I’ve been listening to this more than anything else recently and it’s one of my favorite releases of the year. I especially can’t stop listening to “Monkey and Bear” and “Sawdust and Diamonds”, tracks two and three on this five song, fifty-five minute set. This record just gets under your skin and is addictive in that you wanna play it again and again as it reveals more and more with every subsequent play. Yet at the same time, I feel that there’s so much going on here that I’ll be learning from this amazing record for years to come.
I was really looking forward to this show as I knew she and her band would be playing the entirety of her great new album Ys from start to finish. Of course, there were some older songs like “Bridges and Balloons” thrown in as well, though the performance of Ys took up the bulk of the show. It was a fabulous show and in a perfect sitting, though the unusually warm weather made it feel oppresively warm inside the beautiful church sanctuary. Regardless, Newsom was in fine voice and her harp playing was oustanding. Her band tried as hard as possible to replicate the incredible string arrangements of VAN DYKE PARKS that permeate the album and they generally did well, though the strings were missed at certain key moments.
I picked up the tenth anniversary reissue of Rigby’s great debut album at her show here a few weeks ago. After all these years, songs like “The Good Girls,” “Knapsack” and “20 Questions” retain their power due to Rigby’s sharp songwriting skills and sense of melody. What really sets this record apart, however, are its unique lyrics. They chronicle Rigby’s life at the time, in which she balances work, marriage, taking care of a child and still being involved in music. These lyrics will strike a chord with anyone caught in the “netherworld between bohemia and suburbia” (to quote her original liner notes). The reissue adds five excellent bonus tracks not on the original album and new liner notes from Rigby looking back on her life then.
This 45, which I also picked up at her show, features a great A-side that’s also on her last album Little Fugitive and a fun, acoustic cover of WIRE’s “Mannequin” on the B-side.
My pre-order of this EP from Insound finally showed up a few days ago. It’s every bit as excellent as Voxtrot’s two previous EPs, though just shorter at only three songs.
I just hope that when their full-length finally comes out, the songs on it won’t be reprised from these EPs (see #8 on this list) since by then I’ll want to hear some newer material!
It’s too early to tell if I’ll enjoy this one as much as their previous few albums, but like their last one Chutes too Narrow, this one has been growing on me quite a bit. The first three songs and the single “Phantom Limb” are excellent, though, and they reveal JAMES MERCER’s great pop sensibilities after multiple listens.
Much like #6 on this week’s list, this eagerly awaited album sprung a leak last weekend. On the first few listens, it’s a worthy successor to Silent Alarm with much the same setup of having the faster, more aggressive songs pummeling you in the first half interwined with the slower, more subtle and tender material coming at you in the second half. Overall, I don’t think the writing is as strong as on Silent Alarm, but I’m sure I’ll enjoy it more with further listens.
This just came out officially in the UK last week, so I thought I’d list it again. Although I like it a lot, ultimately this was a bit of a disappointment for me. Let me explain. The Long Blondes are one of my favorite new bands. However, more than half of these songs were taken from earlier EPs. Plus, these versions are a bit slicker than the versions on the EPs. They’re not overproduced, but I prefer the rawer-sounding versions. The newer material is great, but ultimately I’m a bit underwhelmed. Let’s just hope that VOXTROT, another band who have waited a long time to make a full-length, doesn’t make the same mistake when their full-length comes out next spring.
On the surface, this is a return to the sound of records such as Element of Light as well as Fegmania and Globe of Frogs that he cut with his backing band THE EGYPTIANS in the mid to late ‘80s . The Venus 3 are in fact SCOTT MCCAUGHEY (the leader of THE MINUS FIVE and former leader of YOUNG FRESH FELLOWS), PETER BUCK (also a member of THE MINUS FIVE, a previous Hitchcock collaborator and of course much more famously R.E.M.’s guitarist) and BILL RIEFLIN (R.E.M.’s touring drummer). Furthermore, the opening track “Adventure Rocket Ship” lives up to its name as its the fastest, breeziest opening track on a Hitchcock album since “The Yip Song” from 1993’s Respect. However, the truth is that this album also has a lot in common with his more mature, mellower work over the last decade or so. Tunes like the title track and “Red Locust Frenzy” show off his well-documented wacky side and his love of insects, but songs like the poignant ARTHUR KANE tribute “N.Y. Doll” balances this set out. The centerpiece is ”(A Man’s Gotta Know His Limitations), Briggs”, which is a song inspired by a line in the 1972 CLINT EASTWOOD film Magnum Force.
This was an afternoon filled with great music in a great, relaxed setting. All three of the featured artists played great sets with McGlashan (formerly of THE MUTTON BIRDS) and Friedland (of SPRINGHOUSE) playing solo acoustic and Carr (formerly of THE BOO RADLEYS and currently recording under the name BRAVE CAPTAIN) bringing a band featuring bassist CORIN ASHLEY, formerly of THE PILLS and a longtime Big Takeover contributor. I already can’t wait for the next one!
