Aural Journal

Over and done with

2010-12-14T20:22:00.000Z

Gone with the old and ugly, that's my current motto! Sweet video, too.

A house of many rooms

2010-12-11T18:51:00.001Z

Keeping my promise of writing more about Tori Amos, my Muse, here I am today with what is perhaps my favorite album of hers: from the choirgirl hotel, a 1998 release. I still vividly remember putting it for the first time on my CD player at close to maximum volume and let its many wonders enrapture me like very few have done since.

Musically, it was a quantum leap for Tori, what with her previous album - Boys for Pele - being an almost exclusively acoustic affair, complete with harpsichords and all. This time around, Tori decided to brew a very special kind of aural magic, lending her classical piano to the drum beat and the electronica sounds. The end result still sounds today as fresh as it came out and as adventurous. Her voice was also able to reach such emotional highs that it drove me to tears in the simple space of a chord change. I clearly remember feeling dizzy for days with the whole experience and this is something that has only happened to me once. What a gift, then. My humble thanks go over to you right now, Ms Amos.

Listen to Liquid Diamonds and let yourself go.

Belting your heart out

2010-12-09T14:57:00.001Z

I know, I know, I'm always late to the game. But I've explained here before - I find it much more exciting to (re)discover these new artists just as their hype is going down and I'm therefore able to appreciate and enjoy them in a much more personal way.

I have to say that the title of this album is more than appropriate - Lungs - because this girl has some serious pipes to her credit. It's almost like she's channelling some sort of multitude of angry voices that come out of her throat all at once and the feeling throughout the album is one of exhilaration and urgency. The album is not without its faults, though, with some songs sounding much like each other and there is a variety of singing styles sorely lacking. But I guess all can be forgiven when the end result is as addicting as this.

I'm going to leave you with one of favorite tracks: Rabbit Heart (Raise it up). See you all soon.

Restless spirit

2010-11-27T21:59:00.000Z

He burned as brightly and as quickly as a match, his legacy is forever and ever like all good mavericks' works tend to be. And lately one of his songs keeps playing in my head over and over, almost like it's trying to telling me something. The thing is, I know what it is.

António Variações is currently a legend in his and my home country, Portugal. He only made two albums to his name and some TV showings and just as he was ready to embrace a much wider reach, he died. Such are the lives of mercurial talents. His works keep on being rediscovered by generation after generation and rightly so, because he was able to tap into what makes us portuguese and infuse it with a modern feel, almost like giving us a new fresh look at what we can be.

The song I referred to is called Estou Além [I'm up ahead] and for me it reflects quite perfectly that very state of an artist/person constantly unsatisfied with his/her position in the world and always on the search for something more, something other than this. How do I understand him.

The power of speech

2010-11-17T14:27:00.001Z

Another proof on how to not fall prey to the dreaded sophomore album curse. Laura Marling says she speaks because she can and we believe her all the way. This, her next after her brilliant debut, proves once and for all that she is here to stay and furthermore that she has made an album for the ages.

It's quite incredible the songwriting maturity she displays in each and every song of this follow-up, with a noticeable improvement both on the lyrics and arrangements department. It's a self-assured artist we hear now and the pathos invested in some of the songs give it gravitas and resonance in a way seldom heard. And if you think I'm going loco with the superlatives, just pick up a copy of this album and give it a try. You'd be hard pressed not to concur with me.

Listen to Darkness Descends, a quite up-beat song albeit its misleading title.

Speaking in tongues

2010-11-11T00:37:00.000Z

Coming soon...

Baby Pop

2010-11-10T12:13:00.000Z

It's been a long time since I've listened to this album and I always get a kick out of it. It's one of the most infectious retro-pop albums I've heard and it still manages to hit some high notes on the pop barometer.

Written and produced by Paradis' then beau Lenny Kravitz, this is a collection of songs that recall a whole period of time that's very much loved around these parts. Not quite recapturing the pop magnificence of the albums Gainsbourg made with Bardot and Birkin, it's still a nice try and quite a good entry in that particular musical cannon. Paradis sings it all the way through in that Lolita voice that she made all her own and it fits the festivities to a T. In short, I love it.

Listen to the hit single Be My Baby and fall in love all over again.

Wild child

2010-11-03T15:09:00.000Z

The french have somehow always managed to produce some of the most enduring and original pop albums that I can remember. I don't know how they do it. Guess they have it in their blood. And when on top of this, they channel their longstanding love of all things Americana, we have something like the album I have here for you today: Emily Loizeau's Pays Sauvage.

Sung both in french and in english, it's almost like hearing the songs a young french female pioneer composed when she first entered american shores and got in touch with "God's Country" very own soul and musical wavelengths. The feeling of the whole album is therefore very "live" and it sometimes feel like you've crashed a barn party and somehow instantly fell in love with it. The songs have a rhythm and a groove that completely permeates any room or space that you listen to. Yes, it's a winner on all fronts and I'm hooked.

Here's one of its more mellow moments: Songes [Dreams]. Take care.

The sickly-sweet smell of a rose

2010-10-25T14:57:00.003+01:00

I bet I'm not alone in saying that most of us didn't see this one coming. I mean, this smelled like a vanity project from the go: top model asks her rock star boyfriend to produce an album for her? I mean... How could they make this work and not be ridiculed? Amazingly, that's just what happened. And astoundingly, it's one of the year's best. Ladies and gentlemen, make way for a significant new artist has just walked into town.

Karen Elson is her name and she sings of things both ancient and timeless. She carries the weight of all female suffering with her and her soft and sometimes sandpaper-y voice casts spells on whomever makes an effort to really listen to her. She sings of lost loves, new loves, contradictory loves, timeless loves. And she cradles you while doing so. It's hard to imagine how effortlessly she does all this and how genuinely she does it. You just couldn't tell that by looking at her pretty pictures from her other day-job. What a pleasant surprise. And we want more, Ms Elson!

Listen to Lusana and gently fall in love with her.

A girl and a boy

2010-10-15T18:04:00.001+01:00

I just love it when I "discover" new artists in an almost casual way. I've talked about this before, about my trust in serendipity. And it occasionally produces quite exquisite things like the one I have here for you today.

Morita Douji is japanese and made a string of solo albums in the 70's which were almost like reinterpretations on the same melancholic state of mind, one fueled by apparently a loss of a friend. And that is pretty much all I know about her. And that is pretty much all I need to know to immerse myself in the gloriously sad music she made in those albums. Oh, and she always wore dark glasses. Always. Even in concerts. And she quit her career very early on.

I particularly like her third album - A Boy - because I feel that she was able to convey and fulfill all her musical ambitions in a much more accomplished way than before. Listen to You Are Trembling, my favorite track of hers at the moment. Oh, and if you think that the non-musical coda is a glitch, well, it's not. It's completely intentional and for me it only adds up to the charm this female singer has on me.

Miracle hour

2010-10-11T02:15:00.000+01:00

And here is Mr. Selway once again with a quite interesting and mysterious video. It's always good for me to see that some artists still deal with the divine in their work.

In the family way

2010-10-10T18:48:00.000+01:00

Here's one that I bet most of us weren't expecting: an album by former Radiohead drummer, Philip Selway. And an excelent one, at that. Mostly an acoustic affair, it manages to both impress us with the consistent quality of its songcraft and the emotion with which it is delivered. A keeper, then.

Galaxies away from the music his former band used to make, this is an album that feels homegrown and as a result, quite intimate. It's almost like the time had come to put out all those songs that he'd been keeping in his drawer that served as an escape to all the avant-garde musical explorations of his former day job. And we're all glad he did. At least I am. This is a very gentle sounding album, much in the vein of the one on the below post, its difference being on the musical ambients Selway manages to conjure, which are in turns mysterious and at times romantic.

Listen to The Witching Hour, the album closer.

Norwegian wood

2010-10-03T20:07:00.000+01:00

Here's a band I've been warming to quite recently, norwegian duo Kings of Convenience. Paraphrasing Vanilla Sky, they had me at the Simon and Garfunkel vocal harmonies. I was literally and instantly hooked on their sweet sounds. And I've been rotating this, their second album - Riot On An Empty Street - quite heavily for the past few days.

Their main appeal is actually quite simple and straightforward. It stems for their exquisite talent in crafting the gentlest melodies I've heard in quite a long time. Because that's just what this is: a collection of gentle songs, gently sung by - yes, why not? - two very gentle men. It's the kind of record you put on a Sunday morning and slowly get into the groove of a new day, preferably spent at home cuddling your pet(s) and drinking latte in front of the TV or on the front porch.

As a taster, I leave you with Misread, one of my favorite tracks at the moment.

Sweet farewell

2010-09-27T14:46:00.000+01:00

I've been listening to this wonderful song for days on end now and I still haven't tired myself of it. It's another of those cases where you find something truly sublime amidst a soundtrack noone's ever heard of before. In this case it's Riz Ortolani's soundtrack for Prosperi and Jacopetti's Addio Zio Tom a.k.a. Goodbye Uncle Tom, a powerful indictment of racism and suppression of human values made by the "godfathers" of the Mondo movie, a kind of exploitative documentary exposing some of the grossest things human beings are capable of.

It's actually one of the most schocking movies ever made and sometimes the message it wants to convey isn't quite that well translated into images like their author's would've wanted them to be but it's there for all to see and judge. The music however is glorious and that's always been the main paradox with maestro Ortolani: no matter the amount of gore and blood on display, the melodies he creates are always grandly romantic which, I personally think, only helps to stress their power by way of contrasting them.

The song I have here for you today is called Oh My Love and is sung by Katyna Ranieri. And it's wonderful. Take a listen.

Equinox

2010-09-24T19:02:00.000+01:00

I'm not trying to provoke any cosmic backlash unto me but the fact is that today is Equinox and here I am talking about a record by Oberon called Midsummer Night's Dream.

I just found it by simple hazard (I prefer to call it serendipity) and fell in love with it. It's extremely rare (I think only 150 original copies were made!) and it features some of the loveliest folk sounds you'll likely to hear in quite some time. For seasoned folk lovers, maybe you won't find here nothing new but in my opinion, it has that one ingredient that separates it from most of what you've heard so far: magic.

I especially like the treatment they made to one of Debussy's classic pieces: Syrinx. I could hear it ad eternum and imagine myself daydreaming in a meadow somewhere. Maybe I just will.

Just like this

2010-09-20T16:48:00.001+01:00

Lovely video for Headless Heroes' Just Like Honey. Very evocative of their own particular brand of sound. Stay safe.

To see the world in a flower

2010-09-19T18:28:00.002+01:00

One of the initial goals of this little blog was to kind of promote awareness to music that is often times underevaluated and unknown, while at the same time reevaluating that same music and getting the readers to listen to it with new ears. Today I bring to you something I'm quite sure only some of you have ever heard of. At least, I assume so.

Stevie Wonder's Journey Through The Secret Life of Plants began its very life as a soundtrack for a documentary of the same name which in turn was based on a book of the same name. Plus, it had the very ungrateful task of following one of Wonder's high watermarks - Songs In The Key Of Life, which many consider to be his masterpiece. So, a difficult album case study. However, not only does it succeed beautifully in following that almost miraculously produced album, it even surpasses it at times, which is no mean feat at all from whichever angle you see it. And for as hard as I try to explain it here with mere words, you simply have to listen to it to fully understand just how far he was pushing his production and songwriting skills at the time. Sometimes, it feels like an aural orgasm, especially if you listen to it with your headphones on.

For proof, try the gorgeous Come Back As A Flower. See you soon.

Sonic assault

2010-08-29T15:07:00.001+01:00

Genre-hopper extraordinaire Ryuichi Sakamoto's Smoochy album is one I find myself listening to from time to time always with a renewed sense of wonder. It's almost like I keep finding new things about it everytime I listen to it.

And this is a crucial album if you want to find out what this man's music is all about and how it got where it is today. In it are the seeds of everything he went on to do, be it his electronic explorations with Alva Noto, his acoustic albums with piano and strings, or even his ongoing romance with bossa nova and other latin american music languages. It's all here.

I'm going to leave you with one of my favorite tracks - Bibo No Aozora - one that has been reworked by him in multiple ways in the past and always successfully, which only goes to prove just how simple in their complexity his songs really are. And in this lies his greatest gift. Enjoy it.

Thief of Hearts

2010-08-17T11:37:00.001+01:00

If you haven't heard of this man, shame on you. But don't stress. Here's your opportunity to do so. And prepare to fall in love with one of the most beautiful male voices ever to grace a recording studio.

Ney Matogrosso is a brazilian artist with quite a long career on his shoulders and who's still going from strength to strength with every tour he undertakes. Yep, he's still touring and one of my biggest sorrows is never to have caught him live, even though he's been to my country many times. I'll try and reassess that the next time he'll be here. For sure!

Bandido is one of the many albums he recorded in the 70's after going solo (Secos e Molhados was his first musical project) and one that deserves to be better known. Combining popular and traditional brazilian music with a latin american twist, this album manages to seduce its listener and enchant us in a way very few can. I could choose any track to represent it here but right now I'm absolutely in love with his rendition of Gaivota (Seagull). So here it is.

Head and shoulders

2010-08-12T21:10:00.000+01:00

I admit to having a strange ritual choosing my aural selections: frequently, I choose them visually. Confused? Don't be. I explain: for me, album artwork is almost as important as the musical contents. I cannot take them apart and I often times feel disappointed when a great album jacket doesn't correspond musically or vice-versa. This one here today is not the case, thankfully.

Headless Heroes is a project by a very eclectic New York combo headlined by singer Alela Diane who decided to assemble a collection of songs of famous contemporary songwriters and do some covers. The Silence of Love is the final result and it is beguiling. Since I'm not that familiar with the original versions, it was almost like hearing them for the first time ever, not even registering the fact that they are in fact cover versions.

I'm going to leave you with To You, my current favorite track of this, an album I'm sure I'll give a lot of spins to.

Child Play

2010-07-20T17:41:00.000+01:00

I told you I was in love with her, didn't I? So bear with me.

Acting the lover

2010-07-19T20:16:00.000+01:00

Somehow, I find it hard to leave french-speaking territories music-wise whenever I start listening to their music. There's something quite intangible about the way they sing, the way they feel and the way I feel them singing. And let's be honest for a second here: it's hot singing in french.

Today's singer is Salvatore Adamo, more widely known as simply Adamo, a very popular singer/songwriter from the 60's to the 70's that managed to pen quite a considerable number of hits in his heyday. Although I'm not sure, I am almost certain this is one artist that I can imagine my mother listening to the radio to when she was younger and the world in brighter colors. French music was constantly in the airwaves in my home country some 40 odd years ago, so it's not completely impossible that she did hear him singing a song or two. I'll have to ask her.

In the meantime, listen to Mon Cinema, an impassioned chanson with a funky bass line only the french are capable of. See you soon.

Pirate Love

2010-07-16T21:34:00.001+01:00

I've fallen completely head over wheels over this canadian fille... A child prodigy and piano player since she was 3 years old, she started composing very early on and here it is, her debut album. And, as usual with me, I've just found out about it and now I'm raving about her to all my friends.

Sometimes, I really don't mind to discover artists this way, when they're about to release a new work (which must be her case any month now) and the promotion for the current album has dwindled and silenced. It's almost like finding out about a well-kept secret and being the last one to know. Wait - maybe that's not so good after all... Oh, heck, I really don't mind just as long as secrets are as sweet and enchanting as these.

I'm going to leave you with the album closer: C'était salement romantique. Stay safe.

Mondo Italia

2010-07-11T18:34:00.001+01:00

I've just found out about this amazing album through some friends of mine. I honestly (and foolishly) thought that Mike Patton, of Faith No More fame, had sort of abandoned his musical career after the band's breakup but I had no idea how wrong I was! He has apparently been involved in a myriad of musical projects with other bands, artists and movie soundtracks so I guess the man is here to stay, after all. And this particular album - Mondo Cane - might just prove to be his biggest claim to musical legitimacy he'll ever do. I sincerely hope he can prove me wrong because now I really want to know what he's going to do next.

Mondo Cane was apparently inspired by the fact of Patton having married an italian girl and moved in to Italy where he started to realize that italian radio stations filled the air with old italian pop songs. Which I simply love, in case you haven't noticed yet! This album is a sort of hommage to those years and those songs and that kind of sound that I guess you can instantly recognize in some Morricone soundtracks. And that's exactly where I'm going to leave you: a rendition of Deep Deep Down, a track that can be found on the soundtrack of Danger: Diabolik, a key movie of those times. And prepare to be amazed.

Crash! Boom! Bang!

2010-07-01T20:26:00.000+01:00

I've been waiting for the right moment to write about Neil Hannon's The Divine Comedy new album - Bang Goes The Knighthood - but I guess now's as good a moment as any. This is pop music for all seasons, so let's start the month on a high note, shall we?

This is their first album on their own label, Divine Comedy Records, and the tenth under their moniker and it also marks a sort of stripping down of their usually string-laden songs. While a part of me is kind of sad at the lack of big, dramatic numbers, it's also kind of refreshing to see them try other aural landscapes and come out unscathed and renewed at the end.

However, I have to say that I'm still not completely won over by this new offering, though I'm starting to feel that it's slowly sinking in without me noticing it. Which is always a good thing. I'm going to leave you for now with a delicious duet: Island Life.

Time to kill some time...

2010-06-25T14:11:00.003+01:00

...in the best way possible, that is. Take a look at the new Charlotte Gainsbourg video. Kinda reminds you of her recent movie, doesn't it?

Like a glove

2010-06-24T20:30:00.005+01:00

The funny thing about listening to film soundtracks is that you are liable to find something exquisite laying there, just waiting to mesmerize you for days and weeks on end. Karl-Heinz Schäfer's Les Gants Blancs du Diable is one such case.

If you've never heard of french fille Leonie, you may consider yourself automatically forgiven: she is just being rediscovered thanks to the ever-surprising world of the blogosphere and is creating a small phenomenon. I must say I'm intrigued and would love to see an official compilation of her recordings released in the near future. Her voice is quirky, child-like and dreamy and these characteristics alone are enough for me to enjoy her without even wanting to know who she is. Which I won't. Oh, by the way, this following track would've fit like a glove in the compilation I posted about just below.

So, without further ado, here she is, singing Couleurs. Enjoy.

Soiled Sounds

2010-06-19T12:49:00.001+01:00

I'm crazy for a killer compilation. I make them myself to listen to while driving and always look for the rare and the interesting. And when compilations like these come your way, bringing together the cream of the crop of some of the most avant-garde musicians of France's 70's music scene, you know you cannot go wrong. And when you know that the guys behind such compilations are Dirty Sound Systems (of Dirty Edits Series fame), you know you're in for a win-win situation.

Dirty French Psychedelics is the name of today's compilation but they could've named it Escargots & Bistrots that it wouldn't change its massive appeal laying within. From the obscure to the less obscure (you won't find anything mainstream here, that's for sure), this amazing compilation takes you on an aural ride like very few I've listened to recently. Maybe it's my unabashed love for french retro kicking in, maybe it's the fact that I find the sound so recognizable in no small amount thanks to years and years of listening to bands like Air and singers like Gainsbourg, I don't know. What I do know is that this compilation is fast becoming a precious item in my aural library.

But let's hear some music. Here's Nino Ferrer's Looking For You. Which I am.

Poetic bravery

2010-06-13T17:31:00.001+01:00

I am pretty sure only a small minority of you have heard or know about Glenmor. To this day he remains a national treasure to all french bretons and for no small reason. Hailed as one of the greatest poets that ever lived there, he ended his professional life receiving accolade after accolade. But that is not why I chose to talk about him here today and why I made this particular album - Cet Amour-là... - the aural recommendation of this month.

When I first listened to it, I was a bit taken aback at the strength of his voice and at the complete bravery of the way he delivered the words of the songs. It's something between singing and poetry recital. But the amazing thing is it works, no matter how high-browed in a beatnik kinda way it may seem at first. Which it can be, at times.

Glenmor is the nom-de-plume of Emile Le Scanf, and it means Earth-Sea in breton. Having traveled a-plenty when he was young, he then decided to dedicate his life to poetry and music. This is just one example of his large output. And I simply love that cover! Listen to the title track and have a great Sunday while you're at it!

Day for night

2010-06-10T19:58:00.000+01:00

Rufus Wainwright's new album - All Days Are Nights: Songs for Lulu - is a rare thing in pop music today. A veritable treasure trove of meticulously composed piano songs, it manages to not be repetitive, self-indulgent or vain. It is instead beguiling, wondrous and completely addicting. But not at first. It takes some listening before it all starts to make sense and for all its dormant beauties to come out from within the intricate patterns of the songs. Which is always a good sign, in my book.

According to him, this particular album serves as a sort of sorbet between courses, in which he takes a break from all the heavy instrumentation that sometimes plagues his other previous albums (though I've never minded that...) and goes back to the basics, in this case, the piano-based song (he being a big fan of the instrument and of the opinion that the piano song is the basis of all pop music, going back to the german lieder as a tradition).

I went to see him live last month and the show was great, just him and the piano and it had two very distinct parts. In the first part, he played the whole of the new album! Every single song! Talk about spoiling the fans. Anyway, enough chit-chat, let's hear some music. Here's my favorite: The Dream.

The rise of the undead

2010-06-05T17:30:00.000+01:00

This new Goldfrapp video is totally bonkers! It's like taking an aerobics video from the 80's and mixing it with some good old black mass and some vampires for good measure! Take a look and see it for yourself!

French poupée

2010-06-04T12:44:00.005+01:00

I've been meaning to write about this album for so long now that it's almost criminal it took me this long. And it's also criminal that this wonderful hommage to the wonderful yé-yé music that is so in vogue again these days has been so overlooked. Let's try and reassess that, shall we?

This isn't Emmanuelle Seigner's first foray into music but I think it's safe to say that this is her official debut as a force to be reckoned with in the current french musical scene. Practically all the tracks are killers and for me the best thing about it is that you feel as if you're listening to something very familiar even though none of the tracks are covers. And I personally couldn't ask for anything more.

I'm going to leave you with a delicious duet between Seigner and her husband, Mr. Roman Polanski himself. And if you happen to be reminded of another very famous french duet, don't feel bad about it. It's all good. Listen then to Qui êtes-vous?.

Dolling it up

2010-06-03T21:34:00.002+01:00

This being a blog about what music I'm currently listening to, I have to make a guilty confession: I've not been 100% truthful to my readers. I explain. I've been obsessing about Tori Amos musical career for almost 20 years now and I've just realized I've yet to write a post about her. So here it is. And I promise to write more posts on her in the future as penitance.

After the last two posts, it only seems fitting that the Amos album I choose to write first about is American Doll Posse, this one being about the many roles women play in the society, while at the same time using five alter egos (the titular Posse) to sing about what was going on in America at the time of its release. The result is a sprawling double-album of 23 tracks that manage to run the full gammit of piano-led ballads to schizophrenic rock extravaganzas. And schizophrenia is the key word here because Amos is able to encompass so many styles and music signatures in the songs contained in this album that sometimes you feel that you're listening to five different albums at the same time.

The end result is an album that pushes our perceptions of what female singer/songwriters should be all about: fearlessly provocative and endlessly talented in her case. I leave you with Big Wheel, the first single that had very limited airplay due to the inclusion of the acronym MILF in the bridge... Just goes to show how far behind we all still are...

Forever Springtime

2010-05-31T21:48:00.002+01:00

How can you not love an american girl from California whose love of 60's french pop is such that she releases album after album of old yé-yé covers draped in gloriously retro album jackets? It's practically impossible, isn't it? Well, her name is Elinor Blake, more widely known as April March. Delicious, isn't it?

The song I bring you here today has made her famous by being featured in two movie soundtracks but there's definitely much more to discover from this evergreen chanteuse. Of curious note is the fact that she has worked as an animator in some pretty high profile projects, namely Pee-Wee's Playhouse and the opening credits and video for Madonna's Who's That Girl. Pretty good, huh?

But I'm going to leave you with the french version of Chick Habit, the Gainsbourg penned Laisse Tomber Les Filles, made famous by another very well-known chanteuse - France Gall. See you soon!

Sweet sixties

2010-05-24T11:52:00.004+01:00

To me, it's endlessly amazing how incredibly frenetic and vivacious the Yé-yé scene was. I seem to be able to find a "new" singing girl every month. The amazing thing about that is that the level of quality of the songs is most of the times very high. Infectious pop in all its glory.

Today's fille is one Annie Philippe, which had a brief but nonetheless hit-filled career. She somehow managed to make her mark among much bigger names than her on a market that was over-populated with female singers with arguably better song material than her (yes, I'm talking about Claudine Longet, France Gall and even Zouzou). In fact, her voice register is highly reminiscent of one Ms. Gall and if you're fan of the latter, you're sure to instantly become very fond of the former.

Philippe was very fortunate, though to have one Paul Mauriat as the arranger of most of her songs and this is where most of her appeal lies, as I'm sure that there are plenty of his admirers out there. But enough chatting - listen to one of her greatest hits: C'est La Mode.

Cricket masters

2010-05-11T21:22:00.002+01:00

Absolutely adorable video for Duckworth Lewis Method's Neil THE DIVINE COMEDY Hannon and Thomas PUGWASH Walsh. More on this eccentric little project one of these days.

Palatian Pop

2010-05-10T21:22:00.004+01:00

And speaking of beautiful male voices, here's one that ties the post about The Divine Comedy written below and the next video I shall be posting very soon: Scott Walker and his second solo album, simply titled 2.

I've listened so much to his music and voice that he's almost part of my own DNA. He touches all the right nerves and spots and I really feel transported to a very special place in my mind whenever I listen to one of his songs. This album in particular has a handful of my favorite songs from him but I guess I could've picked any album from the first part of his career (which continues to be the benchmark of the continuous fascination he provoques on audiophiles, although he'd be very mad at these words if he read them, with all the avant-garde records he's been putting out recently) and I wouldn't go wrong.

If you like lushly orchestrated pop ballads sung in the most melifluous of voices, this is the record for you. And I leave you with a masterpiece: Plastic Palace People. Until the next post, be safe.

By the waterside

2010-05-08T21:17:00.004+01:00

I just love it when I listen to a new band or sound and it instantly clicks. That's exactly what it happened with Austin, Texas based band Shearwater. They've recently released a new album but I'm still going through their back catalogue and finding a bounty of reasons to write about each and every one of them in here. Today, I'm focusing on their second album proper, Rooks.

Rooks finds Shearwater perfecting their preciously woven sound with even greater epic sounding songs and wide scope-like musical canvas. And then there is that voice. My God. It's been a long time since I've heard such a crystalline sounding male voice, perfectly in command of the song's emotional curves and thematic arches, frail and delicate one second and brave and commanding the other. I'm hooked.

I'm going to leave you with one of its grander moments, The Snow Leopard. Please enjoy it.

Comic genius

2010-04-29T14:07:00.004+01:00

Something strange happens when The Divine Comedy release a new album. Unknowingly to the impending release, I start listening to their records almost as a compulsion and then when I go to their official website to find out what they've been up to recently, I discover that they are about to put out a new album in the near future. Serendipity, they call it.

This is their last one and its title - Victory for the Comic Muse - is a nod to their very first and quite rare album - Fanfare for the Comic Muse - a quite different and very indie-sounding recording that is very much at odds with their following releases.

Victory (...) sees them return to their comic sensibility at its best, combining satirical lines with british wit and heartfelt lyrics often through the course of a single song. It's a trait that its mastermind, Neil Hannon, has been demonstrating again and again to be his main gift and reason behind the band's success. And noone does it quite like him. His character driven songs woven through exquisitely melodic songs are quite a treasure in today's music scene. Not to mention his amazing voice, seemingly intact since he started his career.

I'm going to leave you with my favorite song of the album, the affecting Lady Of A Certain Age. Brilliant, that's all I have to say.

Three Cheers!

2010-04-22T14:52:00.002+01:00

I love when musicians get all adventurous and grow tired of mainstream acceptance and go out and make the biggest follies that only the most unique minds are capable of. The funny thing is that this sometimes result in the biggest hits of their career. Welcome then to the new phase of Ms. Newsom's musical journey.

Losing her voice and rising up from the ashes with a triple-album (no less) is no mean feat. To anyone's standard, I'm sure. But that's just what Joanna Newsom did and she's receiving high praises from both the critics and (most importantly) the buying public. And although it's a daunting work when one begins to analyse it (and listen to it...), it becomes quite clear right from the start that this lady is special. And that she cooks with ingredients sagely brewed from the most mysterious sources.

It's quite a journey to listen to this album from beginning to end and some might want to take it in chunks. Or one record at a time. But it's in cases like these that I remember my muse Tori Amos' cunning words: "Listening to a record is like making love; if you can't endure listening to a long record, maybe you cannot make love for that long, either". Listen to Autumn. See you soon.

Autumn

Fruit Tree

2010-04-17T12:25:00.000+01:00

All good things come in threes... stay tuned...

The child and the fly

2010-04-16T12:58:00.004+01:00

Continuing in French Lands of the Weird Instrumentals, this one I bring you here today is essential listening to anyone interested in Gainsbourg and funky imaginary soundtracks. Confused? Don't be.

Jean-Claude Vannier's L'Enfant Assassin des Mouches (The Child Fly-killer) was recorded during the sessions for Gainsbourg's classic masterpiece, Histoire de Melody Nelson. Vannier being Gainsbourg right-hand man during those historical sessions (he was responsible both for the production and string arrangements), he then went off to make this extremely other-worldly album that is at times innaccessible, bewildering, mesmerizing and polarizing. It's one of those that you have to be in the right mood for it or you'll find it completely bonkers and instantly dismiss it. Which you definitely mustn't.

It's a concept album before concept albums became the "thing" to do and it tells the story of a small child travelling through the Fly Kingdom (concept by Gainsbourg, no less). I'm going to leave you with one of its most accessible tracks: Danse des mouches noires gardes du roi, which roughly translates as Dance of the king's guards' black flies. See you soon.

Moody moog

2010-04-13T19:25:00.003+01:00

And while we're on synthesizer music around here (see below), why not remember a true classic of the genre? And here it is: Jean-Jacques Perrey's Moog Indigo, a trail-blazing work of unlimited fun whenever you put it on.

Perrey started his career by selling Ondioline synthesizers and from there to making albums with another very famous synthesizer - the titular Moog - was a shortcut. Funny thing is, he never intended or pretended to be part of some kind of avant-garde movement with a grand scheme of things. His only goal was to popularize the electronic instrument and let's just say that he did more than alright with it!

I'm going to leave you with one of my favorite tracks from this enormously influencial album (just ask any rap or hip-hop artist about the Moog and you'll get some pretty awkward smiles in return...) and while I'm at it, I'm going to wish you a great week. Listen to E. V. A..

Head over heels

2010-04-09T11:47:00.002+01:00

Goldfrapp are seemingly incapable of making a bad record. Head First marks the fifth time they put out an album that is instantly catchy, addictive and barrier-pushing. What are they on and please can we have it, too?

This time around, they're back in time some 20 odd years and it's synth pop and breathy vocals all the way. 80's galore in full-on mode. And amazingly, it works. I have to confess not being particularly fond of that decade, so it's a bit of a surprise when I find that Head First has become my favorite pop record from the 80's, except that it was recorded last year!

Plus, it has the correct total number of tracks - 9, which is all one can take of hearing synthesizers going bonkers and Casio-like beats. The influences are all there to be seen and they do not try to hide them (thankfully) and it makes the record all the more fun for it. I'm going to leave you with Alive, currently my favorite track from Head First and wish you a great weekend - this is the perfect soundtack for that!

Getting better all the time

2010-04-05T00:30:00.003+01:00

Camera Obscura's follow-up to the immensely enjoyable Let's Get Out Of This Country finds them again on familiar territory: exploring big soundscapes, keeping in mind the Phil Spector legacy and soothing us with the lead vocalist feminine ramblings on men, love and anything that passes her mind. You don't change a winning team, that's for sure.

My Maudlin Career is a perfectly respectable follow-up to one of the best records of late and, if anything, it even succeeds the impossible: it one-ups it. Maybe the songs are not as easily recognizable this time around but that is just a question of letting them enter your consciousness and soon after, you'll start humming them almost unawarely.

Much like She & Him's recent Volume 2, this album surprises in its unwillingness to change. All they have to offer is more of the same and I, for one, thank them for that. I'm going to leave you with the title track - My Maudlin Career, for those not keeping track... - and wish a great week all around.

In the Navy

2010-04-01T12:51:00.001+01:00

Camera Obscura are at it again: making blissfully perfect pop songs. Enjoy the video.

Lady from the prairy

2010-03-30T14:15:00.004+01:00

This is Emily Bindiger's first and only album on a career that encompassed music, film, TV and stage. Really worth your while, too and a shame that she didn't produce more of this wild, spiritual and brave music.

There hasn't yet been a CD reissue of this, her eponymous album with a cover that is strangely reminiscent of another one I posted here earlier. Bindiger singing and songwriting is very coherent throughout the record, with a voice and melodic style that both reminds us of country and irish traditional music. I guess it must be in her genes or something because she is able to travel back and forth these two musical sources with extreme ease sometimes in the course of a single song.

Take a listen to Jesus Said, a wild journey into religion and spiritual freedom and see what you think.

The Zombies and the Oracle

2010-03-29T23:04:00.005+01:00

And speaking of bands that can be filed under the "Baroque Pop" musical section, here's what's probably the most famous of them all: The Zombies.

But, amazingly, it almost was not to be so. Odessey and Oracle is now considered a pop music classic, filled to the brim with gems of compositional brilliance and highly elaborate arrangements. To think that they had such shortage of money at the time of its recording, they were still able to produce high quality material that still sounds as strong today as it did then. Talk about working on a shoe string! And the fact that their own record company didn't believe in the material they were producing! It just goes to show...

After being rediscovered by a multitude of new fans and being hailed as a "lost" masterpiece, they never stopped. Shame that it took them so long. Oh, well - better late than ever, I suppose. I leave you today with A Rose For Emily. Bye.

Rive gauche

2010-03-28T18:56:00.003+01:00

The good thing about music is that no matter how much songs or albums you listen to, there are still thousands upon thousands more to discover. So, I guess it's really up to you to go on a journey that lasts a lifetime, a journey that sooner or later it's going to give you something strange or beautiful (or both) that you'll treasure for years to come. And although today's recommendation isn't earth shattering or genius-like, I'm glad I found them.

The Left Banke were one of many 60's american bands that got together and cut an album or two, only to break-up and disband a few years later. The CD era gave these "lost" bands and their records a second life and being rediscovered was both a blessing to them as to us, because otherwise we wouldn't even know about them if it wasn't for those shiny compact discs. Anyway, but on to the music.

Baroque Pop was a term coined to describe pop music that featured heavy strings arrangements and the use of instruments often associated with that movement, such as the harpsichord. The results are both magical and ethereal and very vintage sounding. The Left Banke were one of many bands that used that particular sound to express their musical sensibilities and after listening to their songs, you get the feeling that suddenly you've tapped into a whole other aural dimension, one filled to the brim with imagery reminding us of old houses, green gardens, dusty books and mossy trees. Just my kind of place, actually. See what you think: here's Pretty Ballerina.

Second coming

2010-03-24T17:47:00.002Z

Their Volume 1 was probably my favorite of all the albums I listened to last year, so it was with extreme anticipation that I awaited She & Him's "difficult" second outing, apropriately titled, Volume 2. Thankfully, that sophomore album curse passed them by, because this is a killer album on all fronts and further proof that Zooey Deschanel is a wonderful songwriter.

This time around, the songs are more ambitious in scope, production values and vocal abilities. It's as if they took the best parts of the first album and what made it so good and expanded on all that. The final results are both winning and enduring. Yes, it's got a bit of sunshine pop, a dash of Beach Boys and a good measure of perfectly crafted pop songs that make you feel like everyday is Summer. This is one album I'm certain I'll keep on listening for a long, long time.

I'm going to leave you with Thieves, the wonderful album opener. Keep happy!

Sunny song

2010-03-22T00:02:00.002Z

The perfect song to start the Springtime with a smile in your face! I am so glad that Zooey and Ward are back I can't hardly contain myself!

Plop! Boum! Crash!

2010-03-21T01:16:00.003Z

Another great compilation of french yé-yé songs, this time focusing on the years between 1968-71 and featuring both female and male singers. Pretty wild stuff in here! And great cover art, too designed by the french Andy Warhol, Guy Peellaert.

One other great thing about this compilation is that all of the tracks were on CD for the first time when this came out. Wonderful public service, don't you think? The music, unsurprisingly, retained the same charm and the same power to affect your senses and move your hips. Oh, and there's plenty of undiscovered gems to get you glued to your computer for hours on end just to know that little bit more about that particular track from that particular artist you just cannot get enough of.

One such example is this, La Drogue, by duo Messieurs Richard de Bordeaux & Daniel Beretta. Fantastic song it is, too. See you soon.

Swing along

2010-03-20T12:14:00.002Z

The world of french yé-yé music is seemingly an inexhaustible source of groovy beats, funky melodies and hip girls. This compilation you see on your left - Swinging Mademoiselles - is only one of many you can find out there and it's as good a starting point into that wonderful world of mini-skirts and bob haircuts as any on the market.

The singer I've decided to highlight today is Arlette Zola, a swiss born chanteuse that had a long string of hits and even tried her luck a couple of times on the Eurovision Song contest, always achieving high final chart positions, though never winning. I'm afraid I'm too young to remember seeing her on that ubiquitous TV show, so I guess I'll have to resource myself to some YouTube searching in order to see her perform live.

I leave you for now with one of her biggest hits, Je Suis Folle De Tant T'Aimer, a brisky but daring sounding little number. Enjoy it.

Happy days

2010-03-16T13:54:00.005Z

Following Ms. Berry's video post down below, I knew I had to dig deeper into this because that song kept playing in my head for many days on end, an already familiar sign to me. And so I have. And I'm so glad I did so.

Berry's Mademoiselle, is one of the best debut albums I've ever heard. I still can't put my finger on what it is that makes these french chanteuses so endearing to the ears and so soothing to the heart that listens. But whatever it is, Ms. Berry's has it in spades. And the word here really is "soothing". Her voice sounds like she's whispering to one's ear while she's singing her little ditties, whilst a delicately fingered acoustic guitar completes the enchantment. "Enchanting" is another word you can perfectly apply here.

I'm going to leave you with Le Bonheur (Happiness) and wish you a perfectly happy day.

Beyond her age

2010-03-15T19:07:00.005Z

This post was inspired by my grandmother. She is, to my knowledge, the greatest Gigliola Cinquetti fan I know of. I knew I had to delve further into this. She remembers to this day the first time she saw her at the Eurovision song contest when she won first prize with her worldwide hit Non Ho L'Età (Too Young To Love was the english title). After hearing it on the player below, you too will remember it forever. It's a lovely tune. Simple, unaffected, sincere, a song for the ages. A timeless classic, no less. She was barely sixteen at the time, but she truly sounded mature enough to carry such an emotionally charged song. Everyone thought that too and that's why she won and went on to achieve hit after hit on an international career that spanned through decades.

If you buy any of her compilations, please be sure you are getting the original versions, as she re-recorded some of her hits later on and these do not sound the same as the originals. The one you see on the left is a Best Of LP that came out in Portugal in 1974. Being portuguese and born on that pivotal year, I found it to be perfectly appropriate for this particular post.

And here she is again, with her hit song: Gigliola Cinquetti! A round of applause!

Up, up and away!

2010-03-12T00:02:00.004Z

Still in outerspace territory, here's the spanking brand new video by sonic adventurers Goldfrapp! I'm loving the cheesy 80's vibe!

Immortal being

2010-03-11T00:18:00.005Z

I'd like to go full circle with this string of posts dedicated to glam rock and close off with Jobriath's sophomore and ultimately last album, Creatures From The Street. Made just one year after his mercurial debut album, here we see the singer/songwriter venturing himself into whole new musical worlds and reaching far into his own private galaxy of sound sensibilities (sorry about the space metaphors but with Jobriath I guess it just comes naturally, as I'm sure a lot of you out there will agree).

I personally think this is a much better album than the first one, more sonically accomplished and a lot more adventurous. We can even find traces and hints of what he could've done next hadn't his career been cut off short by lack of promotion and proper album sales. There's also a couple of big orchestra numbers that might have been included on that musical he said to have been composing at the time of his death. Great stuff it is, too.

I'm going to leave you with my favorite track from the album, the enigmatically titled Ecubyan. Take care, y'all.

Soulmates

2010-03-10T23:06:00.006Z

Another soundtrack that I personally think is worthy of your complete attention, especially if you're into the sort of music I've been recommending in the last few posts, is the one for Brian De Palma's glam rock fantasy meets Goethe's Faust, Phantom of the Paradise.

The music, composed by Paul Williams who also plays a quite faustian part in the movie, moves from 50's beach pop, to glitzy glam, to mainstream pop in the course of the film's duration. It's quite the ride and it really helps the storytelling, which is another way of saying that this is one of the best rock musicals to be found anywhere. Fans of the Rocky Horror Picture Show should really get to know this lesser-known but nonetheless great little movie as I'm sure they'll love it just as well.

But let's let the music do the talking. Listen to Old Souls, a wonderful ballad sung by the main female character played by talented actress Jessica Harper. Love her voice, too.

Little towns

2010-03-09T21:08:00.004Z

Apparently, Jobriath wrote or was writing a musical called Pop Star at the time of his death and only God knows how great that would have been had he finished it. I don't know if John Cameron Mitchell knew about this or not but Hedwig and the Angry Inch I guess could pass as that unfinished musical. At least in my mind, anyway.

Again, Glam Rock scene in all its glitzy glory, lots of funky clothes, great, great songs from beginning to end and a must-have soundtrack for any discerning music fan. Mitchell also plays the main part and he does it memorably, infusing his performance and the delivery of every song with such emotion and passion, it becomes a sort of cathartic experience not only for him I'm sure, but for the viewer as well.

"Transexuality gone wrong" never seemed so glamorous and heart-breaking at the same time and you can't help sympathizing with the main character even if you try. Its most poignant moment, though is this: Wicked Little Town.

Space archangel

2010-03-08T20:28:00.004Z

Inspired by Klaus Nomi I decided to go all out on the glam rock scene on this post and a few further ones that I've got planned for you.

I first got introduced to this particular genre of music when I saw the glitzy and marvelous Velvet Goldmine when it came out. Directed by one of the few true artists working in the business right now - Todd Haynes - it managed to perfectly convey the magic and the very particular brand of audacity of the Glam Rock bands of the time.

Unbeknownst to me until very recently, one of its major inspirations was Jobriath and if you've seen the movie, you can spot a similar album cover to the one on your left when a character goes to buy it at the record store and takes it home to listen to it in the comfort and privacy of his bedroom. Now that I've got it and have listened to it (Jobriath's debut album, that is), I can see and understand why he's worthy of being resurrected and given such a big spotlight: it's a great little album all around.

His life and career was meteoric (much like his music, too) and his flame burned bright and sadly, much too fast. Being the first openly gay singer/songwriter didn't help either. Or maybe it did, when all was said and done. But enough chatter - let's listen to Space Clown, one of the highlights of the album. Take care.

As light as Air

2010-03-06T14:13:00.002Z

Fact. Air's new album might not be one of their best offerings so far. Fact. Their new video, on the other hand, is definitely one of their best yet. Watch it.

Sad songs

2010-03-05T15:53:00.003Z

Don't know if it's the weather but today I'm feeling a bit melancholic and somewhat depressed. So what better time to hear some good old dramatic virtuosity courtesy of german legend Klaus Nomi, right?

I don't have much more to say than what hasn't already been said about him, so I will not try to go that way. I will say this, though: he is without a peer in what he did. Noone before or after has crafted such a niche and unique corner in the history of music and we all should be thankful that he took the time and the effort to share his immense talent with the rest of the world.

Listen, then to his timeless classic, The Cold Song and while doing it, picture yourself as if living in a planet of a still undiscovered galaxy. Well, it works for me, anyway.

No help required

2010-03-04T14:32:00.003Z

Now, here's a duo to look out for in the future. Sweden's songbirds FIRST AID KIT have just released this, their debut album - The Big Black & The Blue - and are already causing ripple waves across the music community.

Moving effortlessly between folk with a strong leaning on american traditionals and the roots of celtic musical sensibilities, they have managed to put together a collection of songs that is sure to melt even the most stern of critics. At times it's quite baffling how such tender age can produce songs of such maturity and emotional investment. And herein lies most of their appeal. Oh, and those harmonies are to die for. Rarely have I heard two voices that go so well together.

I leave you with Waltz for Richard, one of the many magical moments to be found in what I hope to be the first of a long discography. I see you soon.

Wild Child

2010-03-02T14:22:00.004Z

A quite recent discovery for me (in fact, I just found out about this album yesterday!) but one that I had to share with all of you as soon as I could because this is really worth your while.

Kathe Green can be no more than a mere footnote in the history of popular culture from the 60's but let's just say it's one footnote worth reading and finding out more about her. Actress, model, singer, songwriter, this is what Rev-Ola has to say about her having rescued her debut album from obscurity:

Finding herself in London as guest and bosom buddy of Richard Harris, himself enjoying a spin-off career as a hugely successful pop star at the time, Kathe found herself singing Mark Lester's vocal parts on Where Is Love? for the soon-to-be-massive Oliver soundtrack. She was snapped up by Deram where she was teamed up with in-house whiz-kid producer Wayne Bickerton, arranger supreme John Cameron and the cream of London session players. Kathe wrote 10 of the album's 13 tracks, which recall all manner of contemporary female vocalists of the time, from Marianne Faithfull to Sandie Shaw to Dana Gillespie (with whom Kathe shared Bickerton'sproduction savvy, not to mention a couple of his tunes). She also turns in a lump-to-the-throat reading of Cameron's perennial If I Thought You'd Ever Change Your Mind.

The selling point for me was the album cover, a sort of Alice in Wonderland gone wrong which I find very suitable for the songs that comprise it. Oh, and the title is also very evocative of the mood permeating the whole album (Run the Length of Your Wildness, a piece of poetry bestowed on her by Richard Harris himself). Here is one of its more delicate moments: Why? (The Child's Song). Enjoy it.

The Coat Band

2010-03-01T00:47:00.003Z

I'd like to start the month with a great recommendation which was also a great discovery for me when I first heard about this album and this band in particular. The band in question is called A Banda do Casaco, which roughly translates to The Band of the Coat or The Coat Band. They're from Portugal, my home country and it's not everyday that I sing our praises but when they're due, they're overdue.

This - Dos Benefícios dum Vendido no Reino dos Bonifácios - their debut album, is one of the finest ever recorded and produced around here and they seemed to manage what few bands have: to be truthful to portuguese musical roots and capture the sound of their era at the same time. Beautifully sung and played throughout, this is one of those albums that keeps you coming back to them many times over to discover layer upon layer of new sounds and words that you just didn't listen to the last time you played it. A keeper then.

I'm going to leave you with one of my favorite tracks at the moment: A Cavalo Dado (A Given Horse). Have a great month of March, everyone. I know I will because right now I'm on vacation! See you around.

Sunday morning pop

2010-02-28T14:34:00.003Z

I've been watching this video on and off ever since coming across it. Guess it's time I got to know this Mademoiselle Berry a little better. Take care y'all and I see you soon.

Crazy Brigitte

2010-02-27T18:43:00.005Z

I still don't know much about this somewhat mythical and sonically adventurous chanteuse, except for the fact that she was born in 1939 and is still going strong and shocking people left and right. My kinda gal, then.

This is one of her first albums (it's curiously titled Brigitte Fontaine est... folle) and it's a treasure trove of quirky pop songs (for lack of a better definition) sung in a very laid-back somewhat out-of-tune style that seems to be her trademark. When asked, music critics have said that she is kind of like a Françoise Hardy on acid or what Piaf might have sounded like if she worked with late 60´s Gainsbourg but these definitions, though amusing as they are, don't come close to painting a proper portrait of this groundbreaking woman.

The album was produced by none other that Jean-Claude Vannier of L'Histoire de Melody Nelson fame and you can expect to find beautifully crafted pieces of music in every track. It's almost like opening a jewel box and finding all these wonderful pieces of jewelry that you'd love to put on you and wear them everyday. And since it is pouring rain over here, I leave you accordingly with Il Pleut, the album opener. Stay safe.

The birds and the bees...

2010-02-25T17:44:00.002Z

I told you I was listening to all sorts of different music, didn't I? Well, here is another example of my recent Aural Adventures into the Sound Unknown!

Birds Do It - Music From German Sex Education Movies is the title of this great little compilation and I should think it is self-explanatory! No puns here, as you can see - or maybe one or two...! If you lived in Europe some 25 to 30 years ago and had the good fortune of owning a sattelite disk in your home (remember them?), maybe you too ventured into the wild and wonderful world of late-night TV watching, surfing those euro channels up and down in search of that elusive glimpse of a, how should I put it, model for your nude painting project... (wink, wink, nudge, nudge and all that) usually found in german TV stations.

If you are lucky enough to have those kind of memories, then this compilation is really a treat from bottom to end. If not, consider yourselves lucky too and start your education per se by clicking on the play button below! This track is called Sunny Honey and it's sung by one Uschi Moser. Enjoy it!

Achtung, babies!

2010-02-24T18:15:00.004Z

I told you I have been listening to many different kinds of music lately, didn't I? Well, consider today's offering a small taste of things to come and a harbinger of great stuff coming your way in the next few weeks.

This compilation I'm recommending to you today is the third volume put out by Marina Records label concentrating on 60's/70's funky pop from Germany. If you thought all they did best was house music and electronica kraut rock, think again. Here is proof that the pop scene was a big market over there back in the day and not only that, they managed to merge anglo-saxon popsmithery with their own german sensibilities. Does this make sense to you? I hope it does and I trust I turned you on to this. It's really fun, in a pre-Eurovision kind of way.

I leave you with one of its best tracks: The Beat Goes On by INGA. Oh, yeah.

Second course

2010-02-22T01:47:00.002Z

French groovers Air have always been a favorite in my household, be it when I'm chilling after some hard-working day or even at the beginning of one, their sweet brand of vintage electronic euro-pop is able to do the trick every single time I put one of their CDs on.

So, it was with some expectation/trepidation that I waited to put my hands on their newest album, tentatively titled LOVE 2. And, accordingly, I received it with some mixed feelings. While on one side you get what they've always done best (effortlessly melodic instrumental incursions into electronica), you also get to hear them at their most blatant automatic pilot songwriting of late. Which means you get the usual great tracks you will grow to love and repeatedly play, but you also are forced to hear some pretty uninspired songs clearly in need of some TLC thrown into them.

But at the end of the day, I much prefer an o.k. AIR album to the crap I keep hearing on the radio everyday. On that note, I leave you with the album opener - Do the Joy - one of the standouts on their new album. See you soon.

Follow the dot

2010-02-14T16:51:00.002Z

Love, love, love this new Air video! Wanna try some french music karaoke in english? Just follow the dot! See you soon.

Yellow blues

2010-02-12T18:32:00.002Z

If you knew me, you'd know that I don't quit. Well, at least in certain things I find worthwhile. Good music is one such thing, most definitely.

That said, I had to know more about Jean Pierre Ferland, the author of the song from Charlotte Gainsbourg's new album that kept playing in my head and in my CD player: Le Chat du Cafe des Artistes. A canadian, he is responsible for one of that country recording masterpieces, Jaune, the album you see on your right. So far, I haven't managed to listen to the full album yet (a sacrilege, I know) but what I have heard so far has served to prove what has been said over and over again: that it is an album of many moods and many hidden secrets, with songs unfolding its beauties with each new listenings and arrangements so exquisite you find yourself drifting effortlessly to another state of mind almost instantly.

But I'm going to leave you with the aforementioned track, mainly to serve as a means of comparison with the Ms. Gainsbourg effort in the post just below. Enjoy it.

X-Ray Music

2010-02-03T11:55:00.003Z

Sorry for the lack of posts but I've been immersing myself into new music, both old and recent and haven't had the time or disposition to write about it. I had to first let it all sink in in order to make sense of so many new sounds that I'm hearing. Plus, I've been making some bad ass CD compilations for myself and some friends and they also have been keeping me busy all this time. Maybe someday I'll share them with you, who knows. Now, off to Ms. Gainsbourg's new album.

Co-written and co-produced with american indie superstar Beck, IRM is the new album from the daughter of that gallic legend that went by the name of Serge Gainsbourg. And the album really shows the influences: it does feel like a record co-written with Beck with a touch of the french chanson here and there, so I guess you can say that it's a perfect marriage of sorts. Made at a time of intense introspection and soul-searching on the part of Gainsbourg (IRM is a sort of medical X-ray exam you do to your brain), the results are both mysterious and schizophrenic, but intensely addicting and multi-layered. The end result of all this is that you'll find yourself going back to it time and again to hear that particular track that left you wondering and wanting for more.

One of the highlights is LE CHAT DU CAFÉ DES ARTISTES, a cover of a song written by Jean Pierre Ferland. Currently it's my favorite track in the album and you can check it out just below. Enjoy it.

The return of the Thin White Duke

2010-01-08T19:16:00.003Z

Today marks the birth dates of two of pop music's grandest icons: Elvis Presley and David Bowie. Funny how things are, right? Seems the stars and planets aligned themselves on this particular day to produce two beings with such musical talents.

On that note, I wanted to make my small contribution to the one still living - Bowie - and recommend to you one of his albums that is often overlooked and undervalued. It's STATION TO STATION, as you might have guessed by now and it's also one of my very favorite albums by him. Somehow, his particular brand of White Soul Pop always sounded very... how should I put it, "right" and fine and funky, as well. Plus, it features some amazing songs, too: TVC 15, GOLDEN YEARS and his amazing rendition of the classic torch song, WILD IS THE WIND. How can you go wrong with this class of alignment, right?

But I'm going to leave you with the title track, the powerful 10 minutes plus album opener. Enjoy it and have a great year, y'all!

Big rush

2009-12-27T19:14:00.001Z

Been wanting to write about this album ever since I bought it but never got around to do it. Well, now seems like a better time than any old time so here it is.

I first got to know her by watching the amazing video she did for Dreamland, the first taste of her brand new album, THE BIG MACHINE. It's one of the most amazing videos I've ever seen and the song kept playing in my head weeks after first hearing it. Knowing me, I knew I had to investigate further and went ahed and bought the album without even listening to any more songs. Turns out my suspicions were right and I ended up loving it and listening to it almost non-stop. I love to listen to music while driving and this is one album that really works in that particular situation.

I've since done my homework on Emilie Simon and read quite a lot about her online. It seems that she is being somewhat chastized with THE BIG MACHINE sounding a bit like Kate Bush's work. Not to mention, voice too. And while I can understand that criticism (especially on some tracks where she doesn't sound like she's trying to mimmick the english chanteuse - she's downright channelling her to the point of scary), I applaud the bravura Simon displays on almost every track to keep things always interesting to the point of view of the listener.

So, here she is with Rainbow, the new single and a accompanying charming video and I hope I made you go out and listen to her music if you happen to be curious about her. I know I want more now. Would love to see her live, though. Maybe the next year will grant me my wish.

Making poses

2009-12-25T18:48:00.002Z

I don’t know if you have noticed but I don’t usually feature a lot of male singers on Aural Journal. The reason being because there aren’t that many that I genuinely like or admire. Rufus Wainwright is an exception. A big one. This guy is amazing.

POSES was the album that introduced me to his particular brand of music, one that is strong on melody and with a highly developed chord structure. I must admit I had a bit of a problem with his voice at the beginning but I’ve grown to admire it too, what with its strong delivery and charming monochordic twang. Plus, the songs are all great. And by great, I mean phenomenally great and catchy as hell. Naturally, I fell for it hook, line and sinker.

He went on to make even better albums (WANT ONE and TWO are both masterpieces in the full sense of the word) but this is the one that started it all for me. From the charming opener CIGARETTES AND CHOCOLATE MILK to the enchanting GREY GARDENS, there’s one for every mood of the day in here but I will leave you with one of its highlights, a song that ironically wasn’t written by him, rather by his father, Loudon Wainwright – it’s called ONE MAN GUY. Enjoy it and while you’re at it, have yourself a merry little Christmas.

White Blues

2009-12-10T19:25:00.004Z

Today, as I was rewatching for the umpteenth time the wonderful animated movie by Nina Paley, I knew I had to write something about one of its main characters - Annette Hanshaw.

Hanshaw was one of the most famous singers of the 1920's and 30's in America and practically idolized by all the flappers of the time. She had a distinctive voice register that managed to both convey sensual laziness and naughty demeanour. She made quite a name for her but is now largely forgotten. Special thanks then to Ms. Paley for using her lovely songs as a musical counterpart to the break-up story she tells in SITA SINGS THE BLUES, an animated movie written, produced, edited, animated and directed by Paley using only the Flash tool. A remarkable achievement from any which angle you see it. And that's how I came to know Annette's Hanshaw music.

I leave you then with Wouldn't You Like To Take a Walk. Enjoy and I see you soon.

Smoky ballads

2009-12-01T16:32:00.002Z

Bridget St. John's voice is an acquired taste. But one that you get accustomed to quite easily, such is the alluring quality of the smoky way she delivers her deep-felt lyrics.

Again, a singer-songwriter that started her career at the tail end of the 60's and only managed to produce a very limited number of records, before she disappeared from the eye of the public, that are now treasured as something quite inspiring and magical. The one I'm recomending to you on this very rainy day is her second one, Songs For The Gentle Man, which I find to be melodically better than her debut and musically more accomplished.

I leave you then with Early Morning Song, one of the songs from that sophomore release. Listen and slowly let her get to you.

Beck(ian) Gainsbarre

2009-11-24T00:38:00.005Z

The promotional single for Charlotte Gainsbourg's new album - IRM - is called Heaven Can Wait, but I'm sure I'm not the only one who thinks that it will be pretty hard to wait for it to come out come next December. Her collaboration with Beck seems to have been very successful on this song. Let's all just hope that the rest of the album is just as good.

High time

2009-11-23T00:49:00.003Z

Anne Briggs is quite the outsider in the folk revival movement of the early 70's. A wild spirit, or so it seems, she regarded the business of performing and recording as almost incidental and not all important per se.

Mistress of a singular voice, somewhere between the lament of a child and the weeping of a young virgin (don't mind me, I've been reading very strange things, lately), she somehow managed to put out enough material to influence the next generation of folk singers. Her first album was mostly an accapella affair, with Briggs' voice as the centerpiece. This track here than you can listen to below - Standing On The Shore - is taken from her sophomore album, The Time Has Come, and on this album you can already sense in a much deeper way that she was a non-conformist and someone that almost shied away from publicity and the whole music business altogether. Apparently, she never cared much for the money she could get from performing gigs.

I tell you, they don't make them like this anymore.

Homegrown lullabies

2009-11-19T16:28:00.004Z

I've been wanting to talk about Vashti Bunyan for a while now and the recent entry about Judee Sill gave me the perfect opportunity for it. So here it is.

What is it with me and artists with minute discographies? Here we are again, faced with a very interesting female singer/songwriter that has only put out two records in her lifetime. And the second one more than 35 years apart! Well, at least it's a great thing that her talents did not go unnoticed by the following generations of aural lovers. Championed by the new breed of New Folk artists, Bunyan has enjoyed a later life recognition that has only done wonders to her reputation as one of the most original and mysterious artists of her generation.

Her classic debut, Just Another Diamond Day, is worthy of belonging to any discerning music lover's collection, so pure is her voice and so exquisite the arrangements by Robert Kirby (of Nick Drake fame) are. But in this post, I wanted to call your attention to her sophomore album, the enigmatically named Lookaftering, a record every bit as haunting and original as her debut. I leave you with the track Against the Sky. Sit back and enjoy.

Holy Hymns

2009-11-18T11:33:00.003Z

This post is dedicated to one of our readers who called my attention to this very special lady's wonderful music.

I guess you can say that Judee Sill is the tragic american counterpart to Britain's Shelagh McDonald. Both released only two albums in their lifetime, both dabbled dangerously with drugs, both were extremely promising singer/songwriters in their own right, both ended their careers due to poor support from the part of their record companies who didn't believe enough in them and both are now revered, respected and reappraised and their music has suffered a long overdue reassessment that will never do them enough justice.

For me, what really stands apart Sill's music from McDonald's is that she was able to create a niche for her right from the start and the way she fuses folk with classic and rock is so effortless, it leaves you quite disarmed. On top of that, the deeply felt and often times spiritual/religious lyrics she infuses the songs with are the stuff only great dreamers are capable of. She really believed in salvation and redemption in the hollistic sense of those words and her music truly benefits from this aspect of her songwriting. For proof, I leave you with one of her most pure moments in song ever: The Kiss.

Crazy puppies

2009-11-12T16:12:00.004Z

This small incursion that I'm making into some seriously vintage music would not be complete without a mention to perhaps the maddest, quirkiest, most whimsical british band of all time: the Bonzo Dog Dooh-Dah Band, a.k.a. the Bonzo Dog Band.

Led by eccentric extraordinaire Vivian Stanshall, a major force in the post-modern whimsical world (if such thing even exists), they are to the music world what the Monty Python are to the movie world. This obviously means that they possess that rare gift of making people laugh whilst creating great art at the same time. This compilation is essential to understanding and comprehending just what made them tick and exactly why they are revered in Britain as belonging to a sort of music nobility, such was their legacy.

Part of their charm are the reinventions they made around old vintage classics of the popular sort and how they somehow successfully achieved grand notoriety with such material in a time when everyone was looking into the future for inspiration. Perhaps anachronism was the key, after all. If you've never heard them before and are curious to know how they sounded like, here's your chance now. I leave you with one of their all time classics: Hunting Tigers Out In India. Toodle-oo.

Bewitched

2009-11-07T00:01:00.003Z

I planned to post this video on last Halloween but that did not come through. I soon came to the conclusion that Nina Simone's spells are welcome any time of the year. I somehow know you feel the same way too. See you soon.

Dance your feet away!

2009-11-06T01:22:00.003Z

If you lived in the 20's, this is the kind of music you'd be dancing: the Charleston. All flappers and It girls danced their little feet away to the infectious rhythm of these lively numbers. To be honest, they still possess a kind of timeless charm to them and that's one of the main reasons why I'm recommending this compilation.

As I said before, compilations are mostly hit and miss affairs and this one in particular is not the exception but when it hits the mark, it's a bull's eye. Besides, there's always one or two songs by an artist you've never heard of or paid any attention to that stands out from the rest like a sore thumb and makes you want to know more from those particular artists. And that's always a good thing in my book.

In this one, you get Fred Astaire, Josephine Baker, Sophie Tucker and Al Jolson, as well as some entirely lovable instrumentals courtesy of the more high-profile big bands of the time, so it's all good as you can see. And it also serves as a kind of testimony of the high-speed times they were living in, with new dance crazes and new stars popping up almost every week. It's no wonder this decade was named The Roaring Twenties! Take a listen to Al Jolson belting out Swanee.

Divine fun

2009-10-15T14:16:00.003+01:00

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you singer/songwriter extraordinaire, Neil Hannon, also known to the public buying masses as the frontman and leading figure of posh british combo, The Divine Comedy.

Whenever I think of him I also think of Noel Coward, thus the reason behind this post right after the one about the author behind the anthemic Mad Dogs and Englishmen (by the way, they should really consider adopting that song as their national anthem. Seriously). Anyway, this post is about the album that got me started with my Divine Comedy obsession of a few years back. As I said, CASANOVA was my introduction to the many talents of Neil Hannon and I got hooked very fast. In it, Hannon paints a picture of the adventures and misadventures of a bon-vivant, in love with life, women and, most of all, himself. But he does this in such an hilarious and light-hearted way that it never feels mysoginous or offensive. Plus, all the songs are killers and his voice soars to such intensity and heights that you could not help but feel enraptured by his particular magic all the way.

So, if you haven't yet succumbed to the very melodic and funny world The Divine Comedy inhabit, what are you waiting for? Here's a taster: A Woman of the World. Go ahead, push that button. You know you want to.

Mad Gents and English Pups

2009-10-13T11:23:00.004+01:00

Make way for the brightest star of them all, Mr. Noel Coward. I like to view him as a sort of Oscar Wilde of the music world, going about his way regardless of everyone and marking his passage with sometimes hilariously ingenious sayings, sometimes scathingly ironic words but always with a panaché that only the best english breed possess.

Mixing vaudeville with british whimsy at its best, his knack for a catchy melody is always on display on every song he composed. But songs were not the only thing he did. Add to his CV the jobs of playwright, director, actor and singer and you have before you a sort of Renaissance Man of sorts for the 20th Century. His influence is still far reaching and numerous compilations and tribute albums have been produced so this one I'm recommending is just one of many, so just take a pick.

I leave you with his most iconic song ever - Mad Dogs and Englishmen - an hilarious and extremely assertive song about what it means to be british among other things. Praise be due to the original master of the ironic song.

The 'Boop-Boop-A-Doop' Girl

2009-10-07T15:01:00.005+01:00

Of course, a crash course on american popular music from the 30's would not be complete without a mention to the girl that still steals all our hearts when she goes 'Boop-Boop-A-Doop'. I speak of the gal that inspired the most famous Fleischer creation of all time, Betty Boop: Miss Helen Kane.

Her quirky voice and child-like pitch are still able to hold us into a sort of trance, as if caught unaware by something otherworldly or at least, very far away from the sounds of everyday life. As I write this, I hear myself asking: "aren't you going a little too far?", but the answer in my heart and mind is a firm "no", because if you play the track below (her classic I Wanna Be Loved By You), you might find yourself slipping away to a faraway world of your own private imagination in a matter of seconds. And there aren't a lot of voices, let alone things, that can do that nowadays, are there?

Dream Lady

2009-09-29T01:12:00.001+01:00

Just found out about this french recording artist and I have to admit I'm definitely intrigued. Will have to make further investigations. In the meantime, here she is: Emilie Simon.

Vintage goodies

2009-09-28T13:06:00.003+01:00

Compilations like these are rare to find. The end results are so precious and eye-opening that they might even change your whole view of how music can and should be made. This one comes highly recommended and it's a treat from beginning to end. But first things first.

If Monty Python ever were a music group perhaps they'd be something like The Bonzo Dog Band, a sort of avant-garde musical combo that made quite the furore back in the late 60's and early 70's by presenting themselves as a merry bunch of retro hipsters with more than a little dose of british whimsy as their main ingredient but always in keeping with a highly sophisticated approach to their music. They borrowed a lot of influences, mainly from music from the first decades of the 20th century and they wore them proudly on their sleeves. This is why this compilation is called Songs The Bonzo Dog Band Taught Us, as it is primarily aimed to the Bonzo fans who'll treasure this album as mannah from heaven. The best thing about it is that everyone with a discerning taste in music will also find plenty to enjoy in it too.

So here they are, the original songs that would later be part of some of the Bonzo records and add to their particular mystique. Charming, enchanting and enduring, they still prove their worth notwithstanding their almost centenary status. I leave you with By A Waterfall, a song you can also find on the Lullaby of Broadway compilation I wrote in the below post, curiously enough. Enjoy.

Kaleidoscopic tunes

2009-09-19T17:57:00.002+01:00

My love for american music from the 1920's and 30's was further cultivated when I started to watch movie musicals from those particular eras. Specifically those by or with contribution from the master of the kaleidoscopic song and dance routine, Mr. Busby Berkeley, choreographer and filmmaker extraordinaire.

This compilation I'm heartily recommending in today's post was compiled from the amazing run of hits he managed to succeed when he entered Warner Bros. as a dance choreographer. The thing is, he not only choreographed the whole thing, he also directed the whole shebang, giving specific details to his cameramen to where the camera should be placed and how dancers should move, look and even smile. The results are astonishing to watch even to today's eyes. If you think you've seen everything, think again. Add to this a truly fantastic array of songs, further embelished by divine orchestrations and frequent heavenly choruses and you got in your hands some real pieces of gold. They don't make them like these anymore, that's for sure!

I leave you with Shadow Waltz, a wonderful number sung by the suave Dick Powell and the cute Ruby Keeler, at that time also known as Mrs. Al Jolson. It's one of those things I never get tired of listening to.

Bewitching lady

2009-09-12T14:58:00.003+01:00

The great thing about having an open mind in what music is concerned is that you never know what's coming round the corner. My particular encounter with the voice and many talents of Josephine Baker happened many years ago in a shop when I decided it would be fun to get a CD of hers just to see how she sounded like (I already knew what she looked like!). As it happened, it was a real bargain (2CD compilation for just 2.50€!) and when I got home, I just couldn't believe my ears: how come music this fresh and melodic was being relegated to the bargain bin was anyone's guess but mine.

This fantastic discovery set me on quite a journey and today I consider myself an aficionado of everything 1920's and 30's Americana related. They were quite the busy times, with a lot of things going on at the same time: Economic Depression, great advances in filmmaking, industrial revolutions happening everywhere, cultural taboos and social mores being broken, you name it. Forget the 60's: these two decades were where it was at!

This particular CD (or any other Baker compilation, for that matter) is a great way of getting to know her music, as it features both her songs sung in french and in english (she was born american but made her name in France). The song you can listen to below is called De Temps En Temps and is a sweet little number, sung in her trademark mock-french accent. I dare you not to fall in love instantly with her.

Archangel

2009-09-07T20:49:00.003+01:00

It's funny how you sometimes find things. I truly believe in serendipity, of good things finding a way of finding you in those very particular moments in time when you are not searching for anything in particular. The voice and rare art of Danielle Licari was one of those rare moments.

You really feel truly blessed of getting in touch with such fine artists and I hope I don't sound too corny or presumptuous when I say that the finest of the arts gets you closer to the divine. Few things are able to do that, nowadays. Owner of a crystaline and highly trained voice, Licari uses it as the most exquisitely tuned instrument throughout the tracks of this, a compilation I found while browsing for her available work on CD. It's really a shame that more of her records are not available on CD as they seem to be highly sought after and treasured by her fans.

After scoring a massive hit with Concerto Pour Une Voix (15 million copies sold worldwide!), she went on to explore her voice in the most varied of avenues, even lending her vocal abilities to movie soundtracks and popular hits of the day. I'm going to leave you with a track that is dear to my heart for it belongs to one of my favorite movies ever: Jacques Demy's Les Parapluies de Cherbourg. In case you didn't know (and I certainly didn't!), she is the singer that dubs Catherine Deneuve's singing in that movie. It all makes perfect sense to me now.

A voice

2009-09-01T21:16:00.001+01:00

And so another month starts and another musical left turn presents itself to me. Stay tuned.

Lost treasure

2009-08-31T21:37:00.003+01:00

As I tend to watch a lot of movies, sometimes it's easier for me to find myself listening to recording artists that I wouldn't normally come across by even if I was deliberately trying to find something new and fresh to my ears. Such was the case with Linda Perhacs. I happened to listen to her while watching Daft Punk's amazing retro-sci-fi movie ELECTROMA, a movie with no dialogues whatsoever and with a soundtrack compiled by the french electro-dance duo entirely from tracks they loved or found that best suited the movie. I was completely mesmerized by the track you can listen to below - If You Were My Man - and played it over and over again when I finally got the DVD until I realized I had to further investigate this mysterious artist that noone seemed to know about. And so I got the album.

Parallelograms was Perhacs first and only album (again, my penchant for artists with very short careers on full display here...) and it's a beauty with songs that range from the beautifully introspective to the exquisitely arranged. If she recorded more albums, she could have been a contender with Joni Mitchell for one of the best female recording artists of the 70's, because even on this, her debut, she already showed signs of songwriting greatness. As proof, the song below is a sort of B-side as it wasn't even included on the album itself when it came out. Now you can imagine the quality of the other ones. Highly recommended, of course.

Acoustic bliss

2009-08-28T04:52:00.003+01:00

I bet you didn't see this one coming, did you? Well, neither did I. It's just that lately I've been having to deal with very hard situations and having to take a lot of tough decisions that I really need to listen to some harmonious music to get myself together. And this one here by japanese genius Ryuichi Sakamoto is just the perfect thing for that.

Probably my favorite Sakamoto album (alongside BTTB), 1996 consists of musical reinterpretations of his own compositions arranged for a trio. The results are wondrous. It's quite amazing the way in which he succeeds to perfectly translate a totally different sonic arquitecture into the world of chamber music, which is basically what this album really is. Old classics next to then current favorites, they're all here and for me the key for the success of this album lies in the absolutely gorgeous melodies he's been able to produce all these years as a recording artist. That's the basis and sine qua non of the perennial charm of his compositions. Hats off, then.

I leave you with the song that most of us got introduced to his very own particular brand of music: Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence. Enter bliss.

Miss Dusty

2009-08-23T02:23:00.006+01:00

A classic. Dusty Springfield at her very best and released when she was at the top of her game. I came to it because of my love of her cover version of the bewitching Windmills of Her Mind, which I consider at least as good as the original if not even better in parts. See what you think by pressing the "play" button below.

All the tracks on Dusty in Memphis are winners in their own right and you can really tell that there was a thorough and quite criterious selection of tracks by the producers involved to best suit her unique voice. What really surprises me is that apparently she didn't like her voice and when singing in the booth, she'd ask for the music on her headphones to be as loud as possible so that she could not hear herself singing. Can you believe that? Some people just don't know how good they really are.

Fortunately, that didn't stop her from singing for many more years and from releasing a string of hit albums, though this particular one is viewed as her apex, both artistically and career-wise. If you still don't have this album, I heartily recommend it to you. You will not be let down. Not in the least.

Flying colors

2009-08-22T02:26:00.004+01:00

There are very few bands that are able to get such high accolades and recognition with their first album. American debuters Fleet Foxes have done just that. And for once, the praises are completely worthy.

Their self-titled first album is simply that: an instant classic. Perfect songs, beautifully sung, exquisitely performed and lovingly produced. I wonder if they already feel the pressure of the dreaded sophomore album syndrome. I honestly hope not because I can only see them going even bigger from here, actually. Debut single, White Winter Hymnal is one of the most bizarre first singles ever released: barely 2 1/2 minutes long, almost no instrumentation whatsoever, big vocal harmonies and a sound that is everything but hip. Yet it worked wonders and still sounds great after many listenings. Brave little bastards, they are.

The rest of the album continues the trend: not a dud in sight, and although the influences are reasonably obvious (Neil Young, Bob Dylan, etc.), their sound is unique and distinctive. I leave you with the album opener proper: Sun It Rises.

Winter in Summertime

2009-08-19T01:02:00.000+01:00

Pure melodic perfection. No prizes to whom guesses what my next post is going to be about. Stay tuned.

Sonic snapshots

2009-08-18T14:54:00.004+01:00

It's funny the way I find myself approaching some things. I remember seeing the cover for Camera Obscura's Let's Get Out Of This Country album on a store somewhere and thinking, "that's a really cute cover". Nice wallpaper, too. And I also remember thinking that I would someday get to hear it but just not that day in particular, even though I perfectly could have. Well, that day has come.

I guess some things you have to ready for. And now I am. This is a perfectly delightful record and one of the most upbeat albums I've ever heard without it being too irritating. You know what I mean, I'm sure. The singer, Tracyanne Campbell, delivers her vocals in such a nonchalant way, as if she doesn't care, that the overall effect is one of sweet freedom and carelessness. The production is also one of its major assets, reminding us of the big band sound that used to be the trademark of one Phil Spector.

The whole album is a winner but to get you in the mood, I'll leave you with one of the best singles this part of the 21st century: Lloyd, I'm Ready To Be Heartbroken. Enjoy.