Lotte Kestner "At My Most Beautiful" (2023) (single)

At My Most Beautiful, single

release date: Aug. 4, 2023

format: digital (1 x File, FLAC)

[single rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,62]

producer: self-produced

label: self-released (bandcamp) - nationality: USA

Tracklist: "At My Most Beautiful (R.E.M. cover"

Single release and second consecutive R.E.M. cover from Lotte Kestner made available through her bandcamp-profile following the release of the single "Walk Unfraid" (May 2023).

Again, Kestner covers an R.E.M. favourite [the original] from the album Up (1998) and she does that with appropriate conviction. The song remains but heavily rearranged to fit Kestner's lo-fi production and a simple and serene expression. A prediction regarding her next covers relase is likely to feature a handful of covers of the great Athens-band.

The National "First Two Pages of Frankenstein" (2023)

First Two Pages of Frankenstein

release date: Apr. 28, 2023

format: digital (11 x File, FLAC)

[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,62]

producer: The National

label: 4AD - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "Once Upon a Poolside" (feat. Sufjan Stevens) - 2. "Eucalyptus" - 3. "New Order T-Shirt" - 4. "This Isn’t Helping" (feat. Phoebe Bridgers) - 5. "Tropic Morning News" - 6. "Alien" - 8. "Grease in Your Hair" - 10. "Your Mind Is Not Your Friend" (feat. Phoebe Bridgers) - 11. "Send for Me"

9th studio album by The National follows four years after I Am Easy to Find (Apr. 2019), and it's the band's first of two full-length studio albums in 2023. The album feature a long list of guest appearances, notably counting Sufjan Stevens (track #1), Phoebe Bridgers (tracks #4 & #10), and Taylor Swift (track #7), alongside an extensive number of performing artists.

The National don't stray much from their unique sound but still manage to turn out as a revitalised band, who has managed to incorporate small stylistic variations to their trademark of chamber riden melancholy.

Recommended.

[ allmusic.com, Rolling Stone, Clash, Uncut 4 / 5, NME 5 / 5, 👍Pitchfork 6,6 / 10 stars ]

Karen Carpenter "Karen Carpenter" (1996)

Karen Carpenter [debut]

release date: Sep. 11, 1996

format: cd

[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,72]

producer: Phil Ramone

label: A&M Records - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "Lovelines" (4 / 5) - 3. "If I Had You" - 4. "Making Love in the Afternoon" - 5. "If We Try" - 6. "Remember When Lovin' Took All Night" - 9. "Make Believe It's Your First Time" - 11. "Still Crazy After All These Years" - 12. "Last One Singin' the Blues" (bonus track)

Studio debut and only album by Karen Carpenter recorded and mixed in between albums with the Carpenters. In the chronology of the duo, the album stands in between Christmas Portrait (1978) and Made in America (1981), the duo's ninth and tenth albums and recorded at a time when Richard Carpenter went through treatment for substance addiction. With Richard being indisposed, Karen was curious to see if she could do something as a solo artist and A&M Records were in support of the idea. That is, until executives (and brother Richard) listened to the final mix of the album and the management then decided to shelve the album - naturally, to Karen's regret. Alledgedly, they found it missing something. Or: they had their minds up for something else. Karen didn't experience the album release, which wasn't approved of until 1996. In the liner notes, both Richard Carpenter and producer Phil Ramone recount a few of the details about the recordings as well as their wish to see the album released the way it had been mixed in 1980. Track #9 was soon re-recorded but first found its way to the final album by the Carpenters Voice of the Heart (Oct. 1983), and four other songs (tracks #1, #3, #5, and #6) were all included on the thirteenth studio album Lovelines (Oct. 1989), posthumously issued after Karen's passing - Richard had assembled previously unreleased songs for the occasion. Two songs (tracks #8 and #11) later found their way to the compilation album From the Top (1991). All of this documents the weight of this album, although, key people thought otherwise back in the day.

To me, the album is like a rough diamond. It's full of great tracks with Karen's wonderful vocal making everything more delightful. Yes, there are attempts of making this sound more like other contemporary artists as contrary to the Carpenters' unique sound but I think, Ramone did a mighty fine job. Some tracks have a certain otherness - misinterpreted as Karen's detachment, or missing involvement. I think, mainly due to her approach to singing other people's songs. "Lovelines" is up there among the absolute best tracks by the duo, and it's only confusing why record label executives weren't able to see this as pure gold. The only explanation is that they had their minds set on 'something else' than what they already had and this was too close to that.

With Karen Carpenter we're blessed by the existence of unique recordings, although, in 1996 they appear as somewhat out of time. But only somewhat 'cause Karen's vocal will sell sand in the Sahara and everyone should know that.

Recommended.

Best of 2023: Anohni and the Johnsons "My Back Was a Bridge for You to Cross" (2023)

My Back Was a Bridge for You to Cross

release date: Jul. 7, 2023

format: vinyl (LTD. white vinyl) / digital (10 x File, FLAC)

[album rate: 4 / 5] [4,12]

producer: Jimmy Hogarth

label: Rough Trade / Secretly Canadian - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "It Must Change" (4 / 5) - 2. "Go Ahead" - 3. "Sliver of Ice" - 4. "Can't" (4 / 5) - 5. "Scapegoat" - 6. "It’s My Fault" (4 / 5) - 9. "Why Am I Alive Now?"

5th studio album by Anohni and the Johnsons (6th by Anohni) follows Hopelessness (May 2016) by Anohni, but more interestingly it continues after the album Swanlights (Oct. 2010), the fourth album in the discography with the Johnson-project after which Anohni put that on a hiatus while seemingly concentrating on a career under the name of Anohni and a period of collaborations and other art projects. All previous releases have been executed with Anohni as producer, but here this role is handed Jimmy Hogarth, who also takes part in the project as guitarist on all tracks. Anohni and Hogarth are the only two instrumentalists featuring on all compositions, and the choice of Hogarth is of course not just a matter of having someone else produce - as a new ingredient or someone with a new and fresh perspective. Hogarth is no novice in the British music industry, and he has recorded albums with soul-influenced artist such as Amy Winehouse, James Morrison, Sia, Duffy, Corinne Bailey Rae, and James Blunt - all artists with bonds to a British version of soul, and that's probably the whole idea: to pay tribute to exactly that source of inspiration.

Thirteen years is an unusual long time in the music business, but if the four studio albums by Antony and the Johnsons are your only reference, then this new album doesn't fall far from that. Anohni is back with chamber pop and pop soul as main ingredients and with an album that is dedicated inacceptable conditions for everyone sticking out on a 'normality' spectre as well as the very existence / destruction of our planet.

Critics have lauded the album as a great return, and I'm already considering it one of the absolute best by this great artist. The musical arrangements are cheerful and fillled with warmth but the lyrics and the lamenting [beautiful] voice of Anohni brings a contrasting element of grief and disaster that nontheless functions brilliantly.

I already consider this part of my top-3 list of the best albums of 2023.

Highly recommended.

The front cover portrays [activist] Marsha P. Johnson, who initially gave name to Anohni's project.

[ 👉Pitchfork 8,7 / 10, 👍NME 4 / 5, Clash 9 / 10, The Observer 5 / 5 stars ]

2023 Favourite releases: 1. Anohni and the Johnsons My Back Was a Bridge for You to Cross - 2. Ukendt Kunstner Dansktop - 3. Sigur Rós Átta