Artist: The Brian Jonestown Massacre
Album: Take It From The Man!
Year: 1996
Label: Bomp! Records
It's sometimes easy to forget just how bloody amazing this album actually is. Beyond the antics of Dig!, the documentary charting the Brian Jonestown Massacre and Dandy Warhols rivalry, the BJTM managed to release three, yes, THREE stunning albums over a 12 month period- and this was the pick of them.
Take It From The Man! is like the band have taken everything that was great about 60s British music: rock & roll, drugs and chaos, added their own unique brand of chaos, locked themselves in the recording studio for a couple of months and out came this. It's a mess, it's a glorious mess.
But the songs are remarkably strong. Your favourite song on the album will most likely coincide with your favourite riff - and there's riffs aplenty here. Straight Up and Down now trademarks Boardwalk Empire, whilst the 11-minute version is a rarity in that it genuinely never feels like an eleven minute song. It's a suitably epic conclusion to an album that rarely loses any momentum from the first track onwards.
The band absolutely tear through 60s numbers that recall the Stones at their riotous best, The Kinks at their delicate best and The Troggs at their, well, just The Troggs. They wear their influences on their sleeves - (David Bowie I Love You) Since I Was Six and My Man Syd are two example titles - but it never turns into a lazy pastiche of music that, lest we forget, is around 50 years old now.
Instead, the BJTM use that time period as a template and expand upon it. The sprawling Cabin Fever or the, sorry to mention it again, glorious closing track Straight Up and Down span over 7 and 11 minutes respectively- it's a snapshot of what these 60s bands might have sounded like in the modern day. Who?, B.S.A. and Mary, Please are similarly euphoric nuggets of raw, rifftastic, garage rock brilliance. There's not a studio trick in sight, and it's all the better for its simplicity.
If you've never heard of this album, check it out. If you love it, rediscover it. If you've never been convinced by it, give it another go. It's a set of 18 tracks that is pretty damned hard to dislike.
New music blog covering indie, alternative, hip-hop, reggae and, well, pretty much anything actually.
Friday, 29 November 2013
Monday, 4 November 2013
Album of the Week #3
Artist: Kamp!
Album: Kamp!
Year: 2012
Label: Brennnessel
Let's take a trip over to Eastern Europe for the album this week, for an electro-pop trio who are pretty huge in Poland but haven't made a massive impression anywhere else. Why, I'm not too sure! Kamp! (don't forget the exclamation mark) make euphoric, radio-friendly dance music, and quite frankly it's a bit of a mystery as to why they've not really made a mark outside of their native land.
Whilst the electro-pop, vocalised tunes on the LP are all well and good, the straight up housey disco music is where the real value is. Cairo combines an ambient intro with a gloriously funky drop that's just as enjoyable on the dancefloor as at home. Heats seems indebted to the funky Justice remix of MGMT's Electric Feel as the influence of the 80s remains consistent throughout.
I find electronic music sometimes takes itself too seriously. The dark, brooding atmospheric soundscapes created by the likes of Burial and Four Tet are glorious, sure, but up until a couple of years ago the genre was really threatening to start collecting its pension far too soon. It was a coffee table phase of sorts, after the initial explosion of dubstep.
Fortunately, spearheaded by Disclosure, it's renaissance has been a shameless promotion of straight-up dance music, with its influences firmly rooted in the 90s. Even Chic, the formerly out of fashion disco group, are the ultimate hipsters' choice nowadays after Nile Rodgers' hugely successful collaboration with Daft Punk. Disco is back! Although Kamp! haven't received massive amounts of attention for their releases, it's a sound that ought to be receiving far more success.
Album: Kamp!
Year: 2012
Label: Brennnessel
Let's take a trip over to Eastern Europe for the album this week, for an electro-pop trio who are pretty huge in Poland but haven't made a massive impression anywhere else. Why, I'm not too sure! Kamp! (don't forget the exclamation mark) make euphoric, radio-friendly dance music, and quite frankly it's a bit of a mystery as to why they've not really made a mark outside of their native land.
Whilst the electro-pop, vocalised tunes on the LP are all well and good, the straight up housey disco music is where the real value is. Cairo combines an ambient intro with a gloriously funky drop that's just as enjoyable on the dancefloor as at home. Heats seems indebted to the funky Justice remix of MGMT's Electric Feel as the influence of the 80s remains consistent throughout.
I find electronic music sometimes takes itself too seriously. The dark, brooding atmospheric soundscapes created by the likes of Burial and Four Tet are glorious, sure, but up until a couple of years ago the genre was really threatening to start collecting its pension far too soon. It was a coffee table phase of sorts, after the initial explosion of dubstep.
Fortunately, spearheaded by Disclosure, it's renaissance has been a shameless promotion of straight-up dance music, with its influences firmly rooted in the 90s. Even Chic, the formerly out of fashion disco group, are the ultimate hipsters' choice nowadays after Nile Rodgers' hugely successful collaboration with Daft Punk. Disco is back! Although Kamp! haven't received massive amounts of attention for their releases, it's a sound that ought to be receiving far more success.
Thursday, 31 October 2013
An Ode to Badfinger
What makes a good music journalist? A thoughtful and insightful style coupled with a genuine passion for music? The ability to accurately convey the strengths and weaknesses of an album? Nah. I say it's more about being the hippest guy around, revelling in utter smugness as you write about a band before anyone else has. It's about you finding the most obscure music on your own and reviewing it.
So it's a shame that I've fallen in love with a band at the same time of millions of others- now I'm just another one of Those Guys, jumping on the bandwagon. But in this case it's totally shameless. I'm a proud fan of this band and I didn't even find out about them before anyone else. Yet a proud-as-punch comment such as "The Southern Comfort Advert brought me here" often provokes a torrent of abuse from fellow YouTubers. Why is that?
As the epic Breaking Bad came to its suitably epic conclusion a few weeks back (afterwards, I slowly sunk into a deep Breaking Bad-comedown), Vince Gilligan pulled one last rabbit out the hat by choosing to play a song called Baby Blue, by a little-known band called Badfinger. WOW! I, like millions of others, were immediately struck by the 70s riff, the heartfelt lyrics, the aptness of it all. Why hadn't I heard of this band before?
Suitably, the next few days were a glorious discovery of Badfinger- their chequered back-story is quite something by the way- and a belated recognition of their fine talents. And what did it take for me, a bit of a music obsessive, to hear them? A TV show. A bloody TV show. How dare I!? With all the bile and hatred spouted towards anyone who dares discover a band through television, I thought I'd be getting a knock on the door at any moment.
I'm now a fully-fledged member of the Badfinger fanclub (well, not literally) and am telling everyone who will listen about their mercurial talents- as should you. Music can unexpectedly come to us from a lot of different places. We should be championing this internet-fuelled era of music discovery- not berating people for being turned on to great music through non-traditional sources. So cheers, Vince Gilligan.
So it's a shame that I've fallen in love with a band at the same time of millions of others- now I'm just another one of Those Guys, jumping on the bandwagon. But in this case it's totally shameless. I'm a proud fan of this band and I didn't even find out about them before anyone else. Yet a proud-as-punch comment such as "The Southern Comfort Advert brought me here" often provokes a torrent of abuse from fellow YouTubers. Why is that?
As the epic Breaking Bad came to its suitably epic conclusion a few weeks back (afterwards, I slowly sunk into a deep Breaking Bad-comedown), Vince Gilligan pulled one last rabbit out the hat by choosing to play a song called Baby Blue, by a little-known band called Badfinger. WOW! I, like millions of others, were immediately struck by the 70s riff, the heartfelt lyrics, the aptness of it all. Why hadn't I heard of this band before?
Suitably, the next few days were a glorious discovery of Badfinger- their chequered back-story is quite something by the way- and a belated recognition of their fine talents. And what did it take for me, a bit of a music obsessive, to hear them? A TV show. A bloody TV show. How dare I!? With all the bile and hatred spouted towards anyone who dares discover a band through television, I thought I'd be getting a knock on the door at any moment.
I'm now a fully-fledged member of the Badfinger fanclub (well, not literally) and am telling everyone who will listen about their mercurial talents- as should you. Music can unexpectedly come to us from a lot of different places. We should be championing this internet-fuelled era of music discovery- not berating people for being turned on to great music through non-traditional sources. So cheers, Vince Gilligan.
Sunday, 27 October 2013
Album of the Week #2
Artist: Pilote
Album: The Slowdown
Year: 2013
Label: Domino
An air of mystique is often something that's sometimes lacking in modern music. New bands that burst on to the scene are instantly visible to all- you know their names, where they come from and their star signs before they've even played their first gig. And usually, that's great. I for one am always finding out everything I can about a new band I've come across. In fact, I reckon a lot of my obsession with The Stone Roses is as a result of my fascination with their back story: strangely, I studied it religiously before listening to a single one of their tracks. An interest in a band tends to drive an interest in their music even more.*
So when I stumbled upon a cracking album earlier this year (thanks to the excellent taste of the 6 Music DJs), it was sort of disconcerting that I couldn't find a single piece of information on this artist. Heck, after a few Google searches I still didn't know if Pilote was an individual, a band, old or young...armed with this curiosity, I decided to listen to the full album.
Luckily, the album delivered from the promising signs that I had already heard. It's a glorious mish-mash of acoustic guitars, electronic drums, spoken word samples and plenty more beyond. Pilote, who by now I've figured out is the alias of electronic artist Stuart Cullen, showcases his deft production and compositional skills throughout The Slowdown- his sixth studio album over the course of a 15 year career that seems to have generally escaped mainstream attention.
The acoustic guitar is the prevalent sound of the album and ensures that atmopsherically, it's a far cry from the album we reviewed last week: Jackson and His Computerband's frenetic effort Blow. The elements that are added on top of the nimble guitar parts are what gives each track it's identity, whether it's the psychedelic musings of Timothy Leary in Me and Timothy Leary or the banjo in Foggy Paddock Backstep.
The Slowdown manages to achieve the rare feat of making 6 minutes+ songs fly by. Shapeshifter Blues, with it's whimsical whistled melody, and Sixth Street Ramble, which slips back in and out of a typically repetitive acoustic rhythm, are the prime examples of this.
It's a collection of songs that segue effortlessly into each other and maintain the identity and relaxed feel of the album as a whole. It's an acoustic, psychedelic and electronic exploration meant for lazy Sunday afternoons. It's a cracking album, and it's by Pilote. Maybe it's about time you started finding out some more about him now!
*See Badfinger (More on them coming up in the next week).
Album: The Slowdown
Year: 2013
Label: Domino
An air of mystique is often something that's sometimes lacking in modern music. New bands that burst on to the scene are instantly visible to all- you know their names, where they come from and their star signs before they've even played their first gig. And usually, that's great. I for one am always finding out everything I can about a new band I've come across. In fact, I reckon a lot of my obsession with The Stone Roses is as a result of my fascination with their back story: strangely, I studied it religiously before listening to a single one of their tracks. An interest in a band tends to drive an interest in their music even more.*
So when I stumbled upon a cracking album earlier this year (thanks to the excellent taste of the 6 Music DJs), it was sort of disconcerting that I couldn't find a single piece of information on this artist. Heck, after a few Google searches I still didn't know if Pilote was an individual, a band, old or young...armed with this curiosity, I decided to listen to the full album.
Luckily, the album delivered from the promising signs that I had already heard. It's a glorious mish-mash of acoustic guitars, electronic drums, spoken word samples and plenty more beyond. Pilote, who by now I've figured out is the alias of electronic artist Stuart Cullen, showcases his deft production and compositional skills throughout The Slowdown- his sixth studio album over the course of a 15 year career that seems to have generally escaped mainstream attention.
The acoustic guitar is the prevalent sound of the album and ensures that atmopsherically, it's a far cry from the album we reviewed last week: Jackson and His Computerband's frenetic effort Blow. The elements that are added on top of the nimble guitar parts are what gives each track it's identity, whether it's the psychedelic musings of Timothy Leary in Me and Timothy Leary or the banjo in Foggy Paddock Backstep.
The Slowdown manages to achieve the rare feat of making 6 minutes+ songs fly by. Shapeshifter Blues, with it's whimsical whistled melody, and Sixth Street Ramble, which slips back in and out of a typically repetitive acoustic rhythm, are the prime examples of this.
It's a collection of songs that segue effortlessly into each other and maintain the identity and relaxed feel of the album as a whole. It's an acoustic, psychedelic and electronic exploration meant for lazy Sunday afternoons. It's a cracking album, and it's by Pilote. Maybe it's about time you started finding out some more about him now!
*See Badfinger (More on them coming up in the next week).
Sunday, 20 October 2013
Album of the Week #1
Artist: Jackson and His Computerband
Album: Glow
Year: 2013
Label: Warp Records
Back in 2005, Jackson Fourgeaud, a contemporary of Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo (you might know them as Daft Punk), finally released his debut album Smash, having been a regular on the growing French house scene since the mid to late 90s. Eight years later, in the same year that Daft Punk made a glorious return to the charts with the wonderfully eccentric Random Access Memories, Fourgeaud finally released his second album under the pseudonym Jackson and His Computerband.
Now this isn't to say that the two acts should be compared, contrasted and used as benchmark in any case- Glow is an unpredictable, frenetic and wild collection of 12 songs that draws on influences on styles even greater than those of the aforementioned French house heavyweights and deserves plenty of praise in it's own right.
It's the sort of album you can sit at home on a Sunday evening enjoying (as I am right now) just as much as you would on the dancefloor on a Friday night. Fourgeaud calls upon the guest vocals of Natas Loves You, Planningtorock and Anna Jean on four of the songs, but generally it's a riotous, lyricless stomp through genres as eclectic as house, rave, psychedelia, pop and dubstep.
Though the album starts off with what you would consider to be fairly straightforward song structures - Blow and the curiously-titled GI Jane even verge on pop music - the album slowly gets whackier and whackier as it reaches the stunning climax of Billy: a trippy, 7-minute long journey through psychedelia and house before a euphoric ending that rivals any album closer this year.
Elsewhere, the furious rave of Blood Bust is a great counterpoint to the two slow-burners featuring Anna Jean: Memory and Vista. Dabbling in 80s funk and pop but always retaining that experimental, electronic edge, More and GTA V's Arp #1 wouldn't be quite as explosive without the mellow efforts sitting by their sides. And that's a testament to the compositional skills of the producer.
It's an album that changes it's style from one song to the next, never remaining predictable yet a natural flow is somehow retained. Clocking in at just over an hour long, it also feels like the perfect length for an album of this nature. There's enough time for things to get weird but even the 7 minute+ songs fly by- which isn't always the case for electronic albums.
Released on the legendary Warp Records, this is undoubtedly one of the top electronic albums of the year and definitely worth checking out if it slipped under your radar. You can stream it through Spotify below. Enjoy!
Album: Glow
Year: 2013
Label: Warp Records
Back in 2005, Jackson Fourgeaud, a contemporary of Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo (you might know them as Daft Punk), finally released his debut album Smash, having been a regular on the growing French house scene since the mid to late 90s. Eight years later, in the same year that Daft Punk made a glorious return to the charts with the wonderfully eccentric Random Access Memories, Fourgeaud finally released his second album under the pseudonym Jackson and His Computerband.
Now this isn't to say that the two acts should be compared, contrasted and used as benchmark in any case- Glow is an unpredictable, frenetic and wild collection of 12 songs that draws on influences on styles even greater than those of the aforementioned French house heavyweights and deserves plenty of praise in it's own right.
It's the sort of album you can sit at home on a Sunday evening enjoying (as I am right now) just as much as you would on the dancefloor on a Friday night. Fourgeaud calls upon the guest vocals of Natas Loves You, Planningtorock and Anna Jean on four of the songs, but generally it's a riotous, lyricless stomp through genres as eclectic as house, rave, psychedelia, pop and dubstep.
Though the album starts off with what you would consider to be fairly straightforward song structures - Blow and the curiously-titled GI Jane even verge on pop music - the album slowly gets whackier and whackier as it reaches the stunning climax of Billy: a trippy, 7-minute long journey through psychedelia and house before a euphoric ending that rivals any album closer this year.
Elsewhere, the furious rave of Blood Bust is a great counterpoint to the two slow-burners featuring Anna Jean: Memory and Vista. Dabbling in 80s funk and pop but always retaining that experimental, electronic edge, More and GTA V's Arp #1 wouldn't be quite as explosive without the mellow efforts sitting by their sides. And that's a testament to the compositional skills of the producer.
It's an album that changes it's style from one song to the next, never remaining predictable yet a natural flow is somehow retained. Clocking in at just over an hour long, it also feels like the perfect length for an album of this nature. There's enough time for things to get weird but even the 7 minute+ songs fly by- which isn't always the case for electronic albums.
Released on the legendary Warp Records, this is undoubtedly one of the top electronic albums of the year and definitely worth checking out if it slipped under your radar. You can stream it through Spotify below. Enjoy!
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