Summertime '83

I do feel like most things in pop have already been done.  Not exactly a profound thought, I know.  I heard this Style Council song for the first time today (go ahead, judge me) and I found it to be so 2010's -- more so after watching the quite astonishing video.  Very sexual?  Check.  Wonky R&B played by white people?  Check.  Drake-style dad dancing?  Check.  Retro (!) electronics?  Check.  It's got it all!



A couple of months ago I finished my second Mark Radcliffe book.  I quite like the bloke as a DJ but his writing is... surprising.  Actually what's surprising is that he's had so many books published.  Anyway, the one I read recounts tales from his life in music, and includes an account of his first interview with David Bowie.  At the time Bowie said that his favourite albums of his own were 'Diamond Dogs'and 'Lodger' so of course I checked those out from the library and yeah, not bad.  'Diamond Dogs' has that 70's sound that I'm not really into right now, the glam thing, but 'Lodger' was better than expected.  I was afraid of something sludgy but it's quite bright, which I suppose makes sense since it came out on the cusp of the 80's.



Incidentally, the cover to 'Lodger' wouldn't look out of place today -- it looks like a (good) fashion ad.



The artist formerly known as Throwing Shade is now trading under her own name of Nabihah Iqbal and is about to release a new album on Ninja Tune.  I heard the first single off of it online yesterday and on the radio today, and it's quite nice -- has a very 80's sound to it, and I can relate to it's lyrics about ennui upon waking up in the morning very well!  It's extra interesting to me because, having seen a video of her process, I feel like I can almost hear how the track was made.  That's not to belittle her achievement, or say it was easy -- there's still musical talent involved (and after all, she's studied ethnomusicology at SOAS!).  But check out her FACT video and maybe you'll be able to hear the components of the new single too.

New reviews of old albums (1)

Maybe this will become a series, or may it'll be a one-off, but I've decided to write a short review of a couple of albums I finally got around to listening to in the last couple of weeks.  Back in Arlington, VA, the library system stopped buying music CD's a few years ago, but I've recently discovered the Dallas Public Library is pretty up to date when it comes to music (for instance, they've got the newest Disclosure album).  So I'm hoping to easily catch up on some releases without having to buy or torrent.

First up have been the last two albums released by Gil Scott Heron before he passed away in 2011.  In 2010 he put out "I'm New Here"and 2011 saw the release of "We're New Here", which was billed as a remix of the entire album by Jamie XX.  Both came out on XL recordings.  I'm glad that my lateness has meant that I've been able to hear both records back to back, as that's been an interesting experience.

I got "I'm New Here" a couple of weeks before the Jamie XX remix version.  Overall, it's a good album, and it really does work as an album.  To me it seems like a goodbye album, as if Scott-Heron knew it was going to be one of his final pieces of work and wanted to wrap things up.  He talks about his life and how he was raised, the people involved in him turning into the man he became.  It's a bit like the final Bowie album in that it seems like music from a person who knows things are drawing to a close.  But unlike "Black Star", "I'm New Here" is much more straightforward lyrically, very direct and comprehensible.

While listening to it I did wonder about the production and how much input Scott-Heron did or didn't have in that regard.  It's quite stark, with mostly minimal beats and bass highlighting the lyrics and Scott-Heron's cadence.  I can easily imagine the voice tracks being laid down and then the production happening around them completely separately; I believe production was handled by the head of XL Recordings.  On the one hand it all sounds quite fine, but on the other it's very of it's time and I have a feeling it won't age well -- it's very electronic, very 2010, and it already sounds a bit dated.  That's a shame as it stops the album from feeling very essential, even though lyrically I feel like Scott-Heron has a lot to say. The track I'm putting here is a bit of an anomaly as it's one of the few that isn't so electronic:


Well, that may not sound wholly positive, but I do think it's an album worth checking out.  That's not something I can say about the Jamie XX version. I'm not sure what went wrong with "We're New Here" but I found it very disappointing. The title, and the write-ups at the time, made it sound like some sort of joint effort between Scott-Heron and Jamie XX, but it really is a remix album, and not in a good way.  The remixes are similar to a lot of more modern remixes in that there is barely a hint of the original songs left.  This is basically a Jamie XX album with some Scott-Heron samples, and even then, most of the time, the samples are so far in the background that it could be anyone.  In fact, for some of the tracks, having no Scott-Heron at all would probably have been better.  It's a disservice to him to just have snippets of his voice mumbling away behind everything else.  It really is quite jarring at times -- there really seems to be no connection between the music and the lyrics at all, for instance, in album opener "I'm New Here".  My guess is that it has something to do with the fact that Jamie XX was very early into his solo work when he did this; it almost seems like a practice run, which is OK, except it got released and was even well-reviewed when it came out.


So, to sum up, I do recommend checking out "I'm New Here", at least if you have some interest in the work of Gil Scott-Heron.  It's a good album with mostly good songs, and even if the production is a bit 2010 it's still not bad.  As for the Jamie XX version though, there is really nothing to recommend it, other than the novelty of hearing something so wrong -- I really do feel that strongly about it.

Row your boat

The new David Bowie release got me thinking about streaming this past week.  I was discussing the album, and how certain reviewers make me feel  like just going out and buying albums before I've even heard a single track.  The same thing was happening with the Bowie album:  All the chatter about it, and the positive press, got me considering just going and getting it and listening to it afterwards.  Something good may have come of that decision as I may have given it more attention if I'd went through with a proper purchase -- I was looking forward to going to the record shop, picking it up, listening in the car, and so on.  But instead I decided to listen to whatever tracks were up on youtube and ended up finding the whole album there.  So then I just streamed it, and it was OK, but, for now at least, I lost the urge to buy it.  I think that streaming cheapens music too much in that regard -- with streaming I literally invest nothing in the music, so I can just take it or leave it, not really pay it a whole lot of attention.  I think some very good work probably gets short-changed that way.

As for the Bowie, Petridis says it's proper jazz, not just a band with some horns.  He also thinks the music is quite avante garde.  This is another possible problem with reviews, they can really send your expectations in a certain direction.  Thankfully, in this case I think Petridis overstates the case a bit -- to me this sounds exactly like a good but normal band trying a little too hard to be "different" -- or maybe the spectrum of pop music is so wide now that something like this album ends up sounding quite normal, in a good way.


I may have issues with streaming, but I'd say modern changes to the way I consume music have overall made things better.  I heard this BC Camplight track on 6 music via my phone, and then found it on Soundcloud  for this blog.  Because of that I heard the rather nice track by Amason, who I'd never heard of otherwise.



Speaking of 6 music, the Chemical Brothers were on that over Christmas for a three hour show.  It was good, just a nice show with chatting and music and mixes.  The Chemical Brothers came across as very current, which is kind of remarkable for a 20 year old dance music act.  But even though they talked about things from the past, to me they didn't seem like one of those  nostalgia acts that are around.  They seemed like a relevant act who happen to have been around for a long time.  It was good, made me happy for them.  The show's worth checking out for some of the mixes and remixes, especially the Tom Rowlands remix of Doves' Kingdom of Rust.  Six years in the making apparently!   That mix is the last half hour of the show, or you can hear it by itself here.   The old tracks have held up very well -- I'd love to see these guys live again.  Fun fact: I ended up buying Q tip's solo album after listening to the show; you'll have to listen to the show to find out why though.



Lastly, earlier today my wife and I were discussing the lack of diversity amongst Islamic scholars, the best known of whom are basically all men.  We agreed that there must be well qualified women out there who just aren't being given the opportunities that men are, which is very problematic, for multiple reasons.  I think when someone like my wife identities a problem like this, they have to act.  Which, of course, brings to mind the Streets:

Classixx

Not the previously blogged about musical outfit, but some old but great songs with small blurbs.  OK.

My appreciation of the band Squeeze increases every time I hear a track by them.  I really like the story-telling aspect of this song, and the shambolic quality of it all.  Dance to this with a mug of tea in your hand, that's what I did yesterday, and I felt pretty cool.  Bonus!  Spot young Jools Holland in the video!  He looks great.


Of course I heard this next track on 6 music, source of at least 90% of what I hear now.  It's Lulu and it was apparently produced by Bowie himself.  Love the production on this, especially the sax.
 

There's something about off-kilter pop music that I love.  I heard this next one again recently in a coffee-shop.  Weird contrast between the lyrics and the sound of the song itself.

something 4 the weekend

A bit late on this as Friday's almost over but there's still two days of the weekend to go so I think it's ok.  Hope so anyway.  No big stories, just some good tracks for the weekend, especially as spring is in the air.  Something old, something new, and something in-between.

Old:  'Sound & Vision' by David Bowie.  Embarrassed to admit that I heard this for the first time today -- but it was on the radio, not in an advert!  So that's something.  If I ever make it to the record shop I'll keep an eye out for a used copy of 'Low', the album this song is off of.  Haven't listened to a lot of prime period Bowie, just some of the glam stuff -- I think I need to remedy that.



New:  'Say That' by Toro Y Moi.  Been hearing this quite a lot on 6 Music.  Quite like it and quite like the change in the Toro Y Moi sound.  When I first heard him he sounded a lot more chilled out.



In-between:  First heard this on either 6 Music or Jools and it gave me a nice summer feeling, though I think the song's actually set during the start of autumn.  The video nicely highlights those long days of summer, and the nice yellow light.  Stornoway:

the Wales, part 2 and too much new tunes!

Phoof, I tell you what, it gets overwhelming, it really does.  The amount of good new stuff I hear, it's bloody hard to keep up with, let alone blog about!  I feel like when I was younger I really had a lot more time to listen to music than I do now.  Plus I also think there's way more music now (I won't go on about it, see some of my previous posts on that topic).  Anyway, point being, I could probably blog everyday, there's at least that much I hear and like.  Well, getting to it...

First off, my promised continuation of posts about Welsh artists.  Today I'm going to post about Cian Ciaran, who's in Super Furry Animals but is releasing a solo record called "Outside In".  SFA have been around for a while but I believe this is the first time Cian's releasing things solo.  He did a session on the radio, which is where I heard 'You & Me', a great song that reminds me of John Lennon and David Bowie: 







Right,  now that I've tackled that, onto the shedload of new stuff I've been liking over the last week or so.  I'll give minimal information, when I give any, cos you all know how to use the internet and can find more info yourselves.

Jake Bugg, straight out of Nottingham, and only a teen, which makes me incredibly jealous.  Not sure how good his other stuff is, but this song has really grown on me (actually, just heard 'Lightning Bolt' at his website and liked that too).  Sidenote -- I'm finding that I'm liking songs and artists more when I've only heard them on the radio, and have to imagine who they are, what they look like, etc.  Seeing them has been detracting from the mystery somewhat.  Alright, here's Taste It:



Next up, Bat for Lashes,  not a new artist, must have something new coming out but I don't know anything about that; I just know that I like this song, even though it's not what I'm usually into:



And lastly, outta Canada, it's a band with a really crap name: Purity Ring!  Didn't think too much of their other songs but this track is cool:

Purity Ring - Fineshrine from Young Replicant on Vimeo.