St Vincent’s third full length album came smashing in at the end of 2011 and made a huge impact for me. Perfectly mistimed, mistuned, ugly and boisterous yet full of quirks and beauty within. It’s one of the best audio messes I’ve heard in age.
Opening with “Chloe in the Afternoon” we’re given heavy production, awkward drum beats, wavy guitars and shuffling melodies that are both catchy and eerie at the same time. St Vincent’s vocals are sublime too. Like much of the album, there’s an overlying arc and melody that hits on the opening listen and then you find several other melodies hidden away on further investigation and it’s what makes Strange Mercy as a whole, such a compelling album. Single “Cruel” (with a great music video) is about a straight as they come with a simple hook for a chorus line but the verses and codas are just free-falling angelic flourishes. It’s big, brash, overdriven and great.
“Cheerleader” is a lethargic grind in the best possible way. Lazy faded guitars and held back vocal delivery serves well for the big bursts of bleeding pyrotechnics for a chorus. The beat is almost like a stomping a foot to protest exactly that St Vincent doesn’t want to cheer lead anymore! “Surgeon” is more relaxed with a lot of 70/80′s synth work with some extra funky electric piano swirls. There’s a noise of a vocal/keyboard combination that sounds slightly like a choir that runs throughout the album but here it is used a lot to great effect.
“Northern Lights” is a great rock out track with some fantastic lyrics that I can really relate to. This is the freak out song of the album with crazy solo’s and frantic vocals. The title track “Strange Mercy” is the first quiet track on the album with a clunky drum beat and some lonely spacey keyboard works floating over airy guitars. St Vincent uses her light voice to great effect with precision too. “Neutered Fruit” has some excellent guitar flexing throughout and a real funky track. Not the most catchiest but it holds a different space to the rest with its more minimal approach for the vast majority of the song before it’s a huge finale.
“Champagne Year” is a spacey track that is held by ethereal ambience, humming bass and a kick beat for the first half before other instruments join. It’s very floaty and dreamy. “Dilettante” has a production where all the fuzz and echo is taken away, almost like the life has been sucked out the music and sounds completely different to everything else on the record. The rest of the album has a certain sustain on it but not here. “Hysterical Strength” reminds me of the TV show Knight Rider! There’s a certain 80′s cheese to the main theme of it – in a good way! It’s the chugging bass line and processed drums that do it. It is a fun and frantic track which tidies everything up nicely for the closer “Year of the Tiger” which is a classic St Vincent track and perfectly sums up the album with strange production, chords that don’t usually get placed together and time structures that aren’t the norm.
“Strange Mercy” takes three or four listens before you fully appreciate it. A lot of people say why doesn’t she strip down her albums like some of her acoustic performances. I say keep her pushing the boundaries of sonic sounds on record and let her tour acoustically and that way we get both sides of this fantastic artist.
Always fun and complete with a cap, Derek Bishop’s latest video is for “Why Hold On”, a bluesy honky tonk tumble through the leaves from his album Resistance is Beautiful.
Justin Levinson & The Valcours is a rather fantastic ensemble album from singer/songwriter Justin Levinson and a full crew of musicians backing him up. It’s a step up from his previous efforts as he moves into a Wainwright territory for the future.
Opener “Water Wears the Rock” is a big statement track. Huge rip-roaring choruses, loud drums, piano solos with guitar overtures and a distinct energy that flows from start to finish. “You Became A Ghost” feels like a cinematic pop rock anthem. There’s enough pauses, drum rolls and elating guitar solos to rival a Queen track. It’s fun and approachable and a good starting point to delve into Levinson. “Love You Goodbye” features Gregory Douglass although they are sparsely used. The song itself feels a little clunky as if its been autotracked a bit too tightly for its own good but the melody itself is pleasant enough.
“Let You Go” features Will Dailey and is a sweet rock ballad with some lovely celtic flairs to it which make it quite whimsy while the cabaret brass added to “Bar Scene” is playful while Justin lazily pub sings his way through the song. There’s an annoying bar chat sample that overbears some of the great brass work however. This is why “I’ll Be Ok” works better as it brings all the rough edges together into a playful, wonderful, joyous explosion of music. It’s just one of those infectious songs it’s hard to offended by or dislike.
A wonderful waltzing duet “I Was So Wrong” features Liz Longley gets its country on. Liz’s vocals remind me of Tanya Donelly and the guitar twangs and harmonicas add to create a distinctly different song from the rest of the album. “Million Tears” is a very traditional rock ballad in the Beatles style and showcases Justin’s vocals at its best with various octaves, styles and ranges. “Say What Your Gonna Say” is very 70′s in many ways with its clean guitars, sultry brass and light choruses that slightly shimmer. The album closes with “If You’re Happier” which is another classic Beatles style ballad.
This Side of Me, This Side of You has excellent production values. Everything feels full and explosive. Justin’s vocals sometimes sound a bit like the weakest part of the package as they get swamped by the big songs and I’ve never been a fan of talky singing which some tracks slip into. However looking passed my own preferences I can see this being a very popular album and one that should elevate Levinson up the ranks as a well rounded and catchy album that doesn’t sell its core values.
My Brightest Diamond returned with her third full album “All Things Will Unwind” and after beautiful orchestration and minimalist taut rock, this time we find a pure fusion of her previous works.
Opener “We Added It Up” is a beautiful acoustic led ditty with the vogue instrument of the moment bass Clarinet tooting along in the background. There’s also some wonderful vocal montages in the second half of the song. It’s a light opener which paves the way for “Reaching Through to the Other Side” which has some great flute and string work. Reminding me of some of the more sweeping work Shara has done before, her higher vocal register makes for some achingly pure moments. It’s interesting how one vocal note held over lots of other instruments can stir up so much emotion. “In the Beginning” again showcases the session musicians with some cute woodwind flurries. This is one of the less direct tracks on the album, taking the approach of a sweeping story in four minutes instead. It has several transitions and all of them are endearing and softly rounded. It’s an acoustic psychedelic jamboree.
“Escape Routes” shows us a new side to Shara’s music – a cheeky one! The cute guitar strums are high-pitched and playful and the string and wind arrangements, as they are to some extent throughout the whole album, are intricate but joyful. By extension, the cute transforms to the dramatic with the single “Be Brave” but unlike the sweeping soundscapes of her previous string work, this highlights the more bursting harshness of the arrangements on the album. It’s far more tightly woven even when the choruses burst into full life.
“She Does Not Brave The War” is a lullaby of sorts with enchanting plucks, shimmering prepared pianos and wallowing clarinets. It feels like you’re being tempted out to sea by a siren. In contrast “Ding Dang” is a short song full of clattering tuned percussive beats being scored over. It’s cute and pretty especially when the marimba is used. It breaks into a finale as the song builds up and is unique as it is fun to listen to. “There’s a Rat” has the best lyrics I’ve heard in a while. “There’s a rat in my kitchen and its eating my cheese!” There’s a slight tongue in cheek approach to the hill billy country with the execution of the song and Shara is trying to Kate Bush her vocals which don’t quite pull off at the same level but it’s still a fun and interesting track nonetheless. “High Low Middle” continues with the fast patter of cheeky uptempo numbers with electric organs and folksy drums. This diversion into the country Disney genre infects the whole album but nowhere is its jazzy hands momentum most apparent than here. “Everything is in Line” is another interesting track that’s a duet with DM Stith and they interplay perfectly together as the marimba and thumb piano play off each other in unison. It’s one of the more immediate tracks to get into. The album closes “I Have Never Loved Someone” which is based around a pump organ complete with a squeak cutely playing in the background throughout. It’s warm and glowing and a whimsy end to what is an album that straddles emotions throughout.
Reviewing any “My Brightest Diamond” work is tough because what I have thought of her work initially is always a lot less than what I feel about it say a year later. I find myself struggling with its tone. Some of it is too cute for its own good and it doesn’t sit well with the vocal delivery. When things are more subdued or dramatic it suddenly all clicks into place. I guess this is another album I’ll end up enjoying more and more over time, like her previous two. “A Thousand Sharks Teeth” failed to capture me on first listen yet now I regard it as one of my all time favs. I don’t think this rivals that albums status but I’m sure it will grow over time.
French Cassettes are a fun San Fransisco based band that mix French pop and psychedelic rock. As such its happy, jangley and just a little bit naughty – a bit like their video which is perfectly described as “The Blair Witch Project meets The Little Mermaid”. All will be revealed with their single “Radley” below.
Kate Bush returns with the fantastic single “Wild Man” from the upcoming album “50 Words for Snow” and despite being a Christmas album of sorts, there’s only some sleigh bells for about three seconds. Instead with have a sultry Kate’s hushed tones purring over a flickering guitar string and a joyously loose chorus full of vocal delights. A real surprise in the best way. 2011 sure has had some fantastic new music! The single is out today.
Derek Bishop is a new singer/songwriter that has blooped onto my radar of late. Reminding of the absolutely fantastic Keyth Lawrence and the Purple Circle, Derek weaves a lot of keyboard and piano work through insanely catchy pop/rock tracks with big choruses that while they are immediate, have a lot of depth underneath. What I like most about the songs are that they never sit still – the instrumentation swaps, chops and changes from verse to chorus to bridge to interlude and back again. It keeps everything fresh and interesting from the first to the last note.
We hope to featuring more of Derek later on but for now here’s his debut single “The Last Word”.
“Mysterious Skin” is UK-based rocker Kafka’s latest album and its a double! Not just double CD but double whammy. Kafka manages to weave enough radio pop rock into some original themes and unique nuances to make everything sound fresh but familiar at the same time.
“Start Again” opens disc one with a spangley radio rock number which is catchy and showcases Kafka’s vocal flexing. “Maybe Later” walks down the bass lead path in a particularly catchy number that reminds me of some of the darker days of Depeche Mode when they made their more creative music, albeit more rockier. Just the right amount of ramshackle and anthem. “Susanna” reminds me of 90′s U2 but that’s because of the electric guitar riffs playing throughout. What is clear though is Kafka makes very catchy choruses as you’ll have these three choruses in your head quite quickly.
“Take the Knife” is a mid-tempo rock out that reminds me of some of the more chilled out Stone Temple Pilots tracks and sometimes Kafka’s vocals even sound the same. “Fall on Call” is the companion to “Maybe Later” musically but feels like the lighter version as it follows some of the same chords. It does introduce some female backing vocals that go beautifully with Kafka’s voice and sets up some of the more ethereal sections of “Run With the Buffalo (7th Wave)” which is a really uplifting track – the kind you want to freak out to with a giggle of laughter. “Jump Down” makes me laugh too because there’s a cute organ playing a cheesy riff in the background while the rest of the music pumps out what is a certified biker song surely. It’s got all the hallmarks of what a biker song should be!
“Different Folk” is the token slow builder before the album takes a turn into a warmer acoustic/keyboard base with “Is It Something I Can Help You With?” which is a beautiful track full of so many embellishments of guitars twists and picks over what is a simple chord structure. As the song evolves it changes tempo and mood from defeated to uprising and showcases some of the best work on the album. “Wrapped in Plastic” is a chirpy and simple track before disc one closes with “No One knows” which is an acoustic rock track complete with harmonica. As it’s the only fully acoustic track on the disc it stands out and Kafka’s vocals suit the mellower edge.
Disc Two opens back up with the more rampant “Naked in the Rain” where the signature whaling guitar resonance fills the speakers throughout the bridges and choruses. “Goodnight (RFAD)” which was the first video single is a great rock track with three songs worth of catchy riffs squashed into one track and is particularly fun. “Cold and Confused” feels like a real stadium anthem track with lots of layered chorus vocals and rising chord progressions. It really gets you bubbling up inside. “A Life of Crime” is another strong rock number before the tom drum happy “Fire Dance” track takes over. It’s insanely catchy and upbeat. “Friends Like Glue #7″ has an interesting electronic feel with some mutated guitar sweeps and “Don’t Cry” should be on the radio as a main stay. It’s got a great hook and is the most conventional song on the album for the general public to test Kafka out.
“Prozac For Valium” is well produced while “Blind The Eye” follows the same two chord verse / four chord chorus loops that a lot of the songs have gone through and work so well. The songs feel much bigger than they really are because of all the little electric guitar flicks and twists bursting out the seams. “A New Deal For the Leper” is an absolutely stonking track ranging from slightly mystical right through to thrashing stadium rock which gets you really fired up and moshing away. The album closes with “Your Not the Only One” which is an acoustic guitar / string. It’s actually quite fast paced which makes a refreshing change for an acoustic track closer.
Kafka’s debut album as a double CD affair is a tall order. Sometimes the vocals are a bit rough around the edges but sometimes that makes things more emotive and pressing. The music itself fits nicely around the radio rock genre and while some of the songs are quite similar, there are more than enough standouts to warrant a damn good listen to a new talent of the UK.
Simon recommends: “Run With the Buffalo (7th Wave)”, “Is That Something I Can Help You With” and “Goodnight (RFAD)”
Wow. I came across Jane Lui’s music via a completely different persons PR company and I am in awe. In a similar vein to Imogen Heap but keeping the sounds organic, Jane turns flicking pages in a book into a drum roll. This type of music is very close to my heart as I too use a liquid cooler bottle as a drum sometimes and the music video is beautifully done.
