Papir "VI" (2019)

VI

release date: May 10, 2019

format: digital (4 x File, FLAC)

[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,52]

producer: Lars Lundholm [rec.]; Troels Bech [mast.]; Papir [mix.]

label: Stickman Records - nationality: Denmark

Tracklist: 1. "VI.I" - 2. "VI.II" - 3. "VI.III" - 4. "VI.IV"

6th studio album by Papir following two years after V is like that recorded by Lars Lundholm and released on Stickman. The trio remains unchanged with guitarist Niklas Sørensen, bassist Christian Clausen, and drummer Christoffer Christensen.

VI are four untitled tracks with a total running time at just under 40 mins. and stylewise, Papir explores their new-found original blend of post-rock, space rock and prog rock with hints of this and that but still held together on their own musical path.

VI also continue a new fine level demonstrating individual qualities as well as insight in musical realisation. My only 'complaint' is the end-track, which to me sounds like something they composed earlier with too much improvisation and too much unorganised space rock, whereas the first three all appear more contemporary and better arranged. That said, this new distillation is still more than a worthwhile listen.

Small recommendation.

[ bandcamp ]

[ Musikreviews.de 13 / 15, SputnikMusik 3,7 / 5 stars ]

Robbie Robertson "Sinematic" (2019)

Sinematic
release date: Sep. 20, 2019
format: digital (13 x File, FLAC)
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,58]
producer: Robbie Robertson
label: UMe (Universal Music Enterprises) - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "I Hear You Paint Houses" (feat. Van Morrison) - 2. "Once Were Brothers" - 3. "Dead End Kid" - 4. "Hardwired" - 7. "Shanghai Blues"

6th studio album by Robbie Robertson released 8½ years after How to Become Clairvoyant from 2011 is a nice return from a man who has never exactly been renowned for releasing an abundance of new studio material. The actual foundation to the album here is probably with some persuassion from Robertson's 'Cinematic' friend Martin Scorsese, for whom Robertson composed the title track "I Hear You Paint Houses" and the closing track "Remembrance", both for Scorsese's TV movie "The Irishman". The Scorsese-Robertson friendship was initiated with Scorsese's 1978 film "The Last Waltz" - which many critics have on their top list of the best concert / music films of all time - the epic music by The Band. Since then, Robertson has contributed with musical scores to several films by Scorsese, which includes "Ragging Bull" (1980), "The King of Comedy" (1983), "The Color of Money" (1986), and Robertson is also credited as a musical -producer on these plus several other films by Scorsese in addition to being credited music-producer for other directors and especially from the early 80s to the present day. Most recently, Robertson is seen as music producer on "The Irishman", which in a way says a great deal about his professional commitment as an artist, who is linked to film art and who only rarely deals with the release of his own studio albums.

The title of the album is of course a play on words with the term 'Cinematic', as a word used with reference to film art, and when you know that the album here is purely sound based, then a 'sound motion' release rightly described as a 'Cinematic' experience. Simultaneously, the quality of music is pointed out as something that activates inner images while listening.

Sinematic is Robertson at his most playful and, I dare say, at his most original expression for several years. His 2011 album gave an experience of sparse originality, which in a way was also seen with his second solo album, Storyville back in 1991. On this his sixth studio album, and at the age of 76, Robbie turns up with one of his most sincere albums and with unusual amounts of freshness and vitality.

It may not be among his very best, but it's certainly more than just a decent collection of new tracks to recommend.

[ allmusic.com 3 / 5, 👍Rolling Stone 3,5 / 5, American Songwriter 4 / 5 stars ]

Kraftwerk "Radio-Aktivität" (1975)

Radio-Aktivität

release date: Oct. 1975

format: cd (1986 reissue)

[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,98]

producer: Ralf Hütter, Florian Schneider

label: Kling Klang / EMI - nationality: Germany

Track highlights: 2. "Radioaktivität" (4,5 / 5) - 3. "Radioland" - 4. "Ätherwellen" - 8. "Antenne" - 12. "Ohm Sweet Ohm" (4 / 5)

5th studio album by Kraftwerk and the band's second album on the compilation Der Katalog (2009) following one year after Autobahn. Here the band is for the first time a permanent quartet with the two primary composers and musicians Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider, again together with percussionist Wolfgang Flür - who also played on the predecessor, as well as new percussionist Karl Bartos. Emil Schult is songwriter of more than half of the songs and he is also credited the artwork of the album, but still not credited as an official member. The album runs just under 38 minutes and it's the band's first to be simultaneously released in an original German version as well as a versioned English edition with English song titles mainly for English-speaking countries, but also for release in the Netherlands and in Scandinavia - where the album was released as Radio-Activity.

Once again, the band has managed to take another leap further into the electronic genre. You'll find only a few overlaps with Autobahn and additionally, the album here is more stringent with electric percussion pads, vocoders, and a stronger pop profile with melodic choruses, in addition to a number of experimental traits, which tend towards modern glitch pop with what some have condescendingly called 'blip-blop music' - with reference to sounds simulating radios and electronic instruments. Between more traditional compositions at three to six minutes duration, shorter compositions from 14 seconds to just over one minute are interspersed, as small breaks with different sound sequences. It's a new and ground-breaking way of making music, which has inspired artists then and now. English band Orchestral Manouevres in the Dark have especially on their Dazzle Ships (1983) included some of the same sound loops and fun quirks found on Radio-Aktivität.

The album was met by lukewarm reviews and didn't perform to well commercially on a national scale, where it peaked at number #22, but the album went to number #4 in Austria and simply topped the albums chart in France. Contemporary reviewers were skeptical - probably because it's so different, but retrospective reviews attest to the album's status as yet another of the band's seminal releases.

Personally, I can easily hear OMD's huge inspiration, but because I first listened intensively to OMD, it's somewhat difficult to see Kraftwerk's music as better. It's obvious though, that the British band stole with hands and claws, but they didn't just copy, and that's ultimately what musicians do when they help push boundaries and create their own sound. Radio-Aktivität is a proof of the band's innovative style and is not a complete album without twists and turns, where in particular the slightly outdated instruments used distinguish the album from later releases, but it's nevertheless so beautifully produced and thoroughly new in form and sound that it surpasses much else of contemporary releases.

Highly recommended.

[ allmusic.com, Mojo, Q Magazine, Uncut 4 / 5, Spin 4,5 / 5 stars ]

Dead Can Dance "The Serpent's Egg" (1988)

The Serpent's Egg

release date: Oct. 24, 1988

format: cd (2008 remaster)

[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,92]

producer: Brendan Perry, Lisa Gerrard, John A. Rivers

label: 4AD Records - nationality: Australia

Track highlights: 1. "The Host of Seraphim" (4,5 / 5) (live 2018) - 3. "Severance" (live) - 4. "The Writing on My Father's Hand" - 5. "In the Kingdom of the Blind the One-Eyed Are Kings" - 6. "Chant of the Paladin" - 7. "Song of Sophia" - 10. "Ullyses"

4th studio album by Dead Can Dance follows 15 months after Within the Realm of a Dying Sun and is like their recent two albums produced mainly by the duo and in collaboration with John A. Rivers on four tracks. All songs are credited Brendan Perry and Lisa Gerrard with the former singing lead vocals on three songs (tracks #3, #5, and #10), whereas Gerrard once again proves her stunning vocal on the remainders. The album consists of ten songs with a relatively short total running time at around 36 minutes.

Compared to the predecessor, The Serpent's Egg is also experimental, less electronically-founded and even more stripped to the bone regarding the musical arrangements. On this, not only Gerrard lives up to her almost usual brilliant vocal standard but Perry also delivers some of his best performances. The album is without fillers and it showcases the duo's originality and capability to keep renewing itself as front runners withtin an alt. rock sphere bonded to classical works and to no particular dominating style, which in itself is so rare.

The album is no less than a timeless classic and highly recommended.

[ 👍allmusic.com 4 / 5 stars ]

Lingua Ignota "All Bitches Die" (2017)

original cover

All Bitches Die

release date: Jun 7, 2017

format: digital (4 x File, FLAC)

[album rate: 3 / 5] [2,98]

producer: Kristin Hayter

label: selvudgivet - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "Woe to All (On the Day of My Wrath)" - 2. "All Bitches Die (Bitches All Die Here)"

2nd studio album by American Lingua Ignota [meaning 'unknown language'], as the moniker of Kristin Hayter. She debuted on bandcamp with the album Let the Evil of His Own Lips Cover Him in Feb. 2017 and only five months later she's then ready with this album, which was also released via her bandcamp-profile, but this time to overwhelming international interest. She soon became associated with the record label Profound Lore, who re-issued this one with a new cover in 2018. The album consists of only four compositions of varying length from 5½ to 15 minutes and with a total running time of just over 42 minutes.

Musically speaking, it's based on a mixture of dark - or rather: absolute black noise metal with elements from classical music and a clear inspiration from industrial rock. Hayter's own life story as a victim in a long violent relationship lays a great foundation for her musical and lyrical universe. She is a classically trained musician and is credited the entire performance alone as songwriter, composer, sound engineer, producer, photographer, instrumentalist, and vocalist. Her expression balances on the extremely brutal, and she experiments with the use of pure noise, just as the use of her vocal reflects a similar approach. She possesses an excellent singing voice, which can be soft, finely tuned and sometimes terrifyingly distorted as bestial death screams and disturbing throat singing.

There is no doubt that Hayter is an original. The queen of darkness, Diamanda Galás, is closest as an inspiration and related artist, but Hayter is not only concerned with performance and singing, as a primary instrument. The compositions have both qualities from ambient and classical compositions, which make it both neoclassical works and experimental noise rock.

All Bitches Die is a fierce acquaintance. You probably have to have a certain fondness for Galás or black metal to find this beautiful. To my ears it's more fascinating than ordinary black metal, death metal, or related styles, but it's also too extreme a musical expression for me to just think it's really cool.

Disturbing. Fascinating. And at the same time, too much brutality.

[ SputnikMusic 4 / 5 stars ]

2018 reissue on Profound Lore

Fatboy Slim "You've Come a Long Way, Baby" (1998)

You've Come a Long Way, Baby

release date: Oct. 1998

format: cd / digital (2008 2cd 10th Anniversary Edition)

[album rate: 4 / 5] [4,08]

producer: Fatboy Slim

label: Skint Records - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Right Here, Right Now" (4,5 / 5) - 2. "The Rockafeller Skank" - 4. "Gangster Tripping" - 5. "Build It Up - Tear It Down" - 9. "Praise You" (4,5 / 5) - 11. "Acid 8000"

2nd studio album by Fatboy Slim following his fine debut Better Living Through Chemistry from '96 is like that released on Skint and produced by Fatboy Slim (aka Norman Cook). The title is taken from the American cigarette brand Virgina Slims, which was sold (to women as target group) in the 1960s and 70s using the slogan "You've Come a Long Way, Baby" - the title here then is used with reference to the cover and the official video for track #1 as an ironic statement about the human race.

Despite being crafted almost only using heavy sampling, the album is very much of a whole, building on hooks, catchy phrases and small bits from this and that, primarily soul and funk artists, but the common denominator is something original within the big beat style of electronica.

The album spawned four single releases and they all peaked in top 10 on the UK singles chart list. In order, the songs selected for single releases were tracks #2, 4, 9, and 1 with the first two preceding the album release and the last two issued in '99. The third single, "Praise You" (Jan. '99) followed by an official video creation that was work of geniality performed the best peaking at #1 in many countries world-wide including the UK, Scotland, Iceland, and it peaked at #2 in the US on the Alternative Songs list. The last single also performed quite well peaking at #1 on the UK Indie list (#2 overall) and furthermore, the video for "Praise You" won three major awards at the 1999 MTV Video Awards, and in 2000 it was voted #1 of the 100 best music videos ever released in an MTV anniversary poll. The album peaked at #1 in the UK, and it has sold more than 3 mio. copies worldwide and is enlisted in "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die".

The album is undoubtedly Fatboy Slim's best and most coherent album. In 2008, a 2-disc 10th Anniversary Commemorative Edition with 10 bonus tracks was issued on Skint.

Highly recommendable.

[ allmusic.com, Select 5 / 5, 👍NME, Muzik, Q Magazine, Spin 4 / 5, 👎Rolling Stone 3 / 5 stars ]

1998 Favourite releases: 1. Grant Lee Buffalo Jubilee - 2. Mark Hollis Mark Hollis - 3. Fatboy Slim You've Come a Long Way, Baby