Wed 18 Mar – Girl Talk, Daedelus, Joker, Fabulous Diamonds, cleckhuddersfax
Before I get going on my monthlies (read into that what you will), I'd just like to give a passing mention to the rather fabulous night held at the Scala by organisers
Upset The Rhythm, who managed to book the DJ responsible for
one of my favorite albums of last year at the venue for quite the evening out with two of my closest friends. The reason I have to mention it in passing is because the night itself was a joyous blur, the kind of night when so much good stuff was going on, musically and socially, you sort of lose your concentration with the gig itself, which happened to throw up a few surprises of its own.
Firstly, the combination of the venue (a rather weirdly constructed affair featuring all manner of staircases, passageways and Mediterranean tiling most often found all over the Costa del Sol) and the deluge of American students who had excitedly arrived to support their Mash-Up Master provided welcome relief; as the three of us arrived and travelled the stairs, it was as if we had stumbled on a Spring Break special marathon of
My Super Sweet 16. These guys happened to be up for a party tremendously though, and whether it was because they were a lot younger or a bit more chilled out, the atmosphere was the most pleasant it's ever been at the Scala. It also provided lengthy discussions on just how God-damned attractive most of these Americans are, as well as excessive leering from my fellow gigbuddies, and maybe a few misguided machoisms ("Ladies...")
Back to the gig though, and having missed
cleckhuddersfax at the beginning due to prolonged discussions at the neighbouring snooker hall involving
Buffy,
Lost and
Disney's Gummi Bears (that'd be my doing!), we caught what we could of
Fabulous Diamonds until we rather admittedly became quite nonplussed with their repetitive drone, which I'm guessing wasn't quite so ideal an opening act for the kind of crazy party that Gregg Gillis, AKA
Girl Talk facilitates, and spirited ourselves away to the smoking garden in the Scala's lower bowels, the nicotine-stained miasma even taking myself aback once we passed through the double doors.
We managed to find an incredibly vacant upper balcony from which to watch the rest of the performance (for practical reasons, is all I'll say!), and we must have missed
Joker's set because within minutes
Daedelus was on call with a fabulous piece of live mixing hardware not unlike what we saw at
Björk's gig at Hammersmith Apollo
last year. Taking in all kinds of genres and dance breaks (his smooth interpolation of
T2's
Heartbroken (feat. Jodie) got a justified ovation), Alfred Darlington was forced to bust a few moves to keep the genreless momentum going on his machine, which even to the trained eye looked like little more than an '80s puzzle game; a sizeable grid of pink-lit squares passing left-to-right providing control to bass, vocals, drum sequences... we were at a loss as to how it actually worked, but it was the catalyst to a rather good opening set.
Then, after another quick ciggie and a few minutes to collect ourselves, Gillis sauntered onstage and placed himself behind his deck featuring little more than two laptops. A lanky hairy man who could pass for any pale, malnourished student, the power he held over the audience was extraordinary; as if the deafening screams weren't enough, as soon as
UGK's
Int'l Players Anthem (I Choose You) featuring Outkast came on as the irrpressible bassline from
The Spencer Davis Group's
Gimme Some More Lovin' rumbled underneath, the crowd flooded the stage in less than seconds; Spring Break had officially hit King's Cross London!
The rest, as I stated earlier, was a bit of a blur, but nothing short of crazy, hazy highlights recollected including the increasing bemusement of the bouncers at the front of the stage, Gillis' own special not-quite-right headbanging technique and dancing along to
Kelly Clarkson far more enjoyably than I'd previously thought possible. Thanks to everyone behind that night, as well as my two friends whom I dragged along promising one heck of a party... though I had no idea quite what heck of a party it eventually became. As those Americans would proclaim: "Good times!"
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Right, on with the journal then, featuring twenty albums I had the pleasure of listening to over the last month, collated in descending order of merit. You know the drill...
The Law of the Playground by
The Boy Least Likely To
It’s not just by my own admission that I declare this, but people at work have told me that my iTunes holds one of the greater music libraries to be found amongst our systems. Whether it’s to do with my own personal taste or rather my reputation as a musical clutterbug remains unfounded, but you could imagine my pride when one colleague told me she’d found her favourite album of the year thus far with The Boy Least Likely To’s sophomore effort, considering it happens to be one of the lesser rated pieces on my iMac. All twee and summer loveliness, there’s no doubt that some people will love this milquetoast work, the kind of music that bubbles away into nothingness; unfortunately, there’s nothing truly idiosyncratic enough about this duo’s sound to contrast itself against the more intelligent works on offer (see below).
Scream by
Chris Cornell
Cornell being the venerable institution in the grunge-metal scene that he is, his latest album featuring production wares from none-other than hip-pop hitmaker
Timbaland and his merry protégés was always going to draw ire from most of his fans; what business does the man who chanted
Black Hole Sun have writing soft-rock tracks with the man partially responsible for
Madonna’s worst album in years? Stunt partnership criticisms aside though, the result is still rather self-consciously square, with Cornell’s valiant vocals fighting earnestly to marry themselves with Timbaland’s motifs convincingly. If there were maybe a few appearances from rap music’s current seniority and some other special guests to lighten the load, maybe the result would have been less of a failure. As it stands, half of the songs are as flaccid as
OneRepublic’s entire oeuvre.
Polly Scattergood by
Polly Scattergood
Those who found
Diana Vickers particularly insufferable on The X Factor last year with her “unique” sense of style and her affectedly cringeworthy vocal mannerisms would do well to avoid Polly Scattergood’s eponymous debut, considering that in all likelihood Miss Vickers’ incoming album will most definitely sound very much like it. Now, late in the game on this otherwise painfully earnest effort, Scattergood does suggest some promise that could place her alongside
Little Boots as an electronic singer/songwriter to take note of (that being the double whammy of
Bunny Club and
Nitrogen Pink, both sporting a subversive bounce that is hard to ignore), unfortunately, they are but two tracks surrounded by ineffectually OTT ballads that are very nearly ruined by Scattergood’s simpering delivery despite some admittedly beautiful arrangements.
Eye Legacy by
Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes
Forever remembered as the motormouthed propellant for the rather fabulous R&B/hip hop triumvirate
TLC, Lopes was midway through recording tracks for her second solo album when she was fatally killed in a car crash. Whilst this is billed as Lopes’ second album, it actually works more as a compilation tribute to the star, what with most of Lopes’ vocals here being both rescued from studio archives from her shortlived album sessions and even lifted wholesale from her first solo album,
Supernova, released back in 2001. The result is a well-intentioned mish-mash, with some of the cut-and-paste work all too obvious to ignore (especially on the latter half’s more conscientious jams), but the club floor fillers featuring the likes of
Bobby Valentino,
Missy Elliott and bandmates
T-Boz and Chilli, more than preserve Lopes’ rambunctious reputation.
Living Thing by
Peter Bjorn and John
The “High School Friends Done Good” story is always a heartening story to hear, especially when they come from such humble sources such as this intrepid trio from Sweden, who found breakout fame when that song of theirs with the lovely whistle was heralded as one of the best singles of 2007 (also prompting remixes and samplings from the likes of
Diplo and
Kanye West). The third full length album from these guys casts a similar wistfully playful spell for most of its duration, but does happen to make way for some welcome bouts of raucousness, be they the children’s choir chorus of
Nothing To Worry About or the bar brawl detailed in
Lay It Down. Whether it will break the one-hit wonder curse for them remains to be seen, but it's still pleasantly diverting nevertheless.
Fine Fascination by
Red Light Company
For all intents and purposes, I shouldn’t like Red Light Company’s debut album, what with their being yet another English band with one foot in indie punk and another in stadium pop rock, trying to strike a fine balance so as to ascend to the heights of their worthy influences (those namechecked in interviews include
U2,
Radiohead and
Elbow). Unfortunately, it would appear that this five-piece have a lot more going on for them than your typical rock poseurs, and whilst the wannabe-Americanisms may err on the side of irksome (notably on their referencing
Arcade Fire on
New Jersey Television... especially with their being from London!), there are genuinely enough great rock pop moments on the likes of
Scheme Eugene and
Arts & Crafts to escape the
Busted comparisons with ease.
The Annie Lennox Collection by
Annie Lennox
It was heartening to see Lennox ascend to the upper reaches of the chart with her solo retrospective set (cannily released the week before Mother’s Day), especially seeing how unceremoniously she was dumped by her record label in 2007. Along with her tireless charity work, Lennox’s music has always exhibited a profound maturity that tows the line between ethereal balladry and no-nonsense blue-eyed soul sass, particularly the work found on her
Diva and
Medusa albums, showcased here best by
Walking on Broken Glass,
Why and
No More "I Love You's". Since the last
Eurythmics album in 1999 however, her work has been less than amazing compared to her earlier success, even if the credentials are no doubt impressive (try playing “diva-spotter” on the star-laden collaboration
Sing), yet, as this collection proves, there’s no arguing over what a fine pop institution she is.
The Hazards of Love by
The Decemberists
Although you’d have to give them credit for taking such an artistic gamble, it would be easy to reconcile why this intrepid five-piece’s latest album shouldn’t work. A rock opera tribute to folk tales detailing a virtuous girl’s descent into madness via sexually rapacious antagonists populating a menacing forest, ripe with lyrics that register more like Sondheim-style dialogue than erstwhile chorus hooks? Musical haters everywhere (I:^{) can rejoice though, because
RENT this ain’t; rather it’s a bold, reckless gesture in terms of present-day musical trends that benefits greatly from the band’s songwriting smarts, their startlingly proficient arrangement skills and some really rather beautiful vocal performances from its “cast”. It all beggars bewilderment as to how they’re going to tour with it; maybe an Off-Broadway production??
So Far Gone by
Drake
Like most of his hip hop compatriots, Aubrey Graham has profiles on
last.fm,
Wiki and the
IMDB. Unlike most of his peers, however, Mr Graham has yet to release his debut album, having slowly but surely caught the attention of Internet bloggers with his mix-tape trilogy, which culminates with this last effort before his debut hits later this year. Hip hop guests du jour
Santogold and
Lykke Li are thrown into the mix alongside jams from
Kanye West,
Omarion and
Lil’ Wayne, the former in particular appearing to have cast a heady spell on Drake’s lyrics and production, with the protégé taking in a more slanted view of the typical hip hop clichés with liberal dashes of psychological perseverance through self-doubt and deceitful wenches, as well as some sly amendments of the “baby, I love you” formula such as the genuinely funny
Best I Ever Had. We look forward to the debut, Aubrey!
Troubadour by
K'naan
As written by Orange_Anubis (see comments
here), my last entry was especially accented by music of the “troubadour” style, yet somehow, Somali-Canadian rapper K’naan’s sophomore album baring such a moniker actually passed me by. Embracing a more boisterous, mainstream sound as well as a multitude of special guests than his well-received debut, Mr Warsame’s rhymes and beats are of the ilk that celebrates world music at its most vibrant (if opener
T.I.A. doesn’t sway you, you’d do well to check your pulse) and yet still incredibly forthright and mindful of the state of affairs plaguing the world at large. A heady mix of personal experiences (hear closer
People Like Me, detailing his moving separation from his family in Somalia) as well as endearing machismo (hear the rather lovely tribute
Fatima), Warsame’s album stands tall in its bursting with thought-provoking ideas of our present day as well as its water-tight club jams.
Beware by
Bonnie 'Prince' Billy
Less than a year after his last full-length album was released, Will Oldham reinforces his reputation as one of the finer folk-music songsmiths further with his fifteenth studio album in sixteen years, if not one of its more generous sonic donators to the genre. Inhabiting a more paranoid, lovelorn and wary emotional plain than previous effort
Lie Down In The Light, Oldham’s new effort suffers slightly from the progenitor’s modesty, or rather that whilst these songs are never less than lovely, there aren’t enough standout moments or enough varied instrumentation to truly stir the listener’s sentiments. Which isn’t to say that there aren’t any (standout track
You Are Lost is one of the most heartbreaking songs to be released so far this year), and Oldham’s ear for melody is still one of the most unquestionably soulful to be found in music today.
Veckatimest by
Grizzly Bear
Now, I don’t really think of myself as a fickle person when it comes down to music taste, and last.fm has been responsible for some lovely surprises since I joined nearly two years ago, but this whole tagging thing I could really do without. I’m hopeless with sub-genres and the like (as evidenced by my bitter tirade against
OCG nearly a year ago), and bands like Grizzly Bear are such a collective that inhabit such a nebulous space between rock, indie, folk and psychedelia that, if their music didn’t happen to be rather bloody good, I’d take great exception to them. A timeless marriage of guitar-led indie rock subtly synthesised into a head-turning mix that takes in chamber music (hear
Fine for Now), rabble rousing (
Southern Point) and uncategorically weird soundscapes (album highlight
I Live With You), it at once celebrates and promises an interesting future for rock in general.
Bromst by
Dan Deacon
A little more raucous electronica now courtesy of Dan Deacon, a multi-instrumentalist who has courted noted attention for his interactive live shows, which normally find him directly in the middle of the audience space and often calling upon members of the audience to perform alongside him with various instruments and dance sequences. With this in mind, listening to his second full length album suggests one heck of a demanding show on the intrepid crowd that willingly volunteers for such japes, as Deacon’s soundscapes feature some quite relentlessly dancey “everything-but-the-kitchen-sink” moments alongside the more introspective pieces, particularly on
Woof Woof and
Get Older, which could happily snuggle alongside the likes of
Holy Fuck and
Battles on a playlist for the wilfully leftfield. One to lookout for in 2009 certainly...
The Invisible by
The Invisible
It says a lot about a band who defy individual credentials as expansive as
Matthew Herbert,
Amy Winehouse,
Paul Epworth,
Hot Chip and
Róisín Murphy, but that is precisely what sideproject trio The Invisible have done with their debut album, a surefire contender for the most unclassifiable album of the year so far. Taking in all of their prior influences whilst at the same time aiming for something completely different (with a little help from Herbert in the production), this motley crew have made an album chock full of different genre hooks and quirks that have been whipped into a singularly unidentifiable concoction that no doubt presents them as the new Thinking Man’s Rock Band. Be it the quasi-religion of
Passion or its follow-up double-edged love ballad
London Girl, there’s something here for everyone, as well as something possibly quite exciting for the future.
Yes by
Pet Shop Boys
Let’s get the disappointment out of the way first and foremost; unfortunately, Messrs Tennant and Lowe’s latest album, co-written and produced with hitmakers du decade
Xenomania, isn’t the concentratedly euphoric blast of pop mastery that months of hype on the Internet has whipped PSB fans into hoping it would be. However, what remains is an undoubtedly classy affair, awash with pure pop sophistication and buoyant melodies to thwart the most successful pop acts working today, tinged with that indelible melancholy that has steered Tennant and Lowe to the upper echelons of the pop spectrum over the last twenty-five years. Given the tender admissions of
Vulnerable and
Legacy alongside the caustic irony of
Love etc. and
Beautiful people, it’s heartening to know that this duo’s edge hasn’t dulled so much either.
Take My Breath Away by
Gui Boratto
Following his debut album with a couple of high profile remixes for the likes of Pet Shop Boys and
Goldfrapp, Mr Boratto’s follow-up is about as sweat-inducing as glitch-house can really get, most likely to do with his own Brazilian roots as well as his ear for a thoroughly toe-tapping beat. To be found here are ambient club jams that are the very epitome of slow-burn beauties, particularly the title track, which pulsates away so agreeably and smoothly you’d be hard-pressed to stop yourself smiling for the full seven minutes. Admittedly, with the bar set so high on the opening song, the album fails to traverse the hurdle quite so effortlessly; but let it not be denied, this album still struts a favourable line between dancey excess and refined musicianship better than most composers can spin with their vinyls, taking in electric fist-pumps (
No Turning Back) as well as dreamy euphoria (
Besides) in a beguiling mix.
It's Blitz! by
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
More reliably rabble-rousing indie anthems from
Karen O and company, last seen just last month collaborating with hip hop duo
N.A.S.A. and on
Scarlett Johansson’s debut disc from last year, amongst other things. Their third LP, like their prior albums, comfortably straddles the lines of indie, pop, dance and rock to offer something truly special for everyone and anyone who listens (and surely helps earmark co-producer
Dave Sitek for some sort of Production Award for next year!), be it electro-tinged pop power (lead track
Zero) or forlorn balladry (closer
Little Shadow) and, literally, everything in between, all held in place by one of the most charismatic frontwomen of the current indie scene. Let’s just hope that Radio 1 won’t insist on playing it to death over the rest of the year...
Heavy Ghost by
DM Stith
Hailing from a musical family and having spent time amongst the artiest of New York’s music scene as a graphic designer, David Stith arrives with his first full-length album with label Asthmatic Kitty with a fair amount of curious buzz, made so by lovely lead-off single
Pity Dance. The rest of the album follows suit in a thoroughly disarming mix of glitchy electronica and alt-folk hues, at times summoning favourable comparisons to
Robert Wyatt with regards to the surreal melancholy permeating throughout (hear
Creekmouth). An acquired taste, to be sure, as Stith distances himself quite radically from every other folk artist currently playing today (to my knowledge, anyway!) but well worth listening to even just once to see what kinds of delights are to be had, particularly on the white noise surrounding the haunting harmonies of
Fire of Birds.
Dear John by
Loney, Dear
Another multi-instrumentalist solo album now, this time courtesy of singer/songwriter Emil Svanängen and his fifth solo album, though it’s only the second to be released through a major independent label. What makes Svanängen’s music stand out amongst the rest of the guitar-strumming crowd though is that he marries just enough subtle techno-savvy and elegant pop hooks to his acoustic melodic musings to give the listener something both relevant and timeless to listen to. It’s always something to admire when an album’s more uptempo licks (as found on opener
Airport Surroundings and
Violent) seamlessly ebb alongside its more languid moments of introspection and heartbreak (hear
I Was Only Going Out and
Under a Silent Sea) without summoning too much attention to itself. In a year already bursting at the seams with wannabe promoters of
Jeff Buckley’s legacy, Svanängen’s latest effort is an early standout.
Junior by
Röyksopp
It’s all getting rather exciting for Röyksopp fans right about now, the Norwegian dance duo appearing especially keen to celebrate their first decade together by releasing two albums this year. This first one, featuring collaborations with
Robyn,
Anneli Drecker of
Bel Canto (who recalls
Kate Bush at her finest on the loving
You Don’t Have a Clue),
Lykke Li and
Fever Ray herself Karin Dreijer Andersson, will surely be spun many times leading up to and during the summer months, a flirtily electric affair positing some of the finest joy-pop moments of their career. Robyn’s duet,
The Girl And The Robot, has already caused such a stir with its reckless flurry of beats and blips (with the chanteuse herself on finer-than-ever form too) that it’s been greenlighted as the next single, whilst also providing the perfect flipside to her collaboration with
Kleerup in 2007. The second affair, Senior, is said to provide more lushly composed electronica for cosying up to the winter months come its November release date. Don’t you love it when bands spoil their fans like this?
And that is why
Junior is my
Album Of The Month For March!
Another month, another long-winded guff... thanks for reading and feel free to leave all your comments below! XX
Bobby Valentino
My Life 
