St. Vincent "All Born Screaming" (2024)

All Born Screaming

release date: Apr. 26, 2024

format: digital (10 x File, FLAC)

[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,56]

producer: St. Vincent

label: Total Pleasure - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "Hell Is Near" - 2. "Reckless" (live) - 3. "Broken Man" (live) - 4. "Flea" - 6. "Violent Times" - 7. "The Power's Out" - 8. "Sweetest Fruit"

8th studio album by St. Vincent follows three years after the generally acclaimed Daddy's Home (May 2021), though, I'm not a fan of that. Actually, The Nowhere Inn (Sep. 2021) is filed as her most recent release but being a soundtrack it doesn't officially belong amongst her studio releases, although, it's more than an ordinary soundtrack being music to afilm with script by Annie Clark and starring Clark herself.

Anyway, this new album unfolds as her so far most electrified and angry album to date. In that regard, it's a warm welcome back to Annie Clark the guitarist; however, in the case of St. Vincent things are not meant to be and cannot be categorised in terms of rock-standards. Clark is a modern musician with a musically schooled background and she is probably one of the most non-conformist acts around, who grabs stylistic impulses like you would pick books on a shelf. Sometimes she builds on a predominantly psychedelic rock tradition but it doesn't take more than a listen to two to three songs here and you have soul, blues, r&b, contemporary pop, indie pop and a whole bunch of other influences blended in.

So what's it like then? Well, critics can't be wrong, can they? They all like it. Alexis Petridis of The Guardian calls it "...the unmasking of a great American songwriter" and claims the album is 'packed with ideas' and yet he also points to the impression that's it contains 'shape-shifting music'. Undoubtedly, the album sounds like the music from no one else - in that regard, St. Vincent is a guarantee of unique music. The other side of that coin is that it sounds exactly like St. Vincent. Some songs build on a stereo-typical matrix of arrangements and of chorus-structures that we've heard about seven times before. Perhaps, critics focus on lyrics and narrative ideas? It's never enough when dealing with music. For me, it leaves me slightly indifferent. No track in particular stand out as one I really enjoy and return to, but yes, it's generally good, and it's better than a lot of other albums, but it's not great. What I really like about it, is the absence of strong influence from one Mr. David Byrne. Apparently, it has taken twelve years to get further into her own soundscape, and that's the most positive, I hear on All Born Screaming, which basically sounds like Clark's continued journey following her best album Mercy from 2011.

Recommended.

[ allmusic.com, NME, Slant 4,5 / 5, Mojo, Rolling Stone 4 / 5, Pitchfork 7,8 / 10, 👉Exclaim! 3,5 / 5, 🙀The Guardian 5 / 5, stars ]

[ digital album may be purchased here ]

Blur "The Ballad of Darren" (2023)

The Ballad of Darren

release date: Jul. 21, 2023

format: digital (12 x File, FLAC) (Deluxe)

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

producer: James Ford

label: Parlophone - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 3. "Barbaric" - 2. "St. Charles Square" - 4. "Russian Strings" - 6. "The Narcissist" - 7. "Goodbye Alert" - 10. "The Heights"

9th studio album by Blur marks a long-awaited reunion following more than eight years after The Magic Whip (Apr. 2015), which then was another reunion album following 12 years after Think Tank (May 2003). The Ballad... is produced by James Ford, who has made a name for his work with e.g. Arctic Monkeys, Last Shadow Puppets, and in this context: for his work on albums by Gorillaz. The band remains intact and all tracks are credited the band of Damon Albarn, Graham Coxon, Alex James, and Dave Rowntree. Together with Gorillaz, Albarn released Cracker Island (Feb. 2023), and basically, Blur now appears as just another brain-child of Albarn's. Blur is still something else, and markedly different from albums by Gorillaz, but there are apparent similarities with the music by the Albarn-led project The Good, The Bad & The Queen (e.g. "Goodbye Alert" and "Far Away Island"), who most recently - as of Nov. 2018 released Merrie Land.

The album was met by positive reviews - I didn't immediately embrace it as an improvement, and frankly thought of it as on par with the band's 2015 album, but one year down the road, I consider it better than my initial verdict. It's not up there among the best by Blur but it surely has its moments, and Coxon is a most treasured guarantee in delivering classic Blur guitar-riffs, which securely puts it somewhere in the middle on the Blur shelf.

[ 👎allmusic.com 4,5 / 5, The Guardian, Mojo, NME, 👍Pitchfork 7,2 / 10 stars ]

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

Stromae "Multitude" (2022)

Multitude

release date: Mar. 4, 2022

format: digital (12 x File, FLAC)

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

producer: Stromae

label: Mosaert Label / Universal - nationality: Belgium

Track highlights: 1. "Invaincu" - 2. "Santé" - 3. "La Solassitude" - 4. "Fils de joie" - 5. "L'enfer" - 8. "Riez" - 9. "Mon amour" - 10. "Déclaration"

3rd studio album by Stromae following almost 9 full years after Racine Carrée (Aug. 2013) - a time of both international acclaim and personal turmoil. Stromae went on long tours in the US and in Africa, and then had to pull the plug from performing to recover again. Apparently, he suffered from anxiety and spent a long time rethinking his career. He only resurfaced again in 2021 with his first single from this album, the song "Santé".

Racine Carrée was a step forward from a promising debut and was a massive success - it's really no wonder that the skyrocketing success he has experienced is something that may be more than overwhelming, and with Multitude he not only does it again - he simply takes another step forward. The single "L'enfer" was played everywhere, and I first thought of it as merely another pop song, but it's so much more than just that. Stromae himself is the result of a mixed marriage, but his musical style is a gigantic mix of Euro-pop, American R&B, African and Asian popular music, AND with obvious bits of folkore from all over the world - yet, his music is styled to just fit his expression. All the global influences are destilled into a personal and strict sound that doesn't make you question its coherency.

At first, I found the album contained 2-3 great songs, but soon they kept surfacing, and here at the end of the year, I think of it as one the best albums of the year.

[ NME 4 / 5, Pitchfork 8,0 / 10 stars ]

Toyah "Minx" (1985)

Minx
release date: Jul. 25, 1985
format: digital
[album rate: 2,5 / 5] [2,72]
producer: Christopher Neil
label: Portrait Records - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Soldier of Fortune, Terrorist of Love" - 2. "Don't Fall in Love (I Said)" - 3. "Soul Passing Through Soul" - 11. "America for Beginners"

Studio solo debut by Toyah Wilcox, although it's also the sixth album credited Toyah. After Love Is the Law (Oct. 1983) the band faced declining sales figures and interest, and most of the band members became engaged in other acts, basically, leaving Wilcox and Joel Bogen alone - once again. Except this time, Toyah Wilcox now signed a contract with CBS subsidiary Portrait as a solo artist. Songwriting duo Wilcox / Bogen is here credited a single song (track #7), while most of the other tracks are credited Wilcox and keyboardist Simon Darlow. The album also feature a total of four covers - songs originally released by Rare Bird (track #4), DATA (track #6), Alice Cooper (track #9), and Latin Quarter (track #11).

Alledgedly, the money men of the label had much to say in terms of details about the sound and style of the album, and also regarding what specific tracks they wanted on an album that appears to have been produced with an American market in mind, i.e. with clear focus on a mainstream style within a pop / rock bubble at a time when synthpop and the contemporary soft version of new wave with toned-down art pop was state-of-the-art. The arrangements show bold use of vocal harmonies, keyboards, and the typical '80s drum sound, as well as the use of strings. Even the front cover highlights a shift towards a different audience in mind with a Toyah Wilcox [in a Sheena Easton / Frida / Tina Turner look-a-like] style and definitely not meant for punk rock associations.

The album actually performed quite well, peaking at number #24 on the national albums chart, and the first single "Don't Fall in Love (I Said)" peaked as number #22. Tracks #3 and #10 were also issued as singles and landed as No. #57 and #93, respectively.

Both musically and stylistically, Toyah simply ceased to appeal to me after Love Is the Law, and this very album just cemented my lack of interest. I believe much of the relatively significant commercial success that she faced after all is largely due to her background as an actor in a number of British films, TV series, and in roles as TV presenter on various BBC-productions. From a musical historical perspective, the band Toyah and soloist Toyah Wilcox released only a few really substantial albums, where Anthem (1981) is the only truly outstanding original.

One year following Minx, Wilcox married guitarist Robert Fripp, and she continued to release solo albums up until '96, after which the pace of new releases slowed considerably. The 2008 album In the Court of the Crimson Queen - paying tribute to husband Fripp's band King Crimson's acclaimed debut In the Court of the Crimson King from 1969 - from the beginning of 2021, is Wilcox's most recent studio album.

Not recommended.

Toyah "Love Is the Law" (1983)

Love Is the Law
release date: Oct. 24, 1983
format: vinyl (HOTLP 83003) / digital
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,38]
producer: Nick Tauber
label: Safari Records / Hot Records - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 2. "I Explode" - 4. "Rebel Run" - 5. "Martian Cowboy" - 6. "Dreamscape" - 7. "Time Is Ours" - 10. "The Vow"

5th studio album by Toyah [band name] following Changeling (1982) originally released on Safari Records is the final album by the band Toyah. After this, Toyah Wilcox released her first solo album Minx (1985) under the same name. The majority of the songs here are written by Toyah and composed by guitarist Joel Bogen, just as they had shared credits on previous releases, and perhaps there is some kind of hidden sign of an imminent breakup of the band in the fact that the members had come and gone - bass players, keyboardists, and drummers were often different individuals on the band's first four albums. This is also the final album with one of the founding musicians of Toyah: guitarist and main composer Joel Bogen, with whom Wilcox wrote and composed the majority of the band's music. Bassist Phil Spalding (in the band from '81) appears on only three out of a total of ten tracks on the original album. On the remaining songs he has been replaced by Brad Lang, who here is one of three new members only appearing on this. The other two are: keyboardist Simon Darlow, and new drummer Andy Duncan. However, Darlow would later, from around 2007, again assist Wilcox.

In terms of style, it's clear that the band here has taken a significant step into the world of synthpop mixing that with a richly orchestrated art pop à la Kate Bush, and somewhat with the same inspiration as you may hear on the band's most recent two albums - just listen to "The Vow", and here it's most obvious how much synthesisers have come to fill the soundscape. The connection to the '70s is minimized, and the album introduces a new path, which is not quite pure neo-romantic but which may still be classified as synthpop. On Toyah's first two albums, the inspiration blatantly came from German Nina Hagen, and Toyah most of all sounded like an English clone of Nina Hagen Band. And with this new album, I can't quite shake the thought that a new German artist might have been a big inspiration. Nena, or perhaps you may think of Toyah Wilcox as the slightly outlandish image of Kate Bush trying to be Nena - or vice versa.

Love Is the Law was the only release by Toyah that I purchased when it had only just come out and I've completely forgotten why I found it interesting in the first place. I wasn't a big fan but had listened to some of their hits, such as "I Want to Be Free" and "It's a Mystery" from the fine Anthem from 81, which I purchased much later, but I probably just came across the album in the local music store and noticed the cover and having the familiar songs in mind, and then upon listening through it, I may possibly have been impressed by the fine change in production sound. Also, I may have even listened to "Dreamscape" as the first track on the B-side, which is quite a magnificent cut when comparing to other new wave releases from that year. However, I do remember that I rather quickly tired of / was fed up with Wilcox's vocal and the pompous arrangements, which still reminded me of 1970s progressive pop / rock, although, Wilcox herself with her singing style appeared with the 'right profile' - i.e. a punk rock attitude, which on the one hand linked her with contemporary artists such as Hazel O'Connor and Nina Hagen, and on the other hand also with Debbie Harry and especially Kate Bush, who was actually a form of guarantee that it couldn't be all bad. And Love Is the Law is by no means a poor or mediocre album, even if time has not made it easier to listen to. Back then, I think, it was seen as something innovative and quite modern, but it's also an album that simply doesn't reach the same original quality as Anthem, which imho clearly is Toyah's all-time best.

[ Pop Rescue 3 / 5 stars ]

Toyah "The Changeling" (1982)

The Changeling
release date: Jun. 30, 1982
format: digital (1999 reissue)
[album rate: 3 / 5] [3,12]
producer: Steve Lillywhite
label: Connoisseur Collection - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Creepy Room" - 2. "Street Creature" (tv performance) - 5. "Angel and Me" - 7. "Life in the Trees" - 8. "Dawn Chorus" - 10. "Brave New World"

4th studio album by Toyah following the band's most successful album Anthem (May 1981) and now together with one of rock music's new star producers, Steve Lillywhite, who had only just worked with XTC, Peter Gabriel, Thompson Twins, and U2. Originally released on Safari Records, the album contains ten songs nearly all written and composed by Toyah Wilcox and Joel Bogen - with one track co-written with bassist Phil Spalding. The '99 Enhanced CD edition contains an additional six tracks. As an almost entirely natural development, the band's line-up has changed once more in two positions: keyboardist Adrian Lee and drummer Nigel Glockler, who both only appeared on the '81 album are here replaced by Andy Clark and Simon Phillips, respectively.

Stylistically, it's as if the band is trying hard to stay on the same musical path with its own mix of orchestrated new wave and art pop combo, which at the same time appears to lend from 1970s symphonic rock and progressive rock with a more contemporary uptempo smartness. With this, Toyah produced another top-10 album and the band's second-highest charting album, peaking at No. #6 on the national albums chart, and the only single from the album, "Brave New World" peaked at No. #21.

Although the artistic distance from the band's most recent album is quite small, The Changeling still sounds more like a collection of outtakes from the stronger album, and at the same time you may assume that the success of the '81 release also has had something to do with the good sales figures with which the album was met here, because The Changeling as such, didn't produce any notable hits. Both lyrics and music deal with the mysterious and a fantasy world, which is suggested by the front cover. On the songs, Wilcox narrates about "Gladiators", "War", "Warriors", "Breaking free", "New destinations", " Mysterious world", etc. - something that she should cling to on the successor - and she hangs on to topics related to the future and science - and not really about alienation (as contemporaries like Siouxsie & the Banshees or Nina Hagen), but more like a kind of welcoming towards the new and unknown, and in that way you could point out that in relation to the trends, Toyah went her own way.

The band tries hard to produce a worthy sequel to their fine Anthem but ultimately fails to repeat the success - perhaps because the attempt appears too obvious. The formula and the style are more or less from the same area but the songs are not, and it's reasonable to ask if this album really deserves a reissue edition with six bonus tracks.

Not recommended.

Toyah "Anthem" (1981)

Anthem

release date: May 22, 1981
format: vinyl (VOOR 1) / cd (1999 enhanced reissue)
[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,82]
producer: Nick Tauber
label: Safari Records / Connoisseur Collection - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: A) 1. "I Want to Be Free" (4 / 5) (live) - 2. "Obsolete" - 3. "Pop Star" - 5. "Jungles of Jupiter" - - B) 1. "It's a Mystery" (4,5 / 5) - 2. "Masai Boy" - 3. "Marionette"

3rd studio album by Toyah [the band] following The Blue Meaning (Jun. 1980) originally released on Safari Records. Here the band again showcases one of its ever-changing line-ups as only lead vocalist and songwriter Toyah Wilcox and main musical composer Joel Bogen on guitar took part in the making of the predecessor, and here they constitute Toyah together with three new members: Phil Spalding on bass, Adrian Lee on keyboards and Nigel Glockler on drums.
Musically, the album is not only Toyah's best charting album (and only album to reach 'Gold' status) but also the band's most famous studio release. Despite only following The Blue Meaning (1980) by some 11 months, this is quite a different tonal experience. The '80 album was made with other band members, and although, the songs were also primarily by Wilcox and Bogen, the songs on Anthem introduce a completely new approach and style, but more importantly: the songs are simply better on every level. The Nina Hagen / Siouxsie Sioux influences are gone, and instead some would argue that Wilcox here instead loans (too) much from songs and the singing style of Kate Bush.
The album spawned Toyah's biggest hit song, the non-single cover song "It's a Mystery" (released on the Four From Toyah ep) - written and composed by Keith Hale (originally for his band Blood Donor), who also co-wrote two songs for Toyah on the debut album, Sheep Farming in Barnet (1979), and the album itself peaked at #2 on the albums chart list only surpassed by Kings of the Wild Frontier by Adam & The Ants [which is a bit of a paradox as that was released in Nov. 1980, hence only featured on the successive year's list]. Also the single "I Want to Be Free" was a commercial success peaking at #8 on the singles chart list.
Anthem may owe much to Kate Bush, David Bowie, Blondie and Patti Smith, but it's still an original mix and a most coherent whole that belongs to the list of truly fine and important albums of the early 1980s, and imho, it should be included in any list compiling the best of new wave.
The 1999 'enhanced' cd issue contains an additional six bonus tracks.
Recommended.

1999 enhanced CD issue

Toyah "The Blue Meaning" (1980)

The Blue Meaning
release date: Jun. 6, 1980
format: digital (2002 reissue)
[album rate: 2,5 / 5] [2,52]
producer: Steve James, Toyah
label: Safari Records - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Ieya" - 7. "Visions" - 9. "Love Me"

2nd studio album by Toyah succeeding Sheep Farming in Barnet by less than three months. Here the band already demonstrates its ever-changing line-ups as bassist Mark Henry has been replaced by Charlie Francis.

Apart from the line-up change, The Blue Meaning is very much like the other side of the coin to the debut with ten new pompous arrangements and a little more screaming - Wilcox is credited for "verbals & unusual sounds"... [sic], and she has taken an even stronger theatrical sound, which may have seemed avantgarde and experimental at the time. By doing so, she may have looked to both appearances by Kate Bush and Siouxsie Sioux, but in retrospect it only seems rather forced - to put it mildly.

The album was a minor success as it went as high as #40 on the UK albums chart list - at a time when the public in Britain became familiar with her through her acting career. Wilcox appeared in two movies by Derek Jarman: "Jubilee" (1978) and "The Tempest" (1979), she played a minor role in The Who's "Quadrophenia" (1979), and then she also appeared in several TV-series from the late '70s including "Quatermass" (1979), "Minder" (1980) and she was TV-presenter on the BBC programme "Look! Here!".

Had Wilcox not been such a familiar face, it is doubtful that this album would have entered the albums chart list in 1980.

Is it any better or worse than the debut? That's hard to say, really. But as an original piece of music it's not recommended.

[ Smash Hits 1,5 / 5 stars ]

Toyah "Sheep Farming in Barnet" (1980)

Sheep Farming in Barnet
release date: Feb. 22, 1980
format: digital (2002 reissue)
[album rate: 2,5 / 5] [2,48]
producer: Steve James, Keith Hale
label: Safari Records - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Neon Womb" - 2. "Indecision" - 5. "Victims of the Riddle" - 8. "Danced"

Studio album debut by British band Toyah - named after the band's lead vocalist Toyah Ann Wilcox. The album was originally released as a 6-track ep in '79, which six months later was expanded to an 11-track album. Already as of '80 it was released as a compilation with the band's second album The Blue Meaning (Jun. 1980). The band consists of vocalist Toyah Wilcox, guitarist and main composer Joel Bogen, bassist Mark Henry, keyboardist Peter Bush, and drummer Steve Bray.

Toyah began as a punk rock band and quickly combined all sorts of contemporary influences from post punk, art punk, art pop and new wave with Toyah Wilcox, to a large extent, impersonating German punk queen, Nina Hagen.

I didn't came across this album until the early '00s, and being familiar with Anthem (1981), Changeling (1982) and Love Is the Law (1983) it is a strange experience to go through the band's first two albums. Sheep Farming in Barnet, to me, sounds pretty much like a British version of Nina Hagen Band in a bizarre cocktail with synthesizer inputs from Brian Eno.

The band was probably given a great deal more attention than their music deserved, and it's likely that the band's initial success was linked with Wilcox participating in national TV-series. Imho, the first two albums by Toyah are not more than historical artefacts and only serve to show us from what they spawned.

Not recommended.

[ 👎NME 3 / 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 ]

Montasje "Presence!" (1982)

Presence! [debut]
release date: 1982
format: vinyl (MAI 8201) / digital
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,68]
producer: Helge Gaarder; Erik Aasheim (assistant)
label: Plateselskapet Mai - nationality: Norway

Track highlights: A) 1. "Nykter" (TV performance) - 2. "Reisning" - 3. "Presence!" - - B) 1. "Glass" (4 / 5) - 2. "Tundra" - 4. "Europa" - 5. "... Etter regnet"

Studio debut and only album by Norwegian new wave, post-punk and art pop quintet Montasje, who also featured with one song on a sampler album (Zink Zamler, '82) as an act called Modul 5. The whole project only existed from late 1981 to '82, and the album was recorded from Dec. '81 to Jan. '82, and the band here consists of vocalist and keyboardist Helge Gaarder, Erik Aasheim on guitar, bass and percussion, Jøran Rudi on guitar, Per (Kristian) Tro on bass, and Danish drummer Michael Rasmussen [who should later join the Danish band The Sandmen]. The album comes with an alias, as it says in the few notes on the cover: "Presence! et Montasje produkt - Modul 1".
Musically, it's quite a unique sound they have put together. There are some influences from early New Order - Movement-period ever-present but it's more than just a Scandinavian replica of that. What makes it much more its own blend is the presence of something ethereal - it's not ambient, nor jazz fusion but there's a layer of open landscape meandering throughout the album, which makes me think of Norwegian free jazz artist Jan Garbarek. The unique sound also helps building a sensation of timelessness to the project.
Recommended.

[ collectors' item ]

James Blake "Assume Form" (2019)

Assume Form
release date: Jan. 18, 2019
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,65]
producer: James Blake, Dominic Maker
label: Polydor Records - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Assume Form" (4 / 5) - 2. "Mile High" (feat. Metro Boomin & Travis Scott) - 5. "Barefoot in the Park" (feat. Rosalía) - 6. "Can't Believe the Way We Flow" - 8. "Where's the Catch?" (feat. André 3000) - 9. "I'll Come Too" (4 / 5)

4th studio album by British electronic artist James Blake takes on a new style by incorporating rap on top of his explorations into alt. r&b, art pop and ambient pop. The album consists of 12 tracks with an average playing time from 3-5 minutes and a total running time at just over 48 mins.
The album has [already] been met by critical acclaim, and I do think of it as his easily far best album. Normally, rap is not a genre I turn to, and frankly, most often simply avoid, however, this offers a different approach [than 'the Drake, the West, the Wayne and the-what-have-we-that-sounds-the-same-kind-of-boring-contemporary-rap-thing'] with an obvious more trap rap style but also in a liquid combination with Blake's usual electronic approach makes it something other than "just" [contemporary] rap. It's also alt. r&b and neo-soul taken into a mild ambient synthpop kind of sound that just works altogether as something quite extraordinary. It's such a warm and pleasant soundscape.
Assume Form is not only Blake's best effort, it's also one of the best albums of 2019 and as such highly recommendable.
EDIT Dec. 2019:
The album started out as my absolute favourite of the year back in Jan. '19, and passing through Spring and Summer it remained at the top. Then a couple of things happened: the album began to wear, and a couple of other releases kept pushing on. Assume Form is a mighty fine and mostly coherent album - what I discovered though, is a sensation of it being too polished - 'over-produced' is a word that keeps popping up. It still remains one of the albums I have played the most throughout the year, but others keep it from the absolute top, and over time, it just doesn't feel that impressive.
Recommended.
[ allmusic.com 3,5 / 5, 👍The Guardian 4 / 5, The Daily Telegraph, The Independent, NME 5 / 5 stars ]

Brittany Howard "Jaime" (2019)

Jaime [debut]
release date: Sep. 20, 2019
format: digital (11 x File, FLAC)
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,55]
producer: Brittany Howard
label: ATO Records - nationality:

Track highlights: 2. "He Loves Me" (live session) - 3. "Georgia" - 4. "Stay High" (live session) - 6. "Short and Sweet" - 7. "13th Century Metal" (live session) - 9. "Goat Head" - 10. "Presence"

Studio solo debut album by Alabama Shakes front-figure, Brittany Howard. Well, actually she made the full-length album work already in Sep. 2015 under the moniker of Thunderbitch, which was more of a musical project, where Jaime should be regarded as her actual solo debut. Howard is in complete control as she has written and composed all tracks and also produced it.
In Alabama Shakes the music is a tight mixture of warm and energetic r&b, blues rock, and soul, which also is a mixture you will find here, but on top of that this is much more complex in terms of styles. She blends all that with jazz rock, hip hop, contemporary r&b, and art pop to make her own conglomerate of styles and genres and succeeding without sounding forced or too varied.
Jaime has been met by critical acclaim and it peaked at number #13 on the US Billboard 200 and topping the US Americana / Folk albums chart list.
The musical arrangements and stylistic complexity immediately had me thinking of St. Vincent, but it's rather unfair to point at comparisons 'cause Howard only proves her artistic originality and worth, which pays tribute to the American heritage of great artists of jazz, soul, r&b as well as a great variety of modern performers of pop music.
Recommended.
[ allmusic.com, The Guardian, Rolling Stone 4 / 5 stars ]

Lana Del Rey "Norman Fucking Rockwell!" (2019)

Norman Fucking Rockwell!
release date: Aug. 30, 2019
format: digital (14 x File, FLAC)
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,36]
producer: Jack Antonoff and Lana Del Rey
label: Interscope Records - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "Norman Fucking Rockwell" - 2. "Mariners Apartment Complex" - 3. "Venice Bitch" - 5. "Doin' Time" - 6. "Love Song" - 8. "How to Disappear" - 10. "The Next Best American Record"

6th studio album by Lana Del Rey (aka Elizabeth Woolridge Grant) is primarily produced by Jack Antonoff and Del Rey - producing 11 of the album's 14 tracks, which has a total running time exceeding 78 minutes.
Lana Del Rey is undoubtedly one of America's contemporary major pop stars selling millions of albums all over the world. Her polished melancholy femme fatale style has never really caught me as something... desirable or highly original. Music for the masses, our time's Tina Turner, Kim Wilde and The Bangles - artists I never bothered listening to in the 80s. Regardless, her status and musicality on the safe side of the road, I have to grant her that this is her best effort ever. The album contains some nice half-daring tunes and especially strong lyrics. Much as usual, the new album has been followed by a (long) list of singles, where both tracks #2 and #3 "Venice Bitch", were released a year earlier - the latter being a major hit in a considerably shortened version, which makes much sense 'cause the album version at 9:37 minutes seems unnecessarily long. Track #14 ("Hope Is a Dangerous Thing for a Woman Like Me to Have - But I Have It") was released Jan. 2019 without making any notable entry on the singles charts. Also track #5 was released before the album in May, a song that has also had some airplay. Succeeding the album release, tracks #11 and #4 are so far the only singles to be released, both without any top entries on the singles charts; however, the album has been met by critical acclaim, and it has so far made it to #3 on the Billboard 200 in the US, but peaks at the top in both Switzerland and in the UK.
I think it's truly a bunch of nicely produced songs where the common denominator is more than meets the eye. This is much more than a nicely wrapping, and I do understand the positive reviews, although, I think many are way over the top in critical acclaim. But it's music meant to please, and nothing's wrong with that, and then it offers a layer on top of that, which is nice. In a way, this complexity is also suggested in the front cover. At first, you see a so-so kind of stereo-typical pop music cover with no deeper meaning to it, and then you realise that the sunset glow in back of the image really is a whole country on fire - both hinting at contemporary physical forest fires and the symbolism of a fire running through a country and / or modern society.
Anyway, I'm still not really a big Lana Del Rey fan - never was. It's music for the broad masses, major radio stations will love it - apart from all the beeps 'cause Lana, she makes a fair use of explicit lyrics - and I even think my old mum will enjoy it, though I will probably not listen much to this despite all my recognition 'cause I don't enjoy the singing voice of Lana, which to me is someone trying too hard to sound like Hope Sandoval [see Mazzy Star] and then she stays too much in the same pitch regardless the subject and I just find the whole wrapping too pure mainstream colourless to my liking. All that said, it's undoubtedly still her so far best album.
[ 👎allmusic.com, Rolling Stone, 4,5 / 5, Slant 4 / 5, 👍The Guardian 3 / 5, NME 5 / 5 stars ]

Björk "Utopia" (2017)

Utopia

release date: Nov. 24, 2017

format: digital (14 x File, FLAC)

[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,73]

producer: Björk, Arca

label: One Little Indian - nationality: Iceland

Track highlights: 1. "Arisen My Senses" - 2. "Blissing Me" - 3. "The Gate" - 4. "Utopia" - 7. "Courtship" (live Later) - 9. "Sue Me" - 13 "Saint"

9th studio album by Björk following almost three full years after Vulnicura (Jan. 2015). As was the case for the predecessor, Björk has teamed up with Venezuelan artist Arca - only this time Arca appears to have been granted a more dominating role, partly as co-composer on five compositions (tracks #1, #3, #9, #11, and #14) but also by being credited electronics, synth melodies and beats, while no one else is credited programming, electronics, or 'beats', which were roles Björk almost alone stood for on her 2015 album. Aside from being songwriter and composer on all tracks, and apart for lead vocal, she is (only) credited for playing digital flute - which appears as a minor role as 13 others are credited exactly that instrument - and for arrangements of vocals, flute, choir, and cello, thus placing her more in the role as a musical arranger leaving programming and 'beats' in the hands of Arca. The album is a quite lengthy one with 14 tracks and a total running time going beyond 71 minutes.

Utopia was met by critical acclaim with Spin setting it as number #29 on its list of the 50 best albums of 2017, Pitchfork ranged it number #20 on its year-end-list also counting the 50 best albums, and Slant put it at number #11 of the 25 best albums of the year.

Despite leaving much responsibilty in the hands of Arca, the album still reeks 'Björk' above anything else. There's no questioning that she's in complete control. And as a result, I think it has turned out as her most delightful studio effort since the great Vespertine (2001).

Highly recommended.

[ allmusic.com, NME, Q Magazine, Rolling Stone 4 / 5, Pitchfork 8,4 / 10, The Guardian 3 / 5 stars ]

Billie Eilish "When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?" (2019)

When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? [debut]
release date: Mar. 29, 2019
format: digital (14 x File, MP3)
[album rate: 2,5 / 5] [2,48]
producer: Finneas O'Connell
label: Interscope Records - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 2. "Bad Guy" - 3. "Xanny" - 7. "When the Party's Over"

Studio album debut by 17-year old Billie Eilish (full name: Billie Eilish Pirate Baird O'Connell - yeah...) produced by her older brother, 21 year old Finneas O'Connell [aka FINNEAS]. The two are children of actors Maggie Baird and Patrick O'Connell.
Stylised as new enfant terrible prodigy Billie and brother Finneas have made a tight collection of art pop and electropop compositions that are... nicely bottled.
The album and Eilish have been lauded with critical acclaim almost world-wide where common denominators use phrases as "game-changer", "artistic vison[ary]", "haunting", "impressive cohesiveness" and Will Hodgkinson of The Times describes the nature of the album, when stating that it "captures one of those rare moments when an artist knows exactly how her audience feels because she feels the same way too." All right, all right, hold your horses, Will... when will that ever occur??
I do not agree, and others also point to opposite stands when eg Roisin O'Connor of The Independent says it's "dull and bloated" and simply rates the album below average. Because once you have listened through the album, it turns out more like a collection of artsy fartsy material that the music industry promptly swallows up like art critics when facing new art by Jeff Koons. All others find themselves as uninvited guests asking themselves what it is they don't get - and what the in-crowd praise as a new-found treasure.
I don't enjoy it one bit. It's over-the-hill hyped because she's predestined to fill out some spot (that really wasn't there). Nothing more. And there's nothing there except The Emperor's New Clothes. After having read several positive reviews it's quite a disappointing affair.
Not recommended.
[ 👎allmusic.com, The Guardian, Q Magazine 4 / 5, Rolling Stone 3,5 / 5, 👉The Independent 2 / 5 stars ]

Ane Brun "It All Starts with One" (2011)

It All Starts with One

release date: Sep. 6, 2011

format: 2 cd (Deluxe)

[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,86]

producer: Tobias Fröberg

label: Balloon Ranger Recordings - nationality: Norway

Track highlights: CD 1) 1. "These Days" (4 / 5) - 2. "Words" (4 / 5) - 4. "Do You Remember" (4,5 / 5) (live at KCRW) - 6. "Lifeline" - 7. "One" - 9. "Oh Love" - 10. "Undertow"

CD 2) 2. "Take It Slow" - 5. "Du gråter så store tåra (English Version)" - 7. "Another World"

5th studio album by Ane Brun following the release of Sketches (Sep. 2008), which presents her acoustic demo versions of her most recent studio album Changing of the Seasons (Mar. 2008). This new album is often mentioned as her sixth studio album - but that's only when adding the demo version album to the list, which I find misleading. She has thus been on a 3½ years hiatus, which also produced the live album Live at Stockholm Concert Hall (2009), and this period was also shadowed by some time off due to reoccurring physical illness. The album was released as a standard CD issue of ten songs and as a 2 CD Deluxe edition with a bonus cd of eight tracks, which includes three covers.

With It All Starts with One Ane Brun continues to impress, both as a songwriter, as musical composer, and as a sublime vocalist. This new album is her third to top the albums chart in Norway, which it replicated in Sweden - a first accomplishment for a Norwegian artist. All in all, It All Starts with One is another fine album from one of the most original voices in all of Scandinavia. She never just seems satisfied as an artist but always comes up with new stylistic variations, and here she both proves her skills with emotional ballads and uptempo art pop but really no matter what style she excels in there's always a width, an amplitude and an enormous depth, making it all the more likeable.

This is one of her best albums and naturally a highly recommended listen.

[ allmusic.com 3,5 / 5, 👍Mojo, The Independent 4 / 5, 👎PopMatters 2,5 / 5 stars ]

Björk "Vulnicura" (2015)

Vulnicura
release date: Jan. 20, 2015
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,52]
producer: Björk, Arca
label: One Little Indian - nationality: Iceland

Track highlights: 1. "Stonemilker" - 2. "Lionsong" - 4. "Black Lake" - 5. "Family" - 7. "Atom Dance" (feat. Anohni) - 8. "Mouth Mantra" - 9. "Quicksand"

8th studio album by Björk is co-produced by Venezuelan electronic producer / musician Arca [aka Alejandro Ghersi]. Stylistically, a Björk studio album is always within an art pop universe, and here she attributes that with chamber, ambient pop and electronic. It's not far from what she has released before - perhaps the biggest change is the distance to her most recent album Biophilia (Oct. 2011), although, they share the common theme of nature. In many ways this is closer to a mix of her three consecutive albums around the new millennium: Homogenic (1997), Vespertine (2001), Medúlla (2004), and frankly, Vulnicura sounds much like the outcome of a combo of all three albums.
Without containing obvious hits, I think the result is her most interesting album in more than 14 years. An alternative title could have been 'Homogeneous', 'cause that's also what it is.
[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5, Rolling Stone, The Guardian, NME, Spin 4 / 5 stars ]
=> Needledrop review

St. Vincent "MassEducation" (2018)

MassEducation

release date: Oct. 12, 2018

format: digital (12 x File, FLAC)

[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,26]

producer: St. Vincent & Thomas Bartlett

label: Loma Vista - nationality: USA

6th studio album by St. Vincent follows one year after Masseduction (Oct. 2019) is an acoustic version of the predecessor recorded with pianist Thomas Bartlett. Together, they reworked and mixed the tracks from Masseduction, resulting in completely sparsely arranged songs centered around piano-driven versions of the songs from the 2017 album.

It may be a clever stunt - certainly af safe one and perhaps not exactly the most demanding process but still, these new takes reflect a completely different life, and some songs sound better in the more minimalist arrangements while others simply lack variety. And that's probably also the great weakness about it - that the songs at one and the same time carry elements of something easily recognisable, not particularly distant from the original and then also doesn't offer a new musical scope. Of course, the songs have more or less the same vocal sound - although Annie Clark sings differently here - and the accompanying piano just never add any big changes throughout the album. And in that way, this is far more of a curiosity than a must.