As you can probably tell, this year has been pretty slow on
the music front, well for me at least. There has been a few standouts such as
The Pains, Asgeir and First Aid Kit, but so for on the whole this year hasn't produced
as much quality music to date as what previous years have. But fear not, here
are a few I am looking forward to in the next couple of months….
Literature – August 19th (Only had one listen)
Literature – August 19th (Only had one listen)
The Magic Numbers – August 18th (Seems OK so far)
The New Pornographers – August 26th (Only had one
listen)
Mosman Alder – September 5th
Nick Allbrook – September 5th
Alt-j – September 22nd (haven’t got a good
feeling about this!)
The History Of Apple Pie – September 29th
Allo Darlin –October 6th
Foxygen – October 14th (haven’t got a good
feeling about this either!)
August Spotify Playlist –
Here we go anyway, got a few album reviews to catch up on….
Albums
Artist: Fear Of Men
Album: Loom
Year: 2014
Similar Artists: Veronica Fall, Joanna Gruesome, Sharon Van
Etten
My Rating 6.5/10
Loom is the debut
record from English indie-popsters Fear Of Men: released way back in April this
year. Early reviews heaped praise on Loom for its outstanding collection of sharp, smart pop-rock songs and its abilty to invoke deep, refreshing andmysterious thoughts. Similarly, a significant boost for Fear Of Men was
seen with their selection to tour North America and Europe as support to the
great The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart. So, you’d probably be forgiven if like
me, there was some sense of expectation built around Loom.
‘Alta’ opens the album with the now-ish trend that is seen
as an introduction of sorts; 54 seconds worth of slow build that leads fluently
to ‘Waterfall’. This track possess most elements you’d expect from a solid
indie-pop band – a catchy guitar riff, subdued and perhaps sultry vocals, but
in the case of ‘Waterfall’ we experience a dark slimy undertone running
throughout. This is highlighted when the songs trails off into a mystical 40
seconds worth almost haunting “noise” for want of a better word. ‘Green Sea’
quickly follows and instantly uplifts the listener from the depths of a deep
dark ocean to, well yes, a sunny warm green sea! There is a couple of very
appealing hooks played throughout this track and if I was writing for Pitchfork
I might even call them infectious!! What will also catch you out is the backing
vocals that pleasantly wander in-an-out so effortlessly; a beautiful touch to a
great song.
‘Vitrine’ again has positives strewn throughout, primarily
the harmonising between Jess and Becky however the song never really gets out
of about third gear. The same could be said for ‘Tephra’ except we are hit with
a bit more gusto and tempo, just like tephra itself perhaps; a rock fragment
ejected from a volcano. Look it up for those of you who don’t believe me!
‘America’ mixes things up again, this time in the form of a
wafting drafty guitar undertone. It’s repetitious and fuzzy and marks the
halfway point of what we have been presented with a very unique mix of songs to
this point. ‘Seer’ is forgettable, not horrible, but not noteworthy either. And
then comes ‘Luna’ and ‘Descent’ – two of the better tracks from the record. Now
I’m not huge into lyrics, but being a lover of the ocean, I cant help but
notice all the references to the sea, waves and water … “But the waves keep overflowing me//Washing me out til I’m empty..”
and with this it is impossible not to
find yourself drifting to a place by the sea.
‘Inside’ the longest track on the records follows and again
possess a portion of all of the above – delicate vocals, deep/dark undertones,
crispy guitar and some pleasant harmonising. Yet there is something lacking
that will take this album from something good to something great. And, if I
could put my finger on what it is, I sure would. ‘Atla’ closes the album and as
much as your left thinking yes that was enjoyable, there sure is a part of you
that will be saying, dam that could be awesome.
Conceivably, and I know I say this a lot but often it’s the
case; this album might come to fruition in the live setting. Still, we have here a decent record and one
that would be definitely worth having a crack at if this sounds like your kind
of genre.
Artist: The War On Drugs
Album: Lost In The Dream
Year: 2014
Similar Artists: The Horrors, Cloud Nothings, Temples
My Rating: 6.5/10
It would be absolutely rude of me to not start this review
of Lost In The Dream, the third LP
from The War On Drugs, without rambling on for a little bit about second track
‘Red Eyes’. Now I know back in May I reviewed it as a single, but can I just
say since then, it has further improved, and in doing so has probably left a
further discrepancy between it and the rest of the tracks on Lost In The Dream. ‘Red Eyes’ is
memorable in every sense, the sludgy guitar is unfathomably excellent, the beat
held throughout and just the huge lift you receive every single time you listen
to the song is enough to make you want to listen to it again on repeat. It’s up
there for song of the year without a doubt and there’s no way I can ever see
myself getting sick of it. If you haven’t heard it, drop whatever your doing
now and listen to it.
Now, back to the album. Things start off with ‘Under The
Pressure’ – almost 9 minutes of guitar infused psychedelic ramblings of a
modern mayhem man. It is a fantastic track and immediately starts the album on
a big high. This is followed immediately by ‘Red Eyes’ and yep, everything is
pretty bloody good right at this point.
And it now it hurts me to say that things aren’t overly explosive
from here. ‘Eyes To The Wind’, ‘An Ocean In Between The Waves’ and
‘Disappearing’ give their best efforts to fulfil the high felt by opening
tracks, but sadly it just doesn’t quite happen. It must be incredibly hard
writing tracks that go for around 5-8minutes so I harbour no grudge against The
War On Drugs, but boy it would have been great to have another couple of
crackers on this record.
‘In Reverse’ closes the album off well enough with some off
that trademark guitar, but I guess no matter what they did, nothing would have
compared to ‘Red Eyes’. Perhaps it should have been the closer and I would be
sitting here saying “…the album builds well throughout and finishes with an
almighty bang!” But I’m not and yes, I must stop these ramblings.
I know there are plenty of you out there that rate the album
highly so do with it as you will and good luck to anyone who catches them at
Meredith in December or at one of their sideshows; I would love to go just to
hear ‘Red Eyes’.….
Edit: after I wrote this, my cousin got us a ticket to one
of their sideshows…how good is that!!
Artist: Mink Mussel Creek
Album: Mink Mussel Manticore
Year: 2014
Similar Artists: POND, Tame Impala, Allbrook/Avery
My Rating: 7/10
Before there was Tame Impala, before there was POND, there
was a crazy little psychedelic outfit called Mink Mussel Creek. Playing over
100 shows to a die-hard local fan base in Perth and rumoured to have played 1
show in Melbourne, this band was to form the foundations to the now worldly
popular Tame Impala. Fronted by Nick Allbrook (ex Tame Impala bass player and
current POND front man) and with Kevin Parker on drums, Mink Mussel Creek
played a heavy hitting tripout style of music which at that point (around 2007)
hadn’t been recreated well since the late 60’s. An album was recorded, however
due to a few discrepancies with the producer, the entire recordings got
shelfed, never to be heard again. Along came Tame Impala and POND and suddenly
Mink Mussel Creek was nothing but a back production of something that could
have been.
Thankfully in January 2011 the band had a rare moment of
clarity and decided to re-record the album all on their lonesome, however it
was to be only produced and sold that night on USB!! Seems crazy I know. But
finally 2014 comes around and here we have a proper release of Mink Mussel Manticore for everyone to
hear…
Just like most trippy psychedelic sludge that has ever been produced; it is not
everyone’s cup of tea and even if it is, I think you have to be in the right
head space to really appreciate where your mind is being pushed and pulled. For
50 minutes, Mink Mussel Manticore
takes you on one hell of an auditory journey; knocking you to the ground,
kicking you while your down and suddenly picking you back up all to just smash
you around again. Its probably one of the most pleasant beatings you’ll ever
take as the distorted overlapping guitar soothes the head from what drummer
Kevin Parker has beat into you.
‘They Dated Steadily’ is the opening track and is very much
represent of what I described above, all be it in a short 13 minutes worth of
song (if you want to call it that!). ‘Hands Off The Manequin Charlie’ is as
unruly as anything but has at least some kind of form to it, whereas just about
everything else twists and turns and leads the track into another winding road
of something your least expecting.
‘Makeout Party Girls’ starts out with one of the best
opening lines to describe what on earth these lads could be doing … “we were high on Panadol//we were higher
than a dream because someone gave a piece of it to Steve…”. Yes its messy
but if you let it take you, you’ll enjoy what follows.
Now there is no way I can listen to this style of music
consistently and perhaps for someone that loves what is delivered on Mink Mussel Manticore, it may just be a
10/10 album. For me it’s a brave decision to hit play as I know what lies ahead
and what sort of turmoil I’ll be in afterwards. But nonetheless, to put it
simple, it’s a lot of fun and something I recommend you have a go at.
Artist: Papercuts
Album: Life Among The Savages
Year 2014
Similar Artists: Husky, Hey Rosetta!, Real Estate
My Rating: 5/10
Anyone who tours as a support for Beach House, Grizzly Bear
or Camera Obscura must have some sort of musical ability; but a band that has
toured with all three must be pretty good. Well that’s what I would think
anyway….
Of course I am talking about San Francisco’s Papercuts and
the definitely flattering tour history they uphold of late; And here we have Life Among The Savages, the 6th
LP from the band centred around singer/produced Jason Quever.
What do I say about this? It is pleasant, yes. It has some
great use of instruments like strings, keys, and soft, subtle guitar riffs, yes.
But unfortunately it really struggles to get off the ground and make any
significant impact on the listener. It drags somewhat and is relatively flat on
the whole. It definitely won’t pump you up, but at the same time it also won’t comfort
you like a lot of similar sounding records will.
In saying that, there are some positives and they all come
relatively early in the piece. ‘Still Knocking At The Door’ starts things off
well, as does ‘New Body’ with the great strings arrangement throughout. And this is also the best we hear from Quever
too as he unfortunately drones along towards the back end of the album. ‘Life
Among The Savages’ is another reasonable track but apart from that there isn’t much
to get excited about.
I have no doubt that previous efforts from Papercuts must be
more fruitful and I base this off the support slots that have played for the
bands mentioned above and some reviews alluding to something similar. I would
be keen to know if anyone has listened to or liked anything they have released
since their debut in 2000 as it now appears to me that in 2014, they have past
their prime……
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