Albums Thread - 2016

[spring hall convert]

Does anyone like Fat White Family?

http://www.metacritic.com/music/songs-for-our-mothers/fat-white-family

Their new one appears to be dividing opinion. Bar the odd track, I don't think much of them. I think they must have photos of The Quietus office in compromising positions.

Would imagine they are decent live in the right venue. I saw them on the Park Stage at Glastonbury before The Fall and they were okish.

 

[CorgiRegisteredFriend]

I have not been able to stop listening to The Prettiots. I can best describe it as Kimya Dawson meets Jenny Lewis meets a ukulele.

Cannot recommend them enough.

Not sure if this lot play together still but drummer is same for both- saw them at The Komedia a few years back and a great live band. Also signed to Rough Trade.

 

[Albumen]

Does anyone like Fat White Family?

http://www.metacritic.com/music/songs-for-our-mothers/fat-white-family

Their new one appears to be dividing opinion. Bar the odd track, I don't think much of them. I think they must have photos of The Quietus office in compromising positions.

Would imagine they are decent live in the right venue. I saw them on the Park Stage at Glastonbury before The Fall and they were okish.

I listened to half the album in Resident as a track hooked me into staying. After the next 4 I happily left without thinking about them again.

 

[CorgiRegisteredFriend]

Does anyone like Fat White Family?

http://www.metacritic.com/music/songs-for-our-mothers/fat-white-family

Their new one appears to be dividing opinion. Bar the odd track, I don't think much of them. I think they must have photos of The Quietus office in compromising positions.

Would imagine they are decent live in the right venue. I saw them on the Park Stage at Glastonbury before The Fall and they were okish.

I have only ever listened to this for obvious reasons

 

[Theatre of Trees]

Does anyone like Fat White Family?

http://www.metacritic.com/music/songs-for-our-mothers/fat-white-family

Their new one appears to be dividing opinion. Bar the odd track, I don't think much of them. I think they must have photos of The Quietus office in compromising positions.

Would imagine they are decent live in the right venue. I saw them on the Park Stage at Glastonbury before The Fall and they were okish.

Liked 'Whitest Boy on the Beach' but found the rest of the album a dirge.

Looks like the fictional band they played on Eccentronic Research Council's album of last year will be making a full LP this year which may be more interesting musically.

 

[Machiavelli]

Does anyone like Fat White Family?

http://www.metacritic.com/music/songs-for-our-mothers/fat-white-family

Their new one appears to be dividing opinion. Bar the odd track, I don't think much of them. I think they must have photos of The Quietus office in compromising positions.

Would imagine they are decent live in the right venue. I saw them on the Park Stage at Glastonbury before The Fall and they were okish.

I made the mistake of buying their album a year or two ago as a result of hype. Big mistake. They can't write songs, and their humour/politics/whatever it is is highly questionable. I do agree that thy might be good live in the right venue. But you'd have to imbibe an awful lot to get the full effect.

 

[spring hall convert]

Their record label being called 'Without Consent' isn't particularly amusing in my book. Just a bit baffled why sections of the music press (including the normally reliable Quietus) have gone for them in such a big way. At least the first Babyshambles album had some tunes on it.

Agree on Eccentronic Research Council btw. They appear to have a bit more depth to them.

 

[spring hall convert]

Still feasting on 2015 a bit and thought this grade A banger needs a wider audience. 6,561 you tube plays. 112 likes, 0 dislikes. How could you possible dislike this track?

Marie Davidson - Excès de vitesse (from Un Autre Voyage LP)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VUuYSSvusE

 

[spring hall convert]

The new 'Tindersticks' L.P is absolutely magnificent. A band that I have adored from day one have delivered something phenomenal. Buy the vinyl to get the DVD that goes with it. I'm on my third listen (first 2 on disc, this time the DVD). It's wonderful, wonderful.

Seconded. Predictably gorgeous.

 

[Machiavelli]

Still feasting on 2015 a bit and thought this grade A banger needs a wider audience. 6,561 you tube plays. 112 likes, 0 dislikes. How could you possible dislike this track?

Marie Davidson - Excès de vitesse (from Un Autre Voyage LP)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VUuYSSvusE

Very fond of this, although on so many levels, it does point to a particular influence.

 

[spring hall convert]

Very fond of this, although on so many levels, it does point to a particular influence.

Who/ what are you thinking? It's very early Neue Deutsche Welle imo

 

[Machiavelli]

Who/ what are you thinking? It's very early Neue Deutsche Welle imo

My knowledge of music is extremely limited in comparison with your good self, so I don't know Neue Deutsche Welle, but I was thinking of Kraftwerk: sonically, conceptually and aesthetically.

 

[spring hall convert]

My knowledge of music is extremely limited in comparison with your good self, so I don't know Neue Deutsche Welle, but I was thinking of Kraftwerk: sonically, conceptually and aesthetically.

Neue Deutsche Welle is the 'what came next' genre wise so we were on the same thing. Basically - GERMAN. It eventually all went horribly commercial eventually but an early example is below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4wC4LvA8T0

 

[Theatre of Trees]

Who/ what are you thinking? It's very early Neue Deutsche Welle imo

The backbeat is certainly from that era and did bring to mind this:

It has that pre-techno mutant disco feel.

Speaking of Germany I'm rather liking Aga Wilk's Moon EP at the moment; the use of analogue synths gives it a hefty dollop of Moroder influence.

 

[spring hall convert]

The backbeat is certainly from that era and did bring to mind this:

It has that pre-techno mutant disco feel.

Speaking of Germany I'm rather liking Aga Wilk's Moon EP at the moment; the use of analogue synths gives it a hefty dollop of Moroder influence.

That is a lovely noise.

 

[spring hall convert]

Dear Animal Collective,

You appear to have forgotten to write any songs for your new album.

Kind Regards,

Spring Hall Convert

 

[deletebeepbeepbeep]

Can anyone how explain how one might purchase Kaye Wests new album without subscribing to his bullshit streaming service, or is it impossible?

Oh yeah and the AC album is a disappointing mess.

 

[Buzzer]

Definitely one of the albums that I keep returning to is LNZNRDF - 'LNZNDRF': it's a side-project by members of the National and Beirut and best described as a crunching guitar experience. But it sounds like it could be shoe-gaze or prog-rock but it's definitely lighter than both with some killer tunes. The tunes are all anthemic, all uplifting and some of them are glorious indeed. I think this is my favourite 'Mt Storm'.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFN611uxf74

 

[Buzzer]

I'll try and get through a few reviews of 2016 albums I've listened to recently. Starting with:

µ-Ziq - 'Aberystwth Marine'

This is a long-lost album from Planet Mu head-honcho, Mike Paradinas that he's made available on Bandcamp. Definitely one for fans of Aphex Twin but unlike Aphex Twin, I found I could actually listen to this without getting bored. I'm not hugely into A.T. as the ambient, atonal nature of his music does nothing for me but Aberystwyth Marine has a lot of humour and more than one killer tune on it. It sounds older than 1996-1998 when it was made too. There's plenty of rave references on it and I've had pitched it 3 or 4 years earlier. It's also very long, coming in at 17 tracks and most of them full length ones at that.

http://mikeparadinas.bandcamp.com/album/aberystwyth-marine

The Pines - 'Above the Prairie'

It's difficult accurately to describe this band. Most of the time they're an American folk/roots band with more than a passing resemblance to the Felice Brothers in their quieter moments and a lead singer with that rich, slurry singing that someone like Damien Jurado excels at but they do also occasionally throw in the synthesizers. The album is okay with the first half being much stronger than the second half which tends to lose its way somewhat in a muddy field of middle of the road country folk. Stand out tracks for me are There In Spirit, Hanging From the Earth and the spoken-word Time Dreams that closes the album in an unusual but rather lovely way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbOhoIaVxHI

Hunter/Game - 'Adaptation'

A rock-solid deep house techno album from 2 Italian producers that I tend to listen to quite a lot at the moment when I need to concentrate on work. I'm too old for nightclubbing now but I still love listening to the music as I find it helps me zone out background distractions. There's a useful track-by-track guide on Factmag where you can stream the entire album too.

http://www.factmag.com/2016/02/03/stream-huntergame-adaptation-kompakt/

The track to watch out for, in my opinion, is Declino. Pure bliss.

 

[Buzzer]

Ulrika Spacek -'The Album Paranoia'

NME seems to think that the band are reminiscent of My Bloody Valentine or Sonic Youth but I wonder if they are deliberately avoiding the obvious comparison with Radiohead. Every track has its roots in a Radiohead number, be it the sludgy guitars from Pablo Honey or the slower numbers from The Bends, OK Computer or Kid A. The album is pretty good nonetheless and their musicianship is competent enough to be able to pull off making an album like this. Actually, I'm doing them a disservice, it's more than pretty good and if fuzzy guitars and clever lyrics are your bag you'll love this too. Beta Male for instance boasts a 2-3 minute full-on intro before the vocals start and it blew me away. I'm curious to see where they go from here because they need to find their own sound if they aspire to longevity.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8Zy-VIByuc

Foxes - All I Need

I'm not a big fan of Florence Welch, Marina & the Diamonds et al, I'm not the target audience for this music and I loathe indiscriminate use of vocoder so I binned this album with a note never to listen to it again. It's very formulaic too with cutting out the bass and dragging it back, the key changes, just everything about it. Not for me.