James Blackshaw & A Lily

Been feeling like i have a cold coming on so have spent most the weekend, wrapped up next to the radiator and trying to work out what my favourite albums of 2008 are. In the process discovering a few really lovely albums that didn't catch my attention on first listen.
First up, actual Guitar Hero, James Blackshaw, not in a Marnie Stern way, more John Fahey, Alexander Turnquist, fingers picking away like there's no tomorrow, liek Charlie Parr if he was more into Eluvium than backporch blues.


Litany Of Echoes is daunting on first impressions, three songs over the 11 minute mark but each one is done so well that the time soon flies by mixing the frantic yet calm picking with lovely pianos, epic and equally remarkable.


Wiki:James Blackshaw is a London-based guitarist and pianist, born in 1981. Blackshaw primarily plays an acoustic 12 string guitar in a similar style to Jack Rose, Steffen Basho-Junghans, and Robbie Basho. He has released material on labels such as Celebrate Psi Phenomenon, Static, Digitalis Industries, Important Records, and Tompkins Square. His music and skill has received much critical acclaim: "Blackshaw has finessed his 12-string acoustic guitar into a veritable solo symphony that's as schooled in uncommon beauty as it is in complex 20th century composition."

Myspace
Stream Tracks on Last FM
James Blackshaw - Past Has Not Passed mp3
Source: No Words

Likewise the follow up to long time favourite, A Lily's 2006 elecronic gem For Lily, comes the endearingly titled three track EP I Dress My Ankles with God's Sweetest Words. The opening two tracks ae vastly different to the aforementioned release choosing folk over electronica as the main component. The boy (James Vella of Yndi Halda) though is a seeming genius at whatever he puts his mind to. And so we have two lovely fingerpicked folk numbers that flutter and switch as and when they feel free, A Town Like Hurricane particularly lovely with its Ice Cream man count in and imperfect backing singing like they only had an hour in the studio and the concept of a second or third take never entered the equation, its better for it though. Hunter and Sky see's a nod back towards his electronic side, a droney outro to close the EP.

I you haven't already tracked down For Lily its more than worth the effort.

Last FM: A Lily is James Vella (of Yndi Halda) who makes magical electronic music that matches the likes of Boards of Canada. He has just been signed onto a new record deal to release his latest record. Similar to Yndi Halda, James makes beautiful music in his side-project, but it is nothing like the post-rock sound Yndi Halda makes, it's unique from that, and the ambient soundscapes created provoke a much more calm, serene feel to the music that other similar electronic artists can bring.

A Lily mp3's
Stream A Lily Songs on Last FM

The Postmarks - By The Numbers

The Postmarks - By The Numbers
By-The-Numbers
Unfiltered (UNF-013)
Released: November 11, 2008

TRACK LISTING:
1. One Note Samba
2. You Only Live Twice
3. Three Little Birds
4. OX4
5. Five Years
6. Six Different Ways
7. 7-11
8. Eight Miles High
9. Nine Million Rainy Days
10. Slaughter on Tenth Avenue
11. 11:59
12. Pinball Number Count

I recognise a few of these tracks, track 12 in particular, (its a cover of a Sesame Street jingle (dig out the Venetian Snares also to bring those memories flooding back)) and a couple of other songs, You Only Live Twice is familiar from a youth of saturday afternoon James Bond and sadly the string section that Robbie Williams borrowed for Millenium. If you ignore the fact that these are covers and sit back, take in those velvety vocals, let them wrap you up, let them warm your soul on these cold winter days, you will be left simply enchanted. With By The Numbers The Postmarks have taken 12 songs and made them their own, drenching them in reverb and letting them revolve around Tim Yehezkely (thats a female Tim) dreamy vocals revived from a sixties startlet. Dreamy and Jangly enough to keep any Sarah Records or Matinee Records obsessive occupied for a month or two, certain to be in my top albums for the year.

The Postmarks - One Note Samba mp3

Source: awmusic

The Postmarks - 11:59 mp3

Source: 5 Acts

Pinball Count

Website

4 Bonjour Parties - Pigments Drift Down to the Brook (Mush Records)

4 Bonjour Parties - Pigments Drift Down to the Brook (Mush Records)

4 Bonjour Parties are a really quite wonderful discovery. As i find myself becoming more and more convinced that Japan is the saviour of music as we know it, the distraction to take our minds off the awful hype that is constantly thrown in our faces, 4 Bonjour Parties are just one of many wonders i've discovered from Japan. Although the majority of my favourite Japanese music is minimal and extrasperimental 4 Bonjour Parties are quite certainly pop, if not quite the pop we're so used to. Lovely textured songs that build up over the 4, 5 minute mark and even longer at times, delicious and folktronic in approach, occasionally calling to mind the lush arrangements of the Delgados.
Its not often i make it all the way to the end of an album but i'm glad i did with Pigments Drift Down to the Brook, the closer, beautifully entitled Crimson After The Sunset, slow building pop gently melts into a glorious trumpet or horn section coda. Of equal loveliness is Satellite with flutes this time building playfully like kittens with a new ball of wool before the slow horn soaked breakdown. Ruins twinkles along just dreamily. Amalthea and Nostalgic Was Broken to Pieces are also worth a mention.
This is like Maher Shalal Hash Baz had they been brought up in shirts and ties, lovely, lovely stuff.

Website
Myspace
4 Bonjour Parties - Il Cortile Grigio (track to stream on last.fm)

Just Because...

Cantaloup, Trondheim, Net Label Review

I find it really quite amazing that each year some of my favourite albums are those that are made freely available on non profit net labels, over the last few years wonderful free albums have appeared and wowed, occasionally stunning, not least in the case of French Teen Idols Enlightened False Conciousness, all three Bosques De Mi Mente albums and the groundbreaking dreamscapes of Encephala's We are the Dreamers of Dreams along with worthy mentions of the Archaic Horizon roster boasting the healthy releases of Boards of Canada-likes Gabriel and the graceful Future Dream by Statedlife.

This year has been very much the same and though there are probably a thousand albums i haven't heard, two artists that i have been fortunate enough to cross paths with are Cantaloup and Trondheim.
Cantaloup being the project of Thomas Peters is dreamy and ambient, twinkly songs falling between post rock and electronica, arriving not a million miles from French Teen Idols sound but taking it to the next level with the aid of Eva Pauls beautiful voice who features on several tracks that bring a slight folk element to the equation. I cannot recommend Cantaloup highly enough.

Last FM: Cantaloup, aka Thomas Peters, who lives in Marburg/Germany has been producing music since 2003. He decided to use the resources and experiences of bedroom production studios to create music which tries to take listeners on journeys, on which sound evokes images in warm colours. The bigger part of the songs and spheres are played live with instruments, supported by Eva Paul who brings her beautiful voice into a few songs. These fragments - with the little help of some fx - merge to an extraordinary overall view, whose appeal lies in its own form of slowness and in a reduced perception on small things of everyday life.

Trondheim on the other hand is more beat driven and classically influenced, occasionally borrowing from the text book of Detektivbyrån but bringing an altogether more techno feel to the proceedings with stuttering beats complimenting gently played pianos and keys and on tracks like Der heimliche Star des Abends bringing back memmories of Random Number at their best.

Last FM: since pianos fit into laptops, one can finally set them up pretty easily in a small flat without losing one’s bedding. they also get along pretty well with some other wonders of digital technology, while accepting some downsides as well of course. trondheim is ansgar seide, hailing from münster (germany) and produces fragmented electronica with lots of melodies

Cantaloup - On a Hill Not Far Away (full album zip)
Cantaloup - Tonight It Shows (full album zip)
Trondheim - Zum Abschied Album Zip
Trondheim - der erste widersacher und sein untergang
Trondheim - entweder terence hill (full zip)
French Teen Idol - Enlightened False Conciousness (full album zip)
Bosques De Mi Mente - Lo-Fi (full album zip)
Bosques De Mi Mente - Trens De Juguete (full album zip)
Bosques De Mi Mente - Ruido Blanco (full album zip)
Encephala - We Are The Dreamers Of Dreams (full album zip)
Gabriel - Good Old Days (full album zip)
Statedlife - Future Dreams (full album zip)

Aerotone Net Label
Earstroke Net Label
Archaic Horizon Net Label
Lost Children Net Label

The Fun Years

Today I sat at work listening to Tim Heckers Radio Amor and though I have no doubt that he is a great artist just occasionally it all seems too difficult, too much time between crackles of static and too much straining. it made my head hurt, on the other hand The Fun Years have been drifting in and out of my ears pretty regularly. I think with drone music you have to be in the mood and the right environment, The Fun Years defy the rules creeping in and blending in to your brain before you know it, static sounds that dreamily drift quite beautifully.

With one musician (Isaac Sparks) using turntables and effects, and the other (Ben Recht) on baritone guitar The Fun Years have produced one of the albums of the year.The Fun Years on Last FM

Boomkat: Finally back in stock. Ever wandered what a cross between GAS, Tim Hecker, Mogwai, My Bloody Valentine, Stars of The Lid and Philip Jeck would sound like? If so, you're in luck, for this utterly incredible album from 'The Fun Years' ticks all the above boxes and emerges with a 50 minute listening experience that's left us gasping for breath. There's a dense crackle and frayed balance to these recordings that makes you feel like the whole thing could disintegrate at any moment, pulling you in to a sound-world formed by broken instruments, the crackle of battered, old vinyl, the edgy ambience of the great outdoors in the middle of the night and, quite suddenly, an amplified wall of sound playing tricks on your senses. Each of these tracks begins with the fizz and snap of looped and popped vinyl and ends with a devastated, tumultuous re-arrangement of sounds, but it's the process from A to B that's almost impossible to fathom in one sitting. These kinds of aural tricks that make use of manipulated found sounds, turntablism and affected acoustic instruments are hardly new, but 'The Fun Years' mark themselves out with a brilliant disregard for generic templates and accepted convention, imperceptibly realigning sonic boundaries in the process. That seemingly effortless transition from one sonic methodology to another is what makes this album so special, just listening to the opening track 'My Lowville' takes you from a Philip Jeck style crackle to a reverberating acoustic strum, towering processes reminiscent of Tim Hecker and finally an opaque catharsis transmitted from deep inside Wolfgang Voigt's famous forest. By the time you reach the end of the album you're left astonished at this band's ability to create a sound that's at once so gorgeously warm and familiar, yet so confidently removed from the confines of precedent. Definitely one of the albums of the year - an absolutely essential purchase.

Aus

Aus

So you love Two Lone Swordsmen, you like the Boards of Canada but wish they played pianos instead of washing machines and whatever they use to make that wonderful wonderful musicn and most of all you love crunchy electronic beats and glitchy rythyms, look no further than Aus the brainchild of the wonderfully named Yasuhiko Fukuzono who at the age of four was made to attend piano lessons and how grateful i am that he did. Starting at the age of 13 to put together simple electronic music he now at the age of 25 has five albums under his belt. Beautiful and demanding your attention.

Stream Tracks on Last Fm

The Smittens & Noah & The Whale

Its been too long, yet again i've been snowed under with all sorts and three weddings in five weeks, two family members (obviously not marrying each other) and a close friend.

I have heard so much good music of late i really don't know where to start...

Firstly with some good old pop music i guess

Noah and the Whale have been making me smile for some time, a husky voice not a million miles away from Shady Bard but a whole lot poppier, i've mostly been won over by the horn led Shape of my Heart regularly soundtracking my short drive to work and putting in a fine mood, well for a short while at least. Just lately the two preceeding tracks have been firmly routing themselves in my subconciousness, the wonderful Jocasta and the lyrically sublime 2 Atoms and One Molecule. Lovely Stuff.

And if love is just a game
Then how come it's no fun?
If love is just a game
How come I've never won?
I guess maybe it's possible I might be playing it wrong
And that's why every time I roll the dice
I always come undone

But now I look at love
Like being stabbed in the heart
You torture each other from day to day
And then one day you part
Most of the time it's misery
But there's some joy at the start
And for that, I'd say it's worth it

Website
Noah and the Whale - Shape of My Heart mp3

Source: Music For Ants



For full on Elephant Six esque pop look no further than The Smittens who have recently released a great album on the legendary Happy Happy Birthday To Me Label, bringing back memories of one of my favourite pop bands ever Fablefactory and the adorable Essex Green, no bad thing if i may say so myself.

The Smittens - The Interstate mp3

Source: False 45th

More Soon...ish

Dianogah, El Ten Eleven, The Pains of Being Pure At Heart Reviewed plus Los Campesinos & Marnie Stern

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart – Come Saturday (Fortuna Pop!)
A lovely blast of summery noise pop, contagious as pop music gets with its ooooo-ee-oooo’s and its laid back slacker cool attitude. With the melodic charm of the Lucksmiths getting covered by the Shop Assistants this is a summer classic certain to bring a smile to your face and have you dancing your socks off at every indie disco you attend between now and forever.

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart – Come Saturday mp3

El Ten Eleven - These Promises Are Being Videotaped
Dianogah – qhnnnl
A refreshing pair of “post-rock”ish bands, perhaps both veer more towards math rock. El Ten Eleven remind me of two of my favourite discoveries, back in the day when I’d purchase albums simply based on how much I liked the look of the cover, State River Widening & 33.3. Simple and understated, staccato melodies picked out on deep strings.
These Promises Are Being Videotaped, the latest offering from El Ten Eleven sees a move towards dance, like Justice covering Tortoise, and is a successful attempt at pushing the boundaries of “instrumental” music. Both their previous albums are less beat driven but come highly recommended.
Dianogah’s strangely titled qhnnnl is a dreamy autumnal album, some tracks are more “Alternative/American Indie” but the unusual core set up of two basses and a drummer makes for an interesting listen. When they are instrumental they are at their strongest particularly on the gorgeous Andrew Jackson, don’t be fooled by the Always Look on the Bright Side of Life intro, this is a dreamy number with delicately arranged strings that add the garnish to an already superb musical offering. On A Breaks B they could be mistaken for the Delgados, which is no bad thing in my eyes. Sprinter is lovely too, easily the best of the vocal tracks, again reminiscent of the Delgados Emma Pollack, though please don’t expect a new Delgados album of smooth Scottish pop, this is definitely “instrumental” and “math-y” but tuneful and upbeat in its approach, maybe in the same way that the aforementioned Scots always had a lovely bass line holding their songs together.
Certainly two bands well worth your careful attention.

El Ten Eleven - Jumping Frenchmen of Maine mp3

El Ten Eleven - 3 plus 4 mp3

El Ten Eleven - Hot Cakes mp3

El Ten Eleven - Living on Credit Blues mp3

El Ten Eleven - Lorge mp3

Dianogah - A Breaks B mp3

Source: The Line of Best Fit

And finally a mention of two rather welcome returns, guitar shredder Marnie Stern and indie pop anarchists Los Campesinos...i like them both rather alot :) :)

Marnie Stern - Prime mp3

Source: Cannibal Cheerleader

Los Campesinos - Ways to Make it Through The Wall mp3

Source: Certain Songs