Opus Archives: Elsewhere: “Music” Archives
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Josh Hurst reviews The Sound of the Smiths:
It adds up to a nearly flawless parade of great songs, arranged for maximum impact and compulsive listenability, and, as such, it’s an absolutely essential package for anyone who doesn’t already have all these songs, and even a great selection for those who do.
Aaron just pointed me towards “Helen Of Troy”, the first single from Telefon Tel Aviv’s upcoming 2009 full-length, Immolate Yourself. I’ll confess to not being all that familiar with the duo’s music, but this new track is absolutely spot on. Yeah, it cribs a little from Violator-era Depeche Mode, especially in its awesome programming, but like that’s a bad thing. If you’re going to crib, might as well do it from the best. Immolate Yourself will be released on January 20, 2009.
Whoa… how did I miss that Starflyer 59 released a new album last month? Dial M was released on October 28th and you can hear the album’s first single—“The Brightest Of The Head”—on the band’s Purevolume page, and more tracks on this Dial M e-card.
On a related note, I absolutely love the album’s artwork (courtesy of Invisible Creature).
PopMatters reviews Woven Hand’s Ten Stones:
This album, along with the four that preceded it and the full 16 Horsepower catalog, should establish David Eugene Edwards as one of the truly original and compelling artists in American rock right now. Forget that he’s a Christian or an alt.country artist or an odd anachronistic figure prone to old-fashioned clothing, because none of that matters. What matters is that this music is as spiritually engaging and viscerally moving as anything you can hear right now.
Not to be nitpicky, but Edwards’ Christianity is precisely why his music is so spiritually engaging and viscerally moving
. Remove his faith, and the music would be greatly diminished.
If you head over to The Cure’s MySpace page, you can listen to their new album—4:13 Dream—in its entirety. Or, you can wait until it’s released in stores tomorrow (10/28).
Jeffrey Overstreet reviews three music-based documentaries: Awake My Soul: The Story of the Sacred Harp, Homemade Hillbilly Jam, and We Are Together.
This month, three new DVDs give you an opportunity for unforgettable musical journeys. All you need is a DVD player, and you can voyage to the Talladega National Forest, or the Ozarks, or South Africa, to experience soulful, inspiring music from unforgettable people.
I’ve seen all three, and I encourage you to make all three trips. You won’t regret it.
I saw a portion of Awake My Soul: The Story of the Sacred Harp when Pitchfork was streaming it a month or so ago, and what I saw definitely intrigued me. And speaking of music-based documentaries that you should check out, I highly recommend Danielson: A Family Movie.
The Silent Ballet reviews Johann Johannsson’s Fordlandia:
It’s been a long time coming, but Johann Johannsson has finally produced his masterpiece. Previous releases have bordered on brilliance, but the cross-stitching of Fordlandia creates an end result greater than the sum of its parts. In the field of modern composition, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a finer album this year.
That’s some might high praise, considering that this is the guy who released Virthulegu forsetar and IBM 1401, A User’s Manual, two very fine albums.
Labrador once again shows off their impeccable taste with their new signing, Pallers. Their first single, “Humdrum”, is available as a free download, and it’s a mighty fine track, full of silky-smooth synth arpeggios, wistful vocals, and spectral post-punk guitars reminiscent of Seventeen Seconds-era Cure. The single will be released on 12/3 along with a couple of remixes and a b-side entitled “Slow Down Quickly”.
And in other Labrador-related news, the new Radio Dept. CD—Clinging To A Scheme—is due out soon. Until then, you can always check out the great first single, “Freddie And The Trojan Horse”.
American Laundromat Records’ Just Like Heaven—a tribute album to the Cure featuring Tanya Donelly, Dean & Britta, The Rosebuds, Devics, and The Wedding Present—is now streaming online (though the player only plays a portion of each song). I’m particularly fond of The Rosebuds’ cover of “The Walk” and Cassettes Won’t Listen’s cover of “Let’s Go To Bed”, but then again, I’ve always been inordinately fond of The Cure’s more dance-oriented material circa Japanese Whispers.
PopMatters reviews Max Richter’s 24 Postcards in Full Colour:
...the album as a whole plays like a sampler, like a full album preview run-down at Allmusic.com or Amazon. The ringtone is not supposed to be about unsatiated desire. It’s supposed to be about rapid consummation. A normal person wants to end the sound of a ringing phone, not let it ring through to see where the song is going. 24 Postcards in Full Colour might almost be condemnable as a rotten tease were it not so powerful in its absences. It lets you see where one might go and all the things one might say, but the call never comes.
The New York Times on My Bloody Valentine’s reunion and future plans:
In 2006 [Kevin] Shields started remastering the My Bloody Valentine catalog and revisiting unreleased songs to be added to a compilation album. When he listened again to material from the aborted third album, he was heartened. “I realized that all that stuff I was doing in 1996 and 1997 was a lot better than I thought.“ He now plans to complete that album, and to start recording new material with the band in the fall.
Reason #4,523 why DRM = Fail: Walmart is shutting off their DRM servers on October 9th. Meaning that if you purchased music with DRM from their online service, you’ll need to burn all of your files to CD or else they’ll be inaccessible forever.
Paste Magazine has just announced their “Digital VIP” service. For $3.95/month, you’ll get a free MP3 album each month, a DVD sampler of music videos and short films every quarter, weekly MP3s of live performances, digital issues (including exclusive access to all back issues), a t-shirt, and more. Oh, and all of the music is DRM-free.
Like Paige at Flux=Rad, I too am anxiously awaiting the new album from Mew.
Josh Hurst reviews Wovenhand’s Ten Stones:
Has there ever been a musician more frequently—or more accurately—compared to the Old Testament prophets than David Eugene Edwards? It’s doubtful; certainly Nick Cave has a certain feverish ferocity about him, and Johnny Cash undoubtedly took up a certain prophetic mantle with his apocalyptic hymn “The Man Comes Around,“ but Edwards stands alone in his fire-and-brimstone fervor, his unwavering and unrelenting conviction in the awful grace and mighty vengeance of the Divine. So if it sometimes sound like he’s repeating himself, it’s because he is—his message of God’s coming judgment, and of the utter futility of man trying to defy him, hasn’t changed a bit from his first album up through his most recent, Ten Stones.
Overall, Hurst compares Ten Stones quite favorably to my favorite Woven Hand album, Consider The Birds, which is definitely good news IMHO.
Brainwashed reviews Fleet Foxes self-titled album:
These musicians genuinely believe that what they’re making as a group has some power, something beyond trite, stylistic aping and nostalgia. In short, Fleet Foxes has recorded the best album I have heard this year. They have come to the studio with a purpose and have succeeded in suffusing their record with it. If only other bands could remember why they love rock and pop music, too.
Wherefore art thou Mark Hollis?
Spirit of Eden has not dated; it’s remarkable how contemporary it sounds, anticipating post-rock, the Verve and Radiohead. It’s the sound of an artist being given the keys to the kingdom and returning with art. Yet upon completion it was seen as utter commercial suicide, as if Duran Duran had released a krautrock, free jazz, gospel album after Notorious. EMI responded by suing Hollis for being wilfully obscure and un-commercial, much as when David Geffen sued Neil Young for not sounding Neil Young enough. This ridiculous case was eventually thrown out of court yet it had a long lasting impact on the music industry. The lawsuit set the precedent for the clause that a band’s recordings have to be of a commercially satisfactory nature.
I’d like to think that, if Portishead and My Bloody Valentine can reappear after spending a decade or so out of the limelight, that Mark Hollis/Talk Talk could do the same, but I suppose that’s really wishful thinking. Ah well, guess it’s time to pull out that copy of Spirit Of Eden again. Via
I’ve been in a “classic 4AD” state of mind today…
The Silent Ballet reviews July Skies’ The Weather Clock:
July Skies has received criticism for its blurry song distinction and deliberate climactic elisions; those who have turned on this record anticipating dynamic, ascending guitar work will be disappointed. For those who have grown to love the sound the July Skies has established on the previous albums, a sound that shies from ostentation and embraces subtleties applied by Harding’s minimal instrumentation, The Weather Clock will not disappoint you.
My own review of The Weather Clock can be found here.
PopMatters reviews Park Avenue Music’s By Hearts + Horses: Noise or ambient rock can be a hit or miss affair. If it’s too arty then it just becomes pretentious to the listener who will often chuck it. But then again if it’s not too highbrow what’s the point. Park Avenue Music have found the proper balance on this album, starting with the gorgeous “Norway Kitty” which could have been placed on the soundtrack to either Babel or Lost In Translation and been a highlight on each.
My own review can be found here.