Hannah Peel‘s solo LP Awake But Always Dreaming is built around the concept of memory and in particular its vulnerability and our own inability to control our own thoughts, the record takes form around supremely affecting sound collages, distorted instrumentation, sometimes jarring sometimes beautiful, synth work. It is an all encompassing persistent listen that demands your time and invites you to be wrapped in its charms.
The concept is derived from Peel‘s personal experiences of watching her grandmother’s slow decline, suffering from the debilitating illness of dementia. The subject matter is dealt with most directly on the heart-wrenching yet achingly beautiful Conversations which sees Peel at her most stripped bare recounting the dual impact for both sufferer and carer alike. Such is its devastating rawness that Peel can’t envisage a time when she will be able to perform it live. Elsewhere the entirely instrumental Octavia charts the descent into the darkness of dementia, the analogue synths and clarinets mirroring a jumbled mind incapable of summoning any articulacy.
Notwithstanding, this the album wears its concept lightly and is remarkably subtle in its use of sonic abstractions to suggest the fragmented nature of memory and the capacity for dark thoughts to triumph over light. All the while it is held together by Peel’s often wistful, always beautiful vocals which add a peaceful sense of serenity to often confused chaos suggested by the music.
This is a substantial record that develops with each listen and is easily among the surefire contenders to be one of the albums of the year. A magnificent piece of work.
Ellery James Roberts‘ band WU LYF felt like the real deal with a colossal debut album, an equally impressive live set up and a cultivated mystique which drew many supporters, whether you liked them or not they warranted your attention. So it was not surprising when they self-combusted in the centre of their own hype machine in November 2012.
Roberts returns alongside his girlfriend and co-vocalist Ebony Hoorn on LUH (Lost Under Heaven,) and it’s remarkable how he’s honed some of WU LYF‘s central ideas , This album has massive hooks, cataclysmic percussive beats and choruses and aligned it with his characteristic roar, The result is stadium size bombastic brilliance. LUH may not be a complete reinvention for Roberts but it is a near revelation
Perhaps the biggest problem former Wu Lyf singer Ellery Roberts is facing is whether his public still care. It’s been over three years since the cult Manchester act split, and entire scenes have come and gone. Certainly, Roberts’ music is still up to scratch – his and LUH collaborator Ebony Hoorn’s last track ‘Lost Under Heaven’ was a total thriller, and gloriously intense.
we posted about their massive track “Unite ” Whatever happens, happens. Embracing LUH challenges you to stop trying to identify with problems or solutions, all is.
There’s always music to give us hope. And in 2016, it came in the unlikely shape of a concept album about Skelmersdale of all places, if you were going to jump to trite and simplistic conclusions, then a record about a the birth of a “new town” from the late 1960’s, and in particular, one about Skelmersdale itself, wouldn’t necessarily fill you with unbridled joy. But this album by The Magnetic North does and continues to do so in spades the more you listen to it.
The Magnetic North–Erland Cooper (Erland & the Carnival), guitar wizard Simon Tong (ex of The Verve) and Hannah Peel (composer and arranger) – steered clear from all the clichés about Skem and in writing about the town where Tong moved to at a young age and grew up in, have produced a record that deals with dreams, hope and visions of a better world.
By assiduously researching not only Tong’s childhood but also going to Skem and speaking with people who where there at the birth of the new town, immersing themselves in the place, The Magnetic North came up with a suite of songs that will live in your memory for a very long time.
There’s a constant thread throughout the album that things should be better and can be better and will be better. Its memories of half-remembered past, of Tong’s childhood and of a world that seems half-lost in mist, but is still out there, somewhere.
It’s difficult to isolate just one or two tracks for deserve special mention as the whole thing hangs together so well, but Sandy Lane, Signs and especially Little Jerusalem, where Peel’s crystal clear and diamond sharp voice, evokes both a weariness of the present and hope for the future and melts the iciest of hearts.
Prospect of Skelmersdale is a follow-up to what was intended to be a one-off album about Elrand Cooper’s birthplace (Orkney: Symphony of The Magnetic North) and with the tantalising prospect of a new Magnetic North album dealing with Hannah Peel’s childhood in the works,
Less than three years have passed since Warpaint’s self-titled second LP, but a clutch of side projects from each of its members separate it from their new record: Jenny Lee Lindberg released a solo album as JennyLee. EmilyKokal worked with Saul Williams and Paul Bergmann ; Stella Mozgawa featured on a Kurt Vile EP and TheresaWayman worked on a project called Boss. Now, the foursome return with Heads Up, which was led by a new song called, yes, “New Song.”
Warpaints music makes the most sense in the dark. And while Heads Up might be the quartet’s glossiest, catchiest work to date, it still seems to be guided by heavy mood lighting. Each of its 11 songs shares a romantic and lonely atmosphere, like the dance floor of a club after everyone has cleared out. The ghosts that linger throughout the album carry a similar sense of eerie vacancy. The hooks — “You sure look good” in “Dre,” or “You know what you’re doing” in “By Your Side” — are the kinds of things you overhear as you walk home on a Saturday night. And the music -– all stuttering drums and humming bass, with Emily Kokal’s vocals dreamily floating in the mix -– follows you like footsteps, revealing its power as the night blurs on. This track, taken from Warpaint’s 2016 album, Heads Up, Soulwax got their disco-fevered paws on the original and bongo-ed the shit out of it. The result is like a tropical island getaway for the ears. Into it.
One Of our favourite bands of the year was Brisbane teen-trio, The Goon Sax. The band continued in a fine lineage of Australian indie-pop heroes, from The Lucksmiths to Architecture In Helsinki, and not least The Go-Betweens, who’s member Robert Forster is the father of The Goon Sax’s Louis.
The music on Up To Anything, the band’s debut release is a sublime study on teenage living outside of the cool crowd; it revels in the mundane yet soul-crushing details of growing up, from getting dodgy haircuts off your mum, coming to terms with your sexual preferences and triumphantly tucking into ice cream on your own. Musically, their sound is lo-fi and delightfully unfussy; Boyfriend with its huge chorus and meandering guitars interludes cut through with pulsing rushes of bass and drums, the chugging electric guitars and melodic bass of Sweaty Hands, and the mass sing-along finale of the triumphantly un-triumphant Ice Cream, that is enough to bring a smile to even the most cynical of folk. Best of all is their first single, Sometimes Accidentally, blending a tumbling guitar line with low rumbling bass and perfectly primal drums, it seems to teeter on the edge of falling apart but cling on for its life, lyrically too it seems to be about everything and nothing all at once, even its grand statement seems delightfully unsure of itself, “I don’t care about much, but one of the things I care about is you.” The Goon Sax tap into all the insecurities and doubts of youth and they do so with such exquisite attention to detail, that as a listener you feel you are living those formative days all over again with them.
‘Kings of the Wold Frontier” – Super Deluxe Edition‘ is the most comprehensive edition of this 1980s classic to date, complete with freshly remastered audio and a wealth of unreleased and exclusive content. B sides, previously unreleased studio demos and rough cuts, a previously unreleased live recording and rarities all curated by Adam himself.
There’s also a DVD of promo videos, live performances, the first DVD release of Adam & The Ants Live In Tokyo 1981 in its entirety and a short promotional video ‘Ant Invasion’ a mini documentary of the first Adam & The Ants US tour in 1981.
Perfectly complementing the music is a 36 page 12 x 12” full colour book including detailed liner notes and track annotations by Adam Ant, gold vinyl LP, gold CDs, replica original release Ant Catalogue, fan memorabilia, recreated artwork, poster, photos and much more, all packaged in a super deluxe gold box.
The Kinks, ‘The Mono Collection’
In the Sixties, the Kinks developed from the raw singles band of “You Really Got Me” and “All Day and of theNight” into the brilliant album artists that crafted classics like Something Else and The Kinks Are the VillageGreen Preservation Society. This amazing vinyl set collects all eight of the albums they released during the decade, plus the previously out of print in the U.S. mono mix of Live at Kelvin Hall. It also includes the bonus double LP compilation The Kinks’(a.k.a. The Black Album) and a hardcover 48-page book that has interviews with Ray Davies, Dave Davies and Mick Avory. There’s also a 10-CD version.
Last August, Paul McCartney announced his return to The Beatles‘ longtime home of Capitol Records, bringing all of his solo works beginning with the 1970’s McCartney into the fold of the Universal Music Group-owned label. Today, the long-awaited multi-format Archive Collection release of 1989’s “Flowers in the Dirt” has been announced for March 24th, 2017 .
Highlighted by four collaborations with Declan MacManus, a.k.a. Elvis Costello, Flowers in the Dirt featured productions by not only McCartney and MacManus, but also Mitchell Froom, Trevor Horn, David Foster, and Steve Lipson. Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour dropped in to lend guitar on “We Got Married,” and the legendary George Martin returned to write the string chart for “Put It There.” A Gold record in the U.S. and Platinum in the U.K., Flowers went to No. 1 in the U.K. and earned a Grammy nomination. A 1990 Japanese Tour Edition entitled Special Package added a disc of nine bonus tracks from throughout Macca’s solo career; a number of those tracks specific to Flowers, as well as other single versions, B-sides, and remixes, are present on the new set in download form only.
The upcoming reissue will, as per all titles in the long-running Archive Collection, be available in a variety of formats. All boast a remastered version of the original 13-track album (including the CD and cassette bonus track “Où est le Soleil?”) as the centerpiece, while the 3-CD/1-DVD Deluxe Edition Box Set and 2-CD Special Edition offer varying amounts of previously unreleased bonus tracks including the original demos performed by Macca and Elvis.
It’s a really special package featuring very cool and intimate demos made by Paul and Elvis Costello, who co-wrote a third of the album. We can’t wait to share those recordings with you, but until then, here’s Paul talking about what’s coming your way…
“The demos are red hot off the skillet and that’s why we wanted to include them on this boxed set. What’s great about these songs is that they’ve just been written. So there’s nothing more hot off the skillet as I say. So that was the kind of great instant thing about them. I hadn’t listened to them in ages but when I did I knew we had to put them out. We made a little tape of them and sent them to Elvis, who loved them too. We said we should put out an EP or something and now the moment’s finally arrived.”
Sessions for Flowers In The Dirt began in 1987 and the majority of the album was recorded at Paul’s Hog Hill Mill studio in East Sussex. During the sessions Elvis Costello convinced Paul to dig out his iconic Höfner bass for the first time in years – a suggestion McCartney recalls as, “unusual because I had sort of parked it. I had thought I had outgrown it. I started playing it again and never really looked back. It’s great that Elvis encouraged me to take it out.” In preparation for his first major world tour in years Paul was looking to capture songs he could take on the road with him. Paul told his band that he wouldn’t go out on tour unless he really liked the album. Looking back Paul recalls, “You’re always thinking, ‘Let’s get some new songs and take them on tour’ and you hope your new songs are going to work. Something like ‘My Brave Face’ would be a song that nobody knew at the start at the beginning of the tour and then everybody knew it at the end and it was the high spot of the whole tour.”
The original 13-track album was remastered for all the new configurations at Abbey Road Studios. The Deluxe Edition contains 18 bonus audio tracks across two discs, featuring previously unreleased demos, written and performed by Paul with Elvis Costello. Speaking about these tracks Paul said: “The demos are red hot off the skillet and that’s why we wanted to include them on this boxed set. What’s great about these songs is that they’ve just been written. So there’s nothing more hot off the skillet as I say. So that was the kind of great instant thing about them. I hadn’t listened to them in ages but when I did I knew we had to put them out. We made a little tape of them and sent them to Elvis, who loved them too. We said we should put out an EP or something and now the moment’s finally arrived.”
3-CD/1-DVD Deluxe Edition Box Set:
Remastered original album on CD 1;
Nine Paul and Elvis “Original Demos” on CD 2;
Nine “1988 Demos” on CD 3;
DVD featuring 10 music videos; three short films – Creating Flowers in the Dirt; and the original 1989 Put It There documentary as released on VHS;
Digital download of three “Cassette Demos” and 13 associated B-sides, single versions, and remixes;
Creating Flowers in the Dirt” and “Put It There” documentary;
112-page hardcover book;
32-page notebook of Paul’s original handwritten lyrics and notes;
Catalogue of Linda McCartney’s 1989 Flowers in the Dirt photo exhibition; and
64-page photobook of the music video shoot for “The One.”
2-CD Special Edition:
Remastered original album on CD 1; and
Nine Paul and Elvis “Original Demos” on CD 2.
2-LP Vinyl Edition:
12-track original vinyl album plus download of “Où est le Soleil?”;
Download card; and
Nine Paul and Elvis “Original Demos” on LP 2.
ex-Woods bassist Kevin Morby released a really great record this year, and the fact that it went largely undetected is a travesty to ears across the world. There’s still a month of ’16 left— time to buy Singing Saw.
Kevin Morby suddenly seemed comfortable stepping out into the limelight. Whilst unquestionably a record that dabbles with the traditional Americana sound, Singing Saw is also quietly ambitious; whether incorporating Balkan-tinged horns, gospel backing vocals or a healthy dose of fuzzed up electric guitars, Kevin’s songwriting always sounds fresh and exciting.
There are plenty of highlights, none more so than I Have Been To The Mountain, with its gorgeous backing vocals, triumphant trilling trumpets and joyously fuzzy guitar solo, even the way it fades out on a wash of strings is just so perfectly judged. It’s often only on repeat listens that the complexities and details of a record sing out, and Singing Saw is a record that just demands repeat listens. The charms are never far off, they are there in the way the organ reverberates on the title track, in the twinkling piano breakdown and roaring return in Dorothy and in the gentle swaying rhythms and meandering saxophones of Destroyer. This remarkable record not only shows how good Kevin Morby is.
The Orange Glow, the latest album from Elizabeth Le Fey, or Globelamp to use her stage name, is a fascinating piece of work. It is an uncompromising and often brutal musing on an abusive relationship, the imbalance that still exists in the way the world perceives the two genders, and the difficulty in both having your story heard, and having it believed.
The Orange Glow seemed an album that existed outside of musical trends, influenced as much by the psych-folk explorations of Pentangle or Vashti Bunyan as it was by any of her contemporaries. Musically, it is a record that slowly unveils itself to the listener, the production never short of stunning, cleverly layering fascinating vocal melodies atop the often skeletal backings of an easily strummed guitar, twinkling piano and percussion that drifted in and out of earshot. An emotive, powerful and sometimes harrowing album, The Orange Glow suggests Globelamp is both a survivor and a musician with a huge future ahead of her.
