Americana,
country, folk … call it whatever you want, the music of Nashville’s triple
Grammy-award-winning duo The Civil Wars made a big impression on me in 2013, for
reasons I’ve yet to really fully fathom.
‘The
One That Got Away’ appealed as one of the best tracks off the self-titled
second album, which turned out to be a pretty big seller, topping the Billboard
album charts and peaking at No.2 in the UK. It seems I wasn’t alone then …
I’ve
blogged a couple of times this year about Washington DC producer Dub Architect,
and his Dub Volume 2 release of a few months back duly gave us a few new gems
to drool over. Among that swag bag of seriously spacey vibes was a reworking of
this track (‘Tear It Down’) by so-called “progressive punk” outfit Destroy DC. I’ve
had this on regular rotate over the past few months ....
Always
pretty much a Brit-centric type of group, indisputably so during its earliest
Eno-driven arthouse incarnation, Roxy Music had nonetheless made significant
inroads into the all important American market by the time of its
all-too-premature demise in the early Eighties. The band’s 1980 album, Flesh
And Blood, contained a couple of radio-friendly hits which helped bridge the
Atlantic divide, but it was 1982’s silky smooth follow-up, Avalon, that really
established the band’s reputation in the States.
What
a pity then, it was the band’s final album before Bryan Ferry embarked on a
markedly less successful solo career – one that recommenced with Boys And Girls
in 1985, after Ferry had released a run of solo albums in the Seventies; “filler”
side project-type efforts, released between Roxy albums.
But
if the band had to break-up, as it did for the best part of the next two
decades, Avalon provided as fitting a swansong as you’re ever likely to get,
and it is without question Roxy Music’s most accessible and commercially
successful effort. It completed a remarkable transformation from unrepentant
hard-line art-rock glamsters, to fully fledged neo-soul easy listening popsters
– something that initially began as far back as Eno’s departure.
Nothing
on Avalon is particularly hard to listen to or overly challenging. Even the
seemingly insignificant little instrumental numbers (‘India’, ‘Tara’) add to
the impression that Ferry and co were lapping up the sun, sipping expensive
cocktails on a beach, shootin’ the breeze and recording whatever whimsical idea
emerged.
The
combination of Ferry’s nonchalant croon, Phil Manzanera’s instantly
recognisible yet frequently sleepy guitar, and Andy Mackay’s successful merging
of sax with synth (a real feature on Avalon), proving irresistible.
It
should come as no real surprise then, that the album was recorded in the
Bahamas. The band may well have been doing exactly as outlined.
Key
tracks include the hit single ‘More Than This’, ‘Avalon’ – the super slick
title-track, which was also released as single, ‘Take A Chance With Me’, the
brooding slow rocker ‘The Main Thing’, and the light and breezy ‘To Turn You
On’.
Okay, so the Pixies 2013 “comeback” wasn’t
exactly the most widely celebrated return known to mankind. Truth be told, it probably
WAS a bit crap in terms of meeting wider expectations, and it’s undeniable that
the band is very much poorer for Kim Deal’s absence. But it was also new work
from old favourites, and (fanboy alert) I certainly didn’t think it was as bad
as some made out.
‘Indie Cindy’ was easily the pick of the bunch
on the EP1 release, and it proved ideal pod fodder over the last six months of
the year; as much for its faux-Fall chant-along/sing-along qualities, as for
all of the rare Pixies-of-old touchstones it seeks to reach.
Not so much the comeback of the year, no … just a
group of old-timers doing their wild and crazy old thing.
When I reviewed the latest Primal Scream album earlier in
the year, I made note of the fact that More Light was essentially a hybrid collection
of just about every musical style the band had ever thrown at us. My copy
of the album came with a number of bonus tracks, and it seemed very fitting that
among those bonus cuts was a remix by long-time collaborator Andrew Weatherall.
‘2013’ was one of the better tracks on the album in its original form, but it
was even better after it got the Weatherall treatment.
French electronic producer Vincent Belorgey is better known
as Kavinsky, and his collaboration with Daft Punk’s Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo
on ‘Nightcall’ (featuring Lovefoxx) was originally released on EP back in 2010.
After being included on the soundtrack for the movie Drive in
2012, the track received another fresh burst of life in early 2013 when Kavinsky
included it on his debut album OutRun. In a further surprise twist, London
Grammar also covered it on its own full-length debut effort.
The Daft Punk influence on the original is hugely obvious, and
‘Nightcall’ has to rate as one of the best electro tracks of the year.
Positively
dripping with social commentary, awash with gripping guitar riffs, and glued
together by a distinctive and unmistakable rhythm pairing, Sound Affects is THE
must-have Jam studio album.
Repeated
listening over the years has done little to dampen my enthusiasm for it, and
neither has its impact been diluted in any way by overly regular exposure. It
never fails to take me back to a happy yet not-so-shiny place.
It
is often hard to believe that The Jam was a mere three-piece affair, such was
the racket the band was able to create when firing on all cylinders. Most of
the songs are short, sharp, and to the point, but always cleverly worded and
thrillingly constructed.
I’m
tempted to say Sound Affects was ahead of its time but I won’t, because
clearly, this album more than any of the others in the band’s all too short
discography, was very much of its time. Quite aside from being a brilliant rock
n roll record, it captures the spirit of post-1979 working class England quite
unlike anything else.
Sound
Affects contains arguably Paul Weller’s finest ever moment with ‘That’s
Entertainment’, while other highlights include the opener, ‘Pretty Green’, the
fantastic single, ‘Start!’, plus ‘Monday’, ‘Set The House Ablaze’, ‘But I’m
Different Now’, and ‘Man In The Corner Shop’ … there’s not much filler to be
found here.
2013
was a huge breakthrough year for local artist Lorde, something further underlined
(in bold) earlier this week when the teenage songstress received four Grammy
nominations. I enjoyed her cover version of the Replacements’ ‘Swingin’ Party’,
and thought Pure Heroine was a promising enough debut album … but to be honest,
I think I can probably live happily enough without hearing ‘Royals’ ever again.
For
me, her best track in terms of pure song-craft was ‘Tennis Court’, and I think
this superb cover by Brisbane-based producer Danny Harley – aka The Kite String
Tangle – hammers that point home. It’s one thing to offer up a cover when the
original has already had its day, but quite something else to do so while it’s still
so high profile and fresh. Of course it helps that Harley has a great voice and
is a unique talent in his own right, and I look forward to hearing more from
The Kite String Tangle.
Last weekend I checked out the Red Bull Sound
Select presents … /Hit + Run gig at Wellington’s Bodega venue. It was a rare
night out, not only for the opportunity it presented to hook up with a bunch of
old faces from way back, but for the promise of a handful of top drawer
travelling DJs, and to experience live screen-printing as performance art … or to
witness live art as performance. Or something.
I’d
committed to doing it sober … (ish), so it’s fair to say the night had a
sharper edge to it than it normally would, but the vibe around the venue was
warm and generous, and the beats were never anything less than the main
attraction … despite one half of the dancefloor seamlessly morphing into an art
studio for much of the night. The first 100 punters walked away with a hand-picked
design screen-printed tee, as the smoothly oiled Hit + Run Crew did its thing.
It was a lot of fun.
I
went primarily to catch up with Hit + Run marketing guru Scott Bulloch, a
long-time friend of some 30 years. I’d been in touch with him via social media
earlier in the week, after noticing another project he’s been heavily involved
with – IZWID – was starting to gain some serious traction. I was keen to learn
what that was all about, and after experiencing the artistic aesthetic of Hit +
Run first hand last weekend, I can now see exactly what IZWID is setting out to
achieve … a compelling blend of art, music, and performance.
I asked Scott to explain where IZWID comes from, what drives it, who’s involved, and
what we can expect in the future …
“IZWID is the imprint of an artist called
Kutmah, a place we can release the music and art which have been secret
signatures in Kutmah’s performances over the last few years. From what I understand,
“Iswid" is Egyptian for “black”… Kutmah (of Egyptian heritage) explained
to me that his mum always pronounced her “S’s” as “Z’s”, IZWID id iz then!
Kutmah is probably one
of music’s best kept secrets in London right now, he’s a tight friend, so we
decided to make his stuff less secret with an arts and crafts style label
without any (of the) record company bullshit. The motivation was that he really
wanted to help these musicians to get heard beyond his sets … people go mental
on this stuff on the dance floor, but labels don’t want to know, so time to
start a “record label”.
Kutmah is not just a DJ,
he’s a curator, a digger, a creator, and a super nice guy who really only comes
out to play and enlighten others. When he plays, who the hell knows what he is
playing at any time, but when he does play a set just seems to meld together
into some story about your life. You get touched, and that’s a rare thing in
these days of super pop shit and pre-genrefied prejudice. It’s hard to explain
but there are these often unreleased elements that he uses to tell stories with
his performances; they can be sad, they can be motivating, they can be
disturbing … to me they are simply mesmerising when knitted together in a mix.
Kutmah has the ability to take music from any age and make it sound like it was
supposed to be played right now.
Kutmah
I met Kutmah just over a
year ago through my good friend Brandy Flower, who has championed Kutmah since
he was a freaky kid. Brandy and the HIT+RUN Crew is the reason IZWID
exists. He is the link that brings art and music back together.
IZWID’s first release
was Esgar, hard out energetic Future Bass with dub overtones and a hypnotic
bass space. The second release from Seven Davis Jr I’ll describe as Shroom
Funk. It’s all over the place as much as the 1999-2012 time it was created in,
but I have to say it’s one of the finest musical deliveries I’ve ever been part
of; it’s house, it’s warped out funk, it’s offensive if you’re a puritan. It’s funny
to me, I love it, so dirty, analog, and it reeks of sex.
The next instalment is
from Peckham, some beautiful loose beats from a young talent sonically
travelling under his grand-dad's name, Al Dobson Jr. He is IZWID-003 and I can’t
wait to make this record. We have a busy schedule going into 2014 that was pre-planned
a year ago. In saying that, you should not expect anything … we’ll just plonk
it in front of you anyway”.
The Analog Affair is an electro-pop duo working out of Washington DC and ‘We Were Lovers’ is a cut from an EP called Wild, released a few months back. It’s a bit of creeper, and there’s a great pop hook to be found amid its seriously lush tones. It’s a gently told story of hope and regret, but all the beautiful soft vibes in the world can’t hide the burnt out car wreck at the centre of it. As ever, love never ends well.
