rubber-voice (sometimes wordlessly) with tasteful accompaniment that allows the subject matter of less importance than the greatness of the songs, which is prefect for a cynical Atheist like myself. His version of 'I Shall be Released' and the ending song 'Rest/Yes, indeed' are magic. 4.5/5

John Legend - Love in the Future - September 2013 

(R'n'B, Soul, Pop)  More electronic and less soul than before but it does this well by wrapping everything with flashy Pop music confections that actually stick. There is a point where Legend's prideful singing starts to irritate but thankfully that only happens on the weaker numbers towards the end of the album, mostly he knocks it out of the park. 4/5

Bonobo - The North Borders - released April 2013

 

(Electronic, Dance, Ambient) Chilled-out and tuneful with a steady but not propulsive beat. The music feels suited to small club shows, or in the background at trendy coffee joints, but has plenty of rewards for headphone listening as it elevates itself over being disposable with an interesting musical palette. Excellent vocalist  choices (Grey Reverend, Erykah Bahdu, Szjerdene, Cornelia) make their appearances the highlights but the ball doesn't get dropped on the instrumental tracks - this disc is worth repeated listens. 4.5/5

Boards of Canada - Tomorrow's Harvest - released June 2013

(Electronic, Ambient) I have been a fan of Boards of Canada's slightly eerie down-tempo music for a while and this album doesn't sound a hundred miles from their previous work, which is to say, it might not win new fans. Nothing on the disc is truly disappointing but nothing truly exciting is going on either. The mood is colder than before but the highlights like 'Palace Posy', 'Split Infinitives' and 'Nothing is Real' are worthy of a few listens - 3.5/5

Wire - Change Becomes Us - released March 2013

 

(Punk, Post-Punk, Alt-Rock) Aging with fire, Wire have been at it since the late seventies, this is one of their strongest releases. This disc sees them rediscovering and rearranging older unreleased material. The new creations are great! Conflicting, driven and clever-as-hell - hopefully they keep making music for a while yet. 4.5/5

Finally, something else! - (note: this is a bit old)

I have been writing this blog for almost a year (April 2013 was the start) and I have skirted away from writing anything but music reviews. I have listened to more than a years worth of albums though I'm a little behind in writing-up what I thought about all of them while some albums were discarded because I didn't feel anything in particular about the music (The Bronx, I'm looking at you). I had always been reluctant to buy online because I thought it went against the premise of the blog, that of spontaneity and that different stores may hold different gems.

I saw this report on the ABC about vinyl sales in Australia and musicians digging out their favourites. Just imagine, one day, a few years from now, there will be the next generation of musicians doing the same for compact discs and how the physical purchase of the disc is somewhat superior to the purely digital download.

To be honest, there is absolutely nothing I hear on a vinyl recording of a song that I don't hear on the other formats of that same song. I haven't got the nostalgia of those big black discs because I was born too late, audio cassettes were the thing when I was born and they would slowly be phased out for CD. Vinyl has the kind of charming obsolesce that is built into everything these days and might kick-on for a few years yet.

I have bought online, many times, and this method of distribution has more longevity. The CD shops will not cease to be but there influence has been declining and will diminish further over-time.

There may be nothing 'cool' about a digital download and music needs 'cool' things to happen so it can make lots of money in one place but I, for one, believe that is a good thing. Since the advent of MTV in the 1980's (the old kind that showed music videos and not the new version that just shows a certain type of show) meant that musicians has a visual format with which to promote their songs and they could take a visual style to match their music or promote themselves as a style and then sell that to people with musical accompaniment.