The Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends (2012)

Just a few days before 2012's RSD (21/4/2012), it looks as though The Flaming Lips' next magnum opus might not even make the shops in time.

Online chat hit fever pitch as most RSD releases are limited - Eager fans and ebay scalpers were all scurrying to secure a copy or more.



Not to be outdone by Jack White's blue liquid-filled single, Wayne has actually drawn blood from his collaborators and the band to make just 10 super rare blood-filled copies of the album.  Proceeds from sales (A measely $2,500 each) go to local charities The Oklahoma Humane Society and The Academy of Contemporary Music at the University of Central Oklahoma.

The cover art is parody on John Lennon and Yoko Ono's Unfinished Music, Vol. 1: Two Virgins (1968) album.

Complete tracklist:

1. "2012 (You Must Be Upgraded)" (featuring Ke$ha, Biz Markie and Hour of the Time Majesty 12) – 4:09
2. "Ashes in the Air" (featuring Bon Iver) – 6:13
3. "Helping the Retarded to Find God" (featuring Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros) – 7:03
5. "Supermoon Made Me Want to Pee" (featuring Prefuse 73) – 3:17
6. "Children of the Moon" (featuring Tame Impala) – 5:32
7. "That Ain't My Trip" (featuring Jim James) – 3:47
8. "You, Man? Human???" (featuring Nick Cave) – 3:34
10. "I'm Working at NASA on Acid" (featuring Lightning Bolt) – 7:59
11. "Do It!" (featuring Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band) – 3:28
12. "Is David Bowie Dying?" (featuring Neon Indian) – 6:36
14. "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" (featuring Erykah Badu) (written by Ewan MacColl) – 10:04
15. "Girl, You're So Weird" (featuring New Fumes) – 3:21
16. "I Don't Want You to Die" (featuring Chris Martin) – 4:13*

*"Tasered and Maced" (featuring Aaron Behrens of Ghostland Observatory) – 2:43 replaces the vinyl track 16 for the CD/digital release owing to Chris Martins' contractural obligations to EMI.

Ashes in the Air Lyrics

The Videos

(NSFW x 3 - Nudity Alert)

The below NSFW video Featuring Erykah Badu caused an internet frenzy and had fans divided between the 2 camps:

...and had the band redo the video with an altogether willing Amanda Palmer:

Video Catchup

More Vids

Fast Forward Aug to Dec: 2012 Roundup

Not much to report for this 2nd half of the year - There's only a handful of notable albums to change the face of my mid year report... Frank Ocean, Menomena, Grizzly Bear and Thee Oh Sees.

So, if the world ends tomorrow, it'd end on a sadly unspectacular note.
Not that there weren't any highpoints; just not many that would go down as "classics".

Have been a glut concert-wise, and I'm glad to say most were around the 8/10 mark:
26/03 - elbow (Bombay Bicycle Club supporting)
03/04 - My Morning Jacket (Dawes Supporting)
26/07 - Jack White
27/07 - Father John Misty
15/09 - Jonathan Wilson
10/11 - Fat Freddy's Drop previewing their new album Blackbird  http://play.sydneyoperahouse.com/index.php/media/1705-Fat-Freddys-Drop-Blackbird.html
14/11 - Beck
16/11 - Grizzly Bear
02/12 - Spiritualized
14/12 - Tame Impala
(With a further 5 lined up if said Armageddon gets put on hold).

The below pics were taken by my new, yet unmastered Canon G12

(Purchased expressly for concerts)

Beck

Grizzly Bear

Spiritualized # 1

Spiritualized # 2

Tame Impala

Best 75 of 2012
001 Father John Misty – Fear Fun
002 The Flaming Lips – The Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends (RSD Version)
003 Frank Ocean – channel ORANGE
004 Damien Jurado – Maraqopa
005 Perfume Genius – Put Your Back N 2 It
006 Alt-J – An Awesome Wave
007 Chromatics – Kill for Love
008 Menomena – Moms
009 Beach House – Bloom
010 Dirty Projectors – Swing Lo Magellan
011 Grizzly Bear – Shields
012 Caetano Veloso and David Byrne – Live at Carnegie Hall
013 Thee Oh Sees – Putrifiers II
014 Spiritualized – Sweet Heart Sweet Light
015 Django Django – Django Django
016 The Walkmen – Heaven
017 John Talabot – fIN
018 Tame Impala – Lonerism
019 Lambchop – Mr. M
020 Sweet Sweet Lies – The Hare, The Hound & The Tortoise
021 Trembling Bells & Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy – The Marble Downs
022 Donald Fagen – Sunken Condos
023 Islands – A Sleep and A Forgetting
024 Dr. John – Locked Down
025 Fiona Apple – Idler Wheel
026 Jack White – Blunderbuss
027 Dr. Dog – Be the Void
028 Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti – Mature Themes
029 Bob Dylan – Tempest
030 Godspeed You! Black Emperor – ‘Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend!
031 Fanfarlo – Rooms Filled with Light
032 Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros – Here
033 Andrew Bird – Break It Yourself
034 Jay Farrar, Yim Yames, Will Johnson and Anders Parker – New Multitudes
035 Tindersticks – The Something Rain
036 Giant Giant Sand – Tucson
037 Beachwood Sparks – The Tarnished Gold
038 The 2 Bears – Be Strong
039 Quantic & Alice Russell – Look Around the Corner
040 Twin Shadow – Confess
041 Tanlines – Mixed Emotions
042 David Byrne & St. Vincent – Love This Giant
043 Brendan Benson – What Kind of World
044 Dexys – One Day I’m Going to Soar
045 Wild Nothing – Nocturne
046 Monolake – Ghosts
047 Orbital – Wonky
048 Matthew Dear – Beams
049 Black Moth Super Rainbow – Cobra Juicy
050 The Temper Trap – The Temper Trap
051 Passion Pit – Gossamer
052 Hot Chip – In Our Heads
053 Delta Spirit – Delta Spirit
054 The Shins – Port of Morrow (Severely marked down for appalling song order)
055 VCMG – Ssss
056 Sinead O’Connor – How About I Be Me (And You Be You)
057 Animal Collective – Centipede Hz
058 Richard Hawley – Standing at the Sky’s Edge
059 Woods – Bend Beyond
060 Calexico – Algiers
061 Band of Horses – Mirage Rock
062 Scissor Sisters – Magic Hour
063 M. Ward – A Wasteland Companion
064 Madonna – MDNA
065 Lana Del Rey – Born to Die (Remember her?)
066 Miike Snow – Happy to You
067 The Presets – Pacifica
068 Cat Power – Sun
069 Bat for Lashes – The Haunted Man
070 The Vaccines – The Vaccines Come of Age
071 The Dandy Warhols – This Machine
072 Simian Mobile Disco – Unpatterns
073 Divine Fits – A Thing Called Divine Fits
074 The xx – Coexist
075 Yeasayer – Fragrant World


Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays!

Here's to 2013!

Father John Misty - Oxford Art Factory (27/7/2012)

Let it be known that FJM (J. Tillman) loves to shake his tush.


Fact is, he cavorts and loosens up like a shaman possessed.





When I saw someone in the audience approach J. for an autograph during the night's first support act (Melodie Nelson), I knew it was a case of now or never - Dashed across the road, got myself a marker, headed back, purchased a vinyl copy of Fear Fun (When I already own the CD) and a T-shirt, all in time to catch the second support act, Mosman Alder. 
This is, after all, my favourite album of the year so far.  Count me a fanboy.

When the band opened with Fun Times in Babylon, we knew we were in for a special night. 
Jeff Frattiti (Sp?) dressed in polka dot pullover and spacey spandex, looking like a drag Cobain gone wrong, immediately challenged us visually and it was clear we weren't in Kansas anymore.
He was especially animated during Hollywood Forever Centery Sings and gestured his bass as a shovel to the lyrics' "someone's got to help me dig" .

The set consisted the entire album, only O I Long to Feel Your Arms Around Me was left out. Arrangements deviated little from that on the album; bar the extra howl and extended wig-out jam & feedback frenzy.  The band (Same lineup as that on the KEXP clip below) sounded great live. 
Highlights for me were Only Son of the Ladies' Man, Nancy from Now On and Hollywood Forever Cemetery Sings

It was hilarious when Misty got foggy and forgot the beginning lyrics to Now I'm Learning to Love the War and ad-libbed on the spot.



Thank you, thank you, thank you for a night of blissful, joyous music.

The Story So Far... Mid Year Report

Jan to Jun 2012

How time seems to fly.  While the first half of the year (musically) doesn't seem too fruitful and offerings haven't exactly been earth-shattering; there is, thank heavens, music worth celebrating.

Doesn't seem all that long ago either, that I have made some RSD (Record Store Day April 21, 2012) purchases and have since been hatching two as yet unpublished posts - Reviews of The Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends and Jack White's Blunderbuss...

And here we are, mid point already!

Drum roll please, my 25 favourite albums thus far -


1.  Father John Misty - Fear Fun
2.  The Flaming Lips - The Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends
3.  Damien Jurado - Maraqopa
4.  The Walkmen - Heaven
5.  Alt-J - An Awesome Wave
6.  Beach House - Bloom
7.  Perfume Genius - Put Your Back N 2 It
8. Spiritualized - Sweet Heart Sweet Light
9. Jack White - Blunderbuss
10. Chromatics - Kill for Love
11.  Caetano Veloso and David Byrne - Live at Carnegie Hall
12.  Jay Farrar, Yim Yames, Will Johnson and Anders Parker - New Multitudes
13.  Django Django - Django Django
14.  John Talabot - ƒIN
15.  Dr. John - Locked Down
16.  Dexys - One Day I'm Going to Soar
17.  Lambchop - Mr. M
18.  Giant Giant Sand - Tuscon
19.  Andrew Bird - Break It Yourself
20.  M. Ward - A Wasteland Companion
21.  Brendan Benson - What Kind of World
22.  The 2 Bears - Be Strong
23.  Trembling Bells & Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - The Marble Downs
24.  fun. - Some Nights
25.  Lana Del Rey - Born to Die


There you have it.

There's still a few which have yet to take root:  Fiona Apple's The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do, Fanfarlo's Rooms Filled with Light, The Tallest Man On Earth's There's No Leaving Now, Liars' WIXIW.

The second half of the year shall see new releases by Animal Collective, The Antlers, Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti, Bat for Lashes, Beak>,Bloc Party, Calexico, Matthew Dear, Dirty Projectors, Foals, Grizzly Bear, Mission of Burma, The Raveonettes, St. Vincent and David Byrne, Swans, The xx, Yeasayer

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

Father John Misty - Fear Fun (2012)

Little did I know that this year's Fleet Foxes concert @ Sydney Opera House (02/01/2012) was more momentous than I'd thought - It was to be my first and last Fleet Foxes concert.


Although performances were at times spine-tingling moving; there was something amiss, perhaps in part suggested by their momentum-breaking between songs tunings...


First off the ranks is Joshua Tillman (Better known as J. Tillman). Whilst no stranger to solo albums; this is his first under moniker Father John Misty. Fleet Foxes members Christian Wargo and Casey Wescott formed Poor Moon and are also signed to Sub Pop.  Wonder if Robin Pecknold is going to (or has the right to) continue Fleet Foxes with entirely new members like James Mercer did with The Shins...

Imagery used is steeped in psychedelic voodoo mysticism,
but J. Tillman at times sounds a dead ringer of John Grant.
Indeed, the song "Nancy From Now On" seems a page off Grant's songbook.

Whilst there's the inescapable Fleet Foxes moments; the album is, arguably, wider in scope.
More technicolour than his former band's sepia-tones.
 Jonathan Wilson who co-produces imbues the Laurel Canyon feel.

Thre's even a cod Michael McDonald moment on "Nancy.. ". 
Although filled with melancholy, the album isn't shy of it's tongue-in-cheek dark humour.

Videos are NSFW.
(Domiatrix, Purgatory Pizza, Gun Violence

His concert's on @ The Oxford Art Factory 27/05/2012.

Mostly Hypothetical Mountains Blog.


  8.6 / 10

Dance Dance Dance

Okay okay.  I've been lazy.

In my defence, there's been a whole lot of music released (Including the recent Record Store Day releases) and I've been in pigs heaven.
Rest assured, there are posts being brewed.

In the meantime, please enjoy...

Simian Mobile Disco - Unpatterns

Mining the same mathematically progressive minimal techno spheres, Simian Mobile Disco delivers another mindbending classic in Unpatterns.

Modeselektor - Monkeytown Deluxe Edition (2012)

Re-released as a deluxe edition with bonus disc, Modeselektor continues to promote last year's Monkeytown featuring a certain Radiohead memeber....

Miike Snow - Happy to You

Swedish indie dance trio returned with Happy to You supported by confounding concept video clips...

Later,
MusicGerbil

Madonna - MDNA (2012)

It is often a true sign of a master to make things look so deceptively effortless; after all, Madonna's only had three decades to perfect her craft.  It is perhaps this very reason that some critics, on first glance, has given her 12th album the brush off.


A four year hiatus after 2008's Hard Candy, she appears re-energised with a renewed sense of purpose.  Perhaps it's to reclaim her throne borrowed by Lady Gaga; perhaps it's to lay a solid groundwork for Interscope Records (This being her first away from Warner Brothers since 1982); perhaps it's a freedom cry after her divorce from Guy Ritchie.  It's also her 30th anniversary celebration in the business.


Enlisting world-class dance producers Benny Benassi, Martin Solveig and long time collaborator William Orbit as well as artists M.I.A. and Nicki Minaj, she has kept her sound fresh with a contemporary bite.



MDNA (An obvious play on MDMA aka 3,4-methylenedioxy-N-methylamphetamine aka Ecstasy) has all the elements of a great dance-pop album:  Pumping rubbery bass with thumping beats, edgy and pulsing electro flourishes, robotic jerkpop to ragga-monster raps via M.I.A. and Nicki keeps proceedings fierce on the autobiographical and attitude-laden I Don't Give A (ala Kanye West's Monster); whilst boppy cheerleader girlpop and pseudo-operatic choir provides the balance between the harder club tracks and the radio-friendly ones.  Heck, there's even a cod banjo moment.



A close cousin of La Isla Bonita features a brief sampling of herself sampling ABBA on Masterpiece (Hung Up/Gimme Gimme Gimme).  The requisite slow sad song replete with strings on Falling Free is arguably not the best song to close Disc 1.
The pace picks up again on Disc 2 and it's obvious her strength is in the upbeat numbers.
My recommendation would be to listen to both discs as a whole.

Self-recrimination, confession, surrender, regret, anger, defiance and resolution all make for heady themes on a genre (pop) generally devoid of such depths.

Girl Gone Wild (Uncensored, NSFW):

Give Me All Your Luvin' (Feat. M.I.A. and Nicki Minaj):

Her half time performance on 5/2/2012:

  There's only one queen and that's Madonna.

Live: elbow @ Hordern Pavilion 26/3/2012

I wasn't going to go.

It being Monday night, concert at the Hordern Pavilion (Less intimate, more chances of sound going wrong, 2nd concert for the amazing "build a rocket boys!" (My #2 of 2011), expense, transport, etc., etc.

I was giving myself endless reasons to give this a miss.

As it happened, Lady Luck took a pity and a friend had a spare ticket owing to someone being out of the country.

This concert wasn't too far removed from the one I attended last year - Review here.

Guy Garvey was still perversely interested in Sydney fingers (& nails); he still gestured and pointed at audiences; he was more jovial and playful; there were sing-a-longs; hands waving and they were all clearly having a great time, as were we.

Performances were also top notch:  Guy was in fine voice and the band were sublime with the tender songs and rocked with gusto when called for.  The minor glitch when Guy repeated a chorus instead of launching into the bridge only showed how much he was in the moment; like some beauty spot on an otherwise perfect face..

They have been together some 22 years (Longer than some marriages) and this shows in their comradeship and playing; and the band even used this excuse to have a toast on stage.

It's no secret the boys like a drop.

I'd be the first to sing their praises and decry what an injustice it is that they have not taken the world by storm; but that would mean sharing them with everyone else.

Till then, I remain selfishly silent.

Some promos from their recently re-released deluxe editions of Leaders of the Free World (2005) & Cast of Thousands (2003):

build a brewery boys!

elbow's Beer Money Helps Thousands in East Africa

They're mine! All mine!

Dance Music Update:

While it may not be evident from all I've posted thus far,
I do have a penchant for dance music, albeit much harder to review.

I like dance music with clean synths and a good bassline.



Orbital's Wonky drops 02/04/2012.
Their live show @ The Metro 05/05/2012.

The 2 Bears - Be Strong

VCMG - Ssss

John Talabot - fIN

Also being released this year:  Simian Mobile Disco - Unpatterns (14/5); Hot Chip - In Our Heads; New Build (Members of Hot Chip and LCD Soundsystem) - Yesterday Was Lived and Lost; Daft Punk's rumoured album with songwriter Paul Williams and Nile Rodgers (Chic) remains delayed; The Chemical Brothers' live Japanese concert movie Don't Think; no news of a new Richie Hawtin / Plastikman album except for dj set for mixmag New Horizons; Basement Jaxx continues their live London shows with Metropole Orkest; Underworld releases 3CD Anthology; long absent Leftfield's new 2CD/DVD live combo Tourism:

Jay Farrar, Yim Yames, Will Johnson and Anders Parker - New Multitudes (2012)

Messrs Will Johnson, Jay Farrar, Yim Yames and Anders Parker

New Multitudes

Legendary American singer-songwriter and Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame inductee Woody Guthrie's seminal lyrics have again taken center stage for another project by Messrs Will Johnson (Centro-matic/Monsters of Folk), Jay Farrar (Uncle Tupelo/Son Volt), Yim Yames (My Morning Jacket/Monsters of Folk) and Anders Parker (Varnaline/Space Needle).

Commemorating the centennial year of Guthrie's birthday, the band set music to Guthrie's lyrics much like Wilco & Billy Bragg did with Mermaid Avenue I & II (1998 & 2000).

Jay Farrar's original vision in 2006 started as a solo project.  He approached Nora Guthrie who oversees the Woody Guthrie Foundation.  A year later, Jay begun combing through some of the 3000 lyrics with Anders and was later joined by Yim and Will in 2009.  The album was slated for a 2011 release, but was completed too late.

Love these slow-cooked projects which are accorded the respect, love and attention it so fully deserves.

An album of sepia-tinged Country, Electric-Blues, full of warm earnest beauty and emotional depth.

Preview the album here via Soundcloud & Rolling Stone Magazine.

Daytrotter session here.

Absolute gem.

The Shins - Port of Morrow (2012)

The Shins return with their fourth album after their triumphant Grammy-nominated* Wincing the Night Away (2007), a 5-year hiatus.

Their three-album contract with Sub Pop expired in 2008, and Port of Morrow debuts on head James Mercer's own Aural Apothecary Label, via Columbia Records.   There's also a new line-up of band members.

In between, Mercer has been busy: Cameos on Modest Mouse' "Florida," "Missed the Boat," "We've Got Everything" and Danger Mouse/Sparklehorse's ill-fated legal-wrangle nightmare that was Dark Night of the Soul and also formed Broken Bells (My #1 albums for 2009 and 2010 respectively).

So, expectations looms large with this release.

The album begins promisingly enough with The Rifle's Spiral followed by lead single Simple Song featuring James' trademark vocal pirouettes. Both sounding more beefed up than usual and slightly vocodered suggesting **gasps** chart ambition, but this actually does not work in their favour.
Their strength lies in their gentler old school charm, best exemplified by track 5 September, which oddly sounds like a throwback to their original sound.

Halfway through though, the album seems to loose steam and focus; appearing to alternatively speed up and slow down hopping between conflicting personalities / moods.  There's a pervasive sense of listlessness.  A different song sequence might have helped it flow better, but is that enough?

Amazon UK version offers extra tracks.



* Not that that means anything to me.

This is infinitely a more watchable version than the official goofy clip

Favourite track:

Should try less hard?  6.3/10

A more agreeable assessment here.

fun. - Some Nights (2012)

Be Quick.

This is going to be HUGE.

Enjoy the album before radio kills it with overplay.

Coming across like some bastard lovechild between Queen and Scissor Sisters and with enough anthemic pop nous to sink the Titanic, the album is produced by Jeff Bhasker (Kanye West) and first single cameos the effervescent Janelle Monae.

Hurry.  It's already a guilty pleasure.