Baxter Dury – 'Allbarone'
There's a chain of bars named All bar one. Dury took that, his drawly speak-song, and made an electronic album with Paul Epworth, the guy who's produced Adele, Florence & The Machine, and Rihanna.
It's catchy. Imagine Orbital on downers. Footy hooligans come their fifties. Songs about schadenfreude, no love, being wrecked, laughing at c*nts.
The Velvet Panther.
Today three live music albums are released.
Stream the album via this page.
I love the song on 'Walking in My Shoes'. However, I must say this: I'm a little worried about Dave's song on 'No Good'.
I saw DM live during the Memento Mori tour and they've been better and more inventive live in the past; just consider the official live version of 'In Your Room' that was recorded during the Songs of Faith and Devotion tour. Wow.
This album is released on the same day as Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds' Wild God (Live God). Listen to that album to hear what is possible, by the hands and voices of people who are around as old as DM, who apply older tools, but reach more high-soaring goals.
Stream the album via this page.
This is, at best, a soaring, gospel-sounding experience. Just listen to 'Frogs', the first track on the album. The artist as preacher comes out; Cave quips lines like a reverend. This is closer to gospel than nearly what James Brown, Sam Cooke, and Little Richard did live at times*.
Hear the guitar and the chorus of 'Tupelo'. Yeah, yeah, yeah!
Where Depeche Mode went electronic, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds go back to gospel music. To choral music. To human breadth in mass voices. To simple chords on the piano, to Cave chanting 'you're beautiful' again and again and again to a tambourine and the chorus singing 'touched by the Spirit/touched by the Flame'.
Where Cave has gone from noise and punk and art in The Birthday Party to gaming pop music during the 1990s to two of his sons dying and his making intimate and extremely soulful electronic music, to creating gospel, this is a fucking live album.
Listen to the song 'Conversion' as hands-up proof that this album should be heard.
*This is said in total awe and adoration of Little Richard live in Hollywood, James Brown live at the Apollo, and Sam Cooke live in Harlem. These are three of my favourite live albums.
Stream the album via this page.
I've no idea how this came to be, but Die Nerven have become one of my favourite modern ice-cold punk-ish artists. I don't know German, but I love Einstürzende Neubauten enough to have learned a bit, and it's not like one can't translate lyrics online.
Die Nerven live is a one-trick pony. Their sound is based largely on the guitar sound: it's either very reverby and non-distorted or reverby and distorted; the singer's voice complements the guitar in exactly the same sound. Drums and bass sound circumstancial.
That's how they sound live, but on record it's a different story. They're tight as hell on record!
Having said that, there's something about Die Nerven's live sound that really captures me in small doses. Two or three songs at a time, brilliant! I can't listen to this album in one single go without pauses, and that's saying something having just listened to two entire live albums before this one: I should be able to make it, but I can't.
This band is fairly close to being a German version of Swedish band Kent some points, but that's doing Kent a disservice as they're a lot more varied in styles.
Camera Obscura – Lloyd, I'm Ready to Be Heartbroken
In 1984, Lloyd Cole and the Commotions released their debut album. One of the songs on the album is named 'Are You Ready to Be Heartbroken?'
In 2006, Scottish indie-pop band Camera Obscura released 'Lloyd, I'm Ready to Be Heartbroken'.
There's a lot of good things to be said about a band whose album cover is twee, filled with reference, and features a person who looks both fearful and freaked out.
The song sounds like it's simultaneously performed by an indie-pop band and an orchestra, with a classic organ intro that leads into a reverby-ish Phil Spector thing with a jangly guitar melody. Produced by the guitarist from The Bear Quartet and one third of Peter Bjorn and John, this is a golden little nugget of indie-pop sweetness.
I love how the singer sounds bored. The violin works well in this track. It's very well-produced. Horns come and go. The guitar, drums, and horns go well together. Aah. Thank you, all involved.
Xiu Xiu – Xiu Mutha Fuckin' Xiu: Vol. 1
Xiu Xiu are one of my favourite modern bands. God damn it. They're rock 'n' roll, experimental, fun, funny, and noise. And a lot more.
They've just unveiled their next album, a covers project that's today available for pre-order: Xiu Mutha Fuckin' Xiu: Vol. 1.
I love Daniel Johnston. They've covered one of his beautiful songs:
The second cover that they've unveiled today is The Runaways' ultra-fine 'Cherry Bomb':
Complete album track list:
Side A
– Psycho Killer [Talking Heads]
– Warm Leatherette [The Normal/Grace Jones]
– I Put a Spell on You [Screamin' Jay Hawkins]
– Hamburger Lady [Throbbing Gristle]
– In Dreams [Roy Orbison]
– Sex Dwarf [Soft Cell]
Side B
– Dancing on My Own [Robyn]
– SPQR [This Heat]
– Lick or Sum [GloRilla]
– Some Things Last a Long Time [Daniel Johnston]
– Triple Sun [Coil]
– Cherry Bomb [The Runaways]
Their merch is some of the funniest shit ever produced by a band. I mean, from switchblades to a mesh jersey that says XIU XIU 69:
Long live MF XX.
Hooked (Hyams Gym, Leytonstone)
The Bug is Kevin Martin: dub entrepreneur, musician, and collaborative person. He made Curse of the Golden Vampire together with Alec Empire, the main person behind one of my old favourite electronic hardcore bands, Atari Teenage Riot; the album is a sort of mix between dubstep and electronic hardcore; it didn't really work most of the time but it is important to me.
This album reminds me of the album My Demons by Distance, a dubstep composer and musician:
Of course, Distance's music is much more loop-based and clinical than what music is currently made by The Bug. I prefer the organic, not the clinical.
The music by The Bug and Distance remind me of Blade Runner; somewhere in the clouds above Japanese skyscrapers that resemble Vangelis's fantastic and magnificent soundscape:
The Bug's music is more gritty and down-to-earth than what Vangelis cooked up, but then, Vangelis probably influenced most musicians in different ways.
I wish GZA would issue what he made with Vangelis.