Super groups are a strange idea at the best of times. Often disparate giants of the music industry, each accomplished in their own rights, come together to create something new. Sometimes the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, but more often than not despite being able to see what they were going for you end up wishing that everyone had just stayed at their day job. Having said that, I can understand how it happens. People hear somebody or something that inspires them, and they end up working together.
The baffling thing about Seeker Lover Keeper, a super group of Australian female singer songwriters, is that the three individuals involved (Sarah Blasko, Holly Throsby, and Sally Seltmann) all sound so fundamentally similar that for most of the album it's difficult to tell which of them is singing. Fortunately though there's still somehow some magic at play. Perhaps because they all do essentially the same thing they each wanted to really prove to the others that they could do it well.
Seeker Lover Keeper (which sounds just close enough to 'seek her love her keep her' that it's unlikely to be by accident) is not going to surprise any fans of the three talented artists involved. It's a sweet gentle folksy pop record, with some lovely harmonies. Blasko's otherworldliness, Throsby's sweetness, and Seltmann's yearning (which as previously mentioned do all sound extremely similar) create some truly wonderful songs.
Perhaps the oddest thing about this supergroup is that despite the collaboration each song is only written by one member of the trio. They sing each other's songs, and their own, but they didn't write any of the songs together. Some of these songs may not even have been written for the project and may have just been sitting on the respective shelves, waiting for the right opportunity.
I think this is a really good album, it's funny, it's smart, and it's sweet, but in my mind it's no different to just having a new Sarah Blasko album in my collection (or for that matter a new album by either of the other two ladies).
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Friday, August 19, 2011
Gotye - Making Mirrors
Judging by its recent appearance at number 11 on Triple J's chart of the one hundred greatest Australian albums of all time I'm not the only one with an enduring love for Gotye's 2006 album Like Drawing Blood. It's taken five years for Gotye (Belgian born, Melbourne based Wally De Backer) to release this follow up and it feels like a long time between drinks.
The album opens with the title track, a brief atmospheric musing on revelation and reflection that quickly gives way to Easy Way Out, a stomping, buzzy, up tempo number that conceals a world weary cynicism. Next up is the big single. Somebody That I Used to Know has been absolutely massive for Gotye, and has actually been classified Platinum by ARIA which is a rarity in this day and age. The song itself is a fiendishly clever two sided look back on the end of a relationship featuring a magnificent guest vocal from emerging artist Kimbra. After the big single is another familiar musical face, Eyes Wide Open was released as an EP last year, and got a lot of well deserved airplay, coming in at 25 in last year's Hottest 100. It's a song that sounds as wide open as the title implies with a chiming pedal steel guitar and echoing vocal. After the pair of songs that radio listeners will be familiar with there is another track from the Eyes Wide Open EP. Smoke and Mirrors, which is a dark haunting song that's lyrically vicious, although the intended target (possibly Wally himself) is not made clear.
After some dark music and dark thoughts I Feel Better is like the sun coming out from the clouds. Musically it's reminiscent of Motown era Marvin Gaye, with bright brassy stabs and a smoky soulful vocal. The good mood continues with In Your Light, a jangly, hand clapping pop song about the positive influence of love. The album then takes a very strange left turn into State of the Art, which is essentially a five minute long infomercial for a home organ, featuring a vocal so treated it's barely human.
After the commercial break we're treated to Don't Worry, We'll Be Watching You. A musically dark and lyrically sinister sinuous track that is as menacing as the title suggests. Giving Me a Chance is a heartbreaking song of hope for undeserved redemption. Save Me returns to the themes of In Your Light, with a wordless choral backing vocal that fills the sound all the way to the edges. The album closes with Bronte, a touching eulogy to the family dog.
I've liked both of Gotye's previous albums a lot. His cut and paste sample rich song writing method has always been rich and textured. What I wasn't prepared for was just how much he's grown. The song writing on this album is streets ahead of his previous two albums. Every genre he tries his hand at seems to bend willingly, and nothing seems out of place. Even things that on paper sound like bizarre ideas (most notably State of the Art) are so artfully carried out that you can't help but admire them.
Wally's also becoming more at ease with his voice. Where on previous albums the vocal has been treated, layered, and multi tracked, here it is more frequently left flying loud and proud at the centre of the mix. A smooth, slightly smoky, soulful voice that is better than he thinks it is.
The choice of instruments, and the sheer amount of time that must have been spent getting the sounds exactly right does a lot to explain the five years between albums (although with drumming duties in Melbourne's '60s revivalists The Basics it's not like Wally has been entirely absent from the music scene during that time). Everything from samples of old records, to recordings of a musical fence (no, really) has gone into the mix to create the intricate tracks on offer.
There is an episode of Doctor Who in which the Doctor visits Vincent Can Gogh. Towards the end of the episode they are laying on the grass looking up into the sky on a starry night, and Vincent explains how he sees the world. The camera then slowly converts the night sky to look like one of Van Gogh's paintings. The implication being that Van Gogh was painting the world he saw. I wish there was a way I could hear the world the way that Wally De Backer hears the world. He finds music in everything, and what's more he's able to pull it out and put it on tape for everyone else to hear it too.
This album is a work of such extreme mastery I expect I'll still be spotting things (both musically and lyrically) for years to come. I would be highly surprised if I heard a better album this year, I would be even more surprised if Making Mirrors failed to win the J Award for Australian album of the year (look out for Somebody That I Used To Know to win best video, and perhaps take out the top spot in the Hottest 100 too).
This is why I listen to music. This is genius. This is love.
The album opens with the title track, a brief atmospheric musing on revelation and reflection that quickly gives way to Easy Way Out, a stomping, buzzy, up tempo number that conceals a world weary cynicism. Next up is the big single. Somebody That I Used to Know has been absolutely massive for Gotye, and has actually been classified Platinum by ARIA which is a rarity in this day and age. The song itself is a fiendishly clever two sided look back on the end of a relationship featuring a magnificent guest vocal from emerging artist Kimbra. After the big single is another familiar musical face, Eyes Wide Open was released as an EP last year, and got a lot of well deserved airplay, coming in at 25 in last year's Hottest 100. It's a song that sounds as wide open as the title implies with a chiming pedal steel guitar and echoing vocal. After the pair of songs that radio listeners will be familiar with there is another track from the Eyes Wide Open EP. Smoke and Mirrors, which is a dark haunting song that's lyrically vicious, although the intended target (possibly Wally himself) is not made clear.
After some dark music and dark thoughts I Feel Better is like the sun coming out from the clouds. Musically it's reminiscent of Motown era Marvin Gaye, with bright brassy stabs and a smoky soulful vocal. The good mood continues with In Your Light, a jangly, hand clapping pop song about the positive influence of love. The album then takes a very strange left turn into State of the Art, which is essentially a five minute long infomercial for a home organ, featuring a vocal so treated it's barely human.
After the commercial break we're treated to Don't Worry, We'll Be Watching You. A musically dark and lyrically sinister sinuous track that is as menacing as the title suggests. Giving Me a Chance is a heartbreaking song of hope for undeserved redemption. Save Me returns to the themes of In Your Light, with a wordless choral backing vocal that fills the sound all the way to the edges. The album closes with Bronte, a touching eulogy to the family dog.
I've liked both of Gotye's previous albums a lot. His cut and paste sample rich song writing method has always been rich and textured. What I wasn't prepared for was just how much he's grown. The song writing on this album is streets ahead of his previous two albums. Every genre he tries his hand at seems to bend willingly, and nothing seems out of place. Even things that on paper sound like bizarre ideas (most notably State of the Art) are so artfully carried out that you can't help but admire them.
Wally's also becoming more at ease with his voice. Where on previous albums the vocal has been treated, layered, and multi tracked, here it is more frequently left flying loud and proud at the centre of the mix. A smooth, slightly smoky, soulful voice that is better than he thinks it is.
The choice of instruments, and the sheer amount of time that must have been spent getting the sounds exactly right does a lot to explain the five years between albums (although with drumming duties in Melbourne's '60s revivalists The Basics it's not like Wally has been entirely absent from the music scene during that time). Everything from samples of old records, to recordings of a musical fence (no, really) has gone into the mix to create the intricate tracks on offer.
There is an episode of Doctor Who in which the Doctor visits Vincent Can Gogh. Towards the end of the episode they are laying on the grass looking up into the sky on a starry night, and Vincent explains how he sees the world. The camera then slowly converts the night sky to look like one of Van Gogh's paintings. The implication being that Van Gogh was painting the world he saw. I wish there was a way I could hear the world the way that Wally De Backer hears the world. He finds music in everything, and what's more he's able to pull it out and put it on tape for everyone else to hear it too.
This album is a work of such extreme mastery I expect I'll still be spotting things (both musically and lyrically) for years to come. I would be highly surprised if I heard a better album this year, I would be even more surprised if Making Mirrors failed to win the J Award for Australian album of the year (look out for Somebody That I Used To Know to win best video, and perhaps take out the top spot in the Hottest 100 too).
This is why I listen to music. This is genius. This is love.
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Death Cab For Cutie - Codes And Keys
For a band named after a Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band song Death Cab For Cutie have been around for a surprising fourteen years. Codes And Keys is their seventh full length studio album, and their third since signing to Atlantic in 2004.
I never liked Death Cab when it was cool. I wasn't plugged in enough to the underground/independent music scene to be aware of them. Hence when they broke I reacted to not knowing about them for their first few albums by assuming they were no good (surely if they were good I would know about them, right?).
It took me a little while to properly rectify this, and as a result I'm not the fan I could be. I like what they do, but I'm far from fanatical about it. Which is probably a good place to be when reviewing an album. Too often I try to review an album by a band that I love and I find myself apologising for the things that didn't quite work for me.
Codes And Keys is a dense album. Not in that lyrical way that it's full of references and symbols. It's musically dense. The songs seem to slowly build and to wrap themselves in layers, like peeling an onion in reverse. The result is occasionally dark, but always interesting. Every song takes a musical journey.
The result of this musical density is that you manage to hear a slightly different album every time. Each listen something else will jump out at you, a guitar line here, a piano riff there. It's an album that rewards repetition, but never feels repetitive.
Of course maybe I just want to like it to make up for all that lost time when they were good and I wasn't paying attention.
I never liked Death Cab when it was cool. I wasn't plugged in enough to the underground/independent music scene to be aware of them. Hence when they broke I reacted to not knowing about them for their first few albums by assuming they were no good (surely if they were good I would know about them, right?).
It took me a little while to properly rectify this, and as a result I'm not the fan I could be. I like what they do, but I'm far from fanatical about it. Which is probably a good place to be when reviewing an album. Too often I try to review an album by a band that I love and I find myself apologising for the things that didn't quite work for me.
Codes And Keys is a dense album. Not in that lyrical way that it's full of references and symbols. It's musically dense. The songs seem to slowly build and to wrap themselves in layers, like peeling an onion in reverse. The result is occasionally dark, but always interesting. Every song takes a musical journey.
The result of this musical density is that you manage to hear a slightly different album every time. Each listen something else will jump out at you, a guitar line here, a piano riff there. It's an album that rewards repetition, but never feels repetitive.
Of course maybe I just want to like it to make up for all that lost time when they were good and I wasn't paying attention.
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Kaiser Chiefs - The Future Is Medieval
Since Radiohead released their In Rainbows album with little preamble, and a 'pay what you like' model in 2007 everyone has been trying to leverage the technology of the modern age to create a unique (and perhaps more importantly pressworthy) experience for the listener. Well, I say listener, but these moves are aimed more at the purchaser. If you just want to listen there are many many ways to find and own music without having to fork out a cent.
Kaiser Chiefs have entered the fray with a move that is actually quite interesting. Rather than taking the finished product and trying to find a new way to deliver it they've gone a couple of steps further back in the creative chain, so that you have a hand in creating the finished product, and assumedly a greater connection to your final purchase.
Don't worry, you're not going to have to lay down a guitar solo or overdub some back up vocals. The songs are all done. What they haven't done is cut down the selection to the final tracklist or sequence the album. They also haven't decided on the artwork, although they do have some concepts and a general theme to work with.
So when you go to their 'create my album' website you are faced with 20 tracks, which you can hear snippets of. You can choose 10 of these tracks, in whichever sequence you like (through a very charming interface). At which point you are whisked away to create your album art work. There is a selection of nine different objects that can be dragged (in whatever quantity you like) to your album cover, and then resized and rotated to your taste. You can even select the background colour.
Once this is all complete and you have done your work as a producer to finish the album you then get to pay £7.50 to download it. Possibly the smartest part of this, is that other people can then buy your version of the album for the same price, but you get £1.00 for each copy sold.
Unfortunately I managed to avoid this whole process (despite being peripherally aware of it) and purchase the CD with the official tracklisting and artwork approved by the band. This is especially unfortunate because judging by the snippets a couple of the songs from the website that didn't make the album sounded pretty good.
Now I know I've gone on for quite a while about the interesting release of this album, and there is a reason that I haven't really said anything about the music. Sadly this album is almost completely forgettable. The lyrics seem forced, the music overblown and longwinded. Now I'll freely admit I've never been a banner waving, card carrying Kaiser Chiefs fan but I've enjoyed quite a few of their songs over the years. I even saw them in concert this week and it was an excellent gig. It's just that this album lacks any of that flavour and spark.
Perhaps the most mystifying thing of all is that the CD has two 'bonus tracks' that were not available on the website. The stomping 'Kinda Girl You Are' and the Metronomy-esque instrumental 'Howlaround'. These two tracks seemingly shoehorned onto the album as an afterthought are the best things on it. Clearly Kaiser Chiefs still have greatness in them, I just hope they find a way to get more of it onto their next record.
Kaiser Chiefs have entered the fray with a move that is actually quite interesting. Rather than taking the finished product and trying to find a new way to deliver it they've gone a couple of steps further back in the creative chain, so that you have a hand in creating the finished product, and assumedly a greater connection to your final purchase.
Don't worry, you're not going to have to lay down a guitar solo or overdub some back up vocals. The songs are all done. What they haven't done is cut down the selection to the final tracklist or sequence the album. They also haven't decided on the artwork, although they do have some concepts and a general theme to work with.
So when you go to their 'create my album' website you are faced with 20 tracks, which you can hear snippets of. You can choose 10 of these tracks, in whichever sequence you like (through a very charming interface). At which point you are whisked away to create your album art work. There is a selection of nine different objects that can be dragged (in whatever quantity you like) to your album cover, and then resized and rotated to your taste. You can even select the background colour.
Once this is all complete and you have done your work as a producer to finish the album you then get to pay £7.50 to download it. Possibly the smartest part of this, is that other people can then buy your version of the album for the same price, but you get £1.00 for each copy sold.
Unfortunately I managed to avoid this whole process (despite being peripherally aware of it) and purchase the CD with the official tracklisting and artwork approved by the band. This is especially unfortunate because judging by the snippets a couple of the songs from the website that didn't make the album sounded pretty good.
Now I know I've gone on for quite a while about the interesting release of this album, and there is a reason that I haven't really said anything about the music. Sadly this album is almost completely forgettable. The lyrics seem forced, the music overblown and longwinded. Now I'll freely admit I've never been a banner waving, card carrying Kaiser Chiefs fan but I've enjoyed quite a few of their songs over the years. I even saw them in concert this week and it was an excellent gig. It's just that this album lacks any of that flavour and spark.
Perhaps the most mystifying thing of all is that the CD has two 'bonus tracks' that were not available on the website. The stomping 'Kinda Girl You Are' and the Metronomy-esque instrumental 'Howlaround'. These two tracks seemingly shoehorned onto the album as an afterthought are the best things on it. Clearly Kaiser Chiefs still have greatness in them, I just hope they find a way to get more of it onto their next record.
Monday, August 1, 2011
The Horrors - Skying
The Horrors were one of the great surprises of 2009. Their sophomore album Primary Colours was a massive leap forward from their debut. A display of maturity in song writing, and the magic touch of Portishead's Geoff Barrow in the studio. I sang its praises to anyone who would listen, and named it in my top five albums of the year. It's a lot to live up to. and for what it's worth they almost get there. No matter how you slice it though, this album isn't as good as Primary Colours.
The thing is I can't really tell you where it falls down. The music is still a guitar driven heavy pop reminiscent of the English scene of the '80s. The songs are still long (by pop standards) and unafraid to spend a few minutes fully exploring a sonic idea. The production (this time by The Horror's themselves, at Barrow's suggestion) is still thick and textured and deep enough to sink into. Perhaps it's just because I know they can do it now, that lack of surprise keeping them from absolute mastery.
Having said all that the album is definitely growing on me. The more I listen to it, the more I like it. I keep finding little sonic surprises buried in the production (for example the jangling repetitive guitar riff in the verses of Dive In reminds me of Garbage's Fix Me Now). Maybe when I've spent as much time with this album as I have with Primary Colours I'll find it harder to pick a favourite.
The other thing I really need to add is that this is a headphone album. Some albums put everything they have over the speaker, some albums save a little something special for the car, but there are a whole bunch of albums that really only relinquish their finest moments when you use headphones. I'm not talking about those little white buds you got with your iPod either. Proper, full ear covering, headphones (Sennheiser if you can get them). I'd listened to this album over speakers, and through the dreaded white buds on my way to work, but it was only when I sat down to write this blog and put the headphones on that I really heard it.
The thing is I can't really tell you where it falls down. The music is still a guitar driven heavy pop reminiscent of the English scene of the '80s. The songs are still long (by pop standards) and unafraid to spend a few minutes fully exploring a sonic idea. The production (this time by The Horror's themselves, at Barrow's suggestion) is still thick and textured and deep enough to sink into. Perhaps it's just because I know they can do it now, that lack of surprise keeping them from absolute mastery.
Having said all that the album is definitely growing on me. The more I listen to it, the more I like it. I keep finding little sonic surprises buried in the production (for example the jangling repetitive guitar riff in the verses of Dive In reminds me of Garbage's Fix Me Now). Maybe when I've spent as much time with this album as I have with Primary Colours I'll find it harder to pick a favourite.
The other thing I really need to add is that this is a headphone album. Some albums put everything they have over the speaker, some albums save a little something special for the car, but there are a whole bunch of albums that really only relinquish their finest moments when you use headphones. I'm not talking about those little white buds you got with your iPod either. Proper, full ear covering, headphones (Sennheiser if you can get them). I'd listened to this album over speakers, and through the dreaded white buds on my way to work, but it was only when I sat down to write this blog and put the headphones on that I really heard it.
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