Some albums
don’t fall under your radar until well after release. Some albums deserve to be
reviewed whatever the day, month or year.
Here are four such albums.
I’ve decided
to group them together because I think you should hear them all. They’re differing styles and genres but all
relevant. The all display an
extraordinary sound and uniqueness that you should be witness too.
Please take
time to at least listen to the tracks below, and you never know, you might just
be impressed.
Radio Europa
- Rise Of The Gutterzz Press
and the Death Of Modern Thought (Malt Barn Recordings)
DL
9.5/10
Out Now
From Carmarthen
come the amazing sounds of Radio Europa.
“Born out of depression, addiction and love of the strange” is an album
that is as original as it is startling.
Shrouded in
mystery, Radio Europa present a fine collection of experimental/avant garde
spoken word and poetry. Profanity is joined hand in hand by distorted
rhythms and unhinged effects. It’s often
haunting and bordering on horror, but it possesses a quality and a near anarchy
which is rarely found.
It
transcends many of the ‘safe’ guidelines that artists seem to adhere to, and it
dares to be different. It rips an extra
hole in the arse of everything else you will hear on the tv and radio. It changes your perception of music in less
than twenty-three minutes.
Meandering
through disjointed sound scapes there is no pattern, no template. It merely follows a path of indeterminable direction. Loosing (sic?) features whispered vocals over
a minimal background mish-mash, and It’s Grim In The Bin whilst less than
thirty seconds long has a potential anger bottled up ready to explode.
Rise Of The
Gutterzz Press blows away any cobwebs that may have accumulated in your grey
matter and is one of the year’s finest releases.
Dan Friel – Life
(Thrill Jockey)
DL
8.5/10
Out Now
More
electronic distortion comes in the form of Brooklyn based Dan Friel.
2013s Total
Folklore album was nothing short of superb, and Life isn’t far behind. Allegedly influenced by the birth if his Son,
Wolf in the same year, Life carries on the theme of distorted crunches and
screeching synth patterns. There is
often a pure pop melody desperate to break free, take Lungs for example – a
lovely innocent melody is invaded and intruded and given a fierce attitude.
What perhaps
makes Life so acceptable is that every track has an infectious descant fighting
to break free, it is then buried under a mass of noise and feedback and general
grunge fuzz. From Friels haunting interpretation
of a nursery rhyme-esque tune in opening Lullaby (For Wolf) which leads
directly into Cirrus, the infectious melodies are laid down and ridden over by
distortion and feedback.
Recent
single Rattler is nothing short of anarchic genius and is cleverly subdued by
the accompanying video featuring bouncy, laughing children. Sleep Deprivation surely pays further homage
to becoming and Father and Life Pt 1 steams along like a runaway train.
Fold – Fold
CD / DL
9/10
Out Now
Ok, so
inserting film and tv clips into songs is no new thing, there is however a
knack to making it successful – just ask Public Service Broadcasting. On their debut album, Leeds quartet Fold mix
hip-hop with electronic beats, soul, funk and more than a splattering of political
consciousness.
Also in
recent demand as remixers for PSB and the mighty rappers Ceiling Demons (Every
Step), the ten tracks on their eponymous album are nothing short of brilliantly
planned and executed. With guest
‘appearances’ from John Lennon to Bruce Lee, from JFK to MLK, the album is enthralling and
exciting from the very first note.
Mr President
We’re In Trouble is a gripping soundtrack to Jimmy Carter’s 1979 speech to
congress detailing his concern over energy, families and war – maybe more
relevant now than it has ever been. It’s
actually heart-breaking stuff.
A Victims
Mentality brushes with jazz and soul elements are used on She, and what s maybe
compelling about the album is that it always remains interesting and fresh and
thoroughly entertaining.
Music and politics
shouldn’t mix? Forget that.
Pulco – A Dip In The
Ocean
DL
9/10
Out Now
Quite how
Pulco stayed off the hiapop radar for so long is quite bewildering. Ash Cooke is one of those rare artists
nowadays that can write instant, poppy, very likeable songs which will
invariably make you tap a finger, foot or other appendage with very little
effort.
The Welsh
D.I.Y. artist has been making music for almost two decades. Originally with the group Derrero who have
the honour of being included in a Peel Festive 50, Pulco is both commercial and
experimental in entirely satisfactory amounts.
A Dip In The
Ocean does exactly what it says and combines eighteen tracks from a career that
continues to flourish and attract new fans along the way. From the opening Song 37 with it’s see-sawing
sea rhythm, to the chunky bass line of the downright weird Sleazy Paddocks and
the recent release Bakesale, Pulco is not only affectionate songs bound together
by exquisite melodies and gorgeous voice, but also sometimes downright bonkers
(this is good).
Well known
in musician circles, the time has surely come for Pulco to come to the attention
of a wider public and thus stunning collection should really be the thing to
persuade any non-believers.
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