Lacrosse - Bandages for the Heart

Lacrosse - Bandages For The Heart

The last Lacrosse album seemed to fit so perfectly into a situation I was encountering in my life around the time it was released, songs like Who Will Brings Us Together, Let's Get Old and You Can't Say No Forever perfectly encapsulated the confusion and thrill that I was going through, the excitement of a new friendship and the strange feeling you get when you can't quite figure out how and when it will go anywhere and in fact why it wasn't and hasn't, the complicated make up of human relationships. Lacrosse put those feelings and scenarios into such perfectly crafted pop songs that really even the most confusing of times could be cushioned with a helping of pop
perfection.

It's sad to say that there are few bands that follow up great debut albums with better or even a standard equivalent to its predecessor, in many cases they either replicate what preceded, at times this works but often the songs seem forced, take Los Camposinos for instance, i was still sweating from their near perfect set at ATP when a new album filtered into existence, rushed and, with the exception of the first few tracks, generally would've been better saved for B sides. The Aislers Set would be another similar reference point, although it was their second album that really shone, the follow up, although good, is a million miles removed, a lovely album of slow burning reverb drenched 60's spector-esque tracks. Good, but not a patch on The Last Match.

So it was with mixed feelings that i pressed play upon receiving Bandages For The Heart, hopelessly excited but equally fully expecting to be disappointed. Fortunately Lacrosse do not disappoint, where I’d be lying if I said that this was better than This New Year Will Be For You And Me it's certainly going to give it a run for its money.


Four songs instantly stand out, the opening brace of We Are Kids & You Are Blind, setting off at lightning pace with the pure pop that we've come to expect and are so happy that has not been lost. If you think that pair is special, then just wait until you get to the, I assume Bonnie Prince Billy referenced, I See a Brightness & maybe even better, It's Always Sunday Around Here, this is pop perfection as far as I’m concerned, like an old friend that no matter what your mood is, you are always happy to hear from or see them. The glockenspiel intro is so typically Lacrosse, very reminiscent of a track from their debut that i can't quite put my finger on, and the lyrics put any doubts that this may be anyone else completely to bed, "Tell me a story/ make the ending happy please/ put some unicorns in there/ and some animals that speak/ don't know where i go wrong/ but it always ends this way/ the world is full of saturdays/ but it's always sunday round here" the muted guitars building and building before exploding at the chorus.

All The Little Things That You Do, My Stop & Come Back Song#1 are growers but are likely to find a place in your heart after just a few listens.

I can't recommend Lacrosse highly enough, this is pop as good as it gets.

Lacrosse - I See a Brightness mp3
Lacrosse - My Plan mp3

Animal Hospital - Memory

Animal Hopsital - Memory

I'd toyed with the idea of investing time into Animal Hospital, i was aware as some may well not be that the aforementioned band are not as twee as they sound and in fact one of a million recommendations last.fm had thrown my way care of my obsession with the Fun Years and other "drone"/"soundscape" types. Some intrigue, some disappoint, as always there will be a hundred poor/ average artists to every great one whatever the genre. Animal Hospital on first impression fall very much into the latter class, mesmerizingly brilliant and refreshingly innovative. Not afraid to drag songs past the fifteen minute mark, but not needlessly as bands of the instrumental variety have a habit of doing. Each note is gently pulled into the realms of sound with care and finesse, sieved to ensure that only quality comes through and the odd bit of experimentation, chilli and chocolate, peanut butter and jam, things that shouldn't work but do and in a more than pleasant manner. Note 5 mins 39 seconds into the glorious His Belly Burst, the guitars out of place, out of tune and yet fitting in like they'd been born to be there. 2 minutes into 2nd anniversary the guitars enter again, two notches too high on the amp, yet the contrast works perfectly.

The closing track Memory swells and ebbs and flows in a way not achieved quite so elegantly since Johann Johannssonns IDM Manual album, a quite beautiful discovery.

Website
Myspace

*I haven't listened to these 3 mp3's yet, they're off his 2004 debut album, Memory is worth checking out even if these don't seem that great

Animal Hospital - 1st Anniversary
Animal Hospital - Paralava
Animal Hospital - Below The Ocean

Bearsuit - Muscle Belt

Bearsuit - Muscle Belt

I was beginning to wonder whether i might be getting bored with Bearsuit, could they really continue to be so wonderful, could their ramshackle charm remain a charm without becoming annoying or repetitive, fortunately the answer is no and they remain as brilliant as ever, slightly electro, slightly no wave with their jagged guitar lines that those NME loving boys could well take a lesson from instead of spending so much time choosing which shockwaves product to use next. This is killer chorus pop perfection, a little bit chaos a little bit soaring boy/girl loveliness not a million miles from the Delgados of old but with the usual Bearsuit trademark brilliance. The perfect working out soundtrack or something like that...basically, its brilliant!

Myspace

The Ideal Husband

The Ideal Husbdand - No Bye, No Aloha

Another lovely discovery and quite possibly an early contender for soundtrack of the summer, The Ideal Husband make sumptuos music inspired by 1960's Hawaii, all grass skirts, lapsteel, ukelele and flowers in the hair.

Myspace try Terrified
Youtube

Ben Frost - Theory of Machines

Ben Frost - Theory of Machines

I love that feeling when you discover an album that you instantly fall for, look no further than the Lovely Eggs review below for a recent happening where a track hit me so hard I listened to it 17 times in a row.

Despite being about as far away as possible from The Lovely Eggs, Ben Frost's Theory of Machines has hit me in a similar manner, you know how you read all those glowing reviews on Boomkat about the latest release from Machinefabriek and a whole host of other artists, and then you find that you're ever so slightly disappointed, i will step to one side to admit that not always do Boomkat dissappoint, in fact their end of year selection is normally amongst the most reliable, but if you're looking for pure drone perfection, pure drone perfection with a hint of noise, but restraintful noise, perfectly built up and executed then you should really look no further than the marvellous Ben Frost. Not since the Fun Years wonderful and ever fresh Baby, Its Cold Outside have i heard an album of such magnitude and natural, oraganic perfection. Static sounds and gentle, soothing soundscapes of epic proportions, so natural and inviting, a dream in sound, balancing the noise perfectly with the drone like a master of suspense. I can't recommend this highly enough, believe me, its on constant repeat.

The Lovely Eggs

The Lovely Eggs

It seems that this weekend i have been somehow ripped out of my droney hollow of dreamy soundscapes that i have become so accustomed to over the bitter winter months, content to put my hood up, snuggle under the blanket and fall asleep to the gentle clicks, whirs and drones of the Fun Years and more recently Ben Frost and Alva Noto.

Instead, i find myself back in the land of indie pop, fanzines and the least self consious dancing i've seen in years and it was the best feeling ever. On Friday night I kicked myself at least 300 times for firstly leaving before a Horowitz encore, a rendition of Chilwell Olympia, the home of my school and a hundred million games of football, but still worse faux pas' would follow.

Let me introduce the Lovely Eggs, a simple two piece, her on guitar and vocals, him on drums and backing vocals and retardedly simple songs of such simplicity that it defies belief that anything more could possibly improve this pure simplistic device. Remember your first encounter with Scout Niblett? the stripped down brilliance, the rawness, the pure delight and proziacical feel those songs gave you, then remember when you first heard Kenickie, their poptastic hooks and their pure comic genius, then remember how Slow Club stole your heart with their onstage banter and simplistic joy and ecstaticism at the fact that peple care enough to come along and see them let alone the fact that they know every single word to each and every song, you should by now have a feeling of the pure euphoria i felt i we walked in to a song that repeated "I want to fall off my bike" again and again with relentless glee.

Things only got better with what i think may possibly be my favourite song ever. Have You Ever Heard A Digital Accordian can not be explained in words, its outright genius and gets better with every listen, even the most cynical person in the world would struggle not to smile at the retort "if you've never heard a digital accordian/ then you've only ever heard an acoustic accordian!"

Whats better is that you can stream it from Last Fm free... a great song, a great band and a kick in the teeth that this was their last song of the night :(

The Lovely Eggs - Have You Ever Heard a Digital Accordian?

The Long Lost - The Long Lost

The Long Lost - The Long Lost (Ninja Tune)

Husband and wife duo's are normally a winner in my eyes, mates of state being the most immediate example to come to mind, two people in love making great music together, who could want anything more? or maybe more bizarrely the ever wonderful divorcees that form Quasi. Here though we have a fairytale set up, high school sweethearts, Laura & Alfred Darlington, better known as Daedelus, team up to deliver some bittersweet and melancholy pop.

The voices meld together quite beautifully, similar to Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan, his deep, hers high and sweet, recalling names such as Vashti Bunyan, Trish Keenan of Broadcast and perhaps most accuratley Kerry Shaw of late nineties band Whistler. Each song a delicate pop number given the appropriate twist that you'd expect with Daedelus at the controls yet never over doing it. Happy to throw in the occasional sample, electronic beats and some great vocals but never taking over. Particularly fine is third song, Sibilance, repetitive and lullaby like for the first minute before the marching drums and toy piano join in, leaving it for another minute before exploding into full glory and finally the icing on the cake as Alfred joins in with a glorious counter melody of she sells sea shells on the sea shore gently sending you into dream land, you can only wonder if this is how they send their children to sleep at night, magical and perfectly executed.

Overmuch has an icy melancholy about it with its repeating line "The curse of perfect vision" so elegantly delivered. Ballroom Dance Club starts off like a scene from one of those Saturday Afternoons sixties film before kicking into another great track. Cat Fancy is lovely too, the sampled lady sounding like the mother from Requiem For A Dream. Domestics a near perfect call & response him/her duet with an upbeat catchy feel, like Beck collaborating with Vashti Bunyan, a delightful disc to help us through these cold months.

The Long Lost - The Art of Kissing mp3

Automobile, Swift - Enemy, Enemy

Automobile, Swift - Enemy, Enemy

Another day and so it would seem another great net release. I read with eager anticipation the press release to the ridiculously prolific Machinefabriek that his new release(one of them anyway) IJspret that claimes "Rutger Zuydervelt turns his ear towards that most fertile of creative themes for the microsound artist: winter. Ijspret was inspired by the timbral properties of ice, and features contact microphone recordings of all manner of frosty textures and interactions with the frozen ground, from the noise made by ice skaters to the strange commotion of the defrosting process." i expected extreme beauty and the sound of winter to be caught graciously, i was disappointed as i tend to be by his releases, apart from the lovely Drawn.
Automobile, Swift on the other hand capture the sound of winter, the crispy crunch of frozen snow that paves the streets of England right now, so well and without trying. Slow Ocean is all crackles and crunching set to whirring swells of drone and distant seagull calls. The rest of the five track EP is of a similarly high quality and far more worthy of your attention than any of the seven new releases that Rutger Zuydervalt is likely to release this week.

Automobile, Swift - Enemy Enemy zip

Chazz Knapp - Vie comme un Parasite Faisant la fête

Chazz Knapp - Vie comme un Parasite Faisant la fête (Phantom Channel)
I remember being completely blown away by the first Our Brother the Native album, bought simply because it was on FatCat, a strange mix of Cocorosie and Four Tet folkish tapestries. Here on his solo album, Chaz Knapps musical genius shines through strongly once again, maybe not as original but stunningly beautiful. Steeped in classical roots the five songs, for the majority of the time minimal piano based tracks, are melancholy and as beautiful as the piano can be when placed under the right set of fingers. Dreamy walks through secret gardens, the impatient anticipation of a reunital with a loved one mixed with the gleeful reminiscence of past memories.

At times similiar in sound to Becky Foons Fifths of Seven project at their very best, in Chaz Knapp there has been found a healthy dose of musical genius and you'd be a fool if you weren't to take a spoonful.

Chazz Knapp - Vie comme un Parasite Faisant la fête zip

On a similiar note we find the fatcat label on fine form as always, kindly delivering the compilation Floored Memory...Fading Location, the names will be familiar and if they are not I would seriously recommend checking them out, especially if you like the above album, names like Max Richter, Hauschka and Sylvain Chaveau should become firm favourites of yours, each giving three tracks here (max gives four) alongside two new(?) tracks from Set Fire to Flames, try Chazz Knapp first, then check these out.