Some Videos... ;-)

Some music clips I've enjoyed this year (Apart from ones already posted) to tide you over your holiday season:

Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year 2012!!!

Gruff Rhys - Hotel Shampoo (New Extension Edition)

Attention all Super Furry Animals / Gruff Rhys fans!

There'll be a new edition of Rhys' 3rd solo album 'Hotel Shampoo' with 4 b-sides and the 'Atheist Xmas EP' thrown in!

The release date is set for 19th Dec 2011 - Only problem being that the pre-order link on Gruffington Post brings you to Mr Rhys' Facebook page and vice versa.

Let's hope they have this fixed soon.

Shark Ridden Waters
Honey All Over
Sensations In The Dark
Vitamin K
Take A Sentence
Conservation Conversation
Sophie Softly
Christopher Columbus
Space Dust #2
At The Heart Of Love
Patterns Of Power
If We Were Words (We Would Rhyme)
Rubble Rubble
I Totally Understand
Xenodocheionology
Follow The Sunflower Trail (Theme Tune For a National Strike)
Whale Trail
Post Apocalypse Christmas
At The End Of The Line
Slashed Wrists This Christmas

Incidentally, ArtRocker magazine has also awarded 'Hotel Shampoo' Album of the Year 2011.

Congratulations!!!

The making of 'Sensations in the Dark':

 

The delightfully zany video clips:

The Hotel:

2011 Best Of (Roundup)

It's been a busy, busy year with it's fair share of ups and downs; but we're not here to talk about that... 
May this year saw the birth of this blog and by Sep/Oct, I'd encountered a writer's blog of sorts - What to include/exclude; self-doubt in the form of not being a fully-fledged journo; and taking it all way way too seriously!

(Deep Breath... here we go!)

MUSIC

1.  Destroyer - Kaputt
2.  Elbow - Build a Rocket Boys!
3.  Bon Iver - Bon Iver, Bon Iver
4.  My Morning Jacket - Circuital
5.  White Denim - D
6.  Tom Waits - Bad as Me
7.  Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues
8.  Radiohead - The King of Limbs
9.  Portugal. The Man - In the Mountain in the Cloud
10.  Ryan Adams - Ashes & Fire
11.  PJ Harvey - Let England Shake
12.  Wilco - The Whole Love
13.  Iron & Wine - Kiss Each Other Clean
14.  Bright Eyes - The People's Key
15.  Beirut - The Rip Tide
16.  Middle Brother - Middle Brother
17.  Atlas Sound - Parallax
18.  Feist - Metals
19.  Nicolas Jaar - Space Is Only Noise
20.  The Antlers - Burst Apart
21.  Girls - Father, Son, Holy Ghost
22.  Active Child - You Are All I See
23.  Bill Callahan - Apocalypse
24.  tUnE-yArDs - WHOKILL
25.  Black Lips - Arabia Mountain
26.  I'm from Barcelona - Forever Today
27.  Grace Jones - Hurricane / Dub
28.  The Horrors - Skying
29.  St. Vincent - Strange Mercy
30.  The Field - Looping State of Mind
31.  TV on the Radio - Nine Types of Light
32.  Gotye - Making Mirrors
33.  Stephin Merritt - Obscurities
34.  Yuck - Yuck
35.  Cass McCombs - Humor Risk
35.  Explosions in the Sky - Take Care, Take Care, Take Care
36.  Mogwai - Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will
37.  Panda Bear - Tom Boy
38.  Gang Gang Dance - Eye Contact
39.  Lykke Li - Wounded Rhymes
40.  Gruff Rhys - Hotel Shampoo
41.  The Dears - Degeneration Street
42.  Okkervil River - I Am Very Far
43.  The Black Keys - El Camino
44.  R.E.M. - Collapse into Now
45.  Battles - Gloss Drop
46.  Kate Bush - 50 Words for Snow
47.  Modeselektor - Monkeytown
48.  Bonnie Prince Billy - Wolfroy Goes to Town
49.  The Wooden Birds - Two Matchsticks
50.  Woods - Sun and Shade

Special Mention:
Although The Flaming Lips hasn't offiicially released any LP this year, they have released many pricey and elaborately packaged EPs and a 6hr song followed by another that's 24 hours.  Details here (Updated).

Concerts Attended (Unreviewed) and Missed Concerts:
Attended both Okkervil River (A generally good night with later songs excelling) and Bright Eyes (A real dynamo onstage; with quieter performances commanding the audience' attention especially on Lua) and missed out on Explosions in the Sky's concert in Dec.

Ommissions:
So, no Drake (Rap's not my thang), James Blake (Just not gettig the hype), Adele (She's everywhere!), Lady Gaga (Not me), The Kills (The slow numbers are dreadful) or Susan Boyle.


MOVIE

Drive - Can't say enough about this movie!
Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn, it's a film noir drama bound to be a cult classic.
Genre defying, it has heart pounding action (Although not the bulk of the film as most would be led to believe); romance (Not your chick flick sort); humour (Not the LOL sort); bizzaro Lynchian moments; heavy character study; gritty violence and gore!!

More here.


TV

Just got onto "Sons of Anarchy" (Seasons 1 & 2 was only released in Australia this year), hence the frantic catching-up.  I find the series highly addictive as it has just the right blend of action/
tension/drama/comedy.  Great story line, well-scripted and acted, and the pace kept just right.
The lead character perfectly played by Charlie Hunnam, is part of a bikie gang.  He is conflicted between his deceased father's original vision for the club and it's law-breaking present.  To further complicate matters, he has just become a father himself and finds himself torn between duties.
All the characters are thankfully three dimensional, which is a nice departure from your usual 2D
TV personas.

Breaking Bad continues to confound, intrigue & entertain!

Looking forward to another year of top notch entertainment!

Wishing all my readers a great and safe holiday season,
Alex

Concert Preparation: Bright Eyes - Enmore 14/11/2011

In preparation for tomorrow night's concert, I thought I'd "Youtube" Bright Eyes and have their clips stream continuously on my oversized TV.  Little was I prepared for the numerous clips I had to sift through: Art Garfunkel's song for 1978's Watership Down movie and non-official fan clips replete with wobbly audio, boring stills or worse still, irrelevant montages which make no sense whatsoever.  What gives??

So, back to the computer!

Click here for the official Bright Eyes youtube channel.

Tomorrow's concert may be my first & last Bright Eyes concert if any of the rumours are to be believed:
1.  Conor Oberst told Rolling Stone he was planning to retire the Bright Eyes moniker
2.  Oberst to quit music and join UFC (?!?)

This generation's sharp-tongued and sardonic Dylan, he has built an impressive body of work since he was 13.  (He's now 31).
Discography

Watch this:

Can't wait!

Album Review: Wilco - The Whole Love (2011)

This article has taken a very long gestation...

Never underestimate the song order of an album.
Never is this more appropriate than on Wilco's 8th studio offering.

Deluxe Edition

Standard Edition

The first track "Art of Almost" is by far the strongest in the set.  It is also the most experimental, most Radiohead-baiting; and it casts a long shadow over the rest of the album - much the same way Yankee Hotel Foxtrot has over the albums since 2002.

That's not to say that the album's a dud, not by a long shot.

I have been following Wilco since their Uncle Tupelo days.
Many tracks here have close cousins - they sound like old songs re-jigged with new lyrics slapped on top.

What the band has done here is picked their fans' favourites, examined the elements which worked and built "new" songs around them, thereby playing to the band's strengths.
In a word, it's also wilco-by-numbers.

This is a shame considering what I know the band is capable of.
Even the (often) slap-happy lyrics seem to have taken a back seat -
Am I sadistic to think the best artists are the tortured ones???

And by contrast, the pared down live version:

8.2/10

Album Review: My Morning Jacket - Circuital

In the upcoming weeks I shall try to catch up on some of the more important releases prior to starting this blog in May.
Better late than never.

This is only the sixth studio outing for the band from Louisville, Kentucky. They have released many live LPs, rarities EPs and compilations along the way.

But my, has My Morning Jacket come a long way since their humble beginnings. They remain one of two heavier bands I like who don't sacrifice melody; the other being Queens of the Stone Age.



Circuital is a behemoth.


Victory Dance begins with a gong and vocal "clarion calls", as if some wakening call to action.
The lyrics sees a man at crossroads pondering over his lot.
The song is a slow-burner, but culminates in a maddening wig-out towards the end and is perhaps best experienced live at one of their gigs.
 

(There is a constant theme of reflection and self examination; of weighing things up and moving on -   biblical imagery abound throughout the album- My good work, someday come, meek inheriting the earth, the day is coming; without once coming over as preaching).

The title track, Circuital, has a cyclical guitar refrain which bobs and tiptoes until it takes off around the 2:15 mark. Some guitar solos, tinkling piano arpeggios making it the perfect driving song as it bops along.
 

Third track starts off distant and spacey, 'Ba-ba-ba-da-ba"s drawing closer.
The Day Is Coming is further rumination for one to take stock.
Yim Yames lends the track a soulful croon.
 

There is a real country heart in Yim's endearing vocals on Wonderful (The Way I Feel).
While mainly acoustic, it is embellished with synth strings.
An arrow straight to the heart.
The lyrics paint an escape to some magical nirvana.
 

Many a teenage boy's excuse can be summed up on Outta My System.
An indirect paean to testosterone.
On the other hand, the subject's also wiser now and is glad he got it all out of his system.
 


Holdin' on to Black Metal isn't metal at all; instead it is a soulful rock jam, resplendant horn stabs, with a gospellish shimmy-shake female backing choir.

First Light is a rollicking heavy-ish number. Here, "First Light" is loosely used as metaphors for birth, death, truth, strength, spiritual awakening and perhaps even in a re-incarnation cycle.
 

You Wanna Freak Out sways to a waltz-like rythm and sees the subject being calculative and "careful" and being invited to let loose and overcome her fears.
 

Slow Slow Tune appropriately continues on a plaintive tempo in this lovely story with the sentimental father recording this tune for his yet-to-be-born daughter and sadly having her outgrow it further down the line.
 


Moving Away is as much about moving on as it is about moving away.  Looking back, thankful with equal parts remorse and hope...
 


Mammoth.  9.1/10

The full album concert from npr:

Career Review: R.E.M. Remembered

If my last post about R.E.M.'s disbanding sounded flippant, it was purely reactionary.


Unlike most people, my "love affair" with R.E.M. began just after the height of their popularity in around 1996-7, the time when Bill Berry left the group due to health reasons.


Much had been documented about this and thought I'd better find out what I'd missed apropos their music, as most of my 80's and early 90's was swept up in Prince's funky Purple dance-pop.

In late 96, new management in the office I was working in had this "brilliant" (not) idea of shuffling people around and as a result, many staff found themselves in roles they had no skill-set or aptitude for.  Morale was at an all-time low. 

Then I came across this song from R.E.M.'s back catalog.
"World Leader Pretend" struck a chord deep within me and empowered me to take a gigantic leap of faith.
This one song means more to me than words could convey.

My favourite "era" is when they were a four-piece (1980-97). 
Although Stipe had famously said that a 3-legged dog is still a dog, the band's chemistry had irrevocably changed when Bill bode adieu. 
The combination of Stipe's enigmatic yet emotive vocals, indecipherable and at times decidedly cryptic lyrics; Peter Buck's inventive use of Rickenbacker guitars (He also made mandolins cool again); Mike Mills' memorable bass lines and vocal backing;  Bill Berry's never-excessive drumming and counter-vocals.  Together, the sum was definitely greater than the parts.

I'd never purport to do justice by this band's legacy/impact/import with this short article.
It'd never be possible - nor would it be fair.

Thanks for a spectacular journey.

Take a bow, boys.