[Music] Albums Thread - 2017

[HH Brighton]

I can't pretend to listen to that much new music but here's what's done it for me so far in rough order of preference...

This Is The Kit
Pete Fij / Terry Bickers
Peter Perrett
Hurray For The Riff Raff
Jens Leckman
Dan Auerbach
The Charlatans
Cigarettes After Sex
Depeche Mode
Dreadzone
Flo Morrissey and Matthew E. White
Slowdive
Paul Weller
Julian Cope
The xx
Julie Byrne
Dave Davies & Russ Davies
Ride
Jain
Ray Davies
Gentlemen's Dub Club
British Sea Power
Real Estate

That Gentlemens Dub Club album is excellent. Saw them at the Hop Yard in Forest Row the other week and great live performers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0sh8bRE4fE

 

[Peteinblack]

Peter Perrett- Ex-Only Ones ('Another Girl, Another Planet'), wasted the last 30 years addicted to heroin, but finally got his sh*t together



Mark Lanegan - Ex-Screaming Trees

 

[Theatre of Trees]

Laibach do Nietzsche on their new album 'Thus Sprach Zarathustra'

 

[Theatre of Trees]

Black metal and folk are usually two genres I keep clear off, but this manages to mix the pair along with a Scandinavian pop sensibility.

 

[Theatre of Trees]

Heads up to Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith fans on here, she has a new album out in October, first track appeared last week.

https://soundcloud.com/western_vinyl/kaitlyn-aurelia-smith-an-intention

 

[Buzzer]

It's been quite a weekend for music for me. There have been 3 new albums that I've been listening on and off pretty much all weekend when I had the chance. All female acts too.

First album is 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. She enlisted John Agnello as producer, his back catalogue includes Dinosaur Jr, Sonic Youth, Kurt Vile amongst others and this goes a long way to explaining the more muscular and confident sound. The album moves along at a cracking rate with a lot of the heavier tracks front-loaded into the beginning of the album and there's a few belters in there that are just brilliant. Never Been Wrong and Silver are as good as any indie-pop track you'll hear this year. She hasn't lost her ability to sound vulnerable/fragile though and tracks such as A Little More almost steal the show with how they bring out her quite excellent singing voice.

It's a pity there's only an acoustic version of Sparks Fly as this anthem is my stand-out track and a great back story to it too, recounting her relationship with her twin sister and the bond they share as twins. Never mind, Silver is a brilliant track.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBpMXuzHR3I

There's an interview with here in Bandcamp that sheds more light on the album and well worth reading. https://daily.bandcamp.com/2017/07/14/waxahatchee-feature/

 

[Buzzer]

The second album is Japanese Breakfast - 'Soft Sounds From Another Planet'

Originally this album, the second from Michelle Zauner aka Japanese Breakfast, was conceived as a concept album with the story being about a woman who falls in love with a robot, has her heart broken and as a way of getting over it, enlists in the Mars One project. Sadly, only the album title and just one track 'The Machinist' has made it from concept to finished article but the album is still a fantastic collection of songs. Rather confusingly Michelle Zauner is of Korean origin rather than Japanese and started out in a punk band 'Little Big League' and she pays tribute on the album with a re-working of 'Boyish'. The album does get darker as the album progresses and more minimal-sounding too with the darkest point being the aptly titled 'Till Death'. Her singing voice sounds quite weak on the latter part of the album especially on that particular track but somehow it still works and adds to how personal-sounding and intimate the album is.

The opening track is just brilliant. It's got a driving hook that wouldn't sound out of place in a Ladytron set.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkaZ223rjAI

There are a few more tracks available on her Bandcamp site together with a very recent interview with her about the album.

https://daily.bandcamp.com/2017/07/12/japanese-breakfast-interview/

https://michellezauner.bandcamp.com/

 

[Buzzer]

Lastly is Mammút ' Kinder Versions'. They are an Icelandic five-piece with a female lead singer whose singing voice can at times sound very similar to early solo career era Bjork. The lead singer's father was in an early version of the Sugarcubes too, just to add further links. The album is quite epic and apart from the first track 'We Tried Love' which is very Bjork, the remaining album sort of sits somewhere between Fever Ray and Warpaint. I've seen a lot of mixed reviews for this album, some saying that the album lacks any nuance. I'm not quite sure what that is supposed to mean though. To my ears, there's plenty of variation. Other reviewers have picked holes in individual songs: the first track is unnecessarily long (sort of got a point there but it's all just nit-picking to me). There have been favourable reviews too with some comparing their funkier tunes with Talking Heads - I'm guessing that the reviewer means tracks like 'Pray For Air'.

I like this album a lot, as I say when the reference points are Fever Ray and Warpaint then it's going to score very highly with me.

This the title track is heavily influenced by Fever Ray
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ht72FUbpOKc

And a listen to this track will give you an idea of where all the Bjork/Sugarcubes comparisons come from.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0dB8e4ml_k

 

[Buzzer]

All modern music is rubbish? Pah!

Another couple of albums that should have made my best of list are Bonobo 'Migration' and Conor Oberst 'Salutations'. [MENTION=12101]Mellotron[/MENTION] mentioned Father John Misty's lyric writing skills but I think Conor Oberst's latest album shows for me that Oberst is the better writer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kb-SwNXQA0Y

 

[Buzzer]

I like the new Mr Jukes album. I think I read somewhere it's the lead singer from Bombay Bicycle Club. The Laibach album looks intriguing too. Not sure about that Ariel Pink track though, sorry Not my cup of tea.

 

[Buzzer]

Oh Wonder - 'Ultralife'

According to NME, this is a 'dazzling' album and scored 9/10 with Clash magazine but after listening to it, I really can't see what separates them from the herd and they certainly aren't in the same league as The XX or London Grammar. It's just pop by numbers to my ears. Some of the tracks are pleasant enough but no more and others such as this make me cringe at the emoting.

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

 

[spring hall convert]

Loving the new EMA track. Has the drone that lovers of Past Life Martyred Saints and her previous band Gowns were missing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7epnE7mxPM

 

[aftershavedave]

Oh Wonder - 'Ultralife'

According to NME, this is a 'dazzling' album and scored 9/10 with Clash magazine but after listening to it, I really can't see what separates them from the herd and they certainly aren't in the same league as The XX or London Grammar. It's just pop by numbers to my ears. Some of the tracks are pleasant enough but no more and others such as this make me cringe at the emoting.

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

i read a really damning review of The XX and don't have time for london grammar. Oh Wonder on the other hand I rather like, the first album was fab, looking forward to this one

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Not seen anyone mention the new Floating Points project called Reflections - Mojave Desert. It's music inspired by a stay in the desert and is inspired by their surroundings and the open space. And it's as much about how it's recorded as what it sounds like.

I find this is best appreciated on your own with a bottle of red.

 

[Buzzer]

Strange how different environments give different listening experiences. I had trouble sleeping last night thanks to the seagulls so I caught up with a few albums that I've re-assessed. The Bedouine album isn't so saccharine when I'm focused 100% on it and it has a lot more depth to it than I first gave it credit for. The Ulrika Spacek album also is starting to grow on me but as with the Bedouine album I need to be giving it all my attention. And the Mount Eerie album "A Crow Looked At Me" is gut-wrenchingly sad when you're listening to it at 4 in the morning.

I was sent a promo copy of the new Laibach album that has been previously mentioned on here and it's a big thumbs up from me. I'll try to get a proper review but need to give it a few more listens.

 

[Buzzer]

New single released from Dan Auerbach and Robert Finley. It's apparently part of a soundtrack to a graphic novel titled 'Murder Ballads'. This tune isn't much of a ballad though although it is good nonetheless.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWKh0KwGgpQ


Edit - oh, and if you really want to feel old - New Order's True Faith is 30 years old today.

 

[Buzzer]

Sad news in the music world. Chester Bennington, lead singer of Linkin Park has committed suicide. Their music wasn't my cup of tea but it's desperately sad news just weeks after Chris Cornell too.

http://www.stereogum.com/1953249/linkin-parks-chester-bennington-has-committed-suicide/news/

 

[CHAPPERS]

Got the Lana Del Ray album on and it's really quite good.

In My Feelings the stand out track so far.

 

[Ludensian Gull]

Debut Album by Colter Wall , a young Canadian Blues/ Appalachian country ,singer / songwriter from Saskatchewan. His voice belies his young age . Fantastic debut from a very talented man .

 

[mune ni kamome]

I have high hopes for Chip Wickham's La Sombra ( and yes I do appreciate I'm a million miles from you guys musically on this thread and the 2016 equivalent!). Listening now...

Have given this a good listen and tried to at least understand what's going on but to no avail. It feels like being excluded from some sort of private club. Just feels so discordant and alien to me. I just don't get it and probably never will although millions do. A bit like John McLaughlin