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Archive: post-rock

My ten favourite albums of 2007 so far

2 July 2007 01:49

Categories: Entertainment, Music, Reviews

I reckon 2007 has been a great year for music. Just half of the year has gone, and there are already lots of standouts for me. And some albums from big names are due out later on this year, so it is surely only going to get even better.

Here are my favourites of the year so far. I won’t list them in a strict numerical order for the time being. That can wait until the end of the year.

Air — Pocket Symphony

Air is a strange band, because — although I am certain that I like them — I never feel as though they are one of my very favourite bands. Yet, every time they release the album I am uncontrollably drawn to buy it.

At first I was just going to ignore Pocket Symphony until I saw it in a sale or something. But then I heard that it was produced by Nigel Godrich. And then I heard that there was a collaboration with Jarvis Cocker. And then I read all the good reviews.

It is a fine album, but it is exactly how we have come to expect an Air album to sound like. It’s not all that different in style and mood from Talkie Walkie.

In reality, the Jarvis collaboration is not all that great. But the Neil Hannon collaboration, ‘Somewhere Between Waking And Sleeping’ is quite something. It won’t do much to shake off all of the clichés about “chill out” music, but there is no doubt that it is a beauty.

Battles — Mirrored

I have already written about this album once, and I have also written about the time I saw them live. I don’t feel the need to say much more. But believe the hype. Battles are real innovators. This is exciting as much for the use of technology, and what it holds for the future, as anything else.

Björk — Volta

For some bizarre reason, Björk’s label tried to make out that this is her most accessible album for years. I’m not sure if that is the case. Those who did not like Björk before will probably not be swung by a couple of Timbaland collaborations (good though they are).

For me, this is a slight disappointment. It’s quite a good album, although not as good as some of Björk’s previous albums. It’s not helped by the collaborations with Antony Hegarty, who is not personally my cup of tea.

That’s not to say it’s a bad album, but I was expecting more. In a way, the best bit is the packaging. The CD comes in an elaborate fold-out box containing Russian doll-inspired cardboard wallets.

Ceephax — Volume One

[Insert comparison to Squarepusher here], but quite a good album. Just because I like that 8-bit 80s retro thing.

Hanne Hukkelberg — Rykestrasse 68

On Last.fm, a fair number of people appear to have tagged Hanne Hukkelberg as “jazz”. It is not one that I would have thought of, although if they mean jazz in that completely un-jazz Norah Jones sense, I can kind of see where they are coming from.

I do not mean to insult Hanne Hukkelberg’s music by comparing it to Norah Jones, but I can see how this album is a bit like that kind of music, but with all the blandness sucked out and replaced by eclectica.

Hanne Hukkelberg manages to do something that many people can’t — make music that is beautiful as well as experimental. Add a gorgeous Norwegian accent into the mix and you have a delightful album.

Justice — †

What a breath of fresh air! Why does not all dance music sound as good as this? There is seemingly lots of exciting electronic music coming out of Paris at the moment, and Justice spearhead it all. Besides Mirrored, this has to be my favourite album of the year so far.

Kieran Hebden and Steve Reid — Tongues

The awesome collaboration between a man at the forefront of modern electronic music and a jazz drumming legend continues with Tongues. As before, these tracks are performed with no overdubs or edits. That is the most impressive thing about it.

The music is not always great. Some of it is a bit rambling, and a lot of it does sound like second-hand Four Tet out takes. Nonetheless, Kieran Hebden and Steve Reid clearly connect very well, and it is a joy to hear them playing together.

Shining — Grindstone

I love this album! Shining keep the electronic / jazz elements of old, but crank up the prog metal à la Dream Theater to create an astounding, enjoyable album.

Moments of madcap, humorous lunacy like ‘In the Kingdom of Kitsch You Will Be a Monster’ and ‘Winterreise’ are countered by the more thoughtful and beautiful moments like ‘Psalm’ and the playful ‘Moonchild Mindgames’

If you have never heard of Shining, trust me on this one. If you want to hear something a bit different, I don’t think you can go far wrong with Grindstone. In a way, it has to be heard to be believed. Quite an album.

And chalk another one up for Norway!

Simian Mobile Disco — Attack Decay Sustain Release

From the burning wreckage of lamented electronic-indie band Simian (who must be in a right huff after Hot Chip stole their act and became infinitely more popular) emerges Simian Mobile Disco. Like Justice (remixers of Simian, so this is an obvious comparison), SMD go in for the unashamedly fun dance stuff. It’s like IDM that doesn’t feel the need to emphasise the ‘I’. (It’s The Beat that matters, of course.)

SMD answered a call I think. The world was screaming out for them to come along. I mean, who else is there to make this sort of music (by which I mean dance music that is actually danceable yet isn’t the aural equivalent of scraping your balls through a cheesegrater)? The Chemical Brothers? They’re a bit old hat now…

The Tuss — Rushup Edge

Oh dear. Read one forum and this is Aphex Twin collaborating with Squarepusher. Someone else says it’s Aphex Twin collaborating with Luke Vibert. Go somewhere else and all of a sudden it’s Aphex Twin on his own. Then somebody comes along and says it’s not Aphex at all, it’s just somebody taking the piss and pretending to be Aphex.

So of course I had to buy it.

I am undecided on it so far. Musically it reminds me a lot of the Analord series, which I thought was okay but nothing more. Whether it is good or not seems a bit by the by though. It’s going to be a talking point whatever.

EP of note

Boom Bip — Sacchrilege EP

I was prepared to give up on Boom Bip. His last album, Blue Eyed in the Red Room was so boring that I almost forgot how good his old stuff was. Then I heard some samples of this EP, and found out that he’s gone all electro.

Sadly, it’s still not all that interesting. Still, full marks for trying. And infinity marks for the presentation. The artwork is wonderful, and the pink vinyl is irresistible. Maybe it will grow on me — I have not had much chance to digest it yet.

Reissue of note

Seefeel — Quique (redux edition)

Seefeel can’t have spent much time in Scotland if they were prepared to call their album Quique (which, yes, sounds like ‘keech’). But the album is anything but keech.

This lost shoegaze classic was given a reissue earlier this year. I guess it must have been a bit unexpected. There doesn’t seem to be much reason why Quique in particular deserved this treatment, although I’m glad it got it.

It comes with a bonus disc of previously unreleased material, remixes and the like. A real standout is ‘Clique’, which is easily as good as anything on the album. Why it was not released at the time is probably one of those little mysteries that even the band does not understand (I hope so anyway).

Cheesy image, I know. But lying on the bed, half asleep, listening to this through headphones is a special experience.

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Battles live at ABC2, Glasgow on 23/05/2007

29 May 2007 18:36

Categories: Commuting, Edinburgh, Entertainment, Fife, General, Music, Nostalgia, Personal, Scotland

I’m not much of a gigger really. In fact, since the first proper one I attended six years ago (My Vitriol, who must now rival Portishead as the slowest-working band in the world), the only other gig I’ve attended was a really awful local band in a pub. I was dragged along, and I haven’t really recovered since.

There are a few reasons for this. One of the main ones is that hardly any of the bands that I like ever play in Edinburgh. My brother says this is because Edinburgh has a 10pm “noise curfew”. WTF! It’s meant to be a city of culture, but no music is allowed in case it wakes up Tarquin. Shameful.

The trek from Kirkcaldy to Glasgow is tiring, time consuming and expensive. But I don’t think anything would have been able to prevent me from seeing what Battles are like live.

Of course, we had to endure a shite support act first. The Penpushers have four members, but only two of them ever seemed to be doing anything at any one time. (My brother pointed out that one of the members was called Obsolete — and wasn’t he just!)

The music was nothing special. I think if this was fifteen years ago, when DJ Shadow was at the height of his popularity, this would have felt fresh and maybe even exciting. Today, the sound is rather dated and underwhelming.

At one point the frontman bemoaned the lukewarm reception, calling the audience “an Edinburgh crowd”. But they deserved an Edinburgh reception. Especially since we were about to see possibly the most futuristic band around at the moment, Battles (not The Battles, as Mr Penpusher annoyingly kept calling them).

The start of the performance caught by surprise. Bassist Dave Konopka, without the other members present, appeared just to be fiddling around, preparing or practising something. Then, all of a sudden, he just turned round and hammered out four bars worth of music.

Konopka stopped playing, but the music continued in a loop. It was a loud, bassy line — the sort that you can feel as much as you can hear. It seemed vaguely familiar, but nothing I could place from Battles’s records. Then he turned round to attend to his magic box. A few button presses later, and all of a sudden the unfamiliar sound was transformed into the very familiar beginning of ‘Race: Out’.

The rest of the band arrived, and we were to be treated to an hour or so of mind-bending music and technology. And the use of technology is quite important, because this is what pushes their unique sound. A simple guitars-and-keyboards band, Battles are not.

Pitchfork seemed to think that their album, Mirrored, is nothing short of revolutionary. Also read their review of Seefeel’s Quique for a comparison of Battles’s mix of guitars and technology to what Seefeel were able to achieve 15 years ago. Battles could not have existed in their current state before today.

It is just as well that they do exist today. Ever since the likes of IDM started to sound a bit stale a few years ago, there has not been much in the way of forward-looking music. It looks as though, right on cue, Battles have come to save the day.

Five or ten years ago, Mirrored would have been one of those studio albums that is impossible to replicate in a live environment. To watch the guitars and Tyondai Braxton’s vocals being electronically manipulated like this in real time is pretty extraordinary. As you may be able to tell, I was as impressed by the technology on display at the gig as much as the music itself.

Indeed, the music itself was a little bit off-colour. Particularly at the start of the set, a few mistakes were being made. Ian Williams in particular seemed more excited by the prospect of jumping around and looking energetic than actually hitting the right key on his keyboard. For a band that is often labelled “math rock”, they seem to delight in being imprecise from time to time.

And this “math rock” band is not just about chin stroking. Infact, particularly on Mirrored, they seem to be almost anti-chin stroking. At times whimsical and humorous, Battles are not afraid to produce an unashamed crowd-pleaser such as ‘Atlas’. And ‘Atlas’ really is a crowd pleaser, with members of the audience singing along to the “whooa-aay-oooh” bit, though they were probably prohibited from singing the rest because of ambiguity as to what the rest of the lyrics actually are.

I suppose the sheer energy is part of what makes Battles awesome live. This is particularly true of their stunning drummer, John Stainer. He clearly has his admirers. One person in the crowd seemed to be there solely to see John Stainer. At one point he just randomly started chanting, “John! John! John! John! John! John! John!” I think in his head the whole crowd was chanting with him.

Unlike Williams, Stainer is so relentlessly dedicated to playing correctly that it almost defies belief. Fast, precise and intricate, it was inevitable that he would start sweating. But I have never seen somebody sweat so much in my life. By the middle of the performance he looked like he had just come out of a swimming pool.

It wasn’t just sweat either. At one point I was unfortunate enough to look up just in time to see a huge string of gob come out of his mouth. I have a feeling that, when I’m old and senile, that will be my best memory of the gig.

I was a little bit annoyed that they didn’t play what I think are the two best tracks on the album, ‘Rainbow’ and ‘Ddiamondd’, but you can’t have it all.

Battles in action: ‘Atlas’ live at Chicago Glass Bottle, 30-03-2007

That full concert (!!) is available on YouTube here.

More Battles awesomeness

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Battles — Mirrored

17 March 2007 02:16

Categories: Entertainment, Music, Reviews

I don’t usually listen to leaks. I’m old fashioned that way. I prefer to wait until I have the physical object in my hand before listening. As Armando Iannucci said, “there are only two things in the world that give us absolute happiness: one is unwrapping a newly bought CD.”

But for the first time I have listened to a leak. I just couldn’t stand waiting two months for the album to come out. I am just far too excited about this band to let this get away.

And what an album! Mirrored is undoubtedly the Battles that we have become familiar with over the past couple of years, but there is a really different vibe to their sound in what is technically their début album.

Battles are now a little bit cheeky, happy and bouncy. There is a little bit of a sense of humour shining through, but at the same time they have not allowed their incredible sense of how to surprise their listener to slip. Even the track titles are noticeably different. Many of them even contain actual words rather than looking like excerpts from half-remembered algebra lessons.

The album opens with the frantic ‘Race: In’, which already signals one of the major changes to the Battles sound: vocals take centre stage. Not lyrics, mind — vocals, often skewed so much that you cannot understand a word that is being said. The vocals in ‘Race: In’ sound a bit like dogs yapping.

Lead single ‘Atlas’ swiftly follows, and this is such an awesome track. There is a constant beat and a pounding, relentless bass accompanying the track throughout. Yet despite the basic foundations, here is a track that is as unpredictable as anything else Battles have come up with in the past.

It is kind of the theme of the album. It is recognisably Battles, the band that is liked by many for being so unconventional. With Mirrored, Battles have been unafraid to be as unconventional as to add seemingly conventional elements such as pounding beat and prominent vocals. But these elements are all incorporated in a ways that still surprise and reward greatly.

‘Atlas’ is a tough act to follow, but ‘Ddiamondd’ has a good shot at it. This is an utterly madcap track, with fast-paced chripy singing. If you can imagine it, the track is like a mixture between a sped-up version of Maxïmo Park’s ‘Limassol’ and Clor’s ‘Hearts on Fire’. And then comes the sped-up whistling that sounds like a messed up Seven Dwarves.

My favourite track, though, is ‘Rainbow’. It starts off really quietly with quite a basic riff. Gradually it builds up a bit of a warped streak before eventually turning into something that’s simultaneously mad and happy. It all builds up to a quite triumphant ending, like one of those emotional post-rock bands without (quite) as much pretentiousness. I just don’t know how to describe the track, I don’t even know why I’m trying. Just fantastic.

‘Rainbow’ particularly highlights the John Stainer’s idiosyncratic drumming style. Unrelenting snare drum rolls are interspersed with hi-hat rolls. Full marks to him for effort. To see just how much he puts into his drumming, check out this video of part of ‘SZ2′.

‘Snare Hanger’ is another stand-out track for me with its glitching, almost hip-hoppy drums. The track ends sounding almost like it was influenced by The Futureheads (“oh – o – oh oh!”).

Meanwhile, ‘Tij’ reminds me of Blur’s most experimental moments multiplied. This track is another one that ends interestingly. Splintered, it sounds like a beatboxer with a serious case of the hiccups.

In short, this is a shimmering, dazzlingly experimental album that isn’t afraid to blast out a good melody. I really hope this album is noticed by a lot of people, because it’s probably one of the best I’ve heard for a few years.

Already a lot of Battles’s more po-faced fans have reacted angrily to the new direction. It’s too happy, it’s not serious enough, and — ewww — vocals. I just love the fact that this is only their début album, and already there is ‘old’ Battles and ‘new’ Battles. This is a band that is clearly not scared to push boundaries of any sense, even if it seemingly risks alienating some of their more serious fans out there.

Atlas promo video

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Music of 2006 — Eight ace re-releases

23 December 2006 10:49

Categories: Entertainment, Music, Reviews

Some of this year’s best releases were actually re-releases, compilations or collections of some kind or another. If I had decided to include them in my main list, most of them would have made my top ten of the year. But there’s only so far you can stretch the concept of a ’2006 release’. So I’ve separated them out in their own little list. They are in no particular order, other than alphabetical, which is quite a particular order, but not a meaningful one.

NB. Where I have included audio clips, you have to press play every thirty seconds.

Battles — EP C/B EP

A collection of the band’s previous releases, EP C, B EP and the single Tras / Fantasy, this is the revelation of the year for me. I haven’t been as excited by the noises guitars can make in years. This is the album I hoped Tortoise would make following Standards. Battles are definitely a band to keep an eye on. Let’s hope they don’t mess it up with their first proper album. The promised autumn release date has come and gone, though the band’s MySpace blog says that a single will be out in February with an album coming in early spring. I can’t wait!

What I said about it at the time

Brian Eno + David Byrne — My Life in the Bush of Ghosts

This classic album was digitally remastered and re-released for its 25th anniversary. As an extra special treat, seven tracks that didn’t make the original were included (although ‘Qu’ran’ was removed). Two tracks were even available to download for people to remix under a Creative Commons license. So an old favourite given a very 21st century twist. The best thing about this album is the fact that — despite its heavy reliance on technology — it simply doesn’t sound twenty-five years old. Just incredible.

Broadcast — The Future Crayon

A fine collection of Broadcast’s B-sides here. Some of these are brilliant tracks. The fact that ‘Illumination’ was not included on an album was criminal. That is rectified here. ‘Unchanging Window / Chord Simple’ is also not to be missed! All-in-all, this is an essential album, even if (like me) you already had many of the tracks on previous EPs. And if you’ve always wondered what the fuss about Broadcast was, but never got round to investigating — well, there couldn’t be a better place to start.

Field Music — Write your own history

Another collection of B-sides here. Field Music only have the one album out, and they’re already getting the retrospectives out there. Ker-ching! I thought this album was a bit bland at first. Unlike Broadcast’s album, you could really tell that these songs were B-sides. Often there is a little something lacking. Having said that, this album, presented in chronological order, has grown on me a lot. A lot of it is dangerously close to ripping off The Beatles. But if you can get beyond that, this is a charming and sometimes surprising collection, just like their album. If you liked their first album then you should get this. If not, hold back.

Gescom — MiniDisc

“Groundbreaking” is a word that’s spread around rather liberally. But Gescom’s MiniDisc possibly deserves the tag. It was said to be — by none other than Sony’s MD — the world’s first ever MiniDisc-only release, way back in 1998. It seems to have been an attempt both to take advantage of and thwart the various pros and cons of the MiniDisc format. In particular, MiniDisc’s seamless shuffling was utilised, allowing listeners to shuffle and loop the MiniDisc’s eighty-eight short tracks to their heart’s content — without having to endure those painful gaps you get with CD players.

Of course, the MiniDisc format is pretty much obsolete now, so MiniDisc has been re-released on CD. Not that it matters too much, as iTunes 7 can do the whole gapless shuffle thing anyway. As for the music itself, people’s general reaction is usually mixed. But I think there are a lot of really great tracks on this. Gescom probably works best as a way for Autechre to let their hair down, and they certainly do that here (I know one person who particularly loves the fact that one of the tracks is called ‘Helix Shatterproof’). I particularly like ‘Polarized Beam Splitter’, ‘Pricks’ and ‘Le Shark’.

John Cage — Sonatas and Interludes for Prepared Piano (Maro Ajemian)

This is a re-release of the first recording, made over fifty years ago, of John Cage’s incredible Sonatas and Interludes. It is interesting, but nothing more. Infact, some parts of it are painful to listen to — not because of John Cage’s wizardry, but because the recording is so poor. Could they not have remastered it or something? Save yourself a few quid and just buy the Naxos version.

Steve Reich — Phases: A Nonesuch Retrospective

In celebration of the hugely influential composer’s seventieth birthday, Nonesuch have put together a huge five CD box set of Steve Reich music. And some of his best work is all here — ‘Music for 18 Musicians’, ‘Different Trains’, ‘New York Couterpoint’, ‘Electric Counterpoint’, ‘Triple Quartet’, ‘Drumming’. All jaw-droppingly amazing. There are a few mediocre pieces though. How many times can he get away with re-hashing ‘Music for 18 Musicians’?

The set also misses out the literally pathfinding ‘It’s Gonna Rain’. Still, you can’t complain. I got my hands on this for eighteen quid, which is not much more than what I paid for ‘Music for 18 Musicians’ alone, and the same as what I originally paid for ‘Drumming’. The great value is the best thing about this set. And there couldn’t be a better place to start your Steve Reich collection.

Tortoise — A Lazarus Taxon

Tortoise certainly have plenty of great tracks hidden away in the dustier corners of their catalogue, and it was about time some of these tracks got a good airing. There are many highlights such as ‘Gamera’, ‘A Grape Dope’ and ‘Waihopai’. There are also a few fairly boring tracks. This album is unusual in that I have actually become less fond of it over time. Still, I am grateful that this set of three CDs and one DVD was released. What a treat for Tortoise fans. Let’s hope that their next proper album isn’t as duff as It’s All Around You!

What I said about it at the time

My top ten proper albums of new music of the year will appear next week!

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Music of 2006 — Three sloppy turds

22 December 2006 10:55

Categories: Entertainment, Music, Reviews

This will be a short post, outlining what I think were the three most disappointing releases of the year.

Prefuse 73 — Security Screenings

At least Surrounded by Silence grew on me. But Security Screenings is far too mundane, and I’ve had almost a full year to let it grow on me.

What I said about it in May

Sigur Rós — Sæglópur

A lot of people feared that Sigur Rós would become bland after they signed to EMI. Ba Ba Ti Ki Di Do and (to a certain extent) Takk… proved them wrong. But the Sæglópur EP is embarrassingly insipid. The B-sides are the three most boring Sigur Rós tracks I’ve ever heard. There were so many obvious Sigur Róssian elements. It was almost like a parody of themselves.

Tortoise & Bonnie “Prince” Billy — The Brave and The Bold

What the fuck is this? Two of the biggest names in alternative / experimental music team up to make a most overwhelmingly mundane covers album. My jaw hurts from all the yawning.

These releases deserve no more of my time. Tomorrow will be a more positive post as I bring you eight ace re-releases!

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