New Records

I can see that my posting has slowed down again - three Friday posts in a row.... At least this time I can vary it a bit. I've managed to buy a decent selection of new records this year - there seems to be a particular concentration of things I want out in the early going this year. WIth more to come (whenever the TV on the Radio record is supposed to come out - April 12?) Not only buying it, but listening to it - though in the 21st century way, all the new stuff in a playlist on the iPod, set to shuffle... It's like listening to the radio, back in the day! 2011 feels like 1977 sometimes. A theme that may return.... Anyway - I can't pretend to review these records - just offer some impressions from what the iTunes fairies have chosen to play...

Danielson: The Best of Gloucester County - haven't has this long, and only a couple songs have come up - but - nice stuff, more normal sounding than usual, though Daniel Smith's voice can never quite be normal. If their early career seemed to be built on variations of The Art of Walking - this is their Cloudland...

Decembrists: The King is Dead - they seem to have moved from remaking the Waterboys to remaking The River. (Though with more than a few early REM moments.) They remain quite good, though nothing on this record has compelled my attention like The Crane Wife did... Still - they are a pretty reliable act - I guess I liked their Waterboys act better...

Deerhoof: Deerhoof vs. Evil - nice stuff as always, a bit different, less jagged than before; they appear to be mellowing. Quieter instrumentation, and when the guitars and drums come in, their softer, gentler, with a bit of a latin lilt... interesting....

Gang of Four: Content - not up to their old stuff, but it still jumps out at you - I once confused a group of people at lunch by saying if I could be anyone other than myself I would want to be Andy Gill... that statement is still operational.... I admit too, every time a song from this CD comes up on shuffle, I like it more than I did the last time.



Iron & Wine: Kiss Each other Clean - Mr. Beam and company channeling Little Feat (or is it Harry Nilson?), between the prettier folk songs. Maybe it is 1977 - the bands that weren't actually around in 77 or 79 seem determined to sound like they were... This should not be taken as complaint though - this in particular is full of lovely songs, and a couple really cool songs, when they really dial up the Little Feat vibe - I've had Big Burned Hand running in my head over the last couple weeks.



Mogwai: Hardcore Will Never Die, But You WIll - even Mogwai is sounding rather mellow and 70s-ish these days - well - maybe it's the context; I'm not sure there's much difference from their usual sound - slightly different nuances of 70s style prog metal? Though then you get the end - "You're Lionel Richie" - which lifts it's main riff straight from Earth, and does it justice...

PJ Harvey: Let England Shake - this requires careful attention - Polly Jean is at the height of her powers. I feel inadequate to say anything about it now... if there's a classic in this bunch of CDs, this is it.



REM: Collapse Into Now - not sure why I bought this, but here it is. Nostalgia can be cruel. Though what little I have heard of it so far sounds - promising. Neat opening riff, that comes back again at the end, after a song that appears to have Patti Smith singing while Stipe does a fake Patti Smith thing - interesting. Looping back to the start is a neat little effect... In general - the songs that have come up on the iPod do seem more appealing than on the last REM record, whatever that was called. SO maybe...

Six Organs of Admittance: Asleep on a Flood Plain - Ben back to the classics, acoustic drones and layered sounds and percussions, and now and then, a blast of electricity coming through in waves...

Wire: Red Barked Tree - the music seems a bit softer than in the past, but the words - "please take the knife out of my back and when you do please twist it" - are up to expected standards.