February 7, 2013
My Bloody Valentine… ‘m b v’

It seems better late than never will now forever be associated with My Bloody Valentine and ‘m b v’

Click here for a YouTube Playlist of the album: http://youtu.be/VJ0axgeNbWU

I’m reluctant to make this a straight up review, because the scramble for quick, off the mark reviews and running commentaries for ‘m b v’ has been one of the more detracting aspects of its bizarre, almost guerrilla like release. Instead, the unexpected arrival went completely against the grain of what we’ve grown used to in music over the last decade. No built up, flattering to deceive hype, no advance leaks or spoiling download links, and no drawn out mind games with the press… Essentially absolutely nothing in the form of expectation. And after an absence of 22 years, and Kevin Shields’ track record of reclusiveness and plenty of empty promises, that’s everything you could possibly expect. In an age where the Internet has ensured we have rapidly lost our attention spans and longevity is an extinct concept from a bygone era,  22 years is an aeon ago. An epoch where everything was produced, consumed, released and even savoured in a polar opposite manner to what we’re now accustomed to. Not to mention, if you’re one of music’s most notorious perfectionists, and the architect of one of pop’s most sonically unique albums of all time (in the form of ‘Loveless’) attempting to complete a worthy follow up is bound to take some time. But 22 years? Everybody pretty much gave up. And if they were patient, they were exasperated beyond belief.  

So imagine how incredibly surreal it was to wake up on Sunday morning to a notification declaring that the new My Bloody Valentine album was officially ‘live’ and ready to be purchased and listened to. In an instant, this mythical album was seeing the light of day, and suddenly, apart from a few scarcely believable quips from Shields, it had arrived without any fuss whatsoever. (Ironically, everything facilitated by the most modern, online means, even with a few hitches) Semi stunned, people began to tune in and take stock en masse, not just of the music they thought they’d never hear, but also of a childlike wonder for absorbing it they haven’t experienced in so long. And perhaps most perfectly, it totally delivered, and followed on exactly where ‘Loveless’ left off.

At least that’s what I think. Many others agree, and some don’t. If you’ve already read a slew of gushing reviews, you may be tempted to take the train of thought that this is merely a case of the Emperor’s New Clothes, and that it was always going to get those reviews, purely on the basis that it’s a My Bloody Valentine feature presentation.

Before anyone had time to fully digest it, the trolls were rapidly out in force to say that there was nothing innovative, no progress had been made, and that it sounds like it should have come out in 1996 as an acceptably scheduled follow up. With such rash and ill advised judgements, they didn’t see the point. Was there a need to reinvent the wheel? No, because it was the archetype of ingenuity. Instead, efforts have always just focused on making well judged improvements and building upon it with new and different aspects. If the wheel is ‘Loveless’, said dissidents obviously hadn’t given it the time to realise that not only did ‘m b v’ retain all the elements that made ‘Loveless’ what it was, but there were plenty of nuances along the way to show that Shields was subtly taking the famed sound in delicate new directions. Or, in the case of the last third of the album, blatantly more robust direction with chugger ‘nothing is’ and especially, album closer ‘Wonder 2’. Is it a weird drum and bass homage? Under a plane? Was it recorded in a wind tunnel? What on earth is it? In a word, it’s mesmerizing (even if not for the faint hearted)  And if it sounds the same as what it potentially could have sounded in 1996, and in the same vein as an already timeless sounding Loveless, isn’t that an indirect compliment of saying they’ve maintained that uniquely timeless sound? Sounds like it to me.

The truth is that ‘m b v’ is very much worth the wait. But rather than get totally wrapped up in trying to analyse the inner workings of tremolo reverb on one of the guitar layers, don’t. Just soak it up.

It’s a magnificent album. After one listen, I could relax, as I already knew it was a worthy successor. I had faith in the fact that I know now that countless listens lay ahead, where I can look forward to discovering new aspects and hidden sounds, or just be arrested into an intangible paroxysm and shiver, in the way ’Loveless’ only managed to consistently to do to me before. Whether it was the beautiful, achy lulling paralysis of ‘Sometimes’, or the awakening wall of majestic noise of ‘Only Shallow’ or ‘Soon’, we now finally have new material that lives up to evoking these feelings once again, and offers a fresh take on the emotive soundscapes only My Bloody Valentine seem to be capable of.

Rather than analyse and argue, it’s probably better to cherish the fact that the purveyors of an unparalleled aural bliss, and wizards of an impossible paradoxical creation that could only lazily be described as ‘beautiful noise’ did it all over again. In the current environment, the manner of the release, and hearing that sound in your ears again has had an untold, unforeseen impact on those who appreciate it.

Countless words have already been written about this, and many more are sure to come. However, the most succinct thing I’ve seen so far is this perfectly appropriate quote to lead you in gently. This is basically all you need to know:

‘Like seeing a friend that who has been away for twenty years, only to realise that the things you loved about them haven’t changed, and that being with them still makes you feel warm, happy and joyous. I expected nothing new, but so far have gained something different, but familiar, and am well pleased.’

January 11, 2013
The Canyons... Oh Dear

Even worse than the Hills?

At Bret Easton Ellis’s zenith in the late 80’s, early 90’s, he courted much controversy, exposure but also acclaim. And probably deservedly so. His works were outlandish with their violence, but also seductive and engrossing due to the indulgent rich kid glamorama peppered with drugs and deviance. It was an odd world, but in that period of late 80’s and early 90’s American wealth and thrashy decadence, he was relevant, and even though hyperbolic, his books really said something. But it’s a long time since then now. The sticking power of Clay from Less Than Zero and Patrick Bateman has long since dissipated, and L.A, although perpetually thrashy, can do with fresher insights illuminating it.

But Ellis doesn’t seem to get that. In this superb New York Times piece(click the link above), Stephen Rodrick followed Ellis on his latest project (he has now turned to screenwriting), the production and filming of ‘The Canyons’, a low budget but intentionally glammed up ‘contemporary L.A. noir about the dangers of sexual obsession and ambition, both personally and professionally’. To put it mildly, it looks like a suitable insight into how the end product will turn out. I hear alarm bells of ‘Cruel Intentions 3’ ringing loudly in your mind, or perhaps a knock off remake of Fatal Attraction, if one is lucky.

I’d actually come across this project last year, about the same time my respect for Ellis began to plummet rapidly. As someone who loved a lot of his work(and actually went to see him speak on one of his promotional tours), maybe I just should never have followed him on Twitter. My reward for doing so was an insight into someone who has a penchant for stoking the embers of pointless celeb spats, extremely questionable taste in film, and an OCD impulse to tweet about this ‘Canyons’ project, and how it was going to be a masterpiece. I was intrigued by the staggering levels of self belief he had in it, even though it wasn’t exactly reinventing the wheel in subject matter, even by his standards. He was also convinced that his uniting of productivity starved Lindsay Lohan and porn star ‘James Deen’ was a match made in on screen heaven, and that Deen in particular, was destined for major crossover success. It reminded my of Donnie Darko director Richard Kelly being convinced that uniting The Rock, Seann William Scott and Sarah Michelle Gellar would be a masterstoke for his follow up, ‘Southland Tales’. Look how that turned out. For Ellis, this was only where the delusions began, and Rodrick picks it up nicely to explore just how the filming process ‘progressed’ or regressed.

It turns out that director Paul Schrader, writer of Taxi Driver and Raging Bull, but director of numerous, less enamouring films, just so happened to have an even more deluded sense of where it was going, and with a clash of egos involving Lohan, (who leads a lifestyle like she still thinks she’s an integral part of the upper echelons), a shoestring budget and massive ideas above their station, the whole shoot descends into a farce. It’s an entertaining but very, very enlightening account by Rodrick, at times hilarious due to the disturbingly real life similarities to the underrated ‘Bowfinger’, and other times, a remarkable account of people who are way past their sell by date, but still convinced they hold a trump card and are on the verge of a film masterpiece. This scenario is probably a microcosm of what goes on in L.A every day. Wash outs, scammers, chancers, addicts, rejects all pooling together dismally for an end goal that might be in with a sniff of a razzie nomination. I’ve seen a trailer for this and at best, it may rival an episode of The Bold and The Beautiful or Sunset Beach in terms of critical acclaim. In a nutshell, it looks unforgivably shit. I could stand to be corrected upon release, but I highly doubt it.

It’s hard to feel a shred of tragedy or sadness for Lohan, who comes across as every inch the spoilt, party girl diva trainwreck that she actually is, while Schrader’s delusions of artistic grandeur are magnified whilst at odds with his female lead. Deen comes across as having limited talent, some endeavour and unsurprisingly, a lonely soulless side. Stereotypical coming from his industry, one noted for untold levels of dark emptiness and utterly bereft of feeling. Hardly auspicious for a budding crossover actor, wouldn’t you think? Ellis almost comes across well by the end of the piece, purely because he seems to be open minded enough to realise where the project is going. Nowhere. If its entertainment, insight and enlightenment you want, I doubt the Canyons will provide that upon release. Instead, immerse yourself in Rodrick’s piece, where all that will be provided in abundance. Juicy, delicious and no holds barred, with a brilliant balance struck between subtlety and bluntness, this is a must read and riveting account. A fantastic piece of journalism, even if the filmmaking falls short.      

Here’s a trailer, if you want to delve further:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPowakhqVVQ


December 18, 2012
Irish Wildlife #13: Taximan Trafficus

Whether Ireland was in the vice like grip of recession in 1985, or 2012, nothing changes. Those who have lost out the most, are most embittered and most vocal about it…are the taxi drivers. Its a shocking state of affairs, and as they’ll always let you know. Look no further than ‘What it says’ and ‘Where’s It’s Found’ to show that when it comes to quintessential cabbies, we’re either in a timewarp, or more than likely, nothing has changed in the slightest bit… ‘Where ya off to yourself…’

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* I’m delighted to say that Noel Kelly, who was responsible for the brilliant illustrations for Irish Wildlife got in touch to say he was pleasantly surprised to come across the material in an online search. Unfortunately, he informed me that John Little has no longer with been us for quite a few years, which is a real pity and a huge loss to the genre of writing he was so capable at. Noel is thankfully still at his craft and operating at Dublin based animation studio Keg Kartoonz, where you can find out more about his current output here, at: http://www.kegkartoonz.com/about%20us.htm

The fact that Noel managed to stumble across this page means I must be achieving the original aim of getting Irish Wildlife out there, and hoping that it would gain some kind of audience in that people would either discover or (in Noel’s case) rediscover what a brilliant gem it is…. The simple pleasures are often the best.

December 15, 2012

maxrochatumblr asked: Loving the sum up of albums last year man. Great vibes.

Thanks a million!

December 14, 2012
Eclectic Picnic’s Top Ten Albums of 2012

Welcome back for the annual jostling session for aural bliss. Hopefully, this will be a well balanced and reasonable reflection, rather than the Gorilla Vs. Bear competition for the years most obscure under the radar release. This actually took quite a while to put together, so by the time it is ready for publishing, I’ve learned that the Guardian and I have agreed on No. 1, but little else…. there will be no Taylor Swift or Lana Del Rey up towards the dizzy heights. This is also a Gangnam Style free zone, thankfully.

Compiling a top ten this year was much more difficult than last years task, mainly due to the embarrassment of riches that were on offer… On the whole there was no comparison, with 2012 kindly making us spoilt for choice across so many genres. There were plenty of quality albums that just failed to make my final grade here, namely Jessie Ware’s powerfully mature and classy Devotion, or Chromatics moody and atmospheric Kill For Love, or Matthew Dear’s ‘Beams’. As ever, there was plenty of hype too. Grimes supplied much of that, but two or three good songs and ubiquity a great album do not make, and I could not be convinced. Beach House’s Bloom was a disappointing step back after their ‘Teen Dream’ brilliance, while Flying Lotus also faltered compared to previous efforts. Much hyped, Alt J’s slightly cold and lifeless An Awesome Wave may have won the Mercury Prize, but did little to capture my heart and mind. As one enlightened ledgebag said, it was merely music custom made for Miller ads.

But alas, on to the cream of the crop. So after all those near missed and eliminations, a definitive list became a bit more clear cut. So now you have it, what’s below met the tough but simple rationale: These are the albums that were 2012’s most engrossing, enjoyable, enlightening and above all, rewarding. Maybe you’ll agree, maybe you won’t, see what you think and decide if I have a rashers as to what I’m on about… 


10. Bob Mould: Silver Age

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Funny that I mentioned an almost futile search for a heavy(ish) guitar album was in vain when I sang the praises of Sugar’s classic ‘Copper Blue’ recently. Little did I know that I wouldn’t have to look too far from the tree for a freshened up slice of muscular and clean riffs, through Mould’s late 2012 effort ‘Silver Age’. Given a shot in the arm by hitting the road to play the Copper Blue songs, and rocking out in a newly formed power trio, ‘Silver Age’ found Mould in absolutely buoyant form. The amps are cranked up to 11, and the melodic surges of power pop that Sugar pioneered so well are audible again with just as much glistening lustre. As a solo effort, it is poles apart from 1989’s Workbook (nothing could ever really match that) and lyrically it can be a bit lacking at times, but in terms of a return to form for clean, heavy guitars with bucketloads of energy, this was exactly what I was in the market for this year. Silver Age showcased a liberated, lean and utterly content Mould letting loose and rocking out to the strains of what is consistently tuneful and powerful record. It’s funny to think that countless young American bands are probably trying to aspire to this level, but just come out with awful, bubblegum emo, despite all their youth, energy and clamour. For Mould, he made it seem easy here. Silver Age breathes freely and freshly as a record. With a youthful vigour, he’s shown them all how it’s done. Not bad at all, he’s 52 this year.

9. Django Django: Self Titled

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I always felt the Beta Band broke up too soon. Their career had been marked by a cantankerous experimentalism, and an annoying quirkiness that only served to make their listeners admire them more. However, ‘Heroes to Zeroes’ was a benchmark, and their own admission that when they made their music more compact and accessible, it evolved into a slice of brilliantly innovative and very radio friendly pop. And then of course, just to be even more difficult, they broke up, leaving that sound on ice. That is, until Django Django came along with their confident debut at the turn of the year, and unmistakebly revived that Beta Band sound, so much so it seemed like one very faithful homage. It should hardly be that surprising that The Beta Band’s John McLean is a brother of Django Django’s keyboardist David. But we can’t allow ourselves to be cynical. Django Django should be credited for not only adopting that template, but building on it impressively with the right amount of art rock intelligence to pull off the mish mash of daring harmonies, jangly and jerky guitars and quirky bleeps. Sounds like it could all go awry, but this melting point turned out to be one of the most consistently enjoyable and upbeat set of songs that endured all year. Guitars, experimentalism, in the same sentence as pop and radio? That was a triumph in itself that got 2012 off to an auspicious start. Its playful bounce and natural flow was a marked contrast to Alt J’s overrated, cold and mechanical ‘An Awesome Wave’, and if they were looking to give to give the Mercury Prize to a guitar/kerboard toting combo, surely this was the logical choice.

8. Killer Mike: RAP Music:

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It’s a generation or two ago since Public Enemy were changing lives left right and centre with their incendiary brand of politically charged hip hop, which indiscriminately genre hopped, and inspired all that came into contact with it. Following hot on their heels, Rage Against the Machine invented rap metal to vent political bile in  the most spectacular style, with Zack De La Rocha probably responsible for cultivating more left wing political views than any elected US Official ever. But since then, politically charged music with feeling has dried up, and is almost a bit taboo, or at the very least, lacking the necessary punch of its forebearers. You could say, until Killer Mike’s RAP Music made it seem like a rising Phoenix From The Flames. With R.A.P. music standing for ‘Rebellious African People’s’ Music, Killer Mike doesn’t hold back from the get go, and with the muscle of El P’s brilliant and varied production driving the album, it’s a heavy and uncompromising synergistic tour de force between the two. Mike is lyrically on fire, spouting impossibly sharp blasts on all manner of subjects, with all the necessary delicious rhyming to wow the aficionado’s. Politically, ‘Reagan’ is the standout, a brutally forceful educational lesson with an explosive impact due to the duo’s sparring, while ‘Untitled’ is far more subtle, but just as impressive with its intelligence. El-P’s  ‘Cancer4Cure’ also came out this year, to critical acclaim, but it’s a testament to the surprisingly sparky and unpredictable chemistry between the two that R.A.P Music easily outshone it as one of the year’s most powerful, persuasive and inventive albums.

7. Lone: Galaxy Garden

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Matt Cutler’s previous effort ‘Emerald Fantasy Tracks’ made it onto my Top Ten for 2010 (even though it was actually released in very early 2011, a faux pas on my part)At the time, I described it as a release where Cutler ‘takes the best of Boards Of Canada, combines that with early 90’s acid house and 808 State vibes, basically ‘puts a donk on it’, and makes it one of the most mindblowingly euphoric and dancefloor friendly long players of the year’. This time, the follow up can claim to have massively expanded beyond those horizons. You just know Cutler painstakingly ventured outside the box here. This year’s opus shows his previous ideas being stretched to new boundaries, and a producer who is comfortably at ease with the confidence to produce a much broader palate of sounds. He’s still frenetic and not for the faint hearted at points, the prime example being shameless early nineties rave up ‘Crystal Caverns 1991’. But this isn’t brash. Its sheer fun, nice and gleeful, and wonderfully energetic without being intense. He’s also clearly too ambitious with his soundscape to be saddled with a tag of just being mindless ‘neo rave’. The over compensation is welcome, for the new territory of collaborations are the album’s superb points, with vocals adding a whole depth and range of emotion to ‘As a Child’ and the Aphex Twinny ‘Cthulhu’ with Machinedrum.  Just to round off the vocal element, the beautifully pleasant ‘Spirals’ is brought to life by unknown quantity Anneka. For a ‘ravey’ track, ‘Lying In The Reeds’ is incredibly soothing, yet was perfectly at home in DJ Sets by DJ’s such as Tim Sweeney and Todd Terje over the course of the year. Overall, his production nous is infinitely more polished and refined compared to this record’s predecessor. Galaxy Garden ended up being so much more mature and complete. But perhaps the best achievement of this album all lies in a bit of irony. There is always so much going on in each track, produced in Attention Deficit Disorder manner, and with such a diverse range of energetic and cathartic soundscapes, this is ultimately where Cutler has managed to instil as much order as he ever has on record. It’s a musical paradox. It may be manic at times, and swing in mood, but it completely energising and accessible. In terms of this year’s electronic outputs, it was a wonderful showcase in blending old and new like never before.

6. John Talabot: Fin


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The successful dance album is a rare breed, and an achievement that’s difficult to pull off. In a market that aggressively demands 7 minute bangers custom built for a whopping sound system, the pressing need for an album is secondary, and when a producer often does come up with the goods, it can be a bloated or one dimensional affair, devoid of the feeling, range and diversity that makes any self respecting long player. A dance album that genuinely stands out is one that requires adventurism, individuality, a unique take on a sound and ideally, a underlying current of emotive appeal. If that was a reference guide, Barcelona’s John Talabot studiously devoured it in spades before methodically putting it into proactive action on ‘Fin’, an album which crossed over from the club friendly environment directly into the dinner party friendly homes with consummate ease, without sacrificing an inch of feeling. A producer who was saddled with hype due to some brilliantly received sets, remixes and manning the Spanish label ‘Hivern’, ‘Fin’ could have floundered under the expectation. Instead, it is a masterpiece of mood throughout, and a swirling mix of thinking man’s house, synths, dub and disco all in one. At times eerie, at times breezy, Fin never loses the run of itself, and across the board, the songs are a welcome slice of brevity in a game that often stretches into nothingness. Never bound by the banal and lacklustre in dance music, Talabot constantly thinks outside the box, with vocals and chants competing over each other on every track, and endless samples of oddities. Opening ‘Depak Ine’ evokes a more lacquered, 21st century of  Leftfield’s seminal ‘Release The Pressure’, while Destiny, (with fellow Spaniard Pional) typifies what the Talabot raison d’etre is all about, triumphant builds and  joyful releases, probably best served on the beach but equally as palatable in the joyful environs of a Club. Where Dance music can often be accused of being mechanical, soulless and heavy handed, (and that includes A LOT of house releases), Fin turned the other cheek. Across the entirety of the album, it offered a wondrously vibrant  and clear sense of feeling very, very alive.

5. The Robert Glasper Experiment: Black Radio

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Robert Glasper, a darling of Gilles Peterson’s affection, and in turn, the new school of contemporary jazz, should probably deserve far more plaudits for one of the year’s more unnoticed gems, the amazingly impressive and ambitious Black Radio. Under the guise of ‘The Robert Glasper Experiment’, and with his ridiculously talented backing band in tow, the ‘Experiment’ in question is a juggling act of jazz, r & b, hip hop (and an acute sense of what is now ‘Urban’) to map out a blueprint for a proposed future of black music. He didn’t make it easy either. Each track is a collaboration with a diverse and supremely rich cast including big hitters such as Erykah Badu, Lupe Fiasco and Mos Def. Most are originals, whilst some were concerned with some leftfield covers takes on classics. Generally, this kind of scope would end up as a sprawling mess of disjointed ideas and no rhythm, but Glasper guides the daring risk of the project through the unchartered territories with a calming and smooth subtlety. Sounds never before associated with jazz (Vocoders, Korgs, blips and bleeps) suddenly seem to be at consummate ease together, and the experimentalism of the ‘Experiment’ is soothingly delicate. Its a record driven by an adventurous and irreverent rhythm section, spacious production, Glasper’s ghostly keys, and vocals, although totally diverse, that ever stray too far from being deeply full of soul. The finale to the album is the piece de resistance. With Glasper’s obsessive ‘Kid A’ influence taking hold, the band take on an amazingly ethereal version of Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit. Casey Benjamin’s vocoder vocals are bruised and fragile, making it become utterly unrecogiseable, before it evolves into an encroachingly eerie and captivating aural experience, defying all notion of structure before slowly erupting to a mesmerising and explosive finish. Suitably, its arguably the most daring track on the album, but contains all the elements from the rest of the album and the concept that encapsulates why the experiment was so wonderfully successful.

4. Grizzly Bear: Shields

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The fermenting in the indie consciousness of just how good Veckatimest was, and the teasing of the individual band members offerings in between, put Grizzly Bear under immense pressure with the release of ‘Shields’. And after some initial frowning, head scratching and patience, it grew to become one of the year’s best, and firmly deserving of that much sought after tag of any ultimately quality album, ‘A real grower’. Not only was Shields a grower, it was a richly rewarding long player, and one that showed the band gaining a steely and aggressive edge. Never fear though, that highly charged chanty side, where the haunting harmonies echo impossibly aching vulnerabilities was retained in spades the size of those on the artwork. To balance this across a record, and have something to stand up to Yellow House and Veckatimest was hugely ambitious. But they certainly got there in the end, in what I feel, was driven by the true ‘Daddy Bear’, Daniel Rossen.

Rossen’s guitars’ swarm this album, whether it’s the jangly, crashing urge of Sleeping Ute, or the frenetic bursts of ‘Speak in Rounds’. But the more you got accustomed to Shields, the more you realised he was balancing out the record beautifully as it progressed. “Yet Again” was a pinpoint single to represent the mid point of the album,  with as I described upon release, a melodious sequence of pitch perfect notes, evoking some distinctly Beach Boy harmonies and a resulting state of pop nirvana.  The finale of the record is more akin to the instant explosive impact of the beginning, but this time, the acoustic guitars were treated with more delicacy and finesse, resulting in the intense melodic beauty of a song like “Half-Gate,”. Probably my favourite overall, the very first listen of the chorus resulted in a pang like no other when the epic combo of Rossen’s vocals, the crying, strained strings and Chris Bear’s outrageously inventive drumming striking through my chest like a spear. In terms of all they’ve done so far, to me, Half Gate is one of their most singular emotive masterpieces. You get the sense that the only disappointment with Shields was that the surging momentum towards the end is over all too soon. When I originally waxed lyrical about Shields upon release, I pointed out that album closer (they love their sublime closing tracks) ‘Sun In My Eyes’ was ‘Epic, inventive, intelligent and evocative, which is a bit like the album as a whole, and very representative of one the finest bands out there today.’  With year end on our doorstep, that view hasn’t wilted one bit, affirming ‘Shields’ as one of the year’s finest releases, and a band who have very much risen to a whole new plateau of esteem.

3. Kendrick Lamar: Good kid, m.a.a.d city

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Hip Hop should really be built for lessons of insightful intelligence, and wonderful story telling. The scope of what hip hop is completely allows for that, so thank god Kendrick Lamar is taking it to the next level. With ‘M.a.a.d city’, he released not just one of the best hip hop albums of the year, but one of the best, ‘period’. To me, this sounded like a post 2008, recessionary take on the genre. This is a stripped back and often insightful account about real life, distancing itself from the obscene materialism, gun toting gangsta attitude and shock factor mysogyny that has always plundered the mainstream. Lamar  is a story teller, and an engrossing one at that. Not only that, he’s modest, reluctant and careful, issuing us with cautionary tales of real life and perils in modern day Compton A bit like a nouveau antithesis to that self proclaimed menace to society, Compton’s original trail blazer, Eazy E. Even with the most uninteresting ‘boy meets girl’ scenario, album opener ‘Sherane’, Lamar’s recounting of falling for this girl is riveting and compelling in its delivery, and so utterly engrossing,  its abrupt ending comes like a shock to the system. The tone for the record is set from there on in, with killer after killer. ‘Bitch Don’t Kill My Vibe’ is an instant anthem, while the wildly aggressive ‘Backseat Freestyle’ is a brilliantly humourous tongue in cheek take on the shamelessly boisterous Lil Wayne school of thought. The stand out is the mesmerising ‘The Art of Peer Pressure’. An impossibly mature and compelling account of what it’s like to be uncomfortable and immersed in gang culture and thug life, Lamar is uncompromisingly frank about past misdemeanours. But the humbly eloquent delivery of his real emotions, contrasted with the soundbites of his would be cohorts, is a more powerful lesson for a young teenager growing up in that environment than anything a school curriculum could ever teach. Not only is he telling stories, he’s teaching lessons, and they all have meaning. The production is nailed on, showcased best with a wonderful Beach House sample in ‘Money Trees’, while Swimming Pools, if a nod to that Purple Drank sound, completely blows it out of the water and takes it to new levels (puns wholly intended) M.a.a.d City shows Lamar being brave enough to be a rapper who is open, astute and honest with his feelings and observations. He is a young man who is clever enough to execute his tales in this stunningly diverse and fitting fashion. Because of this, the M.a.a.d City we experience is a voyage of discovery, coming across a slew of stories, lessons, downright entertainment and everything in between. A major talent has arrived. If this is the future of hip hop, lets go with it.

2. Wild Nothing: Nocturne

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Jack Tatum’s project Wild Nothing first came to the fore with ‘Gemini’ in 2010, a perfectly nice and breezy collection of inoffensive guitar pop. A pretty solid debut at least, but managed to raise indie eyebrows across the board at most. If ‘Gemini’ ticked boxes, Nocturne ventured further, passing with flying colours. At the time of release, I described it as  evoking a very 80’s dreamscape, and essentially, the album makes a stab at claiming ownership of that ‘dream pop’ tag… It’s not background and meaningless, and it doesn’t veer towards the boredom of chillwave’.. Whereas Dream Pop is something that came out of the blocks very slowly, with initial bands like Joy Zipper disappearing without trace, and before Beach House trademarked their own blissed out sound, with Nocturne, Tatum has bumped a real sense of urgent happiness into it. In terms of production, he quickly developed a massive depth to the ‘dreamscape’, but by doing little but adding the most subtle of details, like a real, human drummer (essential), a healthy garnish of strings(stunning on ‘Shadow’) and perfectly judged guitar reverb exactly where necessary(all throughout). But for an album this good, it goes way beyond production. Nocturne is about real, tangible songs, and plenty of them. There’s a freshness and vibrancy to the nature of these tunes, and the hooks and melodies stand out in such an outrageously healthy fashion. The influences are a perfect blend of Echo and the Bunnymen, The Cure, The Smiths and Aztec Camera, and basically any guitar based pop from that golden era. With Tatum’s songwriting talent clearly grown, and become so much more discernible, the sound of ‘Nocturne’ is beyond just dreamy. This is a positively gorgeous and impossibly enjoyable album, all throughout. And when it came to the crux, it was a record that shone radiantly, and one which I just could not stop playing it from start to finish all year. That’s why it deservedly ranks so highly.

 

1. Frank Ocean: Channel Orange:

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Yes. It really should be no surprise. Ultimately, there was only ever going to be one ‘undisputed champion’ for this accolade, and that was Frank Ocean’s mindblowingly impressive Channel Orange. The reception upon release was astounding, where Channel Orange became an outrageous receptor for critical adulation, to such an extent that shockingly, the buzz around the music ACTUALLY dwarfed the gossip column inches surrounding his ‘coming out’. Indeed, people don’t really know ‘what’ he is now, because they long stopped caring, with the lingering distraction of the year’s most stunning pop achievement still echoing soothingly in their ears. If Kendrick Lamar showed a young, black, highly intelligent observer setting out on a hugely ambitious musical project for hip hop, Ocean saw those cards, and raised them for R n’B and Pop, spanning genres with bold statements of inventiveness that fulfilled and delivered on the outrageous scope of the album. At his most simple, he doesn’t mess around, with ‘Thinkin’ Bout You’  straight up earnest R’n B at its finest. But what truly sets Channel Orange apart is its jaw dropping variety and intelligence. Much like Lamar too, Ocean assumed the mantle of the observer, dissecting in Bret Easton Ellis fashion the fabulous and bloated lives of the ‘Super Rich Kids’(with the brilliant Earl Sweatshirt driving it), and not to mention ‘Sweet Life’, which for me, with its soaring chorus was THE pop song of the year. Anthemic, and hung on the sharpest of hooks, it showed Ocean at his best, both simultaneously painful and triumphant, and dark and bright, all neatly packaged into an impossibly catchy 3 minute format. If that was his standard take on pop, he was unafraid to go for the bold and epic with ‘Pyramids’, a bizarre 10 minute concept based around  Ancient Egypt as a strip club, and Cleopatra as the misused and abused dancer, with Ocean as the dejected, contemplative onlooker. Sounds unbearably ridiculous, but the execution is astonishing with its seamless jump between electro dancefloor 1st half and graduation to ponderous, downbeat ambience second half being an absorbing whirlwind. The scope of Pyramids summed up how daring a brilliant vision the album was as a whole, but that wasn’t the only reason for it to run away with the mantle of the year’s best. In a pop landscape where I’ve been long since exasperated, the idea of radio friendly chart music is now stripped down to Katy Perry singing over obnoxiously unlistenable Swedish House Mafia Dirge, or just One Direction/Eoin McLove mania. Basically, Pop has become taboo. In one, bold theatrical sweeping statement Frank Ocean dismissed this notion, and essentially reinvented the wheel. He single handedly showed that intelligence, ambition, risks are all things that can still go hand in hand with a keen sense of melody and amazing hooks. All of a sudden, he proved pop can again be hugely rewarding and its boundaries can be limitless. The best illustration of that all year were people’s tendencies to instinctively stick on Channel Orange on the iPod at a party or wherever, and play it start to finish, with consistently rapturous approval. Quite simply, for me, and countless friends, it was the most played and most enjoyed album this year, and that is once again the ultimate clincher. Well deserved. A landmark.

December 11, 2012
New Innervisions: Konstantin Sibold

I may be jumping the gun a small bit here, but as far as I’m aware, we have a gem to look forward to in early 2013 from Dixon’s Innervisions. The acclaimed Berlin label, which I’ve praised on numerous occasions here, has cultivated it an unmistakeable signature sound thanks to founders Ame and Dixon, and refined by the worldly productions of Henrik Schwarz. If they form the backbone to the esteemed stable, they can’t be faulted for resting on their laurels, as the potential new guard for Innervision’s could be on the rise in the form of Konstantin Sibold, a hugely promising new Stuttgart producer. Sibold’s track ‘Leif’ was probably one of the most bouyant and outstanding releases (on Caremelo) of last year, but probably didn’t get as much initial attention due to an extremely limited vinyl release.

However, this upcoming rumbling juggernaut, in the classic Innervisions mould, is mooted for an early 2013 release on the label, and is definitely something to look forward to. Dixon and Ame dropped it at the peak of their recent epic Boiler Room set where it was the standout, and although it is currently labelled as ‘Untitled’, I believe the track will officially be called ‘Madalene’. Whatever its called, its cementing Sibold’s growing reputation as the next big thing to emerge from the ridiculously prolific production line of cutting edge German house/techno.  You’ld expect nothing less from them, wouldn’t you? Anyway, keep an ear out for Sibold, ‘Madalene’ is bona fide stomper that should have you quaking in your clubbing boots.

PS: This rough cut, until we get the real deal, is cut from the Dixon/Ame set in the Boiler Room. So for now, we have to endure that impossibly annoying headwrecker Thristian from the Boiler Room rudely interrupting the set and asking to ‘GIVE IT UP’ and ‘MAKE SOME NOISE’. Dickhead. Everything else is superlative though.

November 30, 2012
From The Vaults: Sugar’s Copper Blue

Having mulled over thoughts for the best albums of the year(which is upcoming, never fear), I’m pretty satisfied that it’s been a great year, and we’ve seen some wonderfully diverse releases. Some broaching the poposphere in style, others taking indie to new heights and black music pushing extraordinary new boundaries. But once again, as someone who could probably be labelled a rocker at heart, I’m left yearning for an outstanding muscular guitar album.  With a month to go of potential releases, I’m not holding my breath on seeing anything soon.

A tiresome glut has been written about the slow evaporation of widespread and real guitar music. An equal amount has been written about how it’s just so much more cost effective to get au fait with a laptop, bang something up on Soundcloud and get your rave reviews coming in the blink of an eye. A thoroughly modern process, which is at odds with the painstaking lengths it takes to create a consistently brilliant and powerful guitar album. Either way, that’s a different and fatiguing discussion, and it’s something I’m contending with, so if you want a short solution, and you want loud guitars in your life, nostalgia is for now, ironically the way forward.

So not relying on anything new, I was looking for a slice of power chord brilliance, in equal doses muscle and melody, with the power both to knock you out and the warmth to nurse you back to your feet. This seemed like a challenge in itself, so I scrolled through my iPod for a while, frowning and struggling to yield the desired results. That was until Sugar jumped out, and I realised I hadn’t listened to ‘Copper Blue’ in about three years. Just as well, it was probably the same space of time I’d heard something so custom built for my purposes, and a timely reminder of what an essential classic it is. Funny that ‘Copper Blue’ managed to get lost within the sea of ubiquity on my admittedly overstocked iPod, and how that also seemed to epitomise the strange lack of attention it gets these days. A lot of people have never heard of it, let alone never seem to reference it, despite the reliance we have on a golden era of albums from 1991 – ’93. It’s also not like it’s an underappreciated album lost amid the relics of its time. Former reputable publication NME, (whom you may remember from a bygone era) named it as their album of the year for 1992, and the album itself sold over 300, 000 copies. So clearly it had a huge impact on release. There’s plenty of reasons why.

Just as I got the breath of fresh air when rediscovering it, when it was first released, ‘Copper Blue’ was a vibrant and kinetic explosion of power pop that Bob Mould had been waiting to unleash for the best part of a decade. When fronting Husker Du throughout the eighties, Mould, Grant Hart and Greg Norton blazed a trail of unforgettable influence, albeit destructively, frenetically and fiercely, with their approach to gigging, recording, performing, drinking and drugs. The music was raw, visceral, chaotic and uncompromising but the feeling, urge and songs always remained t the forefront and struck a chord with people. By blazing this trail so ferociously, it paved the way for REM, The Pixies and Nirvana to evolve and become who they were. There’s no way on earth they would have existed without Husker Du. Black Francis put Husker Du on the recruiting ad to form the Pixies, and the ever self effacing Kurt Cobain relentlessly claimed all he was doing was ‘ripping Husker Du off’.

They were hardcore, but they were unique. So while they were arguably one of the most important bands to come from the late 80’s in terms of what was to come, Husker Du was a vehicle that was unsustainable, and was bound to either burn out, or destructively spiral out of control. So when it finally did, inevitably due to drugs, Mould took the necessary time out and took stock and solace. When he was ready, he was refreshed, and realised he had something completely new to give.

By 1992, Nirvana and REM were already stellar, and Doolittle had long been a critical centre of the indie universe. Mould had been recognised, and lapped up plaudits that were long overdue.  He was ready to put something back out. Revitalised and armed with a fresh batch of songs, he rapidly put together Sugar with drummer Malcolm Travis and bassist David Barbe, and quickly laid down the basis of the album that would become Copper Blue. Figuratively, if the Husker Du Mould was a scruffy, unwashed, chaotic beatnik, forming Sugar was like someone had given him a makeover. Everything suddenly became infinitely tidier, sharper, scrubbed up and more open minded  and focused on the detail of production. The graduation from uncompromising punk to clean cut analyst was complete, and surprisingly, it would work a treat.

As opposed to Grant Hart’s haphazard, tinny and frenetic drums in Husker Du, Malcolm Travis’s drums were beefy, rock solid and pounding, and provided the sturdiest of foundations alongside the deep and punchy basslines of Barbe. It gave Mould the confidence and security to be ultra powerful, but just as melodic in equal measure to deliver sonic assault after sonic assault of power punk and power pop. It’s a rare achievement to have such riffs and harmonious vocal lines seamlessly intertwine and slot in, but Copper Blue does this time after time. Big drums and power chords gracefully served up seems paradoxical, but with the right quotient of melody served on top, it all came together tastefully in a potent and uplifting cocktail.

Mould did say himself that My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless had given him a serious kick in the ass the year before, and you can hear its influence in the variety of subtle production touches laced throughout, most noticeably in the strings and harpsichords in ‘Hoover Dam’ and the sound of the guitar arpeggios in ‘Changes’, territory which would have been unfathomable previously. Given Loveless was a guitar geeks fetish, the attention Mould paid to the cleanliness of the guitar sounds on Copper Blue as a whole was also the antithesis to what he had ever done before.

And while lyrically, the subject matter was often not overly upbeat(The Slim is about AIDS, a bit more topical at release date), you’ld barely notice given the almost relentlessly upbeat nature of the album as a whole. ‘A Good Idea’ is a cheeky and playful ode to the Pixies, more over a blatant homage to every Pixies detail from bass, to vocal, to song structure, as if to say thank you for raising Mould from the underground. The melodies and harmonies from ‘Changes’ are lifted straight from the ‘60’s, while epic album closer ‘Man On The Moon’ is beautifully radiant, whilst sacrificing absolutely none of the power.

Some would probably feel that Copper Blue sounds very ‘of the era’, but to be objective, when blasted out now, it’s like a breath of fresh air that has held up extremely well. ‘Dated’ is the last criticism you could level at it, and It’s hard to believe that its now 20 years old. From a personal point of view, it’s even harder to believe that I let Mould’s recent tour of playing Copper Blue straight through passed me by completely. I only have myself to blame for that oversight, but according to reports, it sounded great. Hardly surprising that Mould himself said that it was an absolute pleasure to play all the songs again, and it proved to be a totally revitalising experience. There you have it, even from the man who wrote the songs 20 years ago, they stood up so well that they’re still proving invigorating. The ultimate acclamation for a timeless album. And in a time when outstanding and truly powerful guitar music is seemingly thin on the ground, we are perfectly entitled to dip back into the precious archive to savour what it should truly represent.

If you’re that way inclined, and Sugar have never come across your radar, I suggest you take the plunge into Copper Blue. Otherwise, if you haven’t rinsed it in a while, why not give it a shot, and rediscover its brilliance.

‘Changes’ - From Copper Blue: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3Lo91Z0h3Q

‘Man on the Moon’ - From Copper Blue: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXoTLRtV3zc

November 22, 2012
Irish Wildlife #12: Dosser Innercitia

Blanket terms for this species have evolved over the years. Take your pic at knacker, skanger, scobe, shwaaaaaa, you name it. But before you activists jump on some discriminatory bandwagon, we can only be complimentary towards Dosser Innercitia. (Sure isn’t there plenty amongst you who have been through your wannabe phase?) No.1, for retaining their sense of who they truly are over the years with such gusto (see ‘Mating Habits’) and from a social observation point of view, still remaining the utmost in entertainment from afar around the streets of Dublin. G’wan ouvah.

October 13, 2012
For everything else in life there's something like this...

Just listen to it and tell me how arresting it is.

October 10, 2012
Alexis Petridis reviews Deadmau5 - More than just 2 stars

I just got out of bed, time to slate Deadmau5

Alexis Petridis has always kind of pissed me off. Surprisingly, its nothing to do with his profile picture on the Guardian website, where perhaps the aim is to look unconcerned and nonplussed, but actually comes across as some kind of Loreal Fructis Garnier model exuding as much musical hubris as possible in one facial expression. That doesn’t bother me. I think its more so the fact that despite the guy clearly having a supreme taste, and eye opening erudite musical breadth, he has a penchant for abusing his own esteem. 

When being so knowledgeable, and so damn articulate, it seems like an unforgivable crime when he dishes out gushing praise on the painfully awful. Much is often said about a pop malaise(its true in fairness), yet Petridis has often been the most vehement advocate of the most unforgivably shit pop music churned out in this current climate. I have no idea why. An up to date example is an inexplicable four star album review for Muse’s latest dirge. Sycophantic musings towards the ‘work’ of Nicki Minaj were similarly mind boggling. Is he joking? Sometimes I just can’t tell. But thats it, and thats why he confounds and annoys me. 

However, when he hits the nail on the head, there are few who could command so much respect in the realm of music journalism. Thankfully, this review of Deadmau5’s latest work of art is not just a logical and warranted panning of some absolute rubbish. (Although Petridis has certainly restored my faith in him by doing that) It is far more than that. As a witty and mesmerising piece of music journalism, it’s references are sharp, and achingly clever, but he also manages to use a simple album review as a way of disecting everything thats wrong with the bizarre explosion of dance music in the US these days, and just how bland and misguided the protagonists are too. To me, this is like a water shed and timely expose of an ugly blight on contemporary dance music. And one thats long overdue too.

I refuse to believe that Dance music has stayed the same and just crossed over into the mainstream, because what is engrossing the brainless morons at Skrillex, Avici and Deadmau5 gigs over in the States is utterly unrecognisable to what has gripped my heart and soul for nigh on 13 years now. This new ‘phenomenon’ of ‘dance music’ has become a personal point of pain to the extent where I could never articulate what the epidemic was, and just exactly why it is so dismal. I’d give up and cover my ears. Thankfully, this piece by Petridis seems to summarise everything I ever wanted to articulate about it, and more. So without further ado, I’ll stop writing, and you can start reading his piece. Its entertaining, enlightening, engrossing and hits the nail on the head just like some of that thudding, excruciating bass. It should open your eyes to the pains of this trend of dance as effectively as one of those fabled Deadmau5 light shows.  Enjoy.

Alexis, I’ll never doubt you(Or the Guardian) again.