Lots of old giants of mine like Björk, Tori Amos, Bon Iver, Radiohead and Kate Bush were to release new outputs, it could have been so cool. But it seldom was. Here is why. And here are also some things that thrilled me, because, of course, it wasn't all bad. :)
The preview-track to be released from the album was 'Lippy Kids', which I instantly loved. It reminded me of elder Elbow songs, like 'Fugitive Motel' and 'Switching Off'. The quiet beauty and sparse instrumentation left enought room for the vocals to unfold their inexplicable melancholy and uniqueness, both intimate and distanced. When the album finally came, there were too many songs with either a wall of sound (reminding me of one of my least favourite Elbow-songs 'Fallen Angel') or an overbearing harmonious overkill in the songs. The arrangements are too simple for my taste, there are too few facettes. The closing song, 'Dear Friends' though, I really love.
I must say I hadn't heard about Laurie Anderson before her name came up in some blogs, considering this release. When I listened, I heard a lot of things reminding me of Kate Bush and Peter Gabriel. Ten minute long spoken word-pieces, about the perception of time, a beautiful musical and lyrical trubiute to snowflakes (Hello Kate), and a downpitched voice, stressing the crossgender image on the cover. A very interesting and pleasant listen of art-pop, which you need to take time for, it's not enjoyable while doing housework ;)
I had highly anticipated this album, because its predecessor 'Dada Bandits' had been my album of the year 2009. With its playful and wildly creative pop-sculptures, the guys from Finland swept me off my feet. Now with this one, of course, I expected no less. Which is a little much. So of course I was disappointed. There was just by far not as much light and dark as on 'Dada Bandits', many of the songs just starting and then stopping, a few highlights here and there, sure, but most of the time they went for a more straight-forward approach in songwriting and arrangement. Still, a band performing with high virtuosity and colorful instrumentation.
BON IVER - 'Bon Iver, Bon Iver'
I was highly thrilled when I first heard the preview-track 'Calgary', because it completely fulfilled my expectations. I knew Justin Vernon would go into a different direction than acoustic guitar+voice. When I then listened to the full album a few weeks later track by track, each one multiple times before moving on the next, every track seemed to be a little masterpiece. So when I had arrived at track 5, I was certain that this would be a milestone, something to forever hold on to. I was surprised to see what Side B, tracks 6-10, would offer. Of course you could say it is kind of conceptual to not pack it with song-songs all the way through, but I would have wished for some more flesh and bones on the second half. Sure, 'Calgary' is in that half, but it really sticks out among the other ones which just don't hold that much for me. Soundscaping through and through, almost like an ambient album, it doesn't appear to fit with Side A at all. So that kind of slimmed the overall impression down for me. Some good tracks, still, but nothing to experience as an album. I don't really go back to the first five tracks that often as well. They don't hold the timelessness of the debut, 'For Emma, Forever Ago'.
I was introduced to this band by another musician, Timothy Showaltar, performing as STRAND OF OAKS, as he entitled the song 'Woods' "easily one of the most beautiful songs I have ever heard". And he was right. The album holds lots of memorable and fine moments, the soft guitars and carressed drums are sometimes accompanied by an alto-sax, which makes the moods even more special. A perfect example of how to create something very unique with just very few ingredients. Pretty magical.
It was pure coincidence that I ever got to know this Belgian band. We played with them on Biouel Boat in Brussels in 2007 I think, and they would show up a lot later, at the end of the evening cause their drummer had somewhere else to be. Long story short, they played in front of about 12 people, and we were all already a bit drunk. Our drummer lent his set to their drummer, and we had to wait up for them to finish, so we hoped they'd be good. And within the first song, we knew that there were. Very. The voice of Kristof Deneijs, his jazzmaster guitar into the fender twin-reverb-amp, the virtuous drumming of a female (which I hadn't seen too often right there in front of me), the sitting down on stage, the acoustic keyboard-organ-thing, the electronics guy, plick-plucking his little bits and pieces along. Just a perfect concert.
Anyway, this is already their second release, they don't play with electronics anymore I believe, it's all very handmade, and the sound is just superb. You can hear every detail of their performance through the speakers, the twin reverb-amp, the style of drumming, the softness of the singing voice. The vocal lines are often very bold and adventurous, still there is no shame in this recording whatsoever. I enjoy it again and again.
A beautiful message through and through. All that can be heard on this tells me, lyrically and musically, that I should be calm, grateful, hopeful, and in tune with the universe. Because there is reason to be. I haven't heard such a positive album in a long time. Also, the musicality is extraordinary. The choirs, the arrangements of the songs, the guitars. All in a sound which is both extremely natural and excitingly shimmering and varying.
Pretty much one of these albums you can't grab. You hear it over and over, and it always reveals new. The songwriting is so full of space and thought, it always flies right by. No comparisons can grab a real hold, maybe some parts, like the vocals, which would sometimes sound like Ian Curtis, but the overall style of this record is totally original and of its own. I can go back to this and still be excited because I couldn't recall what would await me. Pretty amazing feeling with a record I have heard a good few times.
I heard about them through a German music blog called Rote Raupe and I figured they would be a little like old Counting Crows (which they really turned out to be.. highly subjective I guess ;) The singing and voice of Ricky Lewis immediately captured me and gave me a magical feeling I hadn't had while hearing music in a long time. These many blue notes and cryptic lyrics paired with the simple and melancholy guitar chords made me an instant fan of this band. These five songs give so much that 10 or 12-piece strong albums of others could never give. So much intimacy I had already given up wanting to hear. It's the kind of intimacy that grows so out of proportion by having a little distance in it, too. This is something that cannot be faked or planned. Either a singer has it or he don't. Ricky definitely has it. And the lyrics do the rest - at times, each half line brings new associations to mind. This is easily my EP of the year.
I have listened to this album less than ten times. Which should sum it up when it comes to my former favourite band. It is my least favourite album of theirs. I like 'Pable Honey' more. KoL is just such a cold and unpeasant listen for me. I enjoy some of the rhythms, but not in such a stale form for more than 4 minutes, and I really like 'Codex'(, of course). Even latter released tracks like 'Supercollider', 'The Butcher' or 'Staircase' I enjoy way more than these. It's clear to me that they wanted to step away again from being to accessable, having done very colorful 'Hail To The Thief' and even more poppy 'In Rainbows', they had a second 'Kid A'-like breakfree necessary. That is strategically fine by me, if it makes them happy, but I don't like the musical outcome. I am still going to listen to whatever they release in the future. Maybe there will be a shift back towards "comsumer-friendliness".
Being a Björk-fan since 'Homogenic', I am thrilled about every new album-release of hers, although 'Medulla' and 'Volta' only held a few single tracks for me. Still, when 'Crystalline' dropped, I was super-excited. It had a strong melody, good sounds, and a freak-out-breakbeat-finale at the end. The following few preview tracks like 'Cosmogony' and 'Moon' didn't give me so much because they did what I disliked about Björk's output of the more recent future: it was so sparse without being musically intersting - what seemed to be the main focus, were the lyrics. Which pretty much revolve around the same with her ever since: Her philosophies. So then, the full album came, and the first turn-off shock was that she had changed the moment I was in love with: the breakbeat on 'Crystalline' was different. It was perfect to me, and Björk was now a winning-team-changer in my eyes. It was like doing a mix of one of my own songs, which is perfect, but then screwing it up and not having done a safety copy of the session. It screws the whole song up completely. Furthermore, about five songs on the album were skeletal trees of music, one instrument with her voice, singing pretty much the same melodies over and over. It sounds sad, but that's how I feel about it. Still: there is one track which grabbed me after all: 'Mutual Core'. When the big beat starts at about 2 minutes, it blows a huge arrow of steam though my brain. What a track! This is what I have always loved about her. The combination of being philosophical and pure, but then also hitting the 12 with a heavy, heavy hammer.
Like many others I have been turned on to these guys by Thom Yorke. Once he dropped their name at Charlotte Roche's Fast Forward back in the day, saying their stuff "is the shit", they were famous. Rooting in Techno, they had come a long way without shedding their origins completely. The way they use minimalism creates a very special mood of ecstasy. As a listener, I never felt underwhelmed by what they served me. With this album now, this changed a little. In only 5 weeks time, they put it together, and maybe it would have needed a little longer to fully grow. Some tracks feel really shallow and after three listens, I was sick of them. Still, there are some tracks on here which have explosive energy and stay exciting, even at the 20th listen. It's not as consistant as I had hoped, but nonetheless an interesting and exciting release.
Like many others, I got to know her through Damien Rice's 'O' and his live performances, in which she played a big role. Her voice is heavenly and very unique, and she makes every song sound better. This album left me a little behind my expectations, maybe I expected a little too much. It's just not my cup of tea when there is too much Blues in my brew, and I would have wished for some more experiments. It's all so solid adult pop, for very very grown ups.. very tame, nothing wild here at all. The song 'Paper House' still is a very special piece to me, the melody in the chorus grabbed me instantly, and it reminds me of just how lovely her voice sounds when it is so intimately recorded.
I was pleased to hear the SW would release another solo-album, because I liked his band Porcupine Tree's poppier efforts more than the recent metal ones. My most fav was 'In Absentia', where in my opinion pop was perfectly combined with the heavy side of the band, Pink Floyd with Tool, sth like that. And this double CD offers a lot which I could like, but somehow it all seems so cold and emotionless to me. His vocals appear to be so rock and nowhere as intimate as they used to (obviously just my subjective perception). Nothing really kicked me on this album. It's well done, technically well executed etc, but maybe I have moved away from this style. Too much head for me here, too little belly.
Oh boy, Tori Amos has been giving me a hard time for almost ten years now. She was once my favourite woman in music, her first three albums, fronted by 'Under The Pink', gave me so much, opened doors for me musically and emotionally, but ever since she slipped away from what she used to be. Her descent into this kind of gothic erotic pop made me more and more sour when a new release was announced, with every one I expected less. There were one or two glimpses of the old intimacy on each record, but among 14 other pieces of music, they were so outnumbered that it became a drag searching for them. When I heard the first two songs to drop from this album then, I figured there would be no drums and bass (the ingedrients which helped mess up the previous albums, fatting the songs down to meaningless pop radio sappy crap) and with all the bold orchestral arrangements, it became clear that there would be a classical approach. Expectations were a bit higher again. But when I heard the full album then, I realized it wasn't so much about the instrumentation in the past years, but about her way of singing. She lost what she had when she was around 30. She is a different person now. I hope this is good for her, but I don't really like the way this person sings. What was once hopeful and smiling with eyes full of tears has been wiped away by the desperate attempt to remain youthful and sexy.
I didn't listen to any single songs of hers first - my first contact with this music was a full listen though the whole album (after I had read some positive things, including Kate Bush-namedropping, which always gets me curious, if only to laugh about it). But this was one of the most exciting first-listens to an album! Every song offers a different set of interesting (and bold!) sounds, varying from chamber-esk and purely acoustic to distorted electronic. The choirs that Julia sings in multitrack with herself are just gorgeous, sometimes angel-like, other times on the verge of dissonance. This is a parade of great ideas, both in songwriting, arrangements and sounds, for which Julia shares credit with Berlin-based producer Moses Schneider, who is a master of soundshaping.
The most exciting piano/vocals-record in a long, long time! Her voice is not for everyone, it offers purity and rawness without the make-up many singers put onto the voices without even knowing. What is to be heard here comes straight from the (brave) heart. Her past as a musical terrorist of distorted electronica as "Monotekktoni" shimmers through in some distorted vocals, like on 'Hate Entertainment', a track which lyrically sums up the feeling of her music: not wanting to please anyone, just letting out what is inside, what needs to be said, what art means to her. Think this might be my record of the year. It's really damn good both musically and lyrically, it's very moody and atmospheric, and wears no make-belive fassade, but is true, pure, real.
It has one of the least nice-looking covers ever.. compared to visual milestones like 'The Dreaming' or 'Never For Ever', it is a complete letdown. But this is nothing to judge the music by. I must say I have had it for about four weeks now, and most of my listening to music takes place in the car. There are some records you cannot enjoy there, and this is one of them. Whenever the first track, 'Snowflake', kicks in, I am very delighted, but can't find the careful tension you need for this. So I took my time outside of the car, listened to some of the tracks, but not even all of them, because I really only want to take them in, when I feel the readiness. What I have heard so far is beautiful, and cannot be judged upon like other albums. It's soft and sweet, fragile, very well played and produced, meditative, dreamy. A smile from a woman who has done so much magic musically. Think it will give me some beautiful occasions in the near future to discover what lies beneath the white blanket.
To close, here are some of the single tracks I enjoyed a lot this year:
Jesca Hoop - 'City Bird'
Mina Tindle - 'Bells'
Gem Club - 'Twins'
Bombay Bicycle Club - 'Shuffle'
Active Child - 'You Are All I See'
Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin - 'Yellow Missing Signs'
Timbre - 'The Wind May Be Beautiful'
The Civil Wars - 'Dance Me To The End Of Love'
Youth Lagoon - 'July'
13 & God - 'Its Own Sun'
Craft Spells - 'After The Moment'
Hip Hatchet - 'Tyrant'
High Highs - 'Flowers Bloom'
Slow Runner - 'Auto-Happy'
Moddi - 'Ardennes'
Nils Frahm & Anne Müller - '7 Fingers'
Crystal Fighters - 'Champion Sound'
Wye Oak - 'Two Small Deaths'
Owen - 'O, Evelyn'
Loch Lomond - 'Elephants & Little Girls'
Real Estate - 'Green Aisles'
East River Pipe - 'Backroom Deals'
The Bony King Of Nowhere - 'Girl From The Play'
Oupa - 'Forget'
Wilco - 'Born Alone'
Cant - 'Bericht'
Eastern Conference Champions - 'Attica'
My Brightest Diamond - 'I Have Never Loved Someone'
David Bazan - 'Virginia'
Eastern Conference Champions - 'Attica'
My Brightest Diamond - 'I Have Never Loved Someone'
David Bazan - 'Virginia'
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