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.