~ mavaffantastico

06 December 2014

Fuck Buttons "Street Horrrsing" (2008)

Street Horrrsing [debut]

release date: Mar. 17. 2008

format: cd

[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,58]

producer: John Cummings

label: ATP Recordings - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Sweet Love for Planet Earth" - 2. "Ribs Out" - 5. "Bright Tomorrow" - 6. "Colours Move"

Studio album debut by British electronic duo Fuck Buttons consisting of Andrew Hung and Benjamin John Power, the latter also synonymous with the acclaimed solo-project Blanck Mass initiated 2011. Apparently, the two got together as early as 2004 when Hung was into Aphex Twin whereas Power was a fan of Mogwai - the album is produced by founding member of Mogwai, John Cummings - and that basically explains much of the duo's starting point, although, the album here reveal a new aspect of their music, which initially was about... noise.

The founding denominator on Street Horrrsing is the electronic progressive element, although both members may be said to be grounded in instrumental experimental electronica.

The album both seems inspired by the aforementioned artists but is really anything but merely a copy. The drone element is everywhere and the compositions are often built on a structure of simple, repetitive patterns that either transforms slowly or abrupt. On all compositions the duo play with harmony and chaos. There's always some soothing melody line, here and there, and at the same time, there's noise, or: a bleak darkness underneath that keeps you alert. It's definitely an album for listeners, and if you don't find it appealing at first, you may give it a second chance.

[ allmusic.com, Uncut 4 / 5, Pitchfork 8,6 / 10, 👎Spin 3 / 5 stars ]

Blaue Blume "Beau & Lorette" (2014)

Beau & Lorette, ep [debut]
release date: Jun. 2, 2014
format: digital (5 x File, FLAC)
[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,84]
producer: Blaue Blume
label: MBO - nationality: Denmark

Tracklist: 1. "Birthday" (4,5 / 5) - 2. "Lost Sons of Boys" (4 / 5) (live) - 3. "In Disco Lights" (4 / 5) - 4. "Lemon Tree" (3,5 / 5) - 5. "Conventional Dreams (Our House)" (3 / 5)

[ live session of 'Lost Sons of Boys' and 'Lemon Tree' ]

5-track studio ep debut album by Blaue Blume, a Danish band consisting of composer Jonas Holst Smith on vocals and rhythm guitar, Peter Bøgvad on bass, and the brothers Jensen Buhl: Robert on lead guitar and Søren on drums.

I first heard the band play live at the Danish music award show Gaffa Prisen. They played the track "Lost Sons of Boys" at an instrumentally and technically very high level. Most extraordinary, though, is the strong and charachteristic vocal of Jonas Smith who sings like a clone of Antony Hegarty, Morrissey, and Elizabeth Fraser [!] of Cocteau Twins. "In Disco Lights" sounds much like a cover of / tribute to several songs by Cocteau Twins in their classic dream pop style, but the other tracks point more in the direction of Antony & The Johnsons without obvious chamber pop but with art pop and neo-psychedelic pop as the most obvious styles.

I'm really impressed by the band's skills and of this first release, although, it really points in several directions. It's quite un-Danish and very British in style and in a way that could make it difficult for the band to be noticed, but they do deserve a closer attention, and I'm really looking forward to hear their first full studio album release, which should be planned for release in 2015.

Highly recommended.

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05 December 2014

Paul Young "The Crossing" (1993)

The Crossing
release date: Oct. 1993
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,72]
producer: Don Was
label: Columbia Records - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Hope in a Hopeless World" - 2. "Now I Know What Made Otis Blue" (4,5 / 5) - 3. "Bring Me Home" - 4. "The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter" (4 / 5) - 5. "Won't Look Back" - 9. "Half a Step Away" - 10. "Follow On" - 11. "It Will Be You"

5th studio album by Paul Young primarily produced by Don Was - Chris Neil produced tracks #2 and #3, and Steve Lindsey track #11. It's like a fine combination of all his albums so far: with both plain pop songs, soulful tracks with some jazz feel, and a variation of covers and self-composed material. Young is co-writer on 5 of the songs. Generally, it's on the softer side of his pop / rock albums offering an album of fine pop soul.
"Now I Know What Made Otis Blue" is one of Young's absolute finest (cover) songs where his voice just fits the composition like hand in glove. The album features a vast crowd of studio musicians with a line-up that changes from song to song, but still it sounds very much like a whole, which is quite an effort. This is a fine return to form for Young, although, the album undeservedly wasn't a grand success, and that may be a result of various luck in making consistently good albums. Actually, I find that this is simply his second best album.
In 1993 Young reformed the band the Q-Tips, which had been his starting point before becoming a solo artist and with whom he had played pop soul and released two albums from 1979-82. Together with the Q-Tips, Young played a number of concerts in '93 before the band was put to rest once again.
[ allmusic.com 4 / 5 stars ]

04 December 2014

Bob Mould "Black Sheets of Rain" (1990)

Black Sheets of Rain
release date: May 1990
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,72]
producer: Bob Mould
label: Virgin Records - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "Black Sheets of Rain" - 3. "It's Too Late" (4 / 5) - 5. "Stop Your Crying" - 8. "Hear Me Calling" (4 / 5) - 9. "Out of Your Life" (4 / 5)

2nd solo album by Bob Mould sees him in a return to alt. rock and power pop after the more folk rock and singer / songwriter-shaped debut Workbook (1989). He has also returned to a familiar setup of a three-man piece: Mould on vocals and guitar is backed by Tony Maimone on bass and Anton Fier on drums and percussion. Both were part of a slightly bigger backing band on his debut.
Together with the Hüsker Dü releases this forecasts the whole 'grunge' movement with Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Mudhoney, Soundgarden etc, as it's more "one-way" directed and also more coherent than it's predecessor. A track like "It's Too Late" could almost very easily have been included on Warehouse: Songs and Stories (1987) the last great album by Hüsker Dü but it also points to the new material by Sugar.
After this his second solo album Mould initiated the project Sugar with bassist David Barbe and drummer Malcolm Travis, and in 1992 they released the much lauded debut Copper Blue.
[ allmusic.com, Spin 3 / 5, Rolling Stone 4 / 5 stars ]

Elvis Costello "Out of Our Idiot" (1987)

vinyl cover

Out of Our Idiot (compilation)
release date: Dec. 4, 1987
format: vinyl (X Fiend 67) / digital
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,68]
producer: various
label: Demon Records - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: A) 1. "Seven Day Weekend" (Guest Star Jimmy Cliff) - 2. "Turning the Town Red" - 3. "Heathen Town" - 5. "So Young" (previously un-issued) - 6. "American Without Tears No. 2" (Twilight Version) - 7. "Get Yourself Another Fool (Out of Our Idiot Mix)" (5 / 5) - - B) 1. "Blue Chair" (Single Version) - 2. "Baby It's You" (Guest Star Nick Lowe) - 3. "From Head to Toe" - 8. "Imperial Bedroom" (demo)

Compilation album by Elvis Costello advertised as 'Rare and Unreleased Cuts'. The vinyl version is a 17 tracks single album - the cd issue contains 21 tracks.

The album is credited to "Various Artists" (on record spine) rather than to Elvis Costello because the tracks were recorded and credited under a variety of names, including The Costello Show, Elvis Costello and the Attractions, Elvis Costello and the Confederates, The Coward Brothers, Napoleon Dynamite & the Royal Guard, The Emotional Toothpaste, The Imposter, and recorded with a variety of collaborators. Most tracks are featuring The Attractions and several of the strange band names are credited single songs only.

It reflects anything but self-sufficiency and comes out as that extra dimension to his songwriting - if you want it. Yes, it's a bit of a wide and strange compilation without head or tail but it shows us nicely how wide the man grasps in terms of styles, and I have always found it quite enjoyable - perhaps because of its lightness and funny takes, and then you can always hear that Costello puts a whole lot of sincerity into his songs, also the most corny ones, which then makes them meaningful.

[ allmusic.com 3,5 / 5 stars ]

Eric Clapton "The Cream of Eric Clapton" (1987)

The Cream of Eric Clapton (compilation)
release date: 1987
format: vinyl
[album rate: 3,5 / 5]
producer: various
label: Polydor Records - nationality: England, UK

Compilation album by Eric Clapton containing 16 tracks of which five compositions are with Cream and one is credited Derek and the Dominos.
I fully acknowledge the importance of Eric Clapton but I have never been attracted to the British pop blues variation, and blues in particular doesn't take up much space in my music collection.

The Knife "The Knife" (2001)

The Knife [debut]
release date: Feb. 5, 2001
format: digital
[album rate: 3 / 5] [3,18]
producer: The Knife
label: Rabid Records - nationality: Sweden

Track highlights: 1. "Neon" - 3. "Kino" - 4. "I Just Had to Die" - 5. "I Take Time" - 6. "Parade" - 7. "Zapata" - 8. "Bird" - 11. "Reindeer"

Studio album debut by The Knife, which is a project-duo consisting of (the siblings) Karin Dreijer Andersson and Olof Dreijer. The tracks are playful compositions of various styles. It's electropop, synthpop, and art pop but the band uses elements from trip hop and downtempo as well as points to new styles like electroclash and indietronica.
I think, the album may need time to open up and is less pop and chorus-founded than its successor.
[ allmusic.com 3,5 / 5 stars ]

03 December 2014

Tindersticks "Waitting for the Moon" (2003)

Waitting for the Moon
release date: Jun. 17, 2003
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,42]
producer: Stuart Staples & Ian Caple
label: Beggars Banquet - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Until the Morning Comes" - 2. "Say Goodbye to the City" - 4. "4.48 Psychosis" - 6. "Trying to Find a Home" - 7. "Sometimes It Hurts" (feat. Lhasa de Sela) - 8. "My Oblivion" (live)

6th studio album by Tindersticks following two years after Can Our Love... is like the predecessor produced by songwriter and vocalist Stuart Staples and Ian Caple - with the latter also co-producing the band's first two albums.

The album marks a clear stylistic change, where the releases from the second to the fifth album share much of the same musical settings and have roughly the same tempo. Waiting for the Moon, on the other hand, is more strictly a chamber pop release, where the arrangements are carry bolder use of strings and wind instruments.

The album was generally met by lukewarm reviews, and it wasn't really what I had hoped for neither. I tried to listen it, tried to be open to the new set of songs but they never really unfolded. It wasn't long before I had to realize that this was an immediate 'misfire' or if nothing else, the band's thinnest outing to date. I couldn't help thinking that the band was in a lack of inspiration, that with no new ideas they had turned on autopilot and were satisfied going through the motions adding new arrangements to outtakes without much success.

Apparently, the studio recordings for the album were not the easiest process with internal conflicts that the following years accumulated and ultimately led to a major change in the group's line-up.

After this, one of the band's founders, composer and violinist, Dickon Hinchcliffe recorded the soundtrack album for the movie "Forty Shades of Blue" (2005), and lead vocalist Stuart Staples followed in his footsteps by releasing his first solo album, Lucky Dog Recordings 03-04 (2005) and already the following year he released the solo follow-up Leaving Songs (2006), which (may / may not) have heralded the end to Tindersticks as a band. They played a one-off gig at London's Barbican Centre, performing the band's second full-length studio album and shortly afterwards three of the original members left Tindersticks: Dickon Hincliffe, bassist Mark Colwill, and drummer Alistair Macaulay, and Tindersticks were effectively reduced to a trio. Or that is the very simplified explanation for the band's major 'remodeling'. Another and longer explanation tells the story of lead singer Stuart Staples' ambiguous signals that may indicate he harbored desires to go solo with his 2006 album Leaving Songs. The album contains the following notes from Staples' hand: "These are songs written on the verge of leaving the things I loved and stepping into a new unknown life, both musically and personally. I was always aware that these songs were the end of something, a kind of closing a circle of a way of writing that I started so long ago and I knew I had to move on from."

Fortunately, Tindersticks and Staples didn't end the circle here, but Tindersticks in a 'Mark II' version was soon to rise from the ashes as another bird Phoenix.

The front cover is from a painting by Staples' wife, Suzanne Osborne.

[ allmusic.com 3 / 5 stars ]

02 December 2014

Jan Garbarek "Legend of the Seven Dreams" (1988)

Legend of the Seven Dreams
release date: Jul. 1988
format: cd (ECM 1381)
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,66]
producer: Manfred Eicher
label: ECM Records - nationality: Norway

Track highlight: 1. "He Comes From the North" (5 / 5) (live) - 4. "Brother Wind" - 7. "Voy Cantando" (4 / 5) ( live )

Studio release by Jan Garbarek is an album with focus on ambient and contemporary / modern free jazz with traditional folk elements, sometimes Indian sounding fragments. All compositions are credited Garbarek but the album is made together with three of his 'usual' working partners: German pianist Rainer Brüninghaus, Brazilian percussionist Naná Vasconcelos (aka Juvenal De Holanda Vasconcelos, who is also credited for his vocal performance), and German bassist Eberhard Weber. Aside from playing soprano, alto, and tenor saxophones, Garbarek is also credited for playing flute and percussion.
The album is a nice blend with latin folk its, thanks to Vasconcelos and Nordic folk, which here works quite nicely.

Bo Kaspers Orkester "New Orleans" (2010)

New Orleans
release date: Oct. 18, 2010
format: digital
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,34]
producer: Bo Kaspers Orkester
label: Columbia / Sony - nationality: Sweden

Track highlights: 2. "Låt mig komma in" - 4. "Ännu en dag" - 5. "Tiden läker ingenting" (4 / 5) - 6. "En sländas andetag" - 7. "Stället som jag kommer från" - 9. "Vad vi än gör"

9th studio album by Bo Kaspers Orkester is almost as usual produced by the band and released through Columbia Records / Sony Music Entertainment. The album was recorded in New Orleans and is characterized by American folk pop influences intertwined with americana, jazz pop, rhythm & blues - a bit like on their best album Vilka tror vi att vi är (2003), and although, I don't find it as great as that, I find it more than just fine. Compared to the band's previous three albums, this is quieter, more delicate, and more... 'naked'. The songs are not over-produced with strings, horns and other fine arrangements but appear as more simple songs with fewer instruments. The album reached #1 on the Swedish album chart list.

01 December 2014

Jean-Michel Jarre "Rendez-vous" (1986)

Rendez-vous
release date: Apr. 1986
format: cd (2015 remaster)
[album rate: 2 / 5] [2,18]
producer: Jean Michel Jarre
label: Sony Music - nationality: France

Tracklist: 1. "First rendez-vous" - 2. "Second rendez-vous" - 3. "Third rendez-vous" - 4. "Fourth rendez-vous" - 5. "Fifth rendez-vous" - 6. "Last rendez-vous (Ron's Piece)"

8th studio album release by 'Jean Michel' Jarre originally released on Disques Dreyfus. Before this, he released the album Music for Supermarkets in 1983, Zoolook in '84, as well as a live album from a concert in China. Of course I heard and listened to those albums but I never really liked his new more popular style initiated with Magnetic Fields from 1981. With this he continues his progressive synthpop by exploring more popular musical territory, he had touched on his '81 and '84 albums. He has moved away from an entirely experimental and more minimalist form, removed guitars and vocals and instead added more synths to his soundscape.
Especially the track "Fourth Rendez-vous" was a popular single from this album.
Instead of pursuing an artistic approach, it seems he fell for the popularity (and money?) that his new age pop songs attracted. In the early 1980s TV channels enthusiastically stumbled over each other to record and transmit his gigantic live concerts and performances soothed in laser light shows with millions of spectators. I simply disliked his progressive electropop and synthesizer pop ballads, and this album isn't any better. He dwells on musical themes and loops he created in the 1970s by adding electronic drums, and keyboard bass-lines to make it more funky or disco-like. This is muzak when it's mostly just annoyingly neutral.
[ allmusic.com 3 / 5 stars ]

Tinderticks "Don't Even Go There" (2003) (ep)

Don't Even Go There, ep
release date: Jun. 9, 2003
format: cd
[album rate: 3 / 5] [3,18]
producer: Stuart A. Staples, Ian Caple
label: Beggars Banquet - nationality: England, UK

Tracklist: 1. "Trying to Find a Home" - 2. "Sexual Funk" - 3. "Everything Changes" - 4. "I Want You"

4-track ep by Tindersticks including the track "Trying to Find a Home" from the forthcoming album Waiting for the Moon as well as three previously unreleased tracks. I bought this on the day of release, and was disappointed but still hoped that the album would prove to be fine as usual. The only worthwhile track here is the one from the album.

Bloc Party "Intimacy" (2008)

Intimacy
release date: Aug. 21, 2008
format: cd (LTD. O-Card)
[album rate: 4 / 5] [4,08]
producer: Jacknife Lee & Paul Epworth
label: Wichita - nationality: England, UK

Tracklist: 1. "Ares" (4 / 5) - 2. "Mercury" - 3. "Halo" (4 / 5) - 4. "Biko" (4 / 5) - 5. "Trojan Horse" (4 / 5) - 6. "Signs" - 7. "One Month Off" - 8. "Zephyrus" - 9. "Talons" (5 / 5) [PLAY LOUD!!] (live) - 10. "Better Than Heaven" - 11. "Ion Square" - *12. "Letter to My Son" - *13. "Your Visits Are Getting Shorter" (4,5 / 5)
*Bonus track on Limited Edition

3rd studio album by Bloc Party follows 1½ years after A Weekend in the City (Feb. 2007) and it already appears as an attempt to combine the sound of Silent Alarm produced by Paul Epworth and the 2007-album produced by Jacknife Lee simply by putting the two producers together for this one. The two are aside from production, also credited programming and keyboards. The Limited Edition contains two bonus tracks of which the last simply happens to be the second best song on the album.
The album doesn't sound like either of the two previous studio albums and it reveals a combo of electropop, alt. dance, and indie rock. Although, it doesn't sound alike, it's still very much the natural progression from A Weekend in the City with more electro and more dance, however, they're still able to incorporate Russell Lissack's guitar skills - as he once again demonstrate his abilities as an exceptional instrumentalist - just listen to "Talons" - that song is like a rocket launch or a flame thrower. I just love the sound of that guitar and it makes me wanna go out and buy one again. It's Bloc Party when they're best: "And when it co-o-o-mes, it'll feel like a kiss"... The first 100 times I was really annoyed by the simpleness and repetitious "Mercury", but today I find it pretty damn good, and overall it's truly nice to witness these guys' change of style. Instead of copying other post-punk revivalists and indie rock bands, these four guys go their own way and by doing that, they lose lots of fans and critics but they sort of say: "we don't make music for you - we do this now!" And I applaud their attitude and their will to experimentation.
Highly recommended.

2008 Favourite releases: 1. Sigur Rós Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust - 2. Bloc Party Intimacy - 3. Alanis Morissette Flavors of Entanglement

R.E.M. "Accelerate" (2008)

Accelerate
release date: Apr. 1, 2008
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,35]
producer: Jacknife Lee and R.E.M.
label: Warner Bros. - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "Living Well Is the Best Revenge" - 2. "Man-Sized Wreath" (3,5 / 5) - 3. "Supernatural Superserious" (4 / 5) - 4. "Hollow Man" (3,5 / 5) - 5. "Houston" (3,5 / 5) - 7. "Until the Day Is Done" (3,5 / 5) - 9. "Sing for the Submarine" (3,5 / 5) - 10. "Horse to Water" (live)

14th studio album by R.E.M. released on Warner Bros. and produced by Jacknife Lee and R.E.M. Maybe it has to do with a new producer in the driving seat, or it's just a strong will to do better than their worst release 3,5 years earlier with Around the Sun (2004). I know that many had seen the end of the band, and almost 4 years is a long time without releasing new material. Apparently, The Edge of U2 recommended to have Jacknife Lee produce the album. Stylistically, it's like a decision to make a another rocking compilation of energetic songs, which makes it their most hard rocking album since Monster (1994). It's only recently that I have listened fully to the album, and it really blew me away 'cause frankly, I had given in on the band, which is why I didn't bother when it was released. The album consists of 13 tracks with 8 fine compositions and the rest not much lower, so it's not an album of fillers. It's not great like their 5 best albums but just below that. To me, it's better than Up (1998), equaling their first three albums, Out of Time (1991), New Adventures in Hi-Fi (1996), and Reveal (2001).
[ allmusic.com, The Guardian, Rolling Stone 4 / 5 stars ]

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30 November 2014

Blondie "The Hunter" (1982)

The Hunter
release date: May 24, 1982
format: digital
[album rate: 2,5 / 5] [2,55]
producer: Mike Chapman
label: Chrysalis Records - nationality: USA

Best track: 3. "Dragonfly" (3 / 5)

6th and so far final studio album by Blondie who would not release new material until 1999. The album is known as a record label contract obligation. Musically, the band had nothing new to offer, and the album is really a mediocre release. What a sad way to end a great band. It's mainstream pop / rock with hints of disco and... calypso [!].
Allegedly, the band had been offered to record what was to be the title track for the new James Bond movie "For Your Eyes Only" composed by Bill Conti and Michael Leeson, but the band rejected the song, and Debbie Harry and Chris Stein then wrote their own title song for the film; however, the Conti and Leeson song then went to Sheena Easton who secured the song in the film. The cover fits the album fine, as it's quite tasteless.
[ allmusic.com 1,5 / 5, Rolling Stone Album Guide 2 / 5 stars ]

The Prodigy "Lost Beats EP" (2009) (ep)

Lost Beats EP, ep
release date: Feb. 18, 2009
format: digital
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,32]
producer: Liam Howlett
label: Take Me to the Hospital - nationality: England, UK

Tracklist: 1. "The Big Gundown" - 2. "Black Smoke" - 3. "Wild West" - 4. "Fighter Beat" (2 / 5)

A 4-track studio ep, which came with a Deluxe Edition of Invaders Must Die. The music is very much the same style as the album, although, I think this is clearly better. The first track is a sampling of music by Ennio Morricone, and it's actually pretty nice. Also, track #2 is fine with its hardcore breakbeat instead of all the hip hop influence. All tracks are instrumental versions only. Track #3 has an intro with a sampling of a Dead Kennedys' track.
It's not really great but points in a better direction than some of their more recent releases.

The Prodigy "Invaders Must Die" (2009)

Invaders Must Die
release date: Feb. 18, 2009
format: digital
[album rate: 3 / 5] [3,14]
producer: Liam Howlett
label: Take Me to the Hospital - nationality: england, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Invaders Must Die" - 2. "Omen" - 4. "Colours" - 6. "Warriors Dance" - 7. "Run With the Wolves"

5th studio album by The Prodigy is released on the band's own label, Take Me to the Hospital (distributed by Cooking Vinyl). All tracks are produced by Liam Howlett with James Rushent credited for additional production on tracks #1-2. Howlett is normally credited as composer on nearly all tracks, but here is 'only' credited as co-composer of the music, and most tracks are Howlett's take with samples originally performed by Nirvana, Foo Fighters, The Breeders, and Manfred Mann.
The album peaked at number #1 in the UK and generally sold better than the 2004 album, and the two singles - tracks #2 and #6 both became top-10 singles in the UK.

Musically it follows close to the 2004 album, Always Outnumbered Never Outgunned and despite being clearly a better album it's never really great release when comparing to the band's first three albums. It's released five years following the last real studio album so expectations were not low. It feels like a better album, and the single tracks seem like more originally written but still has too much focus on original American techno, which I think, simply sounds outdated - we've been there, done that, but obviously, Liam Howlett hasn't been part of that movement, and unfortunately, he seems determined to go through his own techno evolution combining sampling and hardcore, industrial hip hop, breakbeat and hard rock with traditional techno. Strangely, "Stand Up" sounds like an attempt to make a Chemical Brothers track... and again, several tracks are samplings of old The Prodigy stuff, which is just sad when you hear bits of great old tracks cut up to new lesser songs. Best thing about it, is the comeback to both Keith Flint and Maxim on vocals.

29 November 2014

The Servant "The Servant" (2004)

The Servant
release date: Apr. 2004
format: digital
[album rate: 2,5 / 5]

Track highlights: 2. "Beautiful Thing" (3 / 5) - 3. "Liquefy" (4 / 5) - 4. "Body" (2,5 / 5) - 7. "I Can Walk In Your Mind" (2,5 / 5) - 10. "Glowing Logos" (2,5 / 5)

3rd studio album by Leeds-founded band The Servant. I don't know much about the band or their previous two studio albums, I just heard the track "Liquefy" and wasn't overwhelmed by the rest of the songs. The music is both indie pop and alt. rock, but actually, most tracks on the album are somewhere between pop and alt. rock, and I just find the album too anonymously sounding and not really any near their pop hit on the album. Normally, I'm a "completist" and like to listen to whole albums instead of hunting singles and outtakes but this whole album is kind of redundant.

28 November 2014

Cocteau Twins "The Pink Opaque" (1985)

The Pink Opaque (compilation)
release date: Dec. 30, 1985
format: cd
[album rate: 3 / 5]
producer: Cocteau Twins, Ivo Watts-Russell
label: 4AD / Relativity Records - nationality: Scotland, UK

A compilation album by Cocteau Twins as the band's first release in the American market consists of tracks recorded in the years from 1982 to 85, some of which only have been released on ep or as single releases, i.e. all three tracks from the single "Pearly-Dewdrops' Drops" (1984).
It's not bad, and despite the early takes, which should underline their earlier post-punk and dark wave sound, the tracks have been selected to fit a more contemporary Cocteau Twins dream pop sound.

Sigur Rós "( )" (2002)

( )
release date: Oct. 28, 2002
format: cd / vinyl (2015 reissue)
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,62]
producer: Sigur Rós, Ken Thomas (uncredited)
label: FatCat / XL Recordings - nationality: Iceland

Track highlights: 1. [untitled] (Vaka) - 2. [untitled] (Fyrsta) - 3. [untitled] (Samskeyti) - 4. [untitled] (Njósnavélin) - 6. [untitled] (E-bow) - 8. [untitled] (Popplagið)

3rd studio album by Sigur Rós following more than three years after Ágætus byrjun (June 1999) originally released on FatCat Records and produced by Sigur Rós and Ken Thomas. The album is a step into a more experimental post rock style, and seems very much like a conceptual album. The title of the album is often referred to as "the brackets album" ('Svigaplattan' in Icelandic) or "the untitled album". The cover art underlines the idea of the left-out title by two bold brackets forming a symbol, which has been used for various projects by the band like a signature (also represented on their full-length live 2 cd release Inni from 2011). So, the album is without a title, and this is continued for each track on the album as no tracks are left with any title except for [untitled] or simply titled via the track number. The additional titles comes the band's own official website - when referring to tracks - and here the album is also given the producer credits that are likewise left out on all issues of the album. It contains eight compositions and they're all held quite stricltly in an ambient style, somewhat closer to the band's debut album than Ágætus byrjun, but again, compared to the debut this is without the experimental art rock and instead with more ambient vocal harmonies, and then it's much more of a whole making it a unique release.

Overall, the band seems to try out new ways of expression, and although, I don't find it a huge leap forward, it's a rather fine coherent collection of moody post rock.

[ allmusic.com, Q Magazine, Rolling Stone 4 / 5 stars ]