MOTW - w/e July 8, 2001

I'll give it a go

REM - Reveal: Growing on me, a new REM album always takes a few sessions.

Llorca - New Comer: French DJ duo kind of like St Germain. IMO better then St Germain.

Peace Orchestra - Mr Kruder: A tip from Andrew Randle, very impressive and I'm lucky to get it on vinyl.

Radiohead - Amnesiac: Challenging(in a good way!).

All pretty mainstream, but then that's me. Jay

I have just bought 'The Summit - Master Takes' which is the only recorded collaboration between Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington. It's a 2 CD boxset and is throroughly recommended. I don't seem to be buying as much music as normal as I have, relatively recently, become a dad so I'm not getting out much. This is a fantastic opportunity to explore my back catalogue, I usually buy that much stuff that I never get the chance to listen to it all. I still have albums that I have had for years but somehow not round to playing!

must have album...

monkeboy:

yeah, bought this last week. i havent played it. my daughter (14) loves it and has taken it away.

enjoy

ken

sigur ros - agaetis byrjun (thanks to all who've mentioned this)
violet indiana - roulette
webb brothers - maroon
rufus wainwright - poses
land - road movies

As a part of re-generating MOTW, I thought I’d start with a catch-up of all I gathered on holiday earlier this year. Feb fwd will appear shortly. As ever, with my sketchy reviewing techniques, best you also consult allmusic.com as I’ll likely miss out a descriptor. (gulp).

Radiohead - Pablo Honey Yes I know, late again. Now I know what people are taking about when they complain that (even) The Bends wasn’t right. Nothing, that is, as this is a cool album, more raw than The Bends. While it doesn’t take me to that place and time that The Bends does, it’s a fine listen, nonetheless. If you don’t have it and like any other Radiohead albums, you should give this a try.

The Mutton Birds - The Mutton Birds Fine NZ product from Don McLashan’s band. Packed with such classics as ‘Dominion Road’ and ‘Nature’, this is worth a try. Salty, however, is a better all-round album.

The Mutton Birds – Salty As you can see, I stocked up a bit, while downunder. Salty was released in 1994, which I missed (Central America)… this is a finely crafted album, with some really beautiful songs eg Anchor Me, In my room… and some really good fun stuff such as Wellington (a must have if you’re from the windy city, as I am) – you should see the crowd go off when they do this one live… but I digress. Well produced, and the added bonus of a cover of his earlier work with Blam Blam Blam ‘Don’t fight it Marsha, it’s bigger than both of us’ tacked on the end.

Hunters & Collectors- The Fireman's Curse Early stuff from H&C, where you can hear more of the industrial and Krautrock influences. Hey, it’s even recorded in Conny Plank’s Studio! Terrific sounds from The Horns of Contempt, and bass-playing like I don’t seem to find on any other band’s material. H&C’s earlier stuff is less accessible than the later material – but it’s what built them such a solid following.

Hunters & Collectors - Living in large rooms & lounges This should get a nomination for one of the best live recordings. Both in capturing the essence of the band, and for sonics – they’re live. A double CD, it took some hunting out (no pun intended) – seems to be out of print at the mo. Some of the classic tracks are repeated between the CD’s – perhaps one hard and rocky (no quips about Australian pub rock, please!), and perhaps a quiet ballard-like rendering of the same song. If you missed them live, this is an opportuntity to hear some of the magic H&C so often wrought in a hall/pub/room with their audience.

Groove Armada - Vertigo If you don’t have it, buy it – one of my favourite MD’s for travelling via air now acquired on CD. They’re good live too – but this album won’t make you wish you were there (it doesn’t lack in either substance or production). Recommended, for those thirteen or so of you who don’t already have this. Oh, file under funk/groove?

Basement Jaxx – Remedy Dum Dub-Dum-Dumm dumm, dahmm dahmmm…. Ad infinitum. Ok, so this was big last year, but Rico somethmes takes a looo—oooong time to catch such an infectious groove. And catch me it did, on B-FM on the South Auckland mototway – Real Groovy delivered the goods, and the car keeps rockin’. Phat Bass (yes capitalised) to give the foundations (or the neighbours) a workout. NB: NOT for those who have a strong dislike of slapped bass.

Supreme Beings Of Leisure - Supreme Beings Of Leisure Perhaps a little hip for their own good – surprisingly listenable nonetheless. Sort of right-centre from Morcheeba (on a good Morcheeba day), a mix of relaxing and up-beat hip music for the Faithless set (if you see what I mean).

My Life With The Thrill Kill Cult - Kooler Than Jesus This is strange. A friend had given a strong recommendation for this band, so I bought (in the bargain bin) un-heard. ‘guess I dipped out as it is a pre-IRS recording from the late 80’s. And it shows. I file under ‘I’ for Interesting.

Cold Chisel - The Last Wave Of Summer Not quite a shadow of a former Cold Chisel album, but very nearly. I had great expectations of this, and was about as disappointed as one can be… for NZD$10.00, anyway. Not recommended, overall. Buy Circus Animals, instead.

Prodigy - The Fat Of The Land Probably all know this one by now. No, your smack your bitch up, okay? This can only be listened to LOUD.

The Orb Remix Project - Auntie Aubrey's Excursions Beyond the Call of Duty I had no idea this existed – stumbled across it in Slow Boat Records, in Wellington NZ. Well chilled-out Orb, from an earlier time. For Orb fans.

Massive Attack - No Protection Well, when you’ve already got Blue Lines, Protection, and Mezzanine – what else is there while they sort their shot out about breaking up? For fans only.
Radiohead - My Iron Lung EP - 1
Radiohead - My Iron Lung EP - 2

Santana - Santana if you haven’t already spent hours whacked-out listening to this – you probably won’t need to add it to your collection – Abraxas is what you’re looking for. This has what I think of as a ‘cleaner, leaner’ Carlos sound.

Supergrass - Supergrass Whod’ve thought Britpop could have been so melodic? This came with the bonus Australian Tour live ep. Neat album. Recommended.

Powderfinger - Internationalist Earlier effort from the new Oz hopes.

Powderfinger - Odyssey Number Five This struck me in an airport clothing store – sorta like crouded house vocals ontop of something to shout about, and guitars with steroids. Not bad – so I asked what it was, and bought it. Need’nt have bothered though, coz’ they’ve come to conquer UK as well! Good effort – their fifth album (I think).

Cornershop - When I was Born for the 7th time Cool stuff. Even more wild if you have a Creative Labs live card, and shoose the “Psychotic” EAX sound environment while listening. Ok, seriously… this is a bundle of fun, It must be said though, that ‘Brimful of Asha’ is bettered (by a country mile) on Fatboy Slim’s remix (it’s on a whole bunch of something, in comparison) – this cover sounds leaden. I lack the vocab to describe this – a mixture of scratching, traditional Asian, and breakbeats? That Chatanooga track is a bit dubious, though. See also Cinton: Disco and the halfway to discontent (recommended).

Sasha & John Digweed - Expeditions 1 & 2 My other favourite travel MD. Relaxing, chills me right out at the same time as focusing

Tosca - The Chocolate Elvis dubs More of the same from the Tosca gang – although being an entire album of reixes it does get a bit ‘samey’. Buy ‘Suzuki’, first.

Mr Scruff - Fish ep (on Ninja Tune) “Eating Fish” (or “Fish”) always made me laugh (som eline about fish armed with ray-guns?).

Robbie Robertson - Contact from the underworld of Redboy Why didn’t this sell more? Was it because there wasn’t a single as in RR’s epynonymous album? We listened to this loads in the car, and really enjoyed it. And then a voyage of rediscovery when played on a real rig… there are some great rythmns on this album, and it’s relaxing to listen to. While it lacks the “Rico 6-pack guarantee”, it does bear recommendation.

Duke Ellington - Ellington at Newport 1956 (complete) Another I stumbled onto in Slow Boat Records. Excellent stuff, a documenting of a blinding performance. Double CD, the music’s great, recording’s good… although I find the commentary between tracks a little boring after you’ve heard it a couple of times. ‘there for completeness.

The Presidents of The United States of America - The Presidents of The United States of America If you like ‘Peaches’ or ‘Lump’ you must buy this album. Ok, it was a little ‘of its time’ – but goes down well as a ‘funned-up’ sort of Green Day ‘Lite’. Top fun.

Supergroove – Tractor, and Backspacer I figured these would be worth collecting on the strength of the first album by Supergroove – “Traction”. Listening to these, the funk and drive had left the band at least one album before they finally imploded. There’s a few worthy tracks, but these two are for fans only, or listen first.

Monaco - Music for pleasure It’s okay, but if you subscribe to Joy Division being diluted Warsaw, New Order being diluted Joy Division, Monaco begs the question:”is there need in the world for diluted New Order?” . no, I thought not. It’s a nice enough album, just lacks any balls or bite…. err substance?

The Heads - No talking just head Now this is an interesting album. It starts when you open the jewel case, and are confronted with a kewpie doll of David Byrne impaled on a cake – I don’t think the rest of The Heads were too happy about the whole David Byrne thing. The music’s interesting and varied, although Sean Ryder’s contribution sounded a little too polished to my ears – couldn’t anyone score for the great man? Seriously though, I like this ‘un… largely guest collaborators. Hell, I barely recognised Michael Hutchence’s song – is it the production style? Oh, and Mr Jong might be interested to note there’s a track with Maria McKee – ‘No Big Bang’ (I kid you not. Sort of a counterpoint to that other track, no?)

Tim Finn, Bic Runga, Dave Dobbyn - Together in concert Truly bloody appalling. I bought this first day in NZ, being a big fan of Dave Dobbyn, and even of Tim Finn… to arrive in your home country to hear the same songs being trotted out in a particular;y unenthusiastic style (to large praise, no less!) was a shock – wasNZ’s music scene really in the doldrums, or had I merely gone through a time-slip? Thankfully there were some good sounds to be had coming out of the land of the long white cloud – they follow in the form of Salmonella Dub... But avoid Finn/Runga/Dobbyn, it’s unparalleled shite. Dribble. Get the idea?

St Germain – Tourist Very chilled/funky/jazzy…. I got turned on to this at the same time as the next band. And on Blue Note, to boot!

Salmonella Dub - Calming of the Drunken Monkey Hmmm – where to start? It’s taken years for NZ to become a reconised leader in white wines… could it be that our Drum & Bass might be world-class? Well, maybe soon. In the mean time, these guys are seriously worth a listen.

Salmonella Dub - Colonial Dubs I prefer this ep (sadly, couldn’t get Killerrvision, which is excellent) to Calming of the Drunken Monkey – it’s newer, and they’re moving faster on their feet – the music has more agility. Recommended.

Weta - Geographica Weta have already packed it in. Pretty fair effort.

Baxter – various I followed Peter Chappell’s recommendation on this one, and am not at all disappointed. James K Baxter was one of NZ’s foremost poets (amongst other things) – this is a collection of his work set to music by guest NZ musos. While it probably doesn’t have an international appeal, it stirs the soul of an Nzer (hey, we even study Baxter in secondary school English).

Grover Washington – Winelight Sure it’s aged, sure it probably rates as 80’s insipidness (unless alongside K-K-K-Kenny G)… but Grover breathed the sax, and this album highlights his style. I remember some of my first exposures to LP12’s/Meridian/Celestion SL6’s with this as software…. IIRC David Sanborn was often featured too, but I digress.

The Egg – Travelator Noodling. There’s no other way to describe it. I found myself liking a few of the tracks, but of others wondered why they bothered. Perhaps some of The Egg’s other albums are better bets? (eg Albumen).

Iva Davies & Icehouse - The Berlin Tapes I expected this to be rubbish, worth perhaps, another NZD$10 punt. There’s some pretty good covers here . (a particularly lush rework of ‘Loving the alien’ works for me, as well as Lou Reed’s ‘Berlin’. For those who don’t recognise the name, Iva Davies was the frontman (and side, and middle, back) of Icehouse (80’s & 90’s Oz band).

Space - Tin Planet This has not aged well, and the NZD$5 I paid just barely covers that single with the duet (you know, that slapper from Catatonic-ia?) on it. Second-rate dross, with the benefit of hindsight.

Gatecrasher - National Anthems There are a few tracks of merit here, although I guess it languishes for a good while between plays.

Rico - all your base are belong to us.

Nittin Sawhney Prophecy - Its safe to say that if you liked the preceding album 'Beyond skin' then you will like this, it’s a similar fusion of Indian traditional music with pretty much everything else. A very, very accomplished album, and one that is also stunningly well produced. On first few listens it would appear to flow as a whole better than Beyond Skin, though possibly does not have as many stand out tracks. I only bought it yesterday, though have managed about three full plays so far, it is definitely that kind of album.

Lambchop 6 track tour only CD - I went to see Lambchop play in Manchester on Friday. Predictably they were stunning. The venue was seated, the PA quiet and clean, and the mix allowed all eleven members to be clearly heard. Always great to see a band line up that includes vibraphone and pedal steel. The tour CD is really good, it contains what I assume are embryonic versions of tracks that will appear later on the official follow up to Nixon. The six song arraignments sound stripped down compared to the lush brass and strings that fill up the gaps on Nixon, I have to admit that I liken this, and hope they retain the comparative simplicity on the next album.

Tony.

Nickel Creek - Nickel Creek

Modern, hip bluegrass tunes alternating with gorgeous CSN-type songs; impeccably played and sung (more in tune than CSN ever was), and they're teenagers. Really amazing, beautiful stuff.

Björk - Selmasongs

Soundtrack from Dancer in the Dark ... the movie had its moments (Björk was great in the role), but the music is best of all. Hallucinatory blend of Björk's quirky lyric-techno and post-Broadway/Gil Evans-ish tinged orchestral arrangements by master Vince Mendoza. Cool rhythm loops made of train-on-tracks and factory machine sounds. The final anthem, New World, kills me and then haunts me.

Michael Brecker - Nearness of You: the Ballad Book

Brecker plays slow, warm, beautiful, and dark, aided by masters Herbie Hancock, Charlie Haden, Jack DeJohnette, and producer/player Pat Metheny ... it doesn't get any better than this ensemble. James Taylor sings the Hoagy Carmichael title track and his own Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight and sounds fantastic in this company, better, more appropriate, than a "real" jazz singer would.

i like brecker. i already have "time of the essence" and "tales from the hudson".

Michael Brecker - Nearness of You: the Ballad Book

sounds like a "must have" for me... thanks for suggesting it.

enjoy

ken