Metamatic Forums Socialising The Green Room Album of the year 2011

Are we not doing this this year?

At least one obvious candidate perhaps makes it irrelevant ... but every year is a good year for music these days so here we go again ...

I don't appear to have properly listened to half of my purchases this year so, with apologies to John Foxx & the Maths; John Foxx; John Foxx, Harold Budd & Ruben Garcia; Tom Waits; Kate Bush; Low; Bright Eyes; Marc Almond; R.E.M. (special mention for calling it a day this year - at least every other record a classic since Automatic for the People); David Lynch; Bjork; here are my albums of 2011, in no particular order:


Radiohead - "The King of Limbs" - a record that was so Radiohead it was almost unremarkable on the surface. Underneath the surface and the slightly disappointing deluxe packaging (which just focuses you back on listening to the actual music) lurks something familiar but new, like a newly discovered species evolving from a common ancestor.

PJ Harvey - "Let England Shake" - all the hype and awards are fully justified.

Bill Callahan - "Apocalypse" - how could Bill not feature?

Bill Wells & Aidan Moffat - "Everything's Getting Older" - dare I use my stock phrase "moving"? Would be foolish not to.

John Foxx & The Maths - "Interplay" - few on here would disagree.

The Human League - "Credo" - I was surprised to hear how good this one was.

EMA - "Past Life Martyred Saints" - vaguely PJ Harvey-ish, Cat Power-ish, so if you like them you'll love this.

The Antlers - "Burst Apart" - I don't know what to say about this except that I played it lots. A bit anguished (I initially thought I'd downloaded their earlier album "Hospice", which might have coloured that impression indelibly).

The Middle East - "I Want That You Are Always Happy" - reminding me of Bright Eyes and Grand Drive in places, but so much more than that, gloomy as hell one moment and the next as uplifting as the rapture. They have now split up - nothing else left to say perhaps.

Epic45 - "Weathering" - quite stunning. Shades of Talk Talk, Hood, Bark Psychosis, Piano Magic, and lots of other stuff. One track has church bells on it. Every classic album should have church bells on it.

Winterlight - "Hope Dies Last" - absolutely gorgeous dreamgaze or shoe-pop or whatever they are calling it these days. Slightly melancholic by the last track but a euphoric, glorious, ambient adventure needs a slightly subdued quiet reflective ending. Eno, Ulrich Schnauss, Jon Hopkins etc.

I'll contribute five of my own

Radiohead - The King of Limbs - this is definitely my album of the year. As a musician, I was just blown away by how minimalist, yet complex this record was. In forty years time Radiohead will be to the 2000s what The Beatles were to the 60s, and this album is proof of that.

Cut Copy - Zonoscope - a really solid third album from the Australian quartet. If you dig electro-pop and haven't heard this album yet, I highly recommend it. A seamless blend of italo-disco and rock music.

John Foxx & the Maths - Interplay/The Shape of Things - I can't really choose between these two albums, so I put them both here. I'm sure I don't have to explain myself to you all for these choices.

Sigur Rós - Inni - my favourite live album for this year, and the accompanying film is stunning in a really stark and cold sort of way. The band's music really turns it up a notch when performed in a live environment.

Cliff Martinez (and others) - Drive (soundtrack) - the film was fantastic, and this is equally reflected in the soundtrack. A lot of moody ambient music, similar to that of Vangelis' Blade Runner soundtrack. The "pop" songs included in the album, including tracks by Kavinsky and College are also great examples of modern electro-pop.

~~

I feel I should also make mention of R.E.M.'s Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage greatest hits album. I've had so much fun exploring the evolution of the band through this collection of tracks. Such a shame that they've broken up, they were amazing and this compilation proves it.

Haven't put a list together yet, but The Weeknd, Shackleton, Drake, Dum Dum Girls, and John Foxx and the Maths are looking like good prospects for inclusion. And Kate Bush if I get a chance to listen to the new album (wife can't stand her, alas -- her one fault).

Hi Mark, of course we are, its one of the best threads of the year!

Like yourself there's music I've not fully embraced, last year I got quite a few albums but made myself keep it down to writing about five choices in depth - I think there'll be more this time, hopefully contributed before we hit 2012. Albums I didn't get but would have were: the new works from Magazine and Ladytron. I recently succumbed to Lynch's Crazy Clown Time, had one play and the first tracks made me think it would be an entry here but by the end of the album I was less sure, so its having a rest now.



We're all crossing musical paths here on the forum, interesting to see you mention those bands above, all of which I've previously checked out myself as they were flagged up when I'd purchased other artists work. I was inclined to get The Antlers Burst Apart, (and I like the Epic45 album from 2006: Slides).



Thanks for this, I'm partial to a bit of shoedream-popgaze to say the least! Its certainly Mr Schnauss-like, definitely one for me to consider.



Thanks for this also, I'd never heard of the film, I've checked out this interesting soundtrack, I see it has some 'Italians Do It Better' label artists, in particular 'Desire' with one of my favourite tracks from their superb album 'II': http://boomkat.com/downloads/215172-desire-ii
The Italio Disco of the songs sits perfectly alongside the Martinez atmospherics - its an album I'm inclined to get.

Can I add:

Band of Holy Joy How To Kill A Butterfly

Xeno and Oaklander Sets And Lights

Moon Wiring Club Clutch It Like A Gonk

to the others listed above, but personally my vote would go to

John Foxx And the Maths Interplay

Not because its Foxx, and not because its 'better' than The Shape Of Things, but for all the things it represents in terms of landmarks, new standards, re-definition of intent, deservedness, media coverage, impact etc etc

It's a REALLY hard choice. BOHJ's offering is a work of absolute genius. Dark, funny, maudlin, clever, abstract, tangential - BEST LYRICS of the year.

How To Kill A Butterfly

Happy New Year everyone. As it's now January 1st I thought I'd give my thoughts on the releases of last year. 2011 saw a numerous amount of "good" album releases but not many "great" ones. The list of albums of the former is too big to name all but include Radiohead , R.E.M. , Human League , Duran Duran , Blancmange , Blackfield , Peter Murphy , The Leisure Society , Tori Amos , Marc Almond & Michael Cashmore , Gary Numan , Thomas Dolby , Erasure , Laura Marling , The Waterboys , Memories Of Machines , Slow Electric , Coldplay & Snow Patrol & Elbow. Sorry for going on & no doubt I've missed a few out. I didn't mention David Sylvian & Kate Bush as they were reworkings of old songs.

The 6 albums that I thought were great were

1. Mirrors - Lights & Offerings
2. John Foxx & The Maths - Interplay (A very close run thing)
3. Kate Bush - 50 Words For Snow
4. Sigur Ros - Inni
5. Anathema - Falling Deeper (Contradicting myself including this as it's a collection of new arrangements of songs as with Sylvian & Bush. If I was to remove it i'd replace it with Elbow at No.5).

Happy New Year and good thread!!!

Easy:

1. JF & the Maths: Interplay
2. Tara Busch: Rocket Wife (does an E.P. count?)
3. Gazelle Twin: The Entire City (great album, awful live show)
4. Ian Boddy/Parallel Worlds: Exit Strategy
5. JF & the Maths: The Shape of Things

I’m a bit late to this too, but my favourite albums last year were (in alphabetical order)

Duran Duran; All You Need Is Now
My attitude to the Fab Five has been ‘meh’ since I heard 1990s damn awful Liberty album. After that there was occasional highs (The Wedding Album) and unbelievable jaw-dropping lows (Thank You) with much meh-ing of everything in-between. So I wasn’t expecting much from this album at all. I was expecting to a) go to the shop, b) be blinded by the lovely packaging, c) stick the damn thing on and then d) deflate when I realise I have just purchased some very expensive cardboard with arty shots of middle-aged men and a silver disc sandwiched in the middle. But Ruddy Hell! They did it! They actually did it! A Duran album that you can listen to! All the way through! Without cringing…too much.

Obviously, it’s Duran so there’s always a track that makes you wince and that track is Girl Panic!. Middle-aged men should not write raps. At all. Ever. No matter how hard you try – it still sounds like Zambezi. They even had to make a “controversial” video just to cover up how bad it is (those speech marks are probably their publicists, they’re not mine).

But then they’ll do something so damn amazing you’ll forgive them. They’ll write a ruddy good song. And with The Man Who Stole A Leopard, they’ve written probably their best song since Ordinary World. Le Bon has written some of the daftest songs known to humanity – to HUMANITY! He’d call it ‘surrealism’ or ‘bricolage’ or summat, but no – they are daft. The Reflex – go on; sit down and read the words – don’t do Colombian Marching Powder kids that’s all I can say. But that was then and this is now. The Man Who Stole A Leopard should be daft, I mean really, really daft – but it’s not…well it is, but it isn’t.

It’s very well written, very cleverly written that Le Bon has gone and made a bizarre situation around obsession sound logical. And it’s all handled so well, with a call and response vocal from Kelis and a conclusion delivered by news reporter Nina Hossain. It’s brilliant and the attention to detail (sound-wise it checks The Chauffeur another song of obsession, and the news report fading out to some crackly 1920s style strings is a lovely touch).



Brian Eno and Rick Holland; Drums Between the Bells
A lot of people I know had trouble with this, but I found it worked very well. I really liked the different and untrained voices – maybe that’s what people couldn’t handle. This could’ve ended up in Pseud’s Corner but thankfully the idea was sensitively handled. The box set was beautiful as well.



John Foxx and Theo Travis; Torn Sunset
John Foxx and Harold Budd featuring Ruben Garcia; Nighthawks
As I said at the time, I was reminded of the Fennesz and Sakamoto album Cendre, one of my favourite albums of 2007 – especially Torn Sunset. And like Cendre, I think these albums will quietly work their way into my life for a long time to come.



John Foxx and the Maths; Interplay
I may have briefly mentioned that I quite like this album elsewhere on here.
Standout track – all of them.



John Foxx and the Maths; The Shape of Things
I must admit, after the heady summer of Interplay - it was a very slow giving way into the autumn of The Shape of Things on my part. It took a little while to accept it not as a ‘bits and pieces’ album, but as a work in its own right. And it is an album in its own right and a much darker and rougher round the edges album compared to Interplay (even though it is its own thing, it’s almost impossible not to compare the two works).

For me it really starts with the rough and ‘very Suicide’ of Talk, followed by the radiophonics of Psytron. The dark moody atmosphere of Unrecognised puts the darker stylings of most things by his ex-co-workers in the shade. Modreno is gorgeous, like a beach resort twin town to The Human League’s Toyota City - and to find it drifting between Unrecognised and the ha!-ha-ha! of Falling Away is quite a jolt. Falling Away is another stand-out track. Like all things Interplay and The Shape of Things vocally Foxx has not sounded better in a long time, and again, musically I’m reminded of the 2-track proto-drum machine echo of Half Alive-era Suicide.

So much to chose here, and in the tall shadow of Interplay, I’m still wandering through it – from the dark of Talk and Unrecognised to the little ambient flickers of Modreno or Buddwing to the unashamed pop of Tides and Vapour Trails with its echoes of Miles Away and Walking On Sunshine, it may not be as instant as Interplay but it’s autumn after all, I just need to leave it playing and wait for the shoots to grow.
Standout track – all of them.



The Horn The Hunt; Depressur Jolie
Blimey, I love this band. I was even commissioned early last year to make a video for Nowhere Near. I have happy memories of wandering and filming the back streets around Brick Lane, just me and some friends and a gun. We’d sat and watched Alphaville a few hours before and thought ‘well, if Godard can make it up on the spot why don’t we?’ so we did. I’m also amazed at how quickly it was to source props in the east-end. The correct pair of shades took ages, however a replica automatic took just a phone call and a brief meeting in a caff. Hey ho.

So this album is very close to me, I’ve watched it develop sporadically from the corner of various bars and pubs as The Horn The Hunt pile out of a car that’s arrived from Leeds, Birmingham, Windsor or elsewhere. Stumbling, blinking into the sunlight – setting it all up, performing some of the most amazing music you’ve (n)ever heard and then disappearing into the night.

They get compared to The Knife a lot, which is fair enough I suppose – since they do like The Knife. But they’re a much darker Knife. A Knife that lives in the strange north of England – the edgelands – old folk stories and motorway service stations verging on Summerisle territory. Claire and Joe are making new ghost stories, new edgeland myths with Henry’s Out and the deeply unsettling Old Town Cow (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksBlbG4MNCg)

There’s love songs of course, like Be The One, but only if you think medieval folk songs like Silver Dagger are love songs. There’s always an edge, always a dark twist to The Horn The Hunt. Long may they continue.
Standout track – all of them but give Old Town Cow a go (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksBlbG4MNCg)



The Horrors; Skying
I’m new to The Horrors and I’ve only heard this album a few times but I’ve enjoyed what I heard though. Almost an echo of Mirror Moves era Furs with Paul Haig on vocals. I was also reminded of Manual by Appliance (anyone else remember them? They were doing that post-Krautrock Krautrock thang before it became fashionable)
Standout track – Still Life



Kode 9 featuring Space Ape; Black Sun
As an outfit, Kode 9 and the Spaceape are getting damn close to the dance-hall analogue darkness of Leftfield’s Rhythm and Stealth – an absolute high point in electronic dance music.
Black Sun is a concept album – the gatefold vinyl opening to reveal a post-Apocalypse comic strip – (sweetly reminiscent of early 80s 2000A.D.) following the adventures of a group of nuclear fallout survivors, all soundtracked by dark analogue noise, space echoed dubstep drums and fragmented vocals. Funnily enough someone elsewhere has described it as “Rhythm and Stealth-era Leftfield had they been kidnapped by Lee "Scratch" Perry during one of his more lucid periods”. I’d subscribe to that. Great stuff.
Standout track – all of it as a whole but love, love, love the Model 500ness of Black Sun (Partial Eclipse)



Spotlight Kid; Disaster Tourist
Yes! They’re a Shoegaze band! I know, I know…but…listen! No! Come back! Stop running!!!

They get compared to Lush and MBV – A LOT, and the comparisons are fair to be honest. But there’s no harm in being compared to Lush and MBV is there? Everytime I see Spotlight Kid (nine times last year) Loveless gets an airing and the Lush albums come out, and there’s a mini-Lush revival to annoy the neighbours with for a day or two. Plan Comes Apart, All Is Real, April, Forget Yourself In Me, are all just pure, hazy, noisy guitar fuelled dream-pop songs – your coming summer won’t be complete without them.
Standout track – all those mentioned above but try Plan Comes Apart;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-i_O-cjYA8&feature=related
Cruelly, their best track ever There’s A Reason Why isn’t on the album, you can see the lovely video for it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZxctTIp4fU



Still growing...

David Sylvian; Died in the Wool
I found myself being pulled in two directions with this album. The recent material such as Died In The Wool, I Should Not Dare, A Certain Slant of Light etc only adds to the Manafon universe. The remixes or ‘versions’ I found however, detracted from it, and couldn’t really compare to the originals.
Standout track – A Certain Slant of Light



Kate Bush; 50 Words for Snow
Perhaps it’s just too recent and I haven’t got to grips with it yet. I do have to say thanks to Elton John though for not sounding all big and bombastic on the track he features on – I actually didn’t realise it was him when it started. I’m still working through it, maybe I should wait until the weather conditions arrive.



Uh-uh

The Human League; Credo
I think I’ve played Crash more times than this, and I was so looking forward to it too.


RadioBeach Merit Badge Award for ‘good one-off stuff in the year of chaos’ goes too:

The Advisory Circle featuring Hong Kong in the 60s; Seasons Change 7”

Burial & Four-Tet featuring Thom Yorke;Ego / Mirror 12”

Well what a cracking year it's been, a Royal Wedding and the Tories really starting to kick in .. anyway let's stick to the music, here's my top ten of the year:


Visage - Visage
well I know technically this was out at the end of last year but it didn't really catch on til early this year with a couple of great hits. Ace album with great contributions by Midge Ure and Billy Currie, but more of them later!


Duran Duran - Duran Duran
another eponymous debut. Wasn't sure what this would be like, but it's really good. Pity Tony Blackburn couldn't even pronounce their name right! <snigger> The females seem to like 'em a lot but can't see the attraction myself. they'll all be fat and balding when they're 40.


Kraftwerk - Computer World
sehr gut! Plus chart singles with Pocket Calculator and Computer Love/The Model making them officially good. I read they will be a brand new album later this year. I sent a letter to the fan club in Germany to find out! (didn't get an answer yet)


Vangelis - Chariots of Fire soundtrack
A bit removed from the usual poppy stuff I listen to but the film was really nice so I bought the LP too. It's being nominated for loads of Oscars this year. British cinema could be leading the way in the future.


Gary Numan - Dance
Bit of a change of direction after the last couple of albums, but this is a really cool LP and even though the music press don't like him he could be making really good records even in ten years time.


Simple Minds - Sons and Fascination
really ace album at last after the not-so-good earlier stuff. I bought the cassette for a mere £3.99 and it's got the extra album Sister Feelings Call too. LPs will be out in a couple of years I reckon - cassettes are the future.


Ultravox - Rage in Eden
a good follow up to Vienna, which will probably be forgotten in a few years time. They got a new look too, bit more sort of thirties-looking. They'll be wearing pony-tails next!! (joke)


Heaven 17 - Penthouse & Pavement
Not sure what to make of all the Thatcher-ist suit and ties and corporate image and stuff but the music’s pretty good - there's a funky side one and darker stuff on side two which might as well be Phil Oakey doing the vocals....which brings us nicely to....


The Human League - Dare
Wow! What a year for Phil Oakey and his boys and girls! It was great seeing them on TOTP and in Smash Hits and I got all the 12" singles too, although I nearly cried when I heard the proper drums on Love Action. Xmas number one spot well deserved, but it's a silly throw-away song which will be forgotten by this time next year.


OMD - Architecture & Morality
Def my fave album of the year - some great atmospheric experimental stuff plus the catchier stuff your parents like too. Second song about Joan of Arc in the charts now - ace! Looking forward to follow-up already which according to fan-club only news (ssshhh!) will have more songs about French saints!


not sure:
Depeche Mode - Speak and Spell
Wasn't sure what to expect from these pretty boys from Basildon, after the hits. Even though it's all electronic it's not really how synthesisers should be played. They'll never go far.


New Order - Movement
Ok at times if you're feeling depressed and p*ssed off but not as good as Joy Division. They should get a proper singer and cheer up a bit, but they'll never be disco-material.



biggest disappointment:
John Foxx - The Garden
Where's all the synths gone John??? Europe After the Rain was a good single but when I saw the acoustic guitar and frilly blouse on TOTP I knew something was up! No John, make us another Metamatic please.

most promising new thing:
Bow Wow Wow
- off to a shaky start in 1980 but "See Jungle! See Jungle! Go Join Your Gang Yeah, City All Over! Go Ape Crazy!" is a snappy title, and Go Wild In The Country is now a chart-smash - they should go for "Hello, Hello Daddy (I'll Sacrifice You)" as the next single, and I repeat..... cassettes are the future!



Happy 1982!

how did I do?

Interplay? A best album of the year? How come? It must’ve flopped surely, created from bits of old wire and valve equipment belonging to some geeky guy and his stuck in the 70’s and 80’s synthesizer-porn bachelor pad stashed with a prized Rolf Harris Stylophone collection hidden under the bed along with Kate Bush’s lipstick kissed Lynn Drum she once gave away to a home counties charity shop – oh, oh, it’s worse than I thought, says on the glossy album packaging fancy designer small print that the music includes singing from a retired media school lecturer who’s hobby is crooning away into a microphone in the style of ‘a happily reasonable existentialist being unreasonably happy’. No, it’ll never work! For heaven’s sake just bring back the Louis Gordon in a sweaty neon-coloured tee-shirt and the techno-crunch big fish little fish semaphore aerobics…
Meanwhile, back in the springtime, Interplay arrived in all its analogue splendour and had me playing it over and over, and over again. Having engaged my enthusiasm just a bit I quickly realised that it had sort of become the prime album of the post-80's-Foxx-reconnection for me, oh, and my all time favourite of the last two decades as well. Was it too outrageous to say then that the Golden era had finally returned and Interplay (albeit a collaboration) with sparkling songs such as Summerland, A Falling Star and Evergreen is on a par with the best of Johns solo romantic albums and is the one true successor to his earlier path? Yes Frodo, the one true album to unite them all.


John Maus: We Must Become The Pitiless Censors Of Ourselves
When it comes to ‘synthpop’ are you a 'don’t you want me baby' kind of person? Or are you the type who’s more of 'a crow and a baby'? Perhaps you even like to swing both ways on the synthpop scene, I’ve gravitated a little myself, nothing to be ashamed off, but with ‘the years ahead potentially calling’ me now as was back then I’ve never fell to temptation to ‘Dare’ sing along with Phil, Joanne, and Susan in pretending I’m working as a waitress in a cocktail bar, however, the slightly daft John Maus has a talent for whipping up a frothy perfect pop that would be right at home in a lounge bar or Phil Oakey’s living room, his music comes with something refreshingly quirky underneath its cheeky bubbles making me willingly succumb, buoyant melodies and idiosyncratic ‘Gregorian chant Karaoke-style’ singing really do hit the spot. If you’ve not yet experienced John Maus then please whatever you do please don’t watch any clips of him doing a gig, he’s terrible… a jury’s still out somewhere as to whether his stand-up act is naturally gauche or all part of a villainous master plan, its a performance that really begs the question as to why he asks us to become the pitiless censors of ourselves. On disc though there's no questions left hanging in the air for me about the veracity of his album, underpinned by great composition’s and addictive choruses his damn catchy tunes such as Keep Pushing On, or Head For The Country, and the jubilant album closer Believer endear me to the man and his sincere musical vision. So take it away John, and all we need now is to have you cover ‘Stars On Fire’ as an encore:

Believer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMku-GbafEg&ob=av2e


M83: Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming
Initially I was over-focused on Anthony Gonzales musical palette, apparently loaded here with dabs of poppy sounds of the 80’s, indie shades of the 90’s, and perhaps even the shadow of a power ballad at the edges, did I hear a burst of grandiose period Simple Minds, or is that A Flock Of Seagulls flying past, maybe the guitar twang of Level 42 or Psychedelic Furs being followed by the gentle drone of Spacemen 3 as I picture Anthony from 80’s child to 90’s teenager doctor-doctoring his new gold dream and wang chung-ing the dance hall days, saying throw off your mental chains, shout, shout, let it all out, and come down softly to my soul.

But its all good, for Anthony has succinctly filtered the essence of those spirits and created something quietly spectacular, and the prior self-declaration of ‘epic-ness’ in his goal for this album is thankfully minus the posturing of any fictitious stadium rock god, no, Hurry Up’ is full of the deeply heartfelt vision of the sensitive bedroom-creative-type that Anthony Gonzales more likely is, and that’s where the accessibility and appeal in this album lies.

Hurry Up’ has its roots in a couple of earlier M83 albums, in fact the only two I enjoy: Before The Dawn Heals Us, and Saturdays = Youth, by contrast their highs are more introverted and tangibly angst ridden, but that’s what good about them. However, flip the M83 coin to the other side and now we have Hurry Up’ We’re Dreaming, a warmer, decidedly positive experience, the music’s brighter, wider, and always in evidence is a richness of emotion in Anthony’s vocalisation, particularly effective on the divine Wait with its soft strumming guitar accompanying Anthony’s wistful singing. Wait is followed on the album by Raconte-Moi Une Histoire - a tale told by a young girl that evoked for me author Douglas Coupland’s fable-style novels about our Western uncertainty in post-God modern times. Sharing her imagination with us the girl playfully speaks of a magical frog, when touched it can change your world forever, blue becomes red, and red becomes blue, and your mummy suddenly becomes your daddy. It’s a mythical and teasingly prophetic song, and it’s child happy vibe is the perfect catharsis for the emotional journey of the previous track Wait, it’s also typical of the nature of this album, at one moment it takes you to somewhere tender and thoughtful, and then in the next it frees you into punching the air with joy.

Steve McQueen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6P8lMoNUWcU


Agnes Obel: Philharmonics
On the cover of her album Agnes Obel looks like she’s about to be plunged into a nightmare, her tight-laced composure and tense pose imply that laughter’s absent in her world, but there’s a black humour in title track Philharmonics when she sings in nursery-rhyme style: “Guess who died last night in grey stockings, in all might, it was no loss”, and “As the water took him over, filled his lungs inside out, I sold his gold for flowers and rice”. The particular look for her album cover image is homage to Tippi Hedren’s besieged character in psychological thriller film The Birds directed by Alfred Hitchcock, whom Agnes cites as an influence. The drama in her songs is tame in comparison to the meticulously contrived hysteria and bursts of staged violence created by Hitchcock, but like him Agnes brings an element of the surreal into her work, along with a great deal of control through her minimalist structure from where she directs her musical theatrics, balancing piano, voice, cello, and harp to bring moments of light and dark to her own stories.

Beast: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nk-zGG3_Rno


Tim Hecker: Ravedeath 1972
The cover art intrigued here, burned its way deep into my thoughts, an image of a group of men who’ve constructively taken a piano up to the roof of a high building where they have it teetering on the edge, at any moment its about to go crashing downwards.

The repetitions and fractured layers of Ravedeath 1972’s music is unsettling at times and almost an assault, but the moments of intensity eventually pass and you arrive at plateaus of stillness. This is music for the end, and Ravedeath 1972’s cover image is more than just a photographic link with the musician’s creativity or a graphic directors job done in selling the album it to us, no, it’s a power in its own right, a supernatural image wrought by a devils hand like something from a macabre Roman Polanski movie where a primitive desire is compelling us against our reason and will, ancient voices urging us to climb a mountain towards long forgotten dark gods, to carry all of our achievements and treasure’s, the good and the bad, and where in one crazy moment of action that’ll bring a halt to all things of our own making we’ll hurl our creations to oblivion, one glorious moment of self-destruction, here we go, over the edge, like monkey-men dropping a spanner into the works of the god-men’s machine...
Of course, that strikingly bizarre scene on Ravedeath 1972’s album cover could also be interpreted as one of those quaintly amusing visual gags that often appear in the old silent movies, the one where the removal men are hoisting a piano in or out of a building, they lose their grip, and it narrowly misses our cheeky Charlie Chaplin hero on the ground below, he dusts himself down, and lives to see another day…

The Piano Drop: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EE9mT4JaW_0


Moon Duo: Mazes
Ripley Johnson and Sanae Yamada’s Mazes is a distinctive progression from their drone-guitar and jam-heavy style of Moon Duo and Ripley’s other band Wooden Shjips. The previous lo-fi Californian home-studio approach was transcribed to a new dynamic when the band went into a fully equipped studio in Berlin and produced a playfully tune-biased album resulting in the closest Ripley has ever got to expressing a ‘pop’ sensibility, and making this an album I’d have fewer reservations about when recommending to anyone who’d normally run away screaming and frothing at the mouth by mention of the words ‘psychedelic rock’.

Mazes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvYUUes4O1Q


A Winged Victory For The Sullen: A Winged Victory For The Sullen
Adam Wiltzie the slow-motion guitar drone maker and one half of my all time favourite ambient band Stars Of The Lid teams up here for a first album with pianist and composer Dustin O’Halloran to create, well, possibly some of the most meaningful Stars Of The Lid tracks ever. What words best sum up the music on A Winged Victory For The Sullen, ‘so beautiful it hurts’, perhaps? Far from sullen and never dipping into melancholy Adam and Dustin take us to a haunting meditative realm, a place where internal feelings are aroused and invoked until we are eventually led towards a gentle emotional release.

Requiem For The Static King Part Two:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hBq5By5nWo


The War On Drugs: Slave Ambient
In this unexpectedly beautiful album a continuous tapestry of sound has indie rock joining with motorik beat, and Americana being caressed by kosmiche ambient, shimmering guitar and quick tempo drums create gracefully euphoric and anthemic highs while a singer tells of a restless spirit who’s been cursed, drowned, reimbursed, wandering, looking, wondering. Singer Adam Granduciel’s voice and style specifically evokes two artists who with the greatest of respect I would never seek to ring in my ears, namely, folkster Bob Dylan, and blue collar hero Bruce Springsteen, however, Adams vocal’s are entrancing, and they often blend into the music to become part of the texture. After the ambient otherworldly The Animator for which a shift in perspective is created by having the audio levels dramatically shooting up at beginning and then rapidly down at the end we arrive at Come To The City, a rousing fanfare of a song with a Springsteen-esque ‘call to arms’ appealing for us to be brought back to where we are. As the train locomotion style of the music steams forward the guitars kick in big time for this mid album peak, Adam sings out: “take me back to what I love”, “Its not far”, “ its on the way…”

Come To The City (ignore the rubbish video):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMqWSFNC1jU