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.

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.

Upcoming Releases 2012

It's only been one month in and there's a whole slew of releases set for release in 2012. 
Good news for us music fans!




Most excited about:
Spritualized     Sweet Heart Sweet Light
The Flaming Lips     TBA (Collaboration galore)
The Magnetic Fields     Love at the Bottom of the Sea
The Shins     Port of Morrow
The xx     TBA
Simian Mobile Disco    TBA
Perfume Genius - Put Your Back N 2 It



Medium excited about:
Lambchop     Mr. M
Andrew Bird     Break It Yourself
M. Ward     A Wasteland Companion
Damien Jurado     Maraqopa
Delta Spirit     Delta Spirit
Dr. Dog     Be the Void
Madonna     MDNA
Jack White     Blunderbuss
Bruce Springsteen     Wrecking Ball
MGMT     TBA
Garbage     Not Your Kind of People
U2    Songs of Ascent (U2's Chinese Democracy)
The Dandy Warhols     This Machine
The Killers     TBA  (Back to your day job, Brandon)
Outkast     TBA
Mumford & Sons     TBA (About time!)
Franz Ferdinand     TBA
Culture Club     TBA
Orbital     Wonky
Bear in Heaven    I Love You, It’s Cool
M.I.A.     TBA (Despite Bad Girl finger flip)


Less excited about:
The Ting Tings     Sounds from Nowheresville
Sleigh Bells    Reign of Terror
Santigold     Master of My Make Believe
ZZ Top     TBA
Aerosmith     TBA
Van Halen     A Different Kind of Truth



Already released:
Air - Le Voyage dans la Lune
Mark Lanegan Band - Blues Funeral
Leonard Cohen - Old Ideas
Lana Del Rey - Born to Die
of Montreal - Paralytic Stalks
Cate Le Bon - Cyrk
Chairlift - Something
The Big Pink - Future This

Stay tuned.

Live Review: Portugal. The Man & Givers @ The Metro 7/2/2012

Can they play?  Check.

Is the band tight?  Double check.

Do they rock?  You betcha.

Have they great songs?

Just check their CDs or my review here.

Did they do great covers?

A bulldozing rendition of The Beatles' Helter Skelter and a

rollicking version of David Bowie's All The Young Dudes.

Were they loud?

Fact is, the band was great and most songs were beefed up, given a terrific boost live; so much so, vocals (Both frontman John Gourley's and the band's backing) should have been twice as high in the mix.

I was expecting sweet psychedelic pop/rock but was surprisingly (& pleasantly) served muscular, steroided rock bordering on Metal!  Only unfortunate casualty of the night was John's sometimes soulful and funky croon which was largely drowned by a band in top form.

A much better mix on French TV:

  7.8

Special mention must go to Sydney support band Guineafowl who held their own with a great selection of indie songs and Louisiana-based Givers who shared the bill with their take on alternate Calypso-Ragga rock.  They had a track which featured flutes and was almost Canton-flavoured.  Tiffany Lamson (on percussion duties) was especially impressive as she banged on those poor drums (in unison with Kirby Campbell, drums) within an inch of their lives...

Live Review: The Horrors @ Metro Theatre 2/2/2012

Standing at 6' 5'' tall, Faris Badwan of The Horrors cuts a commanding figure.


Their heady mix of 80's synth-psychedelic-goth were equal parts Bowie, Bauhaus and Joy Division.


Playing hits from their last three albums, they had their fans jumping and singing along.





While Rhys Webb displayed some cool holding his bass upright, guitarist Joshua Hayward went apeshit during a feedback session and knocked an amp off...


After having been to so many concerts, I believe this was my first "mosh" experience. Note to self - Invest in some steel-capped boots!!

My #28 of 2011

 8.0

Perfume Genius - Put Your Back n 2 It (2012)

Call me cynical, but a good controversy has always helped sales in the entertainment world.

This is somehwat different when Google-owned YouTube outright rejected Perfume Genius' 16-second promo clip for "promoting mature sexual themes" and being "not family safe."

I can think of way more overtly offensive clips bandied about without so much a blink of an eye.

Ex-R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe has weighed in claiming the decision dumbheaded, further adding "I find their actions in doing so disgraceful and cowardly. YouTube, shame on you. You were born of the 21st Century, now act like it."  Hear, hear!!

 The 16 sec promo clip

Perfume Genius ad from nils bernstein on Vimeo.

Lead single "Hood" deals with one's insurmountable insecurity and hence the need for "masks" in a relationship.

Catch this clip featuring gay porn veteran Arpad Miklos before those narrow-minded zealots get their hands on it too.

Track 8 off the album via The 405.

Simply brilliant.

Lambchop Serves It Up!

As part of Sydney Festival 2012, Lambchop is heading to our shores to kickstart what must surely be a big year for them.


Not content to just front his band, Kurt Wagner is making the most of his trip by also appearing in 2 gigs as one half of KORT (with Cortney Tidwell as his partner-in-crime) promoting their 2010 effort, Invariable Heartache; as well as running a solo sideshow.




Primed to release their 11th studio album, Mr. M on 21st Feb 2012, I'm excited to hear some new tracks live prior to the album's release.

Lambchop - Gone Tomorrow by cityslang

A track dedicated to Vic Chestnutt:

Lambchop - If Not I'll Just Die by cityslang

Album / Tour Trailer:

KORT country pickin' on:

  Excited!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Concert Review: Sydney Recital Hall (21/1/2012)

It was a night of beautiful and delicate songs which was seriously marred by heavy handed sound mixing at the soundboard.

Kurt Wagner's soft dulcet tones was instead over-amped and over-reverbed to the point of sounding boomy but distant; as though trapped in an echo chamber next door.  Much of the instruments were accorded the same fate except for the drummer who sounded present and accounted for.

Hopefully the band sounded better elsewhere in the recital hall (I was seated on level 3).


Shame.

LCD Soundsystem - Shut Up and Play the Hits (2012)

 

One of the my most beloved bands which bowed out at the top of ther game with a concert at Madison Square Garden (No less) on 2/4/2011, has compiled their video footage into a documentary directed by Dylan Southern and Will Lovelace (Pulse Films Limited) and is now an entry in the Sundance Film Festival 22/1/2012.

Hopefully this will be followed by a DVD and "Best of" release...





For old time's sake:























♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

2012!!!

2012 was ushered in with a bang and an even bigger bang for those who attended The Resolution Concert @ Glebe Island featuring Pet Shop Boys, Jamiroquai and a returning Culture Club...

As for me, Fleet Foxes @ The Sydney Opera House (2/1/2012) kickstarted the year with sublime songs harmonised to perfection...

Upcoming Concerts:

Beirut                            Sydney Opera House      5/1/2012
Lambchop                     Sydney Recital Hall       21/1/2012

Active Child                  Oxford Art Factory       29/1/2012

The Horrors                   The Metro Theatre         2/2/2012
Portugal. The Man         The Metro Theatre         7/2/2012

My Morning Jacket        The Enmore Theatre      3/4/2012

Considering:

Battles                           The Metro Theatre        23/1/2012

Feist                              The Enmore Theatre       7/2/2012 (Clashes with Portugal. The Man)

St. Vincent                    Factory Theatre             12/3/2012

Busy busy busy :)