16. Amiina - Puzzle (Aminamusik)

Another one of those bands who's sound fits in incredibly well with the snowy weather. Each note sounding like a drop of snow settling wherever it can find itself a home.

It's not quite grabbed me as much as Kurr did, arguably one of the prettiest albums ever, however it's still incredibly beautiful material. The singles stand out, particularly What Are Waiting For which features more actual vocal presence, as in actual words, than I believe I've previously ever heard. And whereas vocals on mainly instrumental bands tracks normally turns me right off, this is done so well that you could be forgiven for thinking that this was múm at their very best.

Púsl and Mambó twinkle like we've come to expect from Amiina, chiming away like your mothers music box and somehow always reminding me of "The Steadfast Tin Soldier". In the Sun is pure antonym of its own name, icy and Icelandic in sound, with occasional approving glances expected from the likes of Vashti Bunyan and Efterklang if their wasn't so many of them or if simply major record labels did not exist.

Sicsak is darker and perhaps perfects the sound that I wished and that Textile Ranch once threatened to make on a consistent basis.

Go take a walk in the snow with this as your companion, you will not be disappointed.

Puzzle (Buy from Amazon)

Spoiler : What Boomkat Said:

As most of you probably know, Icelandic orchestral poppers Amiina used to be part of Sigur Ros in another life and despite not having worked with the band for a few years now, the influence of the epic post-rockers is still often evident. That’s not to say that Amiina’s latest full-length ‘Puzzles’ sounds exactly like Sigur Ros, but there is a distinct similarity to their attempts at the cinematic, the sublime and the quiet-loud dynamic. ‘Puzzle’ is a beautiful listening experience from beginning to end, and what it lacks in originality it just about makes up for in sheer resolve. There is never a sense that the band is anything less than sincere, and when making music this unashamedly emotional, sincerity is pretty much the most important ingredient. Through the usual fog of strings and delicate percussion, these precious songs tiptoe and shimmy through your unconscious like the ghosts of Scandinavian faeries, and with all the charm of a well-worn Grimm missive, the album chatters to the wide-eyed child in all of us. Lurvely.

Amiina - Puzzle (2011)

Another one of those bands who's sound fits in incredibly well with the snowy weather. Each note sounding like a drop of snow settling wherever it can find itself a home.

It's not quite grabbed me as much as Kurr did, arguably one of the prettiest albums ever, however it's still incredibly beautiful material. The singles stand out, particularly What Are Waiting For which features more actual vocal presence, as in actual words, than I believe I've previously ever heard. And whereas vocals on mainly instrumental bands tracks normally turns me right off, this is done so well that you could be forgiven for thinking that this was múm at their very best.

Púsl and Mambó twinkle like we've come to expect from Amiina, chiming away like your mothers music box and somehow always reminding me of "The Steadfast Tin Soldier". In the Sun is pure anotonym of its own name, icy and Icelandic in sound, with occasional approving glances expected from the likes of Vashti Bunyan and Efterklang if their wasn't so many of them or if simply major record labels did not exist.

Sicsak is darker and perhaps perfects the sound that I wished and that Textile Ranch once threatened to make on a consistent basis.

Go take a walk in the snow with this as your companion, you will not be disappointed.

Hayman, Watkins, Trout & Lee, The Mountain Movers, Cocoanut Groove, Bubblegum Lemonade, Strawberry Whiplash, A Lily Reviewed

A Lily – Wake:Sleep
"sweet, meandering melodies, caught somewhere between sleeping and waking. childrens' voices echo incoherent and lively; electronics, accordian, drums and glockenspiel drift in and out."The Wire

It’s taken me a long time to get into this and I wonder why, it’s so perfectly me, perhaps it’s those final two tracks, far too long for my short attention span, too droney and uneventful, maybe they just don’t fit the rest of the album, the latter being 30 plus minutes in length, perhaps on my way to sleep I would welcome them into my ears but following on from the glorious six tracks that precede them, i’m not interested. Maybe if this is available on vinyl the label will have been discreet enough to have tracks 1-6 on side A and 7 & 8 on the flipside, they seem that far removed.
The album comes with a story...( "In his solo project A Lily, James Vella creates willowy instrumental dreampop whose pitter-pattering beats, chiming melodies, softly murmuring voices, and fluttering guitars sound like they're emerging from behind a translucent scrim. Inspired by his girlfriend Leanna, Wake:Sleep is a valentine set to music created by the Canterbury resident and Yndi Halda guitarist using primarily computer and electric and acoustic guitars, but also accordion, piano, drums, glockenspiel, bass, and pretty much anything else within reach.)...and its every bit as beautiful as the sentiment, six pieces of glitchy goodness, skittering beats and gently whispered sampled laments, like múm if they only shopped organically and avoid e numbers, like a film dropped on the floor before developing, stained half recallen memories of good times, the light that awakens you day in day out, reliable, bright and persistent. Children’s voices reminiscent of Boards of Canada and Isan, twinkles and chimes so soothing on the brain that remind me of I am Robot & Proud, each song slowly turned inside out as if to reveal the inner person, the secret person of the heart. A special special album.

listen at Last FM

Hayman, Watkins, Trout & Lee - Hayman, Watkins, Trout & Lee (Fortuna Pop!)
I wonder where he finds the time, where he finds the inspiration, this being the umpteenth release this year from the wonderfully honest and analytical Darren Hayman formerly of Hefner, one of my all time favourite bands. Darren has the ability to put feelings into words, everything you want to express, all those frustrations you’ve felt, all the sideways glances, all the thoughts you never thought you’d tell into flipping good pop songs. With Hayman, Watkins, Trout & Lee there is a diversion from the normal sound this being a bluegrass project, which would normally be enough to turn anyone off, however alongside Dave Tattersall of the Wave Pictures the Hayman magic shines through as ever.
Hesitation Blues will have you strutting around your kitchen and dosey doe-ing your loved one whilst your kettle boils, Jameater Blues will have you flinging open your windows on even the coldest days and make you eat jam straight from the jar without a care in the world. High Blood Pressure cannot fail to make you smile, alternatively it may just inspire you to go watch O Brother Where Art Thou?
Go embrace Hayman, Watkins, Trout & Lee, let some light heartedness into your life.

Hayman, Watkins, Trout & Lee - Sly & The Family Stone Mp3

Source: Nu Wave

The Mountain Movers - We've Walked In Hell And There Is Life After Death (Fortuna Pop!)
With a title like that of an over ambitious post rock band or a survivor from the lost island writing his autobiography you’d be forgiven for expecting something pretentious and overblown. It won’t help their cause when I tell you that all the songs are about death, the devil and the afterlife.
You’ll be pleased to know however that instead of being some death metal disaster, the kind people at Fortuna Pop! Are treating you to 12 songs as laid back and splendid as everyone’s favourites, The Butterflies of Love.

Listen on Last FM

Bubblegum Lemonade – Ten Years Younger EP
Strawberry Whiplash – Who’s In Your Dreams EP
A lovely couple of releases straight out of Glasgow from the ever reliable Matinee Records. Bubblegum Lemonade are very JAMC and very Creation but loveable all the same. Ten Years Younger is a brilliant shoegazey pop song with an almost Aislers Set/Black Tambourine stomp to it especially as it resurrects itself so brilliantly just before the three minute mark. That Thing You Do! Sounds like something i’ve heard before, it’s nothing new but it’s exceptionally well done. Highly recommended.
Strawberry Whiplash have a similarly familiar sound, this time more drenched in fuzz and keys, like a modern Shop Assistants, and really need I say anything further than just go discover them.

Bubblegum Lemonade on Last FM

Strawberry Whiplash on Last FM

Cocoanut Groove - The end of the summer on Bookbinder road
A brilliant harpsichord drenched track of Left Banke pop with a bass line taken straight from the fret board of the Association. One for those few sunny days when you miss the old Belle & Sebastian.

Cocoanut Groove - The end of the summer on Bookbinder road mp3

Source: Absolut Noise

Lakes of Russia - Stars Decorate The Fire

Lakes of Russia - Stars Decorate The Fire

As lovely as the both the name of the artist and album would suggest Lakes of Russia are a rather special new discovery for me. Gentle and lush, slowly played guitars echo against the ivories of delicately handled pianos. Simply described on their website as songs for the lonely and sleep deprived each song burns slowly and never takes the obvious climax of a wall of sound. Simply lovely.

Myspace


Múm - "Rhubarbidoo"

Fat & Confused Top 25 Albums of 2007

And finally, as if from nowhere comes the Fat and Confused top albums of 2008, its been a ridiculously fine year for music and one where due to the world of filesharing i've found myself hearing artists i probably would never have heard. I guess filesharing is an ethical matter, personally i see that it helps the artist and only hits the corporates who rip us off left right and centre, its could turn into a lengthy debate, feel free to add your comments below.

Thanks again to everyone for your support and continued reading of the blog, as always i'll hopefully update more regularly next year. There will be some top fives etc from labels that have supported the blog from paper through to PC that will appear in the next couple of weeks and perhaps a track from each of the albums below to, i've run out of the will to do anymore today...happy reading, hope you discover something new...and feel free to add me as a friend on last fm

1. Lacrosse - This New Year Will Be For You And Me (Tapete)

We Said:Lovely and instantly loveable, this pales last month’s Tullycraft love affair into insignificance, I know I fall in love with a new band on a weekly basis, it was Lavender Diamond prior to Tullycraft, the Aislers Set and the Blow before that but here we have something truly special, this is the album Architecture in Helsinki have always threatened to make, this is how good In Case We Die could have been had each and every song been as good as It's 5! and Frenchy I'm Faking. Canadian summers, roller skates and good times abound, I’ve had this album on constant repeat since I got it and can't see that changing any time soon, a potential late entry for album of the year

Lacrosse - This New Year Will Be For You And Me
Who Will Bring Us Together

2. Electrelane - No Shouts No Calls (Too Pure)

We Said: There are some people that are so effortlessly easy to like, the kind of people who you meet for the first time yet feel like you’ve known each other all your life, the kind of person you could tell all your secrets to and never have worry about offending them by just being yourself. Electrelane are much the same.

Electrelane - No Shouts No Calls
In Berlin
3. Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna Are You The Destroyer (Polyvinyl)

Boomkat wrote: Intermingling all kinds of sub-genres, Of Montreal seem to be able to elicit grade-A indie pop out of all manner of bizarre instrument match-ups and scattershot song structuring.

Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna Are You The Destroyer Bunny Aint No Kind Of Rider

4. Múm - Go go smear the poison ivy (FatCat)

We Said: naïve and playful like some strange childhood dream sequence, lullaby’s for an Icelandic kindergarten.

Múm - Go go smear the poison ivy Dancing Behind My Eyelids

5. Seabear - The Ghost That Carried Us Away (Morr Music)

We Said: Seabear are not completely dissimilar to their Icelandic counterparts Múm. Though they share the found sounds, the collection of shiny objects collected as if by Magpies and then shined musically into our ears, they add folk and Americana to these gentle tunes, taking in the best parts of early Belle and Sebastian (Arms), Sufjan Stevens and possibly taking the laid back formula of Sodastream and whisking it into something delicious.

Seabear - The Ghost That Carried Us Away Libraries

6. The Go! Team - Proof of Youth (Memphis Industries)

We said: Proof of Youth is one of the best albums you will hear this year, full to the brim and overflowing with feel good tunes, songs to pick you up, to make you dance, to let you forget about all the crap you have to deal with, I love this album, only a week ago I could never imagine saying such a thing. Its sends a shiver down my spine how good this album is. Taking the best of hip hop and mixing it in with a serious helping of motown, tracks like Doing it Right have no need to beg you to dance for by the time the first bar has kicked in you’re already there on the dance floor, and a series of chants likely to be echoed on a million dance floors “do it do it alright” “extra extra read all about it”.

The Go! Team - Proof of Youth Fake ID
7. Kettel - Whisper Me Wishes (Clone)

We said: An album that is as wonderful as the title would suggest, flitting between rubbery electronica last done so well by the much missed Fortdax, and modern classical pieces of heartbreaking beauty

Kettel - Whisper Me Wishes Zutphen

8. Au Revoir Simone - The Bird Of Music (Moshi Moshi)

We Said: In come the synthesised handclaps, the cheap drum machines and melodies to die for, melodies to make you get up, open the curtains, welcome the new day open armed and make the most of the short summer.

Au Revoir Simone - The Bird Of Music Stars

9. Kashiwa Daisuke - Program Music I (Noble)

"Two tracks, the first Stella is stella by name and stella by nature, clocking in at almost 36 minutes its an awe inspiring trip through a fragile and beautiful outlook of the world. This again shares an affiliation with World's End Girlfriend, snow blowing in your eyes, cold and harsh yet ultimately turning the tired landscape you see day in day out into a winter wonderland of enchantment. Kashiwa has the ability much like Godspeed to write a song that clocks in well above the average length and yet never outstays its welcome. Within a loosely knit genre that often relies on repitition and indelibly written formulas never once does Stella sound like its treading familiar ground or running short of ideas."

10. Eluvium - Copia (Temporary Residence)

We said: I awaken to a blanket of white snow, its cold and I really don’t want to be up at this time in the morning. As I cycle through the crispy white snow making the first tracks the world seems a lonely place, pitilessly cold and unforgiving, new snow blowing into my hair and face but as Eluvium’s Prelude For Time Feelers kicks in and new tracks appear I realise that I’m not alone and if anything I’m better off than I could ever imagine, the snow continues to fall, but now its pretty and almost romantic, falling slowly and deliberately, clinging onto every branch and spider web available creating a whole new outlook on familiar surroundings. And there in the distance you can just make out a figure, your not sure if its her but you have a good feeling about today…
Prelude For Time Feelers may well be one of the most wonderful and uplifting songs you hear all year, elsewhere Copia takes a less piano driven path, Requiem on Frankfurt Ave setting the pattern, all slow violins and keyboard swells not a million miles from Johann Johannsson, Max Richter and Deaf Center. Eluvium - Copia Radio Ballet

11. Darren Hayman - Darren Hayman And The Secondary Modern (Track & Field)

We said: And so here we find Darren firing on all cylinders churning out the kind of tracks that seem plucked from our everyday lives, our broken hearts and our deepest sentiments.

12. French Teen Idol - Enlightened False Consciousness (Lost Children Net Label)

We said: a lovely album that is as much electronica as it is post rock, full of samples, doomy and apocalyptic yet hope crammed keys and some lovely skittering beats. Disaster samples conversations from flight United 93, respectfully so, and where some people may feel that the very idea of this is wrong I’d have to strongly disagree. Music is a form of art, and an expression of peoples feelings and emotions and I can’t possibly think of a more emotionally charged situation, the result is spectacular...For the majority of the time the album possesses the same unblemished and natural beauty that Johann Johannsson’s IBM Users Manual album displayed so well, the oneness with nature, the slow motion look at a world that holds so much splendour beneath the things that are so often forced to our attention, the bad things that fill the pages of the newspaper, the natural wonder of a butterfly emerging from a cocoon, tracks such as Memento convey such wonder, much how Johann does but perhaps with more of a proclivity for drums and beats.

French Teen Idol - Enlightened False Consciousness Full Album

13. Plastic Operator - Different Places (Fine Day)

We said: And so here Plastic Operator delivers a full length album of electronic genius replete with gems (Parasols, Special Case, Peppermint & Couch especially) similar to the aforementioned folder, each one a shimmering synth pop treat, like Figurine if only they were more consistent, like Freezepop if they weren’t so cartoonish and Fog & Ocean had they been more focused & a more grown up Lo Fi Fnk.
Good things come to those who wait, and so if you’re after a summer of synth pop perfection then look no further than Plastic Operator, songs that you’ll sing along to, dance to and no doubt relate to.

Plastic Operator - Different Places Folder

14. The Finches - Human Like A House (Dulcitone)

We said: “New front door/ same address/ same front step/ same back porch/ geraniums to the terrace/sold my shoe to pay the rent/ I won’t be needing them/ I won’t be leaving too soon” The opening lines of the title track from the Finches excellent Human Like a House sum up in my mind exactly how I view the excellently named Carolyn Pennypacker Riggs. A country type, but not the redneck violin playing country type you may instantly think of, instead the type that lives in a little cottage in the woods with gingham table cloths, a stream running buy and neatly arranged flower beds outside the front door. One that is contented, happy in their own environment and instantly enviable.

The Finches - Human Like A House House Under The Hill

15. amiina - Kurr (Ever)

Boomkat wrote: There's something wonderfully morose about it that seems to condense all the most successful elements of Amiina's boundlessly elegant music into a brief three minutes. Totally essential stuff and a massive recommendation.

amiina - Kurr Rugla

16. World's End Girlfriend - Hurtbreak Wonderland (Human Highway)

We said: Where this time last year I was being seriously blown away by Johann Johansson’s delightful Ibm 1401 - a User’s Manual this year there is a new album in my life that touches on every beautiful note given to man, a musical vision steeped both in classical and electronic music yet never sounding (despite its brilliance) as harsh as Venetian Snares Rossz Csillag Allat Szuletett, instead in bathes itself with lush sweeps of field noises, birds singing and ever so occasionally blasts of jazz like discordance.

World's End Girlfriend - Hurtbreak Wonderland Ghost of a Horse Under the Chandelier

17. Best Fwends - Alphabetically Arranged (Moshi Moshi)

We Said: I imagine Best Fwends to be a pair of snotty nosed punk kids who had the good fortune of stumbling over a DAT Politics album one day and as such decided to break into the Tigerbeat 6 headquarters stealing Kid 606s laptop and still finding time to sift through ten years of Smash Hits taking in depth notes as to what to makes a feel good radio friendly tune whilst remaining undeniably cooler than anything ever printed on those pages.

Best Fwends - Alphabetically Arranged House Ghost

18. Last Days - These Places Are Now Ruins (N5md)

Textura wrote: These Places Are Now Ruins includes numerous lovely moments, such as the blurry string-drenched overture “Station,” which finds Richardson gravitating towards Eluvium territory, and “Saved by a Helicopter,” a pretty interlude of untreated piano. A stormy mass of clatter, haze, and sirens blows the background of “Reasons to Go” but not so loudly that it overwhelms its lilting piano and glockenspiel melodies and acoustic guitar arpeggios

Last Days - These Places Are Now Ruins Devils Wood

19. Scout Niblett - This Fool Can Die Now (Too Pure)

We Said: The duets tend to show a newer more mature and produced sound to Scout Nibletts already high standards, the kind of touch needed to put her up in the big league (she has always been there, if not above in my mind) the push that will see her recognised clearly amongst the Cat Powers (of whom she is unarguably far superior, if not to the eyes of the mass media) the Will Oldhams, the Bill Callahans and the Joanna Newsoms. However her stripped down sound I was first attracted to (some songs on here feature violins and full band) is still present on a number of tracks that stand out to me, the ferocious Nevada and Let Thine Heart Be Warned.

Scout Niblett - This Fool Can Die Now River of no Return

20. Shady Bard - From the Ground Up (Static Caravan)

We said: There's something undeniably beautiful about the work of Lawrence Becko's baritone vocals, bound to put some people off, others will just find it that bit more loveable, that bit more human, especially when you hear the wonderful lyrics set to such lovely piano based post rock, never going full on Explosions in the Sky but certainly heading that way towards the finale of the wonderous Penguins. Tracks such as Summer Came When We Were Falling Out and Fires are organic and frail almost amateur in appearance with milk bottle melodies and whistled refrains, acoustic post rock, and much lovelier for it.

Shady Bard - From the Ground Up Penguins

21 Euros Childs - The Miracle Inn (Wichita)

We Said: Euros Childs is a madcap genius who deserves your attention, let him put a little sunshine and romance in your life.

Euros Childs - The Miracle Inn Horse Riding

22 Besnard Lakes - The Besnard Lakes Are The Dark Horse (Jagjaguwar)

We said: Remember how much you love the new Low album, the slow drawn out vocals against waves of melancholy, then add to that the magic of Mercury Rev and you won’t be far off Disaster the opening track on the excellent Is A Dark Horse. The songs build and spiral often past the six minute mark, whipping up an exhilarating fervour of noise and feeling much like the majority of Wilco’s live album.

Besnard Lakes - The Besnard Lakes Are The Dark Horse Disaster

23. Karl-Johan Nilsson - The Seams (One Net Label)

One Net Label wrote: A work featuring wide, sweeping strokes from minimal brushes that add up to a thick canvas of sound - electrical static scratches and crawls, rolling waves of rhythm, bass, guitar, synths and ambiance come from all sides. Sounds seemingly trying to escape while a song progresses or takes form. Karl-Johan Nilsson - The Seams Full Album

24. Statedlife - Future Dream (Archaic Horizon)

Archaic Horizon wrote: Bay area artist Matt Guilbeau, withholds a vision of peaceful tranquility led by his passionate love of all existence. He strives to speak out against all things that stem from hatred by creating powerfully optimistic music. "Future Dream" embodies these goals and at no time falls short of achievement. Statedlife builds compositions based upon hope, usually beginning with soft spoken melodies that build into a crescendo of harmonies. Spacious synths that drift and glide with no limit to their evolution define his sound. Statedlife - Future Dream Full Album

25. Tullycraft - Every Scene Needs a Center (Magic Marker)

We Said: From the opening seconds it’s clear that this band are even more likeable than Vince Noir, the kind of music it would be seemingly impossible not to like.

Tullycraft - Every Scene Needs a Center Clique At Night Vandals

Honorable Mentions

Bearsuit - Oh:io (FAntastic Plastic)

Jupiter Force
Black Moth Super Rainbow - Dandelion Gum (Graveface)

Sun Lips
Cocorosie - The Adventures of Ghosthorse and Stillborn (Touch & Go)

Werewolf
GABRIEL - good old days (Archaic Horizon)

Full album
A Hawk And A Hacksaw - And The Hun Hangar Ensemble (The Leaf Label)

Serbian Cocek
Lavender Diamond - Imagine Our Love (Rough Trade)

Here Comes One
Lymbyc Systym - Love Your Abuser (Mush)

Love Your Abuser
Motoro Faam - ...and Water Cycles (Preco)

...and Infiltrations
Renu - Into The Skyland (U Cover)

MP3's

Lacrosse - This New Year Will Be For You And Me

Who Will Bring Us Together
Electrelane - No Shouts No Calls

In Berlin
Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna Are You The Destroyer
Bunny Aint No Kind Of Rider

Múm - Go go smear the poison ivy
Dancing Behind My Eyelids

Seabear - The Ghost That Carried Us Away
Libraries

The Go! Team - Proof of Youth
Fake ID

Kettel - Whisper Me Wishes
Zutphen

Au Revoir Simone - The Bird Of Music
Stars

Kashiwa Daisuke - Program Music I

Eluvium - Copia
Radio Ballet
Darren Hayman - Darren Hayman And The Secondary Modern

French Teen Idol - Enlightened False Consciousness

Full Album

Plastic Operator - Different Places
Folder

The Finches - Human Like A House
House Under The Hill

amiina - Kurr
Rugla

World's End Girlfriend - Hurtbreak Wonderland
Ghost of a Horse Under the Chandelier

Best Fwends - Alphabetically Arranged
House Ghost

Last Days - These Places Are Now Ruins
Devils Wood

Scout Niblett - This Fool Can Die Now
River of no Return

Shady Bard - From the Ground Up
Penguins

Euros Childs - The Miracle Inn
Horse Riding

Besnard Lakes - The Besnard Lakes Are The Dark Horse
Disaster

Karl-Johan Nilsson - The Seams
Full Album

Statedlife - Future Dream
Full Album

Tullycraft - Every Scene Needs a Center
Clique At Night Vandals

Sources:
Carl Sandberg
Soundbites
Funeral Pudding
Blogas
Green Clothes Music
These Rocks Pop
Motel De Moka
Lullabyes
Café Eclectica
Instrumental Analysis
Slave to the Details
White Noise Revisited
Shameless Complacency
Keytars & Violins
Indiemuse
Let's Pretend We're Bunny Rabbits
Sous Le Paves...

One Net Label

Soundbites

Battle of the Midwestern Housewives

Archaic Horizon

Polaroid

T-Sides

Hayabayat

Undomondo

Múm - Go Go Smear the Poison Ivy Reviewed

Múm - Go Go Smear the Poison Ivy Reviewed
Posted on 2007.09.16 at 16:10
Current Music: Mom - Little Brite
Tags: fat cat records, fatcat records, kanda, mice parade, silent ballet, stereolab, the books, the delgados

Is the new Múm album really so bad?

Múm – Go Go Smear the Poison Ivy (FatCat)

I’ve been quite surprised to see how badly the new album from Icelandic (currently) septet Múm, described on the reliable Silent Ballet website as follows:

“let's just say this is one to put on the shelf and watch it collect dust…this album fails at accomplishing any sort of goal, and even raises the question if one exists in the first place. There's an anxiety behind the track, and many others that really prevents anything from being carried out completely. Thoughts are left completely abandoned, mid-sentence, and rarely do we see anything fleshed out to form any sort of understandable statement.”

Rating it at a measly 3 out of 10, it seems that there has been further negativity towards the album from other reliable sources and so it’s with caution that I stick my neck out, that I pipe up above the crowds and ask “Is it really that bad?” I started this fanzine in paper format initially with the idea of promoting good music, sharing with people music that I have fallen in love with, hence why you will normally find just positive reviews on here, I see no point in telling people what I don’t like, what’s disappointed me. For one of the first times though I feel that I could be wrong, how can there be so much disdain for an album that I have loved from the very first listen to now where new songs keep popping out into the foreground, is it because although having the Múm back catalogue I’ve never given it the time I imagine it deserves, yes I loved Green Grass of Tunnel but really who didn’t? maybe those devout followers were expecting something more spectacular, something more progressive and I’ll admit that at times the timid production does sound like that of a band debut opposed to their fourth/fifth (?) album but to me that adds a certain Icelandic magical charm to it, the delicate icy frozen nature of the twinkling lullaby’s within are made that little bit more childlike and naïve, slowly tip toeing through the snow on cold winters nights.

Perhaps it’s the new line up, after all now not only one of the twins that famously graced Belle & Sebastian’s Fold Your Hands album cover have left the band, with Kristín Anna Valtýsdóttir following her sisters footsteps departing at some point in 2006. It was her voice that alongside the electronic glitches, beats and effects, and the variety of traditional and unconventional instruments that made the band’s sound so distinct. So now we have the inclusion of more prominent male vocals not too distant from those of the excellent Mice Parade and particularly on the Books-ian cut up glitch of single They Made Frogs Smoke ‘Til They Exploded the much missed synth pop of Kanda. Marmalade Fires are what the Delgados would’ve sounded like had they purchased a laptop rather than split up. Dancing Behind My Eyelids is again lovely and playful, again reminding us of Kanda and mixing amstrad-esque loading screens with truly delightful melodies. School Song Misfortune is again naïve and playful like some strange childhood dream sequence, lullaby’s for an Icelandic kindergarten.

The closing triplet of songs are somewhat more somber and melancholy in sound, and perhaps those will please long term fans, mainly instrumental and occasionally haunting, particularly so the dense and dark forest walk in the middle of the night that is I Was Her Horse. Guilty Rocks is everything you’ve ever read about Stereolab yet down several times better and closer Winter (What We Never Were After All) is again haunting and angelic icy keyboards set to choir like Viking film chorales, delightful and refreshing, as I listen again I can only convince myself further of how special this album is.

MySpace

Website

FatCat Records

Múm - Dancing Behind My Eyelids MP3

Múm - They Made Frogs Smoke'Til They Exploded MP3

Múm - Moon Pulls MP3