A delightful helping of 60's style garage pop, like the second Miss Mary album was meant to sound like, everything you wished from the A-Lines, Comet Gain at their roughest and shiniest simultaneously, The Agenda or The Four Corners if they had singers as good as their music and maybe, just maybe what you may have wanted the third Aislers Set album to sound like, with a splash of Yeah Yeah Yeahs thrown in for good measure. None stop, garage pop, instantly loveable and catchy as can be. I can't recommend this highly enough.
Tom White - Sight See (Smallfish) - A Well-Known Phrase (Under the Spire)
It'll be at the end of the year when people are moaning that it’s been another awful year for music when i pipe up as always with a hundred and one recommendations, pretty close to the top of my list though will be Tom White.
The Ambient/Drone/Experimental genre seems to have an endless supply of new artists with endless supplies of material, many of the forerunners of the genre having numerous releases each year, Lawrence English, Taylor Deupree, Machinefabriek. On first impression it’s an incredibly limited field, most songs are barely there, notes decomposed and shredded, recycled and made new, drifting along seemlessly and yet it's the genre that has really grabbed me by the ears this year. It has an ability to pull you in, the wrap itself around your very lobes, the quietly seduce you into soft and dreamy sleep. There are many experts in this field, a number of whom I’ve already mentioned and a handful more that will be strong contenders for album of the year, Molly Berg + Stephen Vitiello if you need names. Right now though, Tom White rules my world. 8 months through the year and two delightful releases so far on a pair of the most reliable labels out there.
First up the wonderfully short Sight See release from Smallfish. All too often i find myself put off by massively long ambient tracks, albeit psychological and maybe due to more than a little Last.fm OCD. How refreshing it is to see tracks of less than five minutes and on a couple of tracks less than two, beautiful pieces mixing both drone and elements of noise while never outstaying their welcome.
I was more than surprised to see the level of quality surpassed on the follow up on up and coming underground label Under the Spire. A Well-Known Phrase is nothing less than a treat, more gritty and more experimental and featuring a healthy nod towards perhaps one of my favourite artists of the genre Ben Frost, balancing the excursions into noise with delicately growing soundscapes.
An album is expected before the end of the year, one can only look forward with eager anticipation.
Sleeping Me - Cradlesongs /Lamenter(Phantom Channel)
I've come to find myself hating straight forward guitar based post-rock ala EITS, especially EITS, it's been done so many times, please leave it alone. And so it was with slight disappointment that the opening tracks on Sleeping Me's Cradlesongs seemed to be following a slowed down version of that formula. Fortunately only the opening four tracks are noticeably guitar driven and even at that i feel they have enough swelling embellishment that they will grow over time.
Track 5 is where things really start to get interesting, picking up from where Redeemer on the Phantom Channel net release left off or vice versa probably, this is dream inducing stuff, drifting like Stars of the Lid at their very best, going deep and gently massaging the ear, lulling you in with every well placed note. Pride and Fall is likewise excellent.
Let the Phantom Channel one drag you in and then go buy Cradlesongs.
"Thick, melancholic and evocatively haunting soundscapes created entirely by guitar, the music of Sleeping Me employs a balance of delicacy, power and gentle reverb to present an affecting sound that's resplendent in its warmth and fiery beauty. 'Lamenter', closely following stunning debut full-length 'Cradlesongs' on celebrated Australian imprint Hidden Shoal, proves that Sleeping Me's sound finds peace in even the most heartbreaking of circumstances, rarely has the devil's instrument of choice sounded so heavenly. "
You will by now have no doubt heard the tragic news of Danielle Baquet-Longs premature death. One half of husband and wife duo Celer. It was only the day before i read of her death that i was enviously thinking how lucky Mr Celer (William Thomas Long) was to have found such a wonderful woman, i mean in the least sexist way possible, how many female ambient musicians are there? Here he had found someone to share both his physical and musical passions with, living what must've been a dreamy life. I'll admit to having tried only a few Celer releases, and generally being put off by their post 20 minute track lengths. I'm sure I’ll go back to them when time is less of the essence. Fortunatley for those who can't always cope with long tracks Danielle had a wonderful side project, fully capable of extending a track but generally keeping them much shorter. And so i find myself falling in love with this release, not least the wonderful opener, Annell This Chord of Bliss and the almost quietly ethereal yet bizarrely titled, Before We Get to Grinding.
The Loves - Three Liechtenstein - Survival Strategies In A Modern World
Whereas you could almost bet your mortgage that Lacrosse's Bandages for the Heart is going to be my favourite pop album of the year two other bands coincidentaly starting with the letter L may well give it a good run for its money.
A delightfully short nine tracks that suceed in taking the Shop Assistants template and warping it only just enough to make it their ow. Jangly, melodic and catchy as can be, occasionally taking the unexpected route away from the obvious verse chorus verse, but not enough to spoil the fun.
Sounding not too distant from Heavenly and the more reverberated, less distorted parts of the Aislers Set, ie. if they had rerecorded My Boyfriend Could Be a Spanish Man during the Mission Bells sessions, you might begin to get an idea where Liechtenstein are coming from.
Postcard is a glorious stand out with its repeating "Don't leave the cat on its own".
Perhaps better and a most likely contestant to Lacrosse is the new offering from the long loved The Loves, inventively entitled Three, this is the Loves third album to date and perhaps their strongest, if not their strongest, it certainly contains some of their best songs to date.
Ode to Coca Cola and Sweet Sister Delia are fine lessons in the art of writing a pop song, and yes I of all people am always interested in hearing something new and love the idea of stretching music to it's limits but you can rarely beat good old pop, and if that means stealing parts from elsewhere then please do go help yourself. If it ain't broke...
A little bit TRex, a little bit Beach Boys, a little bit fantastic. Both previous downloadle singles, One Two Three and the Ex-Gurlfriend feature and are lovely to hear once again along with the aforementioned favourites and the quite wonderful two and half minutes of pop perfection of You Don't Have To.
One for the appreciative few to wind down the windows, open the sunroof and drive steadily, bopping your head much to the chagrin of confused fellow drivers.
Put simply, i love The Loves and really you should too.
Fanfarlo are currently selling a digital version of their album Reservoir, along with 4 bonus tracks, for $1 via their website. It’s on sale at this price until July 4th 2009. They say after that, the madness will end and you will be able to get the CD, the vinyl and a beautiful new special edition at normal prices.
Based on a recommendation from the man behind the excellent Phantom Channel net label, Clorinde are a rather lovely new discovery. Its no surprise that upon searching i find that the even more amazing Folktronica blog has been raving about them for some time.
Beautiful, fragile and twinkling like the very stars above you on a clear, dark night.
The four tracks here are from the Sound on Poetry project and should give you an idea of where they're coming from whilst we await their debut proper.
Whilst you may already be getting washed away in their dreamy drifting In the Dream of the Sea Life album you would be strongly advised to take advantage of this wonderful free EP.
The two extended instrumentals that clock in at a combined thirty minutes are some of the freshest pieces I’ve heard in some time, like Tortoise and Ducktails throwing an impromptu beach party on the autobahn, I don't actually think that’s possible but Candy Claws have successfully managed to nail the sound should it ever be.
Molly Berg + Stephen Vitiello - The Gorilla Variations
Its sometimes the case that the leftovers surpass the main meal, like the cold beef you have with chips and mint sauce the day after the roast, or the cold pizza from the night before. Or like one of your mothers meals when she cooks like she's still cooking for five growing children, often the leftovers are just too good to throw away.
In the case of Molly Berg + Stephen Vitiello came together for a soundtrack project commissioned by Brazilian video artist Eder Santos, whose video portrait of a lonely, zoo-dwelling gorilla (named Idi Amin) was the starting point. Although only a three-minute piece was required of the duo, they improvised their way through forty minutes of guitar, clarinet, vocals, field recording and electronics, the results of which then became the basis for this charming and beguiling album.
Organic and whimsical this album enchants from beginning to end, combining the beauty of the dusky forest sounds with slow burning drones. Highly recommended.
Stream 2 tracks here More Stephen Vitiello to stream here Lots of Free Stephen Vitiello mp3 here
Taylor Deupree - Weather/ Worn Stephen Mathieu - The Key to the Kingdom Jana Winderen - Surface Runoff
I'll admit that drone is not the easiest genre to get into, it takes years of straightforward post rock followed by a departure to more string and piano based instrumental music before it finally clicks, a gentle departure from music being about playing instruments and rather using the everyday sounds and electrical surges to form a hum of pleasing decay.
Its often the case with drone that songs extend past the six, seven minute mark, maybe past fifteen and nearer half an hour, and although I love some of the longer tracks I’m sure that I’m not alone in having been put off by such lengths of time.
The open minded listener who wants to understand why drone is so raved about will no doubt be grateful for these three short releases. Short in length but certainly not in quality.
The impecably named Taylor Deupree, who runs the erm impecable 12k label delivers his first vinyl offering on the label, and the cute story that goes along with it will surely only make you love this release all the more.
These two pieces came about from pottering around on a rainy day with some loop pedals and a collection of instruments including acoustic guitar, kalimba, and bells. Deupree explains: "Pixel, one of my cats, was sleeping next to me as I began to create a warm bed of drones and small noises in an attempt to warm the room and my spirits." As it so happens, the cat in question does actually contribute to these pieces, lending a wheezy snore to the music, immediately bringing to mind the reposeful feel of a Bagpuss episode coming to a close.
Watery and expansive, these are a delight to listen too, interestingly enough the digital release includes an extended version of Worn, cloking in at over 23 minutes and somewhat surprisingly making itself the best track of the bunch given the extra space to breather and expand.
Stephen Mathieu presents the wonderfully entitled The Key To The Kingdom, a two part 10" release, as etheral sounding as it is glaciel, dreamy drones melting away effortlessly and magically. And finally a most interesting release from Jana Winderen, for those who fell in love with Annea Lockwoods idea of mapping the Danube for her album A Sound Map of the Danube, but just couldn't hack its sparseness, then Jana Winderens Surface Runoff may well satisfy your curiosity, 'Drift' is a collage based on underwater documents from several rivers across different continents, and its as wonderful as it sounds.
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.
