Another
great year of music comes to a close.
There are many exciting releases on the near horizon to begin 2014, so
much to look forward to. But it’s not
nice to take stock and remember what made this past year so tolerable. I've said plenty (too much) here, so now I would love to hear what kinds of music got everyone else going this past year. Please feel free to share your picks and stories.
5.
Kitchens of Distinction
Folly
(3 Loop)
Well, this
is awkward. One of my favorite bands
from twenty plus years ago has reformed and they have left me speechless! I now realize that I never tried to write
about them back when they existed from the late 80s till about 1996. They never easily fit with everyone they were
lumped in with, even though in my world they were essentially the epitome of
what I was looking for. Patrick
Fitzgerald’s lyrics were always poetic, incredibly honest, dramatic, filled
with vivid imagery and layers of interpretation, and often times political –
plus he was a great bass player, along the lines of New Order’s Peter Hook and especially, Cocteau Twins’ Robin Guthrie.
Julian Swales’ guitar work was always up there with My Bloody Valentine’s Kevin Shields as far as pure creativity and
the ability to twist his strings into soaring layers of sounds that one would
not generally associate with the electric guitar. And then there’s drummer Dan Goodwin, whose
unusual style was just as much of a trademark as Swales’ guitar. His playing was always big, but also very
intuitive. It often felt as though his
tempos would adjust as the intensity of their frequent song ending floods of
sound would increase. So, now, they’re
back. They’re not touring, which may be
good for me, since when I saw them perform in the fall of 1992, they melted the
plugs inside my ears. The album seems to
be named Folly on a lark, because
none of them seem to fully realize how this has happened. Whatever the case, this album is so damn good
and so damn them, but it’s not
exactly as they were. This sounds like a
fairly natural progression from their 1994 fourth album Cowboys and Aliens, as they began to slow down their gusto a bit
and write a wider variety of song styles.
This album is complex. These
songs don’t have the huge hooks of some of their past songs, but they reveal
themselves with repeated listens and it’s very exciting to have them back. “Oak Tree” opens the collection with a finger
picked acoustic guitar, as Fitzgerald tells us the story of two lovers growing
from the first blossoms of their relationship through sickness and until death,
as they music builds a backdrop that feels increasingly menacing as it
progresses. They aren’t fooling
around. Meanwhile, the drama of Swales’
guitar layers that rival a huge orchestral arrangement, act as a perfect soundtrack
for Fitzgerald’s rumbling mid range bass lines and his British Romanticist
poetry. Piano opens up the tragic story
that is “Photographing Rain,” which details the hanging of two gay Iranian men
via a crane. The darkness continues on
“Wolves/Crows” whose rolling chain gang style beat rumbles underneath Swales’
chaotic guitar squall, as Fitzgerald sing/speaks his unleashing of bitterness
and inner poison on an unsuspecting tree (“poor tree, its sap thick with my
dull life’s sicknesses”). It’s a
fitting and powerful metaphor for humanity’s raping of nature, but personally
it also feels like a cautionary tale to not allow anger and hatred and
frustration to poison one’s own soul. On
a lighter note, the first single, “Japan to Jupiter,” finds Fitzgerald
lost in nostalgia as he regales us with tales from discovering music and clubs
and the promise of youth and a limitless future to a fantastic soundtrack. The other immediately catchy song, “I Wish It
Would Snow,” is a simple tale of wanting to stay at home all day and not face
the daily grind – something we have all wished for since childhood all the way
into the high pressure of the work life.
This beauty opens with a chiming, catchy guitar line and a lackadaisical
bass crawl and a sweeping chorus that climaxes with a perfectly placed
tambourine shake. This is exactly the
kind of song that has been missing for too long. Welcome back guys.
4.
Veronica Falls
Waiting for Something to Happen
Five Covers Volume 2 EP
“Teenage” 7”
“Waiting for Something to Happen” 7”
“Broken Toy” 7”
(Bella
Union/Slumberland)
There’s
something so comforting to me about the Veronica Falls
sound. Their dry, tightly strummed
guitar interplay, the ceaselessly rolling and relentless drums remind me of
those great New Zealand and Aussie bands of the late 80s and into the 90s like the Bats and the Cannanes, who could write the same song over and over again,
but it was such a damn good song and so well done, that it never really dawned
on me. What the Veronica Falls
have that those bands didn’t (or don’t) have is vocal harmonies to die
for. These songs are so well sung and so
perfectly put together that the melodies dance in your thoughts for days after
each listen. Their self-titled debut
album from 2011 (my #9 pick seen here)
was an invitation into their dark world of disappointment and death that
somehow felt so welcome and comforting.
That album’s “Bad Feeling” (“I’ve got a bad feeling and it’s not going
away”) is my daily anthem as I head into work each day, because, unfortunately,
it is so fitting. If you liked that
fantastic debut, you will love this album as well. Nothing has changed in their sound, except
that have tightened some of their loose ends and found a clearer bolder
production for this recording (thanks Rory
Atwell!). The result is that the
rhythm section of drummer Patrick Doyle and bassist Marion Herbain are now a
force to be reckoned with and lead singer,
Roxanne Clifford’s vocals, are more out front and even easier to enjoy,
especially when fellow guitarist James Hoare comes in with his deep
baritone. It is stunning to think that
they can just keep cranking out such beauties and there is never a dud. Though they haven’t supplanted “Bad Feeling”
with a new dread inducing work anthem, they have offered up something awfully
close with “Bury Me.”
It’s not so much a suicide song, but one that identifies those feelings
of reaching the point of wanting to give up and let go. It’s been a source of understanding during a
difficult year filled with health uncertainties, discouragement and feeling
“adrift.” There’s nothing more powerful
than the comfort of being understood.
Similarly, “Broken Toy” strikes a chord in those us who have never felt
at ease with oneself and/or have struggled or helped someone struggle closely
with really challenging times. It’s that
understanding and their warm music that makes such bleak subjects so
healing. It doesn’t end with these,
because these thirteen songs, starting with the sublime momentum building “Tell
Me” through to the set closing goodbye note “Last Conversation,” are new
classics that have me delightfully singing along with their hard lessons and
rainy day misery. The amazing 2012
pre-LP single “My Heart Beats” still hasn’t outlasted its welcome with its
three minutes of tumbling perfection.
“Teenage,” likewise, gives us a tale of the breezy exuberance of young
love from the fuzzy Vaseline adjusted perspective of adulthood. Each song is an exquisite few minutes of
longingly resonant music and heartfelt words sung to us in the most elegant
possible harmonies. Here’s hoping they
please keep this up for as long as I continue to struggle through a never
ending adolescence.
If you were
lucky enough to score one of their limited edition covers EPs from a tour stop
or through pre-ordering their album, then you’re in on the treat. I missed out on the first Five Covers EP and
it has become the stuff of legend. This
volume 2 is pretty good with a couple of punk rock covers (Homeblitz and the Rats),
some Bob Dylan (“Love Minus Zero/No
Limit”) and the amazing and fitting “Bury Me Happy” originally by the Moles and The La’s truly “Timeless Melody,” whose Lee Mavers’ would most
assuredly approve (or not, since he seemed an angry man) of their lo-fi
approach. These songs were all recorded
in live to tape in a flat in one take, with the vocals done in the
bathroom. There is an unlisted cover of Ween’s “What Deaner Was Talking About,”
which is also surprisingly heartfelt considering the source. A nice treat if you can find it.
The
“Teenage” 7” arrived around the same time as the LP, but had been previewed
late in 2012 and it is a perfect teaser for the album and one of the finest
songs of the year with its gorgeous harmonies and agonizingly pitch perfect
capture of lost adolescence and the reassuring conclusion that “everything’s
alright.” The b-side is a simple two
minutes of acoustic based balladry with a zinger aimed at narcissism. This is a song that, much like all of their
others, is no throwaway b-side. Its
melody stays with you. I find myself
singing its chorus quite often out of the blue.
Or is it a reminder to not be so selfish. “Is it true / nothing better to do / than
talk about you?”
Meanwhile,
the “Waiting for Something to Happen” 7” highlights the title track’s call to
action. It’s hard to deny such a
compelling question: “What’s your excuse baby - standing in the middle waiting
for something to happen?” I like it when
bands record and release songs as they go.
This B-side, “Perpetual Motion” was recorded during their US tour and
finds them using some backwards loops to adorn a super short experiment. It took me a while to have this one grow on
me, but James Hoare’s bass back up vocal that sets the stage for the brief
chorus is magical.
Finally, the
“Broken Toy” is completely non-essential.
Yes, the A-side is excellent, so for those of you only looking for this
song, it’s a place to go. The B-side,
however, is simply a demo for the great album track “If You Still Want Me,”
which is okay, but nearly as impactful or very much different than the LP
version.
They have a
new single out digitally now, but I will address this closer once the vinyl is
distributed in early 2014.
3.
Underground Lovers
Weekend
(Rubber)
When I first
heard the Underground Lovers’ “Promenade” off of their landmark 1992 sophomore
album Leaves Me Blind, I instantly
fell in love. They somehow captured the
energy and vibe and, mildly, the sound that New Order perfected on side one of their 1986 Brotherhood, and then took it to a whole other level with a Wedding Present style jam session at
the end that just keeps getting louder and louder as it builds and builds and
doesn’t let go until the listener has been pummeled by the onslaught. It left me breathless and exhilarated and I
was hooked. I’ve found myself searching
high and low for their albums ever since – sometimes putting together
incredibly expensive mail orders direct from Australia via international money
order and a sinking feeling that nothing would ever arrive, but those CDs
always did and never failed to impress.
Still the remoteness and difficulty of finding their music locally has
always made me dream of the brief period in 1994 when their one US distributed
release Dream It Down CD (which was
sandwiched by a bunch of Leaves Me Blind
songs) was available everywhere and usually for super cheap! But it had been a long time since their last
album, 1999’s well titled dark and epic Cold
Feeling, which saw them pretty much embracing an all electronic album
(albeit in a way that 17 Seconds era Cure might have made had they gone a
similar direction), and with all of their side projects like Glenn Bennie’s
consistently solid GB3 project and with vocalist Vincent Giarrusso making a
movie (2000’s Mallboy), I assumed the
band was done. So, not only are they
back, but back with the original line-up fully intact for their seventh
long-player! This is monumental. It’s as if no time has passed. This is as excellent, fresh and vital as they
ever were. Many of these songs could fit
easily into different eras of the band, but none of it sounds like they’re
retreating to past glories and it’s simply so welcoming to hear their somehow
wholly unique guitar jangle – something that I might possibly be able to
describe if I were a musician, but somehow their guitar phrasing is unlike
anyone else’s. It’s also good to hear
Phillipa Nihill’s vocals back into the mix for the first time since 1996’s
straight forward Rushall Station, so
it is perfect that she takes the lead vocal on the soft and meditative opener
“Spaces.” In fact, Nihill sings up front
in three of the quieter moments. The
nicely atmospheric love song “Dream to Me,” hints at Leaves Me Blind’s wonderfully bouncy “Holiday,” while the
penultimate “In Silhouette’s” mostly guitar and voice balladry finds her cutting
straight past the high of a new love and realizing that she’s “gonna tear your
heart out” in the end, while reminding just a little of one of my old favorites
“Ways t’Burn.” There are also some
seriously loud moments here as well.
“Can for Now” opens with that bare signature guitar riff before cruising
into a nice shuffle beat and a song that builds momentum and noise as it
progresses (along with the handclaps and woops and hollers), while the early
single “Au Pair” begins with a classy bass plucking before exploding into a
straight ahead rocker. The propulsive
closing epic “The Lie That Sets You Free” with it’s backwards effected vocals
comes off a little bit like a lost gem from the self titled Stone Roses album. It’s always been the Underground Lovers’
ability to blend their “live” instruments with dance beats and technology so
seamlessly that is their true signature.
The room shaking beat of “Signs of Weakness” rattles its way into one’s
consciousness as its keyboard atmospherics merge with a Peter Hook-esque bass line for a trance inducing finale. Elsewhere, we find them paying tribute to the
Aussie legends The Go-Betweens on
“Riding” by stealing their “Cattle and Cane” riff and referencing them at a
party (“We were at a party / Rob and Grant were there / Lindy in an afro / we
was dancing on the stairs”) from the old days at the “Cattle and Cane
Disco.” However, it’s while listening
to “St. Germain,” that it all finally sunk in that this remarkable band is
back! This song would’ve been a favorite
of mine and fit seamlessly onto almost any of their albums, and yet, here it
is, over 20 years after I first fell for them, a trademark single. This is all without mentioning my favorite
song on the album, the stunning and sweeping “Haunted (Acedia),” which may
simply be one of their best songs period - right up there with the bitter
“Beautiful World” from 1994’s Dream It
Down. What an amazing return! Now, if only to get them back over to the
states for a tour!
2.
The History of Apple Pie
Out of View
“Don’t You Wanna Be Mine?” 7”
(Marshall
Teller)
Sometimes I
find myself starting to get wrapped up in some kind of phony critic mind set
when it comes to music. I start thinking
about music that I hear with the bent ear of why something might be important
in some sort of fantastical big picture, or why something might be more
important than another. It’s all pretty
ridiculous. I am a music fan and the
only reason I write these silly little pieces is because I am so excited about
the things I like that I want to share them with whomever may be willing to
listen. It’s true that the lyrics to the
debut album from this UK
quintet are not overly profound, nor is their sound extremely original, but by
damn, I love this album! It doesn’t hurt
that their influences seem to be drawn from my favorite era of music – the
UK/US indie scene from the late 80s to the early 90s, or more specifically the
less than flatteringly coined “shoegaze” scene, nor does it hurt that they’re
so freaking good at it. This is an
aggressively uplifting album. From the
opening “Tug,” which feels ready to fly off the rails at any moment – barely
kept grounded by a massive low end, to the stomping beat and squalling skyward
approach of the closing “Before You Reach the End,” this album is pure joy to
listen to. In many ways, it reminds me
of the fresh and energetic shock to the system I received from Popsicle’s Lacquer oh so many years ago (see story here). The twin guitar
assault between Jerome Watson and Aslam Ghauri here is gritty, intuitive and
unhinged – not schooled and calculated (just check out the fills during the
verses of the stumbling forward momentum of the standout “Glitch”). Jerome Watson’s solos throughout sound like
he’s strumming his effected guitar with as much force and speed as possible to
see who can squeeze out the most sparks and break the most strings. Meanwhile the sweet vocals of Stephanie Min
provide the dreamy elegance to counteract the stratospheric aim of the
music. The highlight songs, however, are
the ones that showcase the vocal interplay between Min and bassist Kelly Lee
Owens – reminding strongly of the much missed Miki Berenyi and Emma
Anderson from Lush. The poptastic “See You” can only smack a huge
smile across my face as those two trade ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ and ‘la la las’ atop
a Watson’s aggressive string shredding strums.
Each song melts into the next rarely providing a breath, as the closing
feedback of “See You” immediately kicks starts the buzzing and bouncing
“Mallory,” which is yet another candy coated piece of pure gold. Perhaps the sweetest moment is for the simple
comforting love song that is “You’re So Cool,” or for me, a kind comforting
reminder that life is not all bad. There
indeed are occasional quiet moments of love and contentment and they should be
treated with respect and given the same weight as those dark times and
struggles that seem to dominate memories.
Of course, the very next song on the album, the huge and majestic “I
Want More,” explores the struggle to keep it all together and to keep dreams
alive. During this year of personal
struggle, this album has never failed to put a smile on my face and fill me
with at least a touch of energy. What
more can someone ask from music?
The band
also released a 7” single for a new song late this year, “Don’t You Wanna Be
Mine?” It’s a solid song with some nice
organ pumping before the usual flood of guitars carries the song to a thrilling
close. The B-side, however, is just a
remix of the A, which is a disappointment.
Word has it that they’re working on the second album already, which is
fitting of their clear enthusiasm. Can’t
wait!
1.
Lanterns on the Lake
Until the Colours Run
(Bella
Union)
Lanterns on
the Lake’s debut, Gracious Tide, Take Me Home (my 2011 #3 pick), was a misty
melancholic epic. The entire album
evoked images of dreary grey skies and the cold dampness of coastal
harbors. Having grown up in such an
environment, it recalled the comforts of home and the longing of escape and the
need for warmth and brightness. Much
like their three early self-released EPs, Gracious
Tide wormed its way into my heart and found itself to be one of my
favorites of the last several years. I
listen to it over and over when the mood strikes and lose myself in its
beautiful landscape. Having said this,
their follow-up has a lot to live up to.
Word has it that the recording of Until
the Colours Run was not such an easy process either. The band lost two founding members as well as
struggling through a financial crisis.
Apparently, there was doubt that they would continue. Well, I for one am thanking them personally
for sticking it out, because this second album is an astonishing triumph. The pre-LP single “Another Tale from
Another English Town” immediately threw down the gauntlet that they are truly
a force to be reckoned with, as its one of the best songs to come out this year. They don’t lose their cinematic windswept
beauty, they enhance it with more of a focused energy, a little added edge to
the layers of instrumentation and to the lyrics, as singer Hazel Wilde sings of
frustration with the direction of society, perhaps stemming from the band’s own
struggles or simply witnessing the drastic cutbacks to important programs governments
are making in the name of austerity: “it’s getting hard to breathe round here,
to think round here / and we’ve been sold a thousand lies this year / we just
wanted the quiet life, the quiet life /
but they won’t stop till they see us in the ground, till they see us in the
ground.” It’s this soft-spoken protest
plainly sung inside the sweeping dynamics of the music that drives the message
home that much harder. It’s difficult
not to feel the sadness and anger building inside. Additionally, the album’s opener “Elodie”
seethes on to the scene with buzzing feedback before exploding into a
breathtaking dramatic wall of urgent beautiful noise. Each verse is a quiet piano led interlude
with Wilde’s plaintive vocals – though there is a restless percussive that
flutters around her voice, as if the band is itching to get back to that
noise. Then the song shifts tempos about
two thirds of the way in and they crank out a striking guitar solo, before
things simmer down to a hush as the song concludes. “The Buffalo Days” keeps this more direct
direction upfront, as the violins build tension that only partially gets
relieved in the crashing cymbals of the chorus, and then the entire song pushes
itself into a massive climax that rivals some of the most dramatic moments of
the much missed Delgados. On that line of thought, “The Ghost That
Sleeps in Me,” also hints at the power and variety of that band, as Wilde
almost sounds like Emma Pollock as
she whispers atop slow piano stammers, cellos and crackling static, but then
the song shifts into a symphonic epic held together by deep pounding
drums. Meanwhile, the heart wrenching
piano ballad, “Green & Gold” sticks to its simple direct unadorned approach
and teaches us the “fear is just a fleeting thing,” while “love is not a
fleeting thing” – reminding us that we can overcome our fears easier than we
can overcome heartbreak. When I first
heard Lanterns of the Lake, after mail ordering their 2008 debut Starlight EP, I immediately liked them,
but I never saw this kind of grandeur coming from those days of humble CDr’s
and handwritten sleeves. This is purely
a magnificent album that grows and reveals its power and subtleties with each
listen. I urge you, if you haven’t heard
them previously, to give them a chance to astound you.
see the rest of the best here:
