[Music] Albums Thread - 2017

[Arthur]

Black Grape - 'Pop Voodoo'

I think [MENTION=314]Arthur[/MENTION] and others need to hear this if they haven't already. In my humble opinion, it's just about the best music Shaun Ryder has ever made. Unlike a lot of other musicians, peace of mind has given Ryder a new lease of life and the latest Black Grape album is as a result quite stunning.

It starts off funky, very funky - harking back to Big Beat era dance music of the 90s and it's so good to hear Ryder singing with a smile on his face once again. The funk doesn't stop until track 4 when they venture into more familiar Black Grape territory with Whiskey, Wine and Ham but then wait until you hear Money Burns. Fan-bloody-tastic. It's like A Guy Called Gerald has been asked to reimagine Hallelujah or Big Day in the North into something so soulful that it wouldn't look out of place alongside an Isaac Hayes track. Can't get enough of this album and this particular track. Sadly I can't find a stream of this but here's the first track from the album.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-83NBlJ7dc


Have I mentioned 'funky'? Give String Theory a listen too and tell me that Shaun Ryder hasn't still got the wow factor.

You must have missed my Facebook post on Sunday about said album. It's a cracker!!

Given some of his more recent SWR efforts I wasn't expecting much at all but was happily blown away.

 

[tinycowboy]

Waxahatchee - 'Out In The Storm'. Waxahatchee is Katie Crutchfield, twin sister of Allison Crutchfield whose recent album is in my best of 2017 so far list. This is Waxahatchee's 2nd album and sees her moving into serious music-making away from the lo-fi sound and low production of her first album.

The second album is Japanese Breakfast - 'Soft Sounds From Another Planet'...the album is still a fantastic collection of songs.

Can't quite make my mind up about these two albums. I prefer Japanese Breakfast - especially the tracks that don't sound like an update for a Twin Peaks soundtrack album, but that unfortunately wipes out half the album. Diving Woman, The Machinist, The Body Is A Blade and This House (plus Tubular Bells) would be my picks. Waxahatchee is pleasant enough, but never quite becomes great - Never Been Wrong and Sparks Fly stand out for me as well. Should I spend £20 x 2 on buying the vinyl? I'm not sure - seeing Waxahatchee in a few weeks' time, so that may make my mind up for me on that one, but currently borderline on J Brekkie.

 

[Buzzer]

You must have missed my Facebook post on Sunday about said album. It's a cracker!!

Given some of his more recent SWR efforts I wasn't expecting much at all but was happily blown away.

I think I did matey, sorry about that. I think I was a bit all over the place on Sunday having drunk pints of Cava the night before and then taken out for drinks by my eldest! Agreed, it's a real surprise having seen Black Grape live recently (ish) and all the stuff that Ryder has been associated with up until this gave the appearance that he was cruising a bit, there for the money only but this album is as you say, blinding.

 

[Arthur]

I think I did matey, sorry about that. I think I was a bit all over the place on Sunday having drunk pints of Cava the night before and then taken out for drinks by my eldest! Agreed, it's a real surprise having seen Black Grape live recently (ish) and all the stuff that Ryder has been associated with up until this gave the appearance that he was cruising a bit, there for the money only but this album is as you say, blinding.

A mate of mine saw them at Brixton the other week supporting Richard Ashcroft and he said they were very good. He would have drunk his own body weight in booze pre gig though so I took it slightly with a pinch of salt.

I'm sure I saw they were playing at Butlins in Bognor soon on a line up that looked like it was straight out of 1994. Can't see anything on their site though....

 

[Buzzer]

A mate of mine saw them at Brixton the other week supporting Richard Ashcroft and he said they were very good. He would have drunk his own body weight in booze pre gig though so I took it slightly with a pinch of salt.

I'm sure I saw they were playing at Butlins in Bognor soon on a line up that looked like it was straight out of 1994. Can't see anything on their site though....

Ooh, interesting. I'll check it out.

 

[Arthur]

Ooh, interesting. I'll check it out.

Sorry my mistake was Hastings Pier not Butlins.

 

[spring hall convert]

It's a no from me on the new Arcade Fire album, the title track is glorious but there's so much filler. That Peter Pan-Chemistry-Infinite Content run is unforgivable.

Funeral >>> The Suburbs > Reflektor > Neon Bible >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Everything Now

 

[Bold Seagull]

The Public Service Broadcasting new album is a tour de force. Anyone not familiar with PSB, they have concept albums based around old news footage of a specific theme. The last PSB album was about the 60s space race and this one sees them exploring mining in the Welsh valleys. Each track is strong enough to stand on its own and coming in at 11 tracks with no fillers, it represents a hell of an album. There's guest appearances from Tracey Anne Campbell (Camera Obscura), Haiku Salut, James Dean Bradfield (Manics) and a wonderfully sounding Lisa Jen Brown (9Bach). This album will undoubtedly be on a lot of end of year lists. Highly recommended.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWvK7Uffmts

This is just powerful stuff. I don't seem to be able to get through a day without listening to at least 1 PSB album. There is something darker about this one, a real industrial sound like you can hear the pick axe rhythmically hitting the coal face. I'm hooked in completely.

 

[Buzzer]

I've been listening to the new Cattle &Cane album 'Mirrors'. I'm about halfway through it but I keep going bak to the opening song which, for some reason, has me completely smitten. It's blown me away.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9A4mV1fkGGU

 

[Buzzer]

Mondo Cozmo - 'Plastic Soul'

'Plastic' is the operative word because Mondo Cozmo, a Philly singer-songwriter, seems to have plundered Primal Scream's back catalogue for his latest album. Critics have likened it to Beck and U2 at their most anthemic but the sound I hear the most is the aforementioned Primals. The album is apparently littered with previous tracks that he's added alongside newer stuff , I'm guessing because he feels it is in keeping with the theme of the album. It starts off with one massive homage to the Irma Franklin soul classic 'Take Another Piece of my Heart' which is pleasant enough but then the next track rips off Creep/Air That I Breathe and the one after, lazily titled 'Higher', is a rip-off of U2's 'Even Better Than The Real Thing'.The next two are so much like Primal Scream that I did check the sleeve notes for the writer. One song is even called 'Shine'!

His voice is pleasant enough, sort of like a more melodic Bob Dylan or slightly gruff, off-key Beck but I'm struggling to see the point of the album because it left me wanting to ditch his pastiche and go and dig out the artists he's copied here. I've no doubt the album title was chosen specifically to tackle the accusations of plagiarism head on with a big "so what?" but it's surely counter-productive if every tune on an album has the listener thinking "that sounds like..." and the artist he's chosen to copy are themselves a musical montage of styles they've borrowed from their heroes.

How would I sum it up? In the spirit of this album I'll borrow someone else's catchphrase and say "It's not for me, Clive."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pOUbcbTvOU

 

[Buzzer]

2 new albums out today that will be on heavy rotation this weekend for the trip to and from Leicester:

Ghostpoet - 'Dark Days+Canapes'

Madonnatron - 'Madonnatron'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ef4PfXiTJAQ

 

[Is it PotG?]

Another new release on the turntables in the Leicester bound car....the wonderful Duke Spirit

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Anyone else totally loving the new LCD Soundsystem album? I've done nothing but listen to it all day so far.

Welcome back James Murphy.

 

[Is it PotG?]

Much better than I was anticipating for a 'soundtrack', played it three times already today.

A lovely album from one of the best bands around right now.

 

[big nuts]

Anyone else totally loving the new LCD Soundsystem album? I've done nothing but listen to it all day so far.

Welcome back James Murphy.

Just bought it but can't get my iPod to sync with my Mac which is annoying as I'd rather not play through my Lap Top speakers.

Limited time now, so I'll need to work out a plan to listen properly tonight.

Reviews across the board are very positive.

 

[Machiavelli]

I'm enjoying the new albums by Ghostpoet and Oh Sees (although I've seen the latter live twice of late, and their music works so much better live)

 

[Buzzer]

I'm enjoying the new albums by Ghostpoet and Oh Sees (although I've seen the latter live twice of late, and their music works so much better live)

Agree with you on Ghostpoet. His best yet and shows a great deal of maturity and development.

 

[Machiavelli]

Agree with you on Ghostpoet. His best yet and shows a great deal of maturity and development.

I liked Shedding Skin (haven't heard his earlier stuff), but this one seems a lot more developed and complicated.

 

[Buzzer]

I liked Shedding Skin (haven't heard his earlier stuff), but this one seems a lot more developed and complicated.

Agreed. I'm a massive fan of his earlier work too. You once made a comparison with him and Tricky (one of my musical heroes) and I think it's a very fair comparison.

You're right about it being more complicated and this album is a little darker too. The last although clever was, in my opinion, a bit tongue in cheek, even perhaps deliberately ironic but there's not many laughs to be had this time round. He's made it leaner, tighter and it's all the better for it. He's also held back a bit more on the Mark E Smith style delivery.

 

[Machiavelli]

Agreed. I'm a massive fan of his earlier work too. You once made a comparison with him and Tricky (one of my musical heroes) and I think it's a very fair comparison.

You're right about it being more complicated and this album is a little darker too. The last although clever was, in my opinion, a bit tongue in cheek, even perhaps deliberately ironic but there's not many laughs to be had this time round. He's made it leaner, tighter and it's all the better for it. He's also held back a bit more on the Mark E Smith style delivery.

He's very much like Tricky, who is probably one of Ghostpoet's musical heroes too. He's playing at C2 in a couple of months -- looking forward to it.