Friday 20 February 2015

Best Albums of 2014 // Rock edition

So Beck just won 'Best Rock Album' at the Grammys. Obviously Beck's a talented guy but it can't help feeling like too little too late; a belated apology for past neglect. But it got me thinking: what great rock bands exist at the moment? I asked a few friends and I got “Queens of the Stone Age” and “Foo Fighters” with a ‘clasping at straws’ expression accompanying the latter. I feel like rock might be being a bit narrowly interpreted here but they kind of have a point. To the ordinary person, rock has faded from the radar by quite some measure. 

I’m gonna knock out a few more of my favourite albums of the year but I guess this post is also my attempt at defending rock from its slander, because if the Foo Fighters are the best we’ve got then rock really is dead...


Iceage: Plowing into The Field of Love





You could probably tell I was a bit excited about this one! I’ve almost reviewed “Plowing into the Field of  Love” in the abstract - just scroll back a bit for my loving words - but this album deserves more than a cursory mention so here’s some more thoughts. The first thing you might notice is that the lyrics are strikingly thoughtful for a Danish punk act. They’re also self-aggrandising to the point of parody. In the album’s opening, Elias declares himself a “stunner of a being so profound”. He casually suggests that he must be the “saviour”, the “second coming”. Only a track later we find Elias brazenly slurring out the line: “After all, I think it’s evident that I am God’s favourite one and now is the time I should have whatever I desire”. There’s something formidable about the character Elias builds; something unnerving in its unflinching self-assurance. The megalomaniacal power that the band yields is channeled through the anger in the arrangements. Horns blare, strings groan and pianos give voice to glimpses of vulnerability. Plowing into the Field of Love is emotionally devastating; it is a school bully with an abusive past.

The sound that Iceage have forged on this album is unlike the simple punk of their previous efforts. Healthy doses of Nick Cave and Sonic Youth are smeared all over this record. Give “How Many” a listen below (and note the very Sonic Youth influenced guitar intro!) or buy the record here.




Protomartyr: Under Color of Official Right




Protomartyr’s “Under Color of Official Right” is uncannily similar to Plowing into the Field of Love. Joe Casey has a set of pipes assembled by the same creator of Elias’s jaded vocal chords, but it’s a revised version: more predictable, more palatable. The sound the band creates is easier to pigeonhole too, a sort of amalgamation of Joy Division, The Strokes, and The Fall. This is Post-Punk in a more traditionalist form but it isn’t entirely derivative or uninteresting. The proof is in the songs, and they’re great, simply put.

Listen to Maidenhead below or buy the record here and take some time to enjoy what may be the most stunning album art of the year.





Morgan Delt: Morgan Delt




Morgan Delt’s self-titled LP is a short and sweet taste of psychedelia. Its 33 minutes ring with a faux-lo-fi buzz and the melodies that bubble over are anchored in strange, middle-eastern modes that resolve into perfect westernised pop. There’s moments that seem as though they could be TV ad worthy (see obstacle eyes) and other moments that come straight from the left field with unforgiving drug-addled sound. What is certain is that this album is a trip; it comes with it’s instances of darkness and terror, equally remediated with sunshine, bubblegum pop. It’s psychedelic rock that seems to break new grounds, if only subtly, because try as I might, I can’t think of anything else quite like it. 

Listen to what Syd Barrett might sound like if overcome with a sudden world music obsession with the track “Turn My Grey Brain Green” below or buy it here.




Deerhoof: La Isla Bonita





Deerhoof are approaching legendary status in my mind. I can think of no other band that has continuously pumped out such excellent quality records for so very long. Most bands of Deerhoof’s tender age (in band years) become washed up legacy acts that occasionally release a token album for the chance to tour their greatest hits. Not Deerhoof. “La Isla Bonita” is just as loud, jarring, and inspired as anything they’ve ever put out. The album feels stripped down to a minimalistic core, like every sound on display is absolutely integral to the song. There are no unnecessary layers or filler riffs; it is all achingly essential and the band knows it. The confidence in the opening riff of “Last Fad” is almost an instrument in itself. With chords so dissonant and confrontational, the sweet vocal “aaahs” that breezily enter would sound off kilter if it weren’t for their overriding sense of: “we know exactly what we’re doing”. Truly, you have to trust in the madness, because Deerhoof are the most capable hands you could ever wish for to guide you through it all. 

As with most Deerhoof records, it may take a few listens before it really clicks but here’s "Last Fad". Pick up a copy here!





Mac DeMarco: Salad Days














Finally, I’ll mention in passing “Salad Days” by Mac DeMarco. I’m sure you’ve already heard it so I won’t say much but if you haven’t checked it out then expect an excellent summer guitar record with an analogue, tape-recorded sound and first-rate songwriting that even your mum will enjoy.

Here’s “Passing out the Pieces” and a sweet link for vinyl goodness. Thanks for reading and I hope you found something you enjoy!


Friday 13 February 2015

In Defence of Guitars and Bad Vocalists...

A DJ can be loud but it’s difficult for that loudness to become anything more than volume. When guitars are loud, they’re straining under a mechanical force, groaning at the tug of strings, the bending of pitch and the raw distortion that contorts to a human cry. 

Standing drunk in a tavern near midnight, I looked into a strangers eyes and we drunkenly yelled the lyrics to “Forever” at each others faces. The lead singer of Iceage stumbled in a rage but maintained the collected cool of a weathered Johnny Depp. I felt, in that moment, complete elation. As a side note, I was really quite drunk, enough that the spewed out vocals of Elias Bender Rønnenfelt sounded near angelic. That aside, it occurred to me at once that rock music can’t be dead.

We need the creation of cacophonous noise. We wont always be satisfied when it’s peddled to us by the knob twiddling middle man. With all due respect to DJs, there’s something lost in a performance that doesn’t reveal its tricks. We see a man behind a laptop but the musical process is hidden, the laptop is not an extension of the performer but a shield that numbs the connection with the listener. The sound may still be filtered through dozens of digital effects but the fingers on the fretboard don’t lie; they bear the soul. When a performer controls all aspects of the sound at every moment, it ceases to be mere sound; it becomes a voice. 

I realise this all sounds very old fashioned and you’re probably picturing me as a beer-gut dad rocker, reclining on a throne of ACDC records, but what I’m defending here is not musicianship or dated genres. I’m defending the creation of sounds against the replication of them. A sound made from scratch holds the most entertainment in a live setting, but it also gives the audience more of the performer, warts and all. To me, a cello sounds best when it’s playing higher than its natural register. The way it labours to make sound is the same struggle inherent in human vocals. It’s the intensity that let’s us feel the emotions. It’s also why trained singers are often poor at making listeners feel something; they’re always in their natural register.

It’s fair to say that Elias of Iceage has no natural register. Every vocalisation he makes sounds as if he is wrestling with something stubborn and exceedingly unnatural. It’s a desperate duel between voice and guitar, but ultimately they don’t feel all too antagonistic. They’re both working to the same end: conveying feeling. 

My next post will be a couple of rock-ish albums that I enjoyed last year, obviously including Iceage’s stunning “Plowing into the Field of Love”. Have a drink or twelve and listen to ‘Forever’ below!



Wednesday 4 February 2015

Best Albums of 2014 // Kemialliset Ystävät: Alas Rattoisaa Virtaa



Kemialliset Ystävät throw synth lines like paint splatters on a canvas. They’ve been active for 20 years yet their brand of collage sound comes across like the frontier vision of a fresh new voice. The melodies on Alas Rattoisaa Virtaa chime with a world music pastiche and the vocal samples scattered throughout gleam with a vaporware polish. It sounds like listening to a million different synth presets over the course of 40 minutes, losing each sound in a frantic cycle of samples. Moments of tribalism give way to splashes of modern groove that evaporate on the brink of being danceable and hooks chirp away like happy afterthoughts in the pool of synth.

It can’t be understated how profoundly dense this music can be. The paint splattered canvas can appear chaotic on the first listen but it becomes apparent that the busy layering of sounds is not untamed. This music is ‘composed’, in the sense that you might well be able to rearrange it for orchestra. The question is: why would you? As it stands, Kemialliset Ystävät are painting with a palette that only electronic music can offer. The sounds that are mined on this album are vast and full of variation. They reject the rigidity of orchestras and simultaneously subsume them with flourishes of harp and strings throughout. Most importantly the sounds on show are amorphous, blurring the divide between what is and isn’t real and declaring the distinction utterly meaningless. Ala Rattoisaa Virtaa is an album that simply celebrates sound and sounds great doing it.

Check out the video for Kun rajat sulaa or listen to the whole album below. Enjoy!