Dan Swano, renaissance man and brain behind such bands as Edge of Sanity and Pan-Thy-Monium, reveals his more sensitive side in his Nightingale project. “I,” the “band’s” third offering, provides the listener with a good 11, mostly well written, rock songs with a clear seventies influence.
Norwegian black metallers Emperor serve up quite an album in “Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk.” This truly unique masterpiece was first released in 1997, 3 years after the release of the genre defining “In the Nightside Eclipse”, but only a few weeks ago did I first lay my hands on it. Since then, it’s been spinning in my CD player at least 3 times a day. It’s that good (so good in fact that it goes as far as justifying the somewhat ludicrous claim from the band that “Emperor performs sophisticated black metal art only.”)
Finally a Christmas record with some soul! Sick of hearing that same old tired rendition of “White Christmas” by Bing Crosby over and over, every damn year? In that case (and who isn’t!?) legendary 70s producer Phil Spector’s “A Christmas Gift For You” might be worth considering a listen. Combining the soulful black sound of Spector’s record label stars with the good old classics like “Frosty the Snowman” and “Winter Wonderland”, the album is a real do-whop-beep of a holiday disc and probably the greatest rock & roll Christmas album ever made.
After the less-than-average “Storytelling”, Belle and Sebastian are firmly back in the driver’s seat with “Dear Catastrophe Waitress”. There’s a bit of everything in here, but overall it’s just a good, solid pop album, nothing more, nothing less. It seems a natural place to go for the band after their past releases and evolves on their previous sound, but Stu Murdoch & Co. keep from losing any of their charm in the process. There are still the same tragic fates, quirky real-world narratives and silly feel-good songs which fans of the group have come to love through the years. That is of course not to say that there’s nothing new on here though. “Dear Catastrophe Waitress” represents an evolution not a revolution, true, but there are songs like “Step Into My Office, Baby”, “Piazza, New York Catcher” and “Lord Anthony” which sound more fresh and clean than your other average B&S songs.
“8 Soothing Songs for Rut” is just plain fun. Norwegian rockers Motorpsycho have since its release in 1992 moved to greener pastures, featuring a more pop-driven alternative rock sound, but on this album they retain their at-times eclectic rock style with touches of pop at all the right places. While a few of the songs drag on for a while and the smoked-out vocals of Bent S�ther get tedious a way into the record, there are good moments where Motorpsycho hint at what they would later become, namely one of the fieriest and most innovative bands on the Norwegian rock scene.
Casket Lottery’s “Moving Mountains” album is quite simply ‘meh’. It’s not that it’s poorly executed - it’s actually quite well done on the technical side of things, but there’s really no artistic excitement, no ‘wow’ moment(um) of any kind. The vocalist is plain and uninteresting, yes, one might even say ‘boring’, and entirely lacking in texture to set him apart from all other wannabe rock-stars. The guitars and drums are well-done, but seem to be more of a testament to the musical technical abilities of the band members than their ability to create something innovative or even remotely original. In my opinion the latter should be primary, the former secondary.
What the hell is this?! I’ll be the first to admit that I’m no electronica connosieur but the German quartet Jeans Team have even to my virgin ears unleashed a brilliantly simplistic four-track remix single entitled “Keine Melodien”. It features, in essence, the words “ein, zwei, drei, fier!” repeated over and over again against pulsing synthesiser sounds and thick drum beat loops. On the Peaches remix of the song, we get some thick bass-and-guitar loops backing up sweetly spoken “ein, zwei drei, fier!”, this time by Peaches vocalist (ah, love the poorly pronounced Deutsch!). Hypnotic Johannes Heil remix rocks off into the Amiga-synthesque final “Op. Bastards” remix. Beautiful electronic pulsation; absolutely ‘go crazy’.
This charming little four-track EP showcases Belle and Sebastian at the height of their early years, released some six months after brilliant second full-length “If You’re Feeling Sinister”. Frontman Stuart Murdoch’s ability to create short/bittersweet, self-ironic narratives filled with tragically fated characters becomes evident throughout, particularly with the classic B&S confessional “The State I Am In”. Velvet Underground-reminiscent track “Belle & Sebastian” (although not in the bad sense of the comparison - without the chaotic fuzz spasms towards the end of the song, which seem to plague nearly every good VU song) makes for a delightful close to an entertaining disc full of great lyrics and loveable music. Even though the drums are a bit off on occasion and the guitar sound seems slightly off-key at times, this just adds to the “home-made” personal charm of Belle and Sebastian and their relaxed attitude to their listeners.
Meow! It’s Isobel Campbell, the wonderfully naive once-member of Glaswegian “Chamber Pop”-rockers Belle and Sebastian. First things first: her voice oozes ‘beautiful’ like almost no other contemporary female artist. The pure innocence she radiates and the ability to spell-bind her listeners is what alone sets her apart from other artists in the same genre, and in “Amorino” we hear her develop her sound and identity to heightened levels. Shedding the name of former solo-career project “Gentle Waves”, Campbell has created a record that bears the mark of some sort of a pop soundtrack to 1960s France; mellow, smooth, enticing and honest, she hits the mark again and again with pearls like “Monologue For an Old Lover”, “Johnny Come Home” and title-track “Amorino”.
This record’s pretty great. Despite Decemberists’ slightly nasal vocalist Colin Meloy, there isn’t much to say against the eleven tracks on the album “Her Majesty”. Meloy manages to weave words and images skillfully with all the careful craftsmanship of a talented songwriter in places like “Shany for Arethusa”, a paean to pirating and dreamy “I Was Meant for the Stage”, while still throwing in some good ol’ catchy pop-driven tunes like “Billy Liar” and “The Chimney Sweep”. There are even tidbits of urban utopia to be found on here; “Los Angeles, I’m Yours” will make even the lowliest country bumpkin want to go there and see what the fuss is about. Brilliant Meloy can even write and sing about love without getting soppy on his listeners, choosing to hail his woman’s greatness by focusing on something as truly bizarre as her “Red Right Ankle”.