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Her first new album in three years is a complete departure from anything else she’s ever done before. Fans of her first two records who thought that the excellent To Bring You My Love was too mellow will really be in for a shock here as virtually all of these songs feature PJ accompanied only by herself on piano. Thus, the record has a desolate, late-night feel. It’s also similar to recent records by NINA NASTASIA, FEIST, or even ST. VINCENT. There will be the inevitable, initial backlash against this record, but ignore it as this is a great effort.
Another long-awaited follow-up to a record that came out in 2004 (the excellent Set Yourself on Fire). I really like this on the first few listens. It’s just as epic in scope and grandeur, if not more so, than their previous records, and TORQUIL CAMPBELL’s vocals, more than ever, remind me of MORRISSEY in his younger days. It’s enough to make me completely forget about Honey from the Tombs, AMY MILLAN’s solo foray into alt-country. While that album had a few very good points, overall it was forgettable. Thankfully her main band is anything but.
What happens when you lose your rhythm section and get all of your gear stolen (here in Philadelphia, unfortunately) in a year where you make what is probably the best neo-shoegaze record I’ve heard yet (last year’s self-titled full-length)? Well, many bands would call it a day, but not Film School. This album isn’t as strong as their previous one, but considering that they’re still integrating a brand new rhythm section and adding female vocals to the mix as well, let’s hope that they can reach the heights they scaled last year.
Here’s a full review from my fellow Big Takeover blogger STEVE HOLTJE.
I’ve written about this album before, so all I’ll say is that it’s the funniest album I’ve heard all year!
Released in 1989, Bob Mould’s solo debut holds up quite well after almost 20 years. Not just the acoustic-guitar fest it’s often purported to be (mainly by those who probably only heard this album’s ubiquitous single, “See a Little Light”), it’s also a proto-shoegaze record in terms of its dense, layered, thick sound and production as well. The songwriting is also top-notch, with “Brasilia Crossed with Trenton,” “Wishing Well,” and “Heartbreak a Stranger” being some of the highlights.
Unfortunately, I missed their recent appearance here the other night, though drummer DANNY TAYLOR passed away in 2005 and now it’s just SIMEON, so it’s Silver Apples in name only. Nevertheless, I pulled this out this excellent set the other night. Containing their first two albums on one CD, this is some of the freakiest music of the late ‘60s. Yes, this collection is notable for its direct influence on SUICIDE, CAN, and many other German bands of the ‘70s and subsequently much post-punk, electronica, and indie-rock, but it’s also highly enjoyable music if you like any of the genres listed as well as the more experimental side of late ‘60s psychedelia.
There aren’t that many things you can count on happening every two years in odd-numbered years (unlike say, in even-numbered years where you can expect an election for the House of Representatives as well as other seats depending upon the year), but since 2003 one of them has been the release of a great New Pornographers record. This is the 2007 version. It’s just a shame that so many have dismissed this as “too mellow,” since the more raucous highlights like “My Rights Versus Yours” and “All the Things that Go to Make Heaven and Earth” mesh so well with most of the rest of the album.
Sure, this may be the only great album that Richard Hell has ever released (though others may argue for Destiny Street, the second and final album he released with The Voidoids), but what an album it is. “Love Comes in Spurts” and the title track are the classics and most well-known songs, but all of it is excellent. My personal favorites are “Down at the Rock and Roll Club” and “Walking on the Water.” Tracks such as these and the eight-minute plus “Another World” have more in common with PATTI SMITH and TELEVISION than with most of what later became defined as “punk”.
I’ve been on a big Damned kick lately, but I’d never heard most of their Peel Sessions until I recently ordered this CD. Their first session from November 1976 is just killer, the versions of songs such as “Neat Neat Neat” and “I Fall” besting those on their debut album. This is the clear highlight of the CD, though the 1979 and 1980 sessions are excellent as well despite the fact that the former suffers from poorer sound (though the material on it is great, they couldn’t find the master tapes, so they used a version that RAT SCABIES taped off of the radio). Also of note is the 1984 session featuring such non-album tracks as the great “Nasty” and a cover of THE ROLLING STONES track “We Love You.”
This album doesn’t get nearly as much attention as their debut Cut does. In all fairness, there are many reasons for this. The material on this album is far more dense, inaccessible, and impenetrable to those who were more accustomed to their earlier punk sound or the punk-reggae mix of Cut. If I didn’t dislike the term so much, I’d be tempted to call this proto-worldbeat. Nonetheless, while a lesser album than Cut, it’s a rewarding listen. Be sure to check out their Peel Sessions, though, as the versions of “Earthbeat” and “Difficult Fun” they recorded for the BBC far surpass those on this LP.
