Desert Island album II: Humbug by The Arctic Monkeys

So, last night I had a dream about Guns n Roses despite the fact that, like everyone else, I spent the whole day playing the Beastie Boys back catalogue. Why on eartah did I dream of them?
I woke up a bit worried that I would be humming the Guns all day, I mean I loved them back in the days and they were one of the first band I REALLY got into but, well, today their tunes are still fab at beer-filled parties but maybe not as the soundtrack to a rainy Sunday in May.





My rock genes HAD to do something and put a wrong right...I felt an urge to listen on The Arctic Monkey's third album Humbug to remember all that is not cliché about rock' n roll (and I do love a good cliché or two)
Humbug then, definitely an album I'd have to have on a desert Island, just because 3 years after its release and thousands of listens later, I still discover subtleties about this magnificent piece of art and I always get that rush of excitement and pleasure. 

Not much so than on the first track of the album, my favourite track of theirs My Propeller





Turner's voice is much deeper, more menacing, whispering than on previous records, a very seductive tone indeed; he controls its effects perfectly to fit the hypnotic rhythm section.
As always the lyrics are top notch and with that modulated delivery, the band reaches what sounds to me like a prefect rock song. It always takes me on a throbbing trip and I keep wanting more...


Track number 2 was the first single, Crying Lightning; it took me a while to take it in. Musically it's a bit louder and angrier (the album is part produced by Josh Homme after all) but I finally fell in love with the lyrics: "And my thought got rude as you talked and chewed on the last of your pick' n mix" 





Ok, I admit I adore singing the chorus out loud in my flat and it feels fucking great (maybe not for my neighbours), the way each word musically falls into the other one 'Your past time consisted of the strange and twisted and deranged and I hate that little game you had called Crying Lightning" and delivered in that Yorkshire accent makes it even more perfect.


Now, we arrive at Dangerous Animals, a syncopated little number that follows the same high tempo and quality as the first 2 songs. Here the fuzzy guitar riffs are the heroes, fusing with beating drums and a warm bass line.


That fast & furious rhythm is broken up by the intro of Secret Door a more melancholic tune, still held together by strong pounding by Matt Helders who must be one of the best rock drummers out there


Now that we have our breath back, it's time to dive back into the fast and furious Potion Approaching





Much more punk rock circa 1992 than the rest of the album it's an uppercut to the jaw that turn into a vicious repetition 'yours is the only ocean", threatening to turn into a Led Zeppling homage song.


Half way trough the album Fire and the Thud sees Turner at his most seducing, telling us dirty secrets in the ear enticing the listener in his world in a song that relies more on atmosphere than brute force to make its point.


The 2nd masterpiece of the album is Cornerstone, the sad and beautiful tale of a lovelorn guy seeing his ex girlfriend everywhere he goes. Turner does dreamy as well as he does sexy.


They did a few acoustic versions for radio shows





Again, the lyrics stand out, very clever use of the English language. He's at his most precise with his observations of our every day lives.
"I elongated my lift home, Yeah I left him go the long way home. I smelt your scent on the seatbelt and kept my shortcuts to myself" 


With Dance Little Liars, we're back into the throbbing yet menacing territories that inhabit the album as a whole, with fabulous rolling drums and a great guitar solo at the end.


Penultimate track, Pretty Visitors, starts like a Nick Cave song but quickly speeds up into the rockier and heavier track of the album. Here, Turner spits his lyrics and let them click and clack with a vigour in contrast with backing vocals during the chorus that sound like they're slowed down.


Finally, The Jeweller's Hands closes this great album with a stoner note. The album was partly recorded in the desert and this song reeks of psychedelic drugs and contemplation. The bass vrooms (it should be a verb, really) and warms up everything. When the guitars emerge at the end, together with another repetitive chorus, like a mantra, it makes you just long to start playing the whole album again...





So go on, download or buy this brilliant album if you don’t own it yet and play it loud, it is a seminal album that will be played by your kids and grandkids who will ask you "hey did you like them when you were young?" Would be silly to answer no, right?

It's Friday, I'm in Love

Warning: this blogpost contains high levels of saccharine <3

It's officially spring and despite the constant rain, you can see a sparkle in people's eyes and a smile on a lot of faces. yes it's spring and tis the season to be in looooove.
Musically there are many more heartbreak songs than 'oh my god I'm so happy I'm going to explode' ones, a genre more reserved to autotuned radio pop or bands like Coplday but, even old rockers are allowed to revel in their own happiness as The Cure proved in 1992 with one of their most famous song: Friday I'm in Love



Talking of famous songs, we have the "most-covered-song-on-youtube-but-never-equalled" First Day of My Life from Bright Eyes' 2005 album I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning.
It's sweet, it's a tad naive, very hopeful and altogether brilliantly romantic!
Here's a live version




Obviously, for every occasion, there is a fitting PJ Harvey song. I usually prefer her pissed off but she does a great job at being in lust and in love. "I can't believe life is so complex when I just want to sit here and watch you undress" has got to be in the top 10 lyrics ever. This Is Love was released in 2000 in her most commercially acclaimed album Stories from the city, Stories From The Sea

 

Ok, I'm a bit greedy so here's my other PJ-In-Love favourite track: It's You from her following album Uh Huh Her in 2004.




If indie electronica is more your style, Ben Gibbard's The Postal Service have written a lovely song as B-side to single We Will Become Silhouette. Be Still My heart is all about the hopes of a bourgeoning relationship.




Another man who is consumed by love, is brit singer-songwriter Ed Harcourt on his first album Here Be Monsters in 2001. She Fell Into My Arms is a pretty song that will put a smile on your day.




Last but not least for today, my very favourite: Beth Orton's Central Reservation. 'I can still smell you on my fingers and taste you on my breath' how sexy is that? Very!




I realise there are actually quite a few happy-happy-joy-joy-i-have-a-stupid-smile-on-my-face tracks that are also musically good so give me your favourite falling in love songs and we'll do another post soon.

Enjoy Record Store Day, buy loads of music, be happy and go kiss that attractive stranger

xx

Death Grips wake up an old grumpy music lover

So there I was, lamenting my recent  lack of excitment for new music. Am I becoming too old? Too blase? Too 'yeah seen it before and got the T-Shirt'? All the music I've enjoyed recently has come from old bands most of whom I liked when I was 18 already.
The song I've obsessed about the most in 2012 is 1,5 year old, the SUPERB 'Spain' by Blonde Redhead, band formed in 93 in NYC, on their latest album Penny Sparkle



This song title is especially apt as I've been revisiting my old Spain albums, we're talking about Josh Haden's band now. They too are making a come back and will be playing Les Nuits Botaniques in May (yeah I have my ticket already, you bet!) Once again we're talking about 90s music, as Blue Moods of Spain was released in 1995.



Maybe it is because I have a fondness for slash-your-wrists-music (well I love a good rocking tune too you know) but I've been musically subdued lately and failed to get OHMYGODexcited in a while. That was it, I was just another old fart...

BUT then one day, I noticed a enthusiastic tweet from the taleted BBC reviewer and lovely bloke Mike Diver (@mikediver) he was reviewing a hip hop album by Sacramento-based trio Death Grips. He sounded so excited (and we've often had similar taste in music) that I fell compelled to hit youtube and discover what the hell he was all about. WOOOAW proper hip hop with such intensity, urgency,dissatifaction...and a sound that took a few listens to really digest.
Mike is better with words than me, so I'll let you read is review to get a sense of what that album "money store" is all about.
As for me, it feels like I've been punched in the face, the stomach and the ears and it got my heart pumping. Try it if you dare!



Single 'Guillotine' is quite astonishing and doesn't appear on Money Store, probably slightly easier to digest.



Sometimes, we need to get out of our comfort zone to get a kick in the ass and get going again. A few years ago it was Blakroc and These New Puritans who administrated said kick, today it's Death Grips and I F*cking thank them for that!

One last for the road, got your seatbelt on?  It's Blackjack



Death Grips are on Twitter and they will have a second album out later in 2012 - Money Store is in the shops now

Spain are playing the Cirque Royal on Saturday 12/05 and Josh haden is also on twitter

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..."