Sigur Rós

Ok, I’ve done a few requests before on this but this one is slightly different. It’s not a request but it is for two friends and their baby daughter who was born last night. Congratulations to them both and greetings to the new arrival! I can only imagine what they're feeling at the minute and I doubt it could adequately be put into words no matter how hard they or anyone else tried. Words just wouldn't be enough to sum it all up. With all that in mind, I hope I've made a choice they will like...

SIGUR RÓS - ÁGÆTIS BYRJUN

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I remember when I first heard a track by Sigur Rós years ago via a link on Audiogalaxy (anyone else remember them?) The feature was titled ‘Leave Speechless’ and it did - I’d never heard anything like it before. There are only three occasions where I can remember how I felt on hearing something for the first time and this is one of them.

That was 2002 and they’re somewhat better known these days and people are more likely to have some familiarity with them already so I’ll keep any review short. I’ll also try to avoid mentioning ‘glaciers’, ‘volcanoes’ or ‘angels’ as so many reviewers initially did, so unable were they to express themselves descriptively without resorting to the same stock phrases.

Ágætis Byrjun is possessed of an otherworldly quality and the use of lush orchestration and reverb heavy bowed guitars mean that it sounds hugely expansive while singer Jón þor (Jónsi) Birgisson’s falsetto and other touches such as the strummed acoustic guitar on Starálfur provide a more intimate anchor for the listener so they are not simply lost in the vastness of sound.

SIGUR RÓS - TAKK

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Their fourth album Takk may have been the one that has gained them the most exposure here in the UK with songs from it featuring extensively in non-music media, most notably in the trailers for the BBC’s Planet Earth series which led to the reissue here of Hoppípolla. Takk shares its predecessor’s combinations of expansive and intimate but moreso than any of those albums also sounds happier. While glaciers may have been the metaphor of choice for reviews of their earlier work, Takk is an altogether warmer album. Clear your mind, let the music wash over and loose yourself for a while…

Other than that there's nothing more for me to add on this one other than to once more congratulate Reza and Kara on their new arrival, Azadeh. She's a very lucky girl indeed...

The Horrors / The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster

As requested, a spot of Horrors for this latest offering in which Halloween probably comes that little bit early...

With a promised new album in the works and possibly lurking ominously just around the corner perhaps this is a good a time as any to revisit their Nuggets era garage punk + ghoulish lyrics and evil riffs debut. They created quite a stir in the UK music press when they clawed their way out of whatever crypt or basement they had been lurking in and into the spotlights of the Indie scene. It would have been nice if more than half of the coverage was about the music rather than their hairstyles but hey, that's our music press at times.

As for the album, if this is your sort of thing I imagine it delivers rather pleasingly but is liable to have as many detractors as fans. Things get off to a good start with the slow building cover of Screaming Lord Sutch's 'Jack The Ripper' and once it gets going it sets the tone for much of what will come with the twisted guitar, manic vocals and sheets of Hammond organ befitting a song about a Victorian serial killer. Things go up a notch with 'Count in Fives' which wears its garage influences clearly on it's sleeve (for anyone thinking the title sounds familiar, The Count Five released the appropriately titled 'Psychotic Reaction' on you guessed it, the Nuggets compilation) and reach a peak for me with 'Gloves' and 'Sheena is a Parasite'.

Attempts to stretch beyond the high speed and feral delivery tracks have mixed results. The spoken word passages over 'Excellent Choice' which make it reminiscent of a twisted take on 'Parklife' and the slow build intensity of 'A Train Roars' are great but 'Gil Sleeping', which clocks in only a little shy of 5 minutes, doesn't manage to do anything particularly interesting with any of them and may well have you reaching for the skip button.

All in all it's an album that satisfyingly lived up to much of the hype surrounding the band when they arrived but I'll certainly be interested to see how they handle the followup, namely can they handle the followup? The pressure is on I suspect...

THE HORRORS - STRANGE HOUSE

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While I enjoyed the Horrors album I was less impressed with the way the UK press spent many column inches fawning over them and about how new and fresh they were when I couldn't help but feel I'd heard at least elements of them before in a band called The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster who, though garnering some impressive reviews, had never received anything like as much coverage.

The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster are clearly in a hurry. Horse of the Dog lasts a scant 25 or so minutes and they don’t waste any with preamble as Celebrate Your Mother roaring from the gates - raucous and full of unspeakable libidinous intent. With the accelerator well and truly floored by the end of the first track things rarely if ever slow and like the Devil’s very own turbo-charged Hotrod, the album screams along like a dark arrow across a desert highway belching fire and brimstone into the night sky, threatening to spontaneously combust at any second.

There are echoes of the Cramps in the rockabilly twang of the guitars and lurid B-movie feel but they were never this full-on. The rhythm section remain powerful and propulsive throughout and the guitars sound ready to slash through your speakers. The frenzied solo towards the end of ‘Fishfingers’ sounds like some rapid animal trying to escape from inside the instrument and which the guitarist can barely contain before the plug is pulled. Five more seconds and he may have gone into some sort of meltdown. Guy McKnight’s Jim Morrison-esque baritone seems full of menace every step of the way and his screams and howls sound suitably manic. When he sings, ‘I drink all night, and I sleep all day’ you believe him and his howls of ‘I want to live my life making love!’ sound more a threat than a come-on.

It should be pretty clear from the above if this is going to be your proverbial cup of tea. If you’ve ever purchased an album by Coldplay or think Nickelback are the greatest rock band of all time, this is not the album for you. If, on the other hand, you know how to make a voodoo doll and can regularly be found howling at the moon, you’re probably listening to this already…

THE EIGHTIES MATCHBOX B-LINE DISASTER - HORSE OF THE DOG

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The long-windedly monikered Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster followed up the relentless and twisted assault of their debut by unfurling their black wings on this, their follow-up album. The pace is slower and there’s a much greater light and shade in the songs when compared to Horse of the Dog which though great only really had ‘full throttle’ and ‘furiously loud’ in its arsenal. However, this is not at the expense of any of their intensity and the album rarely lets up on the pervasive atmosphere of menace that suffuses the proceedings. Though it’s a different listen, it’s just as enjoyable (if this sort of demonic psychobilly is your sort of thing that is…)

There’s something about this album that makes me think of fairy tales. Not the kind where everyone live happily ever but the kind where evil lurks in the forests and unwary children are gobbled up by things that go bump in the night - never more so than on ‘Puppy Dog Snails’ and it’s gleeful chorus of “What do we do with a boy like you? We put him in a pot and throw him on the fire!” I can almost see the band sitting around the cauldron brandishing spoons and licking their lips in anticipation.

The whole thing sounds like the soundtrack for a lurid mashup of the Brothers Grimm, the Wizard of Oz and Alice in Wonderland and that's a compliment. 'Migrate Migraine' buzzes like an angry mosquito trapped in a jar while 'Dancing Girls' is a night out where you probably should have stayed at home. The lurching waltz of 'Drunk on the Blood' quite literally bubbles over into some sort of twisted alchemy for the quietest passage of the album before things return with 'Mr Mental' which of all the tracks on the album probably has the most in common with the furious assault of their debut. All in all, it's a great followup and I for one can't wait to hear their next full-length.

THE EIGHTIES MATCHBOX B-LINE DISASTER - ROYAL SOCIETY

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Art Brut

By special request, something altogether cheerier from my collection...

Bang Bang Rock & Roll was something of an unexpected pleasure when it arrived. I'd seen Art Brut briefly playing live at Reading and they seemed an enjoyable enough band but when I listened to the album I found it was full of hooks aplenty and some sharp and witty lyrics to boot. Track after track found its mark and by the end of it all you had one of my favourite albums of the year.

I'm not going to waste time talking about which lines in particular put a smile on my face as firstly there are too many of them and secondly I wouldn't want to spoil your hearing them for the first time. Yes, there are jokes that may wear in time but for now, I'm still enjoying this one.

ART BRUT - BANG BANG ROCK & ROLL

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Album number two has now arrived and while it's perhaps not quite as good as BBR&R it does manage to avoid becoming a woeful sophomore slump (which, more than usual, was a danger for a band like Art Brut - would the joke last?) This time round, the production has been cleaned up a bit but doesn't feel so slick as to have all the edges that made their debut so endearing taken off. The lyrics haven't suddenly become mature and serious throughout and mostly show further evidence of lead singer Eddie Argos's love of good pop music. I suppose I can in my castigation of most modern pop forget that there are some simply great pop songs out there that deserve just as much praise as anything else from the more rock-based end of the spectrum, not least some of the ones Art Brut are writing. While they may not be as amusing as those from their debut, that's chiefly a complement to the former album.

ART BRUT - IT'S A BIT COMPLICATED

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The Pyramids / Archie Bronson Outfit

The name for this Blog was taken from a track from the recent self titled Pyramids album. It’s an album and track in particular that contain a lot of things I like in my music – it’s a sound that drips with gloom and menace but is also crackles with a fire and passion. Something deliciously dark to wrap your ears round.

The Pyramids are Mark Cleveland and Sam Windett, two thirds of the Archie Bronson Outfit who took some time off from their usual band to record something not a million miles away from but focusing on the more jagged and psychedelic end of their spectrum. The songs for the album were written over a weekend and then recorded over a week in a friend’s barn giving it something of a bottled lightning feel.

THE PYRAMIDS - THE PYRAMIDS

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Their music as the Archie Bronson Outfit is also well worth checking out. Their debut album produced by Hotel of the Kills was a great listen and showed a lot of promise that was fully delivered on with the arrival of their next, Derdang Derdang, which cranked up the intensity but also suffused proceedings with an insistent groove. Propulsive, lean, hypnotic and punctuated throughout by Windett’s frenzied yelp it’s a highly recommended listen.

ARCHIE BRONSON OUTFIT - DERDANG DERDANG

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ARCHIE BRONSON OUTFIT - FUR

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All 3 albums feature on Domino Records who have some great bands on their roster that will be featuring in later posts. Do yourself a favour and check em out in the link at the top of the page…

Preludes and Nocturnes

So, here it is. The first post - what should be a veritable declaration of intent outlining all that I plan to do with this Blog in the days and months to come and with the substance of the post somehow encapsulating all those things in just a short entry, right?

Errrr, perhaps but that sounds a little terrifying so I guess you’ll have to make do with this waffle instead. After all, I do want to have some fun with this thing (aha - a stated aim!)

Simply put, I enjoy my music and when I come across something that I like and feel enthusiastic about I also want to share it with other people. New sounds/old sounds, fresh sounds/familiar sounds but ultimately something that people will enjoy and get them as similarly passionate about the bands, artists and their music as I am. After all, isn’t that what most Blogs are about anyway? Sharing your passions with others?

I’d say so, so without further ado why not skip up to music…