Tag: music, albums

[music, albums] May 8, 2003 at 10:02:00 PM CEST

Yo La Tengo - Summer Sun

Never had a band a more fitting name. Yo La Tengo. Hold it. Whenever you hear this band the first time, don’t let it slip you by. They are the incarnation of a band who cannot make a bad album. On the other hand the concept of an absolute best album seems to be wrong concerning their output. Whenever a new YLT album comes out for me it is always automatically their best one for about a month. It takes some time to stack it up against the others.

On Summer Sun Georgia, Ira and James continue on their trip from feedback to silence. The noisy rock phase around May I Sing With Me seems to have been the purgation of the bad spirits. From that album (which I love) on Yo La Tengo have become riper, mellower and more mature with every new release. They have started fading out with their last album. It is amazing how quiet music can be intense. This is a waking up album instead of a falling asleep album like the predecessor. Music to listen to in the afternoon after the siesta, day dream music. My first real listen was going down to the Mediterrenean, to picturesque Collioure after a wine-drenched meal and an hour of afternoon sleep.

They are the archetype of a band to get old with. I think they make music for people the same age as them. Ira on guitar and Georgia on drums who share the vocals in turn have almost become a couple like Philemon and Baucis in the Greek mythology. They have found joy and contentment in pastoral soundscapes approaching ambient and jazz. James, the bassist and a multi-instrumentalist like the couple gives the solidity to the band. Like a chair, a band on three legs is more stable than on four.

The new album is a real grower. In the beginning it sounds pleasant but not very remarkable but then it grows and grows and grows and becomes a giant sunflower. With all the seeds falling down on the listener. The music feels like a feather touching the skin on its surface. It tickles the ears. Probably their most accomplished and refined album yet. Atmospheric, not demanding anything from the listener, not asking for attention, flowing without being wallpaper music. The album begins very relaxed and cool and then becomes warmer and smoother.

Geogia’s voice gets more and more expressive with each release. It has never been as sexy and tender as on this album. In the last song Take Care, an Alex Chilton cover, she gives me the shivers.

The other songs: It starts with Beach Party Tonight. Only sounds. Dawn is breaking. Little Eyes is Georgia breaking my heart by singing “you can only hurt the ones you love”. Nothing but You and Me is Ira begging his beloved to come back and wake up. Season of the Shark and Today Is the Day have the effects of an Irish coffee on me. When listening to the first one sung by Ira, I can feel the Irish coffee flowing down my throat and starting to warm my stomach. When Georgia starts singing on the second one the effect of the alcohol goes to the head. I get dizzy. On Tiny Birds James sounds as innocent as Nick Drake. Sad but wise. How to Make a Baby Elephant is a slow warm song with a jazzy flute. Georgia Vs. Yo La Tengo is Georgia with a fireworks on the drums, Ira with a rhythmic keyboard and piano theme and James doing some weird sounds on the synthesizer. Don’t Have to Be so Sad is like lying in the hammock. There is tension but there is support. We can stretch our limbs and relax. On Winter A-Go-Go Georgia is irresistible. I like it very much when the song changes speed suddenly. Stop and go. Moonrock Mambo is kind of dark and groovy. You could dance to it. Ira sings “I wanna be next to you” and he means it. Georgia hums at the same time. Gorgeous. Let’s Be Still is the longest and weakest song. Almost like a free-jazz session but too repetitive and predictable for more than ten minutes (maybe not, it is a beauty of a song though).

The biggest reproach I could make to the album is the cover. Looking at the ball though I am reminded of my juggling leather balls. Which have similar colour combinations. And which I really love. As I learnt juggling with them.

Live I am a little sceptical but still I won’t miss their concert at the Mousonturm in Frankfurt, on May, 20th. The tour with their last quiet album wasn’t so great, I found. Live I prefer them when they mix slow quiet and loud rocking songs.

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[music, albums] April 9, 2003 at 11:29:00 PM CEST

we can wipe you out anytime

The crazier, the more fucked up this world becomes, the better is Radiohead's music. There is a +1 correlation between those two. Radiohead show that in an age of brutality where force reigns there is still art which is stronger than any corrupt government. If there are still people listening to music in a hundred years time from now they will get a better picture of today's world by listening to Hail to the Thief than by reading any history books. History books will be falsified like journalism today. Music will never be. There is still hope for this world as long as there is music. Bush, Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld and Powell (why did you sell your soul, Colin?) will be dead ashes soon, art will stay. Those ~~bastards~~ barbarians will soon be footnotes in history. Thieves will meet the fate they deserve.

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[music, albums] March 29, 2003 at 11:07:00 PM CET

CDs I bought in 2003

Recycling time. Mainly taken from this thread at ILM.

Keith Jarrett - Somewhere Before (From 1968 or something. Everything is there already. The touch and the humming.)
Keith Jarrett - Always Let Me Go (Why the heck do I continue to buy his records after 1982?)
Laurie Anderson - Live at Town Hall, September 2001 (The two concerts just after 9/11. Chilling.)
Ani DiFranco - So Much Shouting, So Much Laughter (Quite jazzy and improvisational. She is ok but I am not a fan.)
Suicide - American Supreme (Phantastic cheap sounding beats. Great trash.)
Reindeer Section - Son of Evil Reindeer (Scottish indie orchestra. Ok poppy tunes but not great.)
Mountain Goats - Tallahassee (I preferred the down-to-earth lo-fi All Hail West Texas)
Go-Betweens - Bright Yellow Bright Orange (Absolutely gorgeous, album of the first two months of 2003, have to check the Cat Power though)
Bonnie Prince Billy - Master and Everyone (Oldham sounds so much like Nick Drake that I fear that he's going to kill himself next.)
Beth Gibbons & Rustin' Man - Out of Season (Very good. Gibbons modulates her voice a lot. Low-key and heartbreaking. Nevertheless played to death already.)
Massive Attack - 100th Window (Amazingly dense. Clash of the civilizations with a conciliatory end I don't see in reality)
Smiths - Rank (The last official Smiths release I didn't have yet. It's all right. The song versions are different. Live they seem to have sounded less good though.)
Cat Power - You Are Free (An instant classic, my album of the year up till now)
Dirty Three - Horse Stories (Reminded me a lot of GYBE!, did the D3 influence them? Overall I was a little disappointed by this. The violin grates occasionally)
Calla - Televise (Excellent indie rock somewhere between Sonic Youth, Pavement and Yo La Tengo)
Tom Liwa - Stäfa/CH (It starts with a Nick Drake cover and goes on in the same vein)
Oum Kalthoum - Diva of Arab Music (A disappointment. Her voice could never ever compete with Billie Holiday's)
Robert Johnson - Steady Rollin' Man (How could I live without a CD of the incarnation of blues men?)

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[music, albums] March 3, 2003 at 7:42:00 AM CET

Frank from Chromewaves has listened to the four CDs of the Flaming Lips Zaireeka on four CD players and writes about the experience.

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[music, albums] February 20, 2003 at 7:45:00 AM CET

Discussion on the new Yo La Tengo Summer Sun at ILM

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[music, albums] February 14, 2003 at 8:01:00 AM CET

Full album stream of Cat Power's new album You Are Free (via ToT)

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[music, albums] February 12, 2003 at 12:08:00 AM CET

Black Dice - Beaches and Canyons

Up until ten minutes ago I had never heard of this experimental band from Brooklyn. Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore seems to be a fan. I am listening to the second track of the album and I am fascinated by their soundscapes. It's not really music they make. More sounds and noises. But their stuff is very different from Autechre's. Less mechanic, less electronic but much more organic.

In the first track I heard bird noises, not surprising considering the title Seabird. The second Things Will Never Be the Same started with the sound of sea waves. Now I hear people shouting in the background. The shouting is somehow distorted and fuzzy. I have to continue listening to this tomorrow.

If you like challenging music you should check the Black Dice out. Beaches and Canyons is album of the week at the BBC. You can stream it in its entirety.

P.S. There definitely is an ambient feel about this music. With some instrumental Krautrock (Tangerine Dream, Neu!, Faust) influences. Plus a grain of Godspeed build-up. Some discussion at ILM: Black Dice - Beaches & Canyons: C/D?

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[music, albums] February 11, 2003 at 12:59:00 PM CET

And now for some good news

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[music, albums] February 10, 2003 at 8:01:00 PM CET

Mann ist mir schlecht

(von hier)

Es wäre vermutlich besser gewesen, über diese Platte zu schreiben, ohne sie sich vorher anzuhören.

Aber genau das haben Sie doch getan, werter Rezensent! Zumindest haben Sie die Ohren auf Durchzug gestellt. Sonst hätten Sie bestimmt etwas mehr zu dieser Scheibe sagen können.

Man hätte einfach ein paar der Kritiken gelesen, überwiegend Protokolle persönlicher Enttäuschung, hätte sich über die hohen Erwartungen gewundert und über Ihre Nichterfüllung gefreut...

Also andere Kritiken haben Sie auch noch vor der Verfassung Ihrer Eigenen gelesen, werter Kritikaster. Das scheint mir aber nicht die richtige Herangehensweise an ein neues Stück Musik. Zumindest macht es nicht unbedingt unvoreingenommener.

...ist "100th Window" weniger das Dokument einer künstlerischen Stagnation als der gescheiterte Versuch der Weiterentwicklung.

Starker Tobak. Was Kritiker in ihrem Übermut so von sich geben. Wünschen wir zumindest unserem wackeren Rezensenten Glück bei der Weiterentwicklung seiner Kritik.

Selbst Gastsängerin Sinead O'Connor kann nicht verhindern, daß es diesmal die Platte selbst ist, die sich auflöst:

Jetzt sind wir aber mal gespannt, wie das vor sich gehen soll. Hat da jemand mit Salzsäure rumgespielt oder was?

Man kann sie sich fünfmal hintereinander anhören, ohne sich großartig zu langweilen. Aber auch nach dem zehnten Mal wird man sich an keines der Stücke erinnern.

Also das glaube ich Ihnen jetzt nicht, Herr Kritikaster. Zehnmal hintereinander dieselbe Platte zu hören und sich an keines der Stücke zu erinnern, so geistesschwach können doch selbst Sie nicht sein. Aber unverschämt ist das dann schon. Von Ihrer Gehirninsuffizienz auf unsere zu schließen. Pfui Deibel.

Schon "Mezzanine" war das Requiem auf den Trip-Hop. Noch einmal konnte die Band hier ihren Sog entwickeln, düster und melancholisch, und daß darauf mit "Teardrop" der vielleicht ergreifendste Song des Genres zu finden ist, lag auch damals schon an der Stimme von Beth Gibbons.

Halt. Stop. Wieso Beth Gibbons? Ach das ist eine Doppelbesprechung. Von der neuen Massive Attack und der neuen Beth Gibbons. Aber trotzdem. Hier handelt es sich um eine Verwechslung. Auf Teardrop singt die ätherische Elfe der Cocteau Twins. Und die heißt immer noch Liz Fraser. Alzheimer haben Sie also auch noch, Herr Kritikaki. Ihren Namen muss ich mir jetzt unbedingt merken. Um nicht noch einmal meine kostbare Zeit mit derartigem geistigem Dünnschiss zu verlieren: HARALD STAUN. Angesichts solch geballter Inkompetenz kann man wirklich nur noch staunen. Schreibt in der Frankfurter Allgemeinen (hier Sonntagszeitung) wie Kenner unschwer an den vielen "daß" erkennen konnten.

Und à propos 100th Window von Massive Attack. Das ist ein Meisterwerk. Sehr dicht. Sehr bedrückend. Sehr hypnotisierend. Die Weiterentwicklung von Radiohead's Amnesiac mit anderen Mitteln. Eine Platte wie unsere Zeit. Die trügerische Ruhe vor dem Sturm.

Interested in some intelligent reflections on the record? Check out what Tim Finney from Australia wrote here at ILM.

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[music, albums] February 6, 2003 at 10:22:00 PM CET

Australian songwriting

The Go-Betweens' new album Bright Yellow, Bright Orange has been released in Germany on Monday. I just listened to some tracks on the radio and must admit that I am quite enchanted. Wonderful understated melodies played on acoustic guitars almost sound like a relic from another era nowadays. But they are balm for the soul. This is the kind of pop music I heart. The soft voices of Forster and McLennan are pleasant as always and the lyrics seem personal and interesting. Somehow I have never really understood the appeal of this band before. Though I didn't listen to them a lot. I only own a Best of and some demos. The new album seems a good place to start. After Massive Attack's haunting 100th Window already the second album which should have a fair chance to become album of the year in my small music universe.