It’s that time of year again – a wrap up of the top 10 albums I have had the pleasure of buying. This list is for musical artist album releases only. A separate one will be done for game soundtracks. Here goes:
10) Zola Jesus – Vessel
A fantastic culmination and one of my most recent new discoveries, it just edges into the top 10 by providing me with one of the few dark and damp albums of 2011. Her voice harks back to generations of old and the electronics and dramatic song structures make it a treat to visit the darkness every time.
09) Faun – Eden
Band members have left and been replaced and while you can tell that Faun’s sound has changed forever. It still sits firmly in the Pagan Folk genre they’ve helped create but the vocals are more hymn like, English is introduced and the overall sound is one more of a forest pixie raging war on humanity. Either way, it’s still utterly superb.
08) St Vincent – Strange Mercy
St Vincent makes the most clumsy, sloppy and seemingly out of control music seem to still have order, beauty and integrity. Her third studio album is full of all the quirks, embellishments and random freak outs we’ve come to expect but in a more assured manner and with more layers than ever before!
07) Gregory Douglass – Lucid
Having watched Gregory over various live net shows introduce, change, develop and grow Lucid from a concept into a fully evolved being, it’s a fantastic dream concept album that works from start to finish. Showcasing some great technical wizardry, it features some of the most catchy numbers and some of the most heartbreaking from his career to date.
06) Amiina – Puzzle
From what I thought was a lovely, quaint but slightly one-sided debut, Puzzle lifts Amiina into a new level. The quartet have perfected their craft of weaving the most unlikely of instruments together into lullabies but now also into powerful epic seven minute masterpieces.
05) Bjork – Biophilia
Never one to sit still, Biophilia is a career spanning genre bending full flow freak out. Never compromising, always challenging – it contains highlights of Bjork’s most beautiful, most powerful and most scary moments of her musical career.
04) Tori Amos – Night of Hunters
Tori Amos remains my favourite musical artist of all time. The reason this hasn’t reached the top spot is purely because it’s an album that requires a lot of time and effort to digest and I’m not really there yet. The string arrangements are beautiful and the songs are fantastic. Many have called it a return to form but I never saw her falter. A bold new direction and one that pays off.
03) Lamb – 5
The return of Lamb was unexpected but much appreciated with the perfect blend of Lou’s own solo styles and Andy’s more electronic edges. The album is much more direct and approachable with instant hooks throughout, making it by far my favourite Lamb album to date and hopefully will give them confidence to continue on.
02) tUne-YaRdS – W H O K I L L
Only discovering the sheer genius of this lady last year, being able to enjoy the growth from début to album number 2 was phenomenal. All the funky vocal collages are still here, as is the home ramshackle production but this time fused with brass and some more tip-top production too. It just seems like such a natural bloom. Magical.
01) Charlotte Martin – Dancing on Needles
The album that keeps giving with all the b-sides being released online, it’s a perfect merger of all Charlotte’s previous works of piano, guitar, keyboard and pounding drums. Her voice is an absolute marvel and every song is as achingly beautiful and painful as the last. Without doubt my album of the year.
Narrowly missing out were PJ Harvey, Kate Bush, Sarah Slean, The Go Team and Omodaka.
In a lovely twist, Tori Amos has released in digital format only an instrumental version of “Night of Hunters”. Removing all the voice, all that’s left is piano and orchestration. It was released without fanfare today in America but strangely holds an April 2012 release for us in the UK. I think that may jump forward however. Samples are available on amazon and iTunes.
Last night was my first trip to the Royal Albert Hall and despite having a giant pillar right to the right hand side of me, the venue was absolutely beautiful – a perfect setting for Tori Amos and the Apollon Musacete Quartet to cause an absolute riot on stage.
From the opener “Shattering Sea” we were treated to some of the most sumptuous versions of Tori’s catalogue to date. As with the last tour, things have suddenly tightened up onto an on rails approach but this time it’s amplified because the quartet are providing a stunning backdrop. “Shattering Sea” along with “Precious Things” were the two big screamers amongst what was a relatively ballad heavy set list although with it just being strings and piano that was to be expected. Other surprises were fantastically dark renditions of “Suede” and “Cruel” where the quartet turned the strings to percussive plucks to provide some excellent backing. As a personal highlight I got a simmering version of “Smells Like Teen Spirit”, a unique version of “Hey Jupiter” and one of my very favourites “Siren”. I say unique for “Hey Jupiter” as sadly during “Way Down” the previous track Tori’s piano suddenly became very distorted through the speakers making that song sound like it was coming through a dodgy bootleg. The problem persisted into Jupiter and so they turned the piano off to sort the problem so the first part was just the strings and vocals!
Another snippet I’d like to mention was that “Star Whisperer” in its full glory live was sensational.
All in all, despite the random technical problem, I was blown away. I always have been entranced with her live and she continues to do so even when she isn’t grabbing her crotch, screaming at high volume and straddling benches.
In anticipation of my attendance to see her live in concert tomorrow – here’s a unique (and possibly one time only) version of Seven Sisters followed by Pretty Good Year.
Tori Amos never sits still. This latest album see’s her drop band instrumentation altogether and produce an absolutely sublime orchestrated album. Underpinned by the trusty piano, vocal cameo’s from family members and some lovely interpretations of classical themes, it’s a cracking album.
Opener “Shattered Sea” is growling and dark. The low rumbles of piano thunder against the crashing string and wind instruments as they build and roll like waves of power over the speakers. What’s great about this and every other track is that they are variations of classical themes of the 16th to 18th century. I’m not one to be able to pick out the themes but then going and finding the original tracks after, it’s interesting to see how they’re woven into the track. After the fierce opener “Snowblind” introduces Tori’s daughter Natashya Hawley as a vocal where the two interplay off each other. Natashya’s vocals have a real husk to them and convey a lot of soul. Should she want to, she could have an interesting musical career from the voice alone. The two voices sit very well together as the bluesy and sprawling piano floats in and out.
“Battle of Trees” in a near nine minute epic. The strings in this song are beautifully arranged are they pluck the main melody. Tori’s vocal’s also shine here too with a lot of different ranges hit. It’s not the catchiest song on the album at all but it still has a knack of standing out and staying with you longer afterwards as a general feeling. “Fearlessness” is another track that emotes a feeling as they piano and oboes flow effortlessly. What I will say about both tracks is that upon each listen I find new instrument flourishes and appreciate them ten times more each play through.
“Cactus Practice” is a song that reminds me of Fantasia for some reason. It’s heavily wind instrument based and of all the songs, this is the one that sounds like it still is in the 1800′s. Natashya’s vocals really suit the oboes and bassoons. “Star Whisperer” is the longest track at just under ten minutes. Slow and deliberate, the track slowly evolves and has some beautiful transitions, particularly the “I heard you scream from the other side of the mountain” where Tori is able to flex her piano chops and sound utterly adorable. Tori’s vocals are on top form throughout but the instrumentation often takes the limelight. Here in this track there’s a lovely instrumental section where the track creates a frenzy before it moves into its final few minutes and it’s some of the best music I’ve heard all year.
“Job’s Coffin” is an excellent track. A simple piano riff embellished with horns and clarinets. Natashya takes the lead vocals here with Tori playing backup. It’s just a simple song that sticks in your head for a long time after and it was after Shattered Sea, the next track I stuck straight on repeat. “Nautical Twilight” is very classical with thick arpeggios and a theatrical turn of vocal display. I love how the verses build up to a specific climax which she fades away to reflection straight after. “Your Ghost” is another track that’s got a strong melody and it actually feels very Christmas orientated for some reason and sounds like it sound be on Midwinter Graces! Beautiful and quaint.
“Edge of the Moon” is a song of two halves. The first half is a downbeat and careful and the second half is a full free-flowing burst of energy. I actually thought it was two separate tracks at first but they go so well together with some great dueling vocals. “The Chase” is fantastic track that has an underlying tension throughout as Tori and Natashya dual each other with some fantastic lyrical parries. It’s just something completely different to anything Amos has done before and so refreshing. “Night of the Hunters” introduces for just one track Kelsey Dobyns as a third voice and her vocals are sublime and angelic. A song of many faces and moods, it shapeshifts around between nostalgia, freeform and some beautiful interplaying and overlaying vocals.
“Seven Sisters” is a gorgeous instrumental between the piano and the clarinet. It really showcases Amos’ power as a composer, a performer and an emotive musician. This is also captured in the album closer “Carry” which is about as close to a single as you could get on this album. A ballad of sorts, it’s the most conventional song alongside Nautical Twilight and Jobs Coffin but holds a completely different emotion. By the time you’ve finished you feel almost like you’ve been reborn by how the previous track feels light an enlightening and Carry feels like a walking away from the wreckage piece.
I’ll make no bones about it, Tori Amos is one of, if not the favourite artist of mine musically but I can absolutely see why others wouldn’t appreciate or like her music. Night of the Hunters will not bring back old fans who want Little Earthquakes part 1,000,000 but this is generally like nothing she’s done before and deserves to be listened with fresh ears and classical lovers will find a new album that they can enthuse over. I for one am bowled over yet again.
Freshly released today, “Carry” is absolutely beautiful and if you share it via her facebook you’ll get a treat with “Shattered Sea” too. If you can’t wait that long – click below! Night of the Hunters is out 19th September and I for one cannot wait.
Tori Amos today announced “Night of Hunters”, a new album that’s penciled in for a release in September this year. The concept appears to be harking back to old classical pieces and taking elements of them into a 21st century song. It’s set over the period of an evening about a woman whose coming to the end of a relationship. Tori loves a concept but this one sounds like it could be a different flow altogether. We await more news about the album and the following tour!
Everyone on this webpage knows I’m a massive fan of Tori and she gets plenty of dollops of love here but a new heart goes out for the Orchestral live shows she’s been doing. Here is a orchestrated version of “Precious Things“. Rumor has it after the show she returned to replay three songs so perhaps although there’s no DVD, we may well end up with an official bootleg release! Fingers crossed!
Something I’m trying to rectify is my lack of live concerts I’ve been to lately and so Tori Amos seemed the best place to start. Playing on the “Wicked” stage at the London Victoria Apollo, Tori as a solo artist is a lady that never falters live.
This is the fifth Tori Amos concert I’ve been to and this was possibly the most intense and enjoyable to date. With just a piano and a keyboard, she straddles her bench and plays both while howling her tunes with all the energy and empathy you could ask for.
Personal highlights included a haunting opening of “Bells For Her”, a very intense “Precious Things” a aching beautiful “Garlands”, the wails of “Hey Jupiter”, the foot stomping “Beauty of Speed” and a most fiery cover of “Personal Jesus”. However not one song went a miss and I was utterly captivated from start to finish.
If you ever want to see a singer/songwriter bare all on stage, take yourself to a solo Tori Amos concert and you will feel every minute of the road with her. Mesmerising.
Apologies for a few days of hushness but that’ll soon be sorted However after being devasted to not get to see Utada earlier this year, I’ve grabbed tickets to see Tori Amos on 18/07/10 in London. We’ll have a nice juicy review afterwards but here’s a reminder of Tori’s live prowess!
Imogen has performed a unique and original interpretation of Tori Amos’ “Cornflake Girl”. Watch the cover here. It’s nice to hear the song completely reworked and almost unrecognisable. You can’t call her a copy cat!
Well the year is out and so we leave 2009 with our top 10 most viewed artists and here they are:
01) Lisa Gerrard: With more posts getting more than 150+ views than any other artist, Lisa Gerrard topped our most viewed list and she looks to stay high in 2010. Her Balibo soundtrack was amazing, and we’re still waiting for her 2009 album “The Black Opal” to arrive to review. Well done Lisa
02) Vienna Teng: Vienna went under the radar for me and is a surprise second. Her fourth album Inland Territory is absolutely stunning and we got our hands on her live DVD from a while back and loved that too. Hears hoping to more in 2010!
03) Brendan Perry: The anticipation for Ark continues and Brendan continues to clock up hits while we wait. Ark looks like hitting early 2010 and rest assured, HPM will be buying it on release day!
04) OverClocked ReMix: Well the biggest game music remixing project chalked up several releases but it was the FF4 project that really exploded over here grabbing the most viewed interview in 2009 with the project managers. 2010 will no doubt see tons of remixes for all and I’ll drink to that *glug*.
05) Akira Yamaoka: Well HPM did a lot of reviewing of Silent Hill soundtracks in 09 and that’s because the reviews always seem popular. Now Akira has left Konami (although Shattered Memories is still composed by him) it remains to be seen when we’ll hear of him next. Not too soon we hope!
06) Imogen Heap: Imogen actually had the most viewed post of 2009 with over 700 views of bizarrely the tracklisting for Ellipse. Sadly not as many read the review so that’s why Immi is down in 7th. 2010 looks like a year of touring so expect Heap to appear in the live vault!
07) Utada: This Is the One was one of pop’s best albums and was the third most read music review of 2009 and top of the non-game music reviews. Utada’s groove is definately on and maybe we’ll hear some more Japanese work in 2010.
08) Tori Amos: Tori strangely didn’t feature highly on the most viewed threads lists but constantly propped up just outside the top 10 and so ended up 8th overall. Abnormally Attracted to Sin and Midwinter Graces were fantastic albums that deserve much love and so 2010 should see Tori enjoy a break for a few months!
09) Hiroki Kikuta: The most read review of 2009 belongs to Hiroki and the Secret of Mana + Review that clocked over 500 hits. Hiroki was kind enough to send over one of his more obscure soundtracks which will be reviewed in 2010. Thank you Kikuta-san!
10) Christopher Tin: Sneaking in by just 2 views over Sarah Slean, Christopher Tin’s Calling All Dawns is simply devine and snatched the final spot on our top 10. Chris is a genuinely nice guy and deserves all the credit the albums recieved.
Tori Amos’ Christmas album “Midwinter Graces” is fantastic and this live performance of “Jeanette, Isabella” is beautifully warm and touching. You can watch it here and then have a warm sherry and a mince pie
Tori Amos latest album Midwinter Graces is a bold step into the Christmas genre, one that is unforgiving and cliched. However, this collection of winter inspired tracks are not quite the norm you’d expect.
Opening with “What Child, Nowell” you are treated to the hark back to early Tori times with pianos, harpsichords and a lot of brass. The use of sleigh bells in the chorus and the lyrics are the only real hints of the festive season. This is because the album deals more with the Winter Solstice and is more concerned with going way back in time to where the original carols came from than celebrating Jesus The result is a warm but complex mirage of different instruments and almost different faiths combining.
“Star of Wonder” has a beautiful arabic feel to it with some excellent string works and making this is an uptempo piano-rock track is inspired and while the verses are funky and quirky its the when it all comes together ala Scarlet’s Walk for the chorus’ it really hits home. “A Silent Night With You” is turn is a warm and fuzzy ballad which Tori does so well and is the first of several original songs. What I like about this track is that is feels very traditional in its songwriting and the waltzing pace of it is quite sweet.
“Candle: Coventry Carol” feels archaic! It’s the brass that does it – and the opening minute really feel quite sinisiter to me, almost like a siren of warning. From there the track completely changes dynamic into a lute led track – almost like a baroque track. It’s quite unlike anything Tori has done before and I’d happily listen to a whole album of this style – almost Loreena McKennitt-esque, especially with Amos using a high register for her voice this track.
“Holly, Ivy and Rose” is beautiful. Marking her vocal debut, daughter Tash appears here with some cute call and responses with her mum. Again, the pianos, strings and percussion really pull the song forward into a new territory of music for Tori to play with and the production throughout is fantastic. “Harps of Gold” is the rocking song of the album and while I find it uplifting and joyous – almost Christian rock (shock-horror), if fans struggled with previous albums efforts 500 Miles, Ireland or Cars and Guitars then you may struggle here.
“Snow Angel” is another original track and is hauntingly delicate. It’s realitively simple in its composition and that makes it no less effective. Tori’s always been able to make stand out beautifully haunting tracks and this is no exception. A personal favourite.
“Jeanette, Isabella” is beautiful in a different type of way. Reminding me of “Jamaica Inn”, its got so much fluidity to it, its like taking a ride down the calmest lake in heaven whilst being given a relaxing massage! The marriage of piano, harpsichord, brass, guitar and soft percussion is sublime.
“Pink and Glitter” really divided me for a while. It’s a massive big bang number, a type of music that I really struggle with. However, this song is really fun to listen to and again has such a fuzzy warm flow to it you can’t help but like it. While its my least favourite of the album, its purely down to the big band and each listen lets me like it more. “Emmanuel” is a slow and delibrate track but one that conveys a lot of emotion and goes with the less-is-more approach.
The next two tracks are simply stunning. “Winters Carol” is taken from Tori’s upcoming musical and is very dramatic and dynamic, switching from rolling pianos to massive bridges and soaring vocals. I particularly love the church bells and the catchy chorus’. It’s five minutes of emotive twists and turns that doesn’t let up until the end – if winter had a rollercoaster, this would be it. “Our New Year” starts off like a ‘usual’ Tori ballad and then ends up giving us some massive climactic codas that leave you feeling actually, like your not listening to a Christmas record at all! The screams of “you’re not here” to dramatic string stabs is not like anything I’ve heard for a while from Amos.
For the bonus edition you have two traditional renditions of “Comfort and Joy” and “Silent Night, Holy Night” (albeit the title in German) with just piano and vocal and they are lovely. There’s also a 30 minute interview on DVD which goes right into what Tori was looking for with this album which is really insightful.
Rarely putting a foot wrong, Tori Amos has put together my favourite Christmas/winter album of all time. Each song is unique and there’s a lot of styles that I’d like to see Tori continue with and expand on. Not really for Christmas music fans celebrating with presents but one for when your on your own with a candle, some cinnamon wine and lights down low so the record can seep in and come to life. Fantastic.
Well November was a bit of a wash out for new posts due to my house move, but that didn’t stop November being the fifth busiest month of all time for hits! It was primarily down to one lady, Lisa Gerrard, who’s new album more than tripled the hits of the second placed artist. We’ll be reviewing all three new releases of Lisa’s this month.
Tori Amos’ much discussed Christmas album “Midwinter Graces” now has 30 second samples available and someone has kindly popped them into one clip. Take a listen here – what do you all think? I’m excited – come on snow!!!
Tori Amos will be releasing a Christmas album! Entitled “Midwinter Graces” it will seemingly delve back to the older spirit of Christmas and being more of a Solstice theme. As its Tori we can expect something a little different from your average Christmas album. The only two Christmas albums I own and play outside of season are from Sarah McLachlan and Emily Richards so Tori’s got her work cut out! The track list is as follows:
01 What Child, Nowell
02 Star Of Wonder
03 A Silent Night With You
04 Candle: Coventry Carol
05 Holy, Ivy & Rose
06 Harps Of Gold
07 Snow Angel
08 Jeanette, Isabella
09 Pink & Glitter
10 Emmanuel
11 Winter’s Carol
12 Our New Year
For the first time in HPM’s history there hasn’t been a clear-cut winner with two artists almost drawing for first place on the most viewed list. Tori Amos however nudged it just from Utada to take top honours for the first time. It was our third most busiest month with visitors yet it was our equal second quietest in posts. This will change in June with an action packed month ahead! Here’s the top 10:
Now on studio album 10, Tori Amos never takes a break. Her fanbase may well be smaller than it was almost 20 years ago but her spirit and passion for what she does has never diminished. This time around Abnormally Attracted to Sin keeps her evolutionary wheel turning in a kind of back catalogue style. Everything feels familiar while maintaining a fresh edge to it.
“Give” is a dark industrial opener with heavy drum loops and discordant piano’s and synth’s. It’s signals a return to some degree to a darker edge of Tori’s music. It’s not a full swing over but there’s definitely moments of it. The production on this track, as well as the album overall is of very high quality.
Single “Welcome To England” is very representative of the new direction and is radio friendly without really having a great hook. It’s like Scarlet’s Walk was made with left over keyboards from the To Venus & Back album and is a real grower. It’s also a strange choice of a single as its not the strongest track either. Strange is a word to describe “Strong Black Vine” which see’s Tori let it all hang out rock style. It’s full of passion and her vocals are at their soaring off key best.
“Flavor” is a real highlight. Very sparse and empty whilst holding a great atmospheric tension, Tori’s light vocals are a complete contrast to what we’ve heard on the opening three rockier tracks. The juxtaposition of it works very well too. Then on the complete opposite “Not Dying Today” is almost Amos gone hill billy! Sounding like a Beekeeper offcast, it has a sunny demeanour about it which although sounds good, will not go down well with established fans – especially sing talking in verses. However if you take it face value, its a fun catchy song.
“Maybe California” was given away for free and its one of the gems of the album. You can place all the gizmo’s on the record but give Tori a piano and some strings and she can reduce a grown man to tears. A classic song. Classic also is “Curtain Call” which is a fantastically melodic yet almost bitter song about getting older and/or losing your job. It perfectly captures the mood of the world today and is a real anthem. Also anthemic is a smooth way is “Fire To Your Plain” which manages to be interesting whilst being middle of the road pop/rock.
Off on a tangent comes the random “Police Me” which is either complete genius or complete mess depending on how you look at it, however I fall on the first option. It’s heavily processed electro-rock which never sits still and flits from various different sounds and is a definite new sound for Tori to get into. Another new sound is the stage-showy styled “That Guy”. Amos was to be writing a musical and one wonders if the project has ended up split up across the album. This song is new territory for Amos again but its again a sound that seems to suit her, especially with the big finale. The third of the off tangent trio is title track “Abnormally Attracted to Sin” which is an electronic based track with a killer bridge early on. Tori’s soaring vocals make this another stand out.
Back down to Earth we come with “500 miles” and “Mary Jane” which are both cute yet drowned by being surrounded by instantly more memorable tracks either side. “Mary Jane” is the only piano/vocal track but is a bit jazzy hands which may translate well live, but it doesn’t work so well on CD. “500 Miles” is saccharine pop/rock which feels a bit out of place on the album but stands better on its own.
“Starling” has the most haunting riff on the album and is quietly confessional. It’s a masterpiece of a track but has a bit of a strange bridge that breaks the flow and atmosphere the rest of the track as built up. It’s not bad by any means, I just have it differently playing in my head – but its an unusual choice to take. Unusual choices are what this album is all about, for better or worse – from the tracklisting to the array of emotions each track goes for.
“Fast Horse” is the big anthem of the album. Sounding like its jumped straight from Scarlet’s Walk but with more grunt, it has an otherworldly quality to it while being completely rocking. A definite highlight and the lyrics are inspired. “Ophelia” is straight to the jugular in a heart wrenching song that is a personal favourite again. Tori can manipulate her voice to sound like she’s going to burst into tears very well and its showcased here. “Lady in Blue” is a show stealing finale which starts off very jazzy and spacious, gently taking its time to envelope you before building up to a big ending. It’s great to have a blast off ending on an album for once. The bonus track on the deluxe edition is a sparse, downbeat “Oscar’s Theme” which is like looking out of the window watching the album sail away while you wave goodbye.
Abnormally Attracted to Sin is a difficult one. I personally have really enjoyed it from the very first listen. It’s great to see Tori Amos back writing songs that have real meat to them after the fantastic, albeit lighter recent albums. However from that there is a clear divide on the album between the dark and lighter sides which is greater than its ever been as the side seperate further. This makes for an inconsistent record that while I found was bursting with ideas individually, each song played together almost tries to take from each other. It’ll be interesting to see where Amos goes from this record. Fans will find something to enjoy here but this could be the first record for a while where new fans will enter the foray.
Interesting, flawed, but still utterly memorising. Give it a few weeks and I’m sure you’ll love it.
However after being devasted to not get to see Utada earlier this year, I’ve grabbed tickets to see Tori Amos on 18/07/10 in London. We’ll have a nice juicy review afterwards but here’s a reminder of 
Tori Amos’ much discussed Christmas album “Midwinter Graces” now has 30 second samples available and someone has kindly popped them into one clip. 
For the first time in HPM’s history there hasn’t been a clear-cut winner with two artists almost drawing for first place on the most viewed list. Tori Amos however nudged it just from Utada to take top honours for the first time. It was our third most busiest month with visitors yet it was our equal second quietest in posts. This will change in June with an action packed month ahead! Here’s the top 10:
