Sinéad O'Connor "How About I Be Me (And You Be You)?" (2012)

How About I Be Me (And You Be You)?

release date: Feb. 21, 2012

format: cd

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

producer: John Reynolds

label: One Little Indian - nationality: Ireland

Track highlights: 1. "4th and Vine" - 2. "Reason with Me" - 3. "Old Lady" - 4. "Take Off Your Shoes" - 5. "Back Where You Belong" - 6. "The Wolf Is Getting Married" - 7. "Queen of Denmark" - 9. "I Had a Baby"

9th studio album by Sinéad O'Connor follows 4½ years after the double album Theology (Jun. 2007). Back on this, is producer, drummer and co-composer (and O'Connor's first husband) John Reynolds, and that alone has been some sort of guarantee of a more coherent and better album in the discography of Sinéad O'Connor. The album also welcomes back guitarist Marco Pirroni, who played on O'Connor's first two albums and on Universal Mother.

The album is a return to the music most people will associate with the artist's name. It's pop / rock and it's more uptempo than any of her recent albums - in fact, since her great 1990 international breakthrough. There are no reggae or traditional Irish folk songs here, and for those who thought O'Connor was all over with, this might be something to check out. Lyrically, she hasn't changed one bit, as it's very personal songs about lived life, life as a mother, a lover, and it's also quite private songs about being in love, having babies with someone else, and not knowing where to turn to when life makes you stumble along the way. In that way, not much has changed in O'Connor's lyrical universe, but what's important here, is her ability to turn the songs into catchy melodies, again.

It's a mighty difficult job to try to rank her albums after the first two "wonders". This is defintely one her better attempts in finding back to whatever worked in the beginning of her career. There's a fine balance of soft and hard, uptempo and slow, and in that way the album comes through as a diverse and fulfilling experience. It becomes evident that O'Connor no longer possess the same singing voice, which allowed her to reach extreme high pitches, but there's an underlying force when instead she expresses deeper emotions, whether it's done with a near whisper, a rasp, or by yelling out forcefully.

To me, this was a nice surprise as I didn't expect much - and it's actually a lot. Imo, this is simply her fourth best album overall, which really makes it worthwhile. My personal top 5 by Sinéad O'Connor goes like this: 1) I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got (1990), 2) The Lion and the Cobra, 3) Faith and Courage (2000), and after this one 5) Sean-Nós Nua (2002).

Recommended.

[ 🙂allmusic.com, PopMatters 3,5 / 5, Pitchfork 7,6 / 10, The Guardian 4 / 5, Rolling Stone 3 / 5 stars ]

Lisa Gerrard & Jules Maxwell "Burn" (2021)

Burn

release date: May 7, 2021

format: digital (7 x File, FLAC)

[album rate: 4 / 5] [4,04]

producer: James Chapman

label: Atlantic Curve - nationality: Australia / Northern Ireland, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Heleali (The Sea Will Rise)" - 2. "Noyalain (Burn)" - 3. "Deshta (Forever)" - 5. "Orion (The Weary Huntsman)" - 6. "Keson (Until My Strength Returns)"

Collaborative project between Australian Lisa Gerrard and Northern Irishman Jules Maxwell, with the latter acting as live keyboardist on several occasions in Gerrard and Brendan Perry's duo project Dead Can Dance after their reformation in 2012. The album has a duration of only 35 minutes and consists of seven compositions with running lengths from four to six minutes. Gerrard alone is credited five tracks, while two tracks (#2 and #3) are composed by Gerrard and Maxwell in collaboration.

Musically, it's neo-classical with influence from darkwave, world music, and with hints from electronica, just as it has been the case with other works by Gerrard, e.g. The Silver Tree (2006) and which has charachterised releases by Dead Can Dance. Burn is, however, something else. The rhythm sections are shaped solely by programming or by bass and synth-bass with Gerrard singing on all tracks in an unknown or indistinct language - her very own metaphysical language, where her voice only functions on an instrumental level. That said, it's quite a sonorous, distinctive, and powerful instrument Gerrard possesses. She blends her alto voice beautifully in and out of progressive rhythmic loops and occasionally swings her vocal up into higher spheres clothed in mysticism of the East and sometimes with a well-developed technique taken from the scene of opera. Multi-instrumentalist Jules Maxwell adds rhythm, electronics, synth-bass, and grandiosity in appropriate measure and otherwise lets the music unfold in beautiful harmony with Gerrard as guiding instrumentalist.

It's original, beautiful, unpretentious, and yet wide-ranging. Since the early eighties, Gerrard has been responsible for strong original releases with Dead Can Dance - together with Hans Zimmer, she created the musical counterpart to the cinematic side of "Gladiator" (2000), and she has generally become an acclaimed soundtrack composer for a long series of films starting with soundtracks under the name Dead Can Dance back in '89 for the film "El niño de la luna" (aka "Moon Child" - not released as a soundtrack until 2019). They gained more recognition with their music for Ron Fricke's remarkable "Baraka" (1992), after which they released several soundtracks. As soloist, Gerrard first collaborated with Pieter Bourke on the music for "The Insider" by Michael Mann in 1999, and most recently in 2017 she and Peter Orr stood behind the soundtrack to "2:22" by Paul Currie. Gerrard has been nominated for dozens of international awards and she has received around 10 major awards for her work as a composer.

Burn is a certified gem of an album that should find wider recognition. Highly recommended!

[ Gaffa.dk 5 / 6 stars ]

2021 Favourite releases: 1. Mogwai As the Love Continues - 2. Thåström Dom som skiner - 3. Lisa Gerrard &
Jules Maxwell Burn

Wolf Alice "Blue Weekend" (2021)

Blue Weekend

release date: Jun. 4, 2021

format: digital (11 x File, FLAC)

[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,32]

producer: Markus Dravs

label: Dirty Hit - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "The Beach" - 2. "Delicious Things" - 3. "Lipstick on the Glass" - 4. "Smile" - 6. "How Can I Make It OK?" - 11. "The Beach II"

3rd studio album by London-based indie rock quartet Wolf Alice follows almost four full years after the duo's Visions of a Life (Sep. 2017) and is made with super hot producer Markus Dravs, who has made his name as producer from his work with Björk, Coldplay, Arcade Fire, and Kings of Leon, to mention a few.

Musically, the band moves naturally with Dravs at the mixing desk towards a more commercial expression with a sense for dynamics and the grandiose. Dravs has a fine touch in maintaining a quirky distinctiveness and mixing it perfectly with equal parts harmony and a rocking energetic expression.

In this way, Blue Weekend appears as a well-welded piece of galvanised titanium in a pile of aluminum blocks. It's almost too perfect - and that's probably what I generally find least appealing about Dravs' productions: it's bound to be oh-so-bee.a-utiful! Beautiful arrangements, swirling guitars and a dose of quirky indie rock, but all the while held tightly to a strong chain so that everyone a able to admire the ascending airship illuminated by a setting sun. It's always dramatic and pumped-up pompous.

The album has garnered great and highly enthusiastic reviews, and it's perhaps also the band's finest release. To my ears, it reminds me of a new The Killers album that would much rather be Kings of Leon. That said, it's not particularly original, and one may wonder where the motivation lies. Then of course, it's not all music that has to push new boundaries, and Blue Weekend is by all means beautiful and almost perfect - I'm just not impressed and just feel that I've heard it all before. Lead vocalist Ellie Rowsell sings mighty fine as a British version of Lana del Rey, and if you think that's cool, so be it.

The album is by no means a poor one. I just don't find it great. It kind of lands in the big mainstream pile with so many others who want to make it big. Sometimes Wolf Alice sounds like Lana del Rey, sometimes they sound like Arcade Fire, other times they remind me of The Killers, who (again) so badly want to be Kings of Leon. Perhaps you just have to be grateful that they don't aspire to be Drake or Phoebe Bridgers, or well, Bridgers is actually also there alongside St. Vincent. But, Alice Wolf, you can only be yourselves! And this is precisely the album's greatest weakness: that it falls between so many chairs with obvious ingredients from all sorts of others that it lacks the essence of originality.

It's an album you can put on repeat without tiring of it, because it sounds like a playlist where you have no idea when it actually starts all over, but also without ever feeling overly excited. Maybe you just want to put something else on. And although the British press almost unanimously thinks this is a masterpiece - it's definitely solid craftsmanship and definitely beautifully produced - but it is! But a masterpiece it is not!

Without comparison, moreover, I rate the album Pastel by young Australian band Fritz, also from 2021, better because, despite other limitations, it lands a much stronger independent expression.

[ allmusic.com, Mojo 4 / 5, The Guardian, NME 5 / 5, 👍Pitchfork 7.2 / 10 stars ]

Marianne Faithfull "Broken English" (1979)

Broken English

release date: Nov. 2, 1979

format: vinyl / cd (1994 cd reissue)

[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,88]

producer: Mark Miller Mundy

label: Island Records - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Broken English" (4 / 5) - 2. "Witches' Song" - 3. "Brain Drain" - 4. "Guilt" - 5. "The Ballad of Lucy Jordan" (4 / 5) - 7. "Working Class Hero" (4 / 5) - 8. "Why D'ya Do It" (4 / 5)

7th studio album by Marianne Faithfull following the release of Faithless (1978) was the first album by Faithfull that I have a recollection of listening to. Speaking of the actual number of studio albums, is a bit of a detective work, and even then it comes down to a discussion of what qualifies as 'real' studio albums. The thing is, early on, Faithfull released different albums for the European and for the North American markets, respectivily, and if only looking at her European albums, you could argue one or two are not traditional studio albums but rather alternative releases, or say 'near' compilations..., and there's another story of Rich Kids Blues from '85, which was actually recorded in '71 and rightfully precedes this one but it was shelved for 14 years, and... there you have it! It's up for someone else, to determine, I guess. Broken English is, however, most commonly identified as her seventh, and the predecessor Faithless is both regarded as her sixth studio album, although, it's basically and also what could be described as an alternate version of her fifth album Dreamin' My Dreams (1976).

Broken English came out when punk rock roared and Faithfull was one of punks' idols stemming from another era where most artists didn't find peers amongst the young and angry generation. In that regard, she stood alongside Nico, Lou Reed, Neil Young, and Iggy Pop - survivors of the needle. There's a distinct new wave- or art punk-ish seasoning to this very album, and then it's also a huge melting pot of styles. Perhaps, it's all about a naked anger and an honest attempt of unglorification. The album is like many of Faithfull's a mix of writers and composers and a ceratin amount of covers, and regardless the origin, Faithfull knows how to make songs her own. This also goes for Shel Silverstein's "The Ballad of Lucy Jordan" and Lennon's "Working Class Hero".

The album is Faithfull's only to be included in "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die". To me, it's not her absolute best but it's close enough and a certified highly recommended listen.

[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5, Pitchfork 8,7 / 10, The Guardian 5 / 5, Q Magazine, 👉Record Collector, Rolling Stone 4 / 5 stars ]

Robin Guthrie "Springtime" (2022)

Springtime, ep

release date: Jan. 4, 2022

format: digital (4x File, FLAC)

[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,64]

producer: Robin Guthrie

label: Soleil Après Minuit - nationality: Skotland, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Kino's Chance" - 2. "The Faraway" - 3. "Another Part of Nowhere" - 4. "All for Nothing"

4-track ep by Scottish guitarist Robin Guthrie follows only one month after his ep Riviera, which in turn followed one month after Mockingbird Love (both limited to four tracks) is as usual released on his own label, and the music is also written, composed, arranged, performed, as well as produced by Guthrie himself. Since his days with dream pop trio Cocteau Twins back in the late nineties, Guthrie has looked down on popular music and turned to evocative instrumental and thoroughly atmospheric expressions with the guitar at the center of his compositions. Occasionally, he lets the guitar parody keyboards and synths, which he also uses, but it's mainly electric guitar connected to a series of effects and via computer programming that he paints his sound collages. If you have followed his solo releases for the past two decades - entire albums and many EPs, or you have come across some of his many collaborative projects, either as hired composer for film music - and often together with the now late American minimalist Harold Budd - you may have noted that Guthrie has settled into a rather simple ambient style that he hasn't shied away from. And that's why new releases may sound like recycling or new paraphrasings of already known sound loops. While part of Cocteau Twins, Guthrie was also responsible for drum programming, but the will to include drums could seem not wanted. On some compositions, e.g. "Kino's Chance" you'll notice sonically weak rhythm actions - perhaps best heard on "All for Nothing", but the soundscape is grandiose harmonic guitar structures that the whole ep exhibits. Admittedly, not a lot happens on Springtime, and yet it stands out as one of his better solo releases. The simplicity draws a clear line back to his first real collaborative work with Budd: Mysterious Skin: Music From the Film back in 2005 and up to his later collaborations with the classically trained American composer.

Although the music is ethereal and ambient moving on the verge to new age, it's the small simple melody lines that create the clear picture - something I haven't always been able to find in Guthrie's music. Together with Budd, Guthrie cultivated the minimalist expression building on Budd's open piano pedals and Guthrie's powerful guitar notes - and it was almost their only applied instrumentation, but on this, Guthrie works with rhythm-based music, even if the rhythm is toned down, because I feel his guitar comes more into its own right when he simultaneously lets rich bass lines accompany drum patterns. This way, it also becomes more varied. Occasionally, you could suspect Guthrie in making extensive use of old sound sequences recorded back in the '80s as he was left in solitude to compose pieces for Elizabeth Fraser's vocal and Simon Raymonde's bass notes, but this is ultimately irrelevant when the music here appears new, clean and complete. These are delicious, atmospheric sound collages that, like a quiet summer evening, appear as the ideal campfire that warms you deep inside, and which only utters that the album is only missing more and longer compositions; but it's only an ep, and unfortunately it's all over in just 15 minutes. Then if Springtime won't satisfy you, I can only recommend his latest full album Pearldiving (Nov. 2021), and his final album with Harold Budd: Another Flower from 2020.

Nice to know.

[ bandcamp ]

Best of 2005:Ali Farka Touré & Toumani Diabaté "In the Heart of the Moon" (2005)

2021 vinyl reissue

In the Heart of the Moon [debut]
release date: Sep. 13, 2005
format: cd / 2lp vinyl (2021 reissue)
[album rate: 5 / 5] [4,88]
producer: Nick Gold
label: World Circuit - nationality: Mali

Tracklist: 1. "Debe" (5 / 5) (live in Brussels) - 2. "Kala" (4 / 5) - 3. "Mamadou Boutiquier" (5 / 5) - 4. "Monsieur le Maire de Niafunké" (4 / 5) - 5. "Kaira" (4 / 5) - 6. "Simbo" - 7. "Ai Ga Bani" - 8. "Soumbou Ya Ya" - 9. "Naweye Toro" - 10. "Kadi Kadi" - 11. "Gomni" (4 / 5) - 12. "Hawa Dolo"

G R E A T! That's what this is. It's the collaboration debut by Ali Farka Touré and Toumani Diabaté, two Malian musicians. The music is delicate, surreal and haunting. What rhythm, and what wonderful dreamy tunes these guys produce! Splendid music - and highly addictive. Play it when you drive to or from work, or just anywhere, when you read, or when you make love - just play it, and listen. It's extremely soothing for body and mind. I give it my warmest recommendations, and… I only need more of that kind! On this, Touré plays guitar and Diabeté plays the 21-stringed African kora, which is responsible for the spiderweb-like strings on this amazing release. The album received world-wide recognition and led to a World Live Tour with the two playing in Europe and USA.
Touré had been politically engaged and became mayor of the local town of Nianfunké in 2004, and although there are 25 years between these two musicians and they do sound as if having played together for years, when in fact the album was recorded without initial rehearsals and without Touré and Diabeté had played together for more than 3 hours in total over a span of 15 years.
Diabaté was 40 and Touré 65 years of age when this album was released, and most sadly, Touré died Mar. 2006 as a 66-year-old, only just experiencing the international acclaim this album was attributed. The album is the first in a series of three albums commonly known as the "Hotel Mandé Sessions" - the second would be Tourés last solo album Savane (released posthumously, Jul. 17, 2006) and Diabeté's Boulevard de l'Independence (credited Toumani Diabaté's Symmetric Orchestra was released Jul. 25, 2006).

EDIT Jan. 2022:
I only just received a vinyl copy of the album. Alas, the album wasn't released on vinyl until 2012. The vendor sold it filed as a 2012 issue, but it turns out, it's a 2021 re-issue. Anyway, the album is for me a cornerstone in 'world music' and simply is one of those must-have releases I wish more people knew of.
[ allmusic.com 4 / 5 stars ]

2005 Favourite releases: 1. Ali Farka Touré & Toumani Diabeté In the Heart of the Moon - 2. Sigur Rós Takk... - 3. Kent Du & jag döden

original CD front

Faye Webster "Atlanta Millionaires Club" (2019)

Atlanta Millionaires Club

release date: May 24, 2019

format: digital (10 x File, FLAC)

[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,70]

producer: Faye Webster, Matt Martin, Drew Vandenberg

label: Secretly Canadian - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "Room Temperature" - 2. "Right Side of My Neck" - 3. "Hurts Me Too" - 5. "Jonny" - 7. "Come to Atlanta" - 9. "Flowers"

3rd studio album by Faye Webster, her first with Secretly Canadian. After a self-released debut of Run & Tell (Oct. 2013) she released Faye Webster (May 2017) on Awful Records.

Atlanta Millionaires Club is a unique mix of indie folk, country and hip hop, which in the hands of Webster sounds just like the normal blend of styles. The country element secures a laid-back tone in the arrangements, and Webster narrates maturely about everyday life and relationships much contrary to being merely 21 years of age. Her vocal is distinct, light and fragile, making me think of a wind sweeping soothening through an open window on a lazy afternoon when temperature is too high for outdoor activities.

The album is my first listen to Webster's sound, but definitely not the last.

Recommended.

[ allmusic.com, Uncut 3,5 / 5, Pitchfork 7,8 / 10, Rolling Stone, NME, Mojo 4 / 5 stars ]

Toumani Diabaté

~ ~ ~

Toumani Diabaté: (born Aug. 10, 1965, Bamako, Mali); aka: Toumani Diabate, Toumani Diabate's Symmetric Orchestra. Diabeté is a Malian kora player. In addition to performing the traditional folk music of Mali, he has also been involved in cross-cultural collaborations with flamenco, blues, jazz, and other international styles. In a collaboration work with Ali Farka Touré the two made a world-wide appraised album In the Heart of the Moon (2005) with Malian mandé folk music.

~ ~ ~

Ali Farka Touré

~ ~ ~

Ali Farka Touré: Touré is a multi-instrumentalist but is mainly known for playing the guitar. Ali Farka Touré died in 2006 (from bone cancer) but has released a number of acclaimed albums (including Talking Timbuktu, 1994, as a collaboration with Ry Cooder), and he became known as Africa's blues man or John Lee Hooker of Africa, anyway, a man of the blues. In a collaboration work with Toumani Diabaté, the two made a world-wide appraised album In the Heart of the Moon (2005) with Malian mandé folk music. Interesting music from Mali seems like an endless pot. I'm not saying it's the only interesting country in Africa but it's really amazing how much music has come from Mali, and these two are the exquisite artists of Malian mandé music.

~ ~ ~

The The "The Comeback Special (Live at the Royal Albert Hall)" (2021)

The Comeback Special (Live at the Royal Albert Hall)

release date: Oct. 29, 2021

format: 2 cd

[album rate: 4 / 5] [4,02]

producer: Matt Johnson

label: Cinéola / Ear Music - nationality: England, UK

Live album by The The celebrating the return to live performances after a 17 years hiatus. The album is recorded live at The Royal Albert Hall, London, Jun. 5, 2018. The The consists here of Matt Johnson on vocals and guitars, Barrie Cadogan on lead guitar and backing vocals, James Eller on bass and backing vocals, DC Collard (aka David Frederick Collard) on keyboards and backing vocals, and with Earl Harvin on drums.

Long story short: Johnson basically left the limelight of the music business as a result of losing his brother Eugene in 1999, and the loss of brother Andrew (aka illustrator Andy Dog) in 2016 made him decide to return as a performer.

The album is packed with great renditions of his back catalogue - it's amazing how strong these songs are performed. Now, everyone holds their breath and hope Johnson will take up his career releasing brand new material as The The.

Great comeback - highly recommended!

[ Mojo, Uncut, Record Collector 4 / 5 stars ]

Mellemblond "En jordisk chance" (2021)

En jordisk chance

release date: Nov. 19, 2021

format: digital (11 x Files, FLAC)

[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,84]

producer: Mads Brinch, Adrian Aurelius, Jakob Høyer

label: Møs Møs - nationality: Denmark

Track highlights: 1. "For at noget kan blomstre" - 2. "Atomernes spil" (4 / 5) - 3. "Blæsten i træerne" - 7. "Det der gik i hjertet" - 8. "Hjertets tro" - 9. "Ved at vi skal leve" - 10. "Nattetåge"

6th studio album from Mellemblond released a single year following Solregn. The tracks have alledgedly been composed at the same time as Solregn, but then issued the following year. After all, it's quite a different collection of songs we encounter here. Kristoffer Munck Mortensen - aka Mellemblond - has many faces to showcase, and as he released Solregn it was undoubtedly also his idea to present various songs with a common expression. That album was predominantly acustic with an almost minimalist expression, which was a new side to his talent, and as a contrast, this new collection draws more on some of the qualities you will find on his two albums: Fra et sted (2015) and Guldlokzonen (2018) although, they weren't exactly similar but in terms of arrangements and instrumentation share bonds. For this, he now mix styles he previously has exelled with. It's soft melancholic compositions, more raw uptempo rockers, and you'll also find a rather new adventurousness with polished chamber pop. At the same time, it's a style testifying to early 70s, a stream of consciousness wound up on swamp rock-inspiration mixed with folk and modern indie pop in a perfect original tone. Yes, that's a bit of a mix, and then Munck Mortensen has worked in some kind of anonymity as touring guitarist for Nils Skousen, but that's another story.

The front cover fits nicely to the content: Munck Mortensen is stationary positioned in bare feet holding his electric guitar in something ressembling a firewood shed. It's directly relatable, signalling a connection to a simple life. Mortensen narrates sincerely and straight-forwardly, and on En jordisk chance the fine lyrics are accompanied by an appropriate amount of electricity and noise without making it wild or pompous.

Kristoffer Munck Mortensen is a rare modern original. He sings and plays distinctively without sounding like foreign examples, and when doing so, he only seems to follow a fundamental desire to communicate. Had he been born in the US or in Britain, he would have outshined John Mayer and Ed Sheeran, but luckily, he wasn't - then we do have someone, they cannot touch.

At this advanced stage of the year, En jordisk chance enlists as Danish Album of the Year, imo, and it also lands as one of the best albums of 2021.

Highly recommended.

[ Gaffa.dk 4 / 6, Jyllands-Posten 5 / 6 stars ]

Thåström "Dom som skiner" (2021)

Dom som skiner

release date: Nov. 12, 2021

format: vinyl (gatefold clear vinyl - LTD.) / digital (9 x File, MP3)

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

producer: Niklas Hellberg, Sanken Sandqvist, Thåström

label: Razzia Records - nationality: Sweden

Track highlights: 1. "Södra Korset" (4,5 / 5) - 2. "Papperstunna väggar" - 3. "Isbergen" - 4. "Stora långa gatan" (4 / 5) - 5. "Toledo" - 6. "Dom du behöver" - 7. "Dom som skiner" - 8. "Gyttjebrottaren" - 9. "Mamma"

10th studio album as soloist from Swedish Thåström following more than four years after the fine Centralmassivet (Sep. 2017) also on Razzia, and also with Niklas Hellberg and Thåström as primary instrumentalists. On this, they are supported by Thåström's stable collaborator Sanken Sandqvist, who already featured on releases by Imperiet back in the late 80s, he took part in Thåström's first two solo albums, and he was co-composer on a some tracks with the experimental Thåström-Hellberg-led project Peace, Love & Pitbulls in the 90s. Sandqvist is here co-composer on a single song but he is like Hellberg and Thåström credited as co-arranger on all nine compositions. Apart from that, the album feature Swedish (sibling-)duo First Aid Kit, who lends vocals on three tracks (#1, #3, and #8) and Titiyo (track #2). Four years is a long time in between releases but that doesn't mean that Thåström has been inactive since 2017. In May 2020 he released the live-album Klockan två på natten, öppet fönster....

Dom som skiner follows nicely on the path laid out with Centralmassivet without sounding like a second chapter. It seems as if Thåström has found his own niche in the alternative rock genre. It's a place where he understands to blend input from various stiles he has previously been touching in cleaner output. He has released albums of hard industrial rock and he has explored electronic music - both in Peace, Love & Pitbulls, as solo artist as well as in the project Sällskapet, and then he has released troubadour-albums focusing more on lyrics, but with his most recent two albums it seems as if he has found an expression that balances lyrics and an original musical output with elements, or just glimpses of industrial rock and electronica. And it functions on a higher level. The album is with its 'only' nine tracks quite traditionally adapted the vinyl format with a total running length of approx. 43 minutes, but what's truly remarkable about the album is, once again, Thåström's gift to write songs with more than just a message, with something to ponder about and still maintain the ability to make highly original and harmony-driven music.

The album is btw. only Thåström's second solo album together with Kärlek är för dom (2009), which doesn't show Thåström himself on the front cover. Here, it's fronted by the modern classic photo "Den vite clownen" [The White Clown] (1978) by Swedish photographer Hans Gedda. Apart from that, the album artwork (back, inside and vinyl labels) are replications of details from works by Danish-Israelian artist Tal R (aka Tal Shlomo Rosenzweig).

Highly recommended.

[ Gaffa.dk 6 / 6, Aftonbladet 4 / 5 stars ]

2021 Favourite releases: 1. Mogwai As the Love Continues - 2. Thåström Dom som skiner - 3. Lisa Gerrard & Jules Maxwell Burn

Best of 2021:Mogwai "As the Love Continues" (2021)

As the Love Continues

release date: Feb. 19, 2021

format: 2 lp vinyl (gatefold gold vinyl) / digital (11 x File, FLAC)

[album rate: 4 / 5] [4,14]

producer: Dave Fridmann

label: Rock Action - nationality: Skotland, UK

Track highlights: 1. "To the Bin My Friend, Tonight We Vacate Earth" - 2. "Here We, Here We, Here We Go Forever" (4,5 / 5) - 3. "Dry Fantasy" - 4. "Ritchie Sacramento" - 5. "Drive the Nail" - 6. "Fuck Off Money" (4 / 5) - 7. "Ceiling Granny" (4 / 5) - 8. "Midnight Flit" - 10. "Supposedly, We Were Nightmares"

10th. studio album from Scottish Mogwai released 3½ years following Every Country's Sun (Sep. 2017), however that doesn't mean that the band has been on a hiatus. Primarily an instrumental ensemble, Mogwai has long been known for their soundtracks for both documentaries and feature films and we have also seen them issuing eps in between full length studio albums. Most recently, they made the music for the Italian tv-series "ZeroZeroZero", which was released via bandcamp in May '20, and before that they released two albums in 2018: in August the soundtrack Kin made for the American Sci-Fi-flic of the same name, and the following month they released the live-album 2018.

Mogwai sounds like no other band and it's an orchestra primarily engaged with instrumental music based on traditional rock-instrumentation centrered around guitar, bass, keyboards, and drums, and with that in mind it's really impressive what kind of new music they manage to create without making it a mere repetition of the last, or any former album. Over the years, and much in the same manner they build up their compositions, they have slowly incorporated synths as a colour to their basic sound, which undoubtedly makes you point to the notion of post-rock, although, the band allegedly never has given much for that term. It's also a narrow etiquette, when your aim is to describe the band's style.

The album has garnered positive feedback and several critics has now come to see the band's tenth studio album as one of its absolute most coherent and best. At the same time, it's Mogwai's first to reach the very top of the album chart list in Great Britain. Mogwai has nearly always made use of the method known from noise rock, which may be described as taking a stance in between the quiet and the explossive and that aspect also comes in use on several compositions here, although, their method is always kept original and fully shaped to the progressive expression of the individual song. Mogwai is renowned for their coherent albums and As the Love Continues could in some ways be compared to the structures of classical works without actually being neo-classical.

As the Love Continues invites its listeners on a musical time travel back to the noise rock of the 90s, to Mogwai's starting point but also mix newer influences from the alternative scene in the last three decades with bites from electronica. At times you're tempted to think bits and pieces are inspired by Smashing Pumpkins, other frgaments by James Blake but then you eventually only realise that it's all pure Mogwai. It's demanding music - and in that way it follows a pattern of theirs where the music requires an implicit listener. You're bound to let the music speak, to let it unfold, and first then, you're may find yourself in a position where you're ready to take it in, to float in its stream and to experience its multifaceted structure.

The best by Mogwai is also the album of the year, and it's highly recommended.

[ bandcamp ]

[ allmusic.com, musicOMH, Uncut 4,5, 👍PopMatters, Mojo 4 / 5, 👎Pitchfork 6,9 / 10 stars ]

2021 Favourite releases: 1. Mogwai As the Love Continues - 2. Thåström Dom som skiner - 3. Lisa Gerrard & Jules Maxwell Burn

Ane Brun "When I'm Free" (2015)

When I'm Free

release date: Sep. 4, 2015

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

[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,70]

producer: Ane Brun & Tobias Fröberg

label: Balloon Ranger Recordings - nationality: Norway

Track highlights: 1. "Hanging" - 4. "Directions" - 5. "Shape of Heart" - 6. "Miss You More" (live) - 7. "All We Want Is Love" (4 / 5) (acoustic live) - 10. "Signing Off" - *12. "Hunting High and Low"

*bonus track

6th studio album by Ane Brun following four years after It All Starts with One (Sep. 2011). The album also follows the release of two compilations: Songs 2003-2013 (Jun. 2013) and Rarities (Oct. 2013). The standard physical issues of the album are 10-track albums (cd and vinyl), whereas the digital issue add another two tracks to the set list. All songs are credited Brun except track #12, a cover by Paul Waaktaar-Savoy from a-ha.

This new one, appears as a new set of colours to her repertoire with broader arrangements and an incorporation of electronica on the one hand and traditional backing by strings and percussion on the other, although this may not be a new element to her music but the combination takes the music in a new direction, and then there's a sense of leaving behind the influence from traditional folk. The front cover is held in vivid colours and that's apparently not coincidential as the music comes out as more positive, bright, and yeah, you could say more freely. However, there's room for interpretation in both the shiny image as in the songs, and that's really a trait and a quality of Brun, which is ever-present in her works. It's never just one-dimensional. There's a fine balance of uptempo and wider arangements and strong ballads, which makes this another fine collection of songs in a long list of recommended albums by Ane Brun. Only a tiny little breech is a sense of anonymity to the whole package despite the overall attempt of adding a sense of positivity to her music. Perhaps it's the lack of more great and truly memorable songs that leaves this impression 'cause Brun undoubtedly delivers on many parameters and her vocal is crisp and original as always. And please don't confuse this as a negative response because When I'm Free is so much better than the majority of albums from 2015, it's more the slight crack in direct comparison with say her most recent album from 2011.

Recommended.

[ => Bandcamp ]

[ Irish Times 4 / 5, The Guardian 3 / 5, 👎PopMatters 2,5 / 5 stars ]

Olivia Newton-John / Electric Light Orchestra "Xanadu" (1980) (single)

Xanadu, 7'' single

release date: Jun. 1980

format: vinyl

[single rate: 2,5 / 5] [2,54]

producer: Jeff Lynne / John Farrar

label: Jet Records - nationality: Australia / UK

Tracklist: A) "Xanadu" - - B) "Fool Country"

Single release by Olivia Newton-John and Electric Light Orchestra with the title track taken from the 1980 musical film "Xanadu" directed by Robert Greenwald and featuring Newton-John. The A-side is credited Jeff Lynne of ELO, and the B-side is a track performed by Newton-John and credited John Farrar.

I think, that I may actually have purchased this item without really knowing the song yet. I didn't watch the film, and possibly just got it on sale 'cause I never was a fan of Newton-John, and especially never fell for the music by ELO. I do know, however, that I didn't play this on many occasions.

Anna Ternheim "A Space for Lost Time" (2019)

A Space for Lost Time

release date: Sep. 20, 2019

format: cd

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

producer: Thom Monahan

label: BMG - nationality: Sweden

Track highlights: 1. "This Is the One" - 2. "You Belong to Me" - 3. "Everytime We Fall" - 5. "Remember This" - 6. "Lost Times" - 8. "All Because of You"

7th studio album by Swedish singer / songwriter Anna Ternheim following two years after All the Way to Rio (Nov. 2017).

The album comes with ten compositions of which one half are co-composed by Björn Yttling - the rest are exclusively by Ternheim. The album is releatively short in total running time hitting just above 34 minutes. All songs represent a strict folk outing and these songs are generally a more naked collection than some of her previous albums, which have had a slight tendency towards art pop, although, Ternheim strikes me as a songwriter who apparently feels much at home in more simple arrangements and often accompanied with a distinct acoustic guitar, although, she does shine in more complex songs.

A Space of Lost Time comes out as one of Ternheim's absolute best. She hasn't always been able to find her own personal style but here, she succeeds quite well, I think.

Recommended.

St. Vincent "Daddy's Home" (2021)

Daddy's Home

release date: May 14, 2021

format: digital (14 x File, FLAC)

[album rate: 3 / 5] [3,12]

producer: Annie Clark & Jack Antonoff

label: Loma Vista Recordings - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "Pay Your Way in Pain" (live) - 2. "Down and Out Downtown" - 3. "Daddy's Home" - 4. "Live in the Dream" - 5. "The Melting of the Sun" - 7. "The Laughing Man" - 10. "Somebody Like Me"

7th studio album by St. Vincent follows 2½ years after MassEducation (Oct. 2018), which didn't really offer brand new songs but merely contained acoustic interpretations of songs from Masseduction (Oct. 2017), which still counts as St. Vincent's most recent album, and this new one is like that made in collaboration with producer Jack Antonoff, who is also credited as co-composer on five cuts.

Stylistically, it's unsurprisingly a new mix that Annie Clark comes up with here, although as her recent releases it's music without her previously distinct guitar signature, which markedly characterised her first albums. Where Masseduction offered experimental synthpop, she has now dressed out in 70s nostalgia with equal parts of psychedelic pop and soft glam rock - or: soft psychedelic rock and glam pop. The songs are quiet ones in a laid-back style with focus on the narrative, and it sounds to me like Clark has plowed through everything with Bowie from Aladdin Sane (1973) to Young Americans (1975) and then with some inspiration from Pink Floyd she has set the stove on a low flame. And St. Vincent does share some traits with Bowie: she is always a distinct persona, based on her latest music, and you never know in which direction she moves from there, but you know it's top-dollar-styled like a new production by Andrew Lloyd Webber without ever revealing the actual living individual behind the mask. In the long run, St. Vincent may touch on enervating, and I'm no (longer) the great St. Vincent fan I used to be after her first three albums where she was Annie Clark - the fabulous musician and brilliant guitarist. Now the whole thing has really gone Big Business and she has to conquer every scene dressed up in a new skin suit matching a new ground tone and new musical ideas. It's completely deliciously produced and beautifully executed, but unfortunately also... touching on boring. It lacks edge and a will to mark itself as anything other than another one of today's greats with an album you'll see high up in the charts and which will be forgotten in a year. Don't forget to make great music!!

Not recommended.

[ allmusic.com, NME, Rolling Stone 4 / 5, 👍Pitchfork 6,7 / 10 stars ]

Lingua Ignota "Sinner Get Ready" (2021)

Sinner Get Ready

release date: Aug. 6, 2021

format: digital (9 x File, FLAC)

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

producer: Kristin Hayter

label: Sargent House - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 2. "I Who Bend the Tall Grasses" - 4. "Pennsylvania Furnance" (4 / 5) - 6. "The Sacres Linament of Judgement" - 7. "Perpetual Flame of Centralia" - 8. "Man Is Like a Spring Flower" - 9. "The Solitary Brethren of Ephrata"

4th studio album by Lingua Ignota (aka Kristin Hayter) following two years after Caligula (Jul. 2019) is once again with Hayter herself in multiple roles as technical staff, photographer, and producer. The album is partially made in collaboration with sound engineer and producer Seth Manchester, but otherwise it's exclusively Hayter as vocalist, instrumentalist, and composer. As Lingua Ignota she continues in the apocalyptic style with a less hard-hitting industrial tone than what characterised the predecessor, and instead there is room for a greater musical scope, which suits her expression. Additional stylistic features creep in from traditional folk, Americana, experimental music mixed with pervasive classical notes. On a first listen, it may sound a much like produced on the same thematic pot, but where she focused on Satan on her previous album, she now confronts God and blind believers. The lyrics revolve around Christian liturgy, sin, punishment, death, revenge, and to a lesser extent, the theme of forgiveness.

The album has generally been met by positive reviews, much like Caligula did. If you're not familiar with Lingua Ignota, it might be a bit of a frightening acquaintance at first with her obvious fascination for hard-hitting thrash metal and the death metal realm, but if you're able to stay in the intrusive brutal darkness, you may notice how other tones are present and open up. It's in the counterplay between the beauty and the ugly that Hayter moves confrontationally in and out of moods. Under the moniker of Lingua Ignota, Hayter released her debut album Let the Evil of His Own Lips Cover Him via bandcamp.com in Feb. 2017, and already with the follow-up All Bitches Die (Jun. 2017) just five months later, she had become an international name. The album Caligula from 2019 is her first with a record company to back her up. She is trained in classical music, and stylistically, she skilfully mix elements from experimental popular music with classical music and thus has a natural kinship with Diamanda Galás. Both play with the brutal confrontation with Christian ideals in experimental classical processing. Here, you'll also find links to more recent neoclassical music such as Chelsea Wolfe and Swedish artist Anna von Hausswolff, who both experiment with a mix of popular music, and especially darkwave style, with classical compositions and furthermore exploit tensions between beauty and ugly. Hayter still sounds like no one else, because she is also an artist who seems more deeply rooted in alternative noise styles and more experimental approaches.

I can easily imagine Lingua Ignota as a highly original and fascinating artist, but focusing purely on the music product, her expression with strong bonds to a thrash metal and black metal scene then places Hayter in the periphery of what I basically understand works as good music.

However, Sinner Get Ready is Hayter's most nuanced and complex album and it's definitely worth to know.

Recommended.

[ bandcamp ]

[ Gaffa.dk 6 / 6, Pitchfork, The Guardian, PopMatters 4 / 5 stars ]

Efterklang "Windflowers" (2021)

Windflowers

release date: Oct. 8, 2021

format: digital (9 x File, FLAC)

[album rate: 2,5 / 5] [2,64]

producer: Efterklang

label: City Slang - nationality: Denmark

6th studio album by Efterklang following two years after Altid sammen, entirely held in Danish and exclusively produced by the trio, which currently has been associated with the label City Slang.

On the predecessor, it was something completely new with lyrics in Danish only, but here they have taken the leap back to the English language. Musically, the band has always tried to push the boundaries to a stylistic expression grounded in the ambient department of electronica. Efterklang has released music with neo-classical elements, large-scale orchestral arrangements, music with a greater focus on bass and drums, and they have released music with experimental organic touch. It has always been clearly based on ambient, and that is also the case here on this one. On the other hand, it has become the English language again. And unfortunately, I'm tempted to say, because on Windflowers they no longer sound quite as unique as they beautifully succeeded with the predecessor. It's a collection of compositions with lots of music in major notes and a sense of uniformity creeps in quite quickly in all of the bright candyfloss. The music is large-scaled, with high-to-the-ceiling synthesizers and pompous arrangements, and lead singer Casper Clausen glides merrily into the sky in a hot air balloon through chamber pop pink and light blue clouds.

Sorry, but it wasn't this way, boys! After a few listens, I must state that Efterklang does not, as usual, manage to successfully explore new boundaries within the band's musical landscape. They recycle too much what they may think the world is longing for. It is without nerve, and the end result is reminiscent of a product from the cookie factory Karen Volf: too much sugar, too little originality, but in return lots of added filling.

Ikke anbefalet.

[ bandcamp ]

[ Gaffa.dk 5 / 6, The Line of Best Fit 4 / 5 stars ]

Sun Kil Moon "This Is My Dinner" (2018)

This Is My Dinner

release date: Nov. 1, 2018

format: digital (10 x FILE, FLAC)

[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,38]

producer: Mark Kozelek

label: Caldo Verde Records - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "This Is Not Possible" - 2. "This Is My Dinner" - 3. "Linda Blair" - 4. "Copenhagen" - 5. "Candles"

9th studio album by Sun Kil Moon, aka Mark Kozelek, you may add. This is actually Kozelek's seventh studio album over the past two years (!). It follows six months after the album Mark Kozelek (May 2018) released under his own name, and, Okay, three of these seven albums are collaborations but still, it documents Kozelek's productive stint these days. Since Among the Leaves (May 2012), Mark Kozelek has released 13 albums including this one over a six-year-period - that's more than two albums per year (in 2017 alone he released 5 albums!). This release appears to have been recorded in the span of only a few days - one day at a studio in Copenhagen, Denmark, and three days spent in a studio in San Francisco, and Kozelek has put down 75 mins of music.

Mark Kozelek is main songwriter with most of the compositions being credited Ben Boye, Ramon Fermin, and Tony Scherr. The backing band consists of keyboardists Ben Boye and Chris Connelly, drummers Jim White and Scott McPherson, new-found guitarist Ramon Fermin, and jazz-sessions bassists Tony Scherr and Jeff Cleland. Two covers are included: track #7 "Come on Get Happy" written by Danny Janssen and Wes Farrell - a track stemming from the American musical sitcom, and this is the theme song to "The Partridge Family", and track #8 "Rock 'n' Roll Singer" by Australian hard rock band AC/DC credited Bon Scott, Angus Young, and Malcolm Young - a song Kozelek already included on his solo ep debut Rock 'n' Roll Singer (Jun. 2000) in a different version.

The album basically continues where Mark Kozelek ended, although, this one appears as a more incoherent product and perhaps an even bolder album founded on improvs. As a songwriter, Kozelek has evolved from writing more traditional conscious lyrics to a contemporary state where he seems to take inspiration in news subjects, and occurances from his private life, as well as things related to where he performs. It appears that many of his new songs have been made during live tours and then later put down in a studio - possibly with an attempt to recapture what had previously worked in live situations.  Also his choice to include two tribute songs: tracks #6 "David Cassidy" and the AC/DC composition releates to the fact that David Cassidy and Malcolm Young (of AC/DC) both passed away during his live tour. I feel that the second half of the album (tracks 6-10) stand as more irregular / unprepared improvs, as if to see what happens if-we-just-tape-whatever-noices-we-make-in-the-following. This shouldn't work but the first half of the album actually has more than decent moments that I enjoy, but still, when comparing with many of his previous releases, this is not one of his better attempts.

Not recommended.

[ allmusic.com 2,5 / 5, UnderTheRadar 3 / 5, Exclaim! 3,5 / 5 stars ]