Desert Island Albums: Afghan Whigs "Gentlemen"

This is torture, choosing 10 albums to take on a desert island. But it forces us to look at the crème de la crème in our CD collections. Those albums without fillers that have accompanied us for a long time. Albums that we keep going back to over and over again, like our musical best friends. It's obviously unfair to the more recent music as we have not yet had the time to create a special relationship with those chords, choruses...they're not yet part of our history. But hell... that's life, right?


So the first album I'd take with me on that dreaded desert island is Gentlemen by The Afghan Whigs. As starters, I'd like to stare at pictures of Greg Dulli if I was stuck on an empty island. The Greg Dulli version 1992 more than the 2012 one, mind. No offense Greg, but you were mightily sexy back then.

So Gentlemen, Afghan Whigs's 4th album, released in 1993 after the succes of Congregation and it's anthemic "Miles Iz Dead"
I instantly fell in love with the artwork. I usually hate kids in films, ads, etc... but that picture...waaaw it says a thousand stories.


The still teenager Sophie loved the tortured lyrics from a bad boy with a little boy's heart inside who wants to love but still courts pleasure instead. Oh dear...
To this day this album has meant a lot to me and I like to blame it for my poor taste in men :-D
Yes Greg Dulli, it's all you fault, you hear me?


The album starts with "If I were Going" which sounds like a menu for the 10 tracks to follow, borrowing lyrics from other tracks on the album. it's a grand entrance that does whet the listener's appetite. Perfect opening then


Song number 2 is the title track, a grungy affair in which our hero wants to be understood and screams at the top of his lungs that he is not a bastard. oh no.


Then comes one of my highlights of the album "Be Sweet" - the rhythm slightly slower but with more pathos, the lyrics have time to ferment and reach their full meaning. 
The only video I've found is a live recording but well, the Dulli charm sure translates well that way too





"Ladies, let me tell you about myself
I got a dick for a brain
And my brain is gonna sell my ass to you.
Now I'm OK, but in time I'll find I'm stuck
'Cause she wants love, and still want to fuck"

Yeah proper romantic that, but girls will be girls and for some reason some of us find that appealing. Call the doctor please!

Onto track 4: another fabulous moment on the album "Debonair"

another live performance as I can't seem to find any proper recordings - and gosh the 90s haven't seem so far and outdated than today...

"Hear me now and don't forget
I'm not the man my actions would suggest
A Little Boy, I'm tied to you
I fell apart
That's what I always do..."


Can you feel the tortured soul, can you? Don't you want to take him in your arms? huh?


Mid album, comes the slow, that terribly saaaaad song with tears rolling on everybody's cheeks. The moment couples fall apart "When we Two parted" but damn they manage to still make it sound sexy (and sick). 





Track 6 et 7: "Fountain & Fairfax and What Jail Is Like" are two very fine poppy grunge tracks in the same vain as the rest of the album, with lyrics and a delivery that clack! in your ears and abdomen
Dulli stays a repentent macho, the guitars are syncopated and the bass vroooms warmly to keep us at arms reach, like a victim happy to stay with its jailor.


Then comes My Curse, one of my favourite piece of music EVER. This track is so f*cking sexy with lots of other emotions attached. I've had many different relationships with that song and its slightly provocative lyrics, its dramatic music and this little je-ne-sais quoi that has always touched me. 


Just close your eyes and listen to this little gem:





"And there's blood on my teeth
When I bite my tongue to speak
Zip me down, kiss me there
I can smile now
You won't find out...ever"


The last 3 tracks from the album always kinda pass me by, just like after great love making, you hear them, its good but what was before was so good and so intense that it never really registers. 


Since 1993 I must have listened to Gentlemen thousands of times, it's been a good friend giving me bad advice for nearly 20 years.
I saw the Whigs just before the release of the album, in 1992 when they played in a small venue in Leuven. I was a young music fan and after the show Dulli spontaneously came to shake my hand and said "thanks for coming to the show". I was in love. I bought a T-shirt and vowed that Afghan Whigs would be my favourite band forever.


This year they are starting to tour again and I bloody well hope to see them live, hopefully in a venue and if not at a festival.


The grunge sound has aged a bit and the lyrics don't touch me the same way today but I still love that band and that album for being my good friends all these years. So yes, I'll take them with me on a desert island.

Jack White, on his own, without interruption

Today, Jack White has officially released his first solo single. Titled Love Interruption, its musical landscape borrows more from the Country and Americana tradition than to his usual energy-filled blues-rock. It's even, dare I say it, kinda middle age sounding.
The man is growing up I suppose, which is not necessarily a bad thing, as long as it's gracefully, right?
Make up your own mind:



You can download the track via iTunes, as of now.
The full album, Blunderbuss will hit the stores (digital or not) on April 24th, there is no word yet on a solo tour to support the release.

Time to have a look at some great tracks written by this retro loving king of rock:

The White Stripes:

Ok, I'd better go full exposure here: I LOVED the White Stripes and I don't think any other White-led project has ever captured my musical emotions quite like them.
I have found memories of travelling between London and Brussels with De Stijl or White blood Cells on my discman (yeah I didn't have a iPod in 2000/2001) in the Eurostar terminals and feeling like I was somewhere else with a tiny fire in my belly.



It is in the Brussels train terminal that I completely fell in love with The Union Forever, for some reason it hit the spot and reminded me of the power of the grunge of my teenage years.
"What Would I Like To Have Been? Everything You Hate" rhaaaa talk about teenage angst



Then in 2003, they released Elephant and it was the great Live period. Saw them many times and was always awed by the sheer energy two people can create on a stage. The boy's got charisma



I always think it's a shame 7 Nation Army got so popular in football stadia because it's a fantastic song but it's lost its appeal a bit. Over exposure does that to a song


Raconteurs


The mix of voices between Brendan Benson and White was just great, and the whole cuckoo image of the band worked well. We still had the rootsy rock'n roll feel even if it was probably poppier than anything White had released before.




The Dead Weather

I never really go back to that album, but I love the video and rock clichés of the first single Treat Me Like Your Mother :)




Obviously, his production work has been a lot more mellow and this is why we should not be surprised to se White release a country tinted album in 2012.
His collaboration with Rome, the Danger Mouse & Daniele Lippi project:




Ok I have to stop here or we'll be listening to White music until next week. The guy's only 36 and he's been involved in so many projects, it a wonder he finds time to sleep.
I will leave you with the last conundrum: is White singing backing vocals on Electric 6's hit High Voltage or not?... answers in the comments ^^

Whet my appetite, 2012

Ok, we're 4 days into 2012 and it already looks like it will a phenomenal musical year... I for one am quite excited.

None more so than a few days ago when I hear the new teaser track from Anja Plaschg, aka Soap & Skin. The moody Austrian songstress is ready to swallow us again into her dark waves of dramatic melancholic tunes, mixing piano and electronic noises. A recipe she will keep on using in Narrow, a new 30-minute mini album that will arrive in our lives on February 14th
Here's the teaser:




Then there is the old bat, Cat Power who's recording a 9th album that should be released later this year. For Xmas she gave us an extended version of The King Rides By, a track that was on her 1996 album What Would The Community Think (My favourite album of hers for its raw emotions)



Talking of bands that have a strong history of releasing excellent albums, step forward Tindersticks, the trio from Nottingham; led by the inimitable voice of Stuart Staples.
The Something Rain will be their 9th output since 1993 and it contains 9 beautifully crafted songs that will please the fans. Medecine is the lead single




A more recent, yet skilled and delicate singer-songwriter to release an album early 2012 is Perfume Genius. Behind this moniker is Seattle based Mike Hadreas. His first album Learnings got the attention of the press and many a music lover. He's ready to seduce us again on February 20th with a new album called Put Your Back N2 It
Check out this somptuous All Waters





Obviously, as I have mentioned it before I can't wait for Feb 6th as it means the great man himself Mark Lanegan will be back with a solo album that simply cannot be bad - what with a title such as Blues Funeral :-D
A track that's been doing the rounds lately is The Gravedigger's Song


Add the new Dirty Three and a new Last Shadow Puppets on top of that list and you understand why I CAAAAAANT WAIIIIIIIIT

What about you? any other album is tickling your fancy?

Sx

let's get dirty again

Oh my words, how excited was I last week when I saw a tweet from @thequietus announcing that 2012 would see the release of a new Dirty Three album. AMAZING!
This calls for a blogpost but be warned, this is a personal story :)

Back in 1998, I had become friends with chicago musician David Grubbs of Gastr Del Sol fame. David was touring Europe to support his very good solo album The Thicket and we bonded over our love of literature (he has an amazing knowledge) and my passion for Cassavetes films.
If you're not familiar with his work, which I will admit is not always easy listening, here's a digestable Gastr Del Sol track "Season Reverse"




So one day, I got an email from David telling me that his Australian mates would be playing in Belgium and that I was not allowed to miss them because they're fabulous and he had played the piano on some tracks from the new album. Sound dudes!  Turns out I had to do press for them on the day of their show as I was looking after the Bella Union Catalogue back then. The band turned out to be Dirty Three and they were opening for PJ Harvey, to support their sublime 4th album 'Ocean Songs'.
The fact that we had a friend in common started a connection and to this day i remember that press day very fondly as one of my favourite throughout my career. And it's always a joy to bump into them at festivals.


Here are Warren Ellis, Jim White and Mick Turner in action at the time. Set up the scene guys, low lights, cuddle up in the sofa and just follow the music...




In March 2000, they put out a mini album that inherited a great title: "Whatever you love, you are"
The opening track is probably my favourite Dirty Three track. I especially love it live, as Warren Ellis compensates the wordless music with stream of consciousness stories he tells the audience between the songs. Oh yeah Dirty three are an immense band live.
"Some summers they drop like flies", I find myself consumed by this song, the narrative, the seduction...it's like being at sea with the cold wind in your hair, it takes me places and I hope it will do the same to you.




In 2005, they released Cinder, an album on which they invited 3 friends to record vocals on their dreamy music. One such friend is Chan Marshall, aka Cat Power. Turner and White have toured extensively as her backing band. Jim White, the best drummer in the world, is still in her Dirty Delta Blues Band today.
The result of that collaboration is Great Waves




So...no new music since Cinder, since 2005 but now in 4 little months we'll have something to look forward to as the boys will be back in town with "Look Towards The Low Sun" and I can barely wait to be transported by this hairy baroque indie!

Before I leave you to your dreams, there's another collaboration that I want to write about, it dates from 2001 and is called In The Fishtank 7 ( Konkurrent's studio sessions). Our 3 troubadours joined forced with my other top band Low for 6 tracks of pure magic.
"I hear Goodnight"




I suggest you go buy their back catalogue, indie bands need you, right? And please go see them live but make sure I still have a ticket ok?

Sweet dreams

A Guide to Heartbreak music part II

So here we go, Part II of our Guide to heartbreak music, a little SOS kit ready when you need to feel understood in your pain, cuddled in your unhappiness and to help you get back up on your feet

First, you don't need violins to make a good heartbreak song, some electronic bands have even managed to create superb tracks filled of melancholy and regrets...

The most obvious one is by Everything But The Girl back in 1994 when they left their old folky style to venture into more electronic territories. Missing is a sad as a grey rainy day in an industrial town:



More recently, another duo ( Danish this time) have also crafted a perfect anthem for all the masochists amongst us who can't help but play the love martyr game - I blame the period dramas like Pride & Prejudice by the way...
Trentemoller then, on their 2010 album Into The Great Wide Yonder with the mournful voice of Josephine Philip "...Even Though You're With Another Girl"
get your tissues ready, the video is as beautiful as the song:



Alt Country is an other style that has spawned many a sad love song. I have to include Ryan Adams in here, but he has written way too many beautiful tracks to choose one, but fair's fair and  I'll go for "Come Pick Me Up" on his first album, the aptly titled Heartbreaker in 2000. It's full of regrets with hints of hope, perfect for a heartbreak. Here's a live version ( you can laugh at his dress sense too)



In a more lo-fi genre, Death Cab for Cutie too have a knack for lyrics that go straight to your heart and lacrimal glands. On Plans, their fifth album in 2005, there is a song I keep going back to when I need a good cry. "Someday You Will Be Loved" with its perfect video. Strangely enough I don't find it that hopeful...




Some old classical songs add some gravita to the heartbreak, after all love pain is as old as the world, right? Here, Nina Simone covers Screaming Jay Hawkins's "I put a spell on you" in a haunted way. If the original (1956) was rather eccentric and out of the ordinary, Simone's cover is full on melodramatics with over the top strings and rolling tears



Talking of putting a spell on a loved one, here we have the unrequited love version from English singer songwriter Matt Hales aka Aqualung. On his first self titled album in 2002 he hit the jackpot with this distressed and poisonous "Strange & Beautiful" - stalker alert!



Obviously we can't talk of heartbreak song without mentioning the one king song to rule them all. No need for an introduction, just sing along and shiver:



So, take good care of your hearts, kids, as Saint Bonnie sings it eloquently: "it's a heartache, nothing but heartache, hits you when it's too late, hits you when you're down. It's a fool's game, nothing but a fool's game. Standing in the cold rain, feeling like a clown..."

Back on the Codeine

Like so many other people I have watched and enjoyed retailer John Lewis' new Christmas ad, obviously it led me to go to youtube to listen to the original 'Please, please, please, let me get what I want' by The Smiths. It was released in 1984 and has been covered by tons of artists and used in many soundtracks.



I listened to a couple more Smith tracks like that and then, the magic of Youtube operated: on the right hand section there were some rubbish recommendations as often but...omagaaaad I have forgotten about Codeine, I used to love that band. I avidly listened to available tracks and here we are!

Codeine formed in 1989 in New York and were part of the Slowcore mouvement, like Low, Red House Painters, Galaxie 5000, Bedhead,... However, they were labelled as pioneers of a more indie type of slowcare (yeah, this is a bit silly)
So basically you have the monotonous, bleak lyrics and repetitive hypnotic guitars but with bursts of indie rock here and there. nice.

Perfect example: Sea on their 2nd album "The White Birch"



Their discography is very simple as it only encompasses 2 albums:
Frigid Star in 1990 and The White Birch 4 years later. The band, led by Stephen Immerwhar split the same year, in 1994.

3 Angels was on their first LP




The good news is that Mogwai have managed to get Immerwhar & co out of their Codeine hiding and the band will perform on May 26th at Alexandra Palace for the Mogwai curated event I'll Be You Mirror.
Hopefully they'll have fun and tour some more afterwards. we can only keep our fingers crossed.

Play it Greg, play...

This month, London born crooner Gregory Page will release his...31st album "My True Love". yups, never heard of him before? I only started following his career last year when his album Promise Of A Dream landed on my desk and, you know, crooners and me...

Give me a piano, a tortured man in a classy suit singing his love in a jazz bar and I say yes every time!


"Saturday Night Blues" by Gregory Page from Wiant on Vimeo.


I think my love for those whiskey-filled mournful songs come from my first listens of Tom Waits back Catalogue from the 70s: Closing Time (73), The Heart Of Saturday Night (74), Nighthawks at The Diner (75), Small Change (76), Foreign Affairs (77) and Blue Valentine (78)



So back to gentleman singer Gregory page then, his smooth voice and quaint, passé melodies are not for hipsters, he comes from a more traditional mould of song-writers, and probably because of that there is a great comfort in his beautifully crafted music, yeah you feel good and you can trust him with your ears and emotions, this guys will take good care of them.

Here he is playing live the first track of his new album "It's You"



This new album is his hommage to classical jazzy artists from another era like Louis Armstrong, Cole Porter and miss Billie Holiday.

In his previous album there were already some touches of old gramophone and perhaps happier times, like in this female led "My Foolish Heart", just close your eyes and you will be transported in time...




And one last one video for the road, another great live version of his "Sleeping Dogs" recorded last year for VPRO..., nighty night kids, no cold beds, and sweet dreams



PS/ once you've bought his new album also try his free iPhone app ( yup a man can long for simpler times but still be current. amen)

Love Me Baby - A Guide To Heartbreak Music Part I

So your eyes meet theirs, a connection is made and you start seeing each other. Life is easy, you have a silly smile on your face, nothing is important, you can face any problem the world throws at you, you are in love like Bright Eyes "The First Day Of My Life", with fluffy kitten flying high above rainbows on a unicorn s' back...

But then one day, you learn that he's throwing you away for a 15-year-younger-model (or 15-yr-older if he's into cougars), or you've found texts of a sexy nature to another woman on his cell or worst of all, you finally realise he actually kills the fluffy kittens at night ( Sorry male reader, I'm sure ladies do terrible things to you too, so feel free to apply the scenario that best fits your own story)
DRAMA!

At times like these we are all allowed to wallow in self pity and what do most of us do? We turn to music to soothe our pain. After all, if rich creative beautiful sexy cool people can have a broken heart, it's only normal we do too.



But what makes a good 'heartbreak song'?

1. first observation: we tend to forget any notion of taste when we have a heart in 1000 pieces. Some of the biggest torch songs have been written by those heavy metal bands in the late 80s and early 90s. Yes I'm talking about choruses as big as the band's hair, guitar solos on mountain tops and lyrics that are so very profound, every one of us can identify with it. My favourite in that genre is probably "You Don't Know What You've Got 'Till It's Gone" by Philly blues-rock-glam metal combo Cinderella



2. the lyrics: I admit I'm already a sucker for good lyrics but when I need to feel sorry for myself after a break-up, I'm always on the look-out for the perfect lyrics that fit my mood and "oh my god that's EXACTLY how I feel' moments. Music (art in general) is a powerful identification mechanism - we are never alone to feel the way we do, and it helps...
There are many contenders in this category , depending on how you feel: angry, sad, resigned, despaired, pretending to be fine, missing that horrible person who broke your heart,...or all those emotions at the same time.

Here's a selection for your perusal (this post is sponsored by Kleenex by the way)

>> For the delusionals amongst us, who still want to believe something is possible, the Penelope's of modern times will recognise themselves in this poignant Emiliana Torrini song ( esp, if like me you love red Chanel lipstick)




>> when you feel proper despair, tears rolling down your cheeks, forlorn and miserable,when you have reached rock bottom of sadness, there is nothing better (or worse?) than Soap & Skin's Fall Foliage



>> OK, OK, boys too can be left heartbroken, unrequited love is more often their playground though, they don't do despair like the ladies do. Here's to you Maxi Hecker




>> Then there's those songs, like Cat Power's Good Woman, where the lyrics just hit you straight to the throat, you play it strong, you're ok, even though you're devastated but yeah this was the best decision, right? RIGHT?




We'll cover many more themes in the next installment of A Guide To Heartbreak Music, feel free to leave your best songs in the comments


3. it's not just the lyrics, though, the way our singer means those words, the music, the silence, the whispers followed by screams... all contribute to the general effet. Take my mum, she doesn't speak English and is not fond of music, but one day I sat her in the sofa, asked her to close her eyes and played her the Jeff Buckley version of  Lilac Wine. She was in shock, she told me " I have no idea what he says but how he suffers, it makes me sad..."



4. There's also the personal element: songs or artists that meant something to your story and they hurt now, they really do. If they can have poetic lyrics and melodies full of regrets and melancholy you have a real winner.
This one is very personal so again, leave your own tracks in the comments section
Richard Hawley, always and forever..."Soldier On"




Next time, we'll go into other Heartbreak territories but that's it for now. Looking forward to hearing your best songs and opinions on this very grave subject.

I will leave you with  Peggy Lee's words

"...Then I fell in love, with the most wonderful boy in the world.
We would take long walks by the river or just sit for hours gazing into each other's eyes.
We were so very much in love.
Then one day, he went away. And I thought I'd die -- but I didn't. 
And when I didn't I said to myself, "Is that all there is to love?"

Is that all there is, is that all there is
If that's all there is my friends, then let's keep dancing.."