Beady Eye - First Listen, First Reaction

Beady Eye (composed of the members of Oasis minus Noel Gallagher) posted their first track online for free download today. Opinions on "Bring the Light" appear to be mixed, nothing unusual when it comes to Oasis. Just as predictable is the nature of the criticism: it's not "relevant" (what does that that even mean? There are so many musical styles being thrown around as the new zeitgeist that the 50s style showcased on "Bring The Light" could be as relevant as the folk, goth and synthpop throwbacks some critics are lauding as the cutting edge); "Too reminiscent of The Beatles," a terrible cliché that should be chalked down as self-parody when used in any Oasis review; bad lyrics - this I would half agree with. I think they're fairly bland rather than bad, but at the same time I wasn't expecting Shane MacGowan lyricism. The lyrics fit the mood of the song, but I'm interested in this particular track for the music rather than the words.

The song is an urgent one, kicking off with a wholly unexpected driving piano that confirms Liam Gallagher wasn't lying when he said some of Beady Eye's output would be influenced by Jery Lee Lewis. It's energetic for the most part, until a bridge section toward the end that I would liken to late-60s Elvis, female backing vocalists and all. One criticism aside from the lyrics is that the energy of the first verse isn't really sustained. Maybe it's the shock of the initial listen, but the exciting kick off isn't maintained as the song goes on. An enjoyable listen on the whole, different from Oasis and it will be interesting to see how the rest of the album holds up upon release.

Note: Strange opinion of the day must go to the NME who briefly refer to the obvious 50s rock 'n' roll influence on the song before going on to describe it as "krautrocky" (!) - I'm struggling to see the, say, Tago Mago homage here aside from possibly the prominent percussion, but to call any song with noticeable drumming "krautrocky" is taking the use of musical buzzwords way, way too far.

"Witch House" - A Great Performance From A Scene I Don't Really Believe In

Made-up genres are undeniably annoying. Maybe it's the smugness you glean from reading (because inevitably you find these concoctions in written form) certain publications throw together random words to christen a new "scene." Better yet, maybe it's the irritation of hearing these same random combinations written about in a matter-of-fact manner. Let's make it clear: these "genres" are catch-all terms for disparate bands, not a universally-defined collective.

Excuse my rant, which has little to do with this post except as a disclaimer. The "Witch House" "scene" bandied about a few months back is a terrible case of pre-emptive labelling. Undeniably, a number of bands have emerged with similar aesthetics and an ill-defined musical base that seems to vary from description to description; some ascribe it to the "chopped and screwed" remixes pioneered by the purple drank-swilling DJ Screw, others to house music, others to broader hip hop, 80s synth pop, etc etc. These variations expose the dangers of creating a scene united on a merely aesthetic basis; after all, if this scene is defined vaguely by sound, but concretely by a gothic horror image, where does it stop? Why not just drag in every goth band that experimented with certain beats, or the dark hip hop style known as horrorcore, another scene defined mainly by aesthetics?

Second disclaimer over: I really like some of the bands that supposedly embody this scene. Many have been put forward as part of the "Witch House" style; some were merely dull but others were indeed very intriguing. I especially liked this live session from Tearist, featuring the song "Civilization." It's a very intense listen, crossed somewhere between heavy synth-pop and 4AD goth (the latter conjured up by the extensive reverb and delay drifting above the drum and synth base). Vocalist Yasmine can be heard creating this reverb fog with a voice that brings to mind none other than goth pioneer Siouxsie Sioux. A great performance here:

Bring Hammonds Back!

One of the better covers of a classic Donovan track, Wynder K Frog's hammond-laced pop is a perfect match for the psychedelic original. Listen out especially for the end, where Mick Weaver goes into full-on freakout mode on the organ. We need more hammonds in modern pop; if the banjo can make a small-scale comeback then surely the hammond deserves re-evaluation too, being (subjectively, of course) a far superior instrument.

See Emily Play

Glad I remembered this video, a few years after I first saw it on the BBC’s Seven Ages of Rock series. A brilliant rendering of the English psychedelic aesthetic, the video is the song in visual form, a blend of the bucolic and the bizarre. This is Pink Floyd at their best; like many others I prefer the experimental pop of their early work to the comparatively measured sensibility they later exhibited. "See Emily Play" and their albums up until roughly Ummagumma have much more character than the stilted social commentary of their prog rock output.

Cool As...

That's summer gone, then, though in Belfast the difference is barely perceivable. For purely symbolic reasons (and cos I'm kind of nostalgic for the baking hot days of May 2010, wiped out by the constant rain of late June) the aesthetic of the hour is laid-back non-chalance. Bossa nova, cool jazz, lounge - the perfect accompaniment to a night smoothed out by warm breezes and gentle heat.

RIP Gregory Isaacs

Another day, another musical legend falls. Gregory Isaacs possessed a voice that suggested controlled passion and exuded warmth in every song. His best work, in my opinion, was in the 70s, but there are gems scattered throughout his extremely prolific output.



"My Only Lover" is so good a marriage of musical and vocals that I had to post it. Maybe it's just my soft-spot for Lovers Rock, but what a flawless track; and it's just one of many in a remarkable back catalogue. RIP Gregory Isaacs.

The Glorious Funk Brothers

This instrumental cut of the Four Tops' "Bernadette" fades each instrument in slowly, but the focus is clearly on James Jamerson's masterful bassline - fittingly so, because his immense talent is often overlooked, possibly because it is often buried in the layer-upon-layer melange that characterised Motown arrangements. I would also point out 1:45-2:02 as a stunning bridge, a section that accurately conveys the joy of the full version's lyrics: "In your arms I find a kind of piece of mind the world is searching for/But you, you give me the joy this heart of mine has always been searching for."

RIP Ari Up

I've been away the past few days and only just found out that Ari Up, lead singer of The Slits, died a few days ago. Truly one of the most exciting and musically intriguing bands of the late 70s, a large part of their appeal was Ari's voice - German and Jamaican at once, a mix borne from her German ancestry and the reggae she immersed herself in from an early age.





As glorious as their output was musically, it simply wouldn't have had the same impact without her yelps, screams and intonations. RIP Ari Up.

Possibly the Greatest Plant-Themed Concept Album of All Time?

Say the name to yourself and try to claim that the idea isn't inspired: Stevie Wonder's Journey Through the Secret Life of Plants. It is what it claims to be; tackling a range of plant-centric subject matter, from the last moments of an insect duped by a Venus Fly Trap to a wish-song about being reincarnated as a flower (in order to "spread the sweetness of love.")

The idea is especially hilarious because it was released after a three year gap, following 1976's extraordinary Songs in the Key of Life. Songs may have been ambitious, but it was a quantum leap from there to a largely-instrumental floral-centred double LP. So what's the story?

It is in fact a soundtrack album, with music specially recorded for the documentary The Secret Life of Plants. That film features fantastic time lapse footage of plants growing and flowers blooming, posited alongside out-there theories about sentient plant life and the benefits of playing soothing music to aid the growth of flowers and vegetables. The eccentric subject matter is matched by the coup of getting Stevie Wonder to compose an entire soundtrack around the idea.

While this article may seem mocking in tone, on the contrary I actually enjoy this album greatly. The idea behind it is wonderfully strange, but also interesting in execution. The music is inoffensive (you wouldn't want your houseplants to wither away, would you?) but very odd, containing experimental synthesizers and subtle nuances that make repeat listens worthwhile. See it as the kind of library music that sounds fine in the background, but a bit unsettling when listened to closely. Charming in both idea and realisation.

Music For Autumn

Musical choice isn't subject to seasonal change, nor inherent quality sullied by weather-specific characteristics. Clearly, however, there is something in the mood and atmosphere of a song that can make it more affecting in certain surroundings. For example, despite Unknown Pleasures being released in June, Joy Division's empty space-evoking music and Ian Curtis's despondant lyrics work best in the cold surroundings of winter: the clouds of condensation in the air correspond perfectly with the frostiness of Hannet's production on the album. Other seasons have different musical characteristics to my mind.

Since autumn is rapidly appearing in Ireland I've decided to theme this post around songs that evoke that season best for me. Of course these choices are purely subjective and may mean different things to different people, but for me they brilliantly encapsulate the atmosphere of sylvan autumn.



Vashti Bunyan - Hidden



Nick Drake - The Thoughts of Mary Jane



Linda Perhacs - Chimacum Rain



The Coral - Secret Kiss



The Stone Roses - Waterfall

A Short Absence

I'm glad to be back on my blog following a month of assorted nuisances, from university work to the internet refusing to connect for more than a few minutes at a time. With that in mind I've been writing bits and pieces on various musical topics that have come to my attention over the past few weeks; these will be posted in due course.

The Heights of Ian Brown - 1999-2004

Following the drawn-out demise of the Stone Roses, Ian Brown made a complete break with his former band's sound. In place of the predominant guitar pop (and later Led Zep blues-rock) Brown unveiled a stark, lo-fi minimalism on 1998's Unfinished Monkey Business. However, that album was to be rendered a mere prologue as the singer unveiled an aesthetic based on richness and depth, a layered stew where electronics jostled alongside samples, organic instrumentation of all stripes and a throw-everything-in-the-mix approach that revealed new details on each listen. This process began with 1999's Golden Greats and continued until 2007's The World Is Yours where a more unified, string-heavy sound became prevalent.

So Many Soldiers:



One of the highlights of Golden Greats, "So Many Soldiers" melds acoustic guitars, soaring electronics and vocals that drift in and out of the soundscape. This song is a microcosm of the album as a whole, neo-psychedelia that begins as social commentary and rises into the mystical spirituality that characterises Brown's solo work: "this road you walk/this path you tread/sweet I shall see/and heaven fed."

Stardust:



Similar to "So Many Soldiers," "Stardust" seamlessly mixes the acoustic and the electric, the synths bringing the mellotron to mind, again positioning Brown's work in the neo-psychedelic sphere. As for the lyrics, they concern the idea that the building blocks of humanity (and all organisms) arrived from celestial bodies - truly trippy within this musical context, and proof that Brown's subject matter is wider and a lot more interesting than most other mainstream musicians.

Solarized:



The title track from the 2004 release, "Solarized" is often overlooked by casual Brown fans. That may be due to its subdued set-up, but even a cursory listen reveals this to be an intriguing effort (it certainly caught my ear on first listen, remaining for me the stand-out non-single on the album.) The cold flame flickering of the synths alongside tablas, backwards percussion and prominent bass coalesce to create an ominous mood, a creeping sense of disquiet that taps into the darker side of Brown's sound. That's not to say that the song itself is a depressing one - on the contrary, the lyrics are hopeful, ending with the half-spoken finale "the light that she lives for in the dark she'll always find." And that sums the track up, a sense of escape rather than surrender.

These 3 songs represent a minute portion of Brown's discography, and I'd urge anyone who hasn't paid him any attention to listen to the 3 masterpieces he created from 1999 to 2004, Golden Greats, Music of the Spheres and Solarized. Some critics in the past portrayed his career as that of a Britpop cast-off, but acclaim has also followed him in the post-Roses path, and rightly so. As can be gathered from his recordings and his interviews, he is fiercely individual and wary of living off past glories - and with a catalogue as rich as his, I can only say that I see his point.

Nicky Wire On The Libertines

Great to see Nicky Wire's comment on The Libertines in this month's NME, two of my favourite bands and I echo Wire's thoughts on the group:

"The last band I belived in, for all there raggedness, was The Libertines. They were more than just a band, they were a lifestyle, a mythology."

Belfast Funk & Soul Mix

Here's an approximation of my set at the Belfast Funk & Soul Club on the 3rd September. There's a mix of big tunes and some more obscure ones, as well as leaning on the soul rather than funk side. I say approximation because I can't remember the exact order I played some songs in (a messy night!) but the majority is right.

1. R Dean Taylor - There's A Ghost In My House
2. Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels - Shake A Tail Feather
3. The Tempos (Countdown) Here I Come
4. Jimmy Ruffin - Gonna Give Her All The Love I've Got
5. Jamo Thomas - I Spy For The FBI
6. Bobby Paris - Night Owl
7. The Four Tops - Bernadette
8. Sly & The Family Stone - Stand!
9. Soul Patrol - Peter Pan
10. The Fabulous Counts - Jan Jan
11. Wynder K Frog - Green Door
12. The Singing Principal - Women's Liberation
13. Marvin Gaye - Too Busy Thinking About My Baby
14. Paul Anka - I Can't Help Lovin' You
15. The United Four - She's Putting You On
16. The Chandlers - Your Love Keeps Drawing Me Closer
17. Len Woods - Do It Funky

http://rapidshare.com/files/419014916/Burst_Into_Heaven_-_Funk___Soul_Mix.mp3

When 60s Pop Collides With a Vague Sense of Horror

Any time I've read about the classic Seeds song "Pushin' Too Hard" it's always been in reference to the supposed ineptitude and rawness of the track, and its nature as an example of all that's good and bad about 60s punk. While this is undoubtedly important, I always wondered why no one picked up on its sinister mood - it's always carried an eerie mood for me, from the backing vocals to the creepy electric piano solo, placing it alongside Doors tracks like "End of the Night" or "Not to Touch the Earth" in my dark psychedelic top 10. Thank God for allmusic.com then, because reading Richie Unterberger's review proved that others have garnered a similar feeling.

Choice analysis includes: "the two chords that are alternated between throughout the song, for one thing, are pretty odd: dark and minor, yet nigglingly creepy. The combination of thundering stiff hyper-fast drums, fuzzy guitar, and electric piano creates a foggy...stormy atmosphere" and "crucial to the musical appeal of this recipe are the ethereal, nerve-jangling high harmonies at the end of each verse, as the other Seeds mournfully drone "too hard." So there you have it, a small critical consensus! The appeal of much of the Nuggets continuem isn't in the bands' apparent ineptitude itself, but in the very strangeness spawned from their attempts at emulating more professional pop music.

The Great Forward-Thinking Sound of the Silver Apples!

The Silver Apples are one of the most interesting bands in pop music history. Propelled by the constant, propulsive drum rhythm that would later become known as "motorik" when used by Neu! and textured with early synths, the result is a clash between control and chaotic noise. The synths ambush the ears and create a trippy atmosphere, the antithesis of the steady rhythm section. Well worth a listen if you want to hear the strange beginning of not just krautrock, but the foundations of electronic music as a whole.

Sweden - Pop Stronghold!

I recently wrote two reviews for Cluas, as part of a special on the Swedish music scene:

Yosei - The Wind-Up Waltz
Lucknow Pact - Open Your Arms

Sweden appears to be something of a pop mecca at the moment, throwing out brilliant artists like Manchester has for the past few decades. The Hives, Peter, Bjorn & John, Jens Lekman and Lykke Li spring to mind instantly, but the underground delights of bands like The (International) Noise Conspiracy and Randy (amongst many many others) help to make the Swedish scene one of the most vibrant and eclectic in the world.

Icy pop from Lucknow Pact



Warm pop from Jens Lekman




Politically-driven garage rock from The (International) Noise Conspiracy

Song of the Day: Peter Doherty - Sheepskin Tearaway (feat Dot Allison)

A song I've recently re-discovered and one of the finest songs in Doherty's back catalogue. Exemplary of Grace/Wastelands, "Sheepskin Tearaway" features the defining hazy production and strings of that album, and includes the perfectly-suited vocals of Dot Allison. Her voice compliments Doherty's well, both sounding vaguely unpolished and conjuring a mood that suits the lyrics; telling the story of a woman who "opens her heart" to "a tearaway, all covered in scars and full of heroin," it's easy to view this as an autobiographical piece by Doherty, but another interpretation would be that this is another song paying tribute to the underdog, a frequent topic of his.

A Tragic Story

"Shaun Ryder heckled by Peter Andre fans after V Festival mix-up"

One of the stories that caught my attention in the last week, mostly due to the terrible way in which the events got progressively worse as the performance went on. Firstly, why did the V Festival organisers play a Peter Andre highlights video before Ryder's set? Were they actively trying to stir up trouble? Secondly, the mixed-up Ryder shouting "are my ears fucked or are you shouting New Order?" as the baying crowd chanted "who are you?" and threw bottles at the beleaguered frontman. At that point I had trouble reading on, but forced myself through til I mercifully reached the end, after further highlights like an exodus from the crowd, bottles and "wanker" signs hurled toward the stage, before the final tiny mercy of "Step On" receiving a good response (a marked contrast to the rest of the set.) The final, all-encompassing questions I have are: 1. Who knew Peter Andre had fans? 2. Who knew Peter Andre fans could be so aggressive? 3. Are they stupid? Sure Ryder's live performances might not always be up to scratch, but I'd much rather hear a botched performance of this:



over a perfect rendition of this:

An Introduction to Psybient

This is a short psybient mix I made as an introduction to the genre. It's recently became a favourite of mine; following a real interest in psytrance I wished to explore its ambient cousin genre. Retaining a psytrance aesthetic and sound but slowing the bpm and dropping the four-to-the-floor bass drum, psybient artists are creating music that possesses both restfulness and an edge. This serves as an entry point for those interested in exploring the style.

Tracklisting:

1. Zero Cult - Broken Hope
2. Carbon Based Lifeforms - Right Where it Ends
3. Celtic Cross - Khatmandu
4. Aes Dana - Haze
5. Vibrasphere - Ice Flow
6. The HUVA Network - Rain Geometries
7. Tripswitch - Shamanic Tea

Download Link

Song of the Day: Etta James - Tell Mama

A singer whose stylistic range encompassed jazz, blues and soul, Etta James epitomises that hard-edged strand of soul given the regional prefix "southern." On "Tell Mama" her voice is simply breathtaking: strong, completely controlled and yet emotionally tangible.

Song of the Day: T-Rex - Spaceball Ricochet

The Slider remains T-Rex’s magnum opus, only slightly topping the 1971 masterpiece Electric Warrior. Marc Bolan achieved this by focussing on that album’s main strengths, namely a combination of groove-rock and affecting balladry. “Spaceball Ricochet” fits into the latter, sparsely rendered (aside from brief introductory and concluding cello) on acoustic guitar, low-level bass and beautiful vocal harmonies. The song is lyrically oblique, but seems to snapshot Bolan’s life at the peak of his career. That Bolan makes lines like “with my Les Paul, I know I’m small but I enjoy living anyway” and “what can I do? we all live in a zoo, all I do is play the spaceball ricochet” sound emotionally involving is a testament to his immense talent and/or charisma. One of the finest cuts from T-Rex’s softer output.

Song of the Day: MIA - It Takes A Muscle

Since I haven't posted in a while (the busy summer schedule dragged me away!) I'm going to post a second song of the day, one that's had my attention most of this season.

MIA's newest release Maya has divided critics, some hailing her third album as a continuation of the exciting eclecticism of her first two albums (with Drowned In Sound describing it as "bold, inventive and occasionally thrilling") and others finding the album a simply baffling, alienating listen (or as Pitchfork put it: "it's as if everything that was great about M.I.A. has been stripped from this music, leaving behind only the most alienating aspects of her art and public persona.")

I would tend toward the former opinion: Maya is a challenging album, and all the better for it. At times the music sounds like an auditory ambush, instruments careening from ear to ear and occasionally descending into cacophany. Primarily the mood is that of digital-age paranoia and terror, but there are light moments scattered throughout. One of these is "It Takes A Muscle," a cover of Dutch band Spectral Display's synth-pop original. Bathed in reggae rhythms and defined by a sugar-sweet melody, MIA's vocals hover over the instrumentation, distant yet completely in keeping with the song's composition. Lyrics like "you've got to love one another, that's what the good man says" sound resplendant in MIA's cool, echoed tones, making this the perfect summer song, especially when placed in the context of the awesome, jarring surroundings of Maya.

Song of the Day: Gene Vincent - Cat Man

The narrative of early rock n roll is a well-known one – a burst of rebellion, quickly submerged into the mainstream showbiz abyss, a journey typically connected with Elvis Presley. Of course, revisionism is a strong component of music criticism precisely because such narratives are coarsely simplistic and reductionist (indeed, some of Presley’s late 60s albums are considered among his best). What is often forgotten is the embedded radicalism of many of the early rock n roll songs.

“Cat Man” is a superbly sinister song; maybe it’s the squeamish guitar lines, Vincent’s anguished shouts, the typical rockabilly reverb – or most importantly, maybe it’s the title character, who the lyrics portray as some sort of sexual predator. Either way, this song embodies the below-the-surface sexuality and violence present in many early rockabilly tracks.

Song of the Day: The Inspiral Carpets - She Comes In The Fall

The Inspiral Carpets remain one of the most underrated acts of later psychedelic music. While their output could be patchy, the number of stand out tracks make up for any filler padding out their albums. Matching psychedelia with contemporary alternative rock, they were classed alongside leading lights the Happy Mondays and The Stone Roses with the "Madchester" scene, which later expanded geographically into "baggy." The most important aspect of that style was (as mentioned before) the merging of older psychedelia with later styles like indie or house music. The Inspiral Carpets took the psychedelic influence the furthest, at the most extreme sounding like a slightly late addition to the Nuggets canon.

A true gem in their back catalogue, "She Comes In The Fall" throws prominent organ lines into a frenetic, rolling mix. Exhilerating and an excellent introduction to the band.

Song of the Day: The Doors - Blue Sunday

Morrison Hotel, the album that followed the stylistic experiments of Waiting for the Sun and The Soft Parade, is often viewed as The Doors going "back to basics," drawing more on blues and basic hard rock as opposed to the strings, brass and softer lyrical themes of those two albums. As with most tenets of rock mythology, this is a simplistic, reductionist way of looking at the band's evolution. In reality, the lines between these three albums are illusionary, blurred by exceptions here and there that betray the strict divisions favoured by some. Songs like "Not to Touch the Earth," "My Wild Love," "Five to One" and "The Soft Parade" contain stylistic experimentation and often disturbing lyrics and atmosphere, defying the consensus that they are overtly commercial works. Similarly defiant, "Blue Sunday" from Morrison Hotel showcases a soft, restrained rhythm section bathed in resplendant organ lines. Thematically, Morrison penned a love song, complimenting the music perfectly and collectively creating one of the finest songs in The Doors' back catalogue. Not only does "Blue Sunday" demonstrate the dual nature that defined the majority of their career, it also destroys the notion that the love song and "softness" represents a sell out or a regression into despised showbiz pop.

Song of the Day: Snoop Dogg - Murder Was The Case

While Snoop Dogg is today portrayed as something of a fun-loving pimp figure, back when he still had "Doggy" in his name his persona was a lot more sinister, bolstered by real life brushes with the law (shortly after the release of Doggystyle he was charged with murder, but later acquitted). "Murder Was The Case" captures this atmosphere of dark menace through ominous synths, while Snoop's rapping veers between nonchalance and distress, fitting the lyrical themes of mortality, the afterlife, and the consequences of a materialistic lifestyle.

Song of the Day: Meg Baird - Maiden In The Moor Lay

Meg Baird's 2007 album Dear Companion stands out as one of the highlights of 21st century folk, a status gained not just through flawless vocals, arrangements and writing, but by its heavy debt to the golden age of early 70s British folk. While Espers tend toward a heavier interpretation of psych-folk, Baird's solo effort leans toward a lighter interpretation of the genre. "Maiden In The Moor Lay" showcases Baird's talent superbly, an arrangement of a medieval English folk song that evokes that sense of idyllic medievalism by its arrangement and Baird's frayed vocals. These reach their epoch in the last seconds of the song, rising and ending with a glorious vocal harmony.

Song of the Day: Cosmosis - Cannabanoid

One of the finest examples of goa trance, Cosmosis's "Cannabanoid" from their 1996 album Cosmology encapsulates that genre (and its associated style, psytrance) in a space of seven minutes. The emotions captured in this track, from soaring euphoria to wild-eyed anxiety, are a perfect espousal of goa/psy's merits; the genres drag the light and dark of psychedelia firmly into the framework of electronic dance - "Cannabanoid" sums up how glorious this prospect can sound when it works.