They’re actually pretty close…to perfection. With no complications, no pretentious lyrics nor arrangements, straight from the heart and hands, I Am Very Far is the final word from Okkervil River.
Different from their past albums, they finally realized that pleasing the US crowd isn’t entirely satisfying. Deep, dark and blue I Am Very Far is just good.
Have a listen to The Rise (track that closes this beautiful album):
Surprise surprise! Ireland’s got talent – and big one to say the least. Bumped into one of their songs a few weeks ago and became a fan ever since.
And So I Watch You From Afar new album Gangs – an orgy of guitars and drums on a tailored epic musical scene.
Too philosophical? Nah, don’t think so. Just press play on 7 Billion People All Alive At Once
Ah, punk-rock / hardcore punk is alive and continues to be Fucked Up.
Aggressive, melodic and powerful – just as we like it.
Go and listen to the album – David Comes to Life - and stay tuned for The Other Shoe:
Men & Moon, still one of the biggest unsolved myths of the world. REM sang about it and many hundred conspiracy theory fans wrote about it. "One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind"
Arthur Russell took it to another dimension. He was a man with a conflict, his music was sometimes confusing, messy, but this song is just brilliant.
This is How We Walk on the Moon by Arthur Russell – may he RIP.
They have their own planet. Created and managed by Tom Yorke & co, visited by us common mortals who understand the message, the call, the amazing musical richness of Radiohead.
Moving forward, they released their 8th album entitled The King of Limbs. Quality is there, the trip is still on, but in my honest (and strange) opinion, In Rainbows is far better, not to say that they’re still very far from the magical Kid A (probably one of the top-10 best albums ever).
Anyhow, here is their new single – best track in the album? – Lotus Flower. You gotta love Tom’s moves, a genius of his own.
Everything they do is simply good - I'm convinced they're not able to do anything that songs bad. It's worth listening, worth sharing, worth keeping in the shelf for a lonely Sunday afternoon.
Fleet Foxes are just relevant.
“Yeah, I'm tongue-tied and dizzy / and I can't keep it to myself / what good is it to sing helplessness blues?”
There are people who were born with a gift. Hendrix's was to play the guitar.
He knew how to play guitar and the guitar knew how to be played by him. Doesn’t matter how you put it. He was born to do it, he lived doing it and he died doing it.
It will always be an adventure to be invited to his planet of bad-ass-awesome-devil's-R&R.
Someone once said : ‘Hendrix isn’t dead, God just wanted some guitar lessons’.
The music world would be different without him, and that’s just a fact.
Great lyrics, rich instrumental background, lovely leading voice, excellent album cover, and little else to add. Just the fact that they are so underrated it seriously annoys me.
This song is...well, you tell me.
“I ask her to speak French / And then I need her to translate / I get the feeling she makes the meaning more significant / She was always far too pretty / for me to believe in a single word she said”
I’m in love with Mr. E, there is no other way to put this. Since the first (and blessed) time I heard him and his Eels, it was love at first sight audition. We just had a special chemistry, or at least I believe we did. E's voice is my conscious, it comes from where the 'special ones' decide what is your destiny. It's that deepness, the sound of experience, the voice that guides us through the path of life.
And they've evolved, they changed styles, they tried it all and every single thing they make is damn good.
From all their precious collection, I would cut-your-eyes-off-if-you-don’t-listen recommend ‘Souljacker’, ‘Blinking Lights and Other Revelations’ and ‘Hombre Lobo’. All Epic, a true musical orgasm - what the 'musical experts' nowadays call Eargasm.
Finally, because a post is nothing without some evidence, you can listen to ‘I’m going to spot pretending I didn't break your heart’ (all-time favorite together with ‘Fresh Feeling’, ‘Tremendous Dynamite’ or ‘Novocaine for the Soul’):
Sometimes I would like to go back in time. Who wouldn't ? I bet Morrissey would ride that horse. Maybe one day we can all ride it. Who knows?
Until that day, his old depressions are my daily smiles.
New project of Danger Mouse & Daniele Luppi is out in stores – Rome.
There are things in life you cannot explain. Like how some songs seem to have been written and compelled for you. Like somehow I’ve met a group of musicians on a random night in some lost pub and told them all my secrets, my doubts, my fears, my dreams. It’s just scary, makes me feel naked, with no arguments, explanations or reasons for that.
If you’ve never felt at least a small breeze of what I described, I feel sorry for you and please read another blog (all this power is just freaking me out!) – otherwise buy, download, go on youtube or call your secretary = Smother from the Wild Beasts is out there. It’s pure magic, the cold feeling of a soft knife stabbing your chest in the hands of a lovely ghost lady. Yes, it's that good.
This is my 'comfort zone'. Everyone knows It’s not going to be the album of the year, fact. But it’s honest, clean and straight-forward. I enjoy that. Even if you can quickly identify all their influences, past and recent, who cares? Not me, not them for sure. And again, I enjoy it.
All tracks are 'pretty-much-nice-yes-i-make-indie-rock-that-sounds-like-the-80's’ but I want to highlight two of them : ‘All in White’ - the lyrics are simply flawless; and ‘If you Wanna’ -lovable popish tune.
Live performance of ‘If you Wanna’ :
What I like about PJ Harvey is not even the bad-shit-ass good music she makes, it’s really the indiscrete and silent way she says ‘all you lady singers with your big boobs, your doggy dance moves, your sweet-shit melodies and your pseudo-alternative looks – go fuck yourselves’. She is just awesome.
‘Let England Shake’ is another quality album that shows her good work in getting the message across. She is here, she is real, she is easy. In 12 tracks England is seriously blessed with great lyrics and great tunes. This calls for a 10/10 score and a blinking pint.
Video of ‘Last Living Rose’ – you can sing along : “Goddamn Europeans / Take me back to beautiful England / And the grey damp filthiness of ages / And battered books”
Junior Boys have always surprised me – for better and for worst. One has gotta love their intimacy over cool electronic vibes, simply undeniable. Listening to ‘Like a Child’ is a ride I want to take every day of my life, pure tenderness. However, I feel there is something missing in each of their past three albums. Probably consistence, probably differentiation, probably I'm stupid. Still to figure it out.
Well, the new album is out soon (June), it’s called ‘It’s All True’ and apparently could be the Canadian band final cut into the electronic/pop music world. I hope so honestly. Have a look to what is likely to be the album's single and speak for yourselves:
A word of respect for Mr. Gil, may you RIP.
Soul/Funk/Jazz has lost one of their own. The melodies, the messages, the influence of a man that never saw the world the same as everyone else did. A truly visionary on his own style and composition. Gil Scott-Heron is gone from the real world but was kind enough to leave dreadful memories such as 'The Bottle':
